Travel Day

Woke up blearily at 5:40am. Packed away the last few things. Winnie cutely shaved the back of my neck and some hairs that were growing between my eyebrows (she had wanted to do that last night). Said an affectionate goodbye to Mei Ai. Jim took us to the airport, and said goodbye with a curt, manly handshake. Winnie and I checked my bags, then headed up to the airport cafe to have one last fun conversation. We talked about Buffet’s long bet against active investing in the context of our numerous relatives whose actions display a striking confidence in their own abilities in investing. As we headed down to the security checkpoint, we talked about Winnie maybe visiting for Thanksgiving. We parted ways with a long long hug, and lots of waving and big smiles with only a trace of sadness. Waved at Winnie through the small aperture in the security checkpoint wall, and then she was gone.

I felt my usual surge of alertness and grittiness as I found myself in solitude once more, the rose-tinted glasses blinking to clear. Still, I hummed and sang as I went through security and walked to my gate and through another layer of security. I felt good, at peace with going back to the bizarre long-distance thing for a couple of months.

About to board the plane, I read up on the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm. Of course, as I waited in the skybridge, I found that Chrome had failed to pull down equations on the page I’d pre-loaded on the actual algorithm (!) (the properties of the discrete Fourier transform are also quite interesting)

Hopped on the plane, spent a long time reading Way of Kings and another long time in a contented nap, then got on the blogging thing. 

But I didn't finish the blogging on the plane, so I have to do it now! Crum. To brevify my reification: I had a long layover in San Fran and hung out with my great great-aunt Joan. We hung out at the beach and talked about my internship and the starlings that danced in and out of the waves. The rest of my route to my home and hearth in Laurelhurst was uneventful.

Proofs and Fried Chicken

Woke up late, had a quick breakfast.

We went to a little local hot spring bath, but it was closed on Mondays. So we went straight to the metro station and made the now familiar Xinbeitou -> Beitou -> Red Line trek, alighting near the Chiang-Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. We walked straight from the station onto a giant plaza. On one side was the monumental hall for the great revolutionary general and first president of Taiwan, Chiang Kai-Shek. Facing it, a beautiful blue and white series of arches topped with an ornate roof. Winnie explained that these arches were analogous to the entrance arches at the Daoist temples we had seen—they marked the boundary between the outside world and the sacred shrine inside.

On the other two sides were two grand theaters. We sat on the stairs of one to drink our water, since it was forbidden to drink on the skytrains, and chow down on some rice crackers. While we ate, we had a really interesting conversation about the future of mathematics. Winnie wondered whether there would be another renaissance in mathematics, comparable to roughly the 1800s with Cauchy and Gauss and the formal foundations of calculus and linear algebra (I don’t know enough history to know how localized the renaissance was, but I would roughly say that before this period, formal mathematics had gotten to geometry and algebra 2 (study of polynomials) and afterwards, it had probability and calculus and linear algebra and group theory and so on…

I was somewhat pessimistic because the simplest and most powerful ideas are usually discovered first. (I have something of the sense that the simplicity of the ideas is lost on future generations after rounds of pedagogical telephone games.) But on the other hand, I’d seen lots of different sources that pointed to the need for a new kind of mathematical thinking in large systems with strong coupling between parts (i.e. the hardest ™ problems). Naturally I brought up cellular automata, a throwback to when Winnie and I had found we’d both read “A New Kind of Science” by Stephen Wolfram, the inventor of Mathematica, nearly four years ago. I was surprised how much I remembered from that reading. Remembering the quote on Winnie’s dorm door from Gerard t’Hooft, the Nobel-prize-winning theorist who had given a talk at the UW a while ago, I recalled a long paper t’Hooft had written on the potential to formulate quantum mechanics in terms of cellular automata (unfortunately one of those ruled-out local hidden variable theories). We talked about that for a while. The sun was actually pleasant (boy, I’m gonna freeze when I get back). We sat on the warm stones drinking green milk tea from little milk cartons and crunching on rice crisps.

We got up excitedly talking (maybe we’ll make a little journal club!) and took some pictures by the arches. Then we set out across the vast square towards the memorial hall. At this point, we really felt the baking oppression of the hot sun. We goofed off on our way across the square, taking selfies. Finally we arrived at the monument, a huge marble structure with beautifully ornamented roofs. The changing of the guard (over the statue of the enthroned general/statesman) was just beginning. We watched the whole ceremony—the marching, slapping guns against the floor, yelling salute. The synchrony between the guards was quite impressive. There was no music and no conductor and no glancing to the sides. At the end, a dude came over and wiped the statue-like guard’s face with a handkerchief while the man stared straight ahead impassively.

