A Change in Weather

Today wasn't such a good day for my dad. At breakfast, he couldn't really eat because he said he felt like vomiting. We stayed downstairs for a little bit longer, so he could take his time.

After breakfast, he rested and then took a bath. Feeling a little better, we went out for lunch. It was bright and sunny with a few clouds, really warm. We took a cab to Xinyi Road / Yong Kong Street. Since there was construction on the street, a lot of stores and restaurant signs were obstructed, and my dad was walking around looking for something. Finally he mumbled, "I haven't been here for almost 20 years, everything's different."

We crossed Xinyi Road, and he pointed out the original Din Tai Fung restaurant. He said that it, like most other restaurants, started as a little stall, then they rented out a small restaurant space and grew from there. We didn't go to Din Tai Fung. I know that he doesn't really think it's that special, or he grew tired of it.

Instead, we walked down Yong Kong Street. We walked into this restaurant called Kao Chi, supposedly also a very famous Shanghainese dim sum restaurant in Taipei. On the menu, it says that it's the oldest Shanghainese establishment on Yong Kong St, having started in 1950. My dad says they're well known for their sheng jian bao, and then said that in his younger days, all he had to do was buy a lot of sheng jian bao from here and then he could get dates with a lot of women by offering them some.

We opted for the xiao long bao instead. They came out really good - with perfectly thin skin, so when you picked them up, they skin sagged a bit from the weight of the juice inside. They were really delicious. But everything on the menu is expensive. For one small bowl of soup, a small bowl of vermicelli soup noodles, xiao long bao, shrimp and meat steamed dumpling and chicken feet, the bill came to NT$600.

By the time we walked out, the sky was gray and a slight wind had picked up. On the cab ride back to the hotel, it started to rain.

He slept for most of the rest of the day. I went out to do some work and pick up some sandwiches, which I know he's been craving. I passed by the Sheraton Taipei one day and saw that they had a deli. So I picked up a Chicken Parma sandwich and a Beef sandwich. Looking at the sandwiches, the meat looked kind of sparse. And the beef wasn't roast beef, it looked like pastrami, but it wasn't cut thinly. So on my way back to the hotel, I stopped by Sogo and picked up some cold cuts at the market. There weren't that many choices, but I got pastrami and turkey.

When I got back, my dad wasn't feeling too good. He said that he felt like throwing up. Then he said he needed a walk. So I took the food and put in a bag and we went out. We walked to the food court at Sogo where they have tables and chairs. When we got there, he said that it wasn't going to work. I asked why and he said that there's too much noise, too many people talking.

So we walked all the way to the end of the East Metro Mall, an underground tunnel that pretty much takes you from the Zhongxiao Fuxing stop to Zhongxiao Dunhua. There's a bunch of benches there, so we sat and ate there. There were a few couples and then a group of middle school kids came to hang out. My dad said "Oh no..." but they left pretty soon.

I asked him if he felt better and he said he just needed some fresh air. The air circulation in the hotel room isn't that good. I said that an underground tunnel doesn't seem like it would have any better air. He said that beside from being noisy and just being too crowded, the Sogo food court had all these smells that apparently made him uncomfortable and want to throw up.

Feeling better, we headed back for the hotel. My dad estimates its a mile walk in each direction. And he's not walking fast.

When we got back, we watched "Collateral". About halfway through it, he started feeling sick again. He got up to go to the bathroom, and he said that he felt blood rush to his head and neck. It went away soon after, but he told me to write it down. This happened at 10:00 pm.