Reply to "Hi, Haven't heard from you for a long time. Are you still alive?? :>" email

Hey ----,

Yeah, still alive. But our library's getting major reconstruction on the inside, all torn up, so no internet for me nights or weekends anymore. Sad.

So instead, yesterday I did some hiking. Not anything big, but just the mountains surrounding Taipei. I want to go down to some larger ones, though I'd need to get some warmer clothes. Taiwan's tallest, 玉山, is taller than Mt. Fuji. Though for that you need a permit and a guide, so I'd go on some surrounding peaks.

So I took the subway way south to the last stop and walked off towards the mountains. Few minutes from the station I hit a trail. The mountains are really close in and really steep. Lots of places it was just steps all the way up a slope. Sometimes steeper-than-normal steps and switchbacks--very steep. It was fun. Got caught in a downpour near the first peak. Sheltered with a dozen old people playing mahjong in a hut near the top.

Maybe the tail end of Typhoon Mindulle we got. People were scared it would be bad cause it was moving up the island so slow, it could have hung over us for days. But it mostly headed out again before reaching Taipei, so only the south got the flooding and mudslides.

Alright,
Laszlo