Bodies, Maokong and Typhoon Nanmadol
Began the week with a quick day trip to Taipei with Katie to see the Bodies Exhibit. I’ve been wanting to see this for years, so I was quite excited to finally make it happen. Pretty cool stuff, although I left feeling slightly depressed.
The theme seemed to be, when your young your vulnerable. Then, after the majority of your growth, you have a few short years where you peak (mid-twenties), and then life is a slow losing battle until you die. Haha, sounds horrible, but kind of true when if comes to the physical condition of the average human body. Really cool exhibit packed full of information, and for anyone who hasn’t seen it, I would recommend going.
Our weekend plans originally included a group of eight people heading south to Alishan, a major tourist attraction and mountain in central Taiwan, known for beautiful sunrises and the sea of clouds. Those dreams were crushed when we heard news of Typhoon Nanmadol barreling towards Taiwan.
Instead a few of us went up into the mountains outside of Taipei to an area known as Maokong. Rachel, Ingrid, Allison and I ended up hanging out on patios of local tea houses that dot the lush hills. Really low key day chatting, drinking tea and enjoying a great view overlooking the mountains and Taipei before the rain moved in.
We ate some local steamed buns, sesame-oil noodles and some other cuisine (not sure what the rest was) at a cool outdoor patio before heading into the fields. A short trail dropped down through the trees near the tea fields. After being terrified for a while from the insane amount of abnormally large spiders along the path, we arrived back on the main road and grabbed a bus back to Taipei.
Hot buns on a misty patio overlooking the mountains near Taipei
All was fun and games until we reached the spider jungle below
Almost back to the main road
Fun with Taipei 101 in the background
Upon returning, we heard news saying that school was cancelled on Monday due to Typhoon Nanmadol. Sweet – Typhoon Party! A large group of us went out in Chungli and had a fun night partying and enjoying are extremely rare two day weekend.
Monday morning, preparing for an insane typhoon, we rented movies and stocked up on food and other necessities. All for nothing. Taoyuan County got nothing more than a few degree cooler and a nice breeze. Nice day off, but completely unnecessary. We spent the day wondering around local side roads near the apartment and relaxing. Glad to say that I officially survived my first typhoon, although I don’t really think that it counts.
Side road out of Ping Jen
I was incredibly lazy today
Found some molds for statues in the middle of a field