Before you see pictures of more miscellaneous sights, I want to update you on the typhoon. As you may have seen in the news, Typhoon Morakot (means "Emerald" in Thai) caused extensive damage in the south of Taiwan. The excessive rains caused the worst flooding in 50 years in Taiwan - in one area, a hotel famous for it's hot springs fell into a river and, in another area, a whole village disappeared. However, other than some fallen tree branches and some cabin fever, everything is OK in Taipei.
So, now for some last pictures...as I've walked around these past couple of days, it's struck me that I'll miss all of the sights that have become somewhat commonplace for me these past two months. As a result, I've been taking more pictures. :)
This is the typical sidewalk here - the side closest to the building is covered and the part closest to the street isn't. Usually, scooters only ride on the uncovered part when parking, but sometimes they go under the covered part, too. When walking (and especially biking) inTaipei, you always have to be on guard!
In the plaza near my apartment, people do all sorts of things - walk, sit and talk, practice tai chi, aerobics, etc. In this covered alcove area, many people play badminton in the mornings, evenings, and weekends.
I've seen these horns at random places throughout my time here. Actually, I hear it first and then it takes a minute to locate it. They play recordings of what one Taiwanese person told me is like propaganda for Falong Gong or a group like that...they're explanation wasn't really clear, so I didn't fully understand. Yet, it's interesting. This one was hanging outside of a drug store.
This is along the street that I take to the University. It's some kind of Buddhist temple/prayer place. There are usually a lot of shoes on the rack outside, and not many people visible inside, so I imagine there's some sort of upstairs hall.
This dog grooming shop is also along my route to school. They are usually still working when I come home from class around 9. I've noticed that people here work very hard and long hours...probably no different than in the U.S., but the difference here is that work life is more visible because people aren't in cars, far from offices, shops, etc.
This is another of the stores I see along my route to school. I was always curious what they sold or did...it looked so nice that I thought maybe it had something to do with the Buddhist temple/prayer hall down the street. So, finally yesterday, I asked...they sell beef jerky! Much nicer than the American roadside versions, huh?
I took this picture along the route to school, too (outside of a fancy steak restaurant), but it could have been anywhere. Inside or outside almost all stores, restaurants, etc. are bins for umbrellas. People carry umbrellas everyday here, whether it's raining or sunny...and they use them to protect themselves from both types of weather!
This is a Chinese medicine pharmacy store that also appears to sell miscellaneous other things. It's typical of small, family-owned Taiwanese stores. The owner usually sits and watches a small TV in the corner while waiting for customers.
On Sunday, I went back to the Shihlin night market (where I went with the Taiwanese friends last week). This time, I went alone, just to buy more souvenirs. I was impressed by how well I could navigate and understand things there, having already been taught what everything was by my friends. As a result, I was more daring and spoke more Chinese than I normally do while out shopping. (During my first weeks here, when I tried talking to non-English speakers in Chinese, I had some bad experiences, so I think since then, I've avoided it more than I maybe should have.) Also, because I know I'm leaving soon, I was more daring in asking if it was OK to take pictures.
As I exited the metro, a delicious sweet smell drew me to this store. They were selling the egg cakes that you can find almost everywhere in Taipei. It's basically sweet, spongy dough - kind of like a small warm cake. You can get them plain or with various fillings (sweet red bean, black sesame paste, cheese, cream cheese, etc.). Most are hand poured, but this store had a machine that did the work. The first nozzle appeared to dispense dough and the second one some kind of cream filling. The little boy reminded me of Itai watching the pizza makers at Costco. :)
I've seen roasted corn a few times, and I've been wanting to try it, but the times I saw it, either I wasn't hungry or I was in a car with people and it wasn't possible to stop. This time, I was especially attracted to the corn because they put a special, spicy brown sauce with sesame seeds. I tried it and it was indeed tasty!
Here's a picture of the Indian roti stand that I enjoyed so much last week:
This stand sold another version of the egg cakes...one that I tasted for the first time on Sunday and I like much better. The one on the left side is like two small pancakes with black sesame paste layered inside. I was most curious about the one in the middle that looks like a sponge. I tried one and it was very tasty...a little sweet, but not too much, with a slightly chewy, spongy texture.
This stand sells a ball made of dough (it looked like an egg and flour mixture) and various meats and veggies. Kind of like a Taiwanese-style casserole. :) I saw the stand last week, and my friends told me what was in it, but on Sunday night, I got to see the guy making them. I found it amazing how he got everything to roll into a ball:
Here's another example of the types of foods at the night market. I've also seen many street vendors selling these around the city. Much of the food sold by street vendors is deep fried.
A part of the night market I didn't see last week was a fairly large area that sold the cutest kittens and puppies. I spent quite a bit of time watching them:
I've seen numerous t-shirts in English here. They usually have funny wordings, like "Top Girl Me" or "Cheer You Up" or "Imaginable, lovable sheep." I imagine it would be the same sense of strangeness that Chinese or Japanese speakers would feel when seeing their language's characters used in our English images.
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