Taiwan Tales

Chinese New Year

2011-02-10T09:56:00.001-08:00

Wednesday 2nd February
For Chinese New Year we were given 6 days break.
I had wanted to go to Toroko Gorge but I had left it a bit late to book a place to stay and it was still a bit cold for camping.
Angel's family had invited me to a big feast on the day after we broke up. I had been trying to find out what I should bring for everyone for some time, but Angel hadn't been very specific.
I was told not to arrive until 6pm, so that gave me the morning to shop around. Pascal was in the same boat so he offered to take me to some shops with traditional New-Year-type gifts.
I got a pack of pineapple cakes for her Grandmother, some cookies and drink for her mother; a bottle of whisky for the brother who had given up his day off to help sort out my second crash; and some beer for the younger brother. I hoped this would be enough.
That afternoon I went for a hike with Pascal and his friend Hugh up a different part of the mountain. I thought it would be a good idea to work up an appetite. The hike was very steep up and down these 3 peaks. The worst part was a steep staircase at the top of the valley going up a cliff face... I'd never gripped a railing so hard... except maybe the up the wall of death on Mt Elgon in Uganda...
The walk was steep but not as long as we had expected, so we got back to the van before 4pm. Plenty of time to get back and shower!

At Angels, I gave out the gifts straight away. I think everyone was happy with them, except that Jaram wasn't old enough to drink yet, he was still 17. Whoops! I'm sure the beer will keep until his birthday! Jarhu (the older brother) wasted no time in opening his. There was a hot pot in the middle of the table with the usual pieces of tofu, sausage, egg, fish balls, octopus and shrimp. Around the edge of the table were things that are traditionally eaten at new year. Fish is eaten because the word sounds like 'renew' or 'recycle' or something. Yaram Cake is also eaten, which is very tasty, goes really well with soy sauce.
Angel's uncle and aunt live next door with her grandmother. They came over during the evening to bid us happy new year.

Thursday 3rd February.

We had thought about going to a cycle place near Taichung but after a nice lie in, Angel's mother didn't think we had enough time to get the most out of it. So instead, we scootered (well Angel scootered, I clung to the back) to a place with lots of flowers. The traffic was terrible today. It didn't take an hour to get there. I was expecting a big garden with lots of flowers but it was actually a long road with gardens on either side where you could buy flowers, shrubs and trees. In front of the gardens, and possibly just because it was a national holiday, there was a typical Taiwanese-style row of food stalls selling anything from icecreams and hot dogs to octopus wraps. The place was heaving. There were a few places where you could hire bicycles or peddle cars (The Flintstones style). We ran into Gail while we were looking round; A friend from Yuanlin. She was out with her cousin.
We passed on this idea as it made it difficult to see the flowers when you are on a bike. When we had spent a good hour looking round all of the displays we bought some food and found a park to sit down in and enjoy the beautiful weather.
We headed home at about 5. When we got back to Yuanlin, we drove to the bookshop. Angel needed to pick up a card making materials and I wanted to buy some Chinese New Year Cards to send to people back home.
When we got back to the Shen Household, her mother was cooking again, using up the leftovers of the hotpot from last night. I was surprised how much i could eat after yesterday's feast. That night we had an early night so that we could get to this cycle place nice and early tomorrow.

Friday 4th February.

The next morning we drove down to the station to catch a train to beyond Taichung. We grabbed a 7/11 breakfast, a steamed bun and a drink. The train was late and slow and had many people on board, all heading somewhere exciting in the hols.
We found a space and clung to the rail until we reached the large town of Fongyuen. We got off and headed towards the bus station and found a bus heading to the cycle place. The last time Angel came here she was in the a car so she asked the driver if he knew when to get off, but he didn't. We jumped off when Angel saw part of the track, but it turned out the hire shops were quite a walk further on up the hill.
I was expecting a big park in which you could cycle, but this was actually a long cycle track, just like we have in Europe. There were a lot of people on it too. From the very young kids to the very old. There were regular bicycles, tandems, and electric bicycles for the less active. After the Sun Moon Lake Marathon I didn't complain too much when Angel announced she was going to hire an electric bike.

We set out south along the track through beautiful orchards and flower filled fields with the mountains in the distance to the left.
The bike I hired was OK, except the seat was a bit low so I had to keep standing up to get any speed up. The pedal pace kept changing, as the path went from straight, to up, to down, to an almost halt whenever someone joined the path from a side path or road. Before long we reached a the small town of Dongshi. It had a Hakka tourist near the path and a line of stalls selling snacks and drinks. There was a white horse pulling visitors in a posh black cart. I didn't notice it, until I turned round from buying a drink. It most knocked me over.

We had a quick walk round to stretch our legs. Then got back on the bikes. Angel thought the path went further on, but Dongshi was the end of the line. So we turned round and headed back the way we came.
Now far behind where we had started was an old railtrack still in tact with a carriage upon it. We thought this would be a good place to have lunch. There was another line of stalls selling food so we grabbed a giant dunmpling thing and sat aboard the train. This was a photo oportunity not to be missed.

From the train, we cycled further down hill. Up until now there had been no incidents. One boy who was coming up the hill veered across onto my side. I stopped but he kept coming, so either his brakes weren't working or he had forgotten how to use them. Wack! He was fine OK, but I saw he was a little shaken so I stopped shouting at him and gave him a smile and a thumbs up. Soon after that we reached a point where two paths joined. We took a sharp right and headed towards the mountains. The path went over a huge bridge and on the other side it went into the mountain.
The tunnel was dimly lit and it was freezing inside. It was difficult to see what was coming on the other side, so everyone went at the speed of the slowest, which was pretty slow. After what seemed like an age, we came out the other side. It was an easy drop to the horse show place. It was difficult to tell what went on inside, either a zoo with just horses, or circus/showground venue with just horses.

I wasn't that fussed about seeing it, it was getting later and it cost $200 to get in, so we decided to give it a miss. We headed back up the hill to the mountain... We could see people outside the mountain putting on coats before entering to keep warm. We pressed on. Angel had mentioned there being a very good icecream parlour, on the other side of the bridge, so we went to check. Sadly they only sell them in the summer time. Ridiculous! It was a shame because the garden was perfect for relaxing and eating icecream. With a heavy heart I carried on. It was after 4:30 and I remembered the long uphill we yet had to do. But then the voice of an Angel, well Angel noticed an cafe selling icecream. Happy Days! We sat down and ordered a chocolate sundae and a cup of tea. It was the strangest icecream I had ever eaten. It was like eating snowflakes. Delicious icecream snowflakes with chocolate!
When the sundae had settled, we set off on the last leg of the journey. My legs were beginning to ache. I was glad Angel had the electric bike to carry my bag.

At last we arrived back at the bicycle hire place and returned the bikes.
My plan was to take Angel to a nice western restaurant in Taichung that evening. It is the 2nd biggest city. How hard could it be to find a restaurant?
Well after walking down 6 blocks for 20 minutes the only places I could find were Mc Donald's KFC and Subway. So I had to admit that the place I remembered must have been further out of town and we settled on eating at a very long night market.

A trip to the farm!

2011-02-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

AS part of the Winter holiday camp programme some of the kids had been invited to a farm for the day. I found out about this on Friday afternoon, when Charles was telling me about the games he had been organising for the trip. Then on Friday evening Rita asked what my plans were for the weekend... I should know by now - read between the lines - Do you want to come to Chaiyi farm? Meet at school. The bus leaves at 8am. Sigh. At least It'll be a nice day in the countryside I thought and Rita promised that I didn't need to do anything: just have fun.
I knew most of the kids on the coach. The driver played ice age 3. It started off in English with Chinese subtitles, then half way through the journey it changed to Chinese... very confusing. We were the last coach to arrive. There was one from each of the other 2 schools.
After a quick look round, it was apparent that this was an activity centre rather than a working farm. We were put into groups and then the fun began. We started with a few wide games and relay games with Charles; took me back to my school days running round the yard. After that the kids had to work together to get a ball along a series of pipes by tipping them at the right time. I was genuinely shocked when one actually got all the way along.
After that we went to an olde style oven: a big pit with a fire going. The kids were given a sweet potato to throw in after being told a bit about the pit by an old woman. I wondered if we would ever see those potatoes again.
After that we went to see how the traditional Chinese fans are made... printing the cloth with either a butterfly or tiger, then dry it. Then put the cloth against a thin frame and paste thin paper to either side of it. Charles and I were given the prize job of hair drying the kids art work.
After that we were all glad to hear it was lunch time. It was only fried rice and chips, but sooo much fried rice. The kids tried to keep up with me and Charles. We could barely finish it all.
After lunch we walked up to the top of a hill and saw what looked like toboggans with rubber tracks on the bottom. How on earth could they slide? we wondered. But the answer came: they don't they roll on Caterpillar tracks. I'd never seen anything so impressive. They were like mini-tanks!
The sheep from the goat were soon sorted. 3 kids sat down on the bench looking pale. The rest were racing to be the first on the sledge.
I was thinking how this wouldn't ever happen in England. No real barrier at the bottom, just a hedge over hanging a small cliff. No helmets or padding in case you fall out. The leader pretended to push someone down backwards. Me and Charles encouraged him, but he said "No; that would be dangerous!" I laughed a lot. Oh, that would be dangerous!
The teachers were all forced to have a go. I wasn't as scary as it looked, but then I do cycle down the mountain every day.
From the hill we went to a butterfly reserve to see how many different ones we could see. There were some amphibians on display but it was hard to tell if they were alive or stuffed or just dead.
From there we went to the hillside to look for worms or other bugs that bury into the ground. I think they were told "Dig a hole, pour some water down, look for a bug coming up, if no bug pour some more water on."
But what they heard was "Dig a hole, pour some water down, pour some more water."
Before long the whole hillside was flooded, and if any bugs survived, no body saw them.
From the hill we walked back inside into a big old-school games room. There was a giant pinball machine. marbles, skittles, things kids played before the gameboy was invented. Great fun!
After that it was time to head back home. We popped back to the dining area and to my surprise, we were handed the sweet potatoes that had been cooking all day. The skin practically fell off: best sweet potato I've tasted.
On the coach on the way home. We watched Shrek 3 in Chinese, although I drifted off for most of the journey.

Shane New Year

2011-01-16T00:45:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, Linda hosted a meal for all of the staff from her 3 schools to Hemei for a meal at a very classy fish restaurant. Cars would be leaving Yuanlin at 4:50 as it was a long drive to Hemei.
This was the same day that I had invited Charles out for a hard core cycle.
So I spent the morning cleaning my suit and ironing my trousers. Then at 1, I set off to meet Charles. We were both a bit late so we set off at half one in the direction of the monkey temple as Charles hadn't seen any Formosan wildlife yet. We got to the bottom of the monkey hill in less than an hour, but we both needed a break so we walked the bikes up the road to the monkeys. The monkeys were near the bottom of the hill... but neither of us had any water so needed to get to the shops in the town at the top.
This almost killed us having to carry the bikes up chunky steps and then push them up a very steep path... until finally we reached the narrow steep green stair case... I had forgotten about that staircase.
Two old ladies past us, and gestured that we carry the bikes on our shoulders...
But we didn't have the energy left so we decided to abandon the bikes and go on foot.
We got to the town and were surrounded by stalls selling sweet smelling food, but we didn't have money or time enough to enjoy it... not to worry, the big buffet was tonight... we found a water seller and tried out our Chinese. I looked at my watch and saw that it was gone 3 o clock...we really needed to get head back if we wanted time to get ready.
We quickly reached the bikes and charged down the hill trying not hit monkeys, dogs children or old people in the way. One car almost knocked me off a 7 foot cliff as we came out the carpark as he swerved to avoid another car. After that it was the fun ride down (Charles was loving it). There was an annoying headwind on the way home, so after our first rest, we couldn't afford another, we ploughed on and on and on and after over an hour and a half, we were finally back in sight of Yuanlin. I left Charles to make his own way, and race back up to Baigoshan I was in and out of the shower in 5 minutes threw up my suit and shoes just in time to be collected and taken down to the school. Paul was travelling somewhere and Sam was sick with tonsillitis but most of the TAs, Andrew and Charles were waiting at the school for me.
It was a long drive to Hemei. I was ravenous.
We got out in Hemei to find the weather its usual gale-force self. We struggled through the carpark into the shelter of the reception area. We headed upstairs to a large room with a wedding decor theme. We sat down on at a large table. We were the first to arrive which is always a bad sign if you really hungry. There was a small stage come dance-floor where a large box of posh handbags and face creams. Vicky handed everyone a raffle ticket. My number was 13 - I thought that was quite fitting.
We and Charles tucked into a plate of garlic peas and what looked like black seeds.
We weren't supposed to eat the shells apparently, but that was where all the flavour was.
It wasn't long before the Hemei and Changhua teachers had all assembled and the meal started in earnest. Rice, a white fish in this amazing sweet sauce, chicken soup (a whole chicken in a bowl) various tofu dishes, raw fish with wusabi, shrimp, octopus, cake, meat fried rice, caramel pudding, blue bean sauce and various vegetable dishes. May (Linda's sister) had brought a huge barrel of fizzy apple cider for everyone to try.
At the end of the meal, the raffle began.

There were about 15 handbags and 15 face cream bottles to draw for so it took about an hour to get through all of them. I won some cream... they hadn't really brought anything for the blokes, so we all exchanged the gifts with the girls for food or drink.
After the raffle there was a ping pong challenge. Each school had to nominate 6 people to pass a ping pong ball along a line of people using spoons in their mouths. The school with the most balls after 3 minutes won. I was amazed I collected and passed on all 3 of my balls, but Andrew and Charles kept dropping them so we scored 0points. Changhua won with 3 points.
Then there was a tongue twister challenge. Teachers had to see who could say well known tongue twisters the fastest, in Chinese and in English.

After that Andrew had written a quiz about literature, film stars and sexual deviance... the quiz was funny to start off with, but not really geared to or translated for the 60% Chinese staff or suitable for families.
So it was quickly wrapped up.

The weekend after was the Shane New Year's show. The big event in the Shane Calendar. Students and staff from each of Linda's schools had prepared and been working on a play or sketch for some time. The venue was a large lecture hall in the Christian Hospital in Changhua. Each of the plays had been given a rehearsal slot on Saturday afternoon and as I was chief cage mover, I had to be down quite early. I got a lift in Pascal's rascal van.
He had been asked to take some pictures of the event. He now had a fair bit of kit with him, so I offered to help carry it.
The schedule for the day had been planned down to the last minute, but not surprisingly, when we got there at 3pm, rehearsals were already running over.
After dumping the flash stands, I found the Yuanlin team.. they were wearing full costumes now and looked awesome. The cage had been brought up to the back of the theatre, but as it didn't pack flat, getting through onto the stage was going to be tricky. It was pretty quite so Emily gave me a hand squeezing it down the narrow corridor to the side door of the auditorium.
Linda wasn't happy with one of Hemei's dance routines, so we were held up for bit back stage. Then finally it was our turn.
Andrew led the way. All the kids remembered everything, they were a bit quiet, but then the microphones were not working yet... but this would be fixed some point that afternoon I was assured. We were given a second run through and chance to nail the new dance routine to finish. I had to tell off two TAs for leaning on the cage "It's made of card, not metal!"
I was pretty after the run, the TAs offered me a McDonald's hamburger, but it didn't quite fill the hole so I went for a walk in search of food.
There were quite a few food shops but they didn't look open. Then on the way back I popped into a bakery. Big Mistake! I can't get out of a bakery without buying at least 3 things and they're not cheap like everything else. I came out with a huge pizza, a cake and rice savory wrap thing. They were pretty goof though.

I had forgotten to bring a tie, but it didn't matter too much as I wasn't down on the meet and greet the parents. It was 6 o'clock and most of the teachers were here now. I had a quick catch up with a couple, before going back to check the cage was OK... Somebody had knocked one of the legs off! Not to worry, I had come prepared with sticky tape and string.

Our kids were on first so we made our way to the back of the stage... and waited for the 2 hosts; Rita and another school manager to finish their introduction. The music to mission impossible was going but we had no idea what was going on. Eventually it was our turn. Andrew read his speech and the kids got into place. The TAs on either side of me in the wings were getting stressed. One of the kids dropped her hat, so the TA ran on stage to give it back to her. Then when the microphones didn't work properly they ran on again... I told them to relax "Everything will be fine! Stop running on stage!" My two cage moves went swimmingly (much to my relief).

The audience loved it, especially the dance at the end. After our show we went back up to the upper auditorium to watch the rest of the show. That was the plan anyway.
As the kids were so high up and the speakers were so very loud (as are all speakers in Taiwan) it was difficult to make out what was going on. The kids started chatting among themselves. I tried telling them off, but then Paul arrived and started chatting with the other teachers. :( So I went downstairs in search of peace.
The other shows were pretty good, not as good as ours of course. The Changhua teachers did a sketch in Chinese mocking an Englishman trying to buy a newspaper.
But the highlight was some TAs dancing to some ridiculous tune in the style of an infomercial advertising Shane around the world.
At the end of the show there was a huge clean up operation by over 70 TAs as they had to be out the theatre by midnight.
I helped Pascal pack his gear. We went for something to eat before heading to Paul and Anna's farewell party in YS Bar in Changhua. Everyone was there and more.
It felt a bit odd. I hadn't seen so many waigoren (foreigners) in one place since I left England. I finally caught up with Andy and Rachel (whose wedding I went to and who still have my old scooter). They're both living in Taichung now. I recognised some people from a few parties I'd been to earlier in the year but I'd say half the people I had never met before.
Only 2 TAs had come to the party. The rest had gone home too tired after the day's slog. It was a very nice night.

