Taichung Day 21 (return to NZ)

 Honestly, really just have breakfast, sort out the rest of the luggage, packed and ready to go. 

Go and post the last set of postcards, and then prepare the SIM card to be sent back to Dark H, and then watch some TV.

Have a really early lunch (dumplings), and then 二叔 bought the car around so we can load the luggage. Dropped by 四叔's shop and also saw 康康 (恩) there too. Waved goodbye, 四嬸 was out exercising so didn't see her. 二叔 drove me to Chaoma and unloaded the luggage. Waited for the bus together. Bus was late lol. Kuokuang allows 2x pieces of luggage per person and I had to take the carry on with me, but there was only like 5 ppl on board. Since I chose the single row window seat, it just fit in front of me. 

No internet makes it boring.... but GPS still works (slower though). I feel asleep on the bus... wanted to see more of the country as we drove... so only saw brief bits. Driver was really nice and helped unload the luggage once we were at Terminal 2.

Luggage was ok. One was 23.2kg (blue suitcase) and the cardboard box was 21.8kg. :/ My carry on was 9.8kg lol (but they don't check). Deffo bring a digital scale next time. 

Once check in was done and luggage dropped, I headed outside on level 2F, since cars can drop people off here directly. I had my peanut butter bun, and a quick drink, nasal sprayed, re-N95'd and went back in to head towards the gate.

Once through the gate I tried ages to find the Pili display that Ange sent me photos of. Thank goodness there was a clue, Gate D7, but since there was no floor map it took me a while to find it after going the wrong way, and googling a floor map. Then I spent like an hour at that gate taking photos and reading all the displays! All the themed gates are so fun, why can't NZ be like this lol.

I spotted an older European couple wearing headband respirators, one a white duckbill with blue straps (man) and the other a white one of another kind (lady).

5:30pm, time to go to gate, I kept getting distracted and took quick photos of themed gates. They were still boarding when I get there so I saw away from the crowd (looks a full flight and 2 tourist groups) until most of them were gone. I spotted an Asian lady wearing a white duckbill with blue straps again! Same as the man from earlier. 

Thank goodness online check in (always a problem for me) let me pick the last available $0 aisle seat. I hate being trapped. There's waaaay less maskers at the departures airports, and on this flight, too.

I couldn't sleep on the flight, just doze a little and rest my eyes. Watched Elemental. It was kinda nice, the Fire people were definitely implied to be Chinese or Asian immigrants in America. I didn't see D&D so couldn't finish that film lol.

Used the KF94 method for eating and just hope for the best.

We took off late but still landed early so the wind was in favour. There were heaps of people at the egates so took some time to get out. Baggage took a bit, too.

Declared to customs, the officer ended up looking through all my bags so I didn't have to go through the xray. White rice OK! Sweet.

Once out mum and dad picked me up and I got home and started unpacking very slowly. So tired. Feel so yuck. 

Ew work tomorrow. The tomatoes are growing well. Quite a few of the potatoes died, sadly.

I miss Taiwan already.

Taichung Day 20

 Not much today. Just luggage struggle, and packing up the blue suitcase. I'm overweight... *sigh* not having an accurate scale is really stressful. 

二叔 did his particular thing with the tying rope handles so I just left him to it. Luggage struggle took me all the way until 12pm...

And then I went to 四叔's for lunch as he said he would treat me. I had to decline his offer of KBBQ and hotpot at a restaurant because I am just uncomfortable dining indoors. On the way I went into the post shop and bought some stamps for my last lot of postcards. 四嬸 took me to a bentou place just a few doors down from his shop, and this shop had really good food?? I got like a gyuudon-style beef bentou. It had cabbage and pickled seaweed and some julienne bamboo shoots (I think it was), and a aji-tsuke egg with melty yolk. The flavour was really good? Like it's reminiscint of Japanese style flavouring, and the rice good too (this one was $150). I really enjoyed it and cleaned it up spotless.

Then we had tea and 四叔 has a visitor, a lecturer at some sort of techonology university and he talked about his woe about finding placements for his students. After he left 四嬸 talked to me about why I feel anxious about dining indoors? I tried to explain best as I could about airborne transmission and ventilation in Mando, but they think I am giving myself a bit too much pressure. And said that there's a lot of things I can't control - I rseponded then what I can control is choosing not to dine indoors and avoiding high risk situations. I didn't expect them to fully understand anyway. The lack of education is the same everywhere. 

They had someone come in for something else, and then I asked if they had some bubble wrap and stuff as I was musing on sending Bridget's xmas gift (ceramic plates) as it'll take enough weight out... and I got given lots of material. Sweet. I said goodbye and went home to sort this out.

I wrapped each plate in bubble wrap, and filled the edges with more wrap. Then double boxed it and put some packing foam in between the boxes. It ended up being 67g over 3kgs.... oof... meant I pay an extra $100. Total was $940 :') 

It's ok, it saves me stressing at the airport anyway. :') Lesson learnt, don't agree to take stuff for anyone else until you've prioritised what you want.

After that, I just went home and tidied up, and started writing my postcards. Then 二叔 said that we'll get dinner before we go to grandma's. He came back with dinner at 5:20pm... its too early and I had a big lunch. I wasn't that hungry but I ate some anyway.

Then off to grandma's. Grandma insisted on getting up and offering me her seat, I kept saying noooo but she did... I didn't sit in it though, and she eventually went back into her seat. I saw both cats briefly today, Huniuo was omre inquisitive but still no touchy. Maiya was in Grandma's room lol, so I saw briefly when Grandma started going on about the wheelchair in her room (there was none) and 二叔 went to check. Grandma isn't very stable when she walks now, and needs a support. 

We just sat and watched TV - I got to see the last part of 劇說台灣 on the current story they were on, but having missed the middle I dunno what happened there. It was a semi-sweet happy ending. The show before that on 7pm, 親家 was kinda amusing too. The 8pm one 天道 is a soap opera and everything is so dramatic and seems to be a new developement every episode lmao. This time it's a new secretary, who is here for revenge on someone since she saw them murder her dad as a kid. 

Shortly after 8pm we went home, after 小智 came back from throwing the rubbish when the rubbish truck came.

The wind is a lot chillier now so that's nice, but it's still moderately warm in the day time.

I didn't get to see 五叔 or 五嬸 either. 五叔 is at badmington again, and 五嬸 isn't back from work yet. 

I said bye to 小智, and 賢伯 was busying playing LoL, so I just knocked on his room and said goodbye to him. At least he had enough to pay attention and say bye to me, since he is very much grunty gamer who doesn't care much about anything else now. Hugged grandma goodbye, and 小智 too. 

We went home and I just finished off my postcards, and got the envelope for sending the SIM card back to Dark H ready. Then shower, blog and bed.

I am going to miss Taiwan. It has been very soul-soothing and enriching for me. It's good to connect with my home country, the land and my roots. I just wish it was a different world, so I didn't have to worry about the pandemic so much. 

Taichung Day 19

 三舅媽 wanted to take me to Dajia Mazu miao today. Off we go, I told her that it's not the 7-11 she needs to pick me up at inbetween two oter conbinis, but the one on the corner. Lol guess where she went. 🤣 Oh well at least she found the place. Dajia is about a 40 mins drive out. The miao's carvings were mostly black-incense smoke free. 三舅媽 took me around to pray and put incense into the big pots. It's a very pretty miao. After that we went to the basement where they have the Mazu statue made from pure gold. It took a year to sculpt and the artisan did a good job. it's very immaculate, and Mazu's expression is of calm, serious but kind. They had some carving works from precious stone, and those were very nciely done. The basement also has some jewellry cabinets selling various precious stones and pearls, etc. No photos of the actual statue allowed but no one said I can't take a photo of the sign with a photo of the statue on it lol. I almost never take photos of the deity statues themselves because I feel like it would be disrespectful. 

After that, lunch time. 三舅媽 suggested a teppanyaki restaurant but they had closed doors so it's a no from me. I suggested the roadside stalls with the local eats, and there was a good breeze today so that was great. I had a type of fish thick soup (yu gin tang), and Ru Zou Fan. Yummy. Veges and some fried tofu as side dishes. Then we went back to a nearby store that sells specialtly local pastries and cakes, and I got one that's a 奶油小酥餅 and a small version for 二叔 since he has diabetes. After that, we went back to the parked car, and headed to Wuqi fshing harbour. They have a lot of stalls inside, restaurants, eating, food products, drinks, and a fresh market for the fish and seafood. This place apparently gets so busy on the weekends, the carpark is full just after you enter. Today only the top 2 blocks were full. I think there are more than 10 blocks total. Sadly because we ate so much for lunch we couldn't fit anything else. Then we went to the harbourside and had a look at the fishing boats, and the tour boats. Chatted for a bit. And then headed home after going to the toilet.

The GPS kept wanting to take us on the really small roads to connect to Highway 10, but 三舅媽 wanted to go the big roads (like the way we came on Taiwan Bvld, ex Zhong Ghang Rd), so I ended up manually navigating her to the Bvld where she knows how to get back.

Thanked her for a good day and she droped me off on the roadside. 

Went home and started trying to figure out my luggage... pressure as I hit the limit for pretty much both suitacases... ended up swapping to a smaller box that was lighter. More tetris and repacking, removing unnecessary packagaing until it's under 23kg. Then had to frankenstein the top of the box as I couldn't fit the shitake mushrooms in, so it could fit. 

Taped the box and then gladwrapped it. 二叔 then spent ages being particular about tying a handle onto the box in a particular way, etc, and took ages.

It was already 6:30pm by the time we got to a certaim stage, and went out for dinner. 二叔 suggested a place that was unfortunately too indoor.... but we found some place else selling noodles around the corner that was completely open. At this angle there's a bit of a breeze too, so that's reall good. Their noodles were pretty delicious too. Called 葉家麵館. 

After that, we headed home to grandma's. Unfortunately we arrived just as the 劇說台灣 drama finished, just before 8pm, so I didn't get to see the continuation. We met 五叔 at the elevator on 5F as he was going down to throw the rubbish out. Grandma's Sampo fridge has broken down so after he got back, 五嬸 and 五叔 went out to Carrefour to check out new fridges. We ended up staying until they got back which was about 9:45pm. Pretty late. I had a good chat with 小智 just before that though. He told me about his experience on flying to Chengdu in China, and how the tried to take the bus after being advised by the taxi driver he was going to take, that he could take the bus... and ended up getting lost and missing his connecting flight from Sha'men (I think it was) at 6pm. Then the next flight was at 10pm, but kept being delyaed due to heavy rain at the destination. He didn't get to his destination until like 5 or 6am. Welp. Lesson learnt, experience gained. 

After we got home it's just shower, blog, and bed. I will have to sort out last lot of post cards tomorrow and also arrange posting back the sim card to Dark H.

