Rita's wedding

Today was Rita’s wedding part one. The part where the groom’s immediate family come to the brides house and meet the bride’s immediate family for a gathering and then moving on to restaurant for a meal with … well everyone that knows the bride.
The second part is with only the grooms family and friends and the bride’s close family. This includes the actually ‘marriage’ part. I think this system is a great idea as you get twice the food than in most Western weddings.
Of all the staff at Shane, I would say I felt closest to Rita… so when last month she mentioned she was getting married this month…I was a little perplexed. I don’t think anything was ever going to happen, but it’s always nice thinking that something might.
Anyway, she fairly early on invited me to her mother’s house to the see the preparations and traditional rituals on the day. I leapt at the chance.
However yesterday when I asked who else was going, I was laughed at and told that only the close family and friends go to the house: i.e. I wasn’t welcome. So I rang Rita and checked that it was OK, and she said ‘yes, ask Emma how to get there’. But I was then told, of course she said ‘yes’: she’s not gonna want to tell you ‘no’. Still, I persevered and at 8:00 this morning I was knocking on Nick’s door to give him a lift – like he’d asked – but he’s barely awake… so I go alone to meet Gina and follow her to the bride’s house.
The place was beautiful, a farmhouse in the country… with her dad’s small-scale sock factory adjacent. As we pulled up, a party decorator had just finished making these two pillars of balloons within balloons. Emma was already there, looking stunning: she was the nearest thing to a bridesmaid. Mr Chen (Rita’s father) met me and sat me down with some uncles, aunts and cousins. For men in Taiwan, offering a cigarette when they meet someone is considered as polite as we do a handshake, and although I’d sacrificed good manners for good health in Taiwan so far; I thought it wise not to offend the host so soon into the day. The first hour was spent greeting guests and making the couple look perfect. So I entertained one of Rita’s nephews; or prevent him pulling my big nose or ears. I tried to teach him a card trick, but he found it more fun to throw them on the floor… kids! Rita’s mother showed me the photo-album of the pre-wedding pics. It was incredible! A giant, velvet-covered book of thick card pages - professionally bound, and on each page (like an advert for a clothing brand) a great photo of them in coordinating dress in different backdrops. The photos must have taken hours to produce.
I also handed over my red envelope. Rather than be given breadmakers and 4-piece knife sets, at a Taiwanese wedding, everyone brings red envelopes filled with money. I don’t think there is an upper or lower limit, but there are lucky (2,6,9) and unlucky numbers (4). Also the total cannot end in a 0, so 1002 dollars is OK, but 1000 is not. The amount I was thinking about giving doubled, when yesterday I received (as did the other guests) a huge two-tier cookie box; it almost didn’t fit in my rucksack. The money was counted and checked by Uncle Chen and entered into the book.
Midmorning, everyone assembled in the main room. The couple entered; I was stunned at how beautiful she looked – a real smack in the stomach: wow feeling – he looked nice as well. They were then each in turn dressed by the close family in gold (a sign of happiness and love) bracelets, necklace and earrings. Then the bride walked around the room giving the groom’s family cups. They filled these cups with their red envelopes and then gave them back to Rita…reminded me a bit of the African dowry.
From there we convoyed down to the restaurant to meet the other guests. I was a little surprised to learn that we had 42 tables: ten on each. That’s a lot of guests. I started wondering if I knew that many people.

The rest of the Shane crew turned up before long and the banquet began. On each table, were bottled juices, teas …and brandy!
There was an assortment of sugared pistachios, lemon dipped prawns, fried chicken and raw fish with wasubi sauce. The place was the size of an ice hockey stadium. Cheesy love songs were playing through 6foot speakers and in the corner, a vast screen was showing a slideshow of the bride and groom growing up, some recent and some romantic pics. I was chuffed to see myself in two of them!
The food in true Taiwanese style was endless… in no particular order we had gooseblood rice, yam and raisin, crab fried rice, chicken soup (the whole chicken in the pot), seafood medley soup, the finest fish steak I’ve tasted, chicken’s testicles (apparently v expensive – someone has a pic of me eating one), shrimps, pork ribs, oysters, steamed veg, ice-cream and iced fruits. All of which went down very nicely.

