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Published: October 7th 2009
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Not that it makes much difference to me be as I have yet to start work but it's the weekend again and we decide to head down to Xindian. Xindian is the southernmost point on the green MRT line. Even further south than Gongguan and its wonderfully crap
Musum of Drinking Water. (By the way my
crap museum entry has become by far my most popular blog in little over a week.) It is famous for the
bitan which is a section of the Xindian river that's been dammed and turned into a recreation area. It's possible to rent pedalos there and apparently the vegetarian food in the waterside restaurants is excellent. Neither myself nor Melissa are vegetarian but have both enjoyed what veggie food we've had here. With so many Buddhists in the country it's hardly a surprise that Taiwan has such a good reputation for this type of food and I can just about manage one lunch without meat.
My arrival in Taiwan was preceded by hurricane
Morakot which battered the southern part of the island leaving thousands homeless and destitute. Since we've been here the weather has been pretty good if a little on the hot side
and we have yet to experience any of the extreme storms that afflict this particular region. There are two typhoons forecast to hit over the weekend so we're not all that keen to take Xindian up on it's kind offer of renting a pedalo.
We get to Xindian and despite it being overcast with the occasional drop of rain we're impressed. Well, we're impressed with the
bitan, the rest of the town is pretty filthy. Our enjoyment of the beautiful view is unfortunately tempered by the row that we decide to embark on. Ever since we've signed the contract on this apartment Melissa has been intimating that we were too hasty and that we're paying much too much. She doesn't like the building that we're in or the street it's on. I don't really notice the problems she has with the building. As long as I can get into the flat and shut it all out I'm ok that it's not a gleaming modern towerblock. It's also super convenient with restaurants and shops just seconds away. The MRT is less than a 100 yards from our front door. We are however paying a lot of money and I suspect it's probably a fair chunk more than the place is worth. Every time Melissa has grumbled about it I've just told her to forget about moving. Money is tight and this is a nice apartment. We can't break our contract. I'd hoped she let it rest but she's picked Xindian as the venue to have it out once and for all. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the good people of Xindian, especially to those with young children, for any foul language they may have heard as they took a late morning stroll along the river last Saturday. At first, I'm loudly adamant that we're staying put but eventually we agree that it might even be financially beneficial to move. While Minquan W road is super convenient it's not exactly a pleasant area to walk around and Martin is charging us a truck load in rent. We could potentially get another place for half what we're paying here. Melissa has a really annoying habit of suggesting things that I initially think are completely stupid and impractical, which I come around to a few days later and think are fantastic ideas. Moving to Taiwan was her suggestion when I was all set on moving to Seoul. Now, after living in Taipei for less than two months I can't imagine myself ever wanting to return to Korea.
Row finished we attempt to enjoy the remainder of our visit to Xindian. We have a really nice vegetarian lunch near the river and then head back to our (soon to be ex) flat.
I'm really excited about the typhoon. Having two hit at once sounds exciting. The skies are dark grey and the wind has picked up. I'm pretty sure it's imminent and think we should stock up on supplies in case we're confined to the apartment. I'm all set to kick back with a coffee and watch it go off. Melissa however is less perturbed and has noted that the Taiwanese seem pretty happy to still be out on the streets. So we take the MRT over to Da'an and pass the afternoon wandering around it's swanky streets with me muttering under my breath about needing to take cover every time there's a gust of wind.
Sunday comes and goes. The weather is rainy and blustery but there's no pretending this is a typhoon. I check the forecast and it turns out that the maximum windspeed we're going to experience here in the city is a feeble 40 m.ph or about as fast as an ostrich running at full pelt. Not exactly thrilling. I'm fairly disappointed.
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