Since we've been here the forecast has been consistently a chance of rain all day, every day. Prior to today we had one sun shower, for about ten minutes. Today it actually did what it was supposed to do. It cooled things off (77 degrees actually felt like 77!), but also made things much more humid. All the inside areas today were very wet feeling. And it was finally confirmed that the hall in our apartment building is open to the outside! (...because it's raining into our building).
Jess had an important meeting this morning and apparently crushed it. So much so that the guy stayed longer than scheduled, and he was treated to coffee. Thankfully he wasn't also treated to lunch as planned because that would have ruined our daily routine. ;) So I headed out around noon to meet him for lunch. Thankfully the rain had stopped for the time. We walked around the mall so I could show Jess my knowledge of the bizarre layout (I think i've figured it out!). I made him go with me to take pictures of the arcade machines filled with Tsum Tsums so I didn't look like a creeper. They have car Tsum Tsums!? Now I am obsessed with trying to find a toy store that actually sells plush toys.
We walked through 3 different food courts before kind of deciding to have Din Tai Fung again. The wait was 30 minutes, so we went to our back up option next door... sushi. They had tablets at each table for ordering, with pictures of all the menu items. Everything was really nicely priced and the sushi was really good for the cost. It will definitely be worth another visit, though they didn't have as many roll options as we've seen at other places. We also ordered a Sour Sop, which is a juice that's rumored to cure cancer. Yum!
We parted ways and I went on a search for a squeeze bottle (for simple syrup), a jigger, a cocktail shaker, a juicer, a towel, a pillow case, and some citrus. The limes were labeled as "seedless lemon Thailand". I walked back to the apartment and it started raining again just as I got to the door.
Jess left work a little late and it was raining lightly on his walk. We decided on Pho for dinner since this is the coolest day we've had so far. We went to Mrs Pho just down the street. Jess ordered pho, which wasn't as flavorful as what we're used to at home. I had a vermicelli bowl which was also fairly basic, but had great flavors. We ordered "green mango with chili & salt" because neither of us had any idea what that was. Turns out... it's green mango with chili and salt, and it was really good. Jess ordered a salty lemonade and drank it quickly. I had a vietnamese coffee which is delicious, but did not go well with my food, so we ordered Mrs Pho's summer tea which was right up my alley! Very close to a southern sweet tea. The restaurant itself was very narrow and packed though, and the cashier apologized to Jess for the space being so "tiny."
By the time we finished dinner it was pouring, so obviously it was the perfect time for a walk. I decided we should try a place that has gelato cocktails, which according to Google Maps was supposed to be right around the corner. We got to the point on the map before realizing it was marked wrong, but it was only a couple more blocks up and across the street. Like everything else here, it's not very far, and it was worth the wet walk!
The walk back was quick, but still very wet. The rain drops here are huge (judging from the two rains we've now witnessed). Also, it turns out that the air here is so humid you don't actually realize how much you're sweating or how wet you are from the rain until you get inside to a dryer environment. I really thought my feet were completely dry, but my socks were soaked through by the time we got back to the room.
We stopped in the hall to take a picture of the atrium with the rain coming in. We both mentioned how glad we are to not be living on the floor that is now a swimming pool. Not really sure why that level is offset from the others.
We made it back inside and got cleaned up and settled in just in time to hear fireworks across the way. The view from our huge windows just keeps getting better and better.
Now Jess is playing video games (Grim Fandango) and drinking a Tiger beer, and I'm enjoying a Sweet Touch (a Taiwanese lychee beer that's fairly low in alcohol but tasty). It looks like a 20-95% chance of rain for the rest of the weekend, so we'll need to research rainy day activities. We've almost overcome the extreme jet lag so it's time to explore more than a 10 minute walking radius!