#199 So long, Taipei

Transcript

All right, just finishing up my time in Taipei. I think this is the third episode in a row where I'm like, I'm almost at the end. In hindsight, I guess two weeks out was maybe a little early to be, I was not thinking about like when I was in Japan. I'm pretty sure I was in Yokohama for the last two weeks. And I mean, that felt like a whole adventure in and of itself, like two weeks is a long time. But I don't know, in this case, it was feeling like, oh no, my time's almost up. But yeah, two weeks is a pretty long time. I still got a couple more days after this.

I guess change, man, it's just hard to... Well, I don't know, maybe that's part of it too. I was moving around a lot in Japan and then moving around some in Korea. And then I didn't go anywhere at all here, I just stayed in Taipei. So I don't know, maybe that changes how my brain interprets this shit. But anyway, legitimately only a couple of days now and supposedly it's supposed to start raining. So this is my last, potentially last chance to really do a thing. And today is semi-overcast, but I think it'll be all right. We will see. And it's this nice mix of like it's still kind of hot. But it's also kind of windy today and like I have barely had to turn on the air conditioning. Like in the last week and a half, I think I've turned on the air conditioning twice for like 10 minutes, you know. Just like a little bit. So that's good. It's still hot, but it's not like death anymore.

So this is something that has been on my mind. Kind of the whole time I've been in this neighborhood, on the orange line, is I came out as an experiment to Lujao station because this line splits in half. So I have to go back a little, backtrack to before the split and then come out to Lujao. I came here just for the heck of it and I walked back home from here one afternoon. But from here, when you leave the station at the end of the line, in the distance is Yinghandling. Is that what it's? Yinghandling. It's kind of hard to remember because Yinghandling is right next to, is right across the river from Yangminshan, which is the big national park. Yangminshan is way bigger. But that they're both very prominent mountains that you can almost always see on the horizon, from all around the city. And they both start with Y. It's difficult.

But Yinghandling. It was the one that I went on the red line and I crossed a bridge. I remember it was crazy hot that day. Luckily it chilled out a little, but that was seemingly like I was almost going to have to bail out. It was so hot. I walked across the bridge and then I walked through like a mountain road. And then I went up this mountain and saw this amazing view of the city. And I think that probably was the better route, because you get to walk across a bridge and then walk through the mountains, and it was very pretty. But it did take some time. This one, I feel like I'm closer. I mean, you just, you come out of the station and you just see the mountain in the distance. And it's like, well, there it is. I mean, that's definitely two or three hours away, hopefully two. I don't know, we'll see.

But it's just right there, although it's always like right there. That's why I wanted to go in the first place, because I just kept walking around and seeing it. And it's like, man, well, it's right there. But this route, I think, is going to be less pretty and a lot more traffic-y. Already, like, as I go, I can record here. I'm walking through a nice little quiet park area, but I'm already past it. And now I've got to walk across a bridge. There's another bridge on top of this bridge, and then a larger overpass cutting across sideways. And it's like, oh, yeah. And then there's another overpass. No, it's the same overpass in the distance. It just circles around. But I'm remembering when I came down off that mountain. This was very much the feeling when she get a little ways down. It's just a lot of traffic. So it might not be the prettiest walk as I get closer to the mountain. And I don't actually know exactly where to go, how I should do this. So I don't know, I'm just going to try to walk toward the mountain and see what happens. There was another peak up there. I saw other signs for another peak. But I'm not totally sure how to get there either. I guess my plan is just to go to the same entrance that I went last time. The entrance of Guanyin Mountain, Ying Hanling. And then if I go somewhere different, I'll go somewhere different. Or I'll just go up to the same peak as last time. It was a fucking amazing view. So I'd be happy to do that again.

