On Our Own, Sort of, In Taipei

This weekend, Bob received an offer to go golfing with my cousin so we decided to make it a Taipei weekend and it warranted us the opportunity to meet up with some more of my cousins. We rode the train in on Saturday (because it had English and the bus people were asswipes and had terrible customer service) and got onto the MRT (subway system) to get around. Great subway because it had English! Here’s the thing, we can get pretty much anywhere as long as we can read and since I’m illiterate in Chinese, I’m more of a hindrence than a help. English, good. No English, then that’s when I use my child-like Mandarin speak. First stop, the Contemporary Art Museum. They had an exhibition showing, with the artists using fashion as their focal point. Pretty cool except for the artist that made clothing, bags and shoes to look like it’s made out of human skin, nipples and buttholes included. Creeped me out! Bob and I then went to the Shilin Market (that’s the only place I knew with cheap food), had lunch for the both of us for less than $3 and then met up with my two cousins (sisters) and their children to explore Dansuei, a “Fisherman’s Wharf” type area. We got to see this fort built by the Spanish, taken over by the Dutch and then leased to the British. Saw the river which flows into the ocean and had to eat the local foods, like tofu stuffed with noodles and fishball soup. We also took a ferry across the Dansuei River to check out the town on the other side. Same thing, people selling food, trinkets and souveniors. It was a great time and the kiddies loved it! They all had a great time with Bob, probably because they had never seen anyone like him before and thought he was an enormous toy. We saw the sunset and stayed well into the night. I would have stayed longer except that Bob had to get up before the sun today to go golfing. Me, I slept in. Mmmm, sleep, on a cushy bed with air-conditioning and no traffic noise. Bliss!