Yesterday I also had quite an adventure trying to get to town. First I read the schedule wrong and missed the bus down the mountain. I didn’t actually figure it out until another seemingly panicked woman at the bus stop was asking me about the schedule. That’s when I realized it went down at 9am not 9:10 and the next one wasn’t due for an hour! I was supposed to meet someone at 10 so I panicked too.
This lady and I were able to communicate enough to decide we could share a taxi to the Jintan station. But of course we couldn't find a taxi! Finally she flagged down a guy in a passing car who gladly drove us both all the way down the mountain. I would never hitch a ride in Medford, much less a huge city…but here it was no big deal. It felt totally safe and small town even though I couldn’t understand a lick of what either one of them were saying.
When we got dropped off we missed the bus to the MRT by seconds and the next bus wasn’t due for 20 min. So we shared a taxi to the train station and she insisted on paying! The taxi driver had better English than the lady and we soon determined that he had met my mother before too. He remembered her from four years ago when she had broken her foot in the states visiting me and couldn’t afford to get it put in a cast there. So when she got back her foot was still broken and he took her from her house in TienMu up to the university and she had him wait for her while she went up to MingChuan and then take her back home.
After getting off the train at Shilin I missed the 601 bus by seconds and had to take the 224. Not really knowing where it went to I got off too early and had a 20 minute walk uphill to my final destination. I arrived 47 minutes late. Always with the late! UGH! I am paying more attention now and have decided to make a concentrated effort to learn the Chinese characters for the bus stops I need! It was a really bizarre day.
Anyway, here are some photos of recent jaunts around town and around our neighborhood up at Pingdeng Li. This is the little river we cross between our house and the closest 'town'.
Lots of little vegetable farms and plant nurseries up here.
Well it's hard to tell from this picture, but the cherry blossoms are just starting to bloom. In another week or so this place will be flooded with hikers up to see the blossoms for Chinese New Year.
There are bunches of little shrines all over the mountain up here. This little one is the closest to our house.
I've taken to carrying incense around in my backpack just in case I want to check out a temple or shrine while out on a walk.
The police dept in Pingdeng Li, accross from where we wait for the bus.
An afternoon painting with my mom.
Food is generally very cheap in Taiwan...unless it's imported. Yes, you can get bing and raineer cherries here...but that box is $2000NT or approx $60 US!!!
I went for a walk around our neighborhood when the sun came out one afternoon. Scooter envy.
Cutest little bamboo grove.
Enjoying the sun and the views.
The exteriors of most buildings here are stone or tile. Up the mountain it rains so much, even the tile gets worn down over time.
Just a short walk up the hill from our house is Yamingshan National Park! Beautiful walking path up to a waterfall. I didn't make it all the way...and am waiting for another sunny day to try out more paths.
Our little garden plot. Has an avacado tree, a passionfruit vine, some roses and rosemary. The impatience have taken over everything else here. Hope to plant some veggies or more flowers here in the spring.
Beautiful rainbows in the valley going up and down the mountain this day. Managed to catch a blurry picture of one even from the moving bus!
My mom took me to her favorite art supply store here. Bigger selection of oils and painting mediums than Central Art in Medford. Oooh drool....
There are vegetarian restaurants everywhere in Taipei now. This little spot called the Vegetarian kitchen is right next to the Shilin MRT station. Their set meals like this one that my mom and I shared are about $100 - $120NT. So we both got lunch for about $4 US. This meal had spiniach greens, a kimchee salad, bitter gourd, imitation chicken, mixed rice, a bowl of potato soup and this fruit that they call 'dates' but is actually very similar in flavor to a wax apple. Sweet, light and super crunchy. We also ordered a side dish of gingered yam greens. Just what I needed for my cold.
Here's the imitation chicken I had. Looks like chicken...tastes like chicken. It was really good.
Rockin' my iPod on the 40 minute ride back up the mountain.
Another shot out the window of the bus. It really is about 10 degrees cooler up the mountain than down in the city below. Not pleasant right now...but I know it will be.
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