“NTLDR IS MISSING”…
I woke up to see this awful message on my computer screen. Because I was in a hurry to drive to the Neihu Flower Market to help someone with a secret proposal, I didn’t think much of it at the time. And then……… I got stood up by that damn sheep again.
As I drove through the pitch-black pre-dawn, only to find that “Sheep” on the other end of the line wasn’t picking up, I had a faint premonition that the computer warning message had been trying to tell me: “You’re going to get stood up again (again, again) today.”
And sometimes, the omens spread and multiply!
The spot I’d originally parked in was a perfect curbside space. But after I’d driven off for a while and learned that the sheep had mixed up the proposal date, I had to turn back to find parking—only to discover my original spot was now occupied by another car (who steals my parking spot at 5 a.m.?!).
I swallowed my pride and went looking for a new spot, and that search ran my fuel light on! So I had to drive out to the outskirts of Tamsui to refuel first.
One pre-dawn morning, one misfortune after another……… and afterward I kept circling Tamsui for nearly an hour and still couldn’t find an empty parking spot (facepalm).
At an average speed of 30, the gas I burned this morning just hunting for parking was enough to drive me to Taoyuan, and the time I spent was enough to drive me to Taichung.
Eventually, the more I searched the angrier I got, so I just dumped the car in a curbside spot on Wenhua Road that I don’t much like—because that stretch only allows non-holiday parking, I’d have to move it again the next day.
Well, if the Shuidui parking lot in Tamsui Town hadn’t jacked up its prices so arbitrarily—I’m in the middle of protesting them—I’d have had a comfortable place to park, instead of darting around everywhere gambling on luck like this.
Latest Posts

How to Ride Buses in Japan: Boarding Payment Systems, Ticket Etiquette, and My Surreal Hakuba Bus Ride with Three Drivers
Good morning sunshine; there is never bad weather in travel. Riding buses in Japan might seem daunting, but it boils down to two simple systems: pay upon boarding vs. pay upon exiting. Explore flat-fare vs. numbered ticket distance-based systems, alongside a hilarious solo journey to Hakuba where one passenger was accompanied by three drivers.

What Hotels and Guesthouses Don't Want You to Know: A Housekeeper's Insider Exposé (Add Your Own Revelations)
Hotels give the impression of being clean and professional, but Mizuc, who once worked as a housekeeper on a working holiday in New Zealand, is here to tell the truths hotel owners don't want you to know—from towels washed in the same machine as toilet rags to the mysterious purpose of decorative throw pillows. Feel free to share your own revelations.

The Unwritten Rules of Traditional Japanese Inns and Hotels: The Big Bathhouse and Check-In Etiquette Mizuc Experienced Firsthand
Mizuc traveled along Japan's Pacific longitudinal line from the middle of the main island all the way down to Okinawa, staying at hotels, inns, and guesthouses with distinctive local character along the way, and compiled a few unwritten rules of traditional Japanese inns you may not know—from the current state of mixed-gender bathing in the big bathhouse, to the correct way to wear a yukata, to the finer points of slippers, tatami, and kaiseki dinner times.
Comments