Our second day was our main day with Andrew. Since he sleeps late nowadays, Miles and I spent the morning at the nearby Taipei Botanical Garden, which is free and open all day. Unfortunately, like our first day, it was overcast. The gardens were reported to be good to find birds. We didn't have much luck finding birds, but the flowers in the Lotus Pond were fantastic.
After we explored the Lotus Pond, we entered side passageways, exploring the garden. We eventually came across an area where birders set up their cameras on tripods. They were all kind of standing around, and we didn't see any birds. We continued onward and found some butterflies and frogs. We didn't end up getting around to seeing the whole garden, so I hope we can make it back there when we return to Taipei later in the trip.
We met up with Andrew in front of Lungshan Temple. I had read about bird fortune tellers in the underground mall attached to the subway station. Andrew had not known of this, but helped us find it. It is certainly nice to have a translator! The fortune telling was for Miles. They asked for his name, birthdate, and a question that he'd like to have answered. Miles asked if he would have success as an artist.
Two white birds were released from their cages and pulled up four tarot cards. The woman then explained the meaning of the cards. Roughly translated, the cards, in order, said-
1. He has potential
2. He will meet other people like himself on the road and to head west.
3. When he encounters great difficulty, he will have mentors to help him.
4. It will take time, but he will accomplish his goals.
We called an Uber and left for Guandu Temple, north and a bit west of the city. Andrew had not been there before. The fortunate tellers also gave Miles a charm and told him to pray at one of the local temples. Andrew, a Buddhist himself, showed him how. They grabbed nearby incense and bowed at the shrines in order. Andrew also took a second set, as his girlfriend requested that he do so on her behalf as well.
At the side of the temple was a fountain with koi fish and crawling with turtles. We took a tunneled passageway to the back of the temple and then came back and headed up about five levels to the top of the temple. There were views of the city as well as an incredibly ornate room.
We Ubered again to a nearby cat cafe called Kitten Coffee Garden. It is reportedly the very first cat cafe in the world. The one dog that was at the cafe took an instant liking to Andrew, and was all over him. He simply barked at me. We guessed that maybe the dog smelled Andrew's new puppy on him.
The cafe was right across the street from the subway, so we hopped on and took it straight to the end. A short walk from there and the Xiangshan Trail began. The trail began with many steps, bringing us higher and higher into the mountain, with some incredible views.
At one point we encountered a strange mountaintop gym, with different exercise machines and weights to lift, with multiple men participating. I didn't end up with a great shot of the main gym area, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of a man lifting a barbell on top of his head...on the top of a mountain. We also passed a bride and groom taking wedding pictures.
We did a loop around and came down the mountain right around sunset. We didn't want to get caught in the dark, but it turned out we had nothing to fear. The entire path lights up at night. We then took a taxi to the local university to play ping pong. Unfortunately, the tables were full, but we were able to walk a few blocks to a hotel that also offered ping pong tables. Andrew soundly thrashed me, but we had good fun. Miles played a bit too.
We were exhausted that night.
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