Random shot from a street corner in Taipei 台北街景一瞥

（中，英文，in Chinese and English)
It was a nice cool sunny Fall day yesterday. We decided to enjoy the beautiful day by checking out some Halloween costumes. Yes, you heard me right. Our friend Kerri told us about a street full of Halloween costume shops.
I (Ping) just had to "go take a look".

We successfully arrived at the right part of town by taking our favorite bus: "266." We were both excited--a field trip! We even packed some fruit and snacks with us. Riding the hour-long bus is one of our favorite things to do. There is a lot to see out the window. I always learn something new. Other times, I choose to meditate, contemplate, or simply rest.

After getting off the bus, we could have walked to the stores efficiently but we chose to take "detours" instead--to experience certain mystery spots one can only get to on foot.  That's how my "GPS"  works. Thankfully Mark finds it amusing most of the time. The "Where" and "What" don't matter. It's the joy of Discovery that matters.

We wandered along, visiting store after store of Halloween AND Christmas items, both on display at the same time, of course. As we came to a corner, we happened to walk right into the grand opening of a 7-Eleven store (right across the street from another 7-Eleven!). Part of the opening ceremony was this group of young men performing an awesome Taiko show (see photo above). Where else are you going to get fireworks and a drum show out on the street in front of a convenience store? Taiwan.

It's been a year here, and we're still delighted by the unexpected.

去年此時剛搬來台灣，只記得天天喊熱。沒想到一年後，我們竟然適應到可以滿心歡喜地享受 台灣溫和的秋。就在這麼一個舒適晴朗的一天，我們決定出門探險，目標是一位美國朋友告訴我們的萬聖節擺飾街。你說”萬聖節“嗎？我沒聽錯吧？嗯，沒錯。顯然台灣也瘋萬聖節瘋到有足夠的消費水準了。我們非常好奇，決定帶著小學生出門遠足的興奮心情，過去瞧瞧。

原本搭著我們最喜愛的266號公車大約一小時的車程加上五分鐘的步行就可到達。但是那就不算”探險“啦。我們下了公車後隨性鑽近一條小巷子，接下去又進出好幾條小巷弄，直到盡興了才重新定位往目標前進。到達那條街，果真看到一家緊鄰一家的美國節慶服裝擺飾店。不對啦！怎麼說”美國節慶“呢？明明台灣人也在慶祝呀？在台灣似乎只要有提高消費慾望的節日，不論國界，通通慶祝。從這個角度可以看到台灣人的博愛精神。 除了萬聖節，聖誕節以外，這裡也慶祝感恩節，西方的情人節，St. Patrick Day，Oktober Fest，Fat Tuesday, 等等。

我倆就這麼一路胡亂逛，面具，假髮胡亂戴，差點忘了我們已經離開美國 - 如果不是被太鼓聲敲醒的話。原來是一家7-11新開幕的噱頭！哈! 它的正對街，就是另一家7-11，生意也相當興隆。這家新開幕的店請來的帥哥太鼓隊很有水準。馬克和我忍不住從頭看到尾。真是意想不到的收穫！ “好奇走一回”又賺到美好的一天！