And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Wow, yeah, though. I mean, it's just instantly super traffic. So yeah, I think I'll just be walking in silence. Of course, some beeps to send me off from Taipei. Dueling beeps now. Double beeps. But anyway, it is kind of cool that from here you can see across the river to the National Park as well. And yeah, it's like semi-clear, semi-cloudy today. But that National Park is just covered in clouds. It's not even just the main peak today. All the peaks are covered in clouds. Whereas, Ying Hanling that I'm heading toward doesn't seem to have any clouds. So yeah, that National Park, man. I've said it a few times, but I keep confirming it. When I got up there and I couldn't see anything, that was no coincidence. That thing is a bitch. There is always fucking clouds up there. Like lots of them. It's also kind of cool. There's a smaller mountain near here. That is like a third of the size of these big mountains. But it's covered in residential property. I don't know, that's just kind of cool. It's like 150 meters up probably. Not super duper high, but it must just be kind of neat. Your house is just up on the mountain. You just get a super cool view out of your window. And of course, it's a daily pain in the ass, you know, just to get to your house. But I'd be fine with it. You get to hike up a mountain every day.

But alright, yeah, I've already entered overpass land.

It's an early issue in the day, because I'm really trying to get my sleep schedule a little bit together before I have to travel. Hard to do, not easy. Insomnia is a bitch.

But it's only 11 to 30 right now, and I'm already on the way.

So this should all work out timing wise, and maybe, maybe if I'm lucky, I won't even get caught in the dark tonight. But if I do, it doesn't really matter. There's lights everywhere around here. I mean, these overpasses, they're pretty in their own way. But the sound part is not pretty, so let's bait the fuck out.

Man, that was one of the most immediate and total stonewalls I've ever experienced. And not just on this trip, but in my fucking life, mere minutes after I turned off that recorder. I mean, I've been walking along sort of the side of a highway with construction barriers all around already. It was already pretty dicey. And yeah, it just got to some weird intersection where there was construction guys doing stuff, and various things blocked off, and somebody just directing traffic, because there was no lights. And no crosswalk stuff anywhere, even though there were sidewalks and things on the other side. You know, I was like going under one of the overpasses. I feel like if I could have got over there, there were sidewalks and stuff. Who knows, though, maybe I was safe from myself. Maybe I really didn't want to be over there in super traffic nightmare land. But I really couldn't figure out how to get there at all. I walked back and forth a couple of times looking for stuff. And it's like, there was maybe like an area where I could relatively safely wait for a break in traffic and skirt my way across. But like I said, nothing crosswalky. And there were construction guys all around who would be seeing me do this. And it's like, I just shouldn't. I shouldn't anyway. This is how you get hit by a car and die. So I was like, fuck. I guess I could just scrap this whole episode. Like this ain't gonna work. I can't get over there. So I just backtracked and came back across the bridge that I crossed. This is just kind of the main bridge. Like if you leave, lose out station and just walk straight toward the mountain, that's the bridge.

So then there was like a walking bridge not too far from there, but it's blocked off as well. Totally blocked off. And I was like, damn, okay, fuck. So I walked a little further and I finally found another walking bridge that I'm across now. But as soon as I got to the other side, there's little steps heading again to ward this overpass that are blocked off. And it's like, what the fuck? What is fucking, this fucking sucks. This is terrible. So yeah, the first method. I mean, there's no easy way to get to Ying Hanling because there's no subway over there and stuff. I guess there's like buses. I guess maybe that's what I should have tried to do. On foot, there's no good way. But my previous way was by far the best way. On the red line to just cross that bridge to the east, you know, walking west toward the mountain. 10:00 Fuck yeah, because now I just don't know that this is going to work at all. Because yeah, this is just straight into traffic. And now I'm on, like I said, it was blocked off even this walking bridge. So I'm on like a little like sort of park a little walking area. It's all like laid out. It's a real developed walking path. But there's nobody here. And I'm just like seeing all the overpass stuff is just getting further and further in the distance.

There's some kind of weird park coming up soon.

Maybe that'll be my last chance because at this point, I'm just walking like away from the mountain.

Parallel to this fucking traffic nightmare.

And yeah, there's just no way to get over there. This sucks. This totally sucks. Man, the sun came out too. It's like all of a sudden now that's direct sun beating down on me. Getting super hot.