Taichung Day 18

 Mostly just rest today. Got up and 二叔 was still snoozing near 9am. That's rare. Had breakfast, and then looked at my luggage. Decided to go for a walk first, so I went into Fengjia Campus. They have a really big campus and a pond with fish and turtles. Lots of trimmed hedges and flower arrangements. Ponds with lotuses. It's lovely. There's a gathering on a field near the centre, but they're all wearing white top and black pants... they seem to be communal sharing some sort of soup, so I judged they be Christian gathering. When I walked past one of their desks near the edge, I think I spotted a cross.

I also walked past an indigenious department, so that was cool to see. I spent some time near the pond with turtles, and they were stacking on the rocks for a sunbathe. It's amusing. Then I went home and 二叔 and I went upstairs into the storeroom to see if we could find a bigger box. we managed to find one that fit just under the dimensions, and after repacking it made me feel better. Since my custom bedsheets hasn't arrived yet, I couldn't judge. Then I had lunch, 二叔 bought lianmiang earlier. Thank you.

After lunch I took the laundry up to hang, and 二叔 looked for the plastic string for tying handles.

I headed out to 四叔's shop to see if my watch strap has arrived and if they were able to install it for me. Also to have some tea. Zhili 叔叔 managed to change it over for me. Thanks so much. My bedsheets arrived too. And then after 四嬸 chatted with me about the apartment they helped their sons (my cuz) to buy, and the process they went through. I found it really interesting. So to refurb the apartment, designer/architect, and buying the apartment there was a $900k mortgage (NZD). Ouch. That's about the average mortagage in NZ for a new house nowdays too. Then it was 3:30pm and time to go home as 小智 will pick me up so we can take the bus to go to grandma's together. 

The bus only comes every 30 mins I think, so we missed the one just after 4pm and had to wait. By the time we got to grandma's it was 5:30pm. For dinner they used ubereats and we had curry. They had cockle soup so of course I wanted one! Not much opportunity to have that there. Grandma had lunch delivered but she didn't eat it so I ate some of the wonton soup noodle and she ate the rest. She can still eat quite a decent portion size.

The TV Sanli TW channel had an interesting story on for the taiwan stories drama series at 7:30pm. I want to see if I can finish it tomorrow lol. At 8pm it was about time to go. The cats weren't as curious today. They both sniffed me though.

The next was was 8:30pm and 小智 walked me to the stop. Thanks cuz. By the time I got home it was 9:30pm. 

二叔 wasn't home, but 四嬸 was so I went to pick up my bedsheets (she carted it home on scooter). And took in the laundry hanging upstairs.  Showered, quickly open the bedsheet packaging to have a quick look, blog and bed. 

Early day tomorrow. 三舅媽 will come pick me up to go see a Mazu miao.

Taichung Day 17 (Shinsher Huahai)

For breakfast I had the 木材麵包 and the peanut bun. The peanut bun was very aromatic, I think I will enjoy it.

Then I tried to sort out my luggage a bit, but still can't fit it into the box and suitcase... I haven't even put the rice in. And I have 2 sets of bed sheets....

Decided to go over to 四叔's first and ask if he has any other boxes. 二叔 came back and brought lunch so I took it with me to 四叔's. I walked as I had the two Chishang rice to gift and when I got to the corner with 7-11 I realised I had forgotten the bentou lunch.... I went back to get it.

I got to 四叔's and they were having lunch too. I noticed 四叔 picked out all the white bitter gourd and put it on the lid. He ate it later though, so I see he likes to save the favourite for last (I asked him). The lunch 二叔 bought for me is a "healthy" type and it has a lot of rice. It's not as heavily flavoured but since there was so much rice I was really full. 四叔 put some tea on after I finished eating (thank you this is what I needed) whilst I waited for 二叔 to pick me up. I gave 四叔 and 五叔 their rice. 四嬸 asked about my trip and I thanked her for her concern when I was alone travelling. She asked me where I went and I said Anping Gubao, Treehouse, Chikhan Tower, etc, and she said all teh Chiayi and Tainan kids would be taken there for a day trip as schoolkids. Considering how many primary school kids I saw, it be true. 😂 騙小孩一日遊 she said 😂😂

Then 二叔 came and honked the horn and off we go to 新社花海, about 40 mins drive. I didn't understand what it was until we entered the main area. First we stopped at a community marketplace, or sponsor vendor stalls? One was a conservation effort and detailed the equipment used for tracking and the camera. It's so cool. One chart showed the different Formosa bears activity areas in different colours. And I saw a kit where you make insects from twigs and a wooden body. This is really amazing because they gotta pick the right twig in the right size, with the right angle bend, and trim/tidy it up for the insect legs. Major appreciation.

When we got into the main area, it literally is just a field of flowers, like and ocean, planted stragetically in colour blocks. They also have show pieces and it's really extravagant. It's lovely. Brings a crown and business to the area, since there are food stall area and farmers market type area. Parking is also $100 for the day, so they earn on that too. The train goes to the nearest stop and then there's a shuttle coach to the location. Some flowers weren't in bloom yet but they will be soon. There's an announcement that asks for people to not step into the flowers, etc etc and not to... pee or poo on the flowers, so it can be kept pretty and enjoyed by all. I was like ??? People have done that before?? Gone toilet in the flower fields... I spotted a girl stepped into the sunflowers... for a photo, and the photog's feet was in the smaller flowers bordering the field. Naughty. And one dude just spat into the sunflower field. Ugh. Why can't people respect the flowers??

There was a babu at the sponsor area when we entered... but I was too full. There was another one before the main exhibit area for the flowers. I was still too full. 😭

After the flower exhibition area, we looked at the food stalls area and farmers market area.

Then it was almost 4:30pm so we headed back. On the way back we stopped at a famous dessert shop (kinda like Meet Fresh), and they even had their own parking lot!!! We got 2 to take home.

For dinner 二叔 went to buy 一心臭豆腐 and a Fujian fried noodles. Otsukare. The stinky tofu was lit. Just as I remember it. So good. Right crispy, good fermented flavour, and heaps of cucumber and pickles. Good level of spicy. No wonder they're still super popular. 

For dessert we had the taro kumara balls, taro mash, pearls and grass jelly from Dongdong YuYuan. It's very aromatic and not overly sweet. The taro mash was sweet though. I think they use brown sugar for the syrup. 

Macguyver was on TV and 二叔 watched that. I watched half and when I finished my dessert, I went to watch more Freiren on my laptop. 

Probs sleep early today and tackle the luggage again tomorrow. I don't wanna go back....

Taichung Day 16

 Just travelling back to Taichung today. In the morning I had some of Aduan's bread, gosh it is so yummy. The more you chew, the more flavourful it becomes. Yima has some too. She had a lot lol. Smells real good. I tidied up my luggage for a bit, and then went to the post office to send off Lake's artbook. But the post office doesn't sell bubble envelopes.... despite the website saying they do (outdated?). the lady said the stationery store next door does, but they weren't open yet. Google maps to the rescue, there's another one near about 6 mins walk away. When I arrived, the lady was very helpful, and got me what I needed straight away. $18 for a bubble envelope. Then I went back to the post office and they sent it as a printed material, only $138. So cheap! To Mexico too. 

Then I went home and watched an ep of Frieren, and about time for lunch. Yima went out to get the Korean jajangmian. Ohh this shop does it really nice, not too overly heavy and quite aromatic without the onions/garlics being overpowering. I had one of those green large mandarins after. Then finished my Gungun Gurt. 

Packed up the rest of my luggage, and sat and talked with Yima a wee bit. Then got ready to go. Man I'm sad. Wish I could stay longer. 

Called 55688 to take me to Wangfang, the taxi driver was really nice. $115. Then MRT to Taipei Main Station. This is when it gets really weird cause the exit says this way, but the elevator takes you elsewhere. It's so confusing. And at some places there's no elevator??? And just an escalator even though the arrow says this way to go to the Bus transfer station. Then when I finally got to the transfer station, it has 3 floors. Kuokuang is on 2F, and I just assumed there was only 2F but there was 3. Since I arrived at 3:15pm, and the bus departs at 3:20pm, I was in a hurry... thankfully I made it. I got into the elevator and the other people just pressed the button and I assumed they were going upstairs... to 2F. But they went to 3F. Soooo confusing.

Phew, the bus I got on is nice and new and there isn't many people. I fell asleep for about an hour. 二叔 came to pick me up and was waiting at the Kuokuang Chaoma Station.

We also went to pick up my rice from 四叔's shop and parents stuff too. Then went home. For dinner 二叔 and I went around Fengjia and ate from the stalls. One was takoyaki stall, one was steak stall, and one was friend chicken stall. The frychook was a bit heavy and greasy, so wasn't a huge fan. Flavour good though, but the heaviness really ruins most of it. Had papaya milk for dessert. Then bought bread for breakfast from FM station. I found 木材麵包!! And of course my lemon cake. There was a bun using the Hsinchu peanut butter so I decided to try some.

Went home, tried to figure out luggage, really stressed cause I don't think I can fit them all... tried looking at posting all the figure stuff but with volumetric weight, it comes up to 8kgs, which would be about $1840, and buying an extra bag would be $120 NZD. Sooooo.... not really worth it.

Took a shower and bed. We can tetris again tomorrow.

Taipei Day 8 (Ace con 2)

 I managed to get up early!! Yima got me riceball from the shaobing youtiao stall. They had pickled veges in it, quite salty, and youtiao as the main. Also some vege? pork floss. Sugarless doujiang for drink. I couldn't finish all of the rice ball, and managed to leave at 9:50am and caught a bus to Taipei City Hall, then MRT to Nangang Exhibition Hall. I managed to get there about 10:55am. Spent 20 mins walking in line - they added barriers today lol, and got in. They also ran out of maps again...

I just checked out the stalls that are different today for the artists, and also had a look at some of the original artwork stalls since it's less crowded. I bought quite a couple more - 5 postcards illustrating Formosa insects and fauna, $175 ($35 ea),
a Zelda Tears of the Kingdom artbook for my friend Lake, $200,
2 postcards of a cat laser beam eyes and catsoup, $80, 
3 matte sticker sheets and a sticker set of cute animals (budgies, Formosa leopard cat x2, Formosa animals) $120 + $100,
2 sticker sheets (clear) of a cute porky breakfast an foods, $240,
A foxy chaishichang illustration as a clearfile ($90), a vinyl sticker roll of cute foxes and filigree pttersn ($230), 
Taiwan Office Lady vol 7, $250,
and another tub of the glue primer for EVA foam, 300ml, $250.

I made sure to say hi to the artist that drew the Danmeshi charms, and aso Tondemo Skill, let them know that a new trailer is out (but they were too tired to watch, understandably), they said their first customer today was also a Danmeshi fan. I celebrated that and wished them good con and thanked them. Said bye~

The E area was pretty stink. I think not enough creators signed up for 2 days, and the few artists left in that block doing 2 days gets hardly any foot traffic. They should at least aim to put them all at the front row, so that they're visible and getting some traffic. I felt sad for them. One artist that illustrated their own comic story (Song of the Sky) told me to take a sticker (they were selling) for free since I came all teh way from NZ, but I was like noooo I can't do that! So I opted to buy 2 sheets from them of their cute piggy breakfast foods theme. Thanked them and asked them to consider an ebook, since I have no space...

