Banqiao is an area in the southwest of Taipei. There seems to be a reasonable amount of building work going on there just now, no doubt partly due to the High Speed Rail terminal that opened there, though it was already a major MRT/train/bus terminal anyway.

Why was I there? Well, it turns out there are two main types of train in Taiwan:

• Trains that insist on stopping at a whole bunch of stupid places when you’re in a hurry or needing the toilet.
• Trains that definitely don’t go to the place you want, and that add insult to injury by going past your intended destination really fast and not stopping for a good half hour.

Depending on the kind of inconvenience you’re hoping to have, you may have to pay some extra cash. In my case, I paid for the luxury of being driven past Inge station (my intended destination) at high speed, with no stops for 30-40km, after hopping onto an express train by mistake. Having arrived in Banqiao, I decided I might as well make the most of it and have a look round.

A street near the train station in Banqiao. By the looks of things,
Banqiao has some sort of giant birds that crap onto the road.

Would you like to buy a vulgarness?

How about a remote control?

A treat for your dog?

So THAT’S what JSC stands for.

Getting dark now. Crossing the road is becoming a bit more dangerous.

A groovy walkway right next to the train station.

The following day, I went back to see how Banqiao looked with a bit more light on it. But I’ll leave those photos for another day.

I’m not sure I want to try saying the name of this bookshop aloud.

An encouraging title.

Now, if only it really was this easy.

There is a special place in my heart for books about English grammar and style
that can’t even get the title of the book right.

Irony.

More irony.

What??? There’s only 103?