Inspired by M Train
本故事纯属虚构
My flight landed in Taipei right before sunset.
我从来没去过台北。
I had left home 35 hours ago, flown two legs of cross-continent flights, spent 12 hours at the airpot in Amsterdam where during 5 of which I was completely passed out at a capsule hotel in the lounge, had two dinners in total on the plane where one came with a strawberry flavoured ice cream and the other didn’t, chatted about soup making techniques (squash puree) with a flight attendant who appeared to be only in charge of serving soup (if anyone ordered) and taking away finished plates. Now I was in Taipei.
所以当埃里克跟我约咖啡的时候，我以为他进错了网站，把“咖啡馆侦探社”读作了“旅行社”。毕竟，跑去一个酒店办理入住，发现自己其实预定的是另一个酒店这种事情，我也不是没有做过。“这确实是侦探才能处理的事情！”埃里克向我保证。
It was about 25C degrees (77F) on a December day. On the Uber to the hotel I saw kids playing in the park, I saw people riding motorcycles, I saw Taipei 101 in the distance reflecting the pink sunset. I saw no snow. The whole city looked relaxed. Or it’s possible I just projected my feelings onto them.
我俩坐在城里这家最好咖啡馆的靠窗位置，下午三点的太阳斜斜地撒在座椅上，挣扎着释放最后一个小时的日光。埃里克把带来的台北旅行指南堆在桌上，之所以用“堆”，是因为这家咖啡馆的的桌子尺寸偏小，只能放下一个手提电脑，绝对无法放下两个。在为两杯咖啡和一碟饼干腾出位置之后，所有的书只能以叠罗汉的方式站在桌子角落。《孤独星球》、《这就是台湾，这才是台湾》、《素描台湾》、《台湾往事》，这几本书看上去就是普通的旅行指南和历史读物。另外几本书看上去更有意思：白先勇写的《台北人》，舒国治写的《台北小吃札记》，还有一本外国作家写的《Two Trees Make a Forest》。
As I would later experience, similar feelings raised while I was in Guangzhou and Mexico City. Now it seems clearer that the 25C temperature plus sunset manage to trigger some sort of childhood memories where I walked home from grandparents’ place after dinner in early summer evenings. The wind was still a bit chilling but warm enough to wear a t-shirt in. Now I find myself traveling back to those 15 minutes whenever I experience a tropical sunset.
“咖啡馆侦探社”是我的业余创业项目。本人的本职工作为无业游民，偶尔在城里这家最好咖啡馆打工。老板说只要我带来的客户自己点单，就允许我用业余时间在这里处理我的委托案件。目前为止我收到最严肃的委托，是帮一位客户找猫。远在台北的案件，的确是第一次。
Went to the National Palace Museum which is the home to numerous artifacts from China across the 4000-year history. Realized that many items were in fact made of 玉, which is translated as Jade. Realized that the stereotypically mysterious Chinese name Jade Dragon is indeed the proper translation of 玉龍, the name of a sacred mountain in Yunnan. As I rushed through the exhibitions for lunch, a sign on the wall of a gallery asked me to slow down. “May we recommend that visitors enter this exhibition with a light heart and open mind, and enjoy all the stories of various colours and patterns in your own way”.
“阿华留下这些书和一张手写的纸条，就消失了。”根据纸条上的信息，阿华跟埃里克打了一个赌：如果埃里克能趁阿华在台北的时候，通过线索推理出他决定要去的三个景点，就可以独占阿华的PlayStation 5直到他回来。“这个家伙平时根本不读书，不知道从哪里变出来这么多旅行宝典。” 纸条的反面还写着没有上下文的短句，看起来像是阿华想要打卡的活动：十二月的桂花香/凌晨四点的日落/冬季的龙眼冰淇淋。埃里克随便翻起一本《孤独星球》说，“台北这么多景点，这要怎么推断阿华到底计划去哪三个。”
During my one week in Taipei I mostly wandered around without a plan. The streets looked familiar but I had never been there before. Billboards standing by the side of the expressway reminded me of the days back in the early 90s in an inland Chinese city. I could only imagine because I was not there to see either.
“一共有七本书，阿华却说只有三个景点，看来书本身是一个提示。”我忽然灵光一闪，大概翻过每一本书的简介。“啊我知道了！这是在找不同。” 我把咖啡和饼干暂时放到椅子上，从旁边搬来另一个咖啡桌，拼凑成一个平面，勉强把这七本书铺开。“这些书大部分跟其他书有共同点，而落单出来完全不同的书，就是给我们的线索。”
Many of the streets Taipei are named after cities in Mainland but geographically they don’t make much sense. Chengdu Road intersects with Kunming Road, Emei Road is in parallel with Neijiang Road, Guilin Road and Guangzhou Road are 1 block away - that’s equivalent of saying San Francisco is walking distance from Toronto.