We took a few minutes to stare up at the beautiful wood ceiling above and admire the statue. Then we walked back across the baking hot plaza, this time with an umbrella. We checked out some breakdancers outside by the theater, drank some weird “apple milk” from a vending machine, and got back on the metro.

We got off near Winnie’s grandma’s house and stopped for some fried chicken and bubble tea at street stands. AHHH the fried chicken!! It was probably the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. It was very much like the Taiwanese popcorn chicken at Oasis on the Ave, but piping, piping hot (everything is served piping hot here) and with the most delicious spice mix on the breading. It also helped that the hot, spicy chicken went perfectly with our black tea ice cream float :D

We got to Winnie’s grandma’s apartment and waited in the air conditioned office. Some of Winnie’s aunts brought in some more sweet drinks and these incredible, also piping hot pastries which are basically sesame bagel dough wrapped around a peppery meat pie filling. We ate those contentedly and continued the conversation from earlier. Winnie’s uncle brought me a gift (!), a quite expensive looking pottery mug in the Tang three-color style.

Winnie really wanted to take a nap so I tried to do the same in the spacious living room, but I couldn’t. Ended up reading more Way of Kings. Watched a little bit of TV, which looked basically like American TV, i.e., blecch! After a long nap on Winnie’s part, we ate noodles in peanut sauce and fried rice at the enormous round table :D I heard a bit more of the story of Winnie’s parents and them moving back and forth. Winnie’s dad moved to the states for college, then back to Taiwan at his dad’s wish to work, then to Canada for Winnie and JJ’s education (where he at first had to commute to the States without a work visa), then back to Taiwan to care for his parents. Truly a man dedicated to his family!

On the way back home, Winnie and I worked on a proof that the ratio of successive Fibonacci terms approached the golden ratio. (Earlier I’d remembered an old interpretation of Fibonacci growth in terms of interest with delayed reinvestment, which gave some fun context.) We picked up some chicken, and it was as I bit into that delicious chicken that I came up with the final piece for the proof.

We arrived home. It was our last evening together. Winnie and me goofed off, finished our weird Miyazaki movie, looked at Winnie’s baby pics, packed up my stuff. It was pretty late when we decided to hit the hay.

The Yangmingshan Run / A-dou-a

We woke up at our usual laggardly hour :P I got up and breakfasted, and as usual was joined by a sleepy Winnie a few minutes later. It is startling how quickly the new becomes a comfortable routine!

Mei, Jim--Gosh, I feel odd using their names now that I’m used to the Asian custom of calling them aunt and uncle—Winnie and I set off, Winnie’s dad driving, to the Yangmingshan national park just north of Taipei city. After a relatively short stretch of highway, we were driving up twisting mountain roads at sickening speeds. Winnie and I took turns napping on each other in the backseat, but I found it quite difficult to nap and read more Way of Kings instead.

We arrived and ascended a short distance to a little visitor’s center. The landscape was quite picturesque, dense trees growing on the slopes all around, and a little tended garden amidst it all. Mei didn’t want to hike around, so W and I abandoned her parents at the visitor’s center and poked around a little bit. We found the biggest spider I have EVER seen tending an enormous web stretched across a side path. The spider was about the size of the palm of my hand and was painted in terrifying black and yellow colors. Its every motion caused the web to shake. At one point it dropped almost half a foot and caught itself on the vibrating web.

After the rendezvous at the visitor’s center (I bought a little coaster for Grace!) we stopped for a snack at a little booth. I got a whole, piping hot sweet potato and a little pig’s blood cake (Winnie said it might not be made with pig’s blood anymore). Nom nom nom! The sweet potato was super creamy and delicious.

We rode to another section of park, up higher. Here the slopes were covered with large fern-like plants, and there were vents where hot sulfur gas boiled from the earth. Again we left Winnie’s folks in the visitor’s center (I felt a little bad but Winnie also really wanted to go hiking—she did all the communicating with her folks—and it did seem like sitting in the visitors’ center looking at doodads and snacking was what they wanted to do). We checked out the sulfur vents and then started on a long uphill climb. The climb, on a beautiful stone path surrounded on both sides by bamboo and ferns, was exhilarating. I find it less draining to climb at a rapid pace than a slow one, but the rapid pace was demanding on W and we took lots of breaks to admire the beautiful view.

