4th DAY: TOUFEN AND TAIPEI

 Up (in Toufen) early as usual and read for a while. I keep the TV on at a Buddhist channel. Very soothing and peaceful listening to monks chanting or the chief monk, who is reciting words out of some strips of paper.

Went to eat breakfast with Maya, checked out of the hotel and waited a while for Steve and Andrew. We then arranged for a taxi to drive us to Taipei. Nothing unusual or exciting about the drive. Taipei, as most large cities, has a lot of slow traffic, but the full ride took about one hour and a half, more or less.

Hotel where we are staying in Taipei is the Royal Nikko, a Japanese chain that I really like. They do have a Japanese feeling, of course, of understated, subtle elegance with very nice finishing touches; both in physical aspects of the building and rooms, but also the way the staff comports itself.

We had a nice lunch in the hotel that initially I thought was going to be just a quick sandwich or plate so we could go and do see something of the city. It turned out to be an long lunch because, even though it was a buffet lunch, there were so many dishes and so delicious that you could not do anything but continue eating. A variety of dishes so good that instead of taking photos of the food,I just   kept on eating.

By the way they had at the buffet what is the best, ever the best, icecream I ever had. It's a Swiss brand called Movenpick. Much better than Haagen-Das in the US. Incidentally, Movenpick started as ice cream offered in a chain of homonymous Swiss hotels. The brand Movenpick was sold to Nestle that now produces and markets the ice cream. It is made in a factory in the Swiss town of Roschach; yes, you are right is the same name as the infamous Roschach test where you are shown splashes of ink and you are expected to tell what you see. My inclination is to tell the wise psychologist or psychiatrist all types of things that he assidiously writes down and them interprets. I wonder if they started reading splashes of ice cream on the tables.

Here is Maya and Steve, in front of a displayof Sake bottles at the entrance to the restaurant.

We went to our rooms after lunch, to put things away and refresh. I wanted to go for a walk but Maya wanted to rest, which is fine. So I just went for a walk with Andrew just to see what's around. The area, by the way, is a posh neighboorhood with the usual splattering of luxury stores. The Louis Vuittons, Guccis, etc. That one sees in every large city. But not yet in Kohler.

We walked down the street and saw this nice lady selling scratch your luck tickets. I've never bought that type of tickets beefore so decided to try my luck. I got the ticket for NT$100, or about $3.40 US. And I won my money back! NT$100 to me. I decided to buy another ticket, mostly to give her some money back. Of course, I didn't win anything the second time. It was not in the stars, I should have prayed at the Lukang Mazu temple.

Here is Andrew with the ticket seller

And me holding the winning ticket!

We walked to a market, where they were selling all kinds of food, fruits, vegetables, snacks, etc. Here is a nice vegetable stand- food looks really good although if you eat it raw it'll probably kill you.

Down the street we saw this small Buddhist temple that we didn't go inside. It's very with only a small room inside; but the prayers and offerings are done outside at the entrance.

Apparently you buy a small wooden tablet, about 3" X 2", where you write your request to the God. And then go home and wait to see if it worked. 

Man, I didn't think of getting one asking to win on that lottery. The cost fo the wooden piece is up to you, a simple donation. So the return could be huge.

And here is a shot of one of the tablets with someone's written request. i hope he got it.

Walking further down, there was this temple. A nice, larger one. We didn't go in though.

Another street vendor, this one prepares food on the spot. Taipei's version of the "food trucks"; incidentally, they do have food trucks here too.

And, of course, occasionally one finds a humorous sign, although this one is easy to understand.

Once we returned to the hotel, no one else wanted to come with me to a bookstore.  There is a great chain here, called Eslite. So I took a cab, it's about 6:30pm now, to go there. 

The bookstore is inside a large department store, it's one of themany departments. The bookstore space was large but the selection was limited. Apparently there is a much larger bookstore that I will go tomorrow Friday or Saturday. I only purchased a couple of books- a history of the Chinese imperial dynasties (in Chinese, even though I have several books on the same subject one more won't hurt, and a book on Chinese Calligraphy (history of calligraphy). 

Now I am all set up.

Took a cab back to the hotel and to bed because it's nearly 10pm.