Saturday adventures
Sep. 18th, 2010 02:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigo_rose99I slept in. No work on Saturday! I know you may be thinking "Of course no work on Saturday" but I have spent the past week thinking I WOULD be working today. So it was a nice change, sleeping in. I chatted with T (his Friday night) and then set about my day. I had a late breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Evidently I really freaked out the staff by coming in at 9:45am when breakfast closed at 10am. They didn't know what to do with me! ...Um... Feed me? But evidently life is not that simple for a hotel restaurant employee. Happily, I got food.
I went back upstairs and did a load of laundry. I had no idea that washing it in an actual washer takes so long! Since it is a shared washer, I felt that I have to actually keep an eye on it.
An HOUR later... The load out, I sent out from the hotel. That is to say, I got to the lobby before encountering the other members of my party debating going outside. They pointed out that it is raining. Evidently I'm clueless on the whole looking-out-the-window thing. oops!
Whereupon they reminded me of news I gained yesterday: A typhoon is coming! Yes, it is probably a storm you have not heard of since it is on the other side of the world. A typhoon is going to hit Taiwan tomorrow (Sunday). Which may sound like bad news, but is actually kind of good. I'm on the other side of Taiwan from where it will hit (typhoons always hit on the East side, and I am on the West side) and still get to watch all of the locals behaving like people do who are expecting storms. You know, kinda nutty. Since I am not traveling for weeks, I don't even have to worry about whether my plane is grounded or anything. *grin* All good.
In spite of the rain, I borrowed a hotel umbrella and walked to the local FamilyMart (real name) and bought onigiri. First expenditure of local currency since I arrive in Taiwan. Yes, six days of food and transportation, and I had not spent a cent until to day. This is the advantage of traveling with others.
I dropped off my onigiri and set off in the opposite direction for Down Town. I had a map. What could go wrong?
*laugh* No, nothing went wrong. It rained off and on for the two hours I wandered.
I discovered that this city has nothing I would describe as a sidewalk. On downtown streets they have areas that SHOULD be sidewalks. But they are particular to the store. Many stores seem to view the area I would call a sidewalk as the shopping area of their store. Or as a parking garage for scooters. Or as the place to cook lunch. Or an area for storage. Some stores block off one end of it, so pedestrians like me are forced to compete with cars and moving scooters on the road just to move to the next store. Often you have to step up or down to go to the neighboring section. I should have taken a picture, but did not see an view that perfectly captured the crowded complexity of it.
I went back upstairs and did a load of laundry. I had no idea that washing it in an actual washer takes so long! Since it is a shared washer, I felt that I have to actually keep an eye on it.
An HOUR later... The load out, I sent out from the hotel. That is to say, I got to the lobby before encountering the other members of my party debating going outside. They pointed out that it is raining. Evidently I'm clueless on the whole looking-out-the-window thing. oops!
Whereupon they reminded me of news I gained yesterday: A typhoon is coming! Yes, it is probably a storm you have not heard of since it is on the other side of the world. A typhoon is going to hit Taiwan tomorrow (Sunday). Which may sound like bad news, but is actually kind of good. I'm on the other side of Taiwan from where it will hit (typhoons always hit on the East side, and I am on the West side) and still get to watch all of the locals behaving like people do who are expecting storms. You know, kinda nutty. Since I am not traveling for weeks, I don't even have to worry about whether my plane is grounded or anything. *grin* All good.
In spite of the rain, I borrowed a hotel umbrella and walked to the local FamilyMart (real name) and bought onigiri. First expenditure of local currency since I arrive in Taiwan. Yes, six days of food and transportation, and I had not spent a cent until to day. This is the advantage of traveling with others.
I dropped off my onigiri and set off in the opposite direction for Down Town. I had a map. What could go wrong?
*laugh* No, nothing went wrong. It rained off and on for the two hours I wandered.
I discovered that this city has nothing I would describe as a sidewalk. On downtown streets they have areas that SHOULD be sidewalks. But they are particular to the store. Many stores seem to view the area I would call a sidewalk as the shopping area of their store. Or as a parking garage for scooters. Or as the place to cook lunch. Or an area for storage. Some stores block off one end of it, so pedestrians like me are forced to compete with cars and moving scooters on the road just to move to the next store. Often you have to step up or down to go to the neighboring section. I should have taken a picture, but did not see an view that perfectly captured the crowded complexity of it.
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Onigiri
Date: 2010-09-18 09:31 pm (UTC)Re: Onigiri
Date: 2010-09-19 02:02 am (UTC)The ones I buy are triangular shaped, about an inch and a half thick. I eat it cold. Because I don't read enough kanji (in Japan, China, or Taiwan), I do not know what is in the center of the rice ball until I get there. Pickled plum? Meat of some sort? It can be anything. On the outside of the rice is a layer of dried seaweed. The packaging is carefully done to separate the rice from the seaweed until you are ready to eat it (the rice would make the seaweed wet and nasty otherwise).