It's anyway, I guess I won't belabor it because this is the most useless. Like I said, I almost thought maybe I should just delete this. This is the most useless episode yet. This is just an utter failure. And there's like more construction stuff. There's like a walk path way over there. But again, construction. Yeah, this is awful. This sucks. I cannot believe how hard they're trying to keep me out of here on foot. Like there just needs to be one path. Just give me one little path to get over there, dude. What the fuck? This is bizarre. Like every single method of getting over there is not available. Brutal.

Well, well, yeah, this is a full-on failure. But I guess that's not so bad. You know, once you kind of recalibrate your brain and just... I'm like, well, all right. That plan's not happening. So this new thing that's happening is the plan now. It's like whatever. And this is actually pretty nice. Like this is so weird. I'm on this walkway.

Oh, fuck. The sun came back out. Oh, shit. Let me get in. The shade of some trees. I actually pulled out my umbrella. I had my umbrella just in case. I always had my umbrella. I actually used the umbrella to block the sun. Because I'm just so fucking brutal. For now, I'm just going to stand in the shade of these trees while I am. Break out the umbrella again if I have to.

But yeah, I don't know. I guess this is like that maybe this is a being developed area or something.

I mean, obviously over on that young handling side. No question. Tons of construction over there. But since I'm still just kind of across the water from there.

Basically just walking South-ish.

I guess it's Expressway 64. Not the most inspiring landmark, but that is the best one. I'm just walking.

Walking South east of Expressway 64.

And it's just really long and it just goes on and on and on. And I saw a little crab scuttled by. And it's kind of next to some sort of marshland type stuff. And it is just nice. It's nice in its own way. It's actually pretty quiet. I can't even really hear that traffic very much.

And there's just no one here. That's kind of interesting too. Again, maybe it won't always be this way. Maybe it is mid-constructiony stuff going on right now. Cloud cover. I'm going to keep walking. Wish me luck.

But there is not a soul here. Nobody. No one's gone by on a bicycle like nothing. And I do think that's kind of interesting too. That's one thing I haven't really had a big problem with. What's so fun about Asian cities is how compact they are and how close together everything is and how accessible everything is and how there's just mountains and stuff. A big mistake. Son. God, okay. Let me just get the umbrella out.

Oh, wait, there's some more shade coming up. Okay, I can make it to the shade. But yeah, the downside is everything is packed in, you know, packed together. But honestly, that hasn't been much of a problem. I've had a couple of times in Tokyo when things were kind of busy, but nothing even compared to like when I was there in 2019, it was much worse, specifically in Shibuya. Shibuya station being all crazy, and even just the Shibuya area, like people stepping on the heels of my shoe.

Because it was so packed. But that's the only neighborhood where I really experienced that, and not every time I went, it was still pretty rare. But most places were just not like that. And yeah, I never found it, especially packed. Or even the other day, I guess, I came home on the subway the other day. At five o'clock, after I finished hiking and I was going down toward the brown line last episode. I got there right at like 5.30, right at the worst possible time. And as I go, no, this is a mistake. These trains are going to be so busy. And they are. They are super busy. But people don't cram themselves on in the way they do in Japan. That crazy way that people cram themselves onto the subway. Like, that is real. I did experience that the one time I had to travel during rush hour to get to the Canadian Embassy early in the day. They don't do that here in Taipei. Instead, they just wait and fill up to a reasonable degree. And then they just wait for the next train. And the next train comes in like one minute. And by that second train, it was like downright comfy. It was like not even that busy. So even like the rush hour is not that bad. And then you get stuff like this. Like, there's nobody. See, erratically, with the population density that Asian cities have, I shouldn't be able to be by myself like this. But not only am I by myself, but like, it's, oh, yeah, that explains it. That explains it. So yeah, maybe it won't be this way in the future. But blocked off, I just got to the end. Big blue blocked off fence. So hopefully, at some point in the future, this will be less of a less ridiculous. There will be some way to get from Lujao station over to that other island. But you sure can't now. But yeah, I mean, that explains it. That's why there's nobody here. Because now I literally just have to turn around and go back. There is a footpath continuing in, but whatever. I'm not dealing with that. Just turn around and go back. But yeah, if you want to find places to be by yourself, you still can. You can totally do it. You know, the crowdedness, I'm surprised, I guess, that it doesn't bother me that much because, I mean, the city I'm from, Fredr to New Brunswick is just empty as fuck. The thing I always say is that it feels like the back lot on like a film set when they're not filming. It's just like a ghost town. And I remember even like when I first started going to Montreal, and I went there as a kid on family trips. But in like 2003, when I went as an adult, I found it too crowded. I was like, this is uncomfortable. I'm not used to this because I just grew up in a, in a sparse city. But nowadays, are you kidding? Montreal, not even close to crowded.