By the time we reached the first viewpoint, I was so excited, I was jogging up the stairs and taking push-up breaks. The view was spectacular. Peaks framed lush valleys sloping down farther into farmland, and in the distance a misty Taipei City could be seen, painted in the bronzed colors of the horizon.

We had to turn back to rendezvous with Winnie’s parents again. I tried to instruct Winnie in the way of the mountain goat. Initially she was quite nervous of the steep rocky steps, but by the end she was bounding down the more flat regions. For a while I positioned myself so as to stop her fall.

Back at the visitor’s center Jim handed me a big chunk of glutinous rice wrapped in a leaf and adorned with a topping of meat. (All the snacks are huge in Taiwan, although they are usually mostly carbs.) I chowed down and bought three bottles of water. We talked a little bit about Taiwanese history. Mei often waved off Jim and Winnie when they tried to explain history to me, saying it was too complicated. It was very complicated.

We went to one more place, where it was said that the water cows, or shui nio, (the actual ones, not me and Winnie) could be found. It took us a while to get there—we had to wait in a line of cars. But it was worth the wait. The cows loafed around everywhere, evidently oblivious to the tourists that snapped their portraits. The trail was also lovely, and again here the temperature was cooler. Winnie and I set off on our own, talking contentedly. We wanted to make the full circle trail, but the trail was misleading. As we thought we’d be rounding the bend, we realized the trail meandered off into the surrounding hills and valleys. We decided to go anyway, at a jog!

We hauled, exhilaratingly, along the trail. I kept to the grass as I would be less likely to trip. Got to a stone cairn thing, pulled myself up to the lip of it, went back to the ground, kept running, Winnie a few paces behind me. We went down a hill, round a bend, past some surprised hikers, and up another hill. Up and down again and Winnie needed a break, so I scooped her up and kept walking up the hill :D It was really fun. We were drenched in sweat. We got finally to the straightaway part of the trail and hauled along. Winnie was yelling with panic and exhilaration as we ran across the bumpy grass hills and knobbly cobblestones. Hikers and cow-watchers looked up as we passed. For the final stretch, I piggybacked Winnie, which occasioned more excited exclamations as I pounded across the stones.

Finally we met up with Winnie’s parents, grabbed some water and a tasty grape popsicle at the little visitor’s center, and headed back home again.

We stopped briefly by home to change clothes, then drove off again. It was cool to see a new part of the city as we drove to a restaurant. When we got to the restaurant, which was in this cavernous building with long corridors like a middle school that also seemed to be hosting a huge gala, we encountered three huge tables and a bunch of relatives milling around. This was a celebration of Father’s Day (the equivalent) mostly for Winnie’s grandpa.

I got introduced to lots of people (having been trained beforehand on the right way to address people, by “shu shu” or “ai” or “ye ye” or just “grandma” depending on their age or gender. I got to hand my bottle of whisky over to the old patriarch, who was dressed in an impressive suit, and received several small gifts from him and a few aunts in return. There were a couple cousins who spoke good English, but I didn’t get to speak to any of them at length.

Finally we sat down at our table and enjoyed a steady stream of tasty food (sushi, chicken, other seafood, bacon and veggies, scallops embedded in tomatoes). (I still preferred the food we’d had at the little traditional place by the stadium.) There was also barley tea and a couple of containers of orange and guava juice. This felt like a comfortable family gathering, without too much formality or presentational ado. The “jolly uncle” I’d met before was sitting next to Winnie’s autistic cousin, which created a lot of merriment and vigorous hand shaking. The uncle got a bit fed up with constantly being poked friendly-like by the cousin, but in the end it was fine.

We also did some toasting, which was very similar to the toasting in Chongqing 2 years ago. Winnie’s jolly uncle kept addressing me as a-dou-a, which is colloquial for foreigner, and literally means “big nose”. Winnie eventually couldn’t contain herself and burst out with hysterics at the appellation.

On the drive back home, I learned that the jolly uncle was quite wealthy due to the family real estate business. Back at home, we tried to find “The Cat Returns” Miyazaki movie. It took us forever to find it, so we only watched half of it.

