taiwan tales: part 2

(refer to previous post for part 1.)


day 5
august 2nd
saturday

i got up just in time to miss the first (8:40) bus to taroko gorge, and instead took the next one at 10:50. at the bus stop i made friends with lyla from arizona, and later in the two hour ride with the kids (andy from oregon city and adam from illinois) sitting behind us. upon arrival at the gorge we were shocked to see that the water was gray -- it was incredibly unnatural looking, like a river of wet concrete. (i later heard this was just sediment and mud dredged up by the recent typhoon, and that the water should clear after about a week.) lyla and i spent the afternoon hiking around the gorgeous gorge, though the trails were much easier than we expected. we talked a lot; it's funny how easy it is sometimes to be open with a stranger you'll never see again. while we were waiting for the last bus the boys reappeared: we chatted the entire two hour ride as the bus driver took turns at breakneck speeds, presumably trying to make up for getting behind schedule by arguing with the ladies at the gorge about produce deliveries. back in hualien, the four of us went to a night market where we ate the famous local xiao lung bao (a kind of pot sticker) and had a feast of shaved ice desserts with beans, taro, tapioca, mango. we browsed the street vendors' wares for awhile and noted that the local sidewalks, benches, and even signposts were made of marble supplied from the gorge. adam was coming down with a cold so the boys headed back to their hotel and lyla came back to my hostel with me for a quick "margarita" from the bar there (really more like a tequila martini, if such a thing exists) before saying goodbye. after she left i talked with the other kids at the hostel for a little while before bed. you meet a lot of interesting people in hostels.


day 6
august 3rd
sunday

following the advice of the hostel owner, i took a train to fangliao---rather than going to kaohsiung, which is what the guidebooks say to do---to transfer to a bus bound for the southern coastal town of kending (also spelled kenting). there were some kids (american english teachers in seoul) i'd seen at the taipei hostel in the same train car with the same plan, and it worked out to be almost as cheap to take a taxi, so we did. none of us had hostel/hotel reservations; we clumsily asked the driver--whose teeth were stained brown from chewing betel nut-- to drop us off in a central place. i didn't have enough money to pay for a room with cash, so i walked down the street price shopping and asking hotels if they took credit cards. soon they were passing word down the street that the white girl needed a place that took cards and within a few minutes a man came out of a shop and offered me a room for NT$700 per night -- about twice the cost of a stay in a hostel, but still only about US$20. i was excited to find that the room was almost as big my apartment in japan (around 200 square feet), but with less furniture. after settling into my spacious new digs i headed over to one of the many seven elevens in town for some food. and here we enter the worst night of the trip: not having used it in seven months, i'd forgotten the PIN number for my american ATM/debit card, and convenience stores do not take credit cards in taiwan. when i asked the clerk about this, she suggested i talk to the girl selling shirts from a stand out front because she spoke a little english. that girl then called her sister, who spoke better english, and she suggested i buy an international phone card and call my bank. i didn't have enough money for the phone card, but the super awesome shirt-selling girl loaned me NT$100. i called the bank and they told me they couldn't release my PIN number to me unless it was the same as the PIN number for my previous card, which it was, but their system was down so they told me to call back in an hour. i was very hungry and a little hysterical at this point, and the girls outside could see this. i told them i had some japanese money, but kending is a small town -- i didn't know if there was a bank and even if i found one it wouldn't be open until morning. the girls made a couple phone calls, apparently to find out what the current exchange rate was, and exchanged 4000 yen (about $40) for me -- at a better rate than i got at the airport! (i later realized i probably could have tried exchanging my money at one of the big fancy hotels.) i thanked them repeatedly, got some more food, and went back to my room. when i called the bank back later they told me all they could confirm was that my PIN number was the same as the old one, but they couldn't actually see the number. i tried guessing my PIN at the ATM again, and it ate the card. there was a phone attached to the ATM and the clerk put me on the phone with the taiwanese bank affiliated with the ATM, who, after about fifteen minutes finally told me there was nothing they could do. i went back to my room feeling defeated, watched the discovery channel, and went to sleep early.


day 7
august 4th
monday

i set my alarm for sunrise but it was pouring out so i waited for the rain to lighten up up before going out. i wandered around town trailing a threesome of scavenging stray dogs and then went walking along the highway looking for a nice beach. an hour down the road i found myself in the middle of a torrential downpour, glad i'd brought my rain jacket. after a couple hours of being completely drenched i finally went back to my room for a nap. a little later i went for another walk in the drizzle and then watched some bad TV--a novel experience. eventually the rain finally stopped enough to consider swimming, so i went down to caesar cove beach, where i ran into the kids from the taxi (stacey and matt). the waves were great, and i was glad for a couple hours of free entertainment and conversation. after a shower i got dinner from one of the street vendors -- fried tofu, green beans, mushrooms, and chewy rice pig's blood pudding i also tried fresh coconut juice, which was surprisingly bland. stacey and matt invited me out but having realized i had to make $130 last for the rest of the trip--including lodging and trainfare back around the island--i declined. being suddenly really worried about money was a good experience, though. i don't regret it at all, though i do feel pretty dumb about having forgotten my PIN number.