Got a few photos of some pretty cosplayers from Identity V, and a Frieren cosplayer. I asked them if they made theirs, but seems like they got it commissioned. No wonder the gold looks really good. It looks to be from a PVC as it has a texture on it, and holds the body well for the skirt flare. Niceeee. They looked really pretty too.

About here I had enough, and decided to go home. Rode the Wenhu Line from start to finish, and dozed off halfway. Amazingly I woke up in a stupor and the train had stopped at Wanfan Hospital. Get out and gooooo. Stopped by the mobile accessories shop, but they didn't have any suitable cases for my neighbour, and then bussed home. This bus (Roosevelt Rd Route) had cute black pikachu nui twins on the scanner near the back door, and I could see there being a lazy cat on teh coin fare box, some pretty pink floral things near the driving dash, a koi hanging from the rear mirror, and something else near the scanner up front. Cute. It was drizzling lightly and I changed out of my N95 asap, and walked home. The ubereats from last night is still there.... that food gonna be stank soon.

I just chilled for a bit, had cold noodles liangmian for lunch, a banana, and the rest of my rice ball. 

Around 3:20pm Yima and I went to Aduan Bakery - they used to be just on the bottom floor from Yima's building. The chef was in, IDK if he remembers me, but he seemed to remember me from NZ, so maybe he has some vague memory of me. I said hi, and had a quick chat - what I'm doing now, he said how's my mother and has she been back, I said she's doing well, but only came for a few days before going back (Yima added in here that she tested positive for covid then). Boss seems tired, but no blameo, Yima finished buying and I said goodbye. I think Aduan remembers me somewhat. The shop ladies are so nice too. Yima commented that not to stay too long cause sometimes if you've been away for too long you don't know what to chat about. And yes that's true, so I was happy to leave when she was done buying. They're only a 10 min walk away.

I just rested for the afternoon, and helped Yima buy some calcium from PChome. Then after dinner (diner was fish and spinach, yummy) I packed up most of my stuff into the suitcase, caught up on some animes and took a shower, and blogged and get ready for bed.

Taipei Day 7 (Ace con)

 Today's aim is Anime Creator Expo. I dunno who the guests are and what it is, but thought at least I can check out the artist alley. I got in around 12pm, took the 915 bus to Xinyi Taipei City Hall, and then Bannan Line to Nangang Exhibition Hall. They are in hall 2. Once I got in, you queue up to get in. Except, it's like those comiket lines. Self managing. I spent half an hour walking, yes, walking/moving in line. And then I finally got in. They ran out of maps... which is kinda uhhhh not good imo, so I didn't even where the fudge I was going. I managed to find a staff with a copy of the map to take a photo. Then I started browsing 2 stalls rows. Some of the stall placement was kinda iffy, like the walkway was too narrow for traffic to effcienctly flow through. 

After 2 rows, I had enough and went out to have lunch. I scouted out Mos Burger yesterday, and crossed the road, but needed the toilet first so I went into Hall 1 and borrowed their toilet. There was less of a queue here compared to where Ace was. The Ace stamp washing off so easily like... uhh hope they can still see my stamp. 

Then I walked past Mos burger and the row of shops there, sooooo busy, there's a huge line... but I spotted a Family Mart sign saying there's one 100m away... might as well go further where it's quieter. I ended up walking abut 10 mins maybe? It was lightly raining so I changed out of my N95 into KF94 and use the umbrella. I finally found the Family Mart, but since it was raining outside I couldn't really eat outside.... thankfully their dining area was fairly quiet with 2 people seated, and the CO2 monitor displayed around 580ppm. I chose a burger and a banana pack, plus a Pocari. $114. The staff heated up my burger and I went to the very end of the dining area. I was still uncomfortable unmasking so I ended up doing the eating while masked... halfway through 2 ladies decided to sit in the booth next to me. Whyyyyyyyyyy. And one kept sniffing. Ugh. I finished my burger as fast as I could and left. Drank my pocari on the way, N95'd up before I went back inside. 

I browsed the stalls and so much of it was Nijisanji or Hololive, or other Vtuber. Like the quality of the artwork is all professional and looks so nice. But it being vtuber it makes it fast for me to browse through so many stalls lol. I found one stall selling Enstars LOL. I found a stall selling self-made manujuus. Ohh they have that Blue Lock character that Emille likes. Buy as a surprise gift for her. $160.

And two people recognised my Golden Kamuy Bees Knees t-shirt! One stall sold Danmeshi and Tondemi Skill acrylics!! Woo!! I went around some more and there's a lot of stalls selling original art, which is quite cool to see. Cute animals and food. I found snake stickers and bought 3 sheets for $150.

I just spent my sweet time going around, and then made sure I had a break and went out for some water and banana. It's kinda chilly outside now. I found a Blue Lock cosplayer as I headed out, so took a photo for Emille. And then I spotted her oshi character with the crimson hair!! Someone cosplaying and they were wearing a hijab for the wig. That's sooo cute. Photo for Emille. xD

Once done, I headed back inside, and stopped by one of the booths that does 3D printing. Oh wow they are experiementing with 3D scanning and printing out a wig head. That's amazing!! That's what I want!! And they were selling a glue primer for EVA foam, it doesn't crack when you bend it. Wow yes please. Big pot 500ml for $350. They say they send via a SF courier (similar to DHL) if I were to look at having sent overseas. I can contact them via FB. Best buy.

I went back in for the area I missed in the corner of the map. It was around 4:30pm and some stalls already have started packing up. I asked and the story is they need to be packed and gone by close, otherwise they will be fined. Like whoa. At least give them 30 mins after close to pack up. Otherwise they lose sales time...

After the last row I realised the last block was the R18 block, and wow it's pretty big. Das OK I don't need to look in there.

Also lol what a long line for the Vtuber cutouts. People were queueing up for photos. I think Arima-sensi (one who illustrated the idolish 7 splash screen) is a guest as well.

Around 5pm I had enough and decided to stop by the stall with the Danmeshi merch since I thought I'd buy some Tondemo stuff as well, as I didn't see anything else I liked. I had a short chat with the artists there and they said only 2 people today recognised Danmeshi. We all excited for the anime.

Then I tried to find the exit (seriously, where isit?) and headed home. Got on the Wenhu line, everyone was going for the Bannan line, and managed to get in early and got a seat. The train stops for longer at the starting stop to let people on. I was so tired I ended up dozing off on the train. Took about 50 mins to get to my stop, and then bussed home.

Yima bought 八方雲集 poststickers for dinner. I had it with some janyougao and tianlajan. Then some sugarcane juice.

So sleepy.

Taipei Day 6 (Yong Le Market)

 Tody's aim is Yong Le market, pretty much a fabric district.

I went to the post office to buy some stamps for the postcards first, and then onto the bus to the MRT station. Got onto the green line, and nto Beimen. From here it's just a 10 min walk. I started at two craft shops with lots of beading, embellishments and other small haberdashery. Wow~~ there's so many variety~ I found a chalk pen and small beak plier at one and bought both for $60 and $105 respectively.

Next, I passed a "House of Cotton" and they had lots of different prints. I was getting pretty hungry so I started looking for somewhere to eat. I went around the block and found a cafe selling vietnamese food, called Anike, and I got the tom yum combo beef $160, and sat outside. Thankfully I found somewhere with outdoor seating. Oh wow the tom yum is really good. They also had he fresh chilli paste and lemon juice on self serve condiments, of course I had to get some. The flavour of the pho is really good, the onions aren't too overpowering and there's good depth with the seafood stock/umami. The rice noodle is also qq and chewy. Great stuff. I was so hungry though I ate my kumara pastry (literally baked kumara wrapped in dough) that I bought with the soup, since there was enough left. Very good. Yummy. The lady on the next table started to smoke so I quickly packed up and left. Bought the dishes into the store for the staff. Thanked them for the food. 

Onwards, finish my last side around the block. I found a shop selling mainly uniform and suiting. I managed to find one roll of checked 35% cotton 65% poly suitable for pants. It was iirc $240 for a yard, or "ma", and one ma is 90cm. The store staff suggested 1.4 ma/y and did a quick conversion in my head, about 1.2m, as the fabric is 150cm wide that's a plenty. Yes please. Total was $350. They asked where I was from, etc, the usual, there was an older gentleman, a younger one and a lady at the counter. I thanked them and left happily.

On towards Yong Le. They're on an old street as well, and there are heaps of eats too. I stopped just outside the building, as they had benches made of some type of ceramic brick orange concrete? built around the trees, I sat down, and spotted a juice drinks shop just next door, and got a dragonfruit juice for $60.

I sat back down on the brick coloured octagon benches, and drank. Make sure to rehydrate after yesterday (overtired and dehydrated). Once done I handed back my drink to the shop (after asking if there's a bin nearby). Inwards! I had a look around the outer foyer on 2F, there's like 2 fabric shops in the circle around the stairs.

Then I went in and oh wow. Oh. WOW. It's so deep and chocka full. It's like a whole forest of fabrics in here. And you can get lost and confused!!! There's SO MUCH. And so much variety, each shop will sell something a little different even if they have overlapping goods of the same type. The more you dive, the more you can get lost. I lost track of time. And like, by the time I was done it was about 5:30pm and a lot of shops have started to close. 

I bought a pink cat print cotton for $200 (2 ma/y) from a remnant bin, a remnant white sandwash satin $20, chalk pen water erasable and heat erasable $50 & $70, cotton muslin print for $100 (45cm x 75cm), and a cotton print of flamin' scissors (0.5 ma/y for $195). The boss that I bought the flamin' scissors print from (he tried so hard to sell me fabrics and said these are good for x, these are good for x) said someone from NZ is a regular customer and always buys his Belgian linen, 5y of each colour, and takes it back. Since the linen is dyed in Taiwan, it's way cheaper here. He showed me the linen, it has a really good sheen, fine and even, soft, and doesn't have a lot of knots in the fabric. IIRC he said it was $390/ma(y). Yeah for Belgian linen that would be a steal. I just checked the price and one store has it for $60/m. Yup. Boss told me since it's 5:30pm a lot of the shops starts to tidy up shop and close, as the market closes at 6pm. I thanked him and went on my way. He was right a lot of the shops have started closing action. I think I've been through most of the market anyway, so I did the last row, had a look, and then went out.

On the main street I spotted a shop that said they had indigenious handcrafts, so I stopped in to have a look. Wow they have a doorway that leads into another room, and keeps on going into a another room. It doesn't make full circle though. They have so many types of crafts and embellishments, and I spotted some ribbon trims with more tribal type patterns on it. I saw that they had chalk pens too, and one with a fine white tip that's heat erasable. $50. I got it.

