30.3.07
Zaijian!
With a heavy heart, I write my last post from Taichung. Tomorrow, we leave and packing up our lives and saying goodbye has been tearful, sad, thankful and full of emotion. Never have I lived in a place where so easily you meet friends, bond and share so much, so quickly. Our time in Taiwan has flown by and it's already time to say goodbye.
Both Simon and I stopped working last week and spent these last few days running errands-sorting tickets, dealing with money, buying glasses (they are so cheap here!), shoes, etc. Last Tuesday, we visited our friend in Sarah in Hualien. Hualien is on the largest city in the East Coast of the island. With 300,000 people in a city on the ocean, to be charming, friendly and beautiful. Our friend Sarah lives alone in a gorgeous , hard wood floored apartment over looking the ocean. Waking each morning to the bright blue sky peppered with light white clouds, smells of the sea and sounds of birds was so nice!
Our first day, we walked into town, got a little lost and hopped in a cab to be whisked to a scooter rental store. Si easily rented a scooter, even without a Taiwanese drivers license which I had heard was difficult. However, we visited in a low travel season and there lots of scooters available, so I don't think the shopkeepers were being too picky. Plus, he has is international drivers license and while not all Taiwanese people can ready English, they took his word for it and sent us on our way. We headed south to the coastal line to feel the wind in our faces and occassionally bits of dirt, as huge construction trucks passed us from time to time. The weather was beautiful, warm and the scenery gorgeous. We stopped at a small black sand beach called Cow Mountain Beach and spent the day in a shady cove of a rock, swimming, reading and playing in the sand. The entire day, we saw perhaps 4 people total, which is often a rare occurrence compared to the busier cities of Taiwan. It was nice to have some beautiful surroundings practically all to ourselves.
The next day, we headed north to Taroko Gorge. This park is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever, ever seen. Due to earth plate movements over 4 million years ago, huge rocks jut out of the earth and sometimes block the sky from your view completely forming a long, winding gorge. There were many temples set high in the hills that from the road, didn't look that far up, but an hour later and hundreds of stairs later, yes (puff, puff) were quite a ways up! The views were jaw droppingly magical and we spent the day, exploring waterfalls, hikes, closed footbridges in the mountains and little cafes along the way. The fallen rock formations due to typhoons and landslides have left behind large, smooth boulders of dramatic hues of white, orange, brown and grey. The rock walls have jagged yet melodic striations that I could examine for hours. We visited 3 different sites in a day and there was much, much more to see. Again, there weren't many tourists there, which was a nice way to experience the Gorge!
Now, it's time to say goodbye and I've been thinking about what I'll miss and not miss about this place.
Here's what I won't miss:
*Pollution-air, water, noise
*Some cultural differences, like saving face (i.e. not being truthful to avoid confrontation or uncomfortability)
*A few of the weird and bad smelling foods that line the streets and hijack my nostrils when driving by
*The crazy drivers
Here's what I'll truly miss:
*Amazing friends that welcomed me into their hearts and homes so effortlessly and sweetly
*Beautiful scenery-beaches to mountains
*Kind and friendly ways of the Taiwanese culture-people going out of their way to help you, explain something to you, even though they don't speak any English.
*Endless, cheap shopping
*My scooter-zipping through traffic, taking .02 seconds to find a parking space, going to the markets and knowing that when the scooter trunk is full and the bay between my feet won't hold any more fruit, it's time to go home.
*Learning Mandarin
*Convenience-7-11's, 24-hour teppanyaki restaurants, 24-hour MTV's (where you rent a movie, then get your own viewing room), night markets that go until 2am
*Weather-living in the tropics, while hot and unbearable at times, is quite nice.
Taiwan, thanks for the memories! You've changed my life!
Both Simon and I stopped working last week and spent these last few days running errands-sorting tickets, dealing with money, buying glasses (they are so cheap here!), shoes, etc. Last Tuesday, we visited our friend in Sarah in Hualien. Hualien is on the largest city in the East Coast of the island. With 300,000 people in a city on the ocean, to be charming, friendly and beautiful. Our friend Sarah lives alone in a gorgeous , hard wood floored apartment over looking the ocean. Waking each morning to the bright blue sky peppered with light white clouds, smells of the sea and sounds of birds was so nice!
Our first day, we walked into town, got a little lost and hopped in a cab to be whisked to a scooter rental store. Si easily rented a scooter, even without a Taiwanese drivers license which I had heard was difficult. However, we visited in a low travel season and there lots of scooters available, so I don't think the shopkeepers were being too picky. Plus, he has is international drivers license and while not all Taiwanese people can ready English, they took his word for it and sent us on our way. We headed south to the coastal line to feel the wind in our faces and occassionally bits of dirt, as huge construction trucks passed us from time to time. The weather was beautiful, warm and the scenery gorgeous. We stopped at a small black sand beach called Cow Mountain Beach and spent the day in a shady cove of a rock, swimming, reading and playing in the sand. The entire day, we saw perhaps 4 people total, which is often a rare occurrence compared to the busier cities of Taiwan. It was nice to have some beautiful surroundings practically all to ourselves.
The next day, we headed north to Taroko Gorge. This park is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever, ever seen. Due to earth plate movements over 4 million years ago, huge rocks jut out of the earth and sometimes block the sky from your view completely forming a long, winding gorge. There were many temples set high in the hills that from the road, didn't look that far up, but an hour later and hundreds of stairs later, yes (puff, puff) were quite a ways up! The views were jaw droppingly magical and we spent the day, exploring waterfalls, hikes, closed footbridges in the mountains and little cafes along the way. The fallen rock formations due to typhoons and landslides have left behind large, smooth boulders of dramatic hues of white, orange, brown and grey. The rock walls have jagged yet melodic striations that I could examine for hours. We visited 3 different sites in a day and there was much, much more to see. Again, there weren't many tourists there, which was a nice way to experience the Gorge!
Now, it's time to say goodbye and I've been thinking about what I'll miss and not miss about this place.
Here's what I won't miss:
*Pollution-air, water, noise
*Some cultural differences, like saving face (i.e. not being truthful to avoid confrontation or uncomfortability)
*A few of the weird and bad smelling foods that line the streets and hijack my nostrils when driving by
*The crazy drivers
Here's what I'll truly miss:
*Amazing friends that welcomed me into their hearts and homes so effortlessly and sweetly
*Beautiful scenery-beaches to mountains
*Kind and friendly ways of the Taiwanese culture-people going out of their way to help you, explain something to you, even though they don't speak any English.
*Endless, cheap shopping
*My scooter-zipping through traffic, taking .02 seconds to find a parking space, going to the markets and knowing that when the scooter trunk is full and the bay between my feet won't hold any more fruit, it's time to go home.
*Learning Mandarin
*Convenience-7-11's, 24-hour teppanyaki restaurants, 24-hour MTV's (where you rent a movie, then get your own viewing room), night markets that go until 2am
*Weather-living in the tropics, while hot and unbearable at times, is quite nice.
Taiwan, thanks for the memories! You've changed my life!
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