Shulin 樹林市

I got lost this morning on my way to Shulin (樹林市). Getting there isn’t that complicated, but I took a wrong turn and ended up taking the 114 the wrong way. I took the Guanfu bridge into Taipei. Luckily, I had left early enough so that being late wasn’t an issue. I made it into Shulin easily enough.

Once there, my memories of the city started coming back. I lived in Shulin for a few months last year, in my mate’s flat (Carrie) while she was away on holiday in South-East Asia.

A few quick directions from some strangers on scooters and I found my school easily enough. Teaching there brought back memories from 2007. I taught at another branch of the same school and was recommended to sub there for the summer.

It didn’t help that I mixed up the 114 and the 116, lost part of my map and was just all sweaty from the extremely hot sun that plagued Taipei today.

Getting back was a snap. It took me about 25 minutes. Meaning that the commute could be pretty damn fast once I’m sure of the way. Streets and ways seemed familiar and I could see the Banciao train station building from a distance, so I knew which way to go. While I was doing that, I was memorizing parts of the journey so that tomorrow I could find my way back easily.

Now that it’s over, I’m pretty sure how to get there. Once I’m in Shulin, it won’t be that complicated to find my school again. I’ve found that once I’ve been to a place, I can make my way back there easily enough.

Old Nancy’s been repaired. However, she’s a bit slow. She’ll only hit 90 at the max. Before I could hit 95kph. I’m not sure what to do about this. I feel that I’ve put enough money into her for a long time. I’ll probably look into other faster options over the summer. An old Kymco Ego 250cc from 2004 might do the trick for me. Now that I’ve driven a more recent scooter, Old Nancy feels a bit dangerous and shabby. Yet I’ll never get a maxi-scooter. They aren’t maneuverable enough and they are heavy as hell.