Then headed towards the station. One guy, with an itabag (it was kinda dark so I couldn't see well) was trying to take a selfie with an anime girl standee from a series/IP I don't know if. I offered to take a photo for him, and he was like yes. Happy to oblige. Asked him to check the photo, and if he wasn't happy with it I'm happy to take another one. He was happy, and I told him I'm glad cause I can see that you're a big fan. Hehe, have fun~~ 

I passed by a truck sellin sugar cane and juice. I wanted one bottle but only had $1000 notes left... so said to the boss does he have any change? If not I'll buy 2 bottles. $150. He thanked me and I sai no problem, thank you for having the change, and went towards the station.

I made sure to N95 back up and headed onto the MRT home.

Once him, Yima had gotten beef noodles, the noodles were average nice, bit heavy on the garlic, bit too salty for the broth, noodles were above average but nothing to sing about, and the beef was satisfactory. Smells great though. Pretty good meal. I finished my bottle of Gungun Gurt and then had some of the sugarcane juice. 

Biaoger (cuz) asked me about NZ and Auckland and what it's like there, more of a if I were to tourist question. Happily obliged. They left shortly after. Only the older kid was here today. 

Then half an mandaringe for dessert. The mandaringe is peculiar, it's the same size as an orange, but green, and peels like a mandarin. It has really good flavour. 

I went to take a shower. Wow I'm so tired. I managed to figure out how to buy the ticket for ACE con tomorrow, $400, so I guess I'm going. I'm too tired to check the line up.

Taipei Day 5 (Wan Nian and Guang Hua)

 Just shopping today. God I am so tired. First stop by the post shop to buy some stamps to send postcards out. Then onto the bus to the MRT station.

Headed to Guang Hua via MRT first, as there are some new weeby stores in a nearby department store building Syntrend. They have Gundam Base and the Pili Store. I passed Donki first so decided to stop by, and it was fairly quiet. Which was very nice, considering Donki is already sensory overload. But way better than Chemist Warehouse - I hate that place. I love the decorations in Donki and the corresponding artwork of the Donki penguins. With it being quiet it wasn't as much of a drain as it usually would have been! I just bought some eyelash glue, a yuzu dupping sauce, green tea, some snacks and 2 bottles of Gungun Guruto. I forgot now I have to carry all of this for the whole day now... 

After coming out from the Donki Dungeon, I headed towards Syntrend. Seems like there's an eatery with outdoor seats in a small Guanghua plaza/courtyard place. There's a huuuuge tree where they built seats in a circle around the tree, and I just sat under the shade for a while and ate the youtiao shaobing sub Yima bought for me. How can something so plain be so yummy? 

Tidied up my face and N95'd back up. Inside we go! I went to Gundam Base first, and had a quick look around the shops on 6F. My friend didn't want any of the Base exclusives so I went to the Pili Store on 7F. They have way more merchandise of more of their series, and less displays. I found some TBF merch, it's different to the ones in Taichung. Overall, I think I enjoyed the Taichung Pili store more. The Taipei one was playing Soultra, a PV (J-rock) of 4? of their characters with anime-style illustrations too. Very cool. I think it's neat they're trying something new. 

There's also an anime cafe there on 7F (no wonder I keep smelling food), and they were having a Shingeki no Kyojin collab. They also had prev collab goods from Conan and Digimon, too. Awww. The Conan tshirts were really cool but I didn't feel enough attachment to buy them.

Off I go to Ximen now. Onto the MRT and out. This time the Red Building was open, so I went inside for a toilet. They have a genderless toilet! And also a transgender mini exhibit in the main octagon building. Very very cool. It runs until this Sunday. There's a cafe and a gift shop in the Octagon building, and then the rest of the building are various shops. I didn't go all the way into the back of the rectangular building. 

On my way to Wan Nian Building now. I found it! In I go. I feel like a lot of the cluttered and messy shops on 3F have been tidied up, like they have better layout and shelving now. I think using the acrylic boxes to display figures is the current trend. On 4F it's just, a lot of Gunpla and model toy stores. Great, because this is what I came for! Well, to be precise, shopping for my friend. The shop staff are friendly and invite you to ask them if you're looking for something. I even found the sushi set that my friend was looking for as a gift.

Mag Freak is still on the 4F and just next to the elevator. Sadly, a lot of the anime merch now aren't for my interests, so I don'y have a lot to buy. On 4F there's a small shop with all sorts of merch (including some bootleg) run by an older auntie, and I took some time to sift through. A lot of these would make great gifts but they weren't the right fandoms for friends that would enjoy these. There's also a store with heaps of Pokemon plushies, I found Flygon!! But he's $940 so I gave up. There's also a small Sanrio type store with lots of anime nuis hanging outside too, sadly, none for me. I think I have fun just looking through the various merch in case I find something suitable for a gift or something I'd like. I get enjoyment from that. 

As usual, there's a lot of shoe shops and fashion stores. I hope this building continues to thrive, it's a great place that's been around since the 80's and filled with many childhood memories for lots, I'm sure.

By the time I was done it was arunf 4:30pm, and I just spent some time looking around the stores. Then I started getting hungry (I haven't hydrated properly today either) so decided to go home. I was pretty exhausted.

When I got out of Wanfang Hospital MRT, there was a vendor selling danbing on a cart. $50. Yes please, I'd like one. It looked really nice. Take it home with my 2 big gunpla kits on the bus.

Got home, doffed, washed my hands, and ate my danbing (egg spring onion cake). The sauce was really nice, the vendor added 2 sauces. One spicy and one something else. Yima went out to buy stinky tofu at my request, and the one she got was a pretty big portion. The pickles from this shop wasn't that great. The tofu stinky though and the sauce was great. Just chilled and was absolutely smashed.

I thought the Gunpla would have some space in the box like figure boxes but... because of how the plates are made it's actually just bulky and lots of space taken.

Taipei Day 4 (Taipei 101 and 44 South Military Village)

 I was really tired so I woke up late, and as a result ended up going out in a semi-hurry (forgot my nuis) and arrived at Taipei 101 around 12pm. 

When I came up the stairs from the MRT station I was greeted by a huge Eva statue/showpiece. There was a Asuka cosplayer taking photos with it lol. Amazing.

I was confused once I got up to the 5th floor for entry. After I paid (you get a discount if you show national ID, $460) They said to take the elevator... I thought it was the normal elevator... but no they have a special section to line up for the special elevator... I managed to find it. At the time I went in it wasn't busy, but when I came back down I got in just before all the tour groups lined up. 

The elevator going up goes SO FAST like omg, your ears pop and you can feel the slight G. The elevator goes dark and the lights on the top come on, and there's a screen that shows you what floor you're on. Once you get to Floor 88, it's the observatory deck. The visibility said 50-70% today but it was really clear! I could see so far, they say on a good day you can see Hsinchu but I couldn't figure out the correct direction lol. I just took some time to admire the awe of the height of the building, and decided to change back into an N95 (after changing out of it as I got out from the MRT), as it wasn't that busy but I could hear people coughing, so better be safe than sorry. There's a cafe and souvenir shops up here.

I eventually went up to the observatory deck, floor 91, and it's an outdoors one. So cool~~~ it's really sunny and there were iron chairs/tables so I decided to sit down and eat my suijianbao despite the sun. Lol no one else was sitting here. Ah well, like, how many can say they ate lunch on the 91st floor deck, with the wind blowing in their face? I really wanted shade but I'm committed now. Ate my 3 buns. Then had a look at the fireworks showcase/exhibition on the 91st floor. The videos of how they put the fireworks show together in 2015 was cool. They had engineers from France come to help. And then it became a tradition lol.

Once done, I went back to the 88th floor, browsed the souvenir shop (everything is so epensive here, like NZ pricing but expensive gift shop pricing), and bought some postcards. The cheapest was $50... and those are photos only. The watercolour art ones are $100... 

Then I wanted to go see the ball,  and finally found the hallway entrance for the ball!! What I came to see!! It's pretty still today (as with only small breeze up on deck), so won't see the ball move. But it's soooo cool. The damper ball is covered in yellow paint that has glittery shine to it. They have these damper babies mascots too. You can go to the exit floor to view the ball as well and the thick cables that hold it. Amazing feat of engineering. So coooooool. They also had a short video showing what the ball does and an intro for it.

Then I could see a tour group coming, and there was already a line for the elevator down, so I quicky got in line before they did. I can't belive I spent 3 hrs up here lol (its 3pm) and once down I wanted to go to 44 Village.

The Village is just a small area now. Like 3 or 4 rows if houses. Once row is a daycare cenre for kids. The other has been converted into a museum, and the other row across the broad street are a drinks shop, cafe, and gift shop. I spent some time in the musuem. 

The narrow alleys (albiet nice and tidy and free of clutter now) are what the old alleyways at Laolao's village felt like.  

I found a tree with rectangular roots just outside the row of houses. This tree must've grown in a  contraint, maybe against walls of a house? Very peculiar. Inside the musuem they have a TV with documentaries and other clips about 44 South Military Village. I didn't have enough time... since I wanted to fit CKS Memorial Hall in as well. I asked the keeper if the clip were available online somewhere, or if they could only be seen here, since I was tight on time. He said he's not aware they're online. I had a small chat and he asked where I was from, etc, and then had to take a call. I said bye~

I was thirsty so got a drink $55 (donggua and oat milk) at the Cupfy shop just outside, and then decided to go back in because even if I left now, at most I will have 1.5 hr before the Memorial Hall closes. And it'll be a repeat of Anping Treehouse. So I talked to the keeper again telling him I changed plans and decided to watch the videos until close. It's 4:30pm now. He said there's like 8 clips. I think I managed to get through 6 of them. One of them is a history of the village. Another is a documentary with stories from the residents. Two of them were about the light shows (3 yr plan) for the village. One was a wedding video about a kid from the village getting married at the village. The keeper let me watch until 5:20pm, and that was also exactly when one of the videos finished. I said thank you to him, I enjoyed it, and left. 

Outside I sat on the small hills made in the shape of rooftops of where the old houses were. I had a look and pondered if I should go to the Pili shop as they're open until 9:30pm. But it was actually a little chilly and decided to go home as I was also getting hungry. It's so hard to do this, because if I could dine indoors I could just keep going... but because of covid, it's much harder to find outdoor dining in Taipei compared to other cities. *sigh*

I went home, it's a shorter commute on the MRT than compared to going to Taipei Main Station. If by car it's like 16-20 mins on the freeway. By MRT it's like 25 mins.

I had a good dinner, the kids left just as I got home, as they have music class. I saw cousin (Yima's son) and his wife. I skinned a papaya and ate half of it, it's really sweet. 

Tried to write on the zoo postcards, but because it's pearly paper, it's super hard to write with a ballpoint pen. Ugh took double the time and my hand is so sore.

I wanted to sleep early but it's 11pm now. Lol. :') Try get up early tomorrow but like not counting on it, sob.

Taipei Day 3 (Muzha Zoo)

 Because I tired myself out yesterday I just took the morning slow to recover a bit before another big day of walking at the zoo. 