The happy couple didn’t get chance to eat much as they spent most of the time being toasted by the guests at each of the 42 tables, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
I’m not sure what stage of the day I realized it, but let’s say I had an Andrew Lincoln moment (Love Actually) as I sat camera looking through the lens of the camera … and this was made worse by Linda (boss) demanding that me, her and Rita had a photo with just the 3 of us in front of the 420 guests (it’s like she read my mind)… she later made a joke about me being 1st choice husband: but I was heading back to England…
So all in all: crazy day… especially as we had to go back in at 4 and teach little kids… I could hardly walk!
Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Green Island

Last weekend, to celebrate Taiwan's birthday; we were given the Friday off work and the following... Tuesday (how pointless is that!). To get the most out of the 3 days I turned down a trip to nearby Hei Sun Wood (you know the place) and headed out to volcanic Green Island off the southeastern coast. This meant waking up at stupid hour, and riding down to the train station for a 6:45 departure. It was actually cool, I wore my jacket for the first time out here. Not realising I needed to book in advance, the only tickets left were for standing. Nearly 5 hours standing... but I had my newly updated Ipod... the time started ticking by. Sadly the only rail to the east went round the coast to the south first as the mountains are too high to traverse - but we did get a nice glimpse of the South China Sea Half way round my hayfever kicked in which was odd... October hayfever? On the last leg of the trip the beaches below were a black volcanic sand.
When I finally got to Taitung, I rang Maddie (friend of Sam's who organised trip) to see if she was there... nope! she'd been sent the wrong way on the train... and wouldn't get here today... her 2 friends however, would get in, but only at 7pm, it was now 11:15 and the last ferry was at 3:30pm. So after a lot of deep thought and unhelpful conversations with the Travel Advice Desk, I decided to go on out to the island without them. A helpful shuttlebus driver got me to the dock and my tickets. Sadly as it was a 3day-hol I had to come back on the 10:30am ferry on Sunday as the rest were booked - bit early but hey ho.

The ferry was a small catamaran. I wondered why it didn't have an outside part... I soon found out; the Pacific Ocean is a little rough. Especially on this day in the wake of a typhoon. The people were screaming as the boat first swayed and then as it built up speed flew from wave to wave, crashing down again and again. It wasnt long before the plastic bags fulfilled their purpose: i was too in awe to feel sick; glued to the window taking photos, every now and then it was like a scene from 'perfect storm' a wall of water rising that you cant see past. I have a whole new respect for the power of water.
A cheer went up when we eventually caught sight of land
When we got to the other side. I had only my lp guide to rely on. A beetlenut chewing man drove over and tried to rent me the worst scooter ive ever seen for $NT600 a day. I soon realised that it was the last scooter for hire, and so after haggling down to 500 i took it. He also wanted my ARC until I returned it... I didnt have much choice! The speedo didn't work and neither did the brake lights and there was no petrol in the tank, so i drove up towards the main village to buy fuel and laughed to see a queue of 15 or so mopeds all waiting to do the same thing. Once topped up, I decided not to discover that all the hotels were booked up already and simply made for the campsite on the southern tip of the island.
Riding round, I was dumb struck by the beauty of the island... and how quiet everything was... until a stream of moped riding tourists buzzed past. Jagged cliffs, forest covered hillsides and white beaches descending into a clear blue sea. It was dreamy.
The tree filled campsite was basic but had showers, a real toilet (most public ones are holes) and hot water. On one side were wooden shelters to camp under and the other was sporadic grass. The man only charged me 100 a night (£1.40). Once pitched, I jumped back on the scooter and tried to drive round the whole island before the light faded. The scenery was fantastic, but the tourist attractions labelled on the map were a little tame. There were some 'caves' which were more like cracks in the rock , an ancient burial site that you just had to accept that was what it was, and a lighthouse... well: seen one... the prison looked impressive from a distance - reputed as being the alcatraz of the east in darker political regimes.
After a full tour of the island, in gale force winds, I headed back to the main village to get some food.
A good rule around the globe for food is 'go where everybody goes' however at 5:55 no-one was hungry et so i had to walk the main road and pop into the trinket shops (similar to Kenting) until the rest of the island got hungry. Finally, after buying a T-shirt, I popped into a restaurant that was filling up with people. They were all elderly and Tai... I started thinkin maybe this was just someones house (or an old peoples home), but no a waitress came. I heard the octopus was good so i tried to order that. She didnt speak English, but she did have a translator tool next door, so off she went. And eventually came out with a beautful garlic octopus in a peanut sauce. Once I'd had my fill I rode the scooter to the beach to chill and eat icecream by moonlight... the scooter stand fell off when i stopped... rusted through. I had an early night and slept well in the tent.
The next morning, I had a nice shower and headed for the harbour to meet Amy and Charlotte (Maddie's friends) . They were the only western girls coming off the ferry so I called Amy over. She answered but looked confused, I started thinkin maybe there were two western Amys on the boat, and id got the wrong one: id only spoken to her 5 minutes ago on the phone. Turns out they were just in shock after the roughest crossing of their lives.
I led them to the scooter place... but 3 day weekend: none left and no scooter man: which meant I couldn't renew my scooter lease which was annoying. There were some nice ones on the left but they were reserved for tour groups. Damnit! Not to worry: we still had my ... thing. I loaded their luggage onto the bike and took it down to the campsite. Despite the seasickness, both of them were starving so went to a nice cafe - 3 on a scooter; its an artform - and had an egg and bacon pancake with chilli sauce. A great kick start to anyone's day. It turned out Maddie had decided not to come now, but her friend Courntey would be joining us that afternoon. 4 on a scooter would be interesting!
The girls were keen to get some snorkelling in. I had a bad feeling about renting equipment, but we went to the visitor centre anyway to ask... after 5 or 6 phone calls, we were told no snorkels, no scooters, and even no bicycles left for rent on the island: Not to worry: we could still buy some stuff from the shops down the road.
It took a while to find them, as everytime we went into a shop, the girls kept looking at sandles, skirts and tops... but eventually we tracked down a mask and pipe: no flippers: not to worry. A group of Tai students wanted our picture; so we made sure we got a copy
We went to the beach recommended by the visitor centre: took one look at the waves battered the shoreline and thought: No, not likely... "You must be joking!" came a voice to our right; some Canadians had pulled up and shared our sentiments. Introductions were made, and we agreed to follow them round the coast to a beach near the campsite. Total contrast! I spent a while lotioning up... and eager to get out of the baking sun made my way down this wooden path that led out to waist deep water. It had been 6 years since I last went snorkelling (off the coast of Zanzibar) so I was a little aprenhensive. I swam out in awe of the fish beneath me; clown, rainbow, black and blue, red and green, and this little dudes with long noses for getting food out from the coral. I had a couple of panic attacks, when water went down the spout and when I realised just how deep the water was around us. But i sang myself back into comfort and was soon relaxed and enjoying the view. There was still a strong current, when I lifted my head I realised I'd drifted down the shore quite a long way. I tried to swim back but wasnt moving... then the tide would push me forward, and I'd feel better... and then the tide would drag me back again... but it was fine....When i came back to the shore, everyone looked worried and were pointing at my leg. On the way back I'd grazed it on the coral and blood was trickling down. It's lucky there were no sharks out, I thought.
From the beach, the girls managed to get rides with the Canadians... and I set out to pick up Courtney. At the harbour I ran into scooter man and after a long exchange of gestures and sign language: we managed to get the scooter for another day and my ARC back. A little worrying was the fact that he gave me 3 ARCs back.
I took Courtney back to the campsite and helped pitch her tent and then, we all (Canadians incl) scootered round the island looking for good nosh.
We found it in the Fisherman's House. There was about 15 of us, so we ordered a dish of everything and shared it round. Spici tomato tofu, snails in green beans (or squid?), BBQ fish, raw salmon and tuna with wasubi sauce. All good stuff. Entertainment all evening was free from comedian Badger (one of the Canadians) From there we stocked up at a 7/11 and headed back to the campsite for a bonfire, with smores (US delicacy: chocolate and marshmallow between 2 digestives) provided by chef wanabe George. A pleasant evening had by all.

