I got to hold two cats

We were in Taiwan for nearly a week. One afternoon we took the subway to a shopping area. I was in a wheel chair borrowed from the hotel. My wife had pushed me from the subway station through a park and then I had her leave me in an alley. Alleys in Taipei are not like alleys in the U.S., they are full of little shops and all sorts of activities. There was a shop selling produce, a restaurant with several tables, other restaurants with counters and a couple of stools, a dress shop or two and toward the end people with things to sell. One man had a suitcase, another a pair of shoes, a couple with briefcases with trinkets.

One man squatted with several plastic bags, a common kitchen scale and a bag with what looked to me like pickled cabbages. He would lay a bag on the tarmac and take out a head of the vegetable and carefully cut off the leaves. I saw someone purchase some of this.

Then I spotted a cat. Quite young, black and rather scruffy. He was busy cleaning. I rolled up to him. There were quite a number to motor scooters, a few bicycles and the occasional car coming through the alley so when I approached he moved. I came close again and finally was able to touch him. He liked that so I picked him up by the scruff of the neck and put him on my lap. He was comfortable with that.

I rubbed him and he purred. After a time he reached up and patted my face. My trip was complete! Then he rolled over in my arms and I rubbed his belly. He nuzzled my hand a couple of times and fell asleep. I looked at his nails, they were worn quite short, apparently he traveled quite a bit over the hard surfaces of the street.

He was still sleeping when my wife got back. He woke up and greeted her and I reluctantly put him back on the street.

Then on another day we were on an all day tour of Marble Gorge on the East coast. Lunch was included and we stopped at a gem shop and were ushered into a rather bare room with a couple of large round tables. The lunch was plain country fare, but very nice. A whole fish, noodles with meat, vegetables, a plate of scrambled eggs since we had some vegetarians with us.

After we finished eating we were ushered into another room for a sales pitch. I saw a young calico. I picked her up and she sat on my leg for a bit. She headed toward what looked like the kitchen. Then a little later she was sitting in the doorway licking her lips. Apparently she expected to get leftovers after the visitors finished. I wheeled over to her and picked her up again. She didn't seem to like being rubbed. Every time I touched her back her tail would bang against my let, but she was content to sit quietly on my leg. Finally the proprietors gave up trying to sell more trinkets to our group. She said goodbye and hopped down.

I call that a good trip when I get to make the acquaintance of a couple of cats!