Today I woke up around noon after finally enjoying a mosquito-free sleep thanks to my new favorite thing in the world, our mosquito net. I'm done teaching for the semester but Mel had to proctor tests for a few hours in the morning and then I met her and the other teachers for a nice spaghetti with raw meatballs lunch at a restaurant near the school. The weather here has been really random this winter- freezing one day and nice the next. Today it was 27 degrees so Mel and I decided to use the rare weekday afternoon off together to visit the
Shilin Presidential Residence in -you guessed it-
Shilin.
We took the bus to Taipei Main Station and got a meat cake and ate it in
the sun before taking the train to
Shilin. The meat cakes are a spicy pork and chive patty with crispy bread baked around it- they are a hot, juicy mess to eat but they are delicious.
Shilin Presidential Residence was once home to the late President
Chiang Kai-
shek. His home itself (located on the grounds) is nothing special, but the grounds are worth visiting to see the vast gardens and enjoy a walk in the sun.
I liked this "hairy" tree covered in little leaves.
A pleasant looking pond in the middle of the gardens. You wouldn't believe how fast I had to scurry over to that rock before my 10 second self-timer went off. Success!
The blossoms were
bloomin'.
Penis tree.
Chiang Kai-
shek's residence. Maybe it's open to the public sometimes, but it wasn't today.
Oddly chosen champagne bottle decoration in the presidential garden. Do you suppose Queen Elizabeth has giant plastic champagne bottle decorations in her royal garden?
We really liked this big face sculpted into the grass.
We had an hour to kill before we were due to meet our friends for supper so we went to the
Shilin night market area and I got a tasty
gelato to snack on. A good deal for $1/CAN, served with a smile and with chocolate chips and cookie lovingly placed on the
gelato.
I bought some new fashion glasses at the market! Mel
loves them.
We met our friends and went to a Thai place we'd been to just 2 days earlier but it's SO GOOD I wouldn't be surprised if we went back another 2 days from now. For dessert we went to the
Raohe night market and got ice cream wraps. Yes, my ice cream-a-day habit from Korea seems to be re-emerging.
Satisfied, we took the train back to
Xinpu and then got a bus home. The buses in Taiwan have nameplates on the back identifying the drivers Chinese and English name. These nameplates make me really happy. One time I saw a bus that was being driven by a "Bubu" and another time my bus said the female driver was named "Brian". While our bus was stopped Mel noticed that the driver in the bus ahead of us was apparently named Snoopy. Oh Taiwan, I love your penis trees, fashion glasses and Snoopy drivers. What joys will you bring me tomorrow?
We took the bus to Taipei Main Station and got a meat cake and ate it in the sun before taking the train to Shilin. The meat cakes are a spicy pork and chive patty with crispy bread baked around it- they are a hot, juicy mess to eat but they are delicious.
Shilin Presidential Residence was once home to the late President Chiang Kai-shek. His home itself (located on the grounds) is nothing special, but the grounds are worth visiting to see the vast gardens and enjoy a walk in the sun.
I liked this "hairy" tree covered in little leaves.
A pleasant looking pond in the middle of the gardens. You wouldn't believe how fast I had to scurry over to that rock before my 10 second self-timer went off. Success!
The blossoms were bloomin'.
Penis tree.
Chiang Kai-shek's residence. Maybe it's open to the public sometimes, but it wasn't today.
Oddly chosen champagne bottle decoration in the presidential garden. Do you suppose Queen Elizabeth has giant plastic champagne bottle decorations in her royal garden?
We really liked this big face sculpted into the grass.
We had an hour to kill before we were due to meet our friends for supper so we went to the Shilin night market area and I got a tasty gelato to snack on. A good deal for $1/CAN, served with a smile and with chocolate chips and cookie lovingly placed on the gelato.
I bought some new fashion glasses at the market! Mel loves them.
We met our friends and went to a Thai place we'd been to just 2 days earlier but it's SO GOOD I wouldn't be surprised if we went back another 2 days from now. For dessert we went to the Raohe night market and got ice cream wraps. Yes, my ice cream-a-day habit from Korea seems to be re-emerging.
Satisfied, we took the train back to Xinpu and then got a bus home. The buses in Taiwan have nameplates on the back identifying the drivers Chinese and English name. These nameplates make me really happy. One time I saw a bus that was being driven by a "Bubu" and another time my bus said the female driver was named "Brian". While our bus was stopped Mel noticed that the driver in the bus ahead of us was apparently named Snoopy. Oh Taiwan, I love your penis trees, fashion glasses and Snoopy drivers. What joys will you bring me tomorrow?
No comments:
Post a Comment