最明显的是《Two Trees Make a Forest》，其他书都是中文，只有这一本是英文。其次是《台北人》，只有这本是小说集，其他书都是非虚构文章。剩下的《孤独星球》和《这就是台湾，这才是台湾》都是旅行指南，《素描台湾》和《台湾往事》都是历史背景，那么最后落单就是《台北小吃札记》——这只是一本关于台北小吃的散文集，既不是专门编辑的指南，也跟战后历史毫无关系。
One afternoon after visiting a monument in the centre of the city, I decided to follow the roads and see where they would lead me. Without Google Maps I stumbled upon Shi-men Ting, Dihua Street, and eventually found myself in front of the Eslite Bookstore in Zhongshan. All of those places happen to be on my to-visit list and to this day I still don’t understand how I managed to get lost and be found again.
线索应该就在这三本书里，不过每本书都提到了台北以及台湾的很多地方，要怎么才能知道具体哪些景点是阿华计划要去的？ “也许阿华说的景点，不是书里提到的地点，而是在书本身？”埃里克抓耳挠腮，但问出了一个好问题。
I also managed to fit a quick hike into my itinerary spending 2 hours walking along the cattle at Yangming Mountain and appreciating the waterfall. According to my research based on 3 travel posts written by the locals, the best way to get to the hike starting point is to take the local bus 108. I Ubered to the bus terminal, stood in line for 15 minutes, caused a debate around the exact cost of the bus fare, overpaid 25 Yuan due to the lack of exact changes, and found myself a spot on the bus.
《Two Trees Make a Forest》讲的是台湾的植被，也就是在说台北的山，说到台北的山，最有名的应该是北投附近的阳明山。《台北人》讲的是人的故事，里面的角色大部分是抗战之后从大陆搬到台湾，当时搬来的外省人集中居住地今日称曰“眷村”。《台北小吃札记》讲的是街头巷尾的小吃，民以食为天，台北乃至台湾最出名的饮食应该就是小吃夜市。
“所以答案是：阳明山，眷村，和台北夜市。”埃里克帮我宣布，“没想到这么简单！”
As it turned out, it was more of a minivan than a bus, and by spot I don’t mean a comfortable seat - the bus was so packed that half of the passengers were standing, and because I was the last a few to get on I was standing by the entrance. What the local travel posts failed to mention is that the bus makes many sharp turns and for people who are standing like I was it would take a lot of upper body strength to prevent getting thrown out of the window. When I later chatted with a local about the bus experience they were utterly surprised, and I quote, “I have never in my life heard of that bus.”
Regardless, I saw the city as a visitor and am intrinsically biased by the good weather and relaxing vibe.
Plus I took home with me some beautiful sunsets.
就这么简单吗？
这段推理才过去一个多小时，窗外的太阳早没了踪迹，城市笼罩上深蓝的颜色。
“等一下，你刚才说阿华平日从不读书？”
“是啊，别说读书了，我也从没见过他提笔写字。”
“你有没有觉得，阿华弄来这么多书作为线索，这件事情有点奇怪。”我说。
我再拿起阿华留下的纸条，看着背面的那几句话：十二月的桂花香/凌晨四点的日落/冬季的龙眼冰淇淋。台北和北美洲东部跨越十几个时区，一个城市靠近赤道，一个城市靠近北极圈。由于时差和纬度的区别，看似不可能的现象，在地球另一边却实际真正发生。
“诶，现在我们日落是几点啊？”
埃里克看了眼手机上的程序告诉我，“四点四十分”。这里冬季日落时间很早，靠近冬至的这几天更甚，难怪窗外天色已经暗了下来。
“如果我们的日落是下午五点，这里的凌晨四点日落是什么意思？”我仍然觉得不太对劲。
“这应该是说台北时间吧。”
“那台北呢，现在的日落是什么时候？”我问。
“台北的话，我看看，十二号日落是傍晚五点，也没有比这里晚很多嘛。”
凌晨四点，冬季龙眼，十二月的桂花——
“啊我明白了！”阿华从一开始就埋下了暗示，阅读之前，早就有真相。
因为冬令时，北美洲东部傍晚四点是台北时间第二天的凌晨五点，而台北傍晚五点，是这里时间同一天的凌晨四点。如果阿华人在台北，想着这里的日落，那么日落应该是在当地时间凌晨五点而非四点。同理，冬天的龙眼和十二月的桂花，是在说这里的冬天和十二月不应该有龙眼和桂花，但在台北的话是非常应季的事情。所以这意味着，实际上阿华完全是站在北美东部的角度，留下这几句话。同时，平日不读书的阿华却选择用书作为线索，也是在暗示一切可能都是反过来的。
也就是说，阿华根本就不在台北！
“根本就没有去台北呢，听上去的确像是阿华会做的事情。”埃里克露出一个笑脸，吃掉最后一块饼干。