Darkness falls

Darkness falls upon us, in more than one way.

This time, minutes before a sudden, and fortunately short, rain shower. Fortunately because I was having lunch without any umbrella at hand. It rained, finally. I cannot remember when was the last time. And it has been good on the temperature too.

Anyway, the news is that a tropical storm is getting closer. More or less, the first one this year. It is not a typhoon yet and it is supposed to go to the Philippines. But you cannot trust these beasts, you never know how large they will become or where they will end up landing.

Solitude

In one of the several building (or demolishing) zones near ASMAB in the Taida campus.

Two Years

Hello everyone, or anybody that can read this. Long time no see, isn't it? Well, routine gets into my life.

But today I have a reason to remember: two years since I landed for the first time in Taiwan. Time runs pretty fast, it seems to me. Well, it will get worse probably.

Hope to see you soon.

End of the year

As it was written on the beginning of that famous Dickens book: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..., this year was like that. Well, maybe not to exaggerate, but it has been a year of really high ups and some low downs. Nonetheless, after spending two weeks already in Barcelona, I am seeing things in a different way. More optimistical, with a different perspective and appreciating the good things that were, are and will be.

Such as warming up to the smile of two little candles that are just beginning to walk into this world, or to enjoy the conversation with an old friend around some coffee cups

Happy New Year and see you soon!

Waiting

Lots of scooters, in their parking lots. Forests of handlebars and mirrors. All over Taipei.

Press the button

To stop the bus in the next bus stop.

In Chinese, of course

Grips

Martian facilities in Taipei?

No, just some big balls where kids can exercise their climbing skills. The first impression I had, though, was very weird.

Visit to Beijing

I am late. Again. It looks like I am losing some good habits. But, as I promised a few weeks, or months, ago, something about my visit to Beijing in mid-September.

It was a trip purely for pleasure, of course. I took a direct flight from Taipei to Beijing, now that it is possible. It might be a little bit more expensive than flying through Macao or Hong Kong, but you get there in only three hours. If the trip is only for three days, as in my case, it is an important factor in the decision.

I arrived to the new Terminal 3, another monster in the middle of nowhere —some megalomaniac countries have this obsession—, finished for the olympic games. I was picked up there and we headed back to Taipei in a taxi. My first impression of Beijing were concrete towers and freeways everywhere under a grey sky. Fortunately, I had my own Sun next to me, so to speak.

After lunch,

and experiencing my first bus trip —with one guy collecting money inside if you did not have the magnetic car, a curious mix of old and new times— we went to the Summer Palace.

It was the summer residence of the emperors, where they escaped from the royal court. Now, it is a very large and beautiful public park.


With the old buildings in a reasonable good state, even if there are signs of old destructions in some of them, and with magnificent forests and lakes.



A very nice place that we peacefully toured as the afternoon was slowly dying away. After so much time in Taipei, the temperature difference was almost shocking.


On our return to the city, with a mix-up of bus stops included, I had a first experience of the huge amount of people on the streets, and the accompanying chaos, and a very pleasant night taxi trip back home looking at the very modern-looking buildings along the way. A promising first day.

(There will be more)

Parking tickets

The first time I saw one of these women, sitting with one foot on the ground and the other on her bycyle pedal, wearing some kind of uniform, the conical hat down to her ears, the mask around her mouth, and taking out of some pocket the ticket-printing machine, print out a ticket, which she would immediately put on the windshield of a car, I thouhgt she was having a field day putting fines.

Later, I saw her/them many days until somebody's explanation made me realize that I had been wrong. They do not put parking tickets as fines, they mark the time intervals during which cars are stopped in the parking zones. As in the picture I took the other day.

The car owner must then go pay what is owed—I guess before a few days— to any 7-11 or similar store. I found it quite odd, but it's not such a bad idea, because they save the cost of installing the automatic coin machines. You cannot get rid of the watchmen/women anyway.

