Has it already been a week? Time seems to have flown as it tends to do and Nancy has finally won our mental tug of war and convinced me to write a blog about my initial thoughts about Taipei. For me this is my first blog in two years so it’s a bit like starting over, but then, why should this be any different than everything else. I apologize in advance if anything that follows replicates that which Nancy has already passed along. I’ll start with the flights. 6 hours Boston to LA on American Airlines followed by a lengthy layover at LAX left Nancy and I both barely awake and afraid to nap before boarding our Malaysia Air flight direct to Taiwan. I vaguely recall taking off but after that I inflated my neck rest (Nancy’s had a hole in it so I gallantly offered her mine which, for the record, she refused), put my sleep mask on and fell soundly into sleepy oblivion. The plane was so quiet, I did not even need to employ the use of my noise cancelling headphones (which work like a dream by the by). I had a window seat with Nancy next to me on the aisle. When I awoke, Nancy was stirring in the seat next to me and when we checked our watches we found that a miracle had happened, somehow 9 hours of our 13 hour flight had disappeared somewhere over the pacific. We watched a movie (each of us had our own screen, unlike on our 6 hour flight to LA), had breakfast (no food on the 6 hour flight) and soon touched down in Taipei without so much as a sore tailbone. Our flight was continuing on to Kuala Lumpur and we were near the front of the plane so we ended up getting to passport control before the bleary-eyed agents even got to their booths. All in all I was very impressed with the flight. Here’s a picture of me playing mother hen to our baggage as if someone really would try to make off with one of these 50 pound bags without wheels. Did I mention we’re staying in a temporary apartment that’s a 5 story walkup (translate that to 71 steps)
All of our great ambitions before we left Colorado, “we’re going to get a place up the hill from school, it’ll be good exercise, we’re going to get a place that’s a fourth floor walkup because the stairs will do us good…” (sad that these were our ambitions eh?), were completely stymied by the end of our second day here of looking at permanent housing up the hill in 4th and 5th floor walkups in 90+ temps and 80% humidity. While Nancy engaged in idle conversation with Yi Ling, I, ever prone to my background, accounted for each and every step. None were missing and I reported my results to Nancy when we reached the top once I had congealed back into human form from the puddle of saline I had become. Trying to be encouraging, against my better judgment but trying to be supportive, I offered that it’s cooler in the winter and spring and it’s summer now when we’ll likely be travelling, so don’t rule these out (to myself, “oh please, please rule them out”). In the end we decided on a 7th floor corner apartment with an elevator, not up the hill and only a flat 10 minute walk to school. A most excellent choice. Until we lose power during one of these Typhoons we keep hearing about and have to walk up 7 flights. Hmm. Anyway, here are a few pics we took the other day of the back entrance to our place which adjoins a park.
That’s a rock, it’s a neat rock, really.
Yes that’s the entrance but on the upside, there are only 5 stairs! Maybe with a park right outside, we won’t have to have many plants in the apartment but I’ve already seen Nancy’s eyes sparkle as we walk through the flower market. The orchids are really quite vibrant.
Our flat looks out over the park and the small stream beyond that. There are walking paths on either side of the stream which will be quite nice once the weather becomes tolerable.
That’s a footbridge to get to the other side and you can see the mountains (well they’re in the clouds but trust me, they’re there) that make up the National Park just to our north.
The flat is being painted and all our stuff is sitting in a big pile (actually 3 small piles) in the middle of the place. No pics of that as of yet so I’ll try to remember to take some today. We hope to be in our new place in the next couple of days so we can get it set up a bit, and get settled before Nancy needs to start school.
Well I don’t know about everyone else, but one of my main concerns before arriving was food. Actually it’s a main concern most of the time regardless of where we are so I’m not sure what made this time feel different but it was. Nancy has already posted, I think, that I have found reassurance in the knowledge that there is indeed a Mediterranean restaurant nearby so starvation is now off my list of worries. We’ve had some fun poking through the local grocery stores looking at the interesting variety of foods, trying to guess what stuff is, how you’d go about cooking it, plant, animal, mineral, etc. (When was the last time you had fun at the grocery store?) Nancy started taking some pics of the more interesting foods when I reminded her that we wanted people to come visit us while we’re in Taipei. We did buy some red dragon fruit that was already cut up and tried it the next morning for breakfast.
Here’s Nancy sampling it for the first time.
I’m so proud of my little adventurer.
The flavor is actually very mild, far milder than something that’s dark purple with little black seeds and a name like red dragon fruit should be. Definitely something that will be part of my diet here.
So my impressions so far. The language will definitely be a challenge but one I’m up for. The people are super friendly. It’s city living but now thanks to Yi Ling and Brian taking us out to the beach we know there are escapes and we are looking forward to getting to know this island as our new home. Proving yet again that all things are relative, it was hot at the lake before we left but that would feel refreshing compared to what it’s like here at the moment. Public transit here is reputably good although we haven’t ventured out on it yet. We did take a taxi into downtown to visit B and Q, the Taiwanese equivalent of Home Depot (right down to the orange everything). Plenty of bike trails throughout the city, mostly along the rivers and loads of hiking opportunities through some marvelous country and mountains that rise to 10,000 feet plus from the sea will keep us entertained.
Well that’s it for this blog, more to follow so stay tuned to find out what Gilamonsta and her Ijit dragon are up to in our adventures in Asia.
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