Yima bought me lianmian again, but this time the vendor added chilli and omg it's so spicy!! Never knew you could have chill spice. Very delicious though. By the time I headed out it was 1pm. I thought I would need to go to the MRT and take it to Zoo stop, but it's actually like 10 mins from here??? By Bus??? Wow???? That close?

So I thought the 530 bus would go to the zoo, but turns out to goes to the south entrance for the Maokong gondola. Opps. Oh well let us go backwards then. I paid $50 via Yoyocard and got on the gondola, they had open windows so lots of lovely ventilation, I took my n95 off and swapped to my KF94 a few moments into the ride. The view is awesome. There's so many big, old trees where the gondola goes over. So lovely. I could see up to Taipei 101.

I got off at the 1st stop for the Maokong gondola and then on the way out, going down the levels, one level had frozen Yakult + OJ. Ohhhhh yes please gimme the slush. $70. By the time I drank it just became a chilled drink lol. Still delicious.

When I exited from the Gondola I headed towards the zoo entrance, but there was a vendor selling something with no one around, I had a look and it was a train ride???? for $60. I asked where to and the staff said to the Zoo entrance. Can I ride if it's just myself? Yes? Hell yeah. 

I paid by Yoyocard and the staff called the train over.  Whilst waiting the staff made small chat and asked where I was from. Then asked what I had planned for Taipei. And commented that next week he has a friend coming over from Singapore to visit for a week. The train got here and Omg it's soooo cute. and I was the only passenger so VIP train all for me?? Hahah awww I really enjoyed me ride. I asked the driver if it was busier on weekends and holidays, since a lot of parents ride with their kids. Yes, and usually normal weekdays it's really quiet, but long weekends/multiple public holidays are busy too. The ride ended and I had to walk a short distance to the zoo. Aww I really enjoyed the ride. 

They have a special manhole cover! There were vendors selling toys and themed kids hats at the front of the entrance. I purchased a ticket for $60 and entered the zoo. 

Oh wow there's sooo many school kids. They're so loud. From different schools too. I decided to go to the gift shop first, so I don't run out of time later. Got my postcards, $50, pearluscent cardstock each featuring a different animal. The gift shop was sooo loud with the kids too. Poor staff.

After that, I got out and headed towards the Formosa animals area.

I was blessed today to see the old Formosa bears!!! Both of them!! They are soooo cute. Sadly didn't see their V but the bears were having a good time. 

I also saw a few of the other feline Formosa animals, and the Pangolin!! One of them were missing a left hind feet. I wonder what's their story. So Muzha Zoo was the first in the world to successfully breed pangolins in the zoo, wow what an achivement!! They're really cute too.

The monkeys lol, the ones that soak in the onsen, they were all out today.

After the Formosa animals area, I headed to the Panda House. And oh my god this place would be packed on weekends. Like you wouldn't be able to photo the pandas. When I arrived the pandas were putting on such a show, running around the enclosure, one of them even dipped into the pool! And then after a while they sat down and ate, both at the same time lol. The house was built so that the ramps going up to the viewing line is like a queue, and that its a long queueing walkway for teh viewing level. There are signs asking you to keep smooth movement so other people can have a turn as well. I went upstairs when the pandas sat down to eat, and they have a Panda Cafe!!! It's like Shirokuma cafe, but panda. I didn't go in but the statue outside was very cute. And then when I went into the gift shop there's a Shirokuma statue!!!!!!!!!!!! LoL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it. I had a look around, wanted a t-shirt in a design that was only in the kids tees. Aww so sad. I got a big panda cushion as a gift for a friend. 

They also had postcards but I figured since I had already bought some it's enough.

I went out and it's about 30 mins to closing. I guess I'll do the Pangolin dome?? Since it's close. The staff told us to exit by 5pm, so I just zoomed through. There's heaps to see as well. There's a dark house for some mammals. And I saw turtles!!! They're sooooo cute. And two of them were having a meal. Nom nom slowly. There's also a poison dark frog breeding corner, and some insects. Some birds (blue cheeked bee eater) were flying overhead. And interestingly, they used plastic chains as a screen so the birds outside an enclosure don't escape. I saw a mackaw too. Didn't see the sloth or tamarin. The dark exhibit had a couple of mammals (3 enclosures I think?) scuttling around. It's a really cool dome. Like the design and the structure was really well thought out. Once out, it was 5 min to close, so I headed towards the exit.

After N95'ing up just before the exit, I then discovered they had a stamp you use for re-entry... so I tried to stamp my book and the postcards. But since the postcard was special paper it didn't stick that well. And I was in a rush as everyone was going out. Once out I made sure to take a photo of the sign-wall. And then took the bus Brown3, since there were still seats, and this bus was one of thise mini buses! So cute. It took me the other way after Muzha Market, so I got off asap and then since they had Youbike right outside I hired one and rode all the way to the docks down stairs from the 社區. Then parked the bike, doffed my N95, nasal sprayed and went upstairs since the kids will be there.

I went upstairs and the kids were writing homework, and by the time I put my stuff down the younger one had finished. Yima set up the table for dinner and I ate while the older one finished his 國語 writing. Dinner was yummy, it was Chishang rice again. The dishes were good too. I forgot to take a photo.

Once done  just sat on the sofa and found Doraemon airing on TV so watched that, then found a programme introducing the island/aboriginal way of life for one of the islands in Taiwan. The kids left around 7:45pm, and I went to take a shower. 

I could hear the rubbish truck as I came out, and Yima needed to chuck some away, but I was already clean and in my PJs... she said the truck comes down the street around 9pm. 

It's 9:30pm now, think I might watch an ep of anime and then sleep. Maybe Taipei 101 or Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall tomorrow and Pili store???

Taipei Day 2 (Animate and Underground Shopping Mall)

 Yima got my lobogao and a danbin today. Hooray! This lobogao also had ham in it, and some onion/garlic, I think. Not my ideal but still yummy. The danbin (egg flatbread omelette?) was OK. I ate it all and had milk tea for drink.

Once done, I popped twice?? and hopped out. I got to Ximen around 11am and had a look at the Red Building. It looks really cool. I didn't go inside. A lot of shops are closed Monday.

Then I headed towards Animate - and got pulled in by a lady trying to sell me Nu+Derma skincare. That took about 20-30mins with them demo-ing products because I'm not good at pushing people away. Their products, on special, are reasonable, but full price, it's like $150 for a single product. Ew. Feels nice though.

Once I'm free I headed to Animate and spent like 1.5hr in the dungeon looking at the 2nd hand stuff/Lashinban. Cause all my fandoms are older or niche, I have to dig through the "misc" sections. I managed to find 1 Appmon badge of Astra and Musimon!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Score!!!!!!! Only $50! This is a new badge for me.... that means there's a set somewhere... aw man. I can't complete. I had to take him home though.

Whilst I was browsing through the first misc section, I got a call, and it ended up being the courier for the SD cards I ordered off PChome???? I thought I selected conbini pickup???? The courier guy was really nice though, and asked if I wanted to leave it at the kanri-room and asked where it is. I'm like uuuuh let me call home and ask where it is cause I'm staying with a relative. So I called the landline and Yima was home, so I let her know how much it cost ($777) and she was able to pick it up for me. I called the courier back and told him to hit the doorbell number, and someone is home to be able to receive the delivery. Thank goodness. I was so apologetic but he was really nice about it 😭

I managed to find Animate cafe, but it's Blue Lock. So I just took photos of the outside and left. They didn't have a toilet either... I went to the nearby 7 and they had a toilet. I was getting hungry (almost 2pm) and bought an onigiri (bacon egg) and baumkuchen (choc outer ring). I saw outside the Taisugar building near Animate and ate it. There's a pair of trains outside which had a QR code to swipe (I took a photo to check the story later).

Then went back inside Animate to get Blue Lock photos for a friend and bought them a Blue Lock plush as xmas gift.

Next I tried to find toranoana and walked by too far. The entrance isn't easy to find as it's 2F up a building with just the security guard/counter on the first floor in a small space. There's some interesting TW made creations but most of the stuff is 18+ or BL/GL so I didn't stay too long as it doesn't interest me at this point.

Continued on towards Beimen, and passed a shop selling beef pepper cakes. Yes please!!! Bought 2, $120. Continued down and there's a travel plaza, nice open space, and seating, so I sat down and ate a pepper cake. Realised I was dangerously low on water so only ate 1. Then kept walking towards the Underground Shopping Mall entrance. And spotted a drinking fountain? Ok! The red brick building for this restaurant, I assume, is closed, and there's public seating so I just sat and ate the last pepper cake. Yummy. But also very filling. I got through half and started to struggle. I saw what looks like a homeless spread out some plastic from a distance, and they laid down on it, and scratched their butt (under their shorts). He also checked out the bushes under the trees where the seating are before he did that. I wonder what he was trying to find. Cigarette butts maybe? 

I headed towards the Mall/Station entrance and there's an old brick relic!! From the Qing dynasty!! The park/facility it's part of seems to be closed today. But I still got to see the brick wall up close!!!

So cool. Then in the station there's more relics!!! Like from excavations!! So lit!!!!!! I wish I had more time to stare properly as it was almost 4pm, so I tried to make it quick. They had like 12 pits in total I think.

I just browsed the mall and went up and down a lot. A lot of shops are closed Mondays. I forgot to keep an eye out for the maid-themed eateries since my aim was to finish the other side of the mall. I ended getting confused again cause I went through the same shops a couple of times, and also coming out and getting confused which direction I went in. I ended up shopping until 8pm... and headed home (since I wasn't hungry). I decided to do one Ichibankuji draw for World Trigger, and got C-sho. I got Konami so out of that set (it's blind boxed), it's the best result!!! Stopped by the Vineyard bakery before I got on the bus, got a lemon cake (it's not covered though... worried about fomite transmission), and a "kumara bake" which looks like a kumara enclosed in dough.

Once I got home, I felt super tired. Had a tiny bit of dinner to eat, rehydrated, showered, had a mini bath for my feet, and it's 11:30pm now after blogging.

Taipei Day 1

 Yima went to line up and buy a special youtiao for me. It was youtiao sandwiched in a shaobing. It's really yummy? No wonder people line up to buy it.

I just mucked around and chatted with Yima until she needed to leave to go help a relative. I decided to go out for a walk in the neighbourhood (around 11am now) and walked past the Performing Arts centre. Seems like they have a performance on at 2:30pm today. I also found a gammy shop that still has its "post stamp seller" sign up, I asked the boss if they sell stamps and he said no, it's a old sign. So cool. There's a stationary shop just further down the road a bit and they sell all sorts of traditional toys and I even spotted some beyblades!!! out the front. I asked if they have stamp collecting books and they said no, but the post shop should have blank ones.

Found a toy store selling Gunpla and they had unicorn for $1418. Next to a 全聯福利中心. I also got dad's battery while I was in PX mart.

