Hey Doc

Thanksgiving holiday went by quietly here in Taipei. If I did not check the calendar closely, I could have missed it easily. Thanksgiving is not a Chinese holiday but it has the same significance signaling the start of the Christmas season. Gift buying is not as crazy as in US but the stores are still doing very well during the Christmas time.
The temperature has dropped few degrees the past few days, it feels like the Winter in Taiwan now @ 65 F. Yesterday was a perfect day for outdoor activities. J and I went for a short hike on a not so popular trail just south of the city Taipei. The steep trail is mostly constructed with stairs. At the end of the hike, I felt like just finished a two-hour workout on the StairMaster.
By the way, did I mentioned that I won't drive a car for awhile ? Well, I drove my sister's car Saturday on the street of Taipei and passed with flying color. She gave an OK to drive her car 'on my own' in the future. I also learned that finding a parking on the street here in Taipei is a bitch. No wonder they spent a fortune renting a parking spot near their home.

I have noticed when I was running this morning at the park. The park has a mile long path that loops alone the edge of the park. Every runner I met run clockwise on the path, I ran the opposite direction like I always do. Am I the only one ? True, maybe there are other runner at different part of the loop but sooner or later, they will either passed me or I will over taken them, but, never happens in the one hour I was there. This is not that "hemisphere" thing because Taiwan is on the northern hemisphere just like San Jose. There is only one explanation I can think of is that the runners are law obeying citizens because I saw jogging markers painted on the trail indicate the clockwise direction.
I guess there are lots of space vacated in my brain all of a sudden during the run.
As I am typing right now, the rain is pouring down outside. Not a sign of rain an hour ago. Good thing I have finished my run. Time to have breakfast. That yummy soybean milk and green onion bread is calling my name. All that for $1.00.

Something that is rare to see in a western country, the night market. Where vendors of all kinds gather on the street at night selling their goods. Food plays a big part in an Asian's culture. A typical greeting like, "Did you eat?", "Have you had dinner yet ?". Once that stomach is full, the life is good. A good part of the night market is food. Regional delicacies are the popular. Most of them are light and small in portions, so you can sample many without getting full. They usually running late into the night for those few night owls, looking for a quick bite before going to bed. In the old days, you can find them everywhere until it got out of hand, clogging up the traffic at night. Now, they exist in an established zone. The one I visited tonight is the Rao He Street night market. I took few more photos of this place, you can view them here.

If you have never been to Taipei, You won't know exactly what I am talking about. Its the traffic. Driving in Taipei is like in a mad house, you have buses, cars, and scooters jam packed on the street. Traffic lanes mean nothing to the drivers, pedestrians will have to fend for themselves. BUT, you rarely see any auto accidents. I have concluded that is because of all the drivers are alert, expect any unexpected at all times. You can have orderly drivers and crazy drivers but you can't mix them, accidents will happen.

The reason of bringing this up is, I got my brand new driver's license this morning. The process was pretty easy and painless. I simply shown them my California license accompanied with a prove by the Taiwan affair Office in San Francisco that the license is valid and a physical test to show that I can see and walk. Will I dare to drive on the street ? Not yet..

Now, if you are wondering "What's this got to do with the photo ?", well, underneath that concrete elevated street used to be my old house where I grew up as a teenager. The whole neighborhood is no longer exist. The only evidence left from the pass was a house where I stood and took this picture. There used to be empty fields for the kids to roam around. The tallest building in the area was a row of two-story houses.

I wonder what happened to the rest of the kids.

Well, it has been just over 3 weeks since the plane landed in Taipei. I have welcomed by a typhoon and four, yes, four earthquakes. All four measured 5.5 or above. I live on the 7th floor, when the 6.7 hit at 12 midnight, the building swayed so much, I was ready to run. Then I realized, what good is running, I will be buried in the rubbles before I hit the ground floor so I laid back in bed and rode it out. I talked to the building manager the next morning, he did not think any of it. "You should have been here 5 years ago when that 7.4 hit, THAT was scary".
I spent a day visiting a museum features an archaeology site of an early settler called 13hung. The museum is a rather small in size but the design of the building is somewhat interesting. Here is a link to few of the photos I took of the building.