And yeah, even now out here in this part of the world, it's just no worries. And there's lots of benefits to it. I mean, just that you have stuff like those share houses in Korea and stuff, these nice little cheap accommodations where they just pack people in, you know, but they're able to, they're able to pack people in. And if that's what you're looking for, it's there. So there's like a lot of upsides to this really high level of population density. And yeah, if you want to get away from it, there's stuff you can do. There's places you can go. That's why too, in hindsight. I mean, I know I was pretty hard on Mount Takau, but that's why Mount Takau seems so bizarre to me because it was a crowded mountain. And there's just no need. There's so many other places and so many other mountains and there's so many ways to avoid being packed in with people.

But anyway, this being the land of backup plans, I don't know, maybe I'll just go, my standard backup plan is just go to, go to she-mending and just walk around there. Maybe I will, maybe I won't though because fuck this heat is insane. This is reminding me how miserable the heat has been like, you know, I've been dealing with it because there's no choice I'm here in the summer. And when it's just hot every day, then it's just hot every day. But now that there's been a bit of a reprieve, man, when that sun comes out and it's just direct sun, it's like no fucking way, no fucking way. I'm not doing that anymore, especially not just to retread old adventures that I've already done. Fuck that dude, the sun is not, not fun.

I keep coming back to that website that recommended not doing the Jeju Olay Trail in the summer. I'm like, how emphatically were about it. And yeah, they're totally right, you know, I did it that one time just because that's the time I happened to be there. Because I'd never done it before and I was there in the summer and it's like, well, it's now or never. 20:00 But the second time would be never. I would never do that again in the summer. No fucking way. It's one thing to go out and like forge a new experience and explore a new thing in the summer, at least that counterbalance is, you know, it's like exciting while you're dying of heat.

But yet to do to go relive a past fucking glory in the heat, no goddamn thanks dude, I'll just stay at home and watch goddamn YouTube. Fuck that. But again, you know, hey, just whatever, just recalibrate. Just forget about the old adventure, just pretend it's the new adventure and yeah, like this is kind of cool. I didn't know this was here. I am just walking down this thing and yeah, like definitely they've got plans for this because here's a, like there's like a wooden part over here. That's what I don't understand though, this is not new.

Like here's just a nice wooden area that goes out into the marsh a bit. But it's very old. It's like benches and stuff. Oh, look at this. There's the little walking path over here. Well, all right, let's explore over here and see what happens. But yeah, this wood is really old. So I mean, I guess all this constructiony stuff is like a revitalizing of this area. But as it stands, yeah, there's nothing over here. Just a nice little walk with some butterflies fluttering by. Oh, there goes a lizard and like I said, I saw.

Saw crab earlier. Oh, okay, and it just loops around a bit and reconnects to the main path. That was not, that was not anything.

Yeah, and it's own dumb way. This is kind of nice. And yeah, I think that was probably, I mean, yeah, it was a fun idea to go up that mountain again. But that was not a quick journey last time. It was pretty rough, pretty brutal. And it was getting dark by the time I came back and like it gets dark by 530 again now.

Oh, there's a person. There's a person. Finally saw a person.

But yeah, I don't know, hiking up that whole mountain in this kind of heat. While I'm desperately trying to force myself to wake up earlier. So I'm also not at my spring-spray best. Yeah, not fuck it. It wouldn't have been the best plan in the world.

