Really nice people

I imagine, if I turned up at the tourist information desk at King's Cross, speaking only Chinese [1], and asked them to book me the hotels for an itinerary that was the equivalent of 'one day Bristol, so that I can go to Dartmoor, then to Edinburgh for one day, then a day in Newcastle so I can go to the Lake District, then a day in Canterbury on the way back to London', all over Christmas, they would be unhelpful.

The people at Taipei station politely pointed out the problem with my itinerary and, over a 45-minute discussion, got me beds in hotels in Taichung and Tainan; apologising that, because I was booking over Christmas at two day's notice, they would cost fifteen pounds a night. I bought them all coffee and cakes.

[1] I suppose, since English is the universally-taught second language here, the right equivalent is French.

Foot massage path

To make a foot massage path, collect from the bed of a mountain river a large number of palm-sized rounded black stones. Arrange them so that their most-curved parts are upward, and set them in swirly patterns in concrete.
Place a sign at one end inviting unwary travellers to walk to and fro along the path without wearing shoes.

I think it's called a foot-massage path because the pain caused to your feet means you crave a foot-massage afterwards.