New Year 100

2011-01-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

On New Years Eve, I was encouraged to finish class on time for a change to give the TAs chance to get to Taipei before midnight. As we didn't finish work til after 9, I planned a lot more relaxing evening. I cooked up a moussaka for Tin Tin and me and we watched a concert on TV that was counting down to 2o11. It was also counting down to the year 100 for Taiwan, the Republic of China. There was an amazing firework display in Taipei, it was light watching a dance only with lights not people.
On Saturday we woke up fairly early and scootered down on Tin Tin's scooter to the train station to catch a train to Taichung. There we changed onto a shuttle bus to Sun Moon Lake, where we had booked a hotel for the weekend. The drive was smooth and before we knew it, we were on the edge of the lake in Shuishe.
It was just before 2 when we arrived and the sun was shining brightly. The hotel room was small but comfy, with a TV and a great view of the mountains behind. We dumped our stuff and prepared ourselves for a bike ride. Tin Tin was keen to cycle round the mountain and had heard of hire shops around the lake. We walked down to the first shop and I was gobsmacked. It was a giant bike shop! only these new bikes weren't for sale they were for hiring for an hour or 3 or 8.
It was 4 pounds an hour... which is pretty expensive for Taiwan... so we walked through the village until we found another, 5 pounds for 4 hours! This was more my kind of shop. Cheap bikes: cheap price. We took a couple that had good brakes and tyres. I couldn't work the kick stand. The lady said you need to hold the spring when you move it. We started our journey round the lake. The lady said it would take 3 hours... I took 90 minutes when I did it last time with Pascal 4 years ago... and Tin Tin hadn't ridden a bike in 10 years.... still on we went. Unfortunately the first chunk of the cycle was uphill to Wenhu Temple.
I thought if I'm tired Tin Tin's going to be exhausted. I walked back down the hill to where she had stopped. She was feeling really ill. I was hoping it would pass but deep down, i knew we would have to turn round and hand back the bikes. As I was waiting with her, another lady passed us and told me her gears were stiff, could I fixed them. I clicked through the right hand one. Fine! Then I clicked through with my left thumb and OUCH! my thumb just popped out and throbbed as if I'd just fallen on it again. Idiot Duncan! Don't use your thumb. Today a huge black bruise had formed across my hand and thumb as a reminder. Tin Tin was feeling a bit better so I suggested walking up to the Temple for some food and a rest.
I went to pull up the kickstand, and the spring snapped shut on my good fingers. *^#+ !! I growled.
We took some photos of Wenhu Temple ate a sausage on a stick and carried on our way.
We vowed that every time we came to a steep hill, we'd get off and walk.
We past a pagoda, the theme park cable car that is so high in the high above the lake it's surreal, the village of Tha something, and another temple; difficult to see from the road. I was very aware of the vanishing sun and the idea of cycling round a lake in the dark did not appeal.
At last we found the short cut cycle path. The sun was on the horizon. This path is madness! It is too steep and narrow to ride up or down safely so we ran most of it. After many ups and downs, we could see the campsite. I knew where we were again! We plodded on back up up up to the road through a tunnel. It was then a scary finish zooming down a dark busy duel carriageway back to Shiushe. It was gone 6 when we got back. And very dark. We dropped off the bikes and then crashed for an hour at the hotel, before hunger struck. It was very cold so we went in search of hot-pot and only one restaurant did it, the same as last time. I chose the wild boar and tofu hotpot. It was lovely. It was really quiet in the restaurant.
There were thousands of people here the night before watching the New Year's fireworks. Where had they gone?
On the way back to the hotel we had a quick look in the gift shops for something for Tin Tin's family. When we got back the "heater" had turned itself off again, so we had to resort to warming the room with a hairdryer.
The hotel price for this weekend had included a boat trip across the lake. So after some danbin at a breakfast place we bought some water and walked down to the harbour. There was a beautiful view of the mountains on the far side. And a church up some steps. We went up to see if we could get in... but the one lady who was inside said we couldn't come in, because it was prayer time.
I found this very amusing. I don't think I'd ever been told not to go into a temple because people are praying. Anyway, we went back down to the boats, got a red stamp on our hands and made out to the opposite side of the lake.
I underestimated how close the other side was or how fast the boats were. Less than 10 minutes later we had pulled up on what looked like a little island, but was actually a peninsula. There were people singing traditional songs at the harbour and on the steps up to the small temple there were people praying and listening to meditation music.

The temple wasn't that impressive, so we followed a sign 'Scenic Route' to a bigger temple... the path was very hilly but it was indeed scenic.
When we got to the temple it was across the road we had cycled on the day before. It looked Buddhist by the 4 tusked elephants outside and the lack of colours in the main building. It was very quiet and peaceful inside until some workers started banging a new path into place.
We bought an egg on the way back to the path from a pan full of cracked eggs and mushrooms. They had never really appealed to me, but I was amazed how good they tasted. This was to be a day of nice eats.
The boats next call was the small town of Yuchin. We got off the boat and found it difficult to walk as the whole harbour was floating on barrels. There were a group of people singing and smiling, standing on the wall at the exit. They waved at us as we walked past. That's what Hull needs at the docks: happy people singing and greeting people as they enter the city.
Yuchin was filled with stalls selling food and shops selling gifts. It was almost lunchtime, so Tin Tin bought a huge vegetable dumpling from a guy with photos of him serving celebrities giant dumplings all over his stall. I would have got one, but I could just see it going everywhere. So I bought a chicken and salad wrap with thousand island sauce (which has the same in Chinese well 10,000 island).
We then bought a double sausage, one rice one meat. We had to pass on the world famous meatballs. After that we went back to the harbour to relax and enjoy the view of the mountains and dogs wearing coats.
Time was pressing on so we went back past the happy singers to the boat bound for Shuishe.
On each boat ride we were given a bit of info about the area by the driver... Like the fact that the last president of Taiwan, had a house on the lake, and that the man selling cracked eggs makes 3 million dollars in a year.
In Shuishe we decided to grab an "Italian" icecream and listen to a man wailing some vaguely familiar tune, only in Chinese whilst playing the keyboard. He was quite talented player, and his voice surprisingly didn't scare people off.
We then went to buy some food and drink for Tin Tin's family. On the way back to the hotel, we saw a huge queue outside a handmade egg roll place. Tin Tin wanted to buy some so we waited in the queue for 10 minutes and only 2 people had been served we decided to come back after a drink. The queue had gone down, so we only had to wait 30 minutes before getting our two boxes of egg rolls. There were 5 people working there. one rolls the egg, one steams the egg roll, one takes the roll of the roller, one put the egg rolls into trays and another put the trays into a box for the customer. It was like watching Bertha!

Soon after it was time to get the coach back to the train station for our ride home.

3 Christmas crashes and a trip to the temple.

2011-01-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

On Thursday 16th December, after a pretty nice day at school, I took the scooter to the water filling station two blocks away. I was pretty cold and I remember thinking, I will have to buy some gloves some time soon. I put the filled water container on my scooter and drove slowly back towards school trying not to get a chill. I came to a crossroads and suddenly bang. I went flying to the ground, my hands were hurt. I'm dazed. I assume I must have been shunted from behind because I didn't see anything. I got up see my scooter on the floor and a car pulled up with a family in it. The man was speaking to me, but I just feel dizzy and cold, so I stumbled back to school where the TAs were just looking up. A police car drove past as I did. Tasha saw me and opens the doors. I don't make a lot of sense at this point, but she sees blood on my hands and realised what's going on. I sit down on the school bench wincing. The TAs persuaded me to get into an ambulance and went down to the hospital. They tried to pull the key free but it was jammed in the scooter. I arrived at the hospital pretty quickly and I had my medical card with me. The doctor speaks good English. They rolled up my trousers and sleeves and found more injuries than I had realised. There were 4 cuts from my right knee to my shin and cuts on my left elbow, hand and middle finger. Then there was a small cut on my right knee.
The nurse covered all the injuries with a white cream, a red cream and a gel. Then wrapped a bandage over them all. I couldn't but be reminded of the French Trip moldy arm after a similar treatment. I was very cold by this point. I was physically shivering. It was a cold night and they had rolled up my clothes. Rita brought me a hot drink, which helped. I was given an xray and told "don't move" easy for you to say! I had no broken bones thankfully.
Tin Tin offered to come back home with to help me round the house. I declined as Paul and Pascal should be home.
A police man came into the hospital to breathalyse me and take my statement. He said that it looked like I hit the back of the other car as he was driving across the junction... He must have been going pretty fast for me not to have seen the whole car pass in front of me until I was on the floor. The TAs persuaded the police to leave the statement for another day. It would give us time to negotiate out of court. I was feeling weak and stiff mainly from the amount of bandages.
I got home to find Pascal and Paul were out. I went in the kitchen to pout a glass of water... ah! problem! I can't pour the container. I tried to take my jacket off, but that proved too hard too. I rang Tin Tin ... a friend in need and all that!
For the next week Rita was on the phone to the other driver on my behalf to find out what his insurance covered. I found that it would cost nearly NT$8000 to repair my scooter. So I was really hoping that he would be covered for his car. Meanwhile I was supposed to go to hospital everyday to have my bandages changed. i went once, but I thought that my leg might recover better without 3 layers of gunk applied to it daily. I was right!
The final upshot was that his insurance company are going to repay the 8000 for the scooter. So I will live to ride another day
Or will I?
The Wednesday after Christmas, I was cycling down the hill because my scooter is still being repaired - when the car I'm alongside decides he is going to go right... without any indication.
I slam on my breaks go flying over the handlebars taking off his wing mirror. I pull the bike off me and start screaming into the front window of his car about what an idiot he is and do his indicators not work! I'm going to be late for work so I try to leave. He says I need to pay him for the mirror! I don't think so! So he calls the police... at that moment Paul and Tin Tin's brother appear. The police arrived too. They were looking for my scooter, they laughed when I told them I was on a bike. They wanted us to go to the station and fill in a statement. I agree under the impression it would take 30 minutes. Well it took slightly longer as we had to wait for a translator. The police were a bit pushy at first... all the questions about me ramming the car! But by the end they had come round to my way of thinking.
A couple of questions were about injuries and my thumb hurt a bit as I'd landed on it, but I hadn't really noticed any injuries; I'd been too angry.
But back outside when I tried to hold on to someone's scooter I thought, that thumb really aches.
As my lesson had now been given to someone else to teach, I had time to pop in and see the doctor again. He gave it an xray: nothing broken, but you've sprained it. They gave me an icepack thing and wrapped it in a bandage. The nurse started to put one on my elbow, which barely had a graze, but despite my protests I had to wait til was back at school before I could dispose of it. The kids were all very confused by the new bandage... Teacher you are OK now!
2 accidents? Crazy! The TA told me I needed to go to the temple to pray for protection... I half agreed.

The Friday after New Year when my scooter was finally ready to ride again... I set off home - very slowly - with my washing from school... when 3 dogs bolted across the road right in front of me and sent me flying... again!. I was so angry I was happy to throttle the dogs, but they had ran off... I had a slight pain in my elbow and ankle, it was cold, and the starter button was missing. I stood there for ten minutes thinking about what to do... I was happy to leave the scooter there and walk home, but it was a red line... so I wheeled it back to a supermarket near school... and then hobbled back to school, where luckily the TAs were still working. "I hate that scooter" I said "No more riding scooters for me." I sat down and looked at the TAs noticed the state of my coat "Again!?"I explained everything. I looked at my elbow, there was a nasty hole, but it wasn't bleeding much. Angel got out some iodine and Tasha slapped it on... there was a slight cut to my foot too. "Do you need to go to the hospital?" they asked. "No! This is fine. I thought of how many bandages they would try to put on me... but a plaster would be good.

Vicky grabbed my hand and asked if I was free tomorrow evening. I was. She was going to take me to her father's temple which is just down the road from my house.

So yet again, I was given a lift home ... didn't sleep much that night, its difficult not to lean on your elbows.
The next morning I made myself some banana pancakes, went for walk and had a read through my Chinese books. At 2pm I went to the big primary school (6000 students) I walked the bike down the hill as I didn't fancy another accident. I had offered to help out with our school's drama for the New Year Show next week. I had been given the job of cage mover (a vital role).

The primary school had a bit more space to rehearse.
The kids were amazing. The show was called the Witch, the Wolf and the ShAne Team - get it?

Andrew had made incredible masks based on the characters in our text books.

Emma was there from Changhua, Rita brought milk tea for evreyone, even Linda (big chief) came over to see how it was coming along. Both were very impressed. Andrew had been told at the last minute that they needed a dance or song in it somewhere... so they spent a bit of time sorting that out.

After the rehearsal we jumped over the back gate which faces Shane and walked the props back to school. While I was there Rita sorted out a mechanic to come and fix the scooter.

Vicky wanted to meet at the temple at 5pm.
So I went to find the mechanic, he was waiting with his tiny van, which he rolled the scooter into. I told him to ring me when he had finished... but afterwards realised he doesnt have my number. Ah well!
I ran in to Charles on the way back to the bicycle. So I suggested we went for a bike ride on sunday afternoon. I was pretty hungry so me and Angel popped into MacDonald's for lunch (first time since I'd been here). Angel couldnt understand why I didn't love eating there. I set off to the temple on my bike, I remembered they had said something about leaving a sacrifice. So I bought 2 big boxes of quality cookies to sacrifice. When I got to the temple, quite hot from the cycle up the hill. I took out the food, and Angel and Vicky had also brought food for me to sacrifice because they thought I would forget to bring anything.
Vicky's dad greated us at the temple door. We went into the temple and left the huge pile of treats on the table, we then took 20 incense sticks and lit them. There were 17 statues around the temple. At each one we bowed, prayed for protection, placed an incence stick in a tray of sand and prayed again, bowed and moved on. There was an awesome calm in the temple, and the sun was setting over Yuanlin in front of us. When we had finished praying within the temple, we went to the faces looking out from the doors and placed a stick under each of these. We then took some paper money and burned it in the big furness. We prayed one last time, and I received from Vicky's dad a piece of yellow paper which i folded up and placed into a litle cloth holder w ith a picture of a god upon it.

I thanked Vicky's dad and was on my way out when Angel gave me all the treats that were sacrificed. "What are you doing?" I asked. "You can't take back a sacrifice!"

She explained that the gods had taken the soul of the food and they didn't need it anymore. I was gobsmacked. She said that was the way it was here, and everybody takes back the offering once the Gods have taken its soul. I still wasn't convinced so I decided to give all the sweets to the my students on Monday.

A Shaney Christmas!

2011-01-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

A few weeks before Christmas the TAs spent a couple of weekends decorating the entrance of the building. This involved 8 people spending 12 hours making by hand: a Christmas tree in one window with a Santa Claus popping out a chimney. Three snowmen on the other window, a few thousand snowflakes bordering the windows, and two dozen stars hanging from the ceiling and a Christmas greeting. On top of that there was a real fake tree at the bottom of the stairs decorated in everything a Christmas tree needs to call itself festive.
So the school certainly felt festive even if the rest of the street didn't. Most staff working in chain stores were wearing Santa hats and some even had some tinsel in the windows. I even managed to find a "Christmas shop" in the middle of Yuanlin selling stocking shaped candy bags. It wasn't quite big enough to fill with little gifts, but it was close enough!
On Christmas week itself, the staff held auctions throughout the day, for students to bid for toys, with money they had been given for being good in class. Favourites included squishy hammers, crocodile snap game and magic tricks.
On the Thursday of Christmas week we took about 50 kids down to a restaurant to have a 'Christmas meal' We had spent the week before pre-teaching all the language they would need to order food. The meal comprised corn soup (nice), a fruit salad (looked nice, but seemed to have a scoop of ice cream in the middle with hundreds of thousands on top... don't worry though, it was mash potato and carrot with hundreds of thousands on top) then pork fillet with veg (very nice) and a jelly for dessert. The kids enjoyed themselves. my only complaint was that we had to serve them and not eat anything but cookies and tea. Still I guess I was getting paid.
I got the cutest little Christmas card from one of my kids, so I thought I'd better get them one too. I found a place selling little cards at 40% off. That covered everyone.
On Christmas Eve I was thinking about joining everyone down at the bar, but I was just exhausted so I headed home for a chilled night in front of the box.
On Saturday I opened all my present with Tin Tin. She seemed to appreciate the stocking thing. She bought me a Chinese dictionary which is so amazing... its got bpmf and English... its the missing link to my learning. I tried on my new Hull T-shirt and we enjoyed the real chocolate of home.
It was a nice crisp day, so we went for a walk up the mountain and then drove into town for a curry. As it was nearly 3, the only place open was an Italian. They were doing a Christmas special - steak steak steak I was hoping - buy a main course and for 2 pounds they would throw in a fruit salad in red wine, peach wine, and 2 truffles. Not quite steak, but the wine fruit salad took me right back to mulled wine in the German market in Manchester last year. Tin Tin didn't have the same love for it.
She had made plans to see her friend in a different town. So I thought I would pop down to Sam's house. He had invited me to a cheesy evening. Cheese is a rarity in Taiwan therefore when you are offered some, you take it! "Cheesy eats" the name of a food place that covers everything in a white sauce that distinctly lacks cheese. They have plenty of plastic slices for burgers and sandwiches, but it just isn't the same.
At Sam's house there was Stilton, Edam, Brie and blue cheese. There was a bowl of eggnog, which tasted a bit like baileys and lots of alchojellies. I recognised Mere, Andrew, Rix, Alex and Gail, but most people I didn't have a clue who they were. I got accused half way through the night of being a hermit as I didn't spend my weekends in Yuanlin bars with them. But after spending 6 hours with them, the idea of spending more time with them doesn't appeal.
On Sunday I slept in until nearly 12. Pascal had promised to cook up a Boxing Day roast dinner.
I offered to assist. When I said I was in all day, he asked me to keep an eye on the Turkey to make sure the cooker didn't turn itself off. It had been 2 hours since Pascal had left and the Turkey wasn't in the oven yet: Was that my job too? I couldn't remember. I rang Pascal and of course he turned up just as it was ringing. He brought some veg with him so it was game on: Peel and Chop time. The main problem when cooking a roast dinner for 12 at our place is that there is only 2 hobs and 2 very small ovens. You could tell Pascal had been dealing with this issue for a few years now. The turkey was cooking away in oven one. We parboiled the spuds and put them in oven 2. Then we cooked the greens very slowly on top of the spud oven, giving us hob to do the gravy (with a splash of red wine - gorgeous). The stuffing was heating up on top of the turkey oven... and then like magic it was ready to eat. Daniel (the guy who used to live here, had joined us, with Christian, Walter (landlords son) and his wife and kids, Sam and Gail. It was the perfect number of people: plenty of seconds for everyone! And Sam brought two cakes for pudding. Perfect end to a Christmas weekend.
The only downside was that we were all back at work on Monday!

Birthday Weekend

2010-11-23T05:43:00.000-08:00

On the Friday, I told all of my classes that on Monday it would be my birthday and they should all bring me a big cake to eat.
I got home and cooked myself a birthday lasagna... I know it wasn't my birthday yet, but I had a fairly busy weekend planned and this was the only slot... the ingredients in Taiwan cost about twice what they do in England, but I didn't care. It was good cheesy treat. I tested it on a TA to check it was edible. And to my surprise she loved it!

On Saturday morning, I got to school for 10:45 to get a lift in the school cars to the Theme Park near Sun Moon Lake, with the TAs. We took the big school car. Far more comfortable than a scooter ride. We had to wait for Charles, a new teacher from South Carolina, who got here the day before. He was going to get a lift with David whose house he was staying in, but David was too tired to come... so Charles had to make his way on foot to school a place he'd only been to once. So yes, he got a little lost. But, before long we were in the village before Sun Moon Lake, we stopped and grabbed some food here as the theme park was too expensive. I didn't realise how many people were coming on the trip until this point, there were 6 teachers from Changhua and about a dozen TAs including 2 male TAs. Yes male, I was a bit shocked at first, about as shocked as I was 4 years ago when I realised there were NO male TAs in Changhua Co.
Once stocked with grub, we jumped back into the cars and headed once more to the park.
It was just as I remembered it. Beautiful gardens on the approach, then a little aboriginal market on either side of the entrance way.
We had a look at the map of the park and agreed to go on the cable-car first to let our dinner digest. Apparently it had been extended to go down to Sun Moon Lake... but as the end of line drew closer, I thought maybe I had misheard. We stepped out of the car and followed the line of people up some stairs... A man stamped an invisible mark on our arms... the meaning of this soon became clear. A lady sat behind a box with a UV screen, asked me to lay my arm on the screen... there was the mark!
The cable car was just round the corner... this one was a lot steeper than the other 75 degrees up. But the view was fantastic... (see photos). We spent some time by the lake looking at the different fish. Then a tourist boat moved away and we realised that the whole waterfront was floating as the waves were making it difficult to walk.
We took the cable-car back to the theme park and got off at the top station, near the Aboriginal Culture part of the park. There was a witch doctor giving out green beads (which of course I thought were to eat, but apparently not). We were to grip them and make a wish, then she splashed us with water and our wishes were granted. Further on there was an Aboriginal hut with lots of carvings on the inside. As we came out a lot of youngsters ran past wearing traditional dress down to the arena. I was tempted to stay and watch, but we hadn't been on any rides yet and it closed at 5:30.
We headed for the water slide. It looked pretty high, fantastic. As we got closer we noticed that everyone in the queue was wearing a plastic poncho... surely this defeats the object of a water slide... getting wet! So me Andrew, and Charles were the only people on the boat Poncholess. We were also required to remove our shoes. The ride started backwards just to freak us out a bit, but then it turned and plummeted down towards the water. I got pretty wet on one half, but I was dry enough, then right at the end of the ride, 2 water cannons went off and we all got drenched. We dripped back to our shoes.
I figured that the best way to get dry again was to go on a rollercoaster. G force 4.5 Mayan Adventure. I timed it, the ride lasted just 30 seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. One young lady came off crying... I was buzzing! Cathy (TA) was just dazed. Andrew was speechless and Charles didn't seem that bothered. Vicky hadn't been on any rides yet, so we let her choose the next one.
She chose the swing boat... sadly me and Andrew didn't make it in time and we had to pass on feeling see sick. Vicky's face went more green than anyone else. Very amusing.
We then went down Jurassic River... a cruise down past vicious dinosaurs, happy cave men and Woolly mammoths. Very informative!
It was getting late and stomachs were starting to rumble so we stopped for some grub at the fast food place. Then we had one ride that was left to do: the vertical drop. I had wanted to go last time but it was being serviced. It was 17:15 so we were not sure if it was still open. As we got closer we could see a small queue. Game on! Rita, Charles and Andrew came on with me. As it went up, it spun slowly so you could take in the fabulous view... and then it stopped for an age we just hung there waiting. When it finally fell, I have never screamed so loud on a ride in genuine terror. Thankfully Cathy captured the moment on video (see facebook).
I could barely walk to the car my legs were so numb.
Vicky offered to drive back which was nice, because 5 minutes in, the rest of us had fallen asleep.
I got back, finished the lasagna and quickly fell asleep

On Sunday, I had a lie in, then went for a nice lunch, then I got the train to Changhua to watch the new Harry Potter Movie and got back just in time for a birthday meal with Charles and the TAs. I had a delicious cheesy pork on top of beansprouts with an egg mayo reformed into its egg shape, with a hot pot filled with veg, fish, ham, you name it! it was there.
At 8:30 I felt the a swaying, so i said Earthquake, but nobody else had noticed and they were still talking, so i said it a little louder. And then there was a lot a rattling and shaking and general commotion in the restaurant, then after a few minutes and as if to reassure us, a waiter ran in smiling apologetically "Earthquake" he said. No kidding! I thought.
After dinner, the waiter brought out a stunning birthday cake... I gave one of the plastic love hearts to the TA to see if it was edible and lo behold, it was! white chocolate, brilliant!
As the cake wasn't good enough, there was more, the TAs had chipped in to buy me a motorbike helmet in the shape of a watermelon. They had all signed it too. Genius idea! From now on I shall be known as Watermelonman! I just need a side-kick: strawberryboy or something... I'll think on it.

