Seeing the island

Tuesday began and I was ready for adventure.  We woke up a bit earlier than Carl and Chi-tsai, so I decided we should walk to 7-Eleven for coffee.  I was partly just wanting the coffee, partly curious to walk the few blocks on my own.  We did wait to get a few quick instructions and a key and we were off.  It was surprisingly easy and I managed to communicate well enough (in English, of course) with the attendant to order the Americanos. 

After getting ready for the day, we started towards a more traditional Taiwanese breakfast place.  On our walk I tried out one of the public exercise machines.  Yes, it was just like the Gazelle.  

Chi-tsai again ordered for us.  Here is Bob eating (rather proficiently!) a scallion pancake kind of thing.   The food was excellent.  I need to take notes of the details!

After breakfast we walked to the market where they often go for food shopping.  On the first floor there whole food vendors and upstairs were ready to eat options.  It reminded us of Reading Terminal Market in Philly or the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.   Here's the chicken guy's stand, in full detail.  They use ALL the parts.

Then we went to the MRT station, which had beautiful views of the mountain.

Our first stop, after a harrowing taxi ride from the station (imagine a narrow two-lane road and the cabby trying to pass on a double-line and facing the oncoming traffic), we visited an area famous for Cherry Blossom trees.  Unfortunately the blooms were mostly finished, but there was an interesting temple and views to appreciate. 

We took the taxi back and jumped on the train again, this time to the end of the line - Tamsui.  This was on a river, near the river mouth leading to the South China Sea.  We jumped on a ferry to reach a touristy little town just on the other side of the river (Bali).  It was incredibly windy and choppy for a short ferry ride.  Interestingly, you can use your "Easy Card" for many things other than train and bus, including this ferry. 

We rented bikes and headed down a cycling path to the end of the road, basically.  You can see freighters in the distance.  There was also a museum  (Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology)

Here is a picture from our ride back to Bali after the museum and lunch.

We took the ferry back, after looking at souvenirs, and sat for a while at a restaurant.  As we were finishing up, the sun had begun to set.

We attempted to visit another historical site, but it was closed at 5:00 and we arrived at 5:11.  So we walked back to the MRT station and heading back into Taipei City.  For reference, Taipei City (where Carl and Chi-tsai live) is entirely surrounded by what is called New Taipei City.  It was formerly "Taipei County" which makes more sense to me, since it's pretty far flung.  You can drive an hour away from the center and still be well within New Taipei City.

When we got back into town, we cleaned up and went to a restaurant that was a local beer/bar food kind of place.    I have pictures of all of the food, but here are a few highlights.   The dish in the front is stinky tofu.  We've been smelling this everywhere, and this is a pretty benign preparation of it.  Neither Bob or I felt like we were hooked on the flavor.

There was a beer girl, I should have gotten a picture of her.  She brought largish bottles of beer that we shared by drinking in tiny glasses (like 5 ounces at most) and the empties were collected at our table, which were counted when it was time for the bill.

We saw this little guy at a shop on our bus/walk home.  This kid was actually one of many that we will see wearing the US flag.  Despite seeing few Americans in Taipei, there seems to be a generally positive influence from the US on culture.