my first leap

Though it felt a bit strange being in Yating’s new very modern apartment without Sophia, there are benefits of having the place to yourself. One of which is you have the keys so you don’t need to coordinate your whereabouts; two – for me – because I’m on my own, my brain comes back from vacation so I become an efficient working human being again; three, I get to walk around and sleep naked, that’s how hot it is here. Anyone who knows me knows it’s hard to get me naked in bed when there’s the potential fire hazards that exist and you need to be ready to jump out of the window and not worry about being starkers; and lastly, being a working human being again, I get to learn again. Being on my own is great. I’m learning so much more. I see more, I interact more (that’s necessary when you need something and no one is there to do it for you) and it seeps in more (brain department is present to facilitate).

The great thing about Taiwanese people; one, they’re really friendly (much more friendly than Mainland China people, unless they speak Cantonese – because I do – or they’re you’re relatives) and are always ready to have a chat with you (us foreign people) seeing it as an opportunity for them to practice their English and you, your Mandarin; two, when I ask something in Mandarin, I love how they repeat what I say so I can see where to correct myself next time eg the word dian (a shop or store) can turn into something else just by the tones you use. Today I asked for the largest book store (Eslite Bookstore – near 101 Tower and Taipei Main Station) in Mandarin. And because of my tone I was saying dian with the first tone and not the last, people didn’t understand me. It was when the person repeated it but in the right tone that I realised my mistake. Now I know. So in Eslite Bookstore, with it’s English books and Chinese books (and a whole section dedicated to books written in Simplied Chinese), I bought myself the tiniest book ever (2 inches by 3 inches) ‘Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary’. I find this really useful in Taipei where most road signs and stations can be seen in pinyin as well.

Yesterday Ling wrote down a few places I can visit. She had read my blog and told me where I can find dresses at the Woo Fen Pou Market (nearest to Houshanpi MRT station); this was also a location where ‘3 Times’ was filmed. So I traipsed around; nothing is going to fit me but hey, it’s an interesting place with stall/stores galore. I found Sushi Express and had lunch on my lonesome; I like being on my own and I like Sashimi – two great combinations. I had sashimi which is so cheap here (you get 8 times as much compared to the UK in terms of portions). My friends and I joke that sashimi (which is done well in Taiwan) is so cheap that I should eat lots and pretend I’m in Japan; then when I get to Japan I should pretend I’m in China and have noodle soup (in Japan it’ll probably be instant noodle soup)! 

I got myself an Easycard today which is the Taipei equivalent to an Oyster card (UK) or Octopus card (HK). You put $500 in and you just bleep it against the machines and you can go. The Octopus card from HK is much more advanced; you can buy food and drinks from 7-11 with it.

I bought some insect repellent patches (natural ingredients) today that smell like lemongrass – I looooovee that smell. Right this minute, I’ve stuck one on the underside of my trousers, one on my bra and one (it lost it’s stickiness because I couldn’t make up my mind where to put it) in the open pocket of my tiny backpack. Coupled with natural ‘OFF!’ sprayed on exposed flesh, I haven’t got bitten at all today. This is after a couple of days of being munched by insects so pretty happy that I can smell lemongrass all day and the smell is keeping the sucking suckers away. My prickly heat rash is gone and is less irritable because of the calamine lotion.

So all is good on the health front, especially now I can say ‘no sugar, no ice’ every time I order a drink. The vendors tend to add sugar and after having fruit juices today the natural way, I can see why. Natural fruits are not always sweet, or as sweet as you’d like. I’m learning how to ask for my favourite fruits juices now; I can ask for kiwi, mango, guava, orange; the rest, I say ‘that one’ in Mandarin and point – it does the trick. My pronunciation must be getting better because I find when I ask something, people say more than I expect them to say and then I have to say I don’t understand in Mandarin which I also say very well with all the repeating. In terms of food, today has been a fruit and fish day, pretty healthy day I’d say. 

There are toilets in every MRT station; clean, modern (has Western toilet as an extra option) and well-looked after (always have paper and soap). You get a choice, the Western toilet and the crouch-over-a-hole-surrounded-by-ceramic-tiles variety. Before my month-long trip to South China in February it was weird having to do your business in the crouch position but now, I prefer to go to the crouch-down toilets and I do. I’ll tell you why. When it’s hot and humid and people are sweaty and sticky; and no matter how clean the public toilets are, I prefer not to put my butt where other sticky butts have been. With the crouch-down toilet, as long as your trouser ends don’t sweep the floor area (so hike them up before you enter), the only thing that touches anything are your shoes. Some crouch-down toilets have the flush high up – I don’t like them. Most that I’ve seen the flush is near the floor so again you use your feet. In more rural areas the crouch-down toilets are the only options and when they’re not looked after, they can make you puke but I’m talking about good-looking well-kept toilets here and I still believe the crouch-down toilets are more hygienic.

On the me front, one potato I have received here is one concerning my health and for me to decide once and for all what I want and really go for it. Another potato is my realisation that though I’m becoming more self-aware and still learning and looking inwards whilst travelling; I know very little about the world, and that there is a lot of external data out there that do not affect me directly right now but is still important to be aware of. I need to know more about other stuff, especially stuff I’m not particularly interested in. I need to be a more rounded person and I think I’m on the path, even if it’s at the beginning. It was cool to watch Xmen 3 and recognise the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and watch Superman Returns and know what Lex Luthor was on about when he spoke of the brilliant Redwood trees and the story of Prometheus, the Greek Titan, stealing fire (symbol of power) from the Gods to give to the people and was chained to a rock by Zeus as a punishment. I realised that some potatoes seem more important because it affects you directly; though with direct potatoes you can choose to ignore it, like indirect potatoes. It seems I’m more concerned with direct impact external stimili. Other external stimili that doesn’t impact me so directly, I’m not as aware of and I need to be. To conclude; some changes are needed in my life otherwise it’s just useless data I’m writing down here.

Over and out.

***

To Amy: Thank family for responding : )

Photo $5.99 (93 x 115 in)

Find out who you are and do it on purpose. – Dolly Parton. Popular American country Singer and Actress, b.1946

Tags: Sushi, Toilets, Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.