Monday: my birthday! Everyone said happy birthday at work. I decided to buy the kids some chocolates in my classes, just in case anyone had remembered to bring me a giant chocolate cake. No-one had but they enjoyed the chocs... Then in one class a girl had made my a decorated box filled with biscuits with a card to go with it. She is going to top Oscar on my the star students list. She had always been so difficult to manage in class and yet here was the nicest thing I'd received all weekend. Kids!

Halloween

2010-11-23T05:15:00.000-08:00

To celebrate all things hallowed, the school was decorated with bats, pumpkins and a huge vampire across the window. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, all of the students were taught the catchy phrase "Trick or treat, I'm so sweat. Give me something good to eat!"

On the the 3 days before Halloween, if they could say this twice to a teacher, they would get a sweet. For the intensive classes, on Friday afternoon, they all came in fancy dress to go trick or treating around the neighbourhood. I was encouraged to wear something scary... so I went for my play-it-safe vampire costume, but when I got to work, all the TA must have spent hours on their make-up... they were terrifying. I put my false teeth in for good measure.

The week before, they had all made scary masks in class but these were nothing compared to the costumes the kids came in. Cowgirls, fairies, witches, werewolves... they were all there!

and then Oscar (cei01 student) comes in wearing exactly the same costume as me, with false teeth as well. Now, I've always thought Oscar has a great sense of humour... but when he started his evil laugh.. I thought, this kid is a legend!
Once everyone was assembled we headed out down the street, our capes blowing fiercely in the wind. Rita (manager) said that morning 'just try and have fun with them.'

I'm dressed up, we're collecting sweeties, I don't need telling twice. When we reached each store the kids all chanted the rhyme and sweets magically appeared. When we got back to the school we made a pumkin box to keep the sweets in... very cute... and then I was asked to judge whose costume was the best. I gave it to Lili, a witch. Her costume was great and I figured she'd turn me into something horrible if I didnt choose her.

The rest of the day we taught in our costumes. Sam came as a nun, Paul a pirate. I had a speaking test last lesson, I was tempted to keep the false teeth in for a laugh... but my mooth was starting to get sore.

Sun Moon Lake: temple quest

2010-10-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday 16th

I was invited two weeks ago to go to a theme park or waterworld sometime today... However, the girls organising it decided that it would be better to go to Sun Moon Lake instead.

I was told to be at the train station at 1pm. This gave me time to go for a quick cycle before hand... I got half way up the mountain, and I thought: I'm not gonna make it to the top!', so headed back down.
As I was scootering into town, I realised I hadn't taken any money from the wad of cash on my desk. I pulled into 7/11 quickly got some out from my UK account.... I really should check how much is left in there! ... and jumped back into the scooter and zoomed to the station... I say zoomed: traffic lights are red from between 50 and 100 seconds in Yuanlin, so walking through town is quicker than 4 red lights.

I got there at 1:10. The other TAs were already there waiting. No David though. 'Oh, he's sick' I was told later. So just me and 7 girls... I'm sure I'll cope.
The journey involved catching a train from Yuanlin to a High Speed Rail outside Taichung... and then getting a shuttle bus from there to the lake.
On the way I talked with Cathy and Michelle about the difference between England and Taiwan in terms of transport, food, schools, pretty much anything that came to mind.
It was a 2 hour journey.
The High Speed rail terminal was like an airport... posh coffee bars and cafes and of course; MacDonalds. We grabbed some lunch there, the girls MacD's I got a riceseaweep wrap from 7/11.
Culture exchange going on there!

The bus arrived and we headed out towards the hills around Sun Moon Lake. We arrived just before pm. It was still a glorious day. Michelle went into the visitor centre and came out with some blue info booklets about the area. On the back page was a section with six spaces. A space for a stamp from each temple around the lake. Once completed, we would get... a groovy little magnet to go on the fridge with a picture of sun moon lake animals on.
We wasted no time at all. We walked down the high street in the direction of the nearest temple (I should point out that this is a big deal, as Taiwanese never go more than 20 meters down a road without their scooter). We were soon there.
I asked the TAs what people came to this temple for. They said it is where people seeking love pray. "You should try!" They insisted. There were a couple of wise men next to the statue of the god. They were there to translate. 5 girls left and went into the main temple and only 2 remained. I watched waiting to see what advise the wise man would share. However it was not these two that were looking for love. The other 5 returned with incense sticks and a wad of paper money to sacrifice. They were all looking for love! They placed the sticks in front of the god and prayed; then took the prayer beans and through them to the ground 3x one up and down means that god has granted their wish. All but one managed this. So they took a fortune message from the box and handed it to the wise man. Everyone looked on intently.
It was in Chinese, obviously, but Angel told me that he had told her that she would get a boyfriend very soon. It was all fascinating.
After this temple we headed back to the visitor centre to get a day ticket for the bus going round the lake. We found out that we didn't need a ticket, it was free.
We boarded one before long and were on our way to my favourite of Taiwan's temples. The gate alone is mind blowing. Here we could get two stamps from the two gods of study. Half way there on the stamp trail. It was a big old temple and there were photos inside of the damage to it back in 2000 from an earthquake... people had donated enough money to have everything fixed.
There was a shop inside selling traditional Taiwanese Outfits. I've left mine in England.

The girls were getting a bit peckish so we walked back to the road lined with food vendors selling every kind of snack including spicy sausage on a stick.

We waited for a bus to carry us on round the lake but nothing came. After half an hour it was getting dark so we decided to call off the temple quest and head back to the main village to grab some dinner. The whole area was pretty crowded with it being a holiday and a festival. After a little wait we managed to get a seat in a nice restaurant: proper traditional food. $300NT but a lot of food. We couldn't fit the plate on the table. Stewed wild chicken with peas and chili. Rice, cabbage, soup with a chunk of pork at the bottom, ginger and bamboo, shrimps with beansprouts and chili, and mushrooms. After dinner we had a wonder down past the shops. Angel bought a make it yourself dragon. I bought an imitation ice cream. We walked round to the lakeside and there was an orchestra playing Somewhere over the rainbow. Quite a big crowd down there. Then they played a well known Korean song and everyone cheered and started singing along... Why haven't I heard this song? Then some local celebrity took the microphone and started counting down to the fireworks. They were amazing. only like new year 2007; they didn't last that long.
As soon as they stopped, everyone behind us started running towards the bus ques, eager not to get stuck here the night.
We were OK for a few minutes.
Whilst waiting for the bus, we did what any sane Taiwanese person would do: took loads of pictures of each other in different places.
The bus came on time. We boarded and had a comfortable ride back to the station. As we entered the station we could hear an announcement for the Yuanlin train. I've never seen Taiwanese girls run before, they were making a variety of progress. It was a long was down to the platform.
But the guard heard the screams coming down the stairs and waited. Very amusing.
Before we knew it, we were in Yuanlin again. Scooter bound home.

Shane Trip to Kenting

2010-10-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

Friday 1st Ocober
Last week, I had hoped to meet up with the rest of the Changhua teachers prior to our trip to Kenting. Today that wish was granted but in the worst kind of circumstances. At 11pm on Wedneday night, Rita had rang me to ask if I could cover in Changhua on Thursday and Friday as one of the teacher's relative had died. And so on a day when the staff should have been excited about the coming trip, there was a sad, dumbstruck, silence in the staffroom.

Saturday 2nd October
Kenting is a 4 hour coach drive so after picking up the Changhua teachers and TAs the bus was to pick us up at 7:30. That was the plan! However Ollie (Bolton lad) hadn't turned up and they spent half an hour trying to find him. After no joy, they set off anyway.
No one had had much sleep the night before and we all planned to use the journey to catch up.
Nobody except the TAs that is... About 20 minutes into the ride, the 10 little TVs around the bus flickered on and to my horror; somebody was selecting the KTV on the menu.

Emma was the first to volunteer (Changhua manager) and she wasn't that bad. Nice tunes, sung in key. Sadly they didn't have anything in English. The other performances varied from off key to off radar. And the worst was when 2 started sining: one in key and one just slightly not.
We stopped as predicted every hour or so for toilet snack break.
I was expecting to go straight to the hotel, dump our things and then do activities, so I was a little surprised when the bus pulled up in what loooked like a diving centre.
We walked over to the person in charge and Emma translated that to do jet ski, snorkelling and banana boat was $350: bargain! The entire staff were desperate for the toilet for some reason... there were ques outside the 3 ladies cabins, so Dave went over to the mens. Anna warned him that the sign said out of order. It looked fine though, he stepped in ... and his foot went right through the floor. Very amusing!
Once changed into our swimming things, one of the instructors, pointed to a pool full of wet suits, we put these on and then he pointed to some wet-shoes for us to wear (not fins but shoes). Then we had to put on a life vest and finally, the snorkel. We looked ridiculous.
We then crammed into a tiny van with some seats in the back. We drove down to the pebble shore, where we had a detailed intrduction on how to use a snorkel. After 15 minutes, some of the teachers got bored and swam off into the sea on their own. The instructor didn't realise this until we were finally ready to enter the water ourselves. He wanted me to shout to them to bring them back. So I took off my snorkel and shouted; they couldn't hear me. Just then, a huge wave broke and I got salt water in my eyes: possibly the saltiest water I had ever tasted.
I couldnt rub my eyes for obvious reasons, so I thought 'grin and bare it' put my snorkel on, and it was like having pepper spray. This was silly, I took it off and made my way back to dry land.
I watched the rest of them in two lines holding the person in front being pulled across the patch of coral. I felt better after a few minutes, so I donned the mask again, and swam out after them.
This was surprisingly easy! We swam until we reached a mooring post; we heaved ourselves onto it and boarded a speedboat. i assumed we were going further out to do some more snorkelling when the driver switched my snorkel for a hard hat. Well a soft hard hat. Alongside the speed boat was a banana boat. 6 of us srambled over the side onto a seat on the banana boat.
For those of you who didn't know: the purpose of a banana boat is to crash over turn and throw its riders into the water. The first time wasn't so bad. We went fast but we fell out rather than being thrown out. The second time, we were in deeper water or something, it was an effort not to fall off before the boat capsized. Then when it did happen, I landed on top of one of the TA's I could feel their life jacket underneath me... but couldn't free it. She was fine however. By the time we had snorkelled back to the shore. It was 4 o'clock and everyone was feeling pretty knackered. We got changed out of our heavy, wet, salted swimming gear and made our way to the hotel.
I was very impressed with the hotel. The room was huge (admittedly there were supposed to be 4 men in here, but still it was huge). It looked like 2 huge double beds, but thankfully, they pulled apart. There was a huge TV, a fridge, a proper Chinese teapot, a bathroom with a round bath, shower cubicle and a small TV. The toilet didn't flush, but hey! TV in the toilet!
There was only 3 teachers in my room: me Todd and Richard as Ollie had not showed up.
Thinking we had ages before dinner, we grabbed a towel and went to check out the hotel pool that stretched away from the driveway. However we ran into Emma who said we only had 30 minutes before we were leaving for dinner. A quick shower then would suffice.
The hotel was on the outskirts of Kenting, so we boarded the bus to the restaurant. It was a hot evening and the restaurant was outdoors. There was no fan but this was OK, I could cope, until the food arrived, half of which had chilli as the main ingredient.
May was walking round with her jug of beer Gam bei to anyone brave enough to drink with her.
Linda (big chief) and her family turned up and made sure we were all having a good time.
After dinner and a number of photos posing in front of various buildings and plants. We went shopping down the Kenting High Street. Clothes, jewellery and food shops blockaded by a endless row of clothes, jewellery and food stalls. Everything a tourist could want. Frogspawn tea. Tiny chunks of jelly floating in sweet milk tea. gorgeous. Green tea icecream. Teapot shops. The Taiwanese really do love their tea.
The highlight for me was watching some of the TAs having a massage by three men with chairs. Not like any massage I'd ever seen. They were pulling their arms round their backs then popping them out... despite the screams of pain, they all urged me to have one. I declined.
The Changhua crowd were pretty tired from a really busy week, so I joined them on the coach home at 10. The Yuanlin boys stayed out dancing til 2.
Once back at the hotel, I went for a dip in the pool. Right next to it was a hot bath... a perfect way to end a hot and hectic day. Breakfast in the morning was at 7am. but I was told nicely that if I woke any other teachers up for breakfast they would kill me.

Sunday 3rd October
The alarm went off at 7am. I silently rose, dressed and made my way to the dining room for breakfast. A lady on the door said it wasn't open until 7:30! What! Someone had lied to me...
I walked around trying to kill time when I met a TA, she had hired a bike. I should do the same she advised. "To go out" I asked. "No, just around the hotel grounds."
The hotel couldn't be that big. 'You can get a key from reception' the TA persisted. So I went to the hotel desk, just to get some peace, I was given a key to the last bike. I walked back to the bike shed. The key didn't look like any key I'd ever seen. I wiggled it in the hole. No joy. I tried twisted it; nothing. I looked at my watch: 7:25. I'll go and have breakfast. I get back to the lady and am happy to see people eating beyond. "Ticket?" the lady asks.. Ticket? Odd I thought breakfast was included! I go back to reception. Do you need to buy a ticket for breakfast? It's in your room pack! Oh. Back the bedroom, sneaky sneaky, find the pass and at last, treated myself to breakfast. Vegetables, rice, egg, fruit and some toast. Only 6 TAs had woken up for breakfast and no teachers except me.
As I was awake now, I took the coach trip with May, Gina, Linda's nephew and sister, Mignon to a wildlife reserve to check out the birds and look out for Japanese buzzards. Then we moved on to a viewpoint where you can see the Taiwan Straight meet the Pacific Ocean. Quite stunning.
We got back just in time to pick up the others from the hotel to start the journey home.
Not 15 minutes in, and the coach pulled over next to a hill a huge fence at the bottom. As we looked up we could see a giant ball rolling down towards us. I rolled up the fence above the coach and then back down, stopped, and 2 lads crawled out. Cool!

At the top of the hill we all qued up for a go. On closer inspection. The plastic ball was about 7 foot high. There was a layer of insulation about a foot deep and then there were 2 sets of straps.
Great fun! I dived inside and tried to put my hands and feet in the straps there. And was told 'dress the straps more' by a TA translating the lady in charge. She meant, move the strap so that it is round your leg not your foot. Richard was sitting opposite me.

Once we set off it was completely not what I expected. You couldn't see anything outside like the road or hill itself. That was a blur. All you knew was that you were moving fast and this dizzy feeling was not normal. There was a microphone inside the ball so that people at the top could hear you screaming. We were told that we were very quiet, so on the second time down. We stayed absolutely silent; which isn't an easy thing to do.
We got back on the bus and were dripping from the heat of the plastic ball, i stripped off my T-shirt and pulled out a fresh one.
The coach stopped again soon after. Outside I could see a go-cart track. Not more! I thought. Luckily it we were having dinner next door to the track. It was another chilli topped Taiwanese speacial. Most of the lads had a light lunch and spent the time in front of the air conditioning unit.
On the way back they put an English DVD : Taken; such a happy change after KTV.
We got half way through Surrogates (another good movie) before the Chinese speakers had a vote (talk about a conspiracy) and put KTV back on.

Typhoon and Moon Festival

2010-09-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday 18/09/10

As we were expecting a storm at the end of the day. I went for a cycle up the mountain (this time on my bike not pascal's) in the morning. A huge rain cloud came over as I was on the way up. The start of the typhoon? It poured heavily for 30 minutes. When I got to the top I didn't want to take the usual route down - wet ground meant death very likely - so I tried to find another route that I used to use. I saw a line of palm trees. That like looked familiar. I made my way through a village on the top of the mountain, and before long found the road I was looking for. As I turned onto it, another cyclist came out of nowhere down the same path. I followed him. I was glad he was there. He knew the route, so I could brake when he did. After a 5 U bends; we reached the huge dual carriageway that never had anything on it. We were flying down. Far below was Yuanlin the high speed rail and a sports village on my left. I overtook a few scooters on the way down. I must have been doing at least 40mph. And no-one in the way or behind!
I flew under the railway track and started looking for the turn off. If I missed it, then it would be a long trek back up the hill. There it was! I just missed a scooter coming out on the wrong side of the road. And then ploughed on and down through the houses and parks of Baigoshan. I was still raining when I got back to the house.The plan that evening was to go to High Relax with the other teachers. I left the scooter in the safety of Pascal's garage and cycled into town. There was already a slight wind but nothing more than Yorkshire. We went to the 7/11 to stock up on drinks and nibbles for the evening. There was a TV in the shop which showed the huge circle the size of Taiwan just to the east of the island. It was to hit the east coast at 2am.
At 9pm we found out that High Relax was closed: this made sense. We figured that most places would be closed and so Mere and Mike invited people back to their flat on the 11th Floor. A great place to see the coming storm. Pascal, Andrew and Angela all turned up soon after and we shared Taiwan tales. At 2am as forecasted, the wind did indeed pick up and we had to closed the windows and doors.
I didn't get much sleep that night. The wind kept screaming outside and felt like it was going to rip the panes right out. 3 hours it raged.

Sunday 19/09/10
The town was chilled when we got up. There was still a persistent drizzle outside. And the town was littered with dirt and small debris from the storm. We went out in search of breakfast and there was an eerie quiet everywhere. Our usual cafe was closed but the breakfast burger place down the road was still open. There was little to do post Typhoon, everywhere was closed and everywhere was wet. I for a walk up to the nearest Tao Temple with Mere that had a huge founder guy stood on top of it with one foot on a snake and the other on a turtle. You could climb into his head. It was amazing. The art work inside the temple was equally impressive. On the way home I managed to find a DVD shop that had Kung Fu Panda and forced Mere and Mike to watch it.

