Snakes, Turtles, and Lotuses

I had a little adventure today.  It was short but chalked full of interesting things.

Last night was a little rough.  I found it very difficult to sleep and had some pretty crazy dreams.  S said that when he first arrived he also had really bizarre dreams but they eventually went away.  I did eventually get some sleep and then had lunch at the school.  Right down the street is a husband and wife who run a little restaurant.  He makes the best fried rice I have ever had.  I chowed down a portion of that for lunch.  It was plenty and cost me less than $1.50

This afternoon I decided to take the walk to Lotus Lake that I had wanted to do yesterday but couldn't because of the rain.  It was threatening to rain though so I couldn't take my big camera and resorted to just my iphone.

To get to Lotus Lake I had to walk through a gate in the old city wall.  The wall was built in 1824 around most of what is now Zuoying District.  The wall is still in pretty good shape but in many places has been built into, drilled through, or has tree limbs, roots, and vines growing through it.

On the other side of the wall was a vast park area and the base of Turtle Mountain.  It is just a small mountain that is shaped a little like a turtle apparently.  You can climb it via an elaborate set of boardwalks but I wasn't feeling it today.  I walked through the park and through a shady area with many benches.

As I walked through the shady area an old Taiwanese woman shot out from a bench and started talking at me in rapid Mandarin.  She kept touching the skin on my arm, shaking her head with a sad look on her face, and pointing at the sun.  She was very, very upset that my skin was exposed to the sunlight.  She tried to pull me into the shade but I needed to keep walking so I tried to let her down.  I realized then that I need to learn how to say Yes and No because thank you was not enough in this situation.  When she finally understood that I was going to keep walking she tried to give me her umbrella.  I couldn't accept it so I just kept saying shishi and walked away.  Then I started to pay attention.  All of the Taiwanese women are completely covered.  When driving their scooters they wear zip up sweatshirts backwards on just their arms to protect them.  Many of them wear high necked shirts or they wear big cowl necked scarves to protect their chest from the sun.  They all wear pants or capris for the most part and usually hats.  So when I walk around in a short sleeved, scoop-necked sun dress, I must frighten them.

I walked through the park for a while longer and came upon a parking lot that bordered what must be a poorer section of town.  The apartments are very module and are built in a compartment style.  Many of them were just bare concrete or plastic siding.  Some even had open portions like the one below.  I can't imagine that they hold up well in typhoons.  Later on there will be a picture of my apartment building.  All of the windows have steel bars across them, not for security like you would guess, but to protect against the strong winds and rain of the typhoons they get here.

In this part of town, many of the houses are built right into the old city wall.  You can just barely see a snippet of it on the left side of this photo where the brown fence ends.

I finally made it to Lotus Lake (finally is an exaggeration, it was only like 15 minutes of walking).  It involved crossing a fairly busy street.  There are not really cross walks or pedestrian indicators here.  You just don't do anything very quickly.  You make your actions clear and you are very deliberate in what you do.  You wait for a lull in traffic and just walk out and they all know to avoid you.  People may appear to drive "crazy" here in comparison to the US but I think it is actually safer.  Everyone is very cautious and aware.  No one takes having the "right away" for granted. 

Lotus Lake was beautiful but at this point the dear old woman have had a point.  I was sure that either the sun would burn me or the rain would come and certainly soak me.  I only had a few minutes at the lake but it has many temples on its shores.  They are bright and colorful and have very interesting architecture.  One was shaped like a long dragon in a circle that you could walk all the way through.  There was one boat on the lake that was pulling a young man who was wake-boarding.  They saw me and were trying to impress me.  It was endearing.

I am pretty sure you can actually see 5 separate temples in this photo if you look close enough.  

To the left of this photo is Snake Mountain.  Can you guess what it is shaped like?  Very good.  You can also climb that and on the other side is the ocean.  

The rain was really threatening so I stayed just long enough and turned home.  Back across the street, through the shaded area where the same woman was sitting.  She waved many times at me and was very happy to see me on my way home.

While walking through the park I encountered an older Taiwanese man.  He gestured hello and I said hello back in Chinese.  Then he did something that completely blew my mind.  The path was an easy 5 or 6 feet wide; there was more than enough room for us to both be on the path but as I neared him, he stepped completely off the path and bowed his head while I walked past.  As soon as I was past him, he stepped back on the path and kept walking.  I was flabbergasted.  I will have to ask Ben why that happened.

I passed a school on my way home.  It was many stories tall and had a completely open/glass structure.  It was passing time and you could see all the kids moving about in their black pants and white tops.

Here is that photo of my building complex that I promised.  We actually live in a Veteran's community so there are many buildings that all look the same; at least 13 since I live in building 13.

The people here are so kind.  Our neighbor across the hall speaks a tiny bit of English.  He knows Hello and Good Morning.  I saw him on my way in and he was so excited to greet me.  The community is about 95% old people and you pretty much only see them in the morning and early afternoon and never in between but they are often out doing TaiChi in the garden or manicuring the garden and courtyards.  This is the courtyard right outside my building.  It is gorgeous and really nice to have.  I am sure I will sit there and read when it isn't raining out.

That is all I have for now.  I might get my first scooter driving experience tonight so I am sure I will have stories to tell from that.

I will try to get pictures that have me in them soon.  I'm talking to you Mother.

Ta Ta for now!

I don't have any good questions today.  Just comment for fun and to say hi!