All right, on my way out, I found a sign just so I can tie a bow on this just to know what it is. It's the Shuhong Embarkment Park, SHU H-O-N-G Embarkment Park. So in case you wanted to come here. Which you might because it is an official ecological reserve. So in that sense, I mean, maybe it's better that you cannot pass through it. Like that it's not a good through traffic way to get to the surrounding areas. Because for the sake of the little lizards and the crabs and the whatever little stuff that I saw in there. And just that it's like, it's like reeds kind of, but they're way high up. They're like 12 feet tall. And I guess that's one nice way to keep everything untouched and nice and ecological is for people to not really be there. And I did see a few more people on my way out. Like that guy I noticed he was just standing on a bridge fishing. So there's a few little people there. But yeah, maybe that's why you might want to go. If you want to go somewhere that is just especially here, I guess, in Taipei, the land of overpasses and tons of highways and stuff. I just want to go to a nice little nature place. There you go. But if you want to try to pass through there and get beyond to some of the other islands, don't go there because you cannot.

As of now.

And yeah, I definitely don't get the sense that they're dying for people to go start tromping through in large numbers. So if there ever is, if those routes are ever opened up to let you through, I don't think it'll be anytime soon or not in any great hurry. So yeah, that was kind of okay. Just a different, a different adventure for today. And now I'm just mosey in my way home. And everything is wrapping up pretty well though as far as just my little odds and ends. My subway card is almost empty. I just put an extra 100 on it today, which is like $4.50 or something. But just one bill. Just to make sure that I get enough to get to the airport. And then there'll be a bit left on it and that's fine.

I've used up my money so perfectly that I think I might even have to hit the bank again because again, like the minimum you can get out of the bank. 25:00 The thousand is like 40, you know, $40 some dollars. And I only have a few days left, but I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I might have to go do that one last time. But I certainly won't have big piles of money stuck with me. And then there's just little stuff like the, I bought this toothpaste, this like pink mountain salt toothpaste that was actually not salty, even though there is salty toothpaste in Asia. Like my Airbnb guy in Hachioji had that. This stuff did not taste salty. But yeah, I bought that way back in Seoul and it's finally almost gone, not worth taking with me this time. Aftershave that I bought in Busan, that's almost done. Just all this stuff is hitting this point where it's like, alright, time to leave you behind. I met a nice, a nice, perfectly low ebb. Yeah, nice little stroll through the ecological reserve. Now a nice little stroll. Along the highway, there's an overpass in the distance.

And another overpass beyond that, I actually don't know how, because I got to get to the other side of this highway is where the big, new Taipei city, the big main park, that funnels me back to my Airbnb. It's over on the other side. I have no fucking idea. Hopefully there'll be a walking overpass at some point. Yeah, I haven't had too many navigation problems in Taipei, but when you do get on the wrong side of the traffic, you are very much stuck.

It's like, I think maybe because of all these overpasses generally, being a pedestrian hasn't been too tough, but there are some ground level highways that can fuck you shit up. I hear music playing. I don't know what this place is. Again, it's on the other side of the highway.

It's kind of like red orange and yellow, kind of the colors of the shrines, but I don't think it's a shrine. It looks like it's some kind of a store, but I don't know what they sell over there. Anyway, fairly well-store. You might as well be in another world for me as you're on the other side of this zillion-lane highway.

Yeah, I think the best part of this, though, since I'm walking away from the mountains, but whenever I turn around, it's like, yeah, there is... There is Ying Hanlin, which again, this is fine. This is fine to see it from this angle, because yeah, every time... Again, every time the sun comes out, I'm like, oh, no, oh.

If I hadn't been stymied, I'd be halfway there right now. Exhausted and hot, and just like, oh, no, is this the right thing to do?

Probably not the right thing to do. Seeing it from a distance is fine. It's so pretty. I already saw it from the top once, and that is a memory that I is very clear in my mind.

But then, over to the side, hidden behind some buildings, but I can still see most of the mountain range of the national park. Yeah, it's just bizarre how many clouds. Ying Hanlin, perfectly clear. Just perfectly clear. I bet the view's amazing up there today. Then you look over at Yang Munchan. Not a fucking hope in hell. Not a hope in hell that anyone up there is seeing anything except clouds.

