Sunday, September 4, 2016

Back In the Saddle

Scooter, that is.



There she sat for the months of June, July August, patiently waiting for her owner to return.

Meanwhile, my city-meter was slowly rising. When the indicator approaches the red zone, a country experience is necessary in which to avoid massive concrete, city noise meltdown. Vegetation, open roads, mountains- all these help lower the indicator into a safer, more livable zone.

That's why, even though the weather predicted rain, we decided to be optimistic and head for the mountains.


As you can see, I wasn't the only happy camper!


After a brief stop for lunch, Carl aimed the scooter inland, and away, we went.



Out of the city and up curvy roads.

All was fine, until it started to rain. Not just rain, but raining cats and dogs. And those puppies can hurt when riding on a scooter. The higher up we went, the worse it got. So, turning around, we headed for lower ground and hopefully, less rain.

The adventure wasn't a total bust. Here are some of the sights I captured, mostly from the back of the scooter.


No matter how far out we wander, there always seems to be a temple just around the corner.


But, just around the next corner, was this large church.


And then, the next corner was an even bigger temple!




Most of the time, we don't have a destination in mind. We just go, choosing different curvy windy  roads, some going up the mountain, some going down. We never know where we might end up. The above pagoda is one, we believe, we could see from our first apartment four years ago. 


After a few turns here and there, we wandered back into the Taichung city limits.



Past city parks,




and green rice fields.



Taiwan's off the ground freeway system will never cease to amaze me.



Our final stop was at a fruit market. Dragon Eye's are obviously in season!

While not exactly what I had envisioned, the experience was just enough to lower my city overload indicator back into a safer level.

Guess I am good for another month! 


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