Taiwan - Chinese New Year 2003

The One-Thousandth Picture

Tuesday - February 18, 2003 We began the task of packing today. That's no small feat. We've accumulated a lot of stuff on this trip and we haven't finished yet. Chu-Wan had been a teacher in Taiwan before we met and she had purchased a not inconsiderable number of children's books at her own expense. After we got married, she shipped many of them back to the United States, but not all of them. Now, with the prospect of her parents moving after her father completely retires we need to get the rest of them back to the States for Michelle to use before we loose them. The books, combined with a variety of items we've bought (or items we brought that got displaced by items we've bought) need to be packed up and shipped back. Some by air, some by sea. A lot of the morning was spent trying to figure out what was going home how. Meanwhile, Chu-Wan's father had turned his attention to my desire to purchase a Japanese-style toilet seat. We had found one made by National (that's Panasonic in the USA) and it was unbelievably cheaper than what it would cost to buy in the US. As it happens, Chu-Wan's father has a friend who deals in this type of merchandise, so this morning Mr. Huang (that's Mr. Huang 5, in case you're counting) came over with the product brochure on the very same seat we were looking at in the store, but his price was quite a bit cheaper still. We arranged to buy one in the right size and color and it should be delivered tomorrow. It's also something else we have to ship back. After Mr. Huang 5's visit we headed to a near by beef noodle shop for lunch. It really was rather disappointing, not the top notch stuff we'd had the last couple times. There's one more beef noodle shop I need to try before we leave. I passed it just last night and almost 50 people were waiting to get soup there. After lunch we stopped at the Post Office to buy boxes. The Post Office in Taiwan is much like its US counterpart, with the postal workers behind desks and sometimes windows, isolated from the customers. I was shocked when Chu-Wan asked to buy boxes and they just opened the door to the back area and let her in. I suppose it has no significance, but it surprised the heck out of me - that area is for postal workers only. We came back and did more preparation. Johnny promised to take us to Costco to pick up some items (again to haul back) not available in the US, but he wasn't home. While we waiting, I had Chu-Wan find the correct spelling for the breakfast food I've been eating. My spelling was way off, instead of "Tong You Bien" it is Cong You Bing so I corrected all the previous web page logs. That's the "beauty" of a language that uses sounds that don't really correspond to our phonetic sounds. When Johnny came home we headed out. Johnny really impressed me today. He did something that I've never seen anyone do in Taipei and it's bothered me for a long time. He followed a logical route to get to the Costco. He drove north along the expressway that's one block from here until he came to the street that Costco is on then turned east down that street and went straight to Costco. It may seem like a small thing, but it isn't. No one does that here. They've all got some "short-cut" that involves 75 turns and trying to "sneak around" bad traffic areas. There's no way to avoid bad traffic areas in Taiwan. When I travel (on foot) I always travel in nice, straight lines and when people ask where I went they're amazed at how far away I managed to go, when in fact, I've usually gone less than 2km from my start point, they just think it's a long way away because they spend an hour trying not to drive in a straight line. When we get in somebody's car and we go somewhere I know, I immediately get disoriented because they're often heading in entirely the wrong direction. It's bizarre. On the Costco we took the 1,000th picture with the new camera. It was of Michelle, of course. If you think I've been stingy with the pictures on the page, it isn't from lack of material. I actually have far more pictures than I can post to the net. Digital cameras are great. I could never afford to take that many film pictures. Which is not to saw that all of those 1,000 pictures are winners. At Costco I picked up a replacement MP3 player for the one I had that broke when we travelled to Tainan. I got a nifty Taiwan-only Panasonic model that's not available in the states that can be used as a portable or it includes speakers that fit right on and make it a stationary unit. It's quite nice. Chu-Wan had dinner plans with her friend Phoebe, but she called because she had to work and wouldn't be able to stay long, so they ate at the house instead. I still went out as I had some last gifts to buy. First I went to the underbridge PC/DVD/CD place and found 2 of the 3 discs I was looking for for a friend. The third was in plentiful stock last night, but gone today. Always buy it when you find it in Taiwan. Next I hit Eslite bookstore. The bookset I had just had to check 5 different Eslites to find were in plentiful supply today. It was comical really. I got home as Phoebe was leaving. Johnny and Tiffany were already gone. Johnny back to his military post. I won't see him again this trip and I didn't get the chance to say "good-bye." Chu-Wan and I took a walk in the late evening. We had nothing in particular to do, but since I was dissatisfied with the pictures I took yesterday of those bloody horns, we went back there. She hadn't seen the award-winning lanterns yet anyway. I tried to eat at the beef noodle vendor who always has the big lines, but he was closed. He probably ran out of soup as it was a little early. I used a tripod and long exposures and got somewhat better pictures. It really isn't a very impressive show, but the music is nice. I ate at MOS afterwards. I suspect this really is my last trip there. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day - our last full day in Taiwan.
Uncle Johnny and Michelle
Tiffany, Chu-Wan and Michelle
Phoebe, Chu-Wan and Michelle