June 26, 2021
June 26th
birthday get-together with g
With a COVID lockdown firmly in place here in Taiwan, socialising is pretty hard, with bars, cafes and restaurants all limited to take-out service. With it being my birthday, options for celebrating it are consequently buying a drink and finding somewhere secluded outside to relax and enjoy it. That's today's mission.
The plan is to meet up with my Canadian friend g in town at 1:00 and my commuter bike gets wheeled out the front door at just gone 12:30 for the short ride to our agreed rendezvous right outside a Starbucks.
My camera is stuffed into a canvas shoulder bag along with a GorillaPod and a man in a hard hat riding a basic tricycle that's stacked with recyclables offers the first photo opportunity. He parks just up ahead of me, in the shade of a tree outside an elementary school, which saves me the task of taking a shot of a moving object.
The road is gently down, so cycling isn't hard and the hot sunshine doesn't impact me as much as it normally would, plus there's a stiff breeze today. It's all quite a contrast from yesterday's wet and humid weather. Summer's here now and it'll be full-on until Sept.
Instead of buying coffees from Starbucks, g and I agree to head to the riverside and see if we can find a shaded spot to sit and enjoy a coffee. An outlet of a decent coffee shop chain called Cama is near the river and that's where we head - me on my bike leading g on his scooter. It's just a couple of minutes' away, along wide, downtown streets.
It's sad to find that Cama doesn't do cakes. A birthday treat is in order. We realize the riverside doesn't have much in the way of seating or shade and Cama has always catered to take-outs - their minimal seating consists of a few hefty wooden stools. However, there's a small bench just outside the door and the clerk says it's OK to sit and drink there, so that's what we do. The stiff breeze blowing makes it feel relatively cool. After a minute it actually blows my bike over.
It's gone lunch now and cake is required and g likes my idea of calling in at a couple of charity shops en route to a Subway and a branch of Louisa Coffee, which should have goodies to eat.
The first charity shop is maybe not a charity shop. It has second-hand stuff but it could just be a business. I buy an as-new IKEA photo frame and we both get 'Taiwan Beer' glasses that are smaller than half a pint. They're cute and cheap. The total for the three items is equal to about US$1.
Five minutes later we're at the second one and g buys a plaid shirt and two more glasses - these are Hello Kitty ones for his wife - and then it's another few minutes' of cycling down the road to Subway, followed by popping around the corner to Louisa Coffee.
There are not many goodies to choose from, but we settle on a couple of chocolate cakes. As we order, another clerk hands them both to customer. What a bummer. We go for second best and I lead g past the university campus on back streets and straight across the ring road to the small temple where I've sat a couple of times already this month.
The two-foot wall around the tree has half a dozen men in the 60s and 70s sat on it. It's Saturday, so this must be when they congregate. There are a few more hanging around towards the back of the temple, so we make do with using a section of low perimeter wall just beside a gazebo, which is taped off. You have to wonder what the point of that is.
Everyone is masked up, but we obviously remove ours to have our sandwiches, cake and coffees. The men glance over. It occurs to us they think by hanging out like them at a temple that we've 'gone local'.
I'm just five minutes from home, but g doesn't know this area like me so, I lead the way to Carrefour where he gets his bearings and off he goes.
There's a treat later at night. Debbie has got me a chocolate cake.
I really need a good ride to burn off the calories from today and hopefully the heat isn't too intense until next week. We'll see. There's that ride I want to do that kicks off with a train journey south for 30 minutes or so.
Today's ride: 7 km (4 miles)
Total: 319 km (198 miles)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 6 |
I hope lockdown ends soon, but you’ve done a good job of keeping us entertained despite the inconvenience. Stay safe.
Cheers,
Keith
2 years ago
2 years ago
I reckon lockdown will continue for a while here - there are a few cases of the Delta variant now. In early July I will get my second jab. It's a hot one today and it'll be hard to ride far until summer is in the rear-view mirror.
The good news is I will now get my UK pension!
2 years ago
I spent a night in Xiamen a few years ago after getting an overnight ferry from Taiwan. Arriving by boat, the cityscape looked quite impressive, with numerous high-rises looming skywards.
If it wasn't for cycling, it's doubtful I would be taking many photos of my locale.
2 years ago
2 years ago
I need my cake and Debbie knows that... bless her.
2 years ago