Short walk

Weekends are very slow again, lately. For different reasons, not hard to understand. Today, though, I managed to go out and take a walk after lunch, using the short time I had before the Sun set, and I went to Yuanshan, in the northern part of Taipei. Since last Wednesday, the weather is almost as warm as during the summer and it feels really good to walk in the street. So, I took my camera and started taking pictures of more temples, with dragons and phoenix,



reddened clouds,

absurdly highly elevated freeways,

and red, of course, bridges.

Later, a quiet coffe near Shida, in a place with nice memories, putting some order in my ideas. The way things are, that is the best I can do.

Contract

A few days later than it ought to be, but still on time. Last Wednesday, I signed the renewal of my post-doctoral contract. For another year. So, I am assured to have that time to be here. And probably, more afterwards, but it will all depend on how many things I can do during this year. Right now, there are many and who knows if I will be able to stick to the plans.

Just keep on going.

November sky

The weather is colder and we had a day between sunny and some clouds. Another failed try on the personal side, but I expected it. A real pity.

The sunset, though, was spectacular. Really worth anything.

Special offers

Some of the newcomers are, or at least seemed to be, very fond of another Taiwanese habit, which is to collect the little stickers that you get when you buy more than a certain amount of stuff in some of the convenience stores. If you manage to get the little booklet where to attach them and you fill it inside the predetermined time, you may win any stupid thing they might offer, or some other product if they run out of it. I think the prize is not worth the effort required to get it done.

But, if you feel like it, there is another way, collecting the stickers you get if you buy some coffe in a 7-Eleven shop. If you get six, you get a free coffe (it reminds me of my time in Columbus).

Of course, I suspect that if you want something more elaborated than just plain coffee, maybe you need to collect twice that number. It does not matter, we must spend money.

Cups

I guess I have said it more than once: eating out in Taiwan is awfully cheap for people used to the prices in Europe. One must take into account the difference in wages, but in any case for about 2 euros you can have a nice dinner, and if it costs 5 or 6 it will be considered expensive by some. If we get to 10 euros, you can imagine. Of course, food in western style places, like pubs, is more expensive.

What is a little bit shocking, in comparison, is that some things are proportionately much more expensive, like imported beer or coffee, which I guess it has not been a product widely consumed in a place where people love tea. More or less, for the price of coffee, you can have dinner. Prices in places like Starbucks are more or less the same as in Europe or the US, but you can also find more affordable prices in some convenience stores.

I am not complaining, though, because there are many small cafès, european style, more or less expensive, but with a very nice ambience, particularly since smoking is not allowed anymore, relaxed and quiet —if the crowds of people with laptops are not too large— where I can stop and rest and see the flow of life, far from the usual rush of life in Taipei.


And during these days, when I am thinking how to revive this blog, and I cannot stop listening to Chris Isaak songs, where could I find a better place to pass the time?.

Asymmetry

Crabs in Pingtung's aquarium.

Wet

Today, a friend sent me this spectacular image of the state of the tropical storms on this side of the world.

On the West side of the map, there is the tropical storm Parma, which has more less taken a seat near the coast of the Philippines and it is moving very slowly. The forecasts say that it should be travelling in a SW-S direction, doing more harm to the poor Philippines I guess, and moving away from Taiwan. But while it remains where it is, we already had two days of non-stop rain; strong now, weak later, with some strong wind coming and going, and it seems that this will not change until Wednesday.

The other storm towards the East side of the map is the supertyphoon Melor, kind of scary seen in this way, which should be moving towards the North in the direction of Japan and would never reach us, but we will see.

In short, we will not have a drought here, but a lot of clothes and shoes to dry.

BT

A difficult weekend in my emotional side, because it seems that I will never learn, but I finally managed to solve two small problems, with udev and Bluetooth, that I had in my Slackware. Now, I can dowload and upload the pictures, and other files, from my cellphone via Bluetooth!. As a sample, a picture I took on my way to Kenting last May,

which also fits what I feel about some people right now.

Stains

On Yehliu's rocks.

On the bend

Three days

Back from Beijing. A little sad and shaken, as expected, but happy too, with many good memories to cherish. Three intense and exhausting days, doing many things that I will tell about as soon as I can.

And my company? As you can guess, excellent and lovely. Very special.