Sunday, April 08, 2007

Winter in Taipei


Another gorgeous, sunlit Taipei day.

I read a science fiction book once called A Picture History of Astronomy by Patrick Moore, in which the author imagined a universe where the Earth circled a nearby star called the Sun, which gave us light and heat. Here in Taiwan we know better than to believe nonsense like that.....


On Saturday I ran up to the meet up at The Shannon in Taipei, next to Dan Ryan's on Tun Hwa.


A cop waits to bust traffic violators. Note the stop sign. Don't see those too often in Taiwan.






Beautiful trees surround many older institutional buildings on the island.


We teach any craft, from piano to cakemaking.


The Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Taipei.


Taipei streets in the rain.



Shannon.

A glass of Guinness early in the morning, a welcome tonic against the cold. At the meet up DC Rapier of the local Blues Society of Taiwan gave a wonderful talk on the history of the Blues, and played a little for us.

After the meeting Emily took me out to Linda Arrigo's house in Shenkeng. I didn't have a helmet, but we were able to get one in the ASS.

Linda Arrigo.

The view from her apartment. Some great hiking on those ridges.

Coming home, as we were getting on the expressway, I waited patiently in the left turn lane. Through the second light. As I sat there, waiting, the cop directing traffic there waved a vehicle to come in the lane beside the left turn lane -- the lane for traffic going straight, pass the massive line of vehicles waiting, and get in line for a left turn. Kinda infuriating to obey the law, only to see a cop let another car violate both law and common courtesy. Cops don't usually do this, by the way.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

raining would be a beauty view..

Anonymous said...

Glad you got it in the ASS! I've seen that ridiculous sign before--I was wondering when someone would take a photo of that.

Linda Arrigo is such a neat lady, by the way. What a great way to spend the day.

Michael Turton said...

Why don't you come next time, Taipei Kid? We can go out to Linda's together. God knows I could never find her house alone.

Michael

Boyd Jones said...

This weather is wonderful! Seattle in Taiwan! I hope it lasts. I dread the industrial Mississippi summer coming!!!