Plus Three

February 25, 2014

"Hello! Welcome to Fuying Eco Park!"

"Err... thank you!"

These words greeted me from a very enthusiastic old man just hanging out at the park entrance. With only two days left, I had a day off to enjoy Taipei one last time. I went to Fuying Eco Park, a place I only recently heard of but never had a chance to go to. It's not terribly big, but is also on the other side of the city - a perfect excuse to get out one last time.

I launched into a conversation with the friendly old guy, Nelson, that lasted quite a while. At some point my new friend, was talking about some rare bird the park had. He volunteered to show me around, which sounded good to me. So we walked through this park for a bit, and he really played up the tour guide role. Telling me about this plant and that animal. Turns out he comes here every day to exercise. Jesus christ, old asian men... why do you have to be so much better at retirement than everyone else?

I asked him if there are any mountains around, and he said he didn't know. I looked online and found I was kind of close to Xizikou, a place I have been, but it's been a long time. I don't really think there was a trail that goes there from where I was, but after stumbling through some guys backyard garden I did manage to find one. Seeing as how it was midday on a Tuesday, I pretty much had the place to myself. I snapped this last selfie with the 101 at the top.

Now back home, I still have a lot of cleaning and packing to do. It's been a fun ride, this year. I've been saying goodbye to all my classes and getting pictures with them. My private student in particular, showed up again a few hours after his class ended, crying his eyes out. He said he forgot to say goodbye and thought he'd never see me again.

Awww.

He also gave me a super nice pair of sunglasses as a going away gift, as Thailand is very sunny. I feel a little nervous with them, as I have a bad track record of breaking/losing sunglasses.

And without any sort of decent segue, here are a few of my favorite pictures over my past year here. Thailand, here I come!