Friday - January 31, 2003
My daily routine was a little different this
morning. Chu-Wan needed to go to the market to buy replacement vegetables for
the lost ones yesterday and at least one item that was sold out yesterday.
Meanwhile, I was happily snapping photographs of the eerie empty streets of
Taipei.
The streets may have been empty, but the market was even busier
than yesterday. I left Chu-Wan and the market and continued on to the memorial.
I was still convinced something was going on in the evening, but it was clear
the lantern could not possibly be finished.
I also missed the usual
Japanese bus tour. So far, each and every day I encountered a guided bus tour
from Japan. This morning, no bus tours were at the memorial.
Hopefully,
you can also see that the pictures from this morning are a lot clearer with the
new camera.
By the time I returned, Chu-Wan was firmly entrenched in the
kitchen, where she remained all day cooking dinner.
I spent most of the
day trying to catch up on all these darn daily logs.
My father-in-law
needed to go to another wet market and I went along. This market specialized in
meat, and a trip through the market (read: abattoir) was nearly enough to put
me off meat altogether.
Luckily, they served hot dogs for lunch and they were just as
good as yesterday, and I knew that was good ol' USDA beef.
It was an
unbelieveably lovely day outside, nearly 80 degrees, clear skies and the
pollution wasn't quite so thick as usual. While everyone else was busy, I took
time to walk to the park and enjoy the weather. It looks like the rest of
Taipei decided to do the same. The streets were still deserted by the park was
full of life.
One couple were out enjoying the park and giving their pet
a run in the wild. When I first saw them, I though they had some form of
damaged cat or kitten. I sw the animal crawl under a bridge made by the womans
legs, but as I tried to see what type of animal it was (it looked like a
white-legged tortoise) the man spotted me an glowered at me for starting at his
wife.
I worked my way around the park again and came back to their
position from another direction. Sure enough, they were out walking their pet
tortoise. This little guy could move fast, too.
For dinner, Chu-Wan's
parents, grandmother, aunt, Father Bob and his assistant were all there for
dinner. It was a big, meal full of certain required dishes. For example, a fish
was served, but it could not be finished. The reason, the word for fish is
yu which sounds like the Chinese word for abundance. By leaving
leftover fish, you will have an abundant year ahead.
After dinner,
Chu-Wan, Michelle and I went for a walk, but she was absolutely right, it was
dead out. Nothing was going on except for the occasional firecrackers. Some
families were out walking around and their children were all playing with
sparklers or other pyrotechnic devices, but generally, everyone was just inside
spending time with family.
Stubborn to the end, I returned Chu-Wan and
Michelle to the house and headed out to the CKS Memorial just to make
absolutely 100% sure nothing was going on. My logic was, I wanted to
take a walk and if I missed anything this would probably be the only chance I'd
get.
On the way, I ran into a elderly man who tried to get my attention.
When he addressed me he said, "Do you speak English?"
"Yes", said I.
He held out a piece of paper
with Chinese writing and thrust it into my hand. "If you can read Chinese
writing, this is very important."
"I can't read Chinese
writing."
"I'm not the Information Bureau!" he cried and walked off,
leaving me scratching my head.
The Memorial was not empty, but it was
just families out for a walk. Several had camped out at the top of the monument
where you could see carious fireworks going off around the city.
I used
the camera to take several night shots of the memorial, which is lit up very
nicely. This was my first time to go there at night.
I returned to the house to
await midnight. Chu-wan told me that there'd be a lot more fireworks at
midnight and if we went out we might see something.
We barely made it
out the door before midnight, but we had about 5 minutes to get over to Ta'An
park across the street. As we passed the 7-11 we saw about 15-20 young people
with cases of fireworks getting ready for something. Chu-Wan tells me they
sometimes fire fireworks back and forth across the street for the New
Year.
We got across the street and into position just as it turned
midnight, but what happened next is tomorrow's story!
|
|
