Rain and my childhood home

It's still raining. Looking back at the blog, I realize it's been raining since Monday, and the forecast predicts more rain through the weekend and all of next week. Taipei is soaked, and some parts in the northern portion of the city are flooded. I'd better get started on the ark.

My Dad was telling me that a couple of years ago, it rained so much that it flooded the subway, and the city spent a lot of money pumping out the water and buying new electronic equipment, not to mention having to close down the entire subway system. They've since learned their lesson and installed barriers so that the flooding could be contained. Live and learn.

There is plenty of construction going on along Shinyi Road, where they are putting in a new subway line and many of the 3 to 5-story low-rises are being redeveloped with 12 to 20-story mid-rises. Taipei 101, the world's tallest building (at least until the Burj Dubai is completed in 2008) with the highest finished floor, is also on Shinyi Road. It's neat looking down the street and seeing all the construction cranes and scaffolding, and the Taipei 101 way on the other end with it's needlepoint antenna lit at the top.

Check out Taipei 101 at http://www.taipei-101.com.tw/index_en.htm

Check out how other buildings around the world rank http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html

Shinyi Road is where I spent my first three years, and this afternoon I visited the building where we used to live, the sidewalks where I used to roam and meet and greet the neighbors every morning, the park where I used to play, and the back alley where there used to be a beef noodle stand. The neighbors are all old now, but Dad still remembers them and all the stores that used to be nearby. We met some of the old residents recently, and some of them still remember me as a child. I was too young and only remember the home appliances store next door, the stamp/chop-maker a few doors down, the post office in the next block, and the dentist that extracted one or two of my baby teeth. I'm seeing the building possibly for the last time, as it is slated for demolition this coming October to make way for a new 14-story mixed-use building. I'm not sad though, it is an old building and not a particularly pretty one at that, and should be redeveloped to realize its full potential.