August 8 and 9

"Rain, rain, go away Come again another day"

That's the big idea for these two days, because Typhoon Lekima was heading towards the Northeast coast of Taiwan. That meant that Taipei was going to get a good dose of Typhoon winds and rainfall.

After classes were let out on August 8, everyone was just praying that classes were going to be canceled. A few weeks ago there was a typhoon that looked as if it might head towards Taiwan. Unfortunately for us, it veered off towards South Korea and Japan and we had classes. Now fast forward to the beginning of the week, my teachers said theres going to be a typhoon on Friday. This time they were totally correct.

We wouldn't know for sure whether or not classes would actually be cancelled until Thursday the eighth in the evening, but everyone was hoping that it'd hit and classes and work be cancelled. When I say they were praying, I mean it. Unlike most days where people come back from classes or internship to begin doing work, we all just came home and just chilled waiting for the government alert that said we had a "Typhoon Day."

After a bit of chilling from class I decided that I needed to leave the apartment. Mostly because the days are coming to an end here and I really do want to make the most of every single day. I decided that it'd be a good idea to try and visit the 228 Peace Park before the ridiculous rain officially began later in the evening. Granted, rain had already begun. However, I'm talking about trying to beat the typhoon wind (plus rain). On the MRT on the way to the 228 Peace Park I thought to myself, "Why go to JUST the 228 Peace Park? I mean the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial is so close to the Peace Park. Sure, I've already been there a few times. But the clouds are so pretty right now. What harm could it be?"

So I ended up going to both locations before heading in for the evening. The goal of this expedition - "Interesting Pre-Typhoon photos."

Come to think of it, I had already been to the 228 Peace Park. It was the second day in Taipei, back when I still didn't have any clothes because they were getting shipped 24 hours later after I arrived. Even though I had technically already been there, it was pouring and I was on a group tour so I didn't really have time to go look and explore. So that was my first stop fo of the afternoon.

The 228 Peace Park, is a memorial park dedicated the victims of the February 28th Incident. Besides that I'm not entirely sure what happened there, however, it did pertain to the history between Taiwan and Japan. I've

noticed that my general view on seeing new sights this summer has been find the cool pictures and take photos of it. Go back later to learn about the place that I just saw. I know that might not be the correct method for traveling pictures first, learn later. But I guess that's just what has become normal for me. It is probably just because I don't fully understand the traditional Chinese on all of the signs outside. Oh well. That ain't the end of the world.

The one other cool part of the Peace Park was the actual memorial. With its very geometric design, it was a very interesting photographic subject matter. Unfortunately not all of the lines matched up to make the symmetry work in one of the photos. Nevertheless, it is still a very interesting memorial to go see.

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After the 228 Peace Park I walked over to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial for my third visit of the summer. I've got to say, the buildings there are completely fantastic and they make great subject matters.

I want you to fully understand what was happening outside at the time when I was taking these photos. It was probably about 4:30-5ish when I went out of the apartment. The big rain that we'd feel out in Taipei from the Typhoon was supposed to start around 8-9ish, but there were already big bursts of rain happening. That means that (A) I was soaking wet, especially because I dislike using umbrellas (but I did have my raincoat with me), but (B) because it was already starting to pour ridiculously the clouds were gorgeous. I'm talking nice disgusting grey clouds with the last pockets of sunshine. They were wonderful. If there were less of these gorgeous rain clouds than Taipei might have actually stood a chance to have a pretty sunset.

Due to the wonderful rainclouds, the memorial area a few large perfectly placed puddles. I decided to first try and find the best place to capture the large white and blue memorial where the guard changing happens. That picture wasn't insanely difficult. Don't get me wrong, finding the right view the reflection in the puddles is hard to do. You first have to be on the correct type of ground (pebble doesn't work well for these photos), and then you have to find a pretty puddle.

I learned that pretty pebble puddles don't really exist, but cute little boys twirling umbrellas do. Finding the puddle that I wanted for this building honestly wasn't too terribly difficult.

After I finished with that building, that's when I got down and dirty. The next two buildings that I wanted to get a picture of were directly on the pebble part of Liberty Square. But, I knew what I had to do to get the picture I wanted. After trying out a few puddles that weren't directly facing the National Theater and Concert Hall's directly face on, I found the perfect ones.

In order to really appreciate the upcoming photos, I want you to understand that I was literally squatting in dirt water. My balance isn't the best, and I was using my hands to help prevent me from falling into the puddle that was probably 1-2 inches deep. Oh what you'll do for a picture. When I turned to get a picture of the other building across the square, I had nearly the exact same experience. I had found the JACKPOT puddle. It was awesome.

By sheer luck the two images were in focus, and somehow the image on the left didn't even have any people in it. (Personally the image on the left is my favorite). What I really came to learn from this "Pretty Puddle Picture Dirt Water Squatting" experience were two fold. (1) Getting down low really helps change the image of the picture, and (2) Good things do come to those who wait (and also go outside during impending typhoon to get soaked in order to get an unbelievable picture).

I decided to stick around just a little bit more after and see if I could find any other interesting photos in the general vicinity. The famous 牌坊 (big archway gate) in the area is HUGE. I've mentioned it before. You can get the entire picture of it, that isn't an issue. But I found getting a similar image to those above with the reflections of the structure in the puddle was fairly difficult. Basically with some wandering around and a bit of patience, my time at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial resulted in some pretty interesting photos.

When I finally left the Memorial area the rain was really starting to pick up more and I knew it was time to go back to the apartment and call it quits. Something about staying safe inside with crazy typhoon wind and rain. Honestly I wasn't exactly sure when it'd start exactly since the heart of the storm wasn't coming directly to Taipei. Soon after I got home, we got the awesome notification of a "Typhoon Day." Similar to a snow day, classes and work were cancelled.

August 9 came around. I remember coming out into our living room and looking outside and being confused why classes were canceled because it didn't look like anything. Moments later the window was wet and it was raining S I D E W A Y S outside. That was as good of a reason as any for us to stay inside. By no means is sideways rain safe for someone to be going outside in. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful while being confined to the apartment.

The typhoon rain stopped around 3-ish, and the rest of the evening was just a fair amount of crazy wind. So, I didn't really go out at any point during the day. However, I did go out with my roommates for dinner close to our apartment. We decided to go to Mala Hotpot. I never had really heard about Hotpot before coming to Taipei. Hotpot is basically Asian fondue. The big difference is the food that you put in the broth isn't attached to any skewers, which means that there is a lot of blind fishing for the food that you put in.

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With that, I am caught up! YAY! Sadly though I only have seven more days in Taiwan. Hopefully though, seven more days packed full of exciting and memorable experiences. Till the next one...