I left early in the morning into cold rain and wind as I had an appointment with a hairdresser in Xinyi. This is just on the edge of downtown-y bit with all the malls and megastores, a sixth floor office in an office block turned into a hairdresser’s salon. This sort of setup seems quite common around here, thinking back to the art gallery in Beitou, or indeed the desi store in a hollowed out flat I visited earlier in the week. Anyhow, I got my cut, and it’s quite a nice, short one. It brings out the shock of grey on one side of my head, makes it look quite striking. The hairdresser was very talkative, a Malaysian Chinese from Penang who had lived in London and had a good deal to say and ask. Business is, unsurprisingly, not very good at this time, though he seemed to be quite confident about Taiwan’s control of the coronavirus. Anyhow, I will go back before I leave, I think, despite all the upselling: he recommended I (a) get hairdye to tone down the shock of white (b) get the front of my hair straightened so it falls as it should (b) bring my husband for a haircut (c) buy a leave-in conditioner from him and (d) buy an organic paraben-free Italian shampoo from him. I declined all of those except (b), though the GF has had a haircut quite recently.
I walked through the department storish bit to Wu Pao Chun, the very nice bread shop, where the GF was to meet me. I arrived before he did and as I was hungry by then, and they were just bringing out freshly baked loaves and buns, went in to purchase a spring onion bun and a sesame custard bun, both still warm from the oven. The GF arrived and we shared the snack, then purchased some more bread for later. It’s all very Taiwanese style bread rather than the more robust European type, and probably terrible for health, but they do make it very well.
We strolled on through the north-eastern reaches of Da’an, stopping for a pizza along the way, and then veered south to loop through the National Taiwan University. This was very pleasant, low key as are most places in the country, with lots of trees and a pretty lake with lillies and a heron. It was practically empty and I believe it’s to be closed to outsiders from tomorrow. But for today we strolled through it and admired the avenues of trees which are, I understand a subject of many nostalgic songs.
From the university we walked through the Gongguan student area, with tiny cafes and bars, and on to Treasure Hill. This was quite interesting: it’s somewhere between a juancun National Army quarter and an old squat, which was preserved and turned into an artists’ village. It wasn’t much of an artists’ village, as most of the studios were closed, but it was an impressive example of fairly nondescript concrete architecture and half-demolished structures considered and turned into something worth seeing. It is a hill overlooking a river and a swarm of motorways, which made for fantastic views through derelict windows in brick and concrete walls.
From Treasure Hill we went down to the riverside and walked along the part all the way back to Guting, near our flat. It was grey and cold and few people were out, it reminded me of many walks I’ve taken in London, around Hackney and those parts, with the same damp grey chill to the air. I enjoyed it.
We walked past the literature forest and returned to the flat, and that was Saturday.