I didn't join Mom and Simone for breakfast. Instead, I met them at the hotel around 9:30am. From there we walked to the MRT and made our way north to Danshui. We arrived just as many of the vendors on the boardwalk were setting up for the day. Mom and Simone had great fun taking pictures of the different foods on offer such as quails eggs, squid on sticks, cuttlefish sausage, spiral fried potatoes on sticks, fish balls, 12" tall ice cream cones, sugarcane juice, etc.
We all enjoyed walking along the waterfront. There were quite a few locals out fishing from the shore. Personally, I wouldn't eat anything caught in the Danshui Harbour, but it was still interesting to see people working for their dinner, so to speak.
When we ran out of boardwalk we headed up a few blocks to Fort San Domingo. It was hotter than Hades by then and it was a sweaty walk up the path to the fort. Inside the fort we had fun reading the interpretive signs. We lingered in a few of the rooms, pondering what life would have been like when the fort was in active use. (Okay, to be honest, we were perched next to the air conditioning units.)
We left the fort and went to the British Consulate building. I'm sure the Taiwanese thought the displays of British wallpapers and tea sets were fascinating but it was pretty ho-hum for us, coming from a city that is mocked for being "more British than Britain."
The heat was oppressive by then and we were all getting hungry so we walked down Zhongzheng Road in search of an indoor, air-conditioned place to eat. There were plenty of street foods available for scoffing, of course, but we needed to escape the heat more than anything. We couldn't find anything suitable and eventually found ourselves back at the Danshui MRT station. As the guide/host I was feeling a bit desperate by then. I suggested we walk across the boulevard to the shopping mall to see if it had a food court. Lo and behold, it did! Mom ordered a Taiwanese chicken dish and Simone and I ordered a Korean stone pot dish with pork and noodles. Yum!
Refreshed and refueled, we walked back down Zhongzheng Street to check out sights and shops that we'd skipped over earlier. The Danshui Church was lovely - sadly, however, we couldn't go in. We were surprised to discover a small museum next door in what used to be the Mackay Hospital. It was quite fascinating to learn what an impact Mackay - a Canuck! - had on Danshui. I decided that we should bypass Gongming Street and instead head back to the MRT station. We met a young man and his mother in the station. He overheard us speaking English and struck up a conversation. It turns out that David taught himself to speak English instead of studying at school or at a buxiban. His accent was spot-on and he spoke very naturally.
All of the seats on the MRT were taken so we had to stand all the way home. It wasn't too bad, though - before we knew it we were back at Dongmen. We rested in the hotel for a couple of hours, then picked ourselves up again and headed out. This time, we were on our way to the Ximendeng neighbourhood.
For those who have not been there, Ximendeng is like Times Square in New York - tall buildings, video billboards, flashing neon signs. The main areas of Ximendeng are pedestrian-only, but since this is Taipei trucks and scooters occasionally push their way through the crowds.
Our first stop in Ximendeng was the historic Red House, a red brick building originally built by the Japanese to house administrative offices. It has been converted to an arts center, where independent artists sell their unique wares. We had a great time there and Simone bought a few things to take home as gifts for friends.
From there we crossed over the street and made our way into the thronging crowds. We covered several blocks of the main shopping area, but all we did was take pictures. The clothing in Ximendeng is definitely selected to appeal to the Taipei youth.
After an hour or so we were getting hungry so we went in search of a place to grab dinner. We went to Sam's Hong Kong Noodles, thinking that it would have a "picture" menu and we could just point at what we wanted. Sadly, the menu was entirely in Chinese and I couldn't figure out enough of the characters to order for us. We left and walked back a couple of blocks to the Coco Curry House, a Japanese curry restaurant. We had to wait a few minutes for a table but that was okay because we were able to order from an English menu and as an added bonus some of the staff spoke a bit of English. One part of the meal was quite funny - both Mom and Simone ordered a pot of green tea, but something was wrong and they couldn't deliver the tea. Our waitress tried to explain in Mandarin but that didn't work. Then, another waitress with a bit of English tried to explain. Still no luck. Finally, a senior waitress who was fairly fluent in English came over to explain that they only had one tea pot and that Mom and Simone would have to share. I swear, if they'd just brought the one pot of tea and said nothing, we wouldn't have noticed.
Full of food and tired from the day's walking, we headed back to the MRT station. On the way there we noticed an Orthodox priest handing out brochures. I couldn't walk by and not ask him what he was doing there, so I went over and struck up a conversation. It turns out he has been in Taiwan for over 8 years and is the priest of an Orthodox church near Taipei 101. Who knew? We chatted about a wide range of subjects before wishing each other good night. I'm not religious, but I'm going to have to visit the church the next time I'm in that area.
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