Monday 20/09/10
The Taipei Times revealed that although a lot of places in the south and west of the country had been flooded and transport had been damaged; no one had died in the weekend's typhoon.

Tuesday 21/09/10
I went for another cycle up the mountain today. I felt better on this one; like I was finally getting back into my rhythm. I got to Hemei too early again! So I went to find food again. I had some lovely papaw, some sushi snack and to finish I had what looked like a granary roll. I took a bite it was sweet. A bun! I thought OK that'll be nice. I took another bite and a bit of fluff came away. Fluffy pork! AHHH What a horrible waste of perfectly good bread! I had to buy some Cheetos to take the taste away. And then some chocolate to take away the taste of the Cheetos. By the time they opened the school, I'd eaten a lot.
The classes were a lot better behaved today. I got a free drink from the school for my help! They asked what I wanted 'Honey tea?' I asked. They rolled up their noses: very sweet teacher! They suggested fruit tea. So I agreed. When it arrived I took a slurp, it may not have been honey, but inside floated little soft sweets! Just what I needed.

Wednesday 22/09/10
Today was Moon Festival Day, so all normal schools were shut as were most bushibans and cram-schools. This was a day for people to spend with their families. During the day there were various ceremonies happening by the temples, including singing and dancing traditional music.
In the evening Yuanlin's sky was lit up by fireworks. Our neighbours had the karaoke out and were strangling cats for most of the day. I will have to record it next time. I can't begin to count the number of inharmonious noises that drown out the street.

Thursday 23/09/10

Today it felt weird to be back at school after a day off. I was back at Hemei again.

Friday 24/09/10

I had wanted to go out with the Changhua teachers tonight, but I forgot to organise it during the week. Planning things last minute without a phone is a bit tricky.

Saturday 25/09/10

Today I went for another epic cycle, I was hoping that Mere would be able to join me tomorrow on the same route and wanted to see how long it would take. It was a beautiful day but we had no water left in the house... so I bought an energy drink at a shop at the top of the mountain. "Poco Sweat" it was called (mmm delicious!) This drink did give me energy but it failed to quench my thirst at all, in fact I felt drier after drinking it. After an hour, I went into autopilot and became really aware of all the smells around me. Tropical vegetation, that green smell, freshly picked tea, pineapples growing on the ground.

I stopped again and bought some orange juice... still didn't really get rid of the thirst.

When I got back home, I scootered to the local store and bought apples, bananas, oranges, plums and a yellow watermelon. I took them home and chopped them all up into a fruit salad. After eating this and drinking 2 litres of lemon and tea sprite (yeah, not lime as you'd expect the green oval to represent!) the thirst was gone.

Sunday 26/09/10

This morning I finally got Mere to cycle up Baigoshan Mountain. She'd always been keen, but we'd never found a time cool enough. So at 7am we made our way from Yuanlin towards the mountain. The road to the mt base took 15 minutes. I laughed at Mere's expression when the hill started to climb. ("int physics brilliant!") There was a man and his teenage lad cycling ahead of us. The kid was veering across the road (like I do when a path is too steep) and unintentionally blocking our way so we stopped to let them get ahead of us. I offered Mere my bike, as hers was a regular road bike with 7 gears and a lovely basket on the front (yes I was jealous) and mine had gears a plenty. It was a very strange sensation riding a women's bike up a hill. My legs were moving in directions that they'd never gone before. We both found that if we didn't stop it was OK... And less than an hour later, we had reached the top of Baigoshan. Triumphant! Victorious! and not alone! ? The little village at the top was heaving with cyclists. A couple hundred at least. There were stalls selling bike accessories It was always so dead when I'd been through: obviously Sunday is Taiwan Cycle Day between the hours of 6 and 9!

Monday 27/09/10

This morning Mere took me to the Yuanlin Swimming Pool. I was quite impressed 2 things: how fast Mere could swim and how many hot pools, sauna and water massages there were in the place. In half an hour I had swum about 6 widths to Mere's 60 odd. I was delighted when she suggested stopping and trying out the 'relax' area.

The water jets turned my skin red they were so powerful, but I was assured it was all for the greater good. There were 4 different hot baths each with a different quality.

Mountain hikes and thieving monkeys!

2010-09-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday 11/09/10
I met Mere's friend, Laura this morning and let the two of them catch up on stuff. I went back and took pretty much all the clothes I own to the laundrette (now that I had cash once more).
I was going to meet up with them later to go for a hike. But there was an almighty storm brewing. So we all stayed in instead.

Sunday 12/09/10
This morning we (Laura her friend Claudia and Mere) went for the hike that we were going to do yesterday. It was right behind Pascal's. It was there the whole year, and I never knew.
The tropical trees sheltered the walk so it was nice and cool. The path went literally right through a KTV place and 2 open restaurants. At the top there was a huge pagoda thing which you could climb to the top of and see pretty much every thing in the plain below.
In the afternoon a repeat storm of yesterday; except this one had more thunder. Thunder that would rattle on for 10 seconds. The lightening was a right mixture.
In the evening we went to the kind of restaurant that doesn't stop bringing food until you stop eating. Raw fish, squid, oysters, mussels, chicken, white fish, peanut octopus dish, deep fried mini-fish, shrimp... it was a hearty feed. plus the Taiwanese family kept our small beer glasses filled high. I'm not sure how I got through so much.
The bill was 2700 between 8 of us. Expensive for a Tai meal, but still less than a tenner. unbelievable!

Monday 13/09/10

This morning, Mere and I got up nice and early to go for a walk through some monkey woods 30 mins scooter drive away. We grabbed some water and took Mere's scooter. The drive looked familiar because it was where I used to cycle with Pascal last time I was here. We turned left up towards the mountain at a sign shaped like a monkey.
I had been down this road 100 times before, but I'd never seen a monkey here. Saying that, I didn't realise there were any monkeys to look out for.
We pulled up in the car park. We were the only ones here. This is always a good sign when nature spotting: nobody has scared the monkeys away yet. We headed toward the set of stairs. As like many nature trails in Taiwan, most of it was tarmac, concrete or metal/wooden steps cutting through the forest vegetation. We had been walking about 10 minutes when we noticed a couple ahead of us staring into the trees. As we got closer, we could see the grey monkey sitting on a branch in the distance, possibly with a friend sitting next to him.
I was impressed: I didn't expect to see any monkeys and here were two. The day was going perfectly. We continued through the forest and passed a sign asking people not to feed the monkeys as they have hepatitis, or was it rabies? The walk concluded with 2 dizzyingly steep stairs up out of the jungle towards the temple at the top. We stopped inside the temple to cool down and watched on a monk performed a ritual on someone who had asked for a blessing. The monk took what looked like a fat incense stick and wafted the curls of smoke around the person's body. There were also a couple asking the Gods for something and to find their answer they had to throw 2 wooden segments in the air. If they landed one face up and one face down three times in a row, the Gods had granted their wish.
After the walk I was pretty hungry, so we walked up to the main road - passed the dozen tea shops - and soon found a breakfast bar. Mere had a chicken burger (which was delicious) and I had my usual egg and bacon pancake. On the way back through the temple there was a lady selling pineapples, as I remembered. She had expanded her business though. No longer from a tray on a table. She had a whole pineapplevan at her disposal. Her son told us that it was 50 each or 3 for 100. Never one to turn down food, I went for the 3. One she chopped into slices with amazing skill and the other two she put in a bag. This morning was going great.
On the way back down the mountain, we were amazed to see even more monkeys and this time they were right by the road. Over 20 I counted. There were cute baby monkeys hanging from their mothers as they scampered up the trees. Big lazy monkeys sat around watching the world go by. It was eventually time to start heading back. So I turned and started heading down the path. One larger monkey crossed the path in front of me... but then stopped in the middle and looked at me. Before I knew what was happening, he had walked over to me and pulled a pineapple from the bag. The bag with the other pineapple was just to the side. I made a move to retrieve it and suddenly every monkey was rushing running towards me and my pineapple. Remembering the sign, we legged it all the way back to the carpark.... where we were relieved to see that they weren't behind us.
I couldn't understand why they hadn't gone for the chopped up pineapple in Mere's bag.
Later, at school I found out that one of the teachers in Hemei had left unexpectedly to work in Singapore. This was good news as it meant that I would be covering his lessons on Tuesday and Thursday. I also got the results of my medical today: fine except that I need a rubella booster. No worries, I can always do it tomorrow on the way to Hemei, pointed out Rita

Tuesday 14/09/10
Mere - inspiration behind getting up early and doing hikes before breakfast - had work this morning. So I thought I would go for a hike or cycle myself. I got home and saw that Pascal was in and probably going to use his bike. Mine was still down in Yuanlin so I put my lightest clothes on started to walk up to the steps. I discovered that road between Pascals and the steps is probably the steepest in all Taiwan. The steps themselves were a breeze by comparison. If only there was a breeze! Very hot. Got back to the house in a sweaty heap.
I spent the rest of the morning trying to learn some Chinese characters.
I was to be in Changhua hospital at 2pm. I had everything ready to go when I noticed a big cloud coming over the mountain... I quickly through my nice shoes in the boot and grabbed Pascal's old poncho from the garage; then rode like the wind hoping to outrun the big storm. I did so.
You can't really miss the Christian hospital; 16 floors high with a big red cross on top... still I did manage to end up in the wrong building. A kind receptionist guided me to the right one.
The staff knew I was coming and so I was soon in front of a nurse who checked my b.p. and my hearing. Hang on! I'm not here for the full test! Am I?
The doctor down the corridor cleared it up; made sure I was fit for a jab.
The nurse and jab were pain free and within an hour I was out back on the scooter towards Changhua school. There I gave Gina my medical certificate and Sophie (Hemei TA) let me follow her back to Hemei. "How long?" I asked "fifty minutes" she said
"1 5 or 5 0?" I was a little shocked "5 0 " she confirmed.
Well 15 minutes and 4 km later we pulled up at the school. The school was different to Yuanlin in terms of resources and kids behaviour. Despite getting there 2 hours before the lesson was to start: I still couldn't find half of the things that I should have taken into the lesson.
The kids weren't completely evil, but the idea of sitting down when told was obviously a foreign one. This was going to take some time!

Wednesday 15/09/10
Mere and I started the day with a bike ride down the same track as last time. On the way back we stopped for breakfast at a different breakfast shop, with even nicer Danbin than the other place!
I was fairly sure that I was covering one of Paul's lessons today, so I got in fairly early. However on the sheet that I had been given on Monday with all the cover lessons marked on, there was nothing extra today. So you can imagine my surprise when straight after my 2 hour class I get asked why I am not upstairs with CE18!

Thursday 16/09/10
Today I barely had time to answer my emails before I realised I needed to be going to Hemei for my 6.5 hours of teaching in a row. I got there in record time 45 mins! However, there was no-one in the school and the shutters were down. It was times like this when it would be great to have a Taiwan phone. I went for a walk to track down some food for lunch. It was only 30minutes before they opened up. I met Ollie: teacher from Bolton; nice guy but he was asking me questions in the 2 hours I had to plan 4 lessons. Mental note: next week plan Thursday's lessons on Tuesday.
The drive back was long but happily, I had remembered to bring my Ipod.

From sandy beaches to the tropical mountains!

2010-09-10T22:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday 5/09/10
On Sunday, everyone had planned to go to a beach somewhere beyond Changhua on the West Coast. However, after ringing around everybody, it was just going to be me Andrew and Mere.
Then at the last minute Andrew got bad asthma and didn't feel up to it. So it looked like it was just the two of us.
We started the day at a breakfast place for some danbin (ham pancake Chinese style) stocked up on water and snacks for the trip. Mere offered to take her scooter.
Despite warnings of a typhoons across the west, it was a glorious day: a bit windy, but I've never seen such uninterrupted blue sky. I could feel my arms getting warm and was glad I'd packed the sunscreen.
We followed the main roads most of the way and after almost 2 hours and with only slight cramp in my legs from sitting on the back, we could see the sea. The road headed west towards a dozen massive wind turbines. A great sea wall followed the road. We pulled up alongside one of the turbines. It was a strange place. There were some rice fields around and in the distance you could see the outskirts of a small town. Yet there was no-one around.
We climbed over the sea wall, there was quite a bit of rubbish blown against the other side. The strangest thing though was the size of the beach. It just went on and on. We'd could barely see the sea. We walked for a good ten minutes across it before we were close enough dump our things. Bearing in mind how hot it was, I quickly got myself suncreamed up. I stripped down to my shorts and made for the water. It was amazing: it could have been Thailand or Zanzibar. Mere was a bit slow to come into the water, because she is allergic to seaweed.
So there was me; who couldn't swim but eager to get into the water out of the sun's glare and there was Mere; great swimmer who didn't trust what was lurking in the water.
We had a really nice relaxing afternoon, watching the crabs come out from their sand holes scurry about and then crawl back in. And we were the only people in sight... apart from 2 old men who were walking round with a brush or rake; every now and then they'd give the beach a sweep. Just before we left a family of 4 came down to the sea for a bit and then walked back.
It was incredible. Before we knew it, it was 4pm, time to get going if were to make it back in the light. I rode home. It was an interesting experience. Mere's scooter had no speedometer nor petrol gauge! On top of that the left mirror was loose, so I spent most of the time with one hand keeping that in place. Still; Fun and Games!
We were both starving when we got home. Luckily Mere lives next to the food road. Every shop: cheap delicious food. We went to a noodle bar
That night, Mike tried to introduce me to weird US humour with that cellophane guy from Chicago. I thought was quite funny but then I like the League of Gentleman. I thought it was only fair I introduced him to Father Ted in return.
Monday 6/09/10
Ouch! A little sunburn today. Despite putting it on twice while I was there my back and arms were pretty pink this morning.
I got to work especially early to figure out what to do for this reader class. But after half an hour thinking, a TA came in and said the reader lesson would be Friday instead. That solved that. Go back to the course guide for the day.
Tuesday 7/09/10
Had the day off and was determined to buy a bike today. I went to the Megabank this morning, but again, 'transaction cancelled- error' This was day five of Barclays six day registry time. Maybe tomorrow. When I mentioned it to Mere she offered to pay for the bike today, and I could pay her back tomorrow. Sounded like a plan!
We walked down to the Giant shop. I wanted something like I had last time. Front suspension, lots of gears, quick release tyres, bell, that kind of thing!
The bike guy I recognised from last time. He pointed out his mountain bikes. I chose one, the boulder and he let me take it down the main road through Yuanlin and back to get a feel for it.
"Do you have anything faster?" I asked him. He pulled a road bike. I gave that a whirl.
"Do you have anything with suspension?" I asked. He pulled out a Talon; a hybrid. It had a mountain bike frame with road tyres. I took it for a spin "I like it. Any discount?"
"10%" he said
"I'll have this one thanks."
While he was fixing a bottle holder to the bike, he pointed us in the direction of his off-road/BMX track at the back, part of which came up almost vertical. He persuaded me to have a go. I survived it; which I think surprised everybody there, including me.
As it was light, I fancied giving her a proper trial ride. Mere knew this actual cycle path that started in the centre of Yuan lin, followed an old railway track through the rice fields, vineyards and tropical fruit farms. It was nice to have a bump free ride... but then it came to a halt in the middle of no-where, so it was back to town.
Mere had a lesson that evening, so spent the time catching up on news around the world. I had no idea that an earthquake had stuck Christchurch.
Wednesday 8/09/10
[text missing]

Thursday 9/09/10
Yep: another day off. It had been raining most of the night and the roads were wet. Today was day 6 of Barclay register time, so I should be able to get some cash out. There is a 7/11 with a cash machine on the road that runs along the bottom of the mountain. I cycle round for a good hour, but no sign of the shop anywhere. It seems to be Highlife terrioty. Getting desperate I head back to the Yuanlin Banks and as usual not a sausage can I withdraw.
Mere mentioned going on a hike this afternoon, weather permitting. So I head back to the house to get some stuff to take with me. One thing I forgot to order for my bike: mudguards. I am completely splattered with the muddy water below.
The only problem with buying a bicycle from the middle of town is that at any one time the other mode of transport will be in town until I can find someone to drive my scooter back.
So as I have to cycle back to Yuanlin through the drizzle and mud, I might as well not get changed until I get there.
As soon as I get to Mere's; she looks at the state of me and says "I take it the hikes off?"
I point out that I really can't get much wetter than I already am... so we might as well go for it.
She has a trail in mind and so I scooter through the wet to a place that is near where I used to cycle a lot. The path winds up and is soon a set of very steep steps shooting up through the wild forest. Every now and then we see a massive spider sitting on a web body 3inch legs about 6. well i was the old man of the party.
I realise I haven't done any serious climbing in a while and soon sound relatively out of breath...
I felt fine though.
[text missing]
Friday 10/09/10
This was day 7 of Barclays register time so I surely will be able to get money out today!
I have a pile of laundry bigger than my suitcase. Down to 7/11 I went, no money. Down to the Megabank: no money there either. This is getting silly. When I got to work I tried looking on the website... Barclays only list 2 banks in the area that will give cash and they're both in Changhua.
Today was the reader lesson, so I got there 30 mins early to prepare. When I got to my desk and see a pile of posticks my heart sinks a little. Paul's gone on holiday so I have 2 of his classes straight after mine. I decide as they are easier to plan to those first. 45m before the reader lesson and my plan is still blank! Then I have a brain wave: colours, sizes, animals. There is a very big black dog. That will be their target language. Genius! In the nick of time, it all just flowed onto the page.
It was a long day though: stood up from 2pm until 8:45 gives you stiff legs.
As soon as I'd finished I printed off a map of Changhua and scootered my way to this super-cashpoint. I found it easily enough, but it would only give me 10,000. I needed another 10 to pay back debts and deposits. I headed out to the other cash-machine passing the Shane school, that still had lights on. So I backed up and knocked on the door. It was 10:45pm. I've no idea why they were still here. They guided me in the right direction and I found bank no.2, but this wouldn't give me any either. There must be a limit on daily withdrawals. Tired and hungry I headed back to Yuanlin. The nice thing about pulling up in a Taiwanese town in the middle of the night is that the shops and food places are all still open and lively. It was midnight when I had an omlette with veggies with a bowl of rice (60p). Revived, I drove back to Hi Relax to meet up with the other the other teachers.