Oh, there's a little sign by the highway. You know, we have a lot of deer crossing or moose warning signs in Canada. Watch out, because if you hit a deer, your car is going to get fucked up, and if you hit a moose, you're going to die. But there was a sign like that, but for turtles, watch out, because there might be a turtle crossing here. It's my first turtle crossing sign.

Holy Wazers. Fucking bus. Fucking beeping bus. I am shocked how complicated that was. Motherfucker. Getting over from Shuhong. So the Shuhong Embarkment Park was where I was. But then there's the Wetlands Park and the Shuhong Central Park. And it's a whole series of parks. But yeah, holy Christ. There's like a bicycle loop over there. But definitely not great as a pedestrian area. Because it was so difficult to get back over to the center part of town where the orange line is. Man, so twisty and circuitous and ridiculous. And now I'm finally on a major route that I still have a long fucking walk to go. But at least it'll take me back where I'm going.

Man, it was tough. Just all this industrial concerns and of course mainly the highway. There was only one overpass, pedestrian overpass I finally found that is like new. Almost brand new. Some lucky it was even there. But then it led to a dead end and some backtracking and blah, blah, blah. So basically it's like man walking up the mountain would have been about the same as all this walking. And it sure would have been a nicer walk. 30:00 But I think I was rescued from that because not only would that be a walk uphill in the sun. Because at least when I'm in the center city here it's like buildings, buildings give you shade. But then I also would have to get back down. And yeah, I am just I'm just fucking wiped because yesterday I got up at 730 in the morning. Today I let myself sleep in a little more so it was only 930. But I haven't been getting to sleep significantly earlier to counterbalance this. I'm just trying to force myself up in the morning just so it won't be such a shock to the system when I have to do that to go to the airport. But yeah, I guess I just got to keep in mind that you know if I might it's because I want to you know squeeze things in last few days in Taipei. Oh, there's that cool mountain. Let's go squeeze that in.

But when I'm also just trying desperately to get back into some kind of sleep schedule that a normal human being might have.

Those two things do not go together. Long hikes to fucking mountain tops do not match with tiny amounts of sleep.

That really is to kind of the trickiest area in general. That Ying Hanlin mountain area because that is the one park that has no subway stops. And yeah, there must be some kind of buses. But I remember when I walked down from that mountain. I mean I did pass some bus stops but I don't really remember buses going by. I think one bus went by the wrong way in the whole time I walked down that mountain. There are buses but it's not exactly easy. So like even getting to the big national park was easier because it has like a bunch of different bus routes that are pretty populated. Yep, old Ying Hanlin, not in the cards. That is a tough place to get to. Definitely worth it that first time but yeah that would have been a huge mistake today. Fucking huge mistake.

But yeah, at least I'm on a major route now. Man, that shit was it was I think also just because I'm tired. It was really double wearing me out. Whereas like oh geez, come on man, come on, throw me a bone. What is this shit?

So yeah, I guess I'm just reiterating the same thing. Anti pedestrian zones don't happen very often in Taipei but when they do, they're not fucking joking dude. It's like you're not supposed to be here. Walkie fella. Prepare for several hours of getting fucked.

By now I'm back in the nice embrace of the peeping bus filled scooter land of the inner city. Hey, look at that. I'm looking by a garage called Yokohama. Call goes well. I'll be back in Yokohama soon. See you soon Yokohama.

Oh, here's a little thing. Still just on this long ass walk home. You know, this is enough right? This can be an episode. Fuck it. The ecological reserve episode. The episode about nothing. But it's still just on the walk home. Really low on money. It's like yeah, I guess I do need to stop at an ATM. At least one more time. Hopefully just one more time. But I'm just going to get the one, you know, the equivalent of the $40 bill. Surely I can survive on that.

But yeah, I've been here almost 90 days have bought every single thing with cash. I guess I could have used my metro card in the convenience stores but I never did because it is also just awkward because it looks like an egg. You know, it looks like a Sanrio Eggman. But yeah, a lot of cash transactions and so like the bills, I mean I just, you know, reduce it by 100 and think of them that way.