Too Much Fun at To Fun

It was Saturday, and Winnie’s parents were taking us on an excursion to To Fun, a mountain retreat town that had inspired the scenery in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. We woke up early and piled in the car. I had brought Winnie’s theoretical physics book and a notebook along and took it upon myself to rederive the Euler-Lagrange equations for minimizing integrals of specific types of functions, which I was able to do surprisingly quickly, and I explained my proof to Winnie. We ran into traffic but once we got off the highways and up the mountain roads we had a better time. The air smelled good—rich with the perfumes of jungle plants.

We got out in a little parking lot

And climbed some winding stairs

The town reclined on the mountain like an old cat

Its folds conforming to the hill and jungle.

We first hit up a place that served little buckets of chewy, glutinous flour dumplings, flavored with taro and sweet potato, and surrounded by a sweet shave ice rapidly turning into liquid. The iconic food was quite tasty and fantastically chewy. We looked down on the rest of the town and chatted a little bit. I had to stop Winnie from talking about action integrals, a subject which clearly was opaque to her parents.

Then we went off into the heart of the market. We stopped in a shop with lots of little wooden implements. I got a backscratcher for Mary and a pair of chopsticks, but refrained after much decision from the many wooden spatulas and spoons.

We passed a lot of cool places and most of them had free samples. I tried some medicinal marinated fruit (Winnie had given me the dried version when I was sick at the UW), a sesame ball, some melon cake, and much more! We stopped at another random shop because I saw these sweet little Totoro hand fans that my sisters would like. Again, normally I hate this kind of stuff but when everything is 1/3 the price, it’s kinda fun!

We found the specific place that had so captured Miyazaki, a three-story teahouse on a hill painted in beautiful black, with red lanterns and beautiful oriental rooflines. Winnie and I took some cute selfies with all the lanterns. We didn’t go into the teahouse, but it was lovely from the outside.

We got lunch—I got beef noodle again—which was tasty and filling. Then we got shave ice + ice cream—Winnie and I got a fantastic bowl that had chunks of incredibly juicy fresh mango on top.

On our second pass through the shops, Winnie’s folks got some dried fish and tofu jerky, or to gan. The tofu jerky was remarkably good. They got a little extra of both for me to take home.

An interesting note—most of the shops followed “templates”, i.e., there were many nearly identical duplicate copies of the same idea (the glutinous rice shops, the bubble tea shops, the shave ice + ice cream shops, the wood crafts shops, the leather crafts shops, and so on). Everything was a de facto commodity, which kept the prices relatively low, but did not diminish the aesthetic impact of the market as a whole (in fact, I think it strengthened it).

When we emerged from the winding markets, Winnie went in to the 7-11 (of course!) on the main road and got a big jug of water. Then we headed back home. On the way back, after my success with Euler-Lagrange, while Winnie napped, I struggled to reconstitute my proof that the only spherically symmetric function that could be split into a sum of functions of each coordinate, e.g. f(r) = X(x) + Y(y) + Z(z), was the function x^2 + y^2 + z^2 (and constant multiples thereof). I finally got it just as we were pulling into town, to the famous Shilin night market. The street was thronged. We sat down at a table on the sidewalk, and ate some stinky tofu. It was hot and delicious. But, as it turned out, this was only the tip of the iceberg. We went down an escalator into an enormous underground market, just as packed as the aboveground part. Small eats vendors serving 50 different types of plates served counters wrapping around their kitchens. After wandering around a bit, we sat down in a little restaurant’s dining area and had “American Steak” served on cast-iron fajita plates drenched in peppery gravy with eggs on top! It was a weird meal. Winnie and I split a beer. The noise and din in the market was incredible, and Winnie’s parents couldn’t take it for long—they went home. We went to get bubble tea and fresh fruit, then went back up aboveground and drank it. We were being total goofballs—Winnie completely decimated by her one glass of beer. We found that it was terrifically fun to pass the bubble tea boba back and forth in our mouths, and were laughing nonstop for about 10 minutes. We were still talking about some scientific matter—I forget what it was. After the boba were consumed, we checked out the carnival games. We played a hoops game, then a darts game (that was cheap!), watched a rigged-looking game where you have to stand a beer bottle up with a metal ring, went to a game with bows and arrows, then back to the hoops game. We knew we could do it! Winnie bargained with the guy for an extra ball. We had to make 5/7, then. I immediately bricked my first shot! Winnie made her first then bricked her second. Just like that, we were on the ropes. 3 balls left, three hoops to go! I argued that we should take the 3 closer hoops (we had hit 2/3 farther ones). But Winnie wanted the backboard (correctly), and nailed the farthest one. She then left the remaining two balls to me. I hit the first one and then, dripping with sweat, collected myself. Swish! We earned a knockoff Winnie-the-Pooh plushie (technically, Mr. Honey).

