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!