day 8
august 5th
tuesday

i was pretty eager to get out of rainy kending and into historic tainan. having scouted out the bus stop on one of my many, many walks around kending i headed confidently over there in the morning. i was soon approached by several different people wanting to take me in taxis or privately owned buses, but i waited for the regular, cheaper one. the driver was really friendly and we had a clumsy chat involving lots of gestures and laughs. after arriving in kaohsiung a couple hours later i tried exchanging my last 10,000 yen at the post office bank and was redirected to a proper bank, where the staff spoke perfect english. as i was waiting for the two o'clock train to tainan a nice australian girl sat down next to me and struck up a conversation. at the age of twenty-four, sally has traveled to every continent but africa--she met her english boyfriend whilst backpacking through siberia. i asked her if she knew of any hostels in the area and she suggested i just stay with her and joël. after the train arrived in tainan sally put my backpack on her scooter and gave me directions to her apartment. (she only had one helmet so i couldn't ride with her.) as i was walking toward her place i realized a stranger had just taken off with most of my belongings and it hadn't occurred to me to be worried. of course it hadn't; sally is awesome! she lugged my pack up five flights of stairs in the august heat, dropped it off, and came back to find me, searching the street for me from a parking meridian. i bought us some mango ice and we went to her place, where sally supplied me with some important maps and information. then i headed out and called my host sister's husband to find out about meeting him for dinner. i killed some time walking through tainan park, which was full of chatting old men, and then ian picked me up at tainan station at 5:30. we went to their house to get yukie and their son elvin (baby ethan stayed home with grandma) and then to an outdoor food market for dinner. i watched a man skin a live snake and then ate it in soup with ginger. it was actually pretty flavorless, like overcooked chicken. the restaurant had apparently just recently stopped serving snake's blood, but i tried some snake liquor (the variety that was not distilled with a snake's penis in it), which tasted like chinese medicine. we hit up another place for some more food, including "coffin bread" -- a strange mix of savory and sweet flavors on toast. we then headed to the big night market where i ran into sally and joël, and i went home with them. we talked over taiwan beer and then joël tested out a demo english lesson on sally and me.


day 9
august 6th
wednesday

on her way to work sally gave me a ride on her scooter to the train station, where i checked my bag, and then dropped me off at the eternal golden castle. i walked from there along the canal, through lin mo-niang park to anping fort and the old tait & co. merchant house. tainan is an old port city with a lot of history, and the house had models of aboriginal, chinese, and dutch homes with detailed signs in english describing the lifestyles that took place in those homes. next door was the "tree house"--an old house that's been overrun by banyan trees. the light and shadows were gorgeous, and i lingered for a long time, taking way too many pictures. after that i went looking for the bus. in my wandering i found an old cemetery, witnessed some old men belting out mid afternoon karaoke, and got a sunburn. i finally caught the #14 just as it was about to pull away and watched the street signs from the window, following along with my map. i got off near the confucius temple and spent about an hour there. next: window shopping on jhongshan road, noodles from a street stall, and pearl milk tea while waiting for the 5:32 train to taipei. i checked into my hostel just after ten and then went out to my last night market, on huaxi street. i found a place with a written menu, and ordered one of the few things i could read on it--fried rice with sheep's meat. satisfied, i spent a couple of my few remaining dollars on some souvenirs and went back to the hostel. some people i'd met in my previous stay there came home and we stayed up late talking. dan gave me some good tips on free education; he's studying chinese in taipei and gets a stipend for living expenses. i'm considering doing the same in a couple of years if i haven't found anything better to do with myself. languages are fun.


day 10
august 7th
thursday

i got up at 9, packed, finished the book i'd borrowed from the hostel so i could leave it there, caught the bus from the nearby sheraton hotel to the airport, bought some pineapple cakes for a friend, and flew back to narita. despite my not speaking any chinese, despite the debit card fiasco, and despite the rainy beaches, the trip was a great success. i tried new and strange foods, traveled all the way around the island, saw a huge variety of scenery (big cities and small towns, mountains, ocean, temples, really old buildings, the tallest building in the world, a street lined with bird shops...) and met all kinds of interesting, helpful, and kind people. and the whole trip, including $500 airfare, was less than a thousand dollars.

taiwan tales: part 1

i just got back from ten (mostly) lovely days in taiwan. let me tell you about them.

day 1
july 29th
tuesday

i arrived at taiwan taoyuan international airport at 4:50 PM -- my flight was delayed by about 30 minutes due to storms. the bus to the hostel took much longer than expected, and i finally arrived a little after 7. my friend joe and his friend charlotte [taiwanese, lives in osaka] were waiting when i arrived. we headed out to meet up with another of joe's friends, rex, and his girfriend (tsaipeI? her name was wonderfully similar to the city we were in). i'm not sure where we were, but we wandered around a shopping district, had some food from the stalls and went for beers at a really relaxed bar. it had big wood tables, colorful walls decorated with local artists' paintings, and hip college kids in t-shirts and big glasses -- not the kind of place you'd find in japan. after our beers, joe and charlotte and i went to the shihlin night market for fresh fruit juice (watermelon, papaya, and kiwi respectively) and some more snacks. back at the hostel we hung out on the roof until the mosquitoes chased us off, chatted with a couple of the other residents in the living room, and then gradually headed to our beds -- i was the last. joe left for vietnam early in the morning.