We picked up some fried milk (which was amazing, like little cubes of roasted marshmallow almost) and water for the way home. Contentedly we hopped on the metro and arrived back in Beitou. Once home, we finished Goodfellas, watching late into the night. What a movie! It struck me as terrifically honest. I loved the scene at the end where things are falling to pieces, but he still has to prepare pasta for his family and make it to the big dinner.

Caught in a Rainstorm on Elephant Mountain

The dread filter of OUTLINE mode descends again, as the haze of time passing descends upon my memory. Therefore, the breakfast of this morning is lost to me.

We arrived at the Songshan stop and walked a little bit. We were near the downtown, and there were high-rises on either side. Suddenly, a hill covered with thick tropical rainforest appeared, and at its base, a Daoist temple.

I was excited to check it out, so we went in. Up a flight of decorated steps, we found ourselves at the foot of a beautiful shrine. Brightly colored red pillars and red boards on the floor separated us from the realm beyond. Framed between each pair of pillars, a different entity and its attendants were honored. In the center of the floor where we stood, there was a great ceremonial cauldron, or *ding*, which was filled with sand and spent incense; a small lighter stood smoking to receive more. Incongruously, the *ding*'s top was wrapped in a little plastic smoke shield.

We walked around, still on a little balcony open to the air, to find another type of oven where different offerings were burned, along with a set of hand tools. I found it really interesting that the ceremonial distinction between production and consumption (roughly, I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with this neat idea) was not nearly so prevalent in Taiwan. Construction sites were everywhere half-finished, with materials just sitting on the ground (like at my family's house!) Here at the temple, hand tools that the monks used were just lying around on the floor and on tables next to the oven. We saw some stairs with no particular markings, and Winnie said it would be fine to check out the upstairs! There was another shrine, which was much larger and looked like it also doubled as a congregation space! This whole time there was nobody there. We exited, into a little rooftop garden. We took different stairs down, which led past a set of doors that Winnie said were the monks' apartments. They would stay here and take care of the temple and (presumably) lead prayer.

We had just reached the balcony where we’d entered when a tremendous downpour started. The rain pounded on the roofs, some of which were evidently corrugated metal. The sound was awesome. How romantic, I thought! We hung out in the temple a little longer, then decided to start the hike. Winnie produced her umbrella from her bag, and we walked up the stone steps into the jungle. It was, indeed, very romantic. We clung tightly together under the umbrella and made out just a little bit. Winnie thought I was like a little grotto or something, a little oasis of shelter.

We continued upward to a beautiful scenic outlook, where we took lots of lovely pictures and rested for a while. We talked about whether I should do theoretical physics, and how nice it would be to follow t’Hooft’s advice and just spend five years learning all the foundational physics at graduate level, turning a blind eye to the rest of the world.

The stairs got steeper and steeper as we ascended. Finally, we reached a flatter area with a lot of big rocks, which we had fun climbing on.

We kept walking, got scared by a giant bug that zipped past, investigated a temple with some scary looking dogs. We walked back down. Winnie fell and scraped her leg (probably my fault for moving so fast). When we got to the bottom, an older fellow beckoned Winnie over and applied some weird traditional medicine stuff to her cut. I didn’t do anything, which was silly, but we were a little worried afterwards. (It turned out fine).

It took us a while to work our way back to civilization from that exit of the park. We passed a big, wealthy looking high school in the rain. I was super hungry, so when we made it back to a city-like area, we hit up a 7-11 for snacks and water and then went looking for some “small eats”. We initially passed a little restaurant with some plastic sheeting for its front door, with nobody in it, which looked super sketchy to me, so we kept looking. But after a while, Winnie made the call; we went back there. And it was great! As soon as we showed up, a couple more people went in. And the food was amazing! Our drenched shirts chilling in the AC, we drank hot soup with little soft delicious bao (I forget the name!). Then there was this little bowl of nothing but noodles with some sort of spiced tofu on top. GAAAH that was incredible! I couldn’t believe how tasty that tofu was. It tasted so rich and meaty.

