A Day Without Soup

 Soup and his parents were invited to a birthday party on Saturday, so Taylor and I got the opportunity to entertain ourselves.  A day without Soup should have been horrible.  As it turned out, it was a wonderful day experiencing the contrasts of Taiwan.

At Chia's suggestion, we decided to take a trip to Yangming Mountain.  We started our journey on the Red MRT line and we got off at Jiantan station.  We are totally comfortable on the MRT because everything is well signed in both Mandarin and English.  And the announcements of upcoming stops are also both in Mandarin and English.  At Jiantian station, we transferred to the Red #5 bus.  That was more challenging because there was no longer any English.  However, with the help of the nice information woman, we learned the Mandarin character for "red" and got into the right line for the bus.

We rode the Red #5 to the end of the line at Yangminshan Bus Station.  Next we transferred to shuttle bus #108.  That also was quite straight forward.  I asked the driver if the bus stopped at Yangmingshuwu and he said yes.  Sure enough, after lurching up the mountain road while hanging onto the swinging handles (there weren't many seats) we arrived at our stop, and other passengers told us to get off.  There we were on a deserted mountain road.  We eventually found the sign pointing to Yangmingshuwu, the mountain retreat of Chiang Kai-shek, which is nestled into the foothills of  Yangming Mountain .  We followed the directions down a forested road and eventually found our destination.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, but the grounds were exceptional.

Grand entrance

I can imagine sitting at this little table for  afternoon tea while enjoying nature.

The house is painted dark green to blend into the mountains, and is built as a fortress.  It has the 1970s style that was popular around Portland.  It's really quite lovely.

After a few hours learning, in Mandarin, about Chaing Kai-shek, we trekked back up the hill to the bus stop.  Destination: Qingtiangang for a walk through the mountain grasses and see the water buffalo.  We flagged down bus #108 (buses don't stop just because you're at the bus stop, you have to flag them down) and this time we were fortunate enough to get seats.  After a few stops, I showed the bus driver our destination and pronounced it as best I could.  He signaled, get off now, so we did.

 There we, up in the mountains, at a place called Erziping. Not even close in pronunciation or location to Qingtiangang. We weren't where we intended at all.  What should we do?  We walked around the parking lot, read some signs, and picked out a hike that didn't look too long in duration.  There were lots of people around this time, so we felt all should be well.  And it was.

The trail looked like this all the way.  The paved part on the left is for wheelchairs.

Here's what we found at the end of the trail.  If we were better prepared we could continue to climb the mountains.

The valley at the end of our trail was totally charming.

This is such a contrast to downtown Taipei, and yet we're very close to town.

After enjoying our picnic lunch, the rain started, so we hiked back to the bus stop, and reversed our trip back to our own neighborhood.

After being out in the mountains, we were pretty hungry so we decided to have dinner at the food court in Taipei 101, at Din Tai Fung.  This was not the typical food court meal. Here are three of the most unusual looking foods.

Dumplings stuffed with sticky rice and pork.

This is how the pot stickers arrived at the table.  We weren't sure how to eat them.

The pot stickers look like this when we flipped them over.

I enjoyed watching the men make the dumplings.

As we left the restaurant and started walking home, we looked around and marveled at the variety of sights we had seen today.  The city is so different from the mountains.

Taipei 101

A lovely fountain

Walking home after a lovely day.

Our day without Soup wasn't as horrible as we anticipated.  Plus, we have some lovely memories of Taiwan.

A Walk in the Park

Most mornings Taylor and I get up at six and start our forced march in Taipei. There are lots of parks, so we usually have a goal to walk toward.  One day, we decided to combine taking the MRT (subway) with our morning hike.  The goal:  Elephant Mountain.

We hopped on the MRT at Xinye Anhe Station which is a few blocks from our apartment.

We took the red line to Xiangshan. We emerged from the MRT station.

We came out of this station.

 And here we were, in a charming park at the base of Sishoushan Community Forest.

Regular morning exercisers were already at it.

 We were also a stone's throw from Taipei 101.

We walked through the park and found the trails up into the forest.

Looking at at the extensive trail system, I was reminded of Forest Park in Portland, OR.

We found what we thought was the trail to Elephant Mountain, and we started hiking.  We passed a lovely temple built into the side of the mountain.

Elephant Mountain is only 600 feet high, but it's a killer.  The Taiwanese don't believe in the switchback system.  This walk is what Margit and I call the "buns of steel" walk.

The walk was pretty much like this all the way up. There were very few flat areas for resting.

The day, of course, was hot and humid and the walk was pretty strenuous.  However, the view from the top was amazing.

So, we made it to the top of Elephant Mountain, saw the sights, and went home to shower, shave and shine.  Another walk in the park for Jamar and Taylor.

Cleaning Frenzy

We are settled back into our original flat.  It turns out the leak was due to heavy rains the night before we arrived.  We were a little sad to leave the immaculate replacement apartment, but I knew that I would be claustrophobic after a month without being able to see outside. The positive points of moving back are the big windows looking onto the alley, and the fact that we already know our neighbor.

Ted, our host, came to collect us and took us in a taxi back to the flat.  We took time to ask questions about the flat and to make a few requests. We asked for cleaning supplies to clean the kitchen. He pointed to a disgusting sponge and said, "There's the sponge, that will work, won't it?"  I decided not to press the point.  Then we asked for 2 more chairs, so when David and Chia visit we could all sit at the table together for a meal.  I also asked for cups and glasses.  He thought that was a good idea and asked if two of each would be good.  Once again I told him 4 of us would like a cup of tea at the same time.  So, Ted went shopping last night and will come over today with cups, glasses, chairs and a pot big enough to boil noodles. Sheesh.  By the way, Ted is a French 30 something, from Paris.

As soon as Ted left, Taylor and I went to the local supermarket and bought rubber gloves, sponges, dish cloths, scrubbers, etc.  Oddly enough, Ted has lots of Mr. Muscle under the kitchen sink.  Then we went to work scouring the kitchen.  I know it hasn't been cleaned in a very long time.  We worked up a serious sweat during two hours of work.  Ted's cleaning lady has been pulling the wool over his eyes for quite some time. Now, the kitchen is spotless and we can warm bottles for our precious Soup.

Now we are settled in, enjoying the view of our alley from our windows, and loving the presence of Soup when he comes to visit.

Last night, Chia took us to a traditional Taiwanese restaurant for dinner so we finally had real Taiwanese food.  These people sure know how to cook.  And the restaurant is right down the alley from our flat.

Chia selecting the fresh seafood and vegetables for our dinner.

The bin on to right is full of fresh, young bamboo shoots.  They are fabulous and do not resemble the ones we buy in cans in the US.

This fish was so tender and sweet.

Next to the restaurant is this temple:

And when we looked past the temple, we saw this fabulous view of Taipei 101.

Even though we've had a cleaning frenzy, and the disruption of moving back and forth to apartments, we love our neighborhood.  We also love living in the same city as Soup.