The next morning I awoke (no shower; the water had stopped), packed the tent and Courtney agreed to take me to the ferry. We were just about to leave when breakfast arrived (courtesy of Sam)... had to eat breakfast-best meal of the day! Then we sped to the ferry - got to the harbour at 10:25 the boat had already left.
Not to worry; i thought, i'll just get the next one. Half an hour past, the next one is a different firm; they wont let me on! When can i go? half 12 says the man. It's getting hot so i head to shelter and sit waiting and waiting.
Half 12 comes, so does the boat and everyone on the island it seemed: I've never seen such chaos; no queue; just a hoard of people pressing up against the side of the boat: the people inside hadn't got off yet. At one point a man started yelling at a fella for stepping on his kid;- i thought there was gonna be a full on riot... but no... a man with a megaphone jumped up on a platform and demanded we all step back to let people off; and then it started: everyone pushed and grunted until they were through the small door protected by two ticket guys.
Once inside calm was restored. The return crossing was not so rough, no screaming and i was soon back in the shuttlebus on the way to Taitung station. As there was only me in the van, the driver went on a detour to point out the main attractions of the area... which was nice of him.
The return journey was over an hour longer: I got out the map at one point just to check it was heading in the right direction. I played musical chairs with other 'standing passengers' seeing how long you could stay sat on a seat before someone claimed it from you.
Back in Yuan Lin, I was happy to be back on my scooter: my beautiful fully functional scooter on the way home, looking forward to teaching the following day. A mad weekend! I need a holiday now.

