Hello everyone,
Just a quick note to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Deb and I arrived in Taipei about a week ago, so have had a chance to settle in. Unpack, find grocery stores, ATMs, and figure out the subway system. We were fortunate to be able to meet with John for half a day on Sunday, as he was swinging through the country on work prior to heading home.
Our apartment is located on the ground floor, with enclosed private porches front and back. Lots of privacy, but unfortunately no view. But, it’s spacious and comfortable. Here’s the neighborhood around us. We have tiny restaurants and other shops along our small alley, and a larger farmers market at the end of the street. (Don’t be concerned about all the bars on the windows- I assume it’s a cultural thing. Taipei is very safe.)
A typical street in Taipei is shown below. Easy to walk around here, the weather is very comfortable. Around 73 degrees here during their winter. (23C) And although there is a lot of motorcycle parking, the sidewalks are still available for walking. And we don’t feed like we are going to get run over by traffic like we did in Vietnam. Traffic actually pays attention to traffic signals, which is a nice change!
A couple of blocks from our apartment is a major street with lots of stores- and a police department. Check out the cop’s transportation below.
We’ve already had a chance to wander around, see some parks and temples. Below is a panorama of Jingu Taoist Temple, built in 1875. There are three floors like this one, with exquisitely carved stone balconies with colorful dragons outside. We were the only visitors there on a late Monday morning- nice to not be in crowds of tourists!
And today we ran across a yarn shop, so Deb is happy. She’ll go back when she has more time to check out their offerings, and maybe sit and knit a while. Not much English is spoken, but the people are friendly.
Hard to believe we’ve been on the road almost a year. Time has flown by, with lots of memorable experiences. We feel like we’ve settled into our routines now, so our days feel fairly normal. But all we have to do is walk outside to see the sights and sounds and we are reminded again of just how amazing this journey is. We feel so fortunate to have been able to take this path. Although we miss friends and family, we are having a great time on our wandering.
Best wishes from our family to yours,
Tim and Deb.