Back Again

2010-08-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Monday 23/08/10
I think everybody has that fear when they pass through an airport: Will I make the flight on time? Will I get through customs without being searched? Will I get anything confiscated?I usually have these thoughts too but nothing ever happens. This time however, after queuing for over an hour, the man at the check-in desk said "I'm sorry sir, I'm afraid you can't fly without a visa or a return ticket."I explained that I had been told that the rules had changed. Not the part about barring people with single tickets, it seemed. So, a very nice EVA man sorted me out with a ticket to Manila, which I could refund once I got to Taiwan. After that I got to the front of the bag search que and despite taking out all flammable and sharps objects, I was dismayed to see a sign "no liquids over 100ml". That was my whole wash kit! Steve Thorpe who had escorted me to the airport, eagerly collected the many toiletries that I had to leave behind. We had time to down a sandwich before boarding the B777. The plane was EVA green on the inside, but comfortable... which was good, because we didn't take off for another hour... Heathrow ques! I was wondering who I might be sat next to... I was jumping for joy when a couple of Cockney builders sat down (stopping off at Thailand).
There was plenty of things to keep me entertained on flight. 27 movie channels, 30 music, computer games, crosswords, sudoku: all on the interactive screen in front of me.
I got about 5 hours interrupted sleep on the plane. The food got more Chinese the closer we got. Omelet for breakfast on top of waffles and syrup. mmm!
Tuesday 24/08/10
When I finally got to Taipei airport, the sniffer dogs approved my rucksack and customs seemed happy with my new ticket and stamped it. As I walked into the foyer, hundreds of people were waving signs with names on. I couldn't see mine anywhere. My suitcase was so heavy I didn't really want to go round a second time. Eventually there it was "James Duncan Smith" Close enough! The taxi man took me and 5 others into his minibus and we started the 2 hour drive to Yuanlin. A old lady and her daughter started interrogating me about why I was here and why i didn't speak Chinese after already living here for a year.
I managed to get the taxi to Pascal's house mainly through hand gestures at every turn. Arrived at about 11:45. Pascal opened the door and offered me a whisky; gladly received it was. I was sleeping in the 'gym' room as it was a full house. Dan and Paul taking up the other rooms. I remembered not to put paper down the toilet unlike last time... and slept like a log.
Wednesday 25/08/10
Woke at about 12. Borrowed Pascals bike to get to school. Got there without any collisions. At 2 I met the staff (Dave the Bostonian American, Sam the Guilford guy, Andrew the nutter and Paul the Yorkshireman from York). Sam and Paul have just started having Chinese lessons, so I might try and tag along with one of them.
I had a load of things that I was going to do that afternoon, but the heavens opened at 3 and didn't stop until after 8. By which time, I just wanted to get back to the house and chill. Pascal didn't have any lights on his bike... so it was a cautious climb back up the mountain. Spent the evening setting up my laptop with Internet.
Thursday 26/08
On Rita's advice, I sought out a barber today to neaten the mess upon my head. I remembered that in most Taiwanese barbers you get a hair wash after your trim, but I was in there for 90 minutes... and it was worth every cent. You had 3 hair washes (before, after and mid cut) a head massage, neck massage, I'm pretty sure the chair was a massage chair too. I came out a new man.
I got to school just in time to observe Paul's lesson... which reassured me that this is the best teaching job in the world. The kids were responsive, everyone was learning and smiling, joking around with the teacher in English... and they were only 10 years old. Afterwards I went to get 16 passport photos for my Alien Resident Card, medical check, scooter licence, and a dozen other documents. I also got some bike lights to avoid having to ride home in the dark again.
That night I was supposed to have a meal with Rita (our school manager) as part of the new teacher settling in program... but it got to 9 o'clock and she was still working at recruiting more students. So the rest of the staff persuaded me to join them at Hi Relax, a bar in Yuanlin.
The lads ordered Dumplings but I passed still expecting this meal. We got through a few games of Dice. I rang Rita, she was still busy and we decided to postpone til next week.
Friday 27/08
I had to go to Taichung today to get a refund at EVA offices (the nearest one).
Pascal dropped me off because he didn't want me borrowing his bike and having it stolen at the train station.
I had that pleasant feeling on the train ride that one can only get through paying a pound to go the distance from Hull to Leeds. As I reached the city the gathering rainclouds let loose a torrential downpour on the city and its station. I grabbed some water from 7/11 then dived into a yellow taxi for shelter. I showed him the Chinese address and he seemed to know where to go. He pulled up $200 later outside an antiques shop. I was happy with the price but was sure I'd be able to see a sign for the national airways office. I checked the address in both languages: it had to be here somewhere. I went for a stroll and found an entrance in the side of the wall round the corner.
It revealed 4 huge tower blocks inside. Each with an elevator. The security man said to go to the top of Tower A. And there hidden in the top corner of these office blocks was that EVA lady cardboard cut-out pointing to a door.
Attentive; sincere; enthusiastic. Read a sign on the far wall. The girl on the desk certainly ticked the first two. When called up, I explained about what happened in Heathrow and asked for a refund. If Id paid in cash; then I could have had the money there and then; but I paid on card and so it was likely to take 4 months... It's a good thing I my sold car!
The weather had cleared up when I got outside again, so I thought I'd walk back to the station... see how far I could get before I collapsed of heat exhaustion. Well I got all the way! thanks to a few well timed breaks in air-conditioned shops. I was back in Yuanlin before 5.
I popped into school to ring Pascal to see if he could pick me up... since I had no bike nor scooter, nor phone. No answer. I figured one of them would be home soon so I started the walk home. Now Taiwan doesn't really do pavements so I weaved my way round parked vehicles and oncoming traffic. As I started the ascent up Baigoshan a group of kids started calling out to me in English. I couldn't work out if they actually wanted to know how old I was or whether that was the only thing they could remember... I pressed on. I got home in 40 minutes... and guess what! Nobody in! And the usual stick I used to prise the garage door open had long gone... only find bamboo... and that want open any lock. Too bendy. I waited half an hour, and then resolved to go back down the mountain to school; hoping that Pascal would pass me on the way down.
That didn't happen. And at about 20:30 I got back to school and collapsed into a staffroom chair.
Paul thankfully gave me a lift home... which was my first scooter experience since I got here.
I did very little that evening coz I had a medical test in the morning.
Saturday 28/08
I hate medical checks! Well i hate blood tests.
Rita had brought me to the Changhua hospital in the school car.
I passed the eye test with flying colours and the ear test, and the x-ray, but as soon as I sat down in front of the lady with 4 glass tubes to fill I know it's not going to end well.
After 20 seconds my head started to feel a bit fuzzy, after 30 seconds my ears started buzzing and after 40 seconds my eyes started to blur.
Rita and the nurse tried to bring me round with a glass of sweetened milk. I was soon up and walking again. "I thought you were joking when you said you didn't like blood tests!" Rita laughed. I just don't have enough spare blood I tried to explain.
We then had a quick chat with a doctor about whether I had ever had any of a list of illnesses. And then we were free to go. To cheer me up, we went shopping for a scooter. The same place I got my last one.
Sunday 29/08
Pascal's friend Angela came round this morning and the two of them went for a bike ride before the storms came from Taichung. As Pascal's bike had been my only form of transport and my scooter wasn't coming til tomorrow. I was pretty house-bound for the rest of the day. Daniel left the house to start his new job in the big city, so I moved into his old room. It was nice to finally hang stuff up in a cupboard and sleep on a full size bed.
Paul woke up about 4pm and was heading to grab some food, so I grabbed a lift on the back of his scooter. We met up with his ex girlfriend Mere (which wasn't awkward at all) and Sam and decided to go to grab a pizza at Little Italy in Yuanlin. I asked for a folded pizza, but what I got was a stuffed loaf! It was about the size of my stomach, so it was a real challenge, even for me. On top of the loaf was ladled oodles of tomato sauce. So either they haven't figured out how to get liquid inside the loaf or they just forgot. Very tasty though.
On the way home Paul let me drive for a bit. He was flagging after his pizza. We stopped at a megamarket. Has-everything kind of store. I picked up some new bedding, which was surprisingly expensive compared to the 2 pound t shirts around. When we got back to the scooter, we noticed it was chucking it down so I went back in and bought a 10 cent (20p) plastic mac to keep me dry til we got home.
Monday 30/08
I taught my first lesson today. Kids were great, but I forgot that I had to fill in their communication books at the end of each lesson, so we overran by nearly 15 minutes. Luckily I had no lesson straight after it.
My Scooter was supposed to be dropped off at some point that evening, but the guy didn't show up. Very annoying. When I got back home Pascal had realised that the friend he thought was coming tomorrow was actually landing today. So when he arrived, Mark I think his name is, we went down to a bar in Yuanlin with some of the other teachers.
We had many deep and meaningful conversations but sadly they were cut short at 4am as Pascal wasnt feeling so good. We left, much to the relief of the bar staff, and got a taxi back up the mountain.
Tuesaday 31/08
Today, I didn't have any teaching scheduled, so I waited for the rain to stop and then walked into town and collect my scooter. I was gonna do some exercise in our gym, but Pascals mate was sleeping in there and given 19 hours on a plane and then up til 4:30 last night, he wasn't waking up anytime soon. At 5:30 the scooter man turned up with a tick list for me to go through. Do the licence plates match the registration document? what about the engine number? I guess so, not that I could read them they were so small. He handed me the keys and suddenly I was "mobile man! Able to travel anywhere in Taiwan in a flash!"... you'll need to put some petrol in! scooterman reminded me.
I picked up some food for the way home in a place i call WuShir (50NT) because that's how much most of the tray cost. You have a tray with 4 compartments. You fill it with food from a huge table. There must be 60 large plates, each with different food. It's a bit of a lottery as to what each thing is, what it tastes like and whether its hot or not. But the more often you go, the better your chances of finding a great dish. The staples egg fried rice and noodles have every kind of vegetable sliced and mixed in. I rode back home and chilled in front of the TV watching news reports of the 3 typhoons in the area at the moment!
Wednesday 1/09
This morning I thought it was time to take my washing down to a laundrette. I took them to the same guy as last time. He looked identical, the price wasn't though, but when I looked at how many clothes had accumulated since I left Hull 11 days ago
Today I had my first 2 hour lesson and this would be the classes first lesson at Shane: CEI01.
Rita gave me a list of things to remember. Make sure they have fun! Make sure they know the rules! Don't do any spellings yet! I think the lesson went ok. They were all involved... I think i may have started a game a too early. More drilling was needed! But overall, kids were bonkers! And went out smiling. Rita was going to give me some feedback... but she is a busy lady this month. Dinner was put back, so feedback would have to be put back as well.
Having bought a scooter, I'd spent most of the money I had brought out with me. So I thought I'd check online that my money had moved from Barclays to HSBC... it hadn't moved an inc1h. 'Not to worry - I'll use my Barclay card!' oh no, i have to register that for abroad... which takes 6 days. That's a bit annoying. Might have to ask Rita for a loan!
It was raining when I finally came out of school, it was OK, I had that 10 NT plastic cover that I bought at megamarket. Well by the time I had stretched it over my head, there were two large rips in it. One down my back and one across over my trousers. Most of the journey was spent keeping the plastic over my trousers. Total failure. Then to top it all, I dropped the scooter when I pulled up in the garage. The headlights wouldn't come back on. Hungry and tired I walked back down to the nearest 7/11 to buy a takeaway dinner and a catch bar.

Thursday 2/09
Today as I had another day off, I decided to go for a bike ride up to the top of the mount
ain. I missed the optimum time of 6am by about 5 hours... but grey clouds overhead kept the temperature in the 2os: ideal for a wee cycle. Pascal had taken his mate to Lugang, so I didn't feel too guilty about borrowing his bike. I stripped it of the pump, the repair kit, the water bottle, the front and rear sacks and lights in an attempt to make the bike as light as possible.
I was ready... for the first 10mins, the going was swift: I felt fine; not the sweating wreck I remembered from 2006), the cycling and jogging in Manchester must have paid off!
15 minutes into the cycle, the gradient went from 15% to about 40% and any notion of being fitter now had vanished. I was determined to get to the first peak without stopping. People on route shouted "Jaio" which I think means Well done... or "Go on my son!"
I did so but now had a 2 tone siren quality to my breathing. I pushed on down and then endlessly up again. I found a rythm and the right gear and was happy not to feel dehydrated. Before long the rain started to fall, light and cool upon my face. Just what the physio ordered! The only downside I found as the road zigzaged up again was that the rain made it impossible to change gear with Pascal's gripshift system. It all came undone on the very last slope. So I got off and walked the last bit to the main road across the mountain. As the rain had stopped and I had no money to buy a drink, I thought I'd might as well start the descent down the mountain.
I found the road that took me back via the temple.... swerved of the main road and suddenly down, down, down. I'd have screamed out if there hadn't been so much wind rushing at my face.
Unlike, I remembered - the thrill of freefalling down with nothing to stop you as you glide round each corner masterfully - this was not going through my head... I'm going to die, crap, I'm going to die horribly. Even if I slammed both breaks on now, I'm pretty sure the breaking distance was about 5 times longer than the distance from me to the sheer drop over the first bend. And then this other panick set in... Which is the front break lever and which the back. My mind had gone blank... I knew on the bike back home... back in Hull, but Pascals?! With motorists everywhere and bend after bend, I didn't really want to take a peek to find out. Wrong break first and I'm head over heels into the road ahead. I did the only thing I could do; squeezed both breaks and prayed and veered towards a soft looking bush ahead. It stopped, I stopped. I looked down and the breaks are different on Pascals: right is back: pull right first: pull right to slow down. Got it.
The rest of the ride home was more like I remembered. Tropical vegetation blurring with small villages, scooter drivers left way behind and old people gathered on street corners wondering what just went past.
I later cycled into school to get a loan from the school since i couldn't access my UK money for antoher week. As soon as I had the money, had this strange desire to buy icecreams.
I got this winner "ChocoCrunch" It was just like puddings i make at home. Rum and raisens inside a choc ice with chocoalate syrup inside and orange and cereal bits stuck to the outside. Amazing.
Friday 03/09/10
Emma (school manager when I was here last) dropped by to Shane today from Changhua (where she works now) to tell me about the new reader programme. I basically have 7 x2hour lessons to get through the Three Billy Goats with me CE01s. I can do what I like as long as they improve their phonics, vocab, grammar and comprehension. It would start on Monday.
I had my usual 2 classes today and they went fine. I got a call from Pascal while I was there: he wanted his bike back a.s.a.p. He did say I could borrow his stuff without asking. I rode back home with the sunset behind me as quickly as I could. When I got there, puffing and panting in a sweaty mess, it turned out that Pascal had changed his mind.
That night, Gail came round to cook the 4 of us a traditional Taiwanese meal. Chicken.
I was worried that she was going to do chickens feet, but we escaped that fate.
She pulled out a huge back of chicken bits, 4 bottles of rice wine, some sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce and a herb bag (like a tea bag only bigger). She made us a soup which was delicious. Paul must have forgotten about it. We had chopsticks but they weren't much use. it was easier to eat the chicken with your hands and drink the noodles with the soup. Even after we'd all had seconds there was still a good 3/4 of the pan filled with soup.
As it was Friday I decided to head back to Hi Relax with Gail. Pascal and Mark had and an early morning get-up so declined.
It was far busier today. There were two tables of English speakers and the rest were young locals: most eager to get us involved in whatever games they were playing.
Sam and Mike had a rap - off (if that's the word for it) I think Sam won. There was a game of dice going on. A yes no game. Mere was trying to teach everyone a rhyming game. I picked it up quite quickly but Andrew and Sam... took a little longer.
I don't think we left until after 3. I stayed with Mere, Mike and Enricho, as they only lived round the corner.
Saturday 4/09/10
Got up at 9ish as the Americans had lessons on Saturdays. It was a weird sensation being outside: I wans't hung over but Yuanlin is a bright and noisy and busy place at 9am. I felt like a zombie staggering back to the bar. I scootered back(yes, that is a verb) up to Pascal's to grab a shower. There was an ominous cloud hanging over the mountain. As I got to the final approach, it started bucketing it down. Paul was sat in the front room in the dark pondering whether to go to a free rock concert in Taichung. Soon after came the lighting and thunder. one must have been over the house, coz we both jumped a foot. It rained heavily for 5 hours. Not a lot to do when it rains heavily for 5 hours. I caught up on little sleep.
In the evening Andrew came over to Mere's to watch Moon. Good film: about a guy working on an energy base on the...on the moon. Then he starts seeing things. wooo!
We also had an epic game of mario cart... which I didn't lose.

Coming Soon: Tales from Cambodia and Vietnam

2007-05-06T01:14:00.000-07:00

MOUNT YUSHAN 300

2007-04-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

5 men
3952 metres of verticle rock, in darkness, dense fog and howling winds.
SPARTANS
HUH!

On the Friday night, brave souls gathered from as far as Changhua and Yuan lin to prepare for their assault on the big rock. By chance a local man [expert in conquering great heights] known as Mr Wu and his compatriot Sky were feasting in the same area. Knowing that the path ahead would be a tough one; the 7 of them with an army colleague feasted until late at night, stocking up on energy. Then under the cover of darkness they retreated back to their abodes waiting for dawn to come.

At 04:00, the alarm was raised: it was time! Without a word, each of the Spartans bathed, donned their armour against the elements, threw their equipment over their shoulders, mounted their steeds and rode down to the hike shop.

There Mr Wu was waiting with his wagon to take them south into the mountains.

Dawn broke as they rolled along... the sun swirling in the patchwork sky.

For breakfast they stopped in a village in the mountains, the local children flocked round us in awe of their garbs and locks and look of determination. It was midmorning when their opponent came into view, peering over the tops of the nearby peaks. At the time it seemed it was to be a walk in the park, the sun was shining, the clouds were like milk and the day was a pleasant cool.

When they reached the park boundary, it was midmorning. 2 dead interlinked tall trees gave an eerie welcome to the small force. A local contingent from Kaoshung, who had heard that the Spartans were out to conquer the Yushan had arrived to join the effort. These men and women were all from the Tai military.

Wu explained to them all after handing out rations for the day that before the main assault could be made on Yushan, the smaller peaks of Lulin and Lintzu needed to be defeated. At 10:00 hours the two forces joined under the directions of Sky. [Wu scouted ahead to Yushan main peak] The route was pleasant under foot and before long all had established a rhythm. The pine needles under foot and the yellower grass painted a picture similar to Dalby Forest. Before long the Spartans took the lead seeing these peaks as a challenging warm up.
Their speed impressed local hikers who chanted "so strong" as they marched past.
The first proved no problem at all, the second peak was slightly higher, the Kaoshung group had to stop half way up for a break and the nutrients in the rice cake and ham pancake Wu had sent them with. When they reached the top, the Spartans had built a monument from the rocks around sending a message to the onlooking Yushan, "We are not afraid!"

The route now was down and round back to the base. On the road, the forces passed some children catching butterflies with huge nets... unfair it seemed on the butterfly... but no: for that one butterfly had more skill cunning in its tiny body than all of the children put together: the Spartans smiled at the simile between their small force and their giant enemy.
Just before the hostel, a man on the road saw in their eyes what they intended to do, he showed them into his abode filled with information about the Yushan, he even had a 3D model to aid the Spartans in their quest.
Back at the hostel it was now 14:00; Wu had decided the assault was best made under the cover of darkness. So both forces had a powernap for 3 hours - though a Spartan is never truly asleep.
Then at 17:00, everyone woke to the smell of food cooking. A local lady had prepared a feast for the warriors. Fish, chicken, rice and pork had been laid out for the party.
20:30 Armed with torches and poles the two forces set out on their quest. They followed the road for some time watching the shadow of the mountain draw closer, then made quickly across to a small path that hugged the steep sided cliffs as it drove further upwards. Even with torches only the black drop could be made out... what lay beneath no one could tell, nor wanted to know.
The night was clear, the stars and quarter moon shone brightly down making the path easy to follow at first, but as the route headed deeper into the dark forest, tripping became unavoidable. Many times, the path steepened and the Spartans pulled each other through the course.
Spartan Higham went to scout the path ahead while the rest of the group stopped at a shelter to view the night sky in all its wild beauty. After 3 hours on the path, the Spartans had left their Kaushung allies far behind. Spartans Culbert and Kozak went ahead to check that Higham was still safe. Spartan Smith keen to keep the forces united stayed with Morgan, but the man was weak from the days hike; the stops became more and more frequent waiting for Morgan to retrieve his breath. Eventually, the lights of the Kaoshung force came into view... and Smith left Morgan in their hands, then hurried on to find the others.

