Misadventures in the Rain

Yesterday afternoon, I had decided to go check out Taipei 101 (world’s tallest building from 2004-2010). But first, I had heard there was a park just one metro stop past the stop for Taipei 101, so I thought I would see what that was all about.
As soon as I got there, it started sprinkling. No big deal, I thought. In fact, the sprinkles provided some much needed relief from the intense heat. So I continued walking.

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Soon, the rain started to come down a little stronger. Still, I was not worried. I headed to a little pagoda in the middle of the park and decided to read until the rain passed. I was soon joined by several other park enthusiasts trying to escape the rain.

This shelter did not suffice for long, however. The rain started pouring harder and harder, and then the wind picked up, spraying water on me despite any efforts to stay dry. Some fellow rain shelter people gave up the quest to stay dry and bolted off into the drenching rain. I decided to wait it out. I may be wet, but at least I wasn’t soaked, right? Meanwhile, I made friends with an old Taiwanese man who did not speak a lot of English, but kept offering to buy me a poncho, which I kept declining. I did have a raincoat at the hotel, after all, it just wasn’t with me (lesson learned).

 Eventually, the rain did let up, and I was able to move on. The park was pretty flooded in various places, though, and despite all efforts to stay dry, I was drenched. I’m not usually one to take bathroom mirror selfies, but this seemed like the appropriate occasion:

You know it is bad when you think you have finally dried off, but then when buying a ticket for Taipei 101, the ticket agent says, “Oh, your hair is wet!” and starts offering you tissues with which to dry your hair! Nonetheless, the rain did cool off what had so far been a hot and steamy day, if even just for a couple of hours!