The weatherman got it wrong and it was a busy, busy day because of it.
Today’s forecast called for another cold front to blow in bringing colder temperatures and rain. Yesterday when I was returning from Costco, I was pretty sure he was right. The temperature was dropping, the wind was blowing and ominous dark clouds were beginning to cover the sky.
At least that’s it looked like when I dropped into the hole at Jingan station. When I popped out again at Guting station, the sky was completely blue, no wind and hot. That’s one of the weird things about Taipei and the subways, even though the stations are only a very few miles apart, sometimes it feels like you’re popping out in a different world.
Still, we had anticipated a rainy day schedule and when I got up it was clear that wasn’t the case. The sky was blue with few clouds. Since we’d made no plans for the day I decided to go to Linguan station, which I’d noticed on the way to the zoo, and look around the hills in the area.
It’s a short walk from the station to the “park” which has a formidable sign in front of it that a says a lot of things – in Chinese. At the bottom of at least 3 paragraphs worth of Chinese, there are two English words: “No Entry”
Normally, I would take that to mean something like “do not enter” or “keep out” but in this case, I took it to mean, “Welcome.”
Why? Three reasons
- This is Taiwan, a country that obeys no semblance of traffic laws and virtually every men’s room in the country sits in a thick cloud of smoke, almost too thick to see the “No Smoking” placed right over the full ashtray. (Why do they put the ashtray there? Because when they don’t the toilet paper dispenser is melted and warped out of all recognition with all the cigarette butts that are put out on it.
- The sign was probably a bad translation. For example, in Daan park there’s a “do not” sign at all the entries of the park with pictograms on it and along with all the normal ones like “no campfires”, there’s a clear picture of a dog peeing on a tree with the universal circle with line through it. There’s a long Chinese explanation and the simple words “No Pets” in English. I checked with Irene and the Chinese does indeed prohibit pets peeing in the park, not prohibit pets in the park.
- The locals were totally ignoring it and going in and out of the park
Inside it’s nothing like the city parks, it’s a dense jungle with rough, slippery rock steps and poorly delineated trails. Signs abound warning about the dreaded fire ant which has recently invaded Taiwan and presumably lurks in the park.
The area has a very “lived in” feel. Small shanty like structures stand full of junk, but don’t look like they re inhabited. Clearings and spots along the paths have plastic chairs and tables left there as if the owners will be coming back any minutes. Places where the trail is particularly hazardous have been covered with carpet remnants to make them more safe.
I was just about to plunge deeper into the jungle and see if I could head up to the top of the mountain when Irene called to tell me since the weather was good we were going to Yangmingshan and that I needed to return.
I was to meet them at the Technology Building station and I got there first. As I waited, a line of children, lead by a teacher and surrounded with other adults came trick-or-treating down the street, going from business to business.
Unlike trick-or-treating back home, they marched down the street, parade-fashion, with the teacher banging a drum and the kids all reciting “Trick or Treat…” and then something of similar length in Chinese in time to the drum.
The kids were really cute in their costumes. Halloween is a relatively new concept in Taiwan and Michelle will be participating in one Sunday sponsored by the Disney Channel.
When they arrived to pick me up it was on to Yangmingshan…
(To be continued)