Xiaowulai

February 2, 2020

The inconvenience we experienced moving into our apartment in Taipei has dissolved.  It has been replaced by fear of the Corona Virus.  People on the streets are all wearing masks, and spending a great deal of time standing in line at pharmacies to purchase masks and alcohol wipes to protect themselves from the deadly virus.

We are watching the news reports and doing what we think is best to stay safe.  We wash our hands constantly and avoid crowds.  This means that we aren't taking public transportation or going to the traditional markets where we love to buy our fresh fish and produce.  We are also seeking out parks for Solomon that have few or no children for him to play with.

Chia, seeking to entertain us, proposed a trip to the country.  She rented a car, and we drove to Xiaowulai for the day. This scenic area is south of Taipei.  To begin our day, we stopped at a small resort area and soaked our feet in a hot spring.

After preparing our feet for some hiking, we drove further up the winding road into the mountains to the area where we could view waterfalls.

There are several restaurants at the beginning of the trails.

Although the restaurants looked appealing we brought our own lunch so I didn't get to experience sitting with my snack and enjoying the view.

We started our adventure by hiking through the forest.  We had some good views, and didn't see any people.

This stroll through the forest wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

We made it! There were only 58 steps up to this level, but it felt like at least 158.

After lunch we decided to check out the waterfalls.  Our first stop was the Plexiglas bridge overlooking the river and falls.

Plexiglass bridge overlooking three levels of waterfalls.

Oh!!!! What a view!

Our next activity: crossing the one lane suspension bridge.  Kind of scary.

Before crossing a second suspension bridge back to the side we started on, we explored this secret trail carved in the side of the mountain.

I was intrigued by this opening in the rock wall on the trail. It is the beginning of a covered trail that ends with a lovely view of a waterfall.

Happy family at the end of the trail.

One final waterfall before crossing the second bridge.

Here's our secret trail from the opposite side of the river.

At the end of the afternoon we drove down the long winding road and stopped at a roadside stand to buy some local produce.  I bought a cabbage, 2 turnips and 8 oranges.  Chia got a better deal - the load of corn that is on the back of her bicycle, and an enormous bag of mandarins which is in the front basket for the same price as my purchases.

This is a lot of veg!!!  And you can't see it all because I've got the cabbage and turnips in my backpack.

Of course, once we returned our rental car in downtown Taipei, we had to transport the produce to the apartment.  Fortunately, Chia had her bicycle so she did the produce transport and the rest of us walked.

Corn feed.  Although each ear isn't perfect, it all tastes delicious.

Beautiful Mt Hehuan

January 20 - 22, 2020

On day 6 of our stay in Taipei, our lovely daughter in law, Chia, took us on a journey to the middle of Taiwan.  It was a much needed respite from the ordeal of living in an apartment that turned out to be a "work in progress."  The work continued while we enjoyed the beauties of this island nation.

We started out early in the morning on the MRT from our place, to Taipei Main Station.  From there we took the High Speed Rail to Taichung.  At Taichung we transferred to a bus which took us to our hotel, Huis Ten Bosch. The bus ride was about 2 hours long, and up a very twisty road.  Our hotel was located about an hour away from our hike, which we would take the next day. 

It took most of the day to arrive at our destination.

The bus let us off across the road from our hotel, Huis Ten Bosch.

The theme of our mountain hotel was "owls."  Owls were everywhere, kind of like gnomes in the garden.

Since our rooms weren't ready yet, we hiked back down the road to the QingJing Veterans Farm, a huge tourist place where we were able to mingle with sheep.

Solomon fed the free roaming sheep.

We all walked on the Sky Walk, the white fenced board walk in the distance.

The Sky Walk

We ended our day, by walking across the street from the hotel to eat dinner.  The restaurant's main attraction is chicken, so we had chicken, and it was the best chicken I've every had.

Our meal came with one chicken (note: it came with head and feet still attached), 3 vegetable dishes and rice.  We didn't think we could finish, especially since David is a vegetarian, but it was all so delicious we finished everything.