We had to hustle back after that, so we could take showers and then go over to the grandma’s. We all, some aunts and uncles included, had dinner at a little traditional food place where we shared lots of little plates. It was quite delicious, especially the fatty bacon. Nobody back home uses bacon correctly for that super-rich flavor with cabbage and stuff.

I don’t remember what happened in the evening after that!

Daan Shui Bike Ride

Today Winnie and I set out excited with the prospect of some solid exercise before us. We planned to take the metro out to one of the branches of the Daan Shui river around which the city was built, then bike on trails along the river.

The metro ride was quite pretty, and soon we were getting off at a red brick station next to the river. We grabbed some $1.20 bubble tea at a stand there and set off! On the way out we passed a performer who was totally covered in gold paint and stood in a very difficult one-legged pose, completely still. I gave the man a few coins and he slowly, adiabatically, robotically transitioned to another difficult pose. I was quite impressed! Winnie and I thought inside the clothing there must be some support, but still.

We started walking along the river, soaking in the festive atmosphere of my first “night market” (some of the stands were open in broad daylight). Winnie had priors for walking, but I was eager to get myself some delicious food. After all, it wouldn’t stop me from having more later, would it? We found a stand that sold fried seafood. They had a bunch (like hundreds) of premade options sitting out, which seemed totally bizarre. Winnie assured me that our food would be cooked fresh. I couldn’t see what happened we ordered our fried cuttlefish—my conjecture is that the food they had on display was somehow par-cooked at the beginning of the day so it could be quickly finished for the customer--but our fish was definitely fresh. It was covered with little seafood-tasting things and a delicious creamy sauce.

We made a romantic stop on a long pier, surrounded by water on three sides and an invigorating breeze. Hiked up to the old Spanish fort which was the first stop on our itinerary. We walked around the fort and the colonial house that went along with it. We learned a bit of history and goofed around.

Then we headed back to the riverside, grabbing a couple of exotic fruity drinks on the way (I think I had a chrysanthemum tea. It was very sweet and brought back a really old memory of drinking tea with Mom brewed from an unfolding flower of herbs at the Magnolia house. That tea apparently made a big impression on me.) We caught a ferry for the other coast, with the bike paths. Oh wait! There was the whole shenanigans with the Turkish ice cream guy. Before we were to board the ferry, Winnie saw this place and exhorted me to try this Turkish ice cream. The guy was a real showman, a beefy dude who scooped rock hard ice cream out of tubs with a two-foot-long metal stick with a paddle on the end. Kids would order ice cream, and he would hand them a cone, then tease them by sticking the ice cream to the cone and pulling it away again with the paddle. It was hilarious. I went up and ordered my ice cream, got my cone—and the crazy guy goes into an extended routine! At the climax of the performance—people are standing around and taking videos now—the yokel insists I take a bite of the ice cream right off the paddle! We were breaking all the health codes. Finally I get my ice cream, which was a totally different flavor of chocolate, quite bitter. I barely have time to eat it before we have to get on the ferry. The ferry, oddly enough, leaves on no set schedule—it just waits until it gets full, and then leaves. So we have to haul and cram ourselves on. The ride across the Daan Shui was pretty—it struck me then, how remarkably flat Taipei is, compared to the mountains around it—the whole city almost seems to be built on a river delta, although I can’t imagine the river was ever so wide as to raze the whole metropolitan area to flatness. I digress.

We hop off and rent some bikes. The proprietor, who charges us the outrageous fee of 5 dollars each (what happened to $1 ofos?) to rent bikes, apparently was complaining to Winnie about having no wife to cook for him as he explained we needed to be back by 7. Weird. We hop on our bikes and head off along the river, excited to be on the move! We biked along the paved trail for miles, taking in the panoramic view of the city. We got pretty far along, crossed the river on a bridge, and went into a little deserted park inside a swampy area. Near the park, there was a huge apartment complex that fronted right on the river and on a grassy area. It looked very incongruous, almost like the city had been abandoned and reclaimed by nature, but these buildings remained. Fun moments: riding up and down a ramp inside the park, which was scary; stopping and goofing off at a little outdoor exercise installation; looking in at a riverside factory where workers without masks were spray-painting a giant yacht; taking a classic selfie video while flying along at top speed; waiting at a 3-minute-long stop light and balancing on rocks and trail delimiters…

Around 7, we arrived back where we started, dropped off our bikes, and went to the night market. Being shui nio, we first grabbed 2-liter bottles of water and drank deeply. Then we stopped at a cut fruit stand, where they gave out enormous samples! They sold raw cranberries, very sour! We got some “waxapple”, a sweet fruit with shiny skin and bell-pepper like texture, and some pink guava, which was fantastic and full of seeds. We also got fried squid and sat down by the riverside. We talked about a controversy in Winnie’s family.