Markers had been laid down on the path every 500m and after what seemed like an age making decisions about what was the path, and what was a river bed, or landslide in the darkness; Smith was glad to see a post up ahead. A voice called out to him. He wasn't sure if this was real as he'd been hearing voices for the last hour in his head. But agian it sounded: it was Kozak.
He was relieved to see another Spartan: Culbert and Higham had long been out of view.
The next stop was only a kilometre away. But the path got steeper and steeper, at times, the 2 Spartans were only making 10 strides before stopping for air.
Spartans! Huh! They pushed on until eventually they reached a shelter surrounded by tents.
It was 02:00. People were walking around shouting things, but the walk had left Kozak and Smith numb with exhaustion. Wu appeared out of the madness, he threw sleeping bags at the two Spartans and pointed to a tent... the Spartans got in; still not knowing where Higham or Culbert were, but grateful to be off their feet.
02:2o Smith opened his eyes, he could hear Sky talking about food outside; he got back into his boots and walked out into the darkness. It seemed darker than before, a mist was enveloping the camp. 6 benches outside had turned into breakfast bars... a stream of nearly 100 people came from the shelters and tents to get some food; more for the warmth than for hunger.

Kozak joined him and both took shelter from the wind and guzzled their meals.
Out of the darkness 2 tall figures approached, it was Culbert and Higham. Higham looked rough, he was freezing and not yet adjusted to the altitude; but he was raring to continue.
There was no sign of Morgan. The slog through the night had left him drained.
At 03:00 Sky informed the Spartans that they would be the advance party, Mr Wu would lead the Kaoshung force from the rear.
The short rest had given a new surge of energy to the Spartan force, and they ploughed up the path passing all of the other troops ahead of them... but the charge was short lived. Before long, the lack of oxygen started to take its toll. Stops became more frequent: Sky the guide was apologising for needing to stop; but even these men of pride and honour were glad to hear his words. The fog was getting thicker and thicker: by the torch light, all was dark but for a beam of mist in front of their eyes. Finding the path was increasingly difficult.
Eventually they saw a chain pinned into the rock face; the fog had made it wet and cold, and the rock slippery under foot; but it was the only way. Spartan Smith took over from Kozak at the front as the small force hauled themselves up the rockface, desperate not to tumble over the edge. The gloves made little difference in protecting the hands gripping the icy chain. And the wind grew stronger with every step further upwards. It seemed as though years must have past finding a route through that hell on earth. But eventually, Smith cried out; "The top - there it is!" The Spartans spent little time looking at the post marking their conquest... the wind was too strong; Sky had found a pocket in the peak, a bit of shelter from the raging winds and there the Spartans huddled waiting for sunrise.

Though the sky seemed more blue than black, no sun could be seen through the dense cloud... by the time details in the Spartans' faces could be seen, other groups were making the last struggle of their journey to the top. Sky yelled that the team must return down the mountain, but the side of the mountain was more hazardous than the peaceful shelter where the men huddled. The warmth of day failed to reach them, so back down the mountain they headed, squeezing past the oncoming hikers on the narrow ledge of a path. With gravity coaxing them on and less need for the scarce oxygen in the air, the team made great time... it was odd to see the route in the daylight: such grand rock forms everywhere.

On arrival at the hostel, the warden approached the Spartans demanding their permits; unfortunately, Wu still had them at the top of the mountain.
Morgan woke from his needed sleep to the smell of noodles cooking. After a short rest and a bite to eat, the Spartans again left the others behind and slowly descended the great Yushan.

After an hour or so, the sun finally did reveal itself, and the magnificent view could be seen, but the top of Yushan remained in cloud.

The last hour took it's toll on their feet; subconsciousness took over and carried them back to the main hostel.

To celebrate; Wu and Sky took the Spartans out for dinner, although they barely had the energy left to lift the chopsticks. That evening, Spartan Smith went to bed at 5pm and didn't wake until 9am on Monday; and he wasnt the only one.

Spartans: Duncan J Smith, Nick Kozak, Andy Higham, Jeff Culbert, Tim Morgan

view

How was you Friday 13th?

2007-04-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

For me it lived up to it's name;
I got pulled over by a traffic cop for going through a red light.
I copied the wrong set of exam papers for one of my classes.
I made a tax-back cheque void by entering the English date 07, not the Taiwanese year of 96.
And I received a speeding fine for the day I was picking up Jenny and John from the airport - the day the car was dropped off late.
Today is Saturday the 14th, I wish you all good luck and happiness.

Spring Scream Music Festival: Kenting

2007-04-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, the Thursday was a holiday, so in order to have a 4 day weekend, we all agreed to make up the Friday next Saturday (a decision we still may regret). The four-day weekend was timed perfectly to coincide with Spring Scream.
Local bands, The Idiots and The Dolittles made up of mainly Changhua teachers had made the line up, so to support them a full coach of Westerners headed off early Thursday morning from Changhua main school.
The weird thing was that I didn't know half the people on the bus. I thought it would be all Shane peeps but no. Still they were a cool crowd. Dave (dolittle bass) put on one of his Dave mixes which always make a journey easier. Half way there the coach made a stop at a place where you could "toilet, buy beer and food". Well it had olbviously been a while since he had been down this route. The gas station he stopped at was shut down with no shop and the only "toilet" was an open mens urinal or an algae covered squatter space with the door smashed in. The funny thing was the driver didn't seem to think any of this a problem. We forced him to stop again before we got there.
I soon recognised the rolling Kenting Hills I'd cycled around months back: we were there!
The coach couldn't get up the driveway as there was a huge frame with all the festival's bands across it blocking the road; the driver said we shouldnt try to move it, so we waited for a couple of shuttled buses to collect us from the main building. They were tuck-tucks (2 benches in the back of a pick up truck). We formed a chain and passed all the luggage, food and guitars into the tuck tuck. It was a short drive to reception where we unloaded the vans. We were in the middle of a large holiday resort filled with 4-8 man cabins and every space had a stage assembled upon it. The headliners for the weekend would be playing at 2 large stages at the tip of Kenting a drive from where we were staying. The smaller bands would be playing here in the resort.
After a long wait, Rachel (Dolittle vocals and mum to us all) had our keys and we were reloading the tuck-tucks to get to our cabins.

I would be staying with Kim and Erica (Changhua English teachers) and a guy known as puppet: Matt. The four of us were sharing 2 double beds but that was something you get used to in Taiwan. Collin a Scottish guy who no-one remembers meeting had a problem with his camping arrangments, so he and his two Taiwanese friends were sharing the floor of our living area.

Rachel had been shopping and our cabin soon became a fluid sandwich production factory.

The event was supposed to kick off at 2pm. However there was little going on at any of the stages and I kept thinking it would have more people around. maybe on Saturday!

At 4ish we managed to locate the bar, burger and burito stands... which was all too tempting to resist even after the giant lunch we'd had . The first act I saw was in the circle; it was a Taiwanese band; they looked like college students and rightfully terrified at being first on. They didn't sound too bad despite their rigidity throughout their set.

As the sun started to sink we headed to the hillside stage and watched a collection of interesting bands: including one whose last song had only 2 lyrics: there are 2 sides of the road, one's for driving and the other is for driving. A little crazy, but you'll have to watch the flick i took.

Gemma and her friend only just in from Hong Kong Vicky finally arrived after most of the sets had finished. They'd had a hellish day of Taiwanese transport hurdles, but were glad to be here.

Knackered from the long day and keen not to miss breakfast the next morning; we took an early night.

The next day we got up stupidly early and threw on our clothes and headed to the dining room. To my delight breakfast was Western and Chinese: we had fish in breadcrumbs, bacon, sausages, scrambled egg, cereal and toast. I happily stuffed myself.

As a few people hadn't been to Kenting yet, we thought we'd investigate the shuttle bus. Sadly we were told that the shuttle service didn't start until 3pm... it was now 11am. We tried a taxi but they were all busy... in the end we had enough people to hire a small bus to take us there.

We spent the morning shopping down the packed main street. And after a touristly priced lunch, Gemma Vicky and I headed to the beach to chill. It turned out Vicky had backpacked through Cambodia and Vietnam earlier in the year; she had loads of great advice for me: including not to go with the tour group I'd almost signed up for. From the beach we went for dinner in a nice Thai restuarant. As we were fairly close to the 2 main stages, we thought we'd check them out. We found a shuttle bus that took us to the venue, where the lighthouse towered in the background. The first stage we came to - again - seemed not to have that many people in front of it, but we sat with a drink and watched a couple of bands, one of which 'I.R.I.S.' sounded very much like a Taiwanese Manic's or Ash. We walked over a hill to the second stage and finally it felt like I was part of a music festival. Everyone in Kenting must have been there.
We caught the last part of a blues/funk band with an excellent Taiwanese singer. Then there was a boy band that had everyone including the fellas screaming and singing along (there's nothing unmacho in Taiwan about blokes listening to boybands or wearing pink clothes - just come down to the poolhouse in Yuanlin - they're all doing it!).

The last act was good, but her music was a bit slow... so we walked back to the other venue and caught the end of a really cute artist who had the crowd in the palm of her hand.

The journey back to the resort was fairly easy, but the music had ended. As I walked back to my cabin, I passed another with 30 people or more crammed in for a jam session; I'm sure it sounded better to the players than to those on the outside. Despite the noise, I slept like a baby!

On Saturday; I discovered why they call Matt puppet.

As part of our Dolittle groupie task list; we walked round the resort promoting the band (which would be playing at 3pm) with Rachel made garments and posters. Matt brought his dog (Matt's a ventriloquist) to sell the band. Now Matt's a funny guy, but RJ is hilarious, I spent more time talking to the dog than Matt. It was soon time for The Idiots to play. A fair crowd had gathered on the hillside. Now the Idiots [Canadians Abe, Sean and Chris with Irish brothers James and Mark] had spent most of the weekend drinking, smoking and having a good time; pretty much like they all day everyday... so we were all surprised by the quality of music that flowed forth from the stage. The first song included a rap piss-take of themselves and their rise to stardom: The Idiots from Changhua! The overall sound was quite blues-like. For more info http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=151512306

The Dolittles were on straight after, but as fate would have it, a rain cloud drove in and scared off the Taiwanese contingent in the crowd for half the set. Despite the weather the set went down really well. http://www.myspace.com/thedolittles and as a result Andy was asked to support a band in Taipei the following weekend.

Gemma and Vicky went back into Kenting but I decided to stick around and see the bands playing that evening in the resort.

Of note were:

this crazy band from NYC using 2 accordians and a clava-something... (electrical instrument controlled by waving your hands about) a very Hungarian folk sounding band;

Atash - a band with members from all over the world - Arabian feel to the music. The lead singer was in his 50s and drove the crowds wild by dancing waving a white hankie in the air.

The Anglers: funk/reggea band with brass galore!

Faye, a girl who had been on the coach with us with her guitarist and percussionist; she had a great voice and a nice country sound. The rain came pouring down while she was singing, but we didn't mind getting wet for it.

At the end of the night there was an Air Guitar competition to win guitars, a drum kit and a keyboard. The hopefuls varied in style and skill. Then suddenly Puppet gets up on the stage and had RJ playing Smells like Teen Spirit... the crowd loved it and for a while we thought he was going to win, but the judge said you couldnt use props... that didnt stop two blokes taking the stage seconds later jumping around with real dogs.

One crazy evening. One crazy weekend.

http://www.springscream.com/

Sharne's Birthday weekend

2007-03-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

The weekend of Sharne's birthday was nice well-needed relaxing break in Puli.
Gemma and Sharne drove their scooters into my garage and then took Pascal's van out for a spin. It hadnt been driven in a while so we were a bit unsure as to whether it would start: it did... phew
Jeff, Michelle and me jumped in Sam's car (well Tai's car) and led the way to Puli to find a nice camp ground to stay on.
Sam had said it was "only an hours journey" and therefore jinxed the whole trip.
The first town we got to we circled a couple of times to find road to Puli and a coffee shop... for coffee.
The second larger town we seemed to pass the same roundabout 3 times and when we finally did find the road to Puli, I recognised the Chinese sign for coffee to our right and we pulled in for a drink.
Sharne pulled up beside us and there was a bang and a hiss. hmmm. The van was smoking and a pool of liquid was gathering underneath it: not petrol thankfully... but this didn't look good.
The owner of the coffee shop came out and called a mechanic. He arrived within 15 minutes and while we drank coffee and tea he diagnose a broken fan belt... but nothing he couldn't fix in an hour.\
We transfered the tents to Sam's car and scouted ahead to find a campsite.
It was after 4 by the time we reached Puli... I had a vision of another 2 hours spent driving in circles... so I persuaded everyone to head to hte campsite we knew at Sun Moon Lake.
The van was already on the move again when we got there. We spent far too long trying to put up a tent with the wrong poles. The plan was for a BBQ for dinner and as soon as the van arrived I took to lighting it.... with a blow-torch. It's about the most manly thing you can do on a campsite where you're not aloud to chop trees down with big axes.
Sam had bought a beautiful selection of meats and salads and before long we were contentedly stuffed finishing it off with a glass of red.
After dinner, came the drinking games including Good-day Bruce, Zip Zap Zop, or was it Zop Zip Zap? and Yeah Ha! (ask for details when i get back).
The rain that had been teasing with us all evening finally poured down half way through the night and everyone crammed into the back of the van. I had confidence in my tent, but the ground was too hard for pegs and it wasn't long before there were rivers flowing around the sleeping area.

The next morning the sun returned so we were able to dry the tents and head out to the village in search of breakfast: those bamboo rice steamed things I had when my sister was here. We also had some icecream.
In the afternoon we had a walk round the temple in all its glory. This time the view was mist free across the lake Gemma found the only saloon on the lake (or is it just a toilet?)
We were going to go to a good steak house on the way back, but sadly we couldn't track it down so we ended up driving all the way back to Yuanlin trying to find food that would be a change, but would also have an English menu.
We ended up at a BBQ joint... but I could barely stay awake to eat. Gemma and Sharne stayed the night which was cool coz in the morning we had fruit smoothies to start the day: thanks Sharne.

