Taiwan for the 5th time - April and May 2023 - Page 2

Here is the area under Shilin station. I was on the hunt for a cafe that was actually open. It was very grey, and cold! Locals were wearing their puffer jackets. In the breeze it felt like it was not ever 20c.

The subway here is above ground, like the Melbourne sky rail. You can get a great view, that is Yangminshan in the distance covered in cloud, possible destination tomorrow, although it is Labour day tomorrow so maybe not.

I got off at Beitou and walked up the hill rather than going on the little spur line train, this took me past a market, so I took a photo. Scooters ride through every market in Taiwan, it is annoying.

More of the Beitou market, it seems very clean! Actually everything so far has seemed very clean compared to what I remember from previous visits, old in many places, but clean.

Well, the sign says hiking trail, so I will see where it goes. Nowhere. Weird.

However if I did not follow the false hiking trail sign I would not have got to fight with this cat. He won.

This is now the start of the hot springs area. Multi coloured lilies greeted me. I really want to spell liliies with an extra L.

Thermal valley, probably the main spot to breathe sulphur, it is free. The hot springs where you soak your feet are free but I think you need a booking? There seemed to be 2 hour slots to enter and an app involved. Not that I would actually put my feet in the water, but I did want to take some zoom shots of barnacle covered old people feet.

The original train line did go here, there is an old train behind me, and this is the old very Japanese looking station. There is also a newer station further behind me with a train that goes 1 stop back to the main line along the coast as you shall see below...

The one stop train goes very slowly so you can look at the holographic art and take photos with anime characters. I did both.

Now to start walking around Tamsui. That mountain across the other side of the river is smaller than it looks, I climbed over it from the far side years ago, and then took a ferry back across to where I am standing here.

Along the Tamsui old street, you can find Taiwanese style Pachinko.

A view of part of Tamsui old street, one street back from the water front with the ice cream shops and children's rides. It goes for a long way, with lots of side alleys that are very crowded. I was too early of course, the food markets were very busy but the non food places were still opening. I am generally, too early, for everything.

Between Tamsui and the fisherman's wharf I followed a bike path along the water and got burnt. Here is the customs house or something like that. There are a few old buildings that are cafes, others are museums etc.

Now for fisherman's wharf. Someone spent a lot of money on an already failed development. Most of the shops have closed down. There is a giant hotel and I think there is a golf course. The bridge is just for pedestrians, but currently it goes nowhere. The only reason to come here currently is to go back again on the tram.

It is actually a working fisherman's wharf, but they seem to take Sunday off. That big red pole sticking up is a mechanical lookout thing that goes up the outside of it, or it used to, it has also closed down.

And for the final pic, a tram. Actually 2 trams. Just like the Melbourne trams. Fisherman's wharf is the end of the line, they take a very strange route back to the above ground subway which takes about an hour and goes at walking speed for extended periods. It is still new enough that locals enjoy taking photos of it, inside and out. Tomorrow I will be applying sunscreen.

I started at the far end from a station away. There was room to move here, and a lot of Japanese restaurants. However when I went back here an hour or so later they all had big lines already.

Getting busy, but still not too bad.

Super busy. I cannot believe there are still any squid left in the sea, I better explain that comment, lots of the shops are blow torching whole squid, which then get put on a stick and put in a bag.

There are temples everywhere, some look somewhat official like this, others look like a money laundering front.

Here is the head of the queue of the blow torched mushroom food stand. I kind of wanted to try it, but I was not willing to stand in a line for 50 minutes and then decide I cannot be bothered waiting any longer.

Scooter cat does not care about the big market crowds, he just snoozes all day.

Google told me this Japanese ramen place is TOP RATED, so there is a big line going down the street off to the right.

Store dog has had a long day guarding what I think was an optometrist.

There are hundreds of stores to buy useless trinkets based on a movie you never saw.

This temple was up a long dark alley, with various questionable establishments leading to this dead end, where there are no people.

I have read that all these places with lots of claw machines are specifically set up for money laundering purposes. Note that it is in a very busy part of the Shilin market, where you basically cannot move, and yet not a single customer is in there.

There are a lot of toilet themed cafes in Taiwan. I have no idea if this is actually the original one. It is very popular with people that make videos on Youtube.

Another intriguing store front. Do you just go to the screen and transfer your money to someones Russian bank account and it gives you a receipt telling you that you just lost your money? There is a bitcoin ATM in the Emporium mall in Melbourne that I never saw anyone use. If I recall correctly, there are also ones that issue you with a fake gold bitcoin, so you can prove that you own bitcoin after you insert your credit card.

That giant sphere on a building is not a shopping mall, it is seemingly just offices, with the Audi logo.

After I boarded the train I went down 3 levels under the main station to U square, a place I have been on previous trips. The food court is excellent.

I previously enjoyed this vegetarian buffet, however now that everyone has COVID, I am not sure how I feel about eating all you can sneeze on.

So instead, I had the most Taiwanese of all meals, beef noodle soup. Not bad, I have had better, I will have better before the end of this trip.