We learned a new way to carve chicken:  rip it apart with your hands.  This was so quick and efficient.  The chicken was stuffed with local mountain leaves and marinated in secret herbs before being roasted in a brick oven.

The following day we did our big hike.  To get to the trail head, we took a smaller bus further up the winding road.  We arrived in about an hour.  The scenery on the drive became more and more spectacular.  We could see Yushan, the highest mountain in Taiwan, in the distance.

From the bus stop, we hiked back down the road to the trail head.

Walking down the highway to the trail head.  I wasn't happy with this situation since we encountered cars and trucks, but this is the way to do it.

Finally, we started the hike to Mt Hehuan.

As we trekked up hill, the trail became steeper, and the scenery became more and more gorgeous.

We stopped along the way for snacks, photos shoots, and catching our breath.

Beautiful Chia, our fearless leader

The mountain men.

I continued to be swept away by the views.

Finally, the top.

Of course, after catching our breath, admiring our athleticism, etc., we had to hike back down the trail. Then we had to hike on the highway again to catch the bus back to Huis Ten Bosch.  We did it!!!

Time for dinner, again.  There's only one restaurant, so we marched back to the chicken place. 

Our favorite chicken restaurant.

The staff, of course, remembered us.  They helped us order something different and equally delicious from the night before.  Since we were now regular customers, Chia got to sit with the cat and the chef gave Solomon a gift.

I'm not sure if Chia is a cat person, but she is a good sport.

What could it be?

Stitch!

This was definitely one of the most wonderful adventures we have had in all our visits to Taiwan.  It is especially special because we did it all using public transportation.  I find this amazing.  I thank Chia from the bottom of my heart for planning it. 

Happy New Year

2020 The Year of the Mouse

Today is the official Chinese lunar New Year. Last week we went on a lovely trip to the mountains, to enjoy the outdoors and to get away from our apartment.  Most local people do this sort of thing after the New Year.  We did it first, to avoid the crowds and now it is time to settle into living in Taipei.

The last few days I have attempted cooking. My food has mostly been a disaster because I haven't been able to control the temperature on the gas burners.  In addition to only having high flames, the burners turn off after about 20 seconds.  This  makes for an irritating cooking experience and lousy food.  Last night, for New Years Eve, I made one pot spaghetti and it tried me to no end.

This morning I got a text from Jennifer saying she would be by to bring us clean sheets, which she does at the two week mark.  I texted back that while she was here would she teach me how to use the stove?  I didn't have the nerve to tell her outright that I thought something was wrong, because she has dealt with so many problems here.

When she arrived she went directly to the stove and agreed with me that something was wrong.  She called her repair man who came to take a look.

He started by checking out the burners.  His first diagnosis was a cockroach had clogged up one of the holes. I can't believe I was happy to hear a cockroach was causing a problem.

He looked more closely and abandoned the cockroach theory.

He then decided the left hand burner should be replaced.

Oh dear, now  he thinks the entire stove top needs to be replaced.

By now, we are all hungry and wanting to cook dinner.  It is New Years Day and restaurants are closed. But look at our kitchen.

Fortunately, the lovely man tells us he can get a replacement in 14 minutes! And on New Years Day!

Chia, while our repair man leaves to get a new stove top, assembles dinner.  She makes rice in the rice cooker, steams a fish in an electric steamer, heats up her homemade vegetable soup in the microwave, and steams some veg in the same steamer that cooked the fish.

Thanks to Chia we had a gourmet meal with Irish whisky and beer.  I forgot to mention she has a cold, and Taylor has locked himself in the bedroom because he is also sick.  David and I are the only ones in the family who are currently healthy.

We were sitting down to eat when the repairman came back with the new stove top.

Can you imagine getting a repairman, let alone a new appliance, on a holiday in the US?

He was finished with installation while we were still eating.  A job well done.

And now, as they say, we are cooking with gas.  And I hope this is the end of the apartment saga.

Happy New Year

We live around the corner from this display.

Walk through the tunnel and to the left, and you will arrive at our apartment.  Come on over.  Everyone else has been here.