day 2
july 30th
wednesday

i woke up at 9ish and walked from the hostel to taipei station. along the way, i happened across the national taiwan museum, which among other things houses specimens of the extinct formosa tiger and a very cool old map. then to longshan temple, which was both gorgeous and indescribable. i felt much like i did at saint peter's basicila in rome - filled with a peace and reverance that i didn't know i was capable of feeling. i lingered for awhile, watching the worshipers come and go, thinking. after that i wandered around for a couple hours and passed a street lined with pet stores. taiwan is known for its birds, and these vendors had all kinds. baby fluffy turkey-looking things tufted moss green and concrete grey. parrots in bright primary colors. cages upon cages upon cages of birds i didn't know the names for. i continued wandering until i came a cross a street parade: high school kids in pink t-shirts pushing decorated carts and carrying dancing paper dragons. then i (eventually) found a metro station and headed to city hall station, from which i climbed the (dark, empty, slightly creepy) hills above the taipei 101 building at dusk. (thanks to joe for the tip.) i next made my way to the 101 building itself: the tallest building in the world, with the fastest elevators and full of symbolism. after that i headed to shihlin market again for starfruit juice, cheap noodles, and a new pair of sandals. i returned to the hostel exhausted, but was reinvigorated by the sudden appearance of numerous japanese guests, who were celebrating a birthday. stayed up way too late.

day 3
july 31st
thursday

at about 11, i took the metro one stop to taipei station and boarded city bus #260 for yangmingshan, an hour north of taipei. from the visitor's center i took another bus and got off at the first place that looked promising -- a sulfur spring midway up mount cising. on the picnic benches there i had some instant rice porridge and iced coffee, and chatted with fellow visitors -- matthew from beijing (originally france) and gary (taiwanese). then i wandered around the park, took in the views of the city and ocean below, and climbed the path along the sulfur springs to the peak of the mountain. the weather was fickle, and as a result the clouds and mist incredible. there were butterflies, cicadas, birds, tiny purple flowers, trees strong against the wind, and so much green. i wished i'd brought a tape recorder to supplement my camera. after pausing for ten minutes or so at the top, i descended a different, longer route. i then caught the bus in a loop around the mountain. the driver took the curves with speedy expertise and the elementary school kids standing in the aisles were holding on tight and yelling "whee" around corners. i headed back to taipei station and got a sticky bun, some fish balls on sticks, and a jelly filled juice drink from 7-11. (seven eleven, by the way, is everywhere in taiwan.) back at the hostel a newly arrived guest (luka, an italian who works in navigation and spends most of the year traveling the world on ships) chatted me up and we decided to go exploring together. we didn't find the pub we were looking for, but we did have some great fruit and did a lot of walking. over bibimbap and chu-hai he politely asked if he could join me on my trip southeastward the following day. i politely told him i was happy to go alone. we missed the last train back by less than a minute and the taxi driver had a hell of a time understanding my pronunciation, but eventually we got home. i slept very quickly, and very well.

day 4
august 1st
friday

i stowed my backpack in a locker at taipei station and then went to the national palace museum. it takes its name from the fact that most of the exhibits there came from beijing's forbidden city -- and it doesn't disappoint in either its thoroughness or historical range. it was my chinese art history book come to life: so much intricacy, history, and beauty. bronzes, scrolls, carved sandalwood, and oh, the porcelain! lovely. i followed up the museum visit with a late lunch at a vegetarian restaurant near shihlin station. taiwanese fake meat is yummy! then i caught a 5:10 train along the southeast coast at sunset, to hualien. three hours later i was wandering around a small town with no sidewalks looking for my hostel. a lot of people stared at the crazy white girl in the short skirt with a huge backpack strapped to her back and another smaller one on her front. after a couple wrong turns, i checked into my hostel, had a shower, and headed off to the night market (go down the street and turn left at the third seven eleven) for dinner. to give you an idea of how hot it was: i picked up a beer at the convenience store on the way back and it was lukewarm ten minutes later. back at the hostel i talked with some kids who teach english in taichung, and went to sleep.

富士山

here are a few photos from mount fuji, as promised.




many people buy wooden climbing sticks and get them branded at the mountain huts along the way to the summit. you can rent a mat to sleep on for 5000 yen, and some places will let you sit inside if you order food or a drink -- but they won't hesitate to kick you out when there's a line and you've been there plenty long enough to consume your order.





headlamps of the climbers below, taken from the red torii (gate) at the end of the trail.





just before the sun showed itself.





climbers coming up the descending path.





sunrise.





daytime.





descending. i imagine this is what the surface of the moon looks like.





return to life.