Never chew beetle nut. Always bring an umbrella.

I was itching to get out and explore and there is a morning market about a fifteen minute walk from our apartment that gave me a perfect destination. I think taking walks is an odd concept to people here because the only people I've seen walking around are the old people hitting themselves to boost circulation. It's an odd sight to see. Anyways, Rob wasn't in the mood and was busy with something else so I decided to go by myself. After all, I have been here for a month and I know my way around pretty well.

I didn't quite remember where the market was since we had only seen it once a while ago, but I knew the general direction and headed that way. I found a little inside market and started making my way around the various tables displaying fruits, vegetables, intestines, and the ever popular pigs feet. It was fun to be immersed in such a cultural thing. Some people would call out to me but I would just nod and smile hoping they would know I didn't understand their Chinese until I heard some shouting in English.  After turning I discovered an almost toothless man chewing beetle nut shouting "You are beautiful!" The Taiwanese are very open about what they think of you and I'm sure he wouldn't have minded if I bought something from him, but if you've ever seen someone chew beetle nut you know what a sight he was to see. It is a very red nut wrapped in leaves with cocaine on them. It looked like blood was dripping from his mouth. I thanked him and went hurriedly on my way.

I wanderer my way through the street markets and found myself at quite an impressive temple. 

This beauty just popped out of the neighborhood I was walking through. I stopped to take a couple of pictures when the sky opened up and it started to pour pretty hard. I hurried my way underneath a big tree where a Chinese man was waiting out the rain as well. He took no hesitation to rattle off something to me in Chinese. He was very concerned for my welfare. He ran out into the rain to get a board that I could put over me while I walked to a drier place. I tried to hold the board over him too (I was about a foot taller) but he wasn't having it. When we were underneath a little gazebo, he's still rattling off Chinese to me, he got a wet twig and started writing on the pavement. He wrote out "USA" pointing to me and then "China" pointing to himself. It was such a real moment trying to converse with this sweet old man. I started to write some more in English and he wrote out some characters. The rain eventually broke to a drizzle and he offered to drive me home but I politely refused and left him. 

I think I will be taking some more walks in the future.