I walked back to have lunch, and Yima bought me lianmian (cold noodles) for lunch when she went out earlier. They used wasabi instead of garlic, and it was really yummy, cold and straight out of the fridge. Aww man that was nice.

I needed to poop again (thrice now), and then felt a bit unsettled. I was a little worried so I took a RAT test (negative) and decided it must just be from all the irregular eating.

Decided to go to Taipei Underground Shopping Mall as I realised exactly how much I wanted to try fit in in this week. I saw some cosplayers from the back transferring to the Red line from the Bannan Line (one Genshin, one ?? short ice blue hair and black top) so it must be for that event run by Fancy Frontier. Got to the mall, and boy am I glad I wore my N95. It is packed! I started walking down and yes I remember these few animanga shops. But wait, I think the number of gashapon has increased??? And also there's more shops now?? As I walked down further. Definitely more box houses. I spent 3+ hrs and only managed to get through one side...

I did a gachapon for Tatung rice cookers. Heh they're really cute and come with a rice paddle and cup and everything! $120 for a spin, did 2 and got a friend one.

There's also World Trigger ichiban kuji!! Wao!! Ony 1 A prize left and it's a Yuuma fig. I will consider it. 

I saw 2 Yunos but no Asta.... also found the ALO Kirito figma a friend wanted so that's great. I found Lin Setsu A nendo for $6500... lol. Store said no photos so I took one of the storefront so I remember which store. Think the boss said something about it being exclusively sold in Taiwan or something? Naaah. But it's rare now, that's for sure. I also saw one box selling the World Trigger gacha figs, and Yuuma is $250. I think I'll go back to get him.

I spotted a few boxes selling Pili figures but no SBH from the chibi set. Also saw a cosplayer buying something from a store. Miku wig, pearly dark coloured horns and tail.

There's soooo many gashapons... and more stores selling trading/blind boxes and the lower crane-grade figures, Q-posket, etc. So many people too. I called it quits around almost 6pm (getting hungry and tired) and walked back to bu the Kirito figma, and unsure about the GGO one because it's a display one and I want to double check with my friend.

Get on the MRT and get home, it takes about 30 mins and then 10 mins or so for the bus. 

Yima had cooked dinner!! Awww. She also cooked the Top Grade Rice from Chishang that I gifted her. Everything was really yummy!!! The rice was yummy too!!!

Just chilled and had half a bath from the wash water as I wanted to sit. So my feet got a little bit of soaking. 

Sleep now, postshop tomorrow and maybe I will finish the other half of the Underground Shopping Mall.

Taitung Day 3 (Guanshan)

 I had lobogao for breakfast. Yummy!!! This is what I have been craving. Pity there's ham in this one, a vegetarian one is the exact flavour I wanted. But it's good enough, considering I can even have this.

After I sorted out the rest of my luggage, I left for the Guan Shan Farmers Assoc., got lost, rode past too far, but found it. They had a couple of rice, so I chose a gift pack award winning rice, since I forgot to buy an extra one for one of the uncles. Ride back, drop into Family Mart and grabbed 2 onigiris for the train ride.

Then went back to the homestay and the proipertress offered to box it and send it for me. Aww thank you so much. It was $150 via courier but $80 via post office - she offered to send it for me so I can go ride the bike trail of the old railway. 

Off I go - wow I really realise how much the electric bike compensates for muscle. I managed to find the bike trail but missed the onramp, and ended up riding along the road for a while. I pass a Tudigong miao just before where teh onramp was and must have rode into a chopstick, which was flung up so I stopped as it made a noise. I thought it might've been a warning from Tudigong, so I made sure to greet him. And decided to keep going. Passed a place that does honey, stopped at the entrance and took a photo. Then continued. Damn the rice fields here are awesome too. I'm thinking now, is this a bike train or a normal road?? and saw a fenced path higher up and thought that might be it. Tried to find an on ramp under the bridge but that wasn't it. It was way too rocky. So went back and rode further along. Found it!! Up I go, and wow being higher up gives a nicer view. The old railway station of Yuemei is left there, and a small portion of the track. What used to be the track has been converted into an ashalt riding path. It's a slight downward slope going down, and I was tight on time, so I had to turn around when I reached the old railway station. 

Going back was a bit hard, since it's a slight upwards slope. Saw the part of the trail where I missed initially and the view is very nice. I made it back down the ramp, past the Tudigong, and back to the homestay at 10:50am. Took some minutes to cool down and wipe my sweat, and then packed the rest of my things into my bag.

The proipertress came back and handed me the change - thank her so much. Then she dropped me off to the train station. I N95'd up in the car, and thanked her for a wonderful stay. 

Pity I didn't have time to explore the old Guanshan station, only saw it in passing from the main road intersection. I made my way onto the platform, since there's no one (I actually realised later I got in early), so I demasked and ate a onigiri in the 15 min window. They announce and start accepting people onto the platform officially about 10 mins before the train arrives. 

I got onto the train, Taroko Express, and had an aisle seat on the left side. There's enough space to stick a big lugagge case but the seemingly European person in front reclined the chair a couple of times in the trip, causing me to squash my luggage against my knees. 🙃 Gee you are not helping your stereotype. The trip was pretty uneventful, but the CO2 monitor stayed 1200-1300ppm so I didn't feel comfortable unmasking... I needed to pee at one point and it was at a rocky part of the track. No choice, I had to wait for the toilet to open and whilst waiting my luggage rolled out towards the person across the aisle. I saw them stop it, I'm so sorry 😭 I don't know when the train will stop rocking as hard before my stop. Pissing whilst the train was rocking so hard was an experience too as it's a metal squat toilet. I didn't see a bin for the tissues so I flushed it down. Quickly went back to my seat and apologied to the gentleman next to me. About an hour left to go. I arrived at Taipei Station, and anaged to exit out. I feel like the station has gotten so big?

Anyway, sat outside, there's a row of people sitting outside here but I tried to distance... and then a lady sat near me. Um, oh well. I guess at least there's a nice breeze? I had to eat. I finished my other onigiri and then masked back up and tackled the MRT. Arriving at Zhong Xiao Fushin after riding Bannan Line, the station looks familiar so it's the same as what I remember.

Then transferring onto the brown line, the station is as I remember. But I don't remember the carrige being this narrow???? I may have misremembered. 

Got off at Wanfang Hospital, deducted $30 for the ride. I asked the staff at the info desk if there's space on the bus to put a big luggage cause I don't want to be causing problems for other passengers. He said at this time of the day it's not too crowded so should be OK. There is an area. I checked google but it seems like I need to take more than 1 bus for a bus stop near here? Uhhhh guess I might taxi?? I spotted some taxis waiting at the hospital so and I saw CCTV cameras so judged it OK. 

I asked the driver to take my to Yima's address, he wrote it down on a paper pad next to his steering wheel. How interesting. The ride was $130. I managed to remember the right door, and rang the doorbell. The elevator looks different on the inside. Yima welcomed me in. 

Had the peauts I brought in from Guanshan nightmarket - they were still good, as pre-dinner. Then Yima went to get dumplings for dinner. They were yummy. This shop makes their own dough. Yima unfortunately has memory issues now after her infection in June. I will check and see if there's any supplements that might be helpfu for her, and she can decide if she wants to take them.

We just chatted and chilled. Took an early shower, kinda tired now. Yima looks after her grandkids after school on weekdays. Oh noooo.... covid risk as kids/schools are infection hotbeds. :') God help me. 

Taitung Day 2 (Chishang)

I can't believe I am finally here, the place I dreamed of, ever since I saw a documentary about the area and the farmer's collective mission to keep the area organic.

In the morning, the proipetress brang me 水煎包 x2 and 豆漿. The 水煎包 was pretty lit - cabbage and some mince. Very nice. The spicy sauce was also very nice. Sat by the window and stared outside while I ate, and saw a brown spotted bird of medium size. How queer. It just loitered slowly by the window for a bit. Then I went to check if my laundry was dry yet, nope.

So I went and had a look around in the farmyard, it was very cute. The proipetress grows lemongrass, a type of grass that looks like weed but smells like passionfruit. And a "mysterious fruit" which is a little red berry with white flesh. She said it eat it after lemon, and the taste will be more prominent. It will taste like lemon first and then change to orange. How interesting. There's also 桂花 and mulberry and other sorts. The proipetress likes to make tea and other products from it.

After checking that out, I checked the time table - there's a train at 10am. Ok, off I go - the proipetress double checked for me. Thanks!! The ticket was $27 and I thought, 10 mins is ok - KF94 up on ear saver. Sat next to an auntie who asked me questions, and was travelling with her family and grandkids. She was very friendly.

I got off at 池上 and wow the station is so cute. Amazing. They have painted artwork and calligraphy along the tunnel connecting the platform and station hall. There's a small shop at the station selling mochi - I took a photo and made sure to come back later. 

Off I go, I found the bicycle rental. There's a bunch of aunties making work hard for the bosslady. Soz. I'll wait patiently. She suggested an electric bike for me. Never rode one before - sure thing! $300 for the day - return at 5pm. 

I met another lady who also rented the bicycle and talked to her. She was going to 大池豆腐, so sure I went along. Since they sell out fast, and once sold out, they're sold. I lucked out in that there's still a small table, and it's right next to the gate so as close as possible to fresh air. The lady (I later learnt her name was Amy) treated me to one, I wanted 豆花 so she got me one ($35). She also got 豆皮 and shared 2 pieces with me. Even without any sauce it was still pretty yummy. The sugar syrup/water in the 豆花 was brown sugar, so it's yummy and very fragant. Quite soft and silky. Niceeee. Very good.

After that we headed to Kaneshiro tree. We started off at the wrong end of Brown Bouvelard, but that's fine! We stopped at the Waterwheel and lots of people were taking turns to take photos. Pity it's sunny today (relentless), and not cloudy. Makes for harsh lighting. Then off to Kaneshiro tree. Lots of people too. I helped quite a few people take photos and they were generally happy with what I took. Heh. Whilst waiting I spotted a rice plant with the pink eggs of a snail on it. 😭 childhood memories. I remember there being a fair amount of these eggs in the rice paddies near my old house, and even though they are a pest it was fun to spot them.

They put little manhole plates into the ground on the famous spots and where the camera was.That was neat. Made sure to take some photos of actual Brown Bouverlard. I got Amy one where she's sitting on the yellow lines and landscape. She was happy. We also stopped somewhere and she managed to get a jumping photo of me in the rice grains. Yuuuss. Down the Bvld we go. I stopped at the ice cream truck/stand and got a bottle of ice oolong tea instead. $50.

After the tree we headed along to the top of Brown Bvld. The photo frame and sign is here. There is a rest stop and I went to the toilet up the road first, accidentally stopped at a homestay, and got redirected further up. I should've taken the bike, didn't know it was that far lol. After that I came back and got a custard apple ice block. $55. Nice stuff. There was a bicycle tour group that arrived as I got back from the toilet and they spent a long time taking photos, amongst other people. Plus rest (I are the rest of my breakfast bread from yesterday and 3 biscuits left) and waitng for photo chance, we spent about an hour here? There's a statue of Mr Brown (coffee) but he's gone off for repairs. So it's just the viola/cello. Someone stuck a branch in the middle of the cello, so you can pretend to play it lol. 

