7th DAY: METRO RIDE

The end of the vacation is approaching. I always have mixed feelings on the last day, i wish I could stay longer yet and keep having a good time. But I also long to get back home to my small family, Michele and Nube, that I miss them both.

Also, on this trip, the return means that I'll have to do a lot of working packing everything in the kitchen to empty it so Kevin and his crew can come and demolish it to build a new one. Looks like I'll be eating out a lot more yet.

Went out for coffee at Starbucks, again. How soon one falls into a routine, I guess one wants normality (or normancy). Here is a photo of the park on the way to Starbucks

And I guess with all the earthquakes, and the possible threats from Communist China on the North, it's good to know where to run in case of emergency.

But the shelter is about three-quarters of a mile away. Do I have enough time?

After breakfast with she wanted to take a bath, so I decided to take a  metro ride to habe a superficial view of the city. I took the lime that went from the station closest to the hotel, Zhongshan station, to the Northeast harbor in Tamsui (or Danshui in pinyin).

The metro from Zhongshan station to Danshui is above ground, rather than underground subway. Here is the Zhongshan (中山) station 

Since it's Sunday morning there are few people in the station. But as the day gets later more and  more people will come through.

Ready to get on the train.

By the way, I should mention that people here in Taiwan are very polite and helpful. The ticket seller who sold me the coin to ride the train actually came out of this booth to help me, since I couldn't figure out how to use the coin to open the gates, and then also told me which way to go and whichtrain line to get to my destination. 

And this is the train car that, again, was very empty. Also most people are already with  their families for new year's vacation holiday.

And in one moment of selfishness I decided to take a selfie,

In every train car there are 2-4 seats for invalid or elderly. And people who may be sitting there are very polite immediately offering the seat to an  elderly person. This is probably hardly ever seen in the US where ill-mannered teenagers or young adults would not even think of offering a seat to somebody else.

And back to the hotel, this corner is close to the hotel

The ride from Zhongshan to Danshui took just a little over 40 minutes. The train stopped at 17 stations. There was nothing extraordinary om the way, although there is a little park once you, arrive. I couldn't walk around because I needed to get back to thr hotel for lunch.

The ride I took cost 50 yuan, or about $1.66.

We are going to eat lunch with Steve and Cassiopeia at the Nikko because she's never eaten here. 

Lunch buffet was similar to what we had when we arrived, except thst this time they had this purple drink made of marigold flowers with a bit of lemon.

Here is the translation of the Chinese name for the drink