Friday, October 11, 2024
Sometimes, I look over my notes for a day, and I think, “This was a nothing day. I can bang out this narrative in 500 words or less.”
Let’s see how that goes, shall we?
Double-Ten may have fallen on a Thursday, but that doesn’t mean everyone gets a four-day weekend, at least not government workers and students. Melz was back in class from 8 – 11 AM, so Chuwan and I were on our own for breakfast.
There were several breakfast places right around the corner from the in-laws’ old house with some decent breakfasts, and I suggested we go there. One place, in particular, had a good spaghetti breakfast. (I can get behind any place that serves spaghetti for breakfast. I do not believe that your stomach can tell time, and chafe at the notion of restaurants having a special limited breakfast menu.)
Chuwan knew which restaurant I was talking about and led the way… right past the restaurant I was talking about. Chuwan tells me I’m confused. We got the spaghetti breakfast at Lane Toast, which is two or three doors down from My Warm Day – two restaurants with such generically unmemorable names that I honestly could not remember either’s name. What I could remember was the very distinct corner building in which we had spaghetti.
Chuwan seems to think they swapped locations. Who knows? Maybe they did. It seems a little strange, but maybe they did. We went to Lane Toast.
And all they had was fucking QR code ordering, and we couldn’t get internet that was fast enough to open the menu. We got up and left in disgust.
Now, my guess is that if you asked, you could probably order the old-fashioned way, which is to write your order on a pre-printed order sheet, but I wasn’t up to asking a question like that, and Chuwan wasn’t having it. I’m not sure if she’s more fed up with QR code menus or the somewhat questionable internet we’ve been experiencing since we returned to Taipei.
We went to Weapons of Mass Destruction—er, sorry, My Warm Day, or “WMD” as it’s branded all over the place. They also had QR code ordering, but they also had the obvious ordering menus as you walked in the door. Chuwan grabbed one on the way in. They also had free Wi-Fi, which, if you think about if you’re going to use QR code ordering, you should ensure the infrastructure is guaranteed for your customers to use.
So, they had spaghetti, but neither what I remembered, nor what I wanted, so I had a chicken croissant, and some decently-made hash browns that would have been great if they’d had any salt in the place.
Apart from breakfast, it was a slow morning where we did nothing.
At lunch, the plan was to meet up with Melz after school and have lunch (because, yes, apparently all one does in Taiwan is bounce around from one meal to the next) at Din Tai Fung.
We met Melz at the National Taiwan Normal University and grabbed YouBikes. I’d armed myself with the necessary info (and preparation work) on YouBike rental that I was able to use my US credit card and check out a bike.
We rode to Din Tai Fung, which had an hour’s wait for a table. Melz and I both said, “fuck that. We went nearby for an Emperor’s Happy Pork Chop, which was delicious, as always.
Not to complicate things, as I’ve already given you my in-laws home arrangement, but prior to their old home they actually had another home which was supplied (more or less) to them by the Catholic Church because of the charitable organization they ran. This is actually where my wife grew up, and where I’ve spent most of my trips to Taiwan, also.
This was an opportunity to wander down familiar streets, and one of those was Yongkang Street, which is a famous tourist destination for (you guessed it) food.
I had noticed this trend last time, but it was much worse this time. They whole area has been overrun with businesses selling crap, and many restaurants have been pushed out and moved. Honestly, you know you’re in trouble when you have to start with the branding. This Yong Kang Street sign is new.
I think everyone experiences that feeling when you return somewhere that you thought of as home, and it just doesn’t (can not) feel the same because it’s changed. Taiwan has never been my home, but I’m getting that feeling in spades. I can only image how it’s hitting my wife.
(As an aside, the other day when we were doing something that made no sense to me, she turned to me and said, “I’m as much a foreigner here as you are.”)
Chuwan then suggested we go to an area where she’d seen a bunch of toy stores. Melz was up for that, and I always love a good toy store, so we headed off.
Taipei has, or had, a habit of clustering similar businesses along certain streets. There were obvious things like restaurants, camera shops, wedding photography places, and computer things, and then there were the less obvious ones like tool vendors, bed makers, screw and fastener shops, and miscellaneous plastic items.
Chuwan lead us into an area that seemed like one of those themed streets, but much less coherent, and amongst the illogical assembly were several toy stores. I broke down and bought one one souvenir: a complete box of Ultraman cards. I’m saving them till I get home.
My back was reaching its limit, again, and so we sought out a place to sit down and relax. We found the Q 21 Cafe. Interesting place, but they had a chocolate smoothie for me, and a comfy chair for a while.
I returned to the Airbnb and slept, while Chuwan and Melz spent the evening with the family.
Much later, Chuwan and I went out to McDonald’s and… dammit… they were packed, with no room. WTF, McDonald’s?!? We went to a nearby KFC instead.
They appeared to be taking orders via kiosk only, but you cannot complete the transaction without entering a phone number. Chuwan just go snarky and entered our landline number in Arizona. A number that’s been disconnected for over a decade.
The reason they want your number? They put the food in little locked cubby holes and text you that the food is ready and the code to open it. When it became obvious that our food was waiting, Chuwan asked and they gave her the food.
So far as I know, back home KFC doesn’t have “spicy” chicken, so I tried that. It was not good. McDonald’s has much to answer for. And I shall defeat them and eat in their restaurant!