After this stop, we went to 大觀亭 Great View Pavilion. Daaaamn the view from top is amazing. Both sides. Just. *french kiss*

Hell the whole place has an amazing view. Now I know why they wanted to protect this view. It's awesome. Moves the heart. No words. Magnificient. 

We wanted to go to 錦園洗衣亭 but got lost and ended up at Dapo Pond instead. They have kayak hire! Sadly I'm not prepared, otherwise I would go. There was a busker playing jazz, and I put in $10 for him a little later.

I saw an ice cream stand so I went there immediately as I arrived. Parked the bike, ohhh no there's also a 豆花 stand. I decided to get 嫩仙草 which turned out to be iced grass jelly drink. Like it was nice, but I can't help but think there's a garlicy taste in it? Maybe from the fridge they made it in? It was $30 or $40 I think.

Then I went and sat down near Amy while she was taking heaps of photos. I finished my drink, we to the bathroom to wash my hands, and then back for the ice cream.... oh not the tea eggs people are back. 2 tea eggs please. $40. I asked where I can get postcards. They said the post shop should have some with photos on it. Cool.

The tea eggs were really hot, they said did I want to smash them? There's a brick covered in thick brown paper. Oh cool, yeah! It blended in with the table so well lol. Since it was too hot, I went to get ice cream - they have honeydew! $60. All goods. Small money for fun time. I saw down to lick my ice cream, and didn't end up eating my tea eggs... Amy left to go eat delicacies in town. I took photos around the pond, then decided to go to the post office before it closes, since it was close. I got there, and there's a water bison statue outside. Neat!!! They didn't have any, just blank ones. But the staff lady told me to go to the bookshop across teh road. Cool! Okay it's 80m, google says, I ended up biking too far. Twice. Lol whoops. Turns out it's very small and much closer than I thought. It's a really cute small bookshop. 5 postcards at $35 each. Thanks! The bookshop lady said they didn't have any stamps collecting book though. So sad.

Next, back to the pond, let's go to the 錦園洗衣亭. I cycled along Dapo pond and took photos. There's people fishing! The view is just stunning. Stopped by a couple of small pathways into the rice paddies, and took photos. The clouds have come and now there's a visible stream of sunlight coming through the clouds near the mountains... beauty... helped some other people get photos, and one lady offered to take a photo of me. Thanks! I think she managed to get a jumping photo (I haven't sorted them out). There's one guy with a big guitar bag, and I offered to get him photos since he was up on teh viewing deck, but you can get a better view from the paddy path just next to the viewing deck. He was happy with the photo I took. Makes me happy!

Onto and finally at the Laundry Pavilion. It's a cute little water channel. Next to it a farmer was harcesting rice, and they were using the chute to empty the rice from the harvesting vehicle into another one. It's like 4:30pm and I needed to go to return the bike. I decided to head back to the top of Brown Bvld to buy rice in those small packets I saw, but it was closed...

Since it was cloudy, photos were better now. A worker was repainting the Brown Bvld letters on the signpost in white paint. I got someone to take photos of me. Why am I so unattractive lol. Ah well. I'm got and sweaty.

Alright, off I go, to return the bike. On the way back I went along Dapo pond, a local? was harvesting something near what I think are the lotuses in the pond. He had a little cutter. And then saw an artwork statue I missed earlier. Oh shit I totally forgot to Pokego today. Passing by the water channel next to teh cycling path opposite the pond, somelocal caught a fish!! And was taking it out of the water channel as I rode past. That's so cool. There's fish in this wider channel??? Ahhhhh.

Ride fast now. Back to the train station. Return the bike. Told the boss lady that I was very happy and riding it was easy. She was happy to hear that, and commented on how some people say they weren't happy. I was like ??? that's so sad but didn't say anything much back, just thanked her and left. I headed towards the Farmers Assoc. store and met Amy on the way, she was going to return the bike. Said meet you at the store. 

I ended up spending like $2500 at the store, buying rice, and coming out. First purchase $1400, of black fungus, glutinious rice, and all rice, then regret cause the bag is heavy. Then rested with Amy outside. She gave me a fried mochi-like snack from 好煎炸 store and I said, are you sure??? Well I won't say no. Amy went to take photos of the food stores next door, and I went back inside and bought another 2 bags of rice, $1000, and asked the coutner gentleman if they do sending for me. Oh cool, they do! He gave me a form to fill out, and I stood on the side trying to figure the form out to send to uncle's shop. I asked how much, and he said it's free over $2000 purchase. Oh cool! And he was patient with me when I said I'm not familiar with the form. Thanks so much. 

After that, I went out and said to Amy, I am going to go to the 飯包 place for dinner, and she was going to go get something else. Said bye, and I went. They only have signature fanbao left. That's fine. $90. I wanted to sit outside next to the train carriage but they closed it off. Awww. Fortunately there is seating outside the toilets so I got myself some soup and sat out there. It's a bit dark. When I washed my hands upon arrival, there's a brown spider as big as my palm near the sink... gave me a surprise.... no thanks (there's no glass). I had the soup and checked the train timetable. Oh... Next one at 6:44pm otherwise it's a 9pm one. Okay that's 20 mins... guess I'll take the dinner home to eat. Rearranged my shopping and went. Amy sent me a LINE message asking where I am, I said I am still here... I don't see you... I was at the toilets... on the other side. I met up with her again and walked to the station. Her bus is at 8pm. She was taking photos of the station and I went to buy my ticket, and the mochi. Ticket $27, mochi $150. It's Yuzu flavoured! Also picked up my train ticket for tomorrow.

Saw Amy taking photos from the entrance, so went out and said goodbye properly. Then I went to catch my train, only like 5 mins left. 

I made sure to wash my face and N95 up at the 飯包 place, since my KF94 is dank and sweaty. Good choice, someone was coughing on the train carriage. Ew. I'm gonna suffer tomorrow... pray.... (there's no business class tickets left).

Walk home, get inside, eat my dinner. It's actually really good? Everything is tasty and not heavily flavoured. The rice is great. Like you just keep eating. Not sure if hunger, or. Then I had one of the tea eggs.

Went outside to clear my rubbish, and the proipetress came out to answer m question I sent her earlier over LINE. I didn't see her reply lol. yes she has lobogao (turnip cake) for breakfast. Yuuus. She also skinned and cut papaya out for me????? 🥺 She's so nice??? On a Doraemon themed plate and fork too. Too good. I thanked her and went back inside, took a shower cause I'm sticky, and had the papaya.

Packed most of my luggage and finally finished blogging. 11pm now, I need to sleep.

Taitung Day 1

 Today was just wake up, get myself organised, pack up, have breakfast and leave on time for the train. Called 55688 to get to the train station. First time taking a train in Taiwan!! Managed to find my way to the right platform, and got on. The normal seats don't have room for a luggage case, but I got told by a passenger I can leave it at the front. Oh cool. Just half an hour ride to Kaoshiung. Once there, I got off and went to the toilet, and then came back to the right platform to wait for the train.

Interesting, Tainan's platforms are open air, whilst Kaoshuing's station is underground, and the entrace has doors, so sealing it indoors.

Once on the Tze-chiang 3000, I found my seat - lucky! The single row window seat on the right side. This means I can see the coastline...! And lots of leg space, enough room to squish my suitcase on the side and use the tray table. Amazing. My CO2 monitor never went over 900, but I'm unsure what sort of filtration their system has. Nevertheless, for lunch I had to use the KF94 hold breathe, unmask, bite, mask and exhale method to eat. I'm glad I chose a vege bentou cause I got sick of eating meat recently. It was pretty tasty. I sipped my juice through my SIP mask slowly. So I got to see 2 coasts - the west and east.

I saw lots of I assume beetlenut tree farms, and fish? farms - huge ponds with aerator. After passing Fangshan 枋山 in Pintung, you can see the coastline. It's a little misty on this side. I saw some eggplants on a farm in actual Pingtung. Hehehe. And then after the tunnel, you can see the coastline - clear skies blue/green sea. It's beautiful.  From Dawu 大武 onwards the coastline is blimmin' stunning. My ears kepy popping as we went in and out of the tunnel.

A lot of people got off at a stop before Taitung suprisingly.

I wrote my postcards, it was shaky on the train. Sorry friends. Went to the toilet, came back only 30 mins or so left. Once at Guanshan I got off, and the station is cute, but not as flavour as the Chishang ones I saw in the photo.

The proipetress was ok to pick me up - thanks so much. The homestay is close to the train station but it's just easier when you have a big luggage case. She drives an old silver Volkswagen. Very history. The homestay is so cute! A lot of stuff has Doraemon themed to it - the proipetress' name is 宜靜 which is the same as Shizuka in the original Mando dub of Doraemon, hence I guess why everything is Doraemon themed (and I guess the proipetress likes it too!).

After signing in, she got me to pick a room - as all the rooms were empty at the moment. Wow??? I felt like me using one of the large rooms was a waste - more for them to clean up?? But she said it was OK. So I picked the room that had 2 windows and could look out to the yard. 

There's 3 beds in this room... hahahah. She removed the blankets of the other 2 beds but I can sleep in any of them as she said she has to clean them all anyway.

I sorted myself out and then was going to borrow onw of their bicycles for the post shop... but the 3 I tried all had squishy tyres??? and I couldn't figure out how to use the bike pump... Ah... oh well I will deal with this one and go to the post office first. On the way, the streets were quiet and kinda reminded me of my old neighbourhood in Shuinan. The way I remember it. As it's changed a lot now, it doesn't feel quiet the same there. But the atmosphere and various home-businessess around here remind me of it. This post shop doesn't have a machine to get a number for postal services... so I asked the counter directly. Bought some stamps and posted my postcards. Went back, tried to figure out the bike pump, sort of successful? Spent 30 mins trying to work it out to no avail. Had to do a quick poop, then off we go. And rode to the Water Park.

The Water Park is kinda sad. Like I feel it was once very popular, but a lot of the structures are in disrepair. It is quite big so you will need a bike. A lot of the water features are turned off right now, and only the minimal grass cutting and hedge trimming seems to be done. There's a lot of broken bits - the stage has broken canvas and a light hanging off by the wire, having fallen off its fixing. Lots of fallen leaves. Worn boards on platforms, and spider webs... the bird watching tunnels are dirty and lots of leaves. Lights switched off. I felt kinda sad cause probably because of funding? They can't maintain and repair as fast? Such a shame cause the park can be very good. I read on google reviews after that because of the typhoon, it might be why it's looking kinda sad. I started from 4pm and just managed to finish at 5:20pm ish, made it out before close. There's a lot of nature and it is also an ecological park, so the wildlife is pretty abundant.