So the 100 is like the $1 and the 500 is the $5. Even though I then have to multiply it by 4 to figure out what it really is. But I just got back and changed, handed over my last five and I got back a one and a two. I didn't know there was a $2 bill.

I have never seen one of those. A 200. One bill. That's fucking, that's neat. It's green, green like American money.

Where the one is red. They had just reminded me of like having seen a Canadian $2 bill in a long fucking time. Those used to be red colored as well. Or kind of orangeish. But we switched over to a $2 coin. And if I remember right, I'm pretty sure America has a $2 bill technically but also something I've never seen. I don't think the really encirculation.

It seemed similar around here. Definitely uncommon. In my dozens and dozens of transactions, my first $200, my first $2 bill. Just kind of cool. Kind of cool.

So take me to the paradise in your eyes. Green like American money. You taste just right. Sweet like a Tennessee honey.

Alright, next day in Taipei. It is very overcast today. Super windy. Not technically raining, but yeah, probably wouldn't have been the right day to go try to hike up a mountain or something. It's pretty rough looking out there. Pretty rough skies. But here we go. Do the trade-offs. Squeeze you in here. Time for me to start transferring things over and we're getting ready to go. So I put on my new shoes today and yeah, I don't really like it after wearing boots for the last eight and a half months. Big clawed hoppers. I feel like I'm wearing little marshmallows on my feet. It's very weird. And they definitely have less toe room, which I do not like for my dang bunions, but then I got these old gross worn out boots that smell like death. I'm like, what do I do with these? I don't actually know how to deal with garbage in this town. I mean, I do hear the garbage truck jingle. I guess I could go wait. I think it's around eight o'clock. I usually hear the jingle, but I don't actually know where the garbage truck passes in my neighborhood. Because that jingle is loud. It could be anywhere. I've seen people lined up before, but it's just one of those things even if it's a simple, seeming thing when you've never done it before and you don't speak the language. Can I just hand something to the garbage men? Do I need to explain something? Do I need to? It's like, is I don't know. I just don't know.

So I'm heading over while I'm at She-Men ding now, which is the first neighborhood I was in in Taipei, and it's just a great place to go when I got nothing else to do. Close by and awesome. But also this neighborhood is full of garbage cans. And there's even some just kind of on the outskirts, like the one I was just at. It's a garbage can on the She-Men side of the Zhang Qing Bridge. Z-H-O-N-G-X-I-N-G across the Tamsui River. That's my little walk to get over here. And it's just this obscure little garbage can that no one's ever around because obviously you're not supposed to put household garbage in the garbage cans. But yeah, I just don't know how to get rid of these boots. I mean, I guess I could leave them for my Airbnb lady. But anyway, so again, I'm just gonna sneak over here and toss these boots in the garbage and I just did. But that kind of ties into just as I was walking across that bridge. That bridge kind of weirded me out at first. It was a little dark and scary looking down into the river. But I've walked across it so many times now. It's totally fine. And in fact, it's great. Like every time I walk across it, no matter what the weather is, it's just beautiful in a different way. Because you get the view to the National Park, but then you get the view the other way down the river to just those mysterious mountains that just lead out of the city. And just every time I walk across, it's beautiful. So even today, it's just like all gray and all windy and all overcast. But in that kind of way, awesome. Just so pretty.

And I was thinking like just purely for the size of the city and the proximity to mountains and the way it's set up and laid out and how city and nature are closer together in Taipei than like anywhere I can think of. I was thinking like, is Taipei my favorite city? Like just purely as a city? And I don't know that there's much point in trying to pick a favorite of anything really. It just makes any discussion, get to immediate loggerheads. It's like, what's the point of that? 40:00 Like I always think with video games. Like why try to figure out what the best video game of all time is. There's too many variables, too many different things to consider. So I like to think like what could reasonably be in the conversation, you know? If someone's talking about the best video game of all time and you throw out a suggestion that is not rejected, that people are like, oh yeah, okay, put that on the list. To me, that's like, that's good enough. That's far enough. If you're in the consideration, like if someone says like Street Fighter 2 and you're like, oh yeah, we definitely got to consider that. Dark Souls 1. Oh yeah, we definitely got to consider that. I mean, the list goes on and on. Star Control 2. The last of us. Part 1, not, not part 2. But yeah, that's where I feel like if you can get to the point that you can pretty inarguably put something in the conversation for best of all time, that's good enough. Just stop there. What, I heard the list of potential best games of all time. So if you look at it that way with the city, also, just the Taipei is in the running. It's like good enough. Essentially you won. You won the medal. And I'm going back by my original neighborhood, by my very first Airbnb. Just walking past. I watched past one of the movie theaters and I'm walking past the other one that has big Hulk Buster Armor out front. What do you even days it today? Wednesday? No, it's Tuesday.