One mountain, two temples and Lugang

Last weekend, instead of our usual Friday night trip to Changhua, Nic, Pascal and I were invited to the neighbours (bunch of students) house party. Such was their hospitality, it would have been rude to refuse. They had the girls toiling over a BBQ while the lads started the night off with a drinking game... as drinking is not part of the Taiwanese tradition, I can assure you that if there was a winner in this tournament, it wasnt the home side! The food just kept coming from the BBQ girls and to my shock it wasnt burnt! Didn't they know anything about a barbie? Feeling guilty for taking half their drink supply, Pascal brought his whisky over... this proved too much for our neighbours and before long, they'd all fallen asleep or wandered home.
We agreed that there was life left in the night yet and headed into town to the only bar in Yuan Lin that is open after 2am. It doubled up as a KTV (kareoke) and before long Nic and I were serenading Pascal with the only 3 songs we recognised. We had two girls sit at our table for the cost of their drinks - a usual custom here - but these two looked like they couldnt wait to leave... never again! When we emerged from the bar, it was daylight, so we grabbed some beef and rice from a stall and hailed a taxi home.
On the Saturday, Pascal and I went into Taichung to find musical bits and pieces. We found this brilliant music shop with 7 pianos, endless guitars, even some bongos that Pascal wanted. Could have stayed all night; came away with more than i planned on buying.
From their we went to one of the only decent Indian curry houses in Taiwan, and then went into pub with a live music bar where Paz met up with some old buddies.
On the Sunday, stuffed from eating, we decided to attempt to cycle up a mountain that Pascal had heard about. Apparently it was only 4 hours to the top on foot... so we figured it wouldnt take us that long. Well, when we finally made it to the bottom of the mountain road, it was already mid-afternoon (pants Taiwan directions again) and none of us fancied doing it in the dark. We got off to an interesting start, Nic was still getting used to the his bike and cycling and Pascal was complaining he couldnt breath so well (well if he will smoke!). At the end of the first climb, i waited: Pascal came round and up and stopped... no Nic... we waited some more; eventually he came into view walking his bike up the hill having snapped the chain. Pascal did his best to fix it, but no luck. So we decided to split and meet Nic back in the town when we got back down. After a while the road started zigzagging up the mountain; on the plus this meant it was less effort, but every time we looked up, there was the peak again right where it was half an hour ago. It got to after 5pm and we really should have headed back down, but it finally looked within reach. The road quality had deteriorated and I was trying not to get a puncture; then suddenly the pine forest parted and there was the telecom mast. Sadly we were now in the cloud and we could only imagine the best view for miles around.
The trip back down took forever, and i had to sacrifice bug protection for vision as the sun sank beneath the horizon (had to take off my shades). We made it, joined up with Nic and went for a Chinese restaurant to refuel.
Talking of food; on Tuesday we went back to Berts (remember the Italian i went to 5months ago and had my first scooter experience after?) well he's been closed over summer; but it's open again. Massive calzone pizzas for only NT$110 thats just under £2: fantastic; we will be going again!
This weekend just gone; it was back to Changhua on the Friday; we'd been invited by Linda (the boss) to a BBQ place; this was no ordinary BBQ; 2 hours all you can eat and drink! Each table had its own little BBQ and all the raw beef, fish, oysters, squid, bamboo, peppers, chicken, lamb was brought to the table. They even had 4 types of icecream! The staff got a little annoyed having to put out fires every 5 minutes... but it was good fun.
From there we scootered to Sportsman Bar where Andy was playing his last set before heading back to UK for 3 months; it was nice; even got a chance to sing my Hei Sun Wood song again!
On Saturday we met the TA's at school and drove to Lugang to do some sight seeing and shopping.
Our first port of call was a small shop that made minature models of ... all the other shops on the street. So I had feeling of deja vu when I walked into the Chinese medicine store. Rita assured us that we should chew on the dried bark and leaves presented by the old lady... but tim and I remained unconvinced. Putting up with the foul taste seemed a high price for eternal health. From there we walked to the big temple in Lugang. Every inch of it carefully decorated it had been erected over 100 years ago as a place for people to come and ask Buddha for guidance, protection and forgiveness. The TA's were keen to explain the duties of each God represented there. It was a very beautiful building and as we walked round, I couldnt help but feel a real sense of calm. We took some rice and a hexagonal paper disk and asked Buddha for safe journeys. Keeping the disk is a way of ensuring safety. The Taiwanese are very superstitious.
There were also the two beans again. I tried asking Buddha whether i should kill one of my students (remember Yoyo): the God frowned upon this.
From the temple we walked down the bustling trading streets overflowing with stalls and shops selling food, drink, traditional clothes, and touristy trinkets. Most of the food vendors were happy to give a sample of their goods (thankfully not the ones still wriggling in tanks) so we were quite full before we got to the restaurant for lunch. Fish was the main dish; mainly deepfried with rice, bamboo, egg, slimy noodles, with a ginger flavoured soup centre table: all very good!
The afternoon was spent exploring the shops and stocking up on snacks.