29 March 2017
The first repeat
Taiwan vegetarian buffet is excellent
Due to having a rest day of three mountains today, I needed a light dinner. So I headed to my first ever repeat dinner of my trip, to the excellent vegetarian buffet!
I know a lot of people would rather go hungry and die before they ate at a vegetarian buffet, but I like it a lot. Its also very cheap, I like that a lot too, its also pay by weight of food (not weight of person buying), I like that too. Actually I would also enjoy pay by weight of person but in Australia that would be illegal.
Before heading out to dinner, I had to plan my day for tomorrow, my last full day in Taiwan. It requires the subway, then 2 buses. I am reasonably confident of the timings to get to where I want to go, but I have many doubts that I will be able to get a bus back, which will add another 9km onto what is already going to be a long day!
Because of this detailed plan, tomorrow night I will not be needing to have a light vegetarian dinner due to lack of exercise, but I doubt I will break my all time step record from Puli.
Also, the photo of the kittens drawn on my hotel wall is here, by popular demand. Scroll to the bottom.
This is the local falun gong theatre. Not a lot of customers this evening. Not even one.
Over the road from the Falun Gong protest, we have an unidentifiable protest and or charity collection going, they have selected a spot in front of a brilliant blinding light so no one can see them at all.
And then just down the road, is the Taiwanese parliament, the police are just starting to set up road blocks.
When I was last in Taiwan, the student sunflower protest movement had occupied the parliament. Really, they barricaded themselves inside the place. Eventually school holidays were over and they all left (just like the Hong Kong protests) because good grades are more important than your cause.
I kind of think the whole 'Taiwan is the first place in Asia to allow gay marriage' thing is to stop the students from trying to overthrow the government again.
This is the nearby Museum of Taiwan. I had no idea it was there. It is not the very famous palace museum, its something different entirely.
Enjoy a photo of traffic. So many buses. All running to the worlds most confusing timetables. Most city bus stops have signs telling you when the bus is coming, so at leat you can wander off and do something else for that length of time, but out in the mountains, no idea. Could be 1 minute or 3 hours.
VEGETABLES, $3.
This years hoverboard, a scooter with pedals, and no seat. The sign says - no seat, no problem. I dont see how that could work.
My shoe is too big.
Taipei has a shoe street, nothing but shoe stores. This is part of it, they close early.
A bit more Ximending corner.
A massive crowd has assembled on this corner, and many of them are holding cakes. The group at the front are posing for a photo showing off their cake. Is it national cake appreciation day?
And yes, by popular demand, here is my hotel wall, with paintings of baby leopards. They are hand painted, I can see the pencil marks under the paint.
I recently learnt Taiwan had leopards, but they are now thought to be extinct. I think I saw one on my long lonely walk in Puli.
My room is full of little paintings, all featuring the baby leopards, and sometimes baby aborigines.
Hotels like this are common in Taiwan, I recall on my last trip I stayed somewhere where every room had a different baby art theme in Taichung. The art is always cute like this, cause lets face it, its done to appeal to women not men.