Day 78 -- August 10

Today began at 8:30 where Shilin dutifully informed me we needed to leave in 30 minutes. We had to be out of the dorm by 9:00 am so we could get over to Da’An station. After a quick pit stop at the 7/11 we were off. It took a while to get over to the station because transferring to brown line is a strangely arduous task. There is a giant elevator that takes you from blue line (on of the most crowded lines) but it takes forever. But it was worth we popped our head out at this tiny station and met up with Jillian. We then we hopped a bus to the underpass where our day could actually begin.

    We first went to the Artist corner which was an interesting place. It’s where independent artists can sell there wears. But what’s fascinating about it is most of the people who were the artist were disabled enough that they were not able to work in the traditional sense. So they carved out a small niche in the Taiwan Tourist market. I think it’s a really good thing because they are not left behind in their own community. I did a good portion of my shopping here and was able to get very reasonable prices. We then wandered through the garden part of the this weekend market. I did actually buy some very specific things for a few people. We also stumble across some orange mint tea that was fantastic. Then we made it into the Jade Market. It was busier than the other markets and you needed to heckle more to get decent prices. We made it through and it was a good trip for all of us. Having arrived at 10:30 we finally left at about 2:30. We honestly made out like bandits and it was a great time for all of us.

Flower Market

    After that Shilin and I decided to go to Shida and get some lunch. Jillian was fairly tired so she went back home via the MRT. Shilin and I got some epic soup and dumplings from one of my favorite places in Shida. We also swung over and got some juice from of the local stands. I essentially got a bunch of fruits blended together and it was fantastic.We finally made it back to GongGuan around 4:00pm. Then we spent some time sorting out our things. Then for me I took a nap. Then it was roughly dinner time so Shilin and I went to get some Guotie. We raced on our way back up the 5 flights of stairs. I won on determination alone, it was good fun. I am going to miss both Shilin and Meiling, who are both leaving this week. I need to get them some kind of gift but I don’t know what. I’ll figure it out. Well I am still tired and really have nothing going on tomorrow expect some exploring of the Dongmen area. Time to sleep I think, good night everyone!