The proipetress suggested 達谷梵祕境 Takufan but I didn't make it there. I only realised that it's further out from the Water Park after I got home. 

After I got home, I parked the bike, and sorted out my laundry, put it on wash. Then head off to the nightmarket - everything looks so yummy here??? The night market is Thurs only, once a week so I lucked out! I did a round, and decided on ikayaki. The boss let me taste, and then asked if I wanted to try the chilli condiment - okay sure! Gave me a taste piece on a squid. Holy shit it's spicy!!! But very very tasty. A bit too spicy for me. Thanks boss. Asked me what flavour I wanted while he heated up my squid ($150 for the small, $170 for the large. I got small), I went for the signature lemon pepper. Yush. I asked boss if I could sit at the seating area a little further up - but seems like it's only for those two stalls. He offered me his stool - I said if that's OK??? If he doesn't mind, and he said if it's ok with me, as the stool is a little dirty and he wiped it off with some tissues. Aww thanks boss. He said I look sporty - I just I went for a bike ride earlier today. The squid is so yummy?? Like why isn't there more people? It's so good?? 

I really enjoyed my squid and made some convo with the boss whilst eating. Thanked the boss and reiterated that it's really good. 

Went for 地瓜球 next, across the street. There's no crossing in front of the night market so it's kinda like *sweat* but we made it. It was $50 for 9 pieces of ball - 3 flavours. Kumara, taro, quinoa. Ohhh quinoa?? I got combo balls. They were all yummy. The balls are pretty big. The got me to QR code scan and like their FB page. No problem!

Balls were kinda filling. I watched the kids ride the tiny vehicles and bike - the motobike had the front wheel off the centre axis so it bounces up and down when you ride it. It's cute. The kids were having so much fun. I remember how much joy I got from that. When the music stopped and the time ran out the kids ran back to go for a second time, haha. 

I could eat a little more, so I bought the steamed peanuts ($90, it was $150 for 1 jing 600g), I asked for half a jing but the lasy boss interpreted it as $100? Uhhh sure? She was scooping and I said it was too much... so ended up buying $90 worth of peanuts. Walked back to the homestay and hung my clothes up to dry. Then sat down and ate my peanuts in the seats outside. With the way the homestay is set up it has a country feel, and kinda nostalgic? It reminds me of Laolao's juanchun. I asked if the proipetress wanted peanuts but she got 糖炒栗子 chestnuts panfried in sugar?. So she didn't have any. Guess I'll save my peanuts for tomorrow? She also treated me to chamomile tea... very beautiful flavour and colour. Thank you... I sat there drinking the tea and eating my peanuts. And had a quick convo with some other guests staying in one of the rooms - an European guy who said hi, so I said hi back and asked him in English if he was going to the nightmarket. Lol. Guy probably wasn't expecting that. And then the other 2 ladies came out and I spoke to them in Mandarin. Hahaahaha. Asked me where I come fron, etc. The usual. Said everything is yummy there. And told them to have fun.

Didn't know where to leave the teapot and cup so I sentt proipetress a LINE message and said I left it out, it was very delicious, thank you.

Came back, took a shower, had some more tea, and now I am just blogging. Will do some homework for tomorrow and wake up early to go to Chishang tomorrow.

Tainan Day 3

 Wow I am so tired. Lots of walking yesterday. Nevertheless I got up around the same time as I wanted to try make most of the day and before it gets really hot. Tried to work out my plan of attack today.... but the internet was kinda slow at the homestay. Argh.... well decided I will go back to Anping and then head to Chikhan Tower in the afternoon since I can walk back from there and it closes at like 8pm. So, Eternal Golden Castle 億載金城 Yizai Jinchen today and hopefully treehouse again.

Got myself ready, remember the picaridin. Went downstairs in an N95, dropped by the post shop to buy some stamps, and then called 55688 for the first time. I got a really friendly driver, and he made friendly convo. Dropped me off at the entrance and told me to be safe and have fun. Awww. Changed my mask in the parking lot, and then toilet. The toilets are really clean.

 Decided to buy the combo ticket (I didn't check the details, they had a explanation info sheet at the ticketing counter and then decided if I was going to go Yizai Jinchen then I may as well loop around to the Treehouse to finish what I didn't see!). Sadly, this means I miss out on the artwork on the individual tickets.

Let's go in! Turns out I met a volunteer tour guide at the gate and she showed me those fish with the pointy beaks the small black fish, has their mouth on the top of their head! Oh cool!

She also took me and another lady at the gate around. The lady explained that the bricks in the gate were taken from the remains of Fort Zeelandia to repair the gate, so you can see the difference in colour/size. There are holes in the wall put in there by homeless previously... for their tents. That's a real shame. 

After we entered, I could see there were white gazebos being set up. Turns out there's a musical event in the weekend. Oh cool! They're setting up a stage and stuff on the lawn. The ladye xplained there used to be a pond in the middle of the field, for repelling fire attacks. It has been filled in now. We started walking towards the first lot of canons, then another group of 4 people joined the mini tour lol. The lady explained that there is only 1 real cannon, and the rest are replicas. The real one has guidance lines inside the barrel. At that time they sold/melted the metal down of the cannons because short on resource. An official or someone, hid one underground and that's how one of them survived to today. The real one has a hole on top for the wick to light the cannon (it's been filled in though, the indent is still there). The replicas don't.

She also explained the various trees, there's one that changes with each season (it looks like the tree we find a lot in NZ, with the round green berries), so the people used it to tell the seasons. One tree has peeling soft bark and the leaves smell like Luyoujin (green oil). She told us to check the sign and see what nationality person designed the fortress (it was French engineer). After finding the cannon, she told a dry joke, the punch line being 五神六組 to 無神六組 lol. After that she left us.

I had a look around and found the old embankments of the ammunition store? It's covered and protected and has huge strong fans extracting air from there (to keep it dry?), it was really cool. I walked around the whole place, checked out the various cannons, the battery, embankments and such. It's a pretty cool ancient. Theres a statue bust of Shen-bao zhen too. I had a look in the gift shop, and bought a t-shirt as a souvenir. Only $300! And 5 bags of tea of different types, $15 ea = $75. Then asked the lady I wanted the ice cream from the drinks station. I got the blueberry yoghurt $50 this time. More creamier this one. Not bad. Not as refreshing as the dragon fruit, but I think I enjoyed it more overall. Had a break and rested my feet.

After that, I googled food and there's a food truck charcoal grill just 6 min walk up the corner near a campsite? I managed to find it (there are signs saying beware of snakes), and the boss uncle there can't really speak Mandarin, only daiyu. Oh no. A lady there said I need to preorder by phone??? TO be able to eat at the truck?? And another couople that arrived said I can eat the oden, and give the boss the skewers to count. Communication was an issue, I wanted a sausage. But the oden was filling enough, (I picked too much), and had 2 pieces of daikon 3 skewers. The skewers are better with the spicy sauce. $50 for all. It's quite a popular truck, people kept coming, and the seats were full at one stage. I thanked boss and left. 

I swapped to an N95 after cleaning my face at the toilets, and called 55688 to get to Anping Old Street area. This driver was more quiet and drives a bit more 猛 (vigorous). Told him just anywhere near the Old Street is fine, anywhere convenient. Spotted a store with a Gojou Satoru cutout at the front lol???? on the way. Got dropped off at the Old Street entrance, it's similar to Lukang Old Street. I went to find the cutout store lol, it's a prawn crackers store with Kimetsu no Yaiba tins and Jujutsu Kaisen tins on the store front sign. I didn't bother crossing the road to go in. Went back to old street, and there is a shop selling wooden toys and such from Czech Republic. The shop owner there is Czech? and worked in NZ (we ended up speaking English after he asked me where I was from) for a year, couple months in Blenheim and Gisborne each. Met his Taiwanese wife in NZ and ended up in Taiwan LOL. I bought a set of "magic" colouring pencils as a gift for a friend's mum. IIRC it was $490.

Finished browsing the Old Street and wanted some drink. Went to the same stall as yesterday but next door, asked for donggua cha, the boss ended up getting it from the same cart as yesterday LOL. $20.

Drank the tea and headed to the outer wall remnants. The tiny one is pretty much used as a residential fence??? Amazing. Boggles the mind. And then headed to Treehouse.

I skipped the museum this time, and just checked out the Calligraphy building. It's small and neat. The artworks there are very beautiful. The flight of stairs is the exact same type of stone and metal bars as the one in Laolao's old Juanchun house. I forgot to photo. After the Calligraphy building, I needed to rest my feet. I found the cafe, but they don't really have outdoor seating. There's some next to the river at the far end of the Treehouse but I needed to poop so I headed to the toilet first. Relief~ and then headed to the koi pond and sat there for a while. Then moved to the other side after people have left. It's so hot I keep sweating in my mask so I needed time out.

Decided to go to the 安平小砲台 since it's only a 11 min walk and checked it out. The bricks are the same type, it's just small and cute. Across the road is a cementary. Ooohh.

Had enough and N95'd up and called 55688. The taxi driver has a sign saying he's hard of hearing, so please speak loud for your destination. He made convo about his surname 衛 and how it was uncommon. I tried to speak louder for him to hear. Once he saw a request from the train/transport station from same name, and went to pick them up - turned out to be his son LOL. He said my surname isn't that common too. He kept talking about different encounters with 衛. Probably because I wasn't very good at convo, sorry abei... he dropped me off at the Chikhan Tower and I wished him an easy day until hometime. 

Chikahn Tower is partially under reconstruction. So I only got to see the first tower. But that's ok!! Kinda nice to not to have to see that much lol. They were playing videos upstairs about the reconstruction process after the earthquake in Kaoshiung a couple of years ago. It was really interesting. And History videos too. I hope I can find these on youtube later? They're done by the Tainan Cultural Department and Confuscious Temple Culture Association. My feet was so tired so I wasn't able to watch as much. Catched the sunset for some nice photos. And then stayed long enough after browsing teh gift shop (I bought more postcards, and stamped them....) whilst resting my feet after (I think I got bitten here, I must have sweated picaridin off) to see the lights go up.

The little tunned of the original Fort entrance (Dutch) that the Japanese excavated is cool, and the construction is pretty awesome. The neat details about the reconstruction process on display was interesting too. After that, I just had dinner next door since they had outdoor seating. The noodles were kinda bland, the vermicilli was nice, but the soup was a bit too sweet and rich. For some reason I had a hard time eating the texture of the fish paste pieces. The egg pudding chawan steam was a little salty but very very nice. I enjoyed that more. I think I was dehydrated. Since I only have a little bit left of my bottle now. 

Walked home, passed teh big roundabout, and marvelled?? Confused?? As it's an intersection BUT also has roads going in a circle so how do you navigate this? I had to cross via going around the circle to get to the other side.

Dropped into the Pagan Bakery again, and bought a savoury and sweet bread. Home now, tired as, I think I got a little sunburnt. Deffo dehydrated.