Ten Hours of Sleep

Gondola is spelled with O’s, not a’s. woops.

here are a few more pictures of our last day

This is also my last post

I’ll post all 500 or so pictures when I return

Today was the last day, we rode an extensive gandala to the top of a mountain and ate tea infused foods.

I bought this little, and allegedly antique, lock from a trinket market. It was pretty cheap, but it fascinated me.

I’m intrigued by the idea that people require the same utility of an object everywhere.

This utility is just achieved by alternate means.

 It felt like the right metaphor for my experiences.

Many of these are from the largest night market.

Taipei has a way of bustling unlike any US city I’ve visited.

Think of a Time’s Square kind of crowd, add a little more chaos, subtract some room and a lot of tackiness = major sensory overload

also don’t be surprised when a motoscooter zips up behind you on a sidewalk

The durian is only thing I gagged on. It smells wretched, like it is rotten.

The flesh is mush, with a thin membrane.

Its taste is not unlike a rotten mango, with a bitter garlic after-taste. I’m not kidding.

The second two days of our mountain adventure we experienced Taiwan’s typhoon season. It rained, a lot. But everything was still wonderful, these mountains were less steep, and rather very tall and rolling. We were at 3000 ft above sea level when inside the cloud. It would have been great to see the view I’m sure, but a view inside a cloud is no less interesting.

more mtn pix

A few mountain pictures, I’m not posting as many as I have yet because I’m still annoyed I can’t get them to post vertically.

This place was incredible. The mountains are much steeper than I’ve seen in the states. Some are sheer clif faces, still others even lean out over you. It’s totally unreal. As with anything worth seeing, a picture is worth a thousand words, and it still is no good.

A picture of a mountain is ironic enough anyway.

A few photos of taipei and the beginning of the trip to the western coast and mountains of Taiwan. I think west anyway, I have trouble with east and west like right and left, because when you think about it really, both are the same and the distinction is really just a distortion based upon a near-sighted perception. Ha.

*Correction, Grace just informed me we went Eastern Taiwan