I watched a small posse of golden cockroaches crawl out of the sewer and clamber across the ground in front of me. One of them took wing and flew past my leg. My first thought was "This is it. This is the big earthquake. The roaches know about it before the rest of us."
There were earthquakes my first two days here. One happened in the middle of the first night, when I was trying to sleep on the couch in the living room of the hostel, because some kind of device, which I later found out was a water pump to push water to the second floor, kept making noises like a printer near my head. The second earthquake happened while I was eating sushi with Ivy next to a big picture window in the SOGO shopping center area. Outside, people just kept walking while the ground moved under them.
I asked the elder man waiting at the crosswalk next to me if he knew why so many cockroaches would crawl out of the sewer at the same time. He looked at the little dudes crawling around his feet and chuckled.
They're probably putting poison in the sewers, he said. They crawl out when they're about to die.
Just like a plague! I thought, feeling reassured.
Taipei's airport shuttle
When I arrived in Taipei a week ago yesterday it was only 7am, so I had some time before the landlord would wake up and let me in. I had an egg pancake -- the first of many -- at a place on the corner across from the hostel. The store specialized in two things: eggs and keys. It seems like a strange choice of things to put together, but it makes sense if you think about it. Why not give their customers something to do while their keys are copying?
Eggs n' keys
American food: Eggs and spaghetti in the belly of a cow
I sat down in this place one morning without reading the name on the sign, which said 美式牛排 (American Steak). They said the tomato sauce was vegetarian, little bits of beef in it notwithstanding. That makes it OK, right?
One more reason Taiwan is the greatest place on earth.
I went to a couple climbing gyms this week. Here's one, on the outskirts of eastern Taipei. I went with Sean, the landlord from the hostel, and Kit Man, another guest who had just arrived that morning from Singapore. There weren't many other climbers besides us, but there was a large group of serious-looking men in military fatigues and hard hats practicing rappelling in the main room.
This is a corner near the hostel. There's a 7-11 on one side, and on the other is a store (the one on the right) that resells things from Costco. One night there was some kind of community event, which looked like this.
Egg pancake with corn, a standard variation
Mango, watermelon, red dragon fruit, and panna cotta with condensed milk over ice. You don't really need another reason to visit.
The front of the mango ice shop where the above delicacy is served. 波動拳！
Event calendar at a McDonald's. The crazy-looking one reads "uncle show". Woohoo, uncle show!
