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Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Taiwan Day 40 - Danshui

Slept in a bit today, felt like I could use it. We bought some bread from the German place yesterday so I had some of that for breakfast then headed out the door for a quick 2 hours on the bikeway. There really wasn't anything special about the ride other than it being an actual loop as opposed to the usual out & back. I did have 1 instance where some dude I passed tried to hang on, but he was shortly obliterated by my massive pectoral muscles (Ren & Stimpy, and no I'm not drinking yet).

Back to the house and I decided to take Julia out to Guanyinshan which is the local mountain I've gone up and over a few times now. Nat decided to go as well and we tooled around the place a bit, checking out the massively hazy view and then the sculpture park, where Julia played the fool like usual:



We then went to the visitor center and talked to the people in there and decided to drive out to the Queen's Head rock out on the North Coast. Nat called Calvin and asked if they wanted to go. He said we could meet for a quick lunch and then go. Or something like that.

I thought about Terren while waiting for lunch. I love that I'm using Terren to take these pics. Ok so this one isn't like Vanity Fair material but the vast majority of people here were salty Taiwanese betel nut-types. These 2 are back to work, just like many people on this day. The holiday has pretty much ended.



Almost 2 hours after we had decided to go, the trip to the Queen's Head is scrapped and we instead go to Danshui which is a touristy ocean-ish town with loads of shops and so on. It's usually good for some solid junk purchases, finger foods, and coffee. On second thought, we really should have gone for lunch since there's so much good food I had to pass on because I was full.

It was a beautiful day, great for checking out Danshui. Glad we got to go here, as it's a middle ground for everyone involved. Not too far, outside, and lots to do. I managed to score 2 team issue bikes:



We sat down to have coffee and people watch, though just as many people were looking at me. I felt sort of like a zoo animal, but I still get a kick out of it. I took a bunch of pictures today, so check the gallery to see a good cross section of interesting people. Today I decided to...Represent!



Who dressed this freak? It's literally 80 degrees out:



Life is pain:



Are the girls here *really* that innocent? These 2 girls embody the look I get from about 100 people a day, often younger kids like this who I guess are just curious. I mean, I see white people every hour up here in the Taipei area. Am I that hot and/or freakish looking? Maybe it's the cute kid.



I like this boat:



After coffee, the kids play. Here Julia is enjoying just running around:



This is blurry but I like it. Some days I think my daughter is cute, but I'm her dad and she's probably just normal looking. Other days I look at her and think that her teen years are going to be really, really tough for me:



On the way back Nat stops to get new glasses. And of course the spirit of Terren was with me here. I admit that I'm pressing my luck now. But if I didn't try I wouldn't be very entertaining would I?



Back at home, we get Pizza Hut by my suggestion. Seriously, I've eaten so much Chinese food that it just doesn't matter anymore. I'm in need for something else. I've had noodles and rice every day for 40 days. A little pizza is good for the soul. And it's actually pretty good here.

Full picture set of the day here: Flickr set or slideshow.

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