Tour de Taiwan in a Nissan

2007-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

9th-19th March: Jenny and John come to visit.
It was 10:17 before I was finally on the road to the airport in the hire car that had been dropped off late, having made photocopies of my life-documents, topped her up with petrol and figured out - probably by accident - how to release the gear stick in an automatic. (lesson 1: to release the gearbox, first apply the brakes) Despite the downpour, i was making great progress until an accident stopped everything on the road. As we had stopped and the road was flat i took my foot off the brake (lesson 2: in an automatic, the car will move forward if in drive and no brakes are on). The guy in front was very reasonable about the scratch on his rear car and settled the incident before the traffic got moving again.... moving except me: battling to start the engine (lesson 3: an automatic car must be in Park to start the engine)
I arrived at the airport at about 1pm (1hr30 after their plane touched down). I abondoned the car in terminal 2 carpark, remembering that's where the international flights left from and sprinted to the arrivals lounge... nobody there. I explained the problem to the helpful check-in lady "terminal one" she said "there's a shuttle bus there in 5 minutes" I ran on. To my relief, they were still waiting there when i arrived. Not the best of starts to the holiday.
The route from the airport to Taipei was relatively simple and incidentless. We got to the area of our hostel with an hour to spare. The owner was to meet us there at half three to let us in. We couldnt see the name of the hostel along the mainroad, but there were a few sidestreets so we left the car with blinkers on and went to investigate. We showed the address to a girl in a shop and she pointed us down the road. I cautioned John that in Taiwan it was best to get atleast 3 sets of directions before assuming any set was correct. Eventually we wound up outside a an appartment building that was locked, in small writing on one of the postboxes was written 'Formosa Hostel'. The lady let us in and showed me to the rooms; i say rooms, but a closer look revealed that it was one room with a bunk bed cut in two, the wall zigzagging round the bed. Not the best rooms i'd seen, but the communal area seemed nice enough.
John and Jen were both nackered but hungry so we went for a walk to find the night market for some snacks and maybe even some snake blood. However, I underestimated 3 things: the size of taipei, the accuracy of its maps and the inability of its people to read maps or give directions. In the end we gave up and stopped at a small buffet style cafe and tucked into a nice variety of taiwanese nosh.
We took the MRT back to the hostel where we chilled and watched meet the Fockers on TV.
The next morning I bought some dan-bin for everyone; a tradional Tai breakfast egg in pancake with soya sauce. I planned an easy day walking round the most famous landmarks of the capital. Although as everything still seemed new and extraordinary to Jen and John, we stopped every 5 minutes to take pictures of the sublime to the ridiculous. On the way we discovered a small garden that seemed dedicated to preserving the natural in the heart of a city sprawling uncontrollably upwards and outwards. We also came across a cultural centre with aboriginal and hakka handicrafts on display where I learnt a lot about dragons!
After visiting Chang Hai Shek memorial hall and watching the changing of the guard and seeing my first squirrel in Taiwan, I was pleased to discover a Hakka Festival taking place down the next road. There was almost a km of stalls selling trinkets, teas, treats and Norwegian biscuits (dont ask me why). We stuffed ourselves on freebies, noodles and pancakes.
We then headed to the Sun Yat Sen memorial hall after which I'd planned to go to the top of Taipei 101 and chill taking photos until the sun went down; however the mist was so bad, we couldn't see the top of 101 from the ground next to it. Jen did get some boots though, from a shop inside 101.
Tired from walking round; we thought we'd treat ourselves to a proper meal at a restuarant: The Green Leaf. Well I knew that Taiwanese are very friendly but I wasnt expecting a giant gong to be struck as we entered; every worker paused to wish us Siergorney (welcome). i was a little surprised to see everyone eating hot pots... when the lonely planet had given the impression that this was the opposite. I dont mind hot-pots but it means cooking your own veg and meat which is far from relaxing and only beaten in calorie-burning-food-preparation by Japanese BBQ where you have to keep pouring water on everything to avoid burning the place down.
Still we survived both the food and the extortionate bill (relatively) and I think the J's enjoyed the experience.
We finished the evening back at the hostel with a game of cards and trying to get away from one of the guests; an american jewel dealer who was trying to persuade John to teach abroad for the money, the experiences and the girls!
Sunday morning. I was glad to find that the car was still parked illegally with the rest of the city's automobiles. We gave the keys back to the owner and headed out of the city; the plan being to get to the north coast by lunchtime.
Well the signals weren't brilliant but we were pretty sure we were heading the right way until our dual carriage way suddenly decayed into a footpath and forced us to head back. We saw a sign to where we wanted to be, but a policeman was blocking the road and sent us the wrong way. I decided to make a U-turn while the road was clear, when suddenly bang: a scooter that had been trying to overtake me on the wrong side of the road had somehow ploughed into my rear door. Now after the stories of Pascal's accident and how much it cost him, my stomach started to tighten a little when i noticed this was a no-turn road. The scooter rider was up and hobbling about and it wasnt long before the police arrived and started recording all the evidence. Sadly the poliman didnt speak a word of English but after some time he gestured for us to follow him to the hospital. There we met a foreign correspondent - nice guy - told us we were both in the wrong asked me to fill out a number of forms and told me to give one form back to the rental company. As his English was so good I asked him if he knew how to get to where we were going. He kindly led the way for us, until we were on route for the coast again.
It was a gray day, but when we finally came out onto the coastal highway, the huge waves indicated it was pretty windy as well. We got out long enough to look at a lighthouse on the very northern tip of the island. We were wrapped up in everything we had and still shivering. On the way back to the car we took shelter in a seafood place in a village where children were prodding puffer fish to make them blow up... I'm not sure what they were going to do next, but it didn't look hopeful for the fish. We dined on shrimps with wusabi sauce and noodles.
It was getting dark as we continued along the road. We were looking out for hostel signs. The motels were too expensive. Eventually we pulled up in Keelung. There was a sign for 500 dollars a room. Fantastic!
I went up to the reception and asked for two rooms. The lady said "Tomorrow" i said ''no today, now", she kept on asking about tomorrow; pointing at her clock. I thought 'how can she know the English for tomorrow and not for today?' but when Jenny and John arrived she produced two keys and handed them to us. I paid her the 500 and went into the room. It was odd. There was a ceiling mural of lots of naked bodies... a thought suddenly hit me. I went back out to the lady... turns out it was only 500 for 2 hours; ooops. Too tired to move, I paid her the difference and we chilled out for the night; feasting on what Jen thouht were sweet biscuits but were actually more like fishy space invaders.
The next morning; there was a ticket on the car. 'Great!' I thought 'Just what i need' but then i remembered that in Taiwan, instead of parking meters, parking people go round putting tickets on your car whihc you then pay at 7/11 or other stores. So after a fatty breakfast of a fried bread sandwiche, we started the 'scenic' drive to Hualien. The clouds were dark and rolling, but they cast amazing backdrops over the jagged cliffs and turbulent waters. Every twenty minutes or so, we found reason to stop and snap up what we could of the landscape.
As the drive was long, we stopped half way to look at the "temple near waterfall". I don't know if we were at the right place, but there certainly was a waterfall. We followed a path up and round the hillside until it came to a Christian .... thing. It wasnt a church, and yet it was too small to be a monastary... but a lot of work and money had gone into it's creation.
The scrawniest dog in the world decided to follow us up the path that just kept going... we were expecting to find two waterfalls at the top as the map had said: but on the way back down we realised that that path had been roped off. Ah well: nice bit of exercise.
So much so that we treated ourselves to some peanut butter icecream wrap... imagine a cajun chicken wrap with no chicken but instead icecream with toffee and peanut grated off this large block. mmmmm!
Back in the car and not wanting to have no place to stay again, we drove straight on to Hualien.
The city was actually quite nice, a first for Taiwan. It seemed to be quieter, fresher and more scenic and spaced out than most places. We were looking for the Police Hostel mentioned in my book. Jenny pointed to one place and I laughed saying it was too grand for a hostel... but no! It was the hostel! It was 400/person which was already good; but I thought I'd try my haggling skills and to everyone's amazing including mine; we all got in for 1000 (including buffet breakfast). Jenny was peckish so we showered and headed to a little market street I'd seen: had a nice big buffet and bought some fruit and drinks for the next day in Taroko Gorge.
Tuesday. We actually got up early which was good because there was a lot of breakfast to get through. Stocked up and packed we hit the road with hardly any traffic at all. By midmorning, the entrance to the gorge engulfed us. We had somehow gone past the office where I'd planned to get some info, but between the lonely planet and a map in Chinese, we managed to find all the top spots.
We started at a retreat centre half way up the gorge. There was no place so quite and awesome. Sheer cliffs rose on all sides and there were little walks around the pristine gardens. Still we wanted more of a challange so we moved on to the Eternal Spring: dedicated to the people who lost their lives building the road from East to West. There were tunnels through the rock to the spring and a small temple though which the water flowed. The original had been buried by a landslide during The earthquake, but the replica was quickly erected. I found some steps at the back of the cave that seemed to lead up the side of the cliff. I followed them and Jen and John were close behind. It was a little unnerving as there was a 200 meter drop to the right and only some thin rope and posts at knee height to stop me falling off. Still curiousity overcame anxiety. At the top I looked across an saw the bell tower we had seen from the bottom. The path hugged the cliff round to the precipice on which the tower was standing. From the top we could see right down the valley beneath us east and west.
Our next stop was in a little resort village to find the 2 waterfalls, but on the way we stopped to take a picture of frog rock: a rock that looked like a frog (strangely enough).
The visitor centre there had a lot of information about the flora and forna of the Park, but no useful maps. So, not for the first time this week, we head in the opposite direction across a bridge to a temple on the hill. Then turned round after asking a monk and starting again. The start of the walk to the 3 waterfalls was the entrance to a very long, very dark tunnel. I've never walked through a tunnel so long in all my life. It made you feel unbalanced and time slowed down; so it was a relief when finally we were out in the open again. A river was there. but no waterfalls. So we followed the river path as the water carved through the smooth rock; trying not to disturb the number of bees nests hanging in the trees.
The walk was long but it was worth it; at the end of the last tunnel, we came to a rope bridge across to a view point shelter. Turbulent white water flowing under the bridge and up the side of the cliff could be seen the two waterfalls so high above that there could be a whole valley flowing into this one that we didn't know about. Jenny took a moment before crossing the bridge with us. It was a bit rickety.
On the way back we had a paddle in the water, but it was a bit frigid.
Back in the car we decided it was time to head on to Puli to find a place to stay before it got too dark. I knew it was going to be a perilous drive. All guide books seem to give the same info on how many die each year crossing the 'highway' (literal use here of the word). It soon became clear how; as a car with blinkers on overtook 3 vehicles on a blind corner. I kept that in mind of drivers coming the other way and hugged the cliffside, much to the discomfort of John. The road climbed higher and higher, twisting and narrow so that not more than 50kmph could be accomplished. As we rose higher, the cloud started to engulf us, as if we were on the set of A Christmas Carol. Photos couldnt do the scene justice. And all the time the egg timer sun, kept sinking in the sky.
We finally found ourselves driving over the top of the mountains... must have been over 3000 meters high... and the road got slowly wider as we descended down towards Puli.
It was dark when we drove through Puli. Not knowing the town that well, I suggested we tried our luck at Sun Moon Lake not 20 mins down the road. So after some fantastic noodles, we followed the road to the lakeside village. We quickly found the Teachers Hostel mentioned in my guide, but the receptionist was less into haggling, so 40o each it was. Too exhausted to explore we hit the sack after a couple of rounds of ******** - the card game.
The next morning I was poisoned - well not poisoned - but there was something served for breakfast that was about as wrong to eat as fluffy pork. My face grimaces thinking about it.
Tried to down the flavour (salty mold?) with toast and tea, but that just made me feel bloated :(
The window view of the lake would have been great, if the hotel had been built facing the other way. We drove up to the village and went for a wander. The lake had shrunk noticeably since the times I'd been in 2006. But then the wet season was yet to start. It seemed to have lost its intensity of blue. A mist was rolling in as well which was a shame.
We meandered down the touristy shops by the lake and John bought a hat that made him look Australian - according to Jen and a Tai tourist who wanted his photo. The shops round the lake mainly sell aboriginal merchandise; which included giant wooden male genitalia... no where else had I seen them in Taiwan. For lunch we had rice and meat packed and steamed inside a large piece of bamboo cooked by a very happy chef. It was dead nice actually! Then I took them to the temple on the lake. It was packed with school kids on a trip. They must have been city kids, because they didn't seem affected by the three wigoran walking around.
Feeling a bit travel-weary; after popping into a temple further round the lake, we decided to head home to Yuan lin. Jenny slept through the journey, but John valiantly attempted to navigate using the less than accurate maps and sometimes none existent road signs.
I took them the scenic route over Baigoshan down to my house along the tropical plant laden road.
Having no food in the house, they soon agreed to go to Bert's Pizza place for dinner.
Thursday! An easy day.
We drove into town and picked up a box for me to send stuff home in from the post office. Then on to school. I hadnt been in for 8 days which is longer than any other point in the year: scary thought! I felt like the prodical son returning home. I discovered the plan for the weekend: TA meal with teachers on Friday and a cocktail party on Saturday at Gemna's (Jenna and Gemma used in the collective). Both sounded great. It's funny how you don't notice how you speak to people around you; and yet Jen swore I was putting on some accent to talk to the TA's.
We went for a walk round the highstreets of Yuanlin and I was shocked to find how cheap everything was. I'd not really had any need to clothes shop in the year (except for that dress).
It was almost dark before we'd finished looking round. On the way home we picked up some DVDs from Blockbuster to chill out in front of (including Children of Dune-great flick-great book).
The next day, I'd planned to go to the forest, but I wasn't sure how long it would take. So we drove in that direction, but planned to visit the Monastary on route that Nick Tim and me had checked out a while back. I told Jen and John that all we had to do was walk through and a monk would start giving us a tour. I told them how every monk was trained in 4 languages to help spread enlightenment. Well the first monk was tied to a table full of lilies... and she didn't speak English: obviously studied Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and Italian on her training.
She did get someone to translate: we were to put the lilies at the foot of the Vishnu to ensure protection on our journey.
The monastary was still impressive without a guide. There were no other monks around: Friday must be laundry day.
We were heading back to the car when a gardener enthusiastically directed us to the garden behind and a hall filled with Bodhisattva: trainee buddha's that have reached enlightenment.
A monk walking around inside, invited us in and gave us a lengthy Q&A sessions on everything we'd seen. Did you know? Every Budhisattva has a different skill (musically gifted, good orator, clear minded etc). To gain the skill you need, you must pray to the appropriate Budhisattva.
From in front of the giant building, Jenny could see a golden Laughing Buddha on the opposite mountain side. We jumped into the Nissan and drove!
It was an effort getting the car up the access road; but the statue was amazing. 50 meters high bronze coated in gold plate with a statue maybe half the height on either side of him of Vishnu and someone else. A happy monk was there to take our shoes and give us some paper slippers. He then passed us on to a Chinese speaking guide, who seemed to think I knew what he was on about... and I translated roughly to John and Jen who were pretty sure I didn't know what he was on about. Underneath the giant statue was a room with jade covered floor panels and gold walls and ceiling with lily flowers etched in. There was the usual host of bodhisattvas around the ajoining chambers. Pretty stunning. On the way out the happy monk ran to the car window to give us a lucky pendant and bracelets. How nice!
Looking at the map, the forest didn't look too far away. However the map didn't mark all the turns or road works happening on the road. Still, we got there before night fall... and as we sat drinking coffee and eating "thick toast" in the coffee house there, they agreed that this was one of the more scenic parts of Taiwan. Well, when there wasnt a logging truck steaming past and covering you with smoke. I took them to where we'd been camping in that first crazy month in Taiwan. We went for a walk and I suddenly remembered that I got over 70 mozzy bites last time I was here... and as the sun dipped, we became more aware of the buzzing around us and the insects flying into us. We legged it back to the car and drove the heck out of there.
Back home I met Edward my replacement for the first time and gave him the old house-sell speech that I'd given Tim and Nick in case he wanted to move in after I left.
From there we drove to the TA meal... although you'd think we weren't welcome the way that Emma our guide drove off with no return and then Nick tracked us down told us to take the next right, but then himself goes straight on.
Still, the meal was nice. Nick and Tim up to their usual antics... Edward practising his Chinese on the TAs (he's good - Pascal's gonna have competition when he gets back) and Jen and John trying to be as open minded as possible with the variety of strange sea foods on the table.
I did try and start a migration to KTV but the TAs need atleast a months notice for something that keeps them up past 9pm.
On Saturday we drove to Lugang to experience the best of Taiwanese food and culture. The place is so famous for it that when we arrived we were asked to fill in a form for a Taiwan Tourism survey. We started at the Lugang's oldest temple which had some event going on where gods were being carried down the street and people were dressed up in masks and parading the streets with an assortment of instruments. Jenny was worried we weren't aloud in, but every weekend has some festival somewhere in Taiwan.
From the temple we walked down the market streets trying the battered sea food and nut pancake snacks that are everywhere; and playing the icecream game... spin the wheel for number of scoops. I also managed to find a Chinese top that fit really well. Although I haggled the guy down, I think I haggled him from Westerner price to actual price; still felt like a good deal at the time. We also managed to find gift for friends and family that were very Taiwanese. We shopped until we dropped. And then sped home down the motorway -that ends at my house almost- to get ready for the party... which took longer for some than others :)
Everyone was at the party. Jenna greated us with a tray of rummy bears. I donated the bottle of plum wine left at our house on the curry night. It was nice to see everyone and retell the week's adventure to 30 people. The highlight of the event was the limbo competition of which Jenny was announced queen and Dave the king. Minnimal injury all round.
After 4 or 5 warnings from the police that we were too loud, we moved venue to the Sportsman bar where a karaoke was in place but the lyrics were backdropped with films of naked women rolling around. But everyone did well ignoring it. Jenny tried a couple of songs as well but the speakers were on such pants echo setting that it didn't do her justice. At least now, we can all blame the speakers for singing badly.
Sunday: woke up late. Thought I'd treat the guys to a Steak House meal: an all you can eat and drink buffet for less than a fiver + a big piece of steak. I took a back route alongside a canel to avoid Yuan lin town centre, a route I'd taken a hundred times before on a scooter. But today a dog decided to jump out of a bush and in front of the car with maybe 4 meters to spare. I hadn't pushed down on the peddal before a thump sounded. Funnily enough John had been talking about a rule in the UK, you have to stop if you hit a dog but not if you run over a cat. This went through my mind as I rolled to a stop. I reversed slowly and noticed that there was no dead door in the road. I kept going back. A man in a yard smiled to me "Mwaygwanshee" he said : don't worry! he pointed and there was a dog running around unharmed... still not convinced, I nodded and drove slowly off down the rest of the road.
The steak was good in the Changhua steak house. Jen and John couldn't believe it wasn't more expensive. We ate until the sun went down. Then chilled out listening to music back at the house.
Monday was a lot of packing but not before we'd had a last Chinese buffet in Yuanlin.
We left for the airport with a car so dirty that the electric windows wouldn't open, but the rain washed some off on route. At the airport I was relieved when they took my guitar as hold luggage without a fuss. We'd made such good time that they now had over three hours to kill.
Their holiday had passed so quickly it seemed sureal to be back at the airport so soon. I was wondering what kind of impression they'd taken in of Taiwan.
I was teaching the next day so I stayed for an hour walking round the standard airport shops and drinking in starbucks - the only time it seems right to pay this much for coffee. Then we made our farewells - not too emotional as I'd be seeing them again in a couple of months - and I made my way back to Yuanlin.

The next day I gave the car back; the man said that the insurance paid for the damage to the scooter and the driver... but I had to pay car damage; which including the missing fog light caused by the dog (can't believe he's not dead) was 10,000.... ahhhh. (not pounds)
It would have been cheaper to buy two more scooters than rent the car of doom...
It's all about the adventure!

Lanterns and Fireworks

2007-03-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

This Sunday past was the Lantern Festival across Taiwan and in certain towns, events were put on for the public in the same way as the Dragon Boat Festival was held in Lugang. Tom, his girlfriend Sophie, Nick and I were headed south towards Chaiyi to see the biggest event. Nick was confident that we would find our way there and I was confident that everyone else would have the same plan that evening.
We drove through the town and everything looked a little quiet... after asking we were told the main event was 30mins south, so we drove some more. Eventually we arrived at a massive carpark. A park and ride system was in operation and as it was late, we had no problems getting on the bus. Before long we had been deposited within view and earshot of the Lantern Festival.
Festival always makes it sound more cultural, more authentic, but in fact most of the area looked like Hull fair. There were food stands in their hundreds much to my delight (taccos are fantastic). There were huge pedalcarts in the shape of crazy animals on a small field. And there were lanterns... Millions of lanterns. There were traditional ones, themed ones (animals, birds, insects) and massive ones with corporate sponsors.
One such lantern: the Changhua Telecom Pig started to smoke and move as we walked past it... this turned into a lazer light show (which was pretty cool).
The whole time there was Traditional music playing over the mega amps. I got excited at one point because I thought I could see musicians on a stage, but they were just camera crew... then a second later we stumbled upon a whole orchestra playing what can only be described as Chinese Cowboy Music... Yep!
On the opposite side there were two corridors of lanterns that had been made by junior high students for a competition that night... some looked better than the corporate ones.
The whole area left you feeling in a dreamy daze... wave after wave of beautiful lantern lights...
It was about 9 when we left... but the queue to get back onto the bus for the carpark was nearly a mile long and it wasnt moving. Nick suggested walking which made sense except we didn't know where to go.
Then on the main road, we managed to hail an already fully loaded bus... and cram ourselves into the doorway: teacher training in London really paid off: call this a squash-you should try the Underground!
Back at the carpark we popped out again and walked back to the car.
The night was far from over however.
We were on our way to Yanshui Firework Festival!
In the boot we had our helmets, thick coats and hiking boots and a towel.
Why?!
Because in Yanshui they don't fire the fireworks upwards; they go sideways!

It all started many moons ago when the area was ridden with plague, rats and pestilence. In an desperate effort to end the suffering the people looked to the Gods for an answer. The Gods sent fire! And it worked.
So every year since the people of Yanshui - as a vow never to forget their debt to the Gods - have set fireworks lose on each other and given thanks for the blessing of fire.
A little crazy! Yeah! Hence the gear in the trunk.
There was the reassuring trail ambulances leaving the town as we got nearer.
When we arrived, we kitted up and followed the hundreds of people along the main road until we came across a 6 wheeled trailer that had just been pulled across the road. Inside could be seen hundreds of small fireworks aimed outwards like some medieval seige weapon.
Everyone was equally protected, some people were even holding plastic screens and card panels out in front of them. I wrapped the towel round my head and neck before donning my helmet -after hearing a horror story about a guy having his hair singed - then waited; camera in my ungloved hand.
When the noise kicked off, it was hard to see what was happening, the overkeen at the front were talking the main impact, but suddenly red flashes were everywhere on the floor, I could feel my legs taking a pommeling. A few fly past my hand so I made for behind a group with a shield. But these fireworks were like cluster bombs, coming in from all sides... as soon as it had started, it finished... and through the smoke i made for the others. "Again" we were all thinking.

The policeman said the next one wasnt until 1am. It was now 11pm and we didnt believe him so we headed up the high street in the direction of the banging.
After an age, we finally found another one. We came just at the end of it, so we sat down to rest our feet. I was 2 words into a text, when Tom Nick and Sophie dived for cover behind a car. The session was obviously not over yet... and some rogue firework had got through the crowd.
There were a few groups of people carrying a figure of a god up in a box. They seemed to know what was going on more than most, so we followed them through the town, and everytime they stopped it was a good sign to get our helmets on and prepare for incoming.
The biggest launch of fireworks was at the town crossroads, where rockets piled into the sky continuously for almost ten minutes. At the end there was a large cheer and people started making their way home... boom!
At that point some firecrackers that had not been triggered exploded, part hit near my eye but left no scars. It was a sign that the night still wasn't over... it was a cautious trek back to the car, before heading home... for a long nights sleep.

The 5 Curries of the Apocalypse

2007-03-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

After a week-long relaxing Chinese New Year holiday, we were given another day off the following Wednesday for no reason that any of the TAs could give in English.
To make the most of the free time, Pascal decided to invite the TA's and teachers up to our house for a curry. Understandably they were a little anxious that it was going to be a 6 hour waiting game again... but we assured them that this time, everything was going to go like clockwork.
T-3 days... on the Sunday evening, Pascal started cooking some lamb curry, allowing the juices to fully marinate the meat. Chic peas in the fridge soaking in water.
T-2 days... I helped Pas cook up some chicken and onions for a spicy tomato rogan josh style curry, while he rustled up a sweet and sour ginger and lime sauce.
T-1 day... on the Tuesday night, we made the chic pea curry with probably more chilli than recommended... the dishes were looking hot!
T-6 hours... that morning we went shopping for last minute food and veg... fried up some onions to put in the rice, added a heap of shrimps into the sweet and sour sauce... and had a long and deep discussion about making another curry: meat or veg?
Pas called meat and meat it was... a chicken tandori: it was pretty much ready by midday.
T-3 hours. Nick arrived and helped roll out the 2 dough balls i'd rolled into chapatis and naan breads. 72 pieces in all!
T-0 The TAs arrived on time and to our surprise everything looked like it was going to be ready on time. The main issue was heat: we had 2 hobs, a gas burner, an electric oven and a microwave to heat 5 curries, 2 pans of rice and a plethora of breads... but with a bit of balancing and luck... we pulled off the perfect
Indian. 25 turned up in the end... so it's a good thing we made extras.

After dinner, one TA spotted Twister in the corner and dispite being full of curry, everyone was eager to play. Possibly as they'd not played it before or more likely that they were losing the capacity to make sensible decisions after May's (Linda's sister) onslaught of sweet wines.
After this, the fall from dignity continued as we were introduced to a card game whereby the person with the king can order 2 other people to do something (however humiliating). I'll let the photos do the talking.