Yeah, an overcast Tuesday afternoon. Not very busy over here, but just medium busy. Still just nice, nice vibes. But yeah, in all these cases, like I'm thinking of these cities as so high up in my ranking, just purely because of how they are physically. Now I love the mountains of Fukuoka. I love the mountains here in Taipei. And Vancouver, it's a little tougher to get to the mountains, but it still has them. It still has the beautiful nature stuff with city. That's really what it comes down to for me. And I was thinking with stuff like how, I mean, I don't even know how to get rid of garbage. I don't speak the language. Like I really can't say that I think these cities are the best based on the actual city. Like I couldn't say to somebody like, oh, Taipei is my favorite city. Like what that means to the average person is like, oh, should I go live there? Like I don't fucking know. I don't know how Chinese culture works. I don't know how the society is. I don't know what it's like to pay taxes there. Go to the hospital. I don't know anything. That's not what I mean. So if I'm not talking about it from that perspective, if I'm just talking about it physically, then I started thinking.

What would be my favorite city to be in after a zombie apocalypse? And what about Taipei? And I started imagining like, yeah, what if this city was empty? What if it was just me with a shotgun on my back, dealing with you? Look, you know, these are, say, the latter days of a zombie apocalypse. The human race is basically gone. But even the zombies, there's only the drags left. So I just have to worry about an occasional zombie here and there. And if I was just walking through a city that was empty. Would Taipei be the coolest one? And I'm like, yeah, I guess. Kind of, yes. But then I also think like, but what am I talking about? There's so many other questions to consider then. There's so many other conceptual problems. Like, is Taipei really so good if there's no 7-Elevens to give me lemon tarts? And there's no subway system anymore? Like, what am I even fucking thinking about? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know who cares. But just that I'm even having these thoughts and these thoughts are crossing my mind. Like, even though this, like I said, a bit of an inauspicious end in Taipei. I just tried to go to one last mountain yesterday. I didn't really work out today. I just wandered over to Shimen to throw away my boots. And now I'm just wandering around soaking it in. I don't know. Tomorrow I got to do laundry. I assume I won't really get up to a ton tomorrow either. It's supposed to be even more overcast and it might be fully rainy and shit tomorrow. But that's fine. Whatever. I don't have to end on a mountain top. I don't know how to end with fireworks. We already did all that. And I guess I just wanted to, if I was going to end with something, I just want to end with that thought, with that feeling of like, in the running for best city I've ever been to, coolest place. Most fun place. You just walk out your door and everything is just cool. There is no question that Taipei, Taipei, is on that fucking list. Oh yeah, the Don Quixote. I went in there once. I tend to not walk down this one alley. I forgot this was here. That place is like, weird because it's so big. It has everything, but it's like, so many floors of stuff. I never think about it when I just need to go pick up something because it's like, where would it even be? It's too huge. It's just fucking gigantic that store. Although if I do get back to Yokohama soon, that place is so huge. It's so huge. It's so huge. It's just fucking gigantic that store. Although if I do get back to Yokohama soon, 45:00 that place. That had the Megadon. The biggest Don Quixote you've ever seen there, Dingo Berry. Oh also kind of nice. I got a message from my Airbnb lady asking if I wanted a free ride. I guess she runs Uber stuff as well as properties. So she's like, it's no problem. I got Uber's. You just tell me what time you need to go to the airport and I could take you there. I was like, wow, that is nice. But I got money on my card. You know, I just, just so I don't have to be beholden.