We went back to the night market and got some pastries for Winnie’s mom, as well as some more fruit, and ate a little more. Fun random thing—all the wares had these little rotating brushes above them which I thought were flyswatters.

We took the ferry back, hung out a bit more at the night market on the near bank and got a few trinkets, then went home for the evening!

National Palace Museum

1. Woke early in the morning /
1. Emailed my boss
2. Wrote some logs
3. Ate a terrific breakfast of steamed buns with vegetables, and cool egg pastries, that Mei Ai had gleaned from a breakfast shop. Delicious spicy sauce as well.
4. Finally sleepyhead Winnie roused herself and stumbled into the common area for a morning hug--she'd been up late reading papers ;D
5. We chowed the rest of the breakfast food and decided, in light of incredible heat and not too much interest, to redirect our trip to the zoo towards a big national museum instead.
2. Again we hopped on the metro. This time we got off, grabbed some delicious juice at a convenience store ;) and hopped on a bus. Got off right at the museum, which loomed majestically in front of a jungle of wooded trees. We walked down the long walkway that led to the museum doors, goofing off in the sweltering sun. Winnie was telling me about big studded metal ceremonial cauldrons called ding as we posed by one for a pic. 
3. The first floor of the museum alone held countless types of relics of Chinese history. Apparently, republican revolutionaries, fearful of the destruction of artworks by the wanton bombings and sectarian violence of the Chinese civil war, carefully transported them to the coast and shipped them to Taiwan, which now has some absurd proportion of Chinese historical artifacts. We started off looking at a variety of documents--imperial diaries in beautiful script with silk covers. I tried to decipher some red circles that accompanied the script. Sometimes, Winnie told me, circles in the script act as periods, but these looked more artistically placed, and they were in a different color of ink. We checked out some "memorials" (memorandums?) which were reports sent to the emperor from his governors and officials. It was hilarious--they were written in beautiful, flawless script and accompanied by illustrations of buildings, watermelons and the like. When they arrived at the emperor's desk, they were annotated with comments for the officials, copied to the archives (ancient Chinese took documentation and archival seriously!) then sent back to the officials. One long document on a new method of farming that seemed to be working well got the three character comment (Winnie told me) "Try it out."
4. We browsed through other exhibits full of beautiful porcelain (Winnie liked the classic blue on white designs), magnificent jewelry and hair pins (because it was taboo for Chinese aristocratic men (or women?) to cut their hair), bronze Buddha sculptures (it was common for visitors to stop and spend a few seconds praying to these), and more. We took a break to grab to hua (soy flower), a peanut flavored sweet tofu snack, from the museum cafe.
5. Then, the highlight of the trip--we went to see the museum's prize possession, its Mona Lisa--the jadeite cabbage. This beautiful vegetable, about the size of a supermarket bok choi and carved from solid jade, was truly a marvel. It was meant to represent the prosperity of the Chinese court and Chinese agriculture, and I have to say the artist was spot on. The cabbage glistened with vitality; and nestled among the leaves a little cricket completed the effect.
6. Of course, nearby there was another, sillier artifact--it was a piece of stone of a particular type carved to look exactly like a delicious piece of cooked pork belly. It did look tasty ;)
7. We hit the museum gift shop next. It exceeded all my expectations. I got more stuff than I expected, although probably less than I should have :P I always skimp on gifts for my friends and relatives :/ I got a really awesome jadeite cabbage bottle opener for Laurelhurst, and a set of chopsticks and chopstick holders that looked like swords for Winnie ;)
8. After the museum, we went to Winnie's grandma's apartment, picked up Winnie's grandma, parents, and Indonesian helper, and had some hot pot. Had a good conversation with the family--one of the few times we were all together!
9. Went to a tai chi lesson after that. I tried to participate but had a hard time remembering all the tai chi from my old lessons at WCC! We kept turning around so I couldn't keep following the teacher. And I couldn't understand when he called a break and tried to correct our motions. It was still fun, though. Winnie and I got a big bottle of water afterwards. 
10. Went home, goofed off a bit, and hit the hay.