Apologies for the tortured pun. As readers familiar with Taipei will gather, we (the Bodhisattva, Woodland Creature and I) went into town today, to one of the nice parts of the city. Started around Yongkang Street, which is a slightly touristy but nice street with plenty of tea shops and a startling number of umbrella shops. We got off the MRT and strolled for a bit, peeping into a few tea shops to look for a cheap gaiwan, but only found quite expensive ones. After this we were at a bit of a loss, so went into a Taiwanese restaurant for an early lunch. Here the advantage of a native Chinese speaker was very clear indeed, as was the interesting part of travelling with others, as she was able to get a good sense of what was on offer and placed the order for all of us, which was fairly different from what the GF and I by ourselves would probably lean towards. It was a good lunch, with standout dishes including the peashoots (very large and unpeashoot-like except in flavour) and the fresh bamboo shoots in salted egg, which are a seasonal speciality.
I did recognise where we were to a large extent, which was pleasing since I’m afraid I do sometimes mix up the large culturally Chinese cities I’ve spent time in (Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei) and even Seoul, which shares similarities with Taipei in terms of its side streets and some of the types of shops etc that one sees.
Between Yongkang and Daan park was a pleasant residential area I remembered from my last visit, with small, tightly built houses that were clearly very big on security as all the balcony were barred like bird cages, and the gates opening onto the road were made of steel or zinc sheets. Apparently there is or was paranoia of burglars, including those who can scale to the sixth floor or whatever. Nevertheless, it’s a pleasant bit, with motley design and lots of greenery.
Passing through Da’an park, we found ourselves a cafe whose owner was very apologetic that he only served coffee. It was packed full of serious coffee drinkers, silent and lingering over their brews, while next door a cafe which also sold cakes was rammed with younger teens. It was not at all affected, perhaps because the owner was a stocky middle aged man, and there was a stream of local residents coming in to buy beans.
Then onwards -a quick ride on the MRT (another new travel experience: the GF and I would think nothing of a 30 minute walk) to our next destination, Ikea. Despite the coronavirus fears this was rammed with people and too hot to wear face masks. Here the less pleasant aspects of being with others came out. We were here to buy a few basics to make the flat nicer, most importantly lamps, and the Woodland Creature’s finicky nature and Nordic blood both came out in full force. (I shall call him Woodly from now on, I had not anticipated that I would need to refer to him as often when I first kept that name, and WC is not a suitable nickname for such a refined individual). It took much stressing over cushion patterns and lightbulb wattage before the Bodhisattva and I finally lost patience, made our selections and barrelled on through.
On returning to Beitou we stopped at the grocery store and then decided to eat as well before going back. We found a very homey looking place, which had a set formula of main dish with sides. By this time I was feeling meated out so ordered the vegetarian rice, unfortunately they assumed this meant I was actually vegetarian and didn’t give the side dishes of vegetables cooked in oyster sauce etc. But I did get an impressive assortment of soy-based meats, which is something the Sinosphere excels at.
Then back and we set up our purchases and the lighting is much, much better than it was. We might actually go back and get a few more lamps and cushions. Then I retired to my room as I am watching the final season of The Good Place and would like to finish it before the GF arrives in a couple of days. So I am doing some unusual binging, but the episodes are only 20 minutes long so it’s not too bad. I continue to really enjoy it, while also finding its morality rather questionable.
Some of the possible faultlines in staying with others are starting to be apparent to me now. Food may be tricky: there will be varied and sometimes contradictory dietary preferences in the group. Another is going to be a slight clash between how organised these two are and prone to making spreadsheets and using grocery list apps, and how relatively freeflowing the GF and I prefer it. And the third is the one that worried me when we were planning, but may not be such a big deal now that I’m actually here: the shared interests of other three that don’t interest me.