8.15am
Woke up before my alarm rang.
I could afford to take it easy for a bit this morning since I’m done with Taichung for now.
9.38am
I checked out of my room and went to the lobby to fill up a bottle and get a free cup of coffee.
9.43am
I’m on an Uber to the HSR station. My train ticket was originally booked for 12.39pm but I’m going to see if I can change it to an earlier schedule instead.
If I can’t, I guess I would stash my luggage in a locker and then take an Uber to the somewhat nearby Rainbow Village.
10.06am
I arrive at the HSR station. I was allowed to change my ticket (hurray!) for an admin fee of NTD$20. That’s 87cents and I was like yes, please take my money quick.
And then the girl at the counter did a check and said because I’d paid for the original ticket with my credit card, they need for me to cancel and refund my original ticket and buy a new one.
I cannot comprehend what I was hearing. It’s a simple matter to me, same seat class, just change timing only right? You need admin fee? I pay you lar. Why must go to so much trouble to cancel and refund and all that when the outcome is essentially the same?
But ok fine. I do not tell other people how to do their jobs. She fills up a form for me and asks me to fill in the details of my bank account number. What? I thought she was going to refund to my credit card so what’s this bank account number about? So I asked foreign bank account also can ar? And then she looked lost for a moment and went to consult with someone.
Eventually, they just cut to the chase and took my 20 dollars in cash.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
10.36am
I boarded the HSR. That’s a total of 2 hours earlier than my original time!
I haven’t eaten breakfast because I intended to eat my 高铁便当. And the stall was just opened as I approached it. I was the 3rd customer!
This 便当 was seriously da bomb man 🤌🏻🤌🏻. No wonder they are so popular. The chicken was so good even though it was extremely challenging to eat it with just a pair of chopsticks. It had no subcutaneous fat at all and it was so well marinated. Whoa… I was so glad I got to try it. I am 回味无穷 on this 便当. Every component of it was utterly delicious.
The joker sitting in front of me started playing a video on his phone at full volume what the fluff. He got told off by a train attendant. I’m glad.
11.39am
Reached Taipei Main Station.
I took the elevator up since I had a big luggage. When the elevator door opened, a staff was standing right at the lift door to check my ticket. I was confused. Then I realized there was no other grantry for me to exit. The elevator opened right into the underground mall. 🤣
This is what happens when labor is probably cheaper than installing and maintaining a gantry.
But then again, why need to check ticket at exit ar?!
12.00pm
Checked into Caesar Park! My best hotel yet! It has its own dedicated MRT exit and lotsa food options leading up to the exit. And I was expecting to just stash my luggage but they allowed me to check in early! I’m so happy!
So much so that I was willing to overlook a stray bath towel the chambermaid missed out behind the bathroom door. 😒
Finally I don’t have to do my makeup in the bathroom. Don’t know why the previous 2 hotels didn’t have vanity mirrors.
Spotted (maybe) suspicious network.
It was probably nothing but just to be safe, I started scanning the room for cameras.
All clear. 👍🏻
12.40am
I’m on the train to go to an art museum!
Being back in Taipei means I can use my Easycard again!
1.00pm
Reached Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
It was not free here but ticket price was only 30 dollars! That’s $1.30. Unbelievable. And kindly paid for by Taiwan Tourism Bureau.
My handbag was kinda heavy and my lower back was hurting from all the walking so I wanted to stash it in a locker. However, I was stopped by the staff. She said the lockers were kinda big so they should be reserved for people with bigger bags. This was seriously irritating. There was no lack of lockers and it wasn’t like they even had that many visitors. Why is she stopping me from spending my money. And the lockers really weren’t that big anyway, just regular lockers you’d see in tourist spots.
What does it take for a state to create flexible people, I wonder?
Ka Tokurai’s exhibition.
I took a picture of this cat painting because I was just wondering how artists did it in the past. When Kian84 draws a portrait now he will take a picture of the subject first and draw based on the photo on his phone. But there was no such thing in 1932. And he couldn’t possibly make the cat pose for him either.
Was this why he drew it over 2 years? Maybe he had to wait for the cat to turn around and could only draw a little each time. 😅
This one nice.
Brilliant use of just one color.
My favorite paintings from him are those of the sun. They looked so hopeful and optimistic. I find them very uplifting.
I wished he had painted the northern lights too. I would have loved to see how he would have done it.
This was a paper installation.
It was actually very beautiful in real life.
Again I’d glossed through the multimedia art exhibitions like this one…
Or this one…
How does one even begin to judge these art? Like as long as you can give it a story then anything goes leh. I should find out more about it in case I’m underwhelming multimedia artists.
There was a very beautiful cafe at the art museum. And there was barely anyone.
They were also playing good music on a Marshall speaker lookalike though without the Marshall speaker resonance. So I hung out here for a bit to rest my back and calves. My feet aren’t hurting anymore though! Adidas rocks! Impossible is nothing!
Average coffee, average tiramisu that was served very prettily to make up for the lack in volume. The damage is 270 NTD or $11.75.
I would have been in trouble if I hadn’t won the Easycard honestly. I brought too little cash to Taiwan. I’d totally forgotten to factor in inflation and Covid.
3.31pm
I left the museum. Spent 2.5 hours here! 😭 It’s too late for me to go to the next museum now! Fortunately I’d come back to Taipei 2 hours early! If not how!
Gotta do an impromptu itinerary change!