The Necessity of Being Open Minded and Flexible

Taipei 2020

This is our seventh trip to Taipei.  I must admit Taylor and I have become a little complacent about our visits.  This is our forth year to rent an apartment from the same landlady, Jennifer.  Before we met  Jennifer,  we had some interesting and sometimes uncomfortable living situations.  With Jennifer, we have learned to expect an apartment that is clean and well functioning.  The buildings have trash management systems so we don't have to meet the garbage trucks with our trash; the kitchens are workable; and last year we were able to flush toilet paper for the first time.

So...........this year we expected more of the same.

We arrived at our apartment building two weeks ago, around 7:00 pm after being without sleep for over 24 hours.  We weren't in the mood for any kind of challenge, but we knew we would meet Jennifer, move into the apartment and go to bed.  That's not how it happened.

We met Jennifer at the apartment lobby.  She informed us that we would not be able to stay in the expected apartment because the previous renters refused to move out (that is a separate story that I will not include here).  However, we weren't to worry because she had another apartment for us.  Please sit in the lobby, she would drive us to the new apartment.

We sat for quite a while.  As we sat we watched a man moving stuff up and down in the elevator.  We assumed he was the building custodian doing his regular business and didn't pay him much mind.  Eventually, Jennifer reappeared and told us to follow her to her Mercedes.  The man who we had seen hauling stuff would take our suitcases.  Boy, were we surprised to enter the back alley and find this truck  with all the stuff from the apartment loaded onto to it.  The moving man, added our suitcases to the pile.

There's my red suitcase with my carry on bag on top of it.  When I saw this situation, I grabbed my carry on which had my computer in it.  I couldn't imagine that any of this stuff would survive the trip across the busy city of Taipei.

Jennifer drove us, with our carry on bags and computers in our laps,  to the new apartment.  Little did we know that the truck load of stuff was going to come to the apartment with us.

The moving man brought us, with our suitcases, to the apartment.  Our first reaction was "This is beautiful.  We'll be fine."  He then proceeded to bring all the stuff from the truck up the elevator to the 7th floor apartment.  During this time we looked around the apartment, and by the time Jennifer arrived we had moved from "We'll be fine," to "This is unacceptable and horrible," "Should we go to a hotel?"

This apartment was clearly not ready for renters.  Jennifer brought all the stuff we would need to live for the next month: blankets, sheets, towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, hangers, dishes, silverware, pots, pans, a clothes drying rack, hangers, toilet paper, etc., etc....... Not only did this apartment lack all the supplies that make an apartment livable, it was FILTHY.

There was a fine layer of sheet rock dust over everything because recently there had been a plumbing problem which required drilling into walls and installing pipes on the outside of the walls.  Both bathrooms were hideous.  It was hard to decide which one was the least disgusting to use.  One bathroom actually had a toothbrush and toothpaste on the side of the sink. It was like the owner of the toothbrush had just brushed his teeth.  The doorknobs were covered with toothpaste as if he would brush his teeth and then smear the toothpaste on the doorknobs.  The kitchen was filled with other people's food that was way past its pull date, and when I tried the water in the kitchen sink water poured out from the base of the faucet. And then there was the refrigerator:

This beauty was filled with molding, mildewed food! There is actually black fluid mildew running down the gaskets!

By the time Jennifer rejoined us, I was beside myself.  All I wanted to do was go to bed, but I didn't want to touch anything.  She made the brand new beds up with clean sheets, and gave us some towels.  She was also beside herself.  She had occupiers in her apartment, that she had rented to us, who wouldn't leave, and she had us in an apartment that she wasn't aware was in such horrible shape.
She eventually left, and we went to bed without unpacking. I did not take my shoes off until I was ready to lay down in bed.

The next day Jennifer returned with a cleaning lady.  They worked until 9:30 that night cleaning and putting the stack of stuff away. A plumber came and put in a new kitchen faucet.  During the course of the day a pipe in one of the bathrooms broke, so the plumber came a second time.

The day after that moving men brought a new refrigerator and a washing machine.  Moving the washing machine in involved taking doors off the hinges. Men also came to try to get the WiFi and the TV to work. At one point as I sat on the couch I counted 5 people working in here.  WiFi and TV proved too much for the experts, so they left and we went without for more than a week.

As we settled in, we discovered that the new washing machine didn't work properly.  It was clogged up and the water came in so slowly it took about 6 hours to run a load of wash.  Jennifer got us another new one that works.  Water was pouring from under the kitchen sink.  That turned out to be a faulty water filter which was replaced. Of course, we had been drinking water from the ineffective water filter for about a week. We didn't care about the TV but we felt WiFi a necessity.

This big ass TV had never been hooked up. Now it has wires coming out of the top and bottom of it.  We asked ourselves who buys both a big ass TV, and the mildewed refrigerator?

The place was finally in good enough shape to have David and Solomon stay over night.  Guess what?  The water in their shower only had boiling hot water which disappeared after about 20 seconds followed by howling pipes.  The next day another plumber came to fix the shower.

I hate to end this story on a negative note, so I will list the positives of this apartment:

• It is very big and potentially quite lovely
• The kitchen is nicely laid out
• The beds are new, so they are very comfortable
• The dining table is large and there is enough seating for all of us to eat dinner without having to move the table, or get out folding chairs
• We have a working washing machine
• The WiFi works
• The TV works
• Although we sort the trash, we take it to the stairway landing which is very convenient
• The location is very convenient to David and Chia's  house
• The apartment is located on a lane off of RenAi Road.  Being on a lane means it is very quiet.
• Who doesn't love lime green leather couches?
• We are living in a fancy pants neighborhood with stores like Cartier, Tiffany, Marimekko
• The neighbors seem to drive mostly Mercedes and BMWs

Although I like the furniture it doesn't make up for the general disaster that lurks in this apartment

This is a great table for family dinners, and art projects with Solomon

What's not to love with lime green couches?  Behind the larger couch is an alcove with a desk. The windows open to a nice porch, which we are using to hang our clothes to dry.

Now that most of the horror of this apartment is behind us, I have looked around me and remembered that I like Taipei.  I walked to the park today to meet David and Solomon and this is what I saw:

Taipei 101

I love it here.

Today Was a Good Day at Oaks Bottom

This was the most beautiful day in the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. We did not go to pick up trash.  We went to take a walk in the woods, and it was lovely.  The trash was at a minimum.  Every person we saw with a dog had it on a leash. The benches were available for neighbors who might need to rest while taking a walk.  I didn't see any campsites.

Oh yes....................the weather was spectacular.

I have never seen so little trash around the benches before.

I know it's not random that the area is so clean today.  Thanks to whomever made the effort to clean up.  It makes a difference for the wildlife and for the humans who enjoy this area.

Trash Picking Continues

One day of trash picking wasn't enough for us.  Between last Saturday and today, we ordered from Amazon, bright yellow trash picking implements.  They have made our jobs a little easier.  Less bending. As our son David said, more "professional."

We were a little concerned that we would have done ourselves out of a job, since we collected trash last Saturday.  Lo and behold, we still have jobs.  The hiking portion of the trail wasn't as bad as last week, but the asphalt bicycle trail has reverted to it's normal state of disarray in a week's time.

This week, more people stopped to thank us for our service.  One woman asked where we got our sticks, noted the label, and said she wanted to get one.  Several other people said they might bring trash bags with them in the future.  The man sitting on the bench where the stoned lady sat last week, actually helped pick up the refuse around him when I started picking up the stuff around his feet.

The bicycle path is asphalt.  This is where most trash collects.

This is the start of the hiking portion of the trail.  It becomes narrower and more beautiful as we continue to hike.  There are fewer opportunities to camp here, so there is less trash.

Some of the campers leave their trash for others to pick up.  We left this, as it would have filled our bag.  There was plenty strewn around this area to keep us busy.

Here's our haul from Day 2.  We found our newly purchased trash pickers to be most helpful.

We will see what next Saturday brings.