Who knows where this game may have ended... but sadly as the clock struck 9 in the land Yuanlin, all of the TAs had to go home... leaving the four boys (Nick, Tim, Pascal, me) to wonder at the nights events.
Pascal was leaving in a few days, so we went down for one last game of pool for old times sake to round off the entertaining night.

Take a trip to the coast

2007-02-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

On Thursday Duncan had a thought: "I've not been to the coast!"
Well he's been to the sea down in Kenting... but that's like saying you've been to Brighton but not Hornsea when you live in Hull... madness.
So using Googlearth to plot a route from his house to the sea (16 miles as the crow flies) and checking his trusty bike compass was still working, he set out on a grey windy afternoon through Yuanlin Westwards.
The day was not so nice, before long a fine drizzle came down that not so much drenched his clothes, but rather dampened his spirits. The wind was not gusty, more of a dark force that didnt want him to get to the coast.
The road too was probably the dullest he'd cycled down... a concrete dual carriage bordered by dirty warehouses and the occasional neon glass box of the beetlenut girl.
After an hour and 18 miles without a change of scenery, the road seemed to veer northwards. He decided to take a left down a random track which ended in a bustling village centre with the typical touristy traders that appear near attractions... what the attraction round here was, he could not tell.
At the far end of the village he took another turn westwards, and cycled what could have been post-invasion Normandy beach... with still no sign of the sea.
The path narrowed and followed a small embankment. After 20 miles and not sure if he would ever see the sea today, Duncan climbed the embankment for a better view and lo behold! There was the sea 5 metres away. Now he knew this was going to be no Kenting, but this really was the worst bit of coast he'd ever seen: a collection of rocks netted together and covered in litter... the place was lifeless as far as the eye could see, not even any ants scurrying around the rocks. No birds, bugs or seaweed.
"Well so much for that idea" thought Duncan: next time he would stick to the hills for a cycle. He got on his bike and headed the 20 miles back home.

Happy Chinese New Year: shinyi quiler

2007-02-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

A happy Chinese New Year to one and all!
We spent this evening (CNYEve) at the house of Wallace - our friend and landlord, after narrowly escaping our excitable neighbour by promising to go for dinner there the next day. The people of Taiwan believe that the the dirt of the previous year should be washed away before celebrating the new year... not to do so is considered unlucky. And so on route to Wallace's house I was amazed by the fact that every car on the roadside was sparklingly clean... and the houses were opened out onto the street with small fires burning paper money and tables on the street laden with food as offerings to the Gods. Not being washed in a long, the Pascal van sped along the road: painting an unlucky streak across the town.

Wallace and his father were in the business of producing paper dyes. I'd seen his turbo charged Mini Cooper before and assumed that the house would be a palace. It was however a fairly modest flat... very comfortable. There were seven of us for dinner, his wife, brother and his parents. The evening started with intense Chinese tea in tiny cups. Then paper money was burnt in front of the house for a fortuitous new year. The family then went to their shrine (no house is complete without one) upstairs to pray before we joined them round the kitchen dinner table. Expecting Taiwanese cuisine, I was a little apprehensive as they opened up the pots... memories of my first 'Taiwan' meal last year at our neighbours house... not knowing what to eat how to eat it. However my fears were quelled when I realised i knew what everything was - that's a sign you've been in a country too long! I even answered one of Pascals questions.

Happily everything was chopstick friendly... so I followed suit and stuck in. Octopus, chicken, duck, shrimps, a medley of meat and veg soup, Taiwanese cake... made from rice and raddish, noodles, cauliflower (my first in a year), dried fish eggs, bamboo, washed down with a whiskey type drink and more tea. The whole meal went down without much incident... with the exception of our host offering soup; I held out my bowl and realised it wasnt the soup bowl... I made to swap - but too late - hot soup in my lap! Not to worry.
After dinner we went to see Wallace's wife's family as it was her first New Year away from home. Her whole family were there including her toddler nephew who befriended me and as an offer of eternal friendship made a growing pile of candy, nuts and toys until I was burried under everything he owned. I was touched.
The tradition at Chinese New Year is for families to spend the evening gambling. Fortunately for my finances - we have to get up early tomorrow, so we headed home for an early night.

Tomorrow: New Years Day

Well so much for the early night. Having done little but sleep, eat and drink caffeine yesterday; I think I may have got 2 hours sleep a most. Still after a shower and a coffee I perked up pretty quickly and was wondering what the Outdoor Shop guy had planned for our morning cycle.
Adam (American, works at Joy school with Sam) was joining us. We all met at the shop, each wondering how fit the rest of the party were... looking for tell tale signs: Adam and Hike Shop man were both kitted out in lycra and had obviously spent more on their bikes. On the way down I'd been thinking 'the Hike Shop man was over 50 - we can't be going that quickly!' However he turned up with rippling legs sturdy enough to stop a rhino charge.
We set off cruising at a relaxed 15mph. He led us down a series of raised interlinking roads through the rice paddies. As I got my bearings, I remembered a killer road that went up to the temple to the right... I told Adam about it and how I was glad we weren't doing that today.
On the flat I was trailing behind thanks to the friction on my mountain tred wheels... but as our guide turned without warning towards the temple road of doom the tables turned. We stopped to get a swig of water before we took on the climb, much to the enjoyment of many Taiwanese families who were pointing at and taking photos of us, they didn't bat an eyelid however at the black pig roaming the carpark... that was perfectly normal He let me past and agreed to meet us at the temple at the top. I paced myself knowing how it had killed me the last time I'd tried it... but my bike still got to the top first... I had planned to cycle and have a rest where i usually go... but Chinese New Year had turned the Temple into a Honey Pot to hundreds of Taiwanese who wanted to make the best start of the New Year. When the others caught up, we dismounted and pushed ourway through the crowds. A large stage and PA system had been erected where singers and minor celebraties were wishing the best for everyone as loudly as they could. To our delight, our guide informed us that free food was avaible as it is every New Year. It wasn't bad either... noodle medley. Hike Shop man then gave us two options: back to Yuanlin or on to Jiji and back via Nantou. We had the day to use, so we decided to go on to Jiji... he gave us directions but said he was heading back to Yuanlin: fair enough.
The road down to Jiji required little effort in the way of cycling: rolling rollig rolling. As we got closer we saw that a lot of people had had the same idea. The traffic was miles long and only in our direction. We stopped so that Pascal could get a coffee fix. Iced coffee: 2.50! What a rip off! Probably just New Year prices. When we finally got to Jiji it was so packed and full of cars that we decided not to hang around and started to head back.
We took a major road to Nantou which was a bit fumey from the amount of transport on it but when we turned off in Nantou onto the mountain road 139... it rose up out of the congestion and would have been a nice ride, were it not for the incline. I had to keep my mind off the road to prevent myself giving up... it just kept going... I'd lost the other two further down... my knees started to feel jelly-like and then on my left I recognised the temple that I passed on my morning cycles... before long I was sat on a bench and I could see the other two approaching... happily it was all downhill from that point.

One big mountain: 2 snickers and a Powerbar

2007-02-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

We had talked about doing the hike ages ago... then suddenly the weekend came with news that there was snow on the tops of the mountain. We popped down to our local outdoor store (where most of my earnings seem to end up) and purchased a thermal baselayer, some crampons, a headtorch, a insulated mug and a cooking pot.
There were supposed to have been four of us hiking up but at the last minute, Andy3 had to cancel on us. This left Pascal, Tom and me. The three of us met at our house on the Friday night to sort out what we were taking. Tom had a small backpack, 3 bags of fresh fruit and some boots that he had bought that day. Pascal had a 60litre rucksack with enough food and snacks for a week, thermal mat, fleeces and 2 litres of water and wondered why his bag was twice as heavy as mine.
We wanted to give ourselves an easy hike on the Saturday, so we woke at 5am... loaded up the van and headed off along the blissfully peaceful streets towards Lushan.
On route Tom popped into a 7/11 to buy some instant noodles and snickers bars. The further we drove the narrower the road became until it was barely a car width winding up round the mountainsides, steep drops inches from our wheels. We were a little shocked to find ourselves stuck behind a coach of hikers. How had it got round those bends... we soon discovered it hadn't. after 3 minutes and a 7 point turn the coach decided to let us past: nice of him!
We were all glad to be out of the van when we finally reached the start point. We donned our bags stuffed the peanut butter and pepperoni sarnies I'd made that morning down our throats and headed down the road to the path. I was feeling confident and fit for all of 2 minutes, after which path got riduculously sleep, i took a while to get a rhythm on. 20 minutes into the hike Tom broke into the snickers reserve.

There were two hiking groups on the trail from Taipei and a few other families out to get to the snow while it was there.
The environment kept changing dramatically. One minute we were hugging the bare cliffside looking like Gollum, Frodo and Sam crossing Mordor; the next minute we were in a tropical forest touched with a false ice that wouldn't look out of place in Narnia; and then we'd be in a pine forest. The term 'in the shade' had a new meaning here on the mountainside. "Today Lushan will be nice 19degrees; that's 5 degrees in the shade!"
After a couple of hours and 4km we reached the first camp. Eager to test our stuff, we set up the stove and made some tea and finished the fruit and eggs we'd brought. I'll admit, looking around at all the knackered faces, I felt contentedly fit... until 2 kids - no more than 11 years old - came strolling up the path.
From there we carried on. Every now and then, we'd see a patch of snow and we hoped that we'd get some use out of our crampons at the top. Half way up, Pascal's back started giving him grief and Tom was not used to climbing so our breaks became longer and more frequent. After ten km and too long in the shade, we emerged on the mountainside: the peaks in full view. We stopped and cooked up some cuppamagic. Pascal didn't look too good. He'd had a cold before he set off and the climb didn't seem to have improved things.
With 3 km to go before the camp; I put my rucksack on backwards and strapped Pascals bag to my back. Before long we could see the tents on the opposite side... the joy was shortlived... every few minutes the path would zig zag to the left following the shape of the cliff... "so near... and yet so far" eventually and finally feeling physically drained... we cut across onto the campsite. We received a lot of attention from the Taiwanese hikers. There was an hour of daylight left. Tom and Pascal went for kip... but I took Tom's watch and followed a sign to a "Power Monument 2 km>" Round the first bend of the track I met a Taiwanese couple from Taipei who were staying in our dorm. We were heading to the same place. Every now and then we crossed a patch of ice or snow and they watched in awe "You know how to walk on the snow!" they said slipping about behind me. I explained that in England it was an annual thing and that there were many more accomplished snow walkers than me. After almost an hour, a group of walkers past us. "A sea of clouds" they said and looking around: yep- i could see cloud everywhere... but round the corner I was blown away by the gigantic cotton bud swirl down in the Eastern Valley. There was a large concrete monument to commemorate the linking of the East and West power grids constructed by the Japanese when they were here. I took a few photos but the sun was rapidly descending and my hands were suddenly painfully cold. I looked at Tom's watch and saw that I was going to have to hurry if i wanted to make it back for dinner.
I was glad to find when i got back that we were not sleeping in tents as told earlier but in the hostel with many other hikers. The meal laid on was hardly gormet, but it had variety and certainly filled a hole: rice, soup, with fried tofu, bamboo, beans and meats of questionable origin. Not long after I'd finished and started supping on a cup of ginger tea... one of the hostel runners pulled out a guitar and started singing much to the delight of the happy campers.

Before long everyone was in a circle singing and doing syncronised arm movements. An old man on the side slipped a cup of whiskey to the singers whenever he got the chance.
Everyone was very friendly... a couple of ladies invited me to go hiking at 4 in the morning to get to the top of both peaks before midday and see sunrise from the first. I was all for the idea, but a doctor in the hostel had told Pas he had bronchitus (no peaks for him) and Tom was not looking forward to the return leg anyway... let alone after another 7 hours hiking. The compromise was to do one peak and then get back at 8 ish to start the slow descent with Pascal.
Well that night, I wore everything I'd been wearing that day, bar my waterproofs and boots and I was not cold... and probably would have slept soundly had somebody not been snoring all night. I eventually heard the sounds of the cooks coming back into the kitchen to make breakfast... time to rise. The generator was not working this morning so everyone was getting ready for the climb using their headtorches. I felt like part of a SWAT team. Breakfast was even nice than dinner, sweet fried meats fruits and veg... little of which I could identify.

It was half past three when we were eating breakfast... we had been led to believe that the teams would be off at 3:40 to get to the top in time for sunrise. However another hour past before the team that had recruited us set off. "We are a quicker group... we are younger" they told us. Well that was true: they were a quicker group, but everytime they caught up with another team on the trail... they just stopped and waited for the gap to grow again. After an hour, we had reached a frozen lake and stopped. After five minutes... I discovered that after all the waiting... this team weren't even aiming for the main peak at sunrise. Tom and I had two choices... settle for sunrise over a hill and be back to camp in an hour; or leg it, try and catch up with the other groups and get to the top of the mountain before 6:30. Tom flipped a coin... it ruled we skip the mountain and head back: "How long will it take to get to the peak?" we asked a guide. "2 hours" he said "unless you really rush... then maybe 90 minutes."
Sod it! We left the team and trekked up the path and we could soon see the peak ahead of us. No torch lights though. We sped on paying little attention to the ice beneath our feet. The moonlight was so bright that the path was easy to follow: still no torchlight; and then we looked at the hill to our left... there in lines on its sides were streams of little lights. The peak ahead must be the one people were doing later... we turned and cut across towards the southern peak.
As we reached the steep sides a faint orange line rippled across the far horizon.... this was not a good place to be for sunrise... energized by the countdown to the inevitable... I charged up the mountain to the sounds of surprised Taiwanese hikers "You are very strong!" I didn't have time to explain i had just eaten a Powerbar... so I took the complement and continued upwards.
I got to the Southern Peak at exactly an hour after we'd left the other team and quickly snapped up the stunning views of the mountain range before my hands had time to freeze. I had brought a hand warmer with me... but at this height... it did little to help. The collection of hikers on the mountain grew as the sun peeped over the horizon.

It wasn't long after the sunrise that we decided to get back to Pascal. The route back seemed longer than the one up the mountain with an endless set of steps.
Pascal was still asleep, as were most in the campsite, when we got back to the hostel. We were given another breakfast and a healing cup of ginger tea. He didn't feel much better for the sleep so we rearranged the bags so that I could carry the bulky stuff in his bigger bag. We were soon on the path down the mountain, we passed a snowed up waterfall and tried to have our photos taken standing on it... but the icy water prevented us getting the shot. We would just have to find snow someplace else to try our crampons on.
Despite having two breakfasts and finishing my energy bars that morning, the suggestion of lunch at half eleven was very appealing. We found a water pipe which we hope had clean water and cooked up some noodles, sweetcorn, tuna and cuppa soup and mixed it all up. 'Went down a treat. Tom's feet were sore so he took off his boots ... and noticed that only one was his 'oh dear' I thought 'you've pinched someone's boot-they're not gonna be happy!' but then I noticed the boot he was holding was mine.. I looked down... lo behold Tom's boot on my right foot. In all the dirt, they looked pretty similar "Size 8?" I asked ... "Yeah" said Tom.
We continued and past the sign saying "Warning: rockfall" the path looked different somehow... there was a mound of dirt across it. As we got closer we saw stones bouncing across our path... some a few inches across - enough to leave a nasty gash... we got past without any harm... but the path falling away to the left seemed suddenly more dangerous than it did on the way here. After walking ten kilometers, the other teams that had gone on to their second peak, had caught up with us. We made our last cup of tea with the stove and Pascal suddenly seemed to get a boost... the last 4 km were the quickest of the entire expedition... leaving the others in the dust.
We got back to the van not long after four, there was a lady selling pears near where the buses were parked up, which we happily devoured. It was a windy road on the route back... but we were all too tired to notice. Who knows just how epic next weekend will be.

January update

2007-01-23T05:19:00.000-08:00

Big news this month: To celebrate Katrina recovery, I took her down to Taichung last weekend for a spin with Gemma, she was leaking oil a little on the return leg, but has since been patched up. As good as new!
A new member has arrived at the Pascal household, Peggy the shiny-new laptop. It's a Taiwanese make Asus (short for Pegasus-the flying horse). She's a computer, she's a telephone, a TV, a video recorder and so much more.
Chocolate: Too hot to drink! an article on our Full Monty Christmas show antics was published in the Shane Newsletter this week for a fee of NT$1000... easiest money i've ever made.

Saturday 6th. I spent the day in Taichung buying a laptop with Nick. I found the one I was after, but they wanted cash for it. We then had headed to meet Gemma and her Welsh mate Gordon (visiting) at the Jade market, a huge under canvas mase of small tables covered in ... mostly jade things. Dragons, swords, tea sets, jewellery, and Yoda (an ancient man with long white hair - capable of telepathy; provided a bin without our asking). Jenna and Rob were with them. Rob gave everyone a tour of the best Gym in Taichung that was nearby. I declined having to collect 35,000 from different cash machines around the town before collecting the laptop. As we were in Taichung, we thought it right that we spoil ourselves with Fingers (a vaguely western restaurant...selling exclusively western stock). Delicious! The girls wanted to check out Sogo (ginormous department store- more levels than there is time to see in a day). I left everyone there as i ran round to Nova to pick up my computer. I got back to find Rob and Nick trying to sneak out of Sogo.. no use, the girls caught them and were less than pleased.
Would you believe it! When i was waiting in the very large entrance hall, a woman walked right towards and then tripped over my computer box... i was fuming! From there we took the train home to our respective towns.
It got to midnight and I remembered that the Changhua crowd were at the Culture Club that night. So i mounted my trusty scoot and rode North. Abe (Canadian dude) was there with his band... everyone was out, but Gemma and Gordon had gone on to another bar. Dave showed me the way... and eventually i tracked them down. They were singing KTV tunes with Jena, Ray and Lisa. We sang until we were kicked out for making too much noise... then moved to another KTV bar. Lisa was complaining about her shoes... so i tried to prove there was nothing hard about wearing heels.
After many a cheesy duet, we left for home.
I woke up on the floor of Gemma's flat. She and Gordon were going to Lugang that day so they let me tag along. Lugang is always a pleasure to walk along and feel like a Taiwanese tourist instead of a tourist in Taiwan. Stall after stall of interesting foods, drinks, trinkets, jewellery, traditional clothing and artworks within a cosy setting of temples and winding alleys. We were overcome by the Taiwanese spirit of generosity. The day before a man had driven three blocks out of his way to check how to get to Sogo for us. Today a lady was letting us use her family's bathroom behind her cafe on the roadside. The day was a nice leisurely end to the weekend.

On the weekend of the 13th; after many months of turning right after cycling to the top of our hill, Pascal opened a whole new direction to me... Go left my son... Go left!
When he said the road went to Changhua, I thought 'well I've done that on the main road before, it's really not that far'. Well, as some smart arse Scotsman once sang 'Ye take the high road and I'll take the low road.' This was a high road... though not as steep as the temple road... we still had our challenges... kids waving from cars -very offputting; part of the road that was underconstruction- had to navigate over the dirt; and a high number of slow lorries. We popped into see Sharne in Starbucks for five minutes... and then looked at the huge climb back up to Yuanlin: we thought it best under the 'terrible' weather conditions to take the low road back instead (which just so happened to pass by Bert's pizza place). That night we went for a game of pool down in Yuanlin. The score, 14 games to 1 Pascal... but that really doesnt describe how close each game was! On the Sunday I cycled back to the temple on my traditional route, before having dinner at Sam's house with her and Hollie. Tried asking for a bowl of rice to take to the meal from my local lunchbox place... took the manager to come out before they believed that i only wanted a bowl of rice.

This weekend just gone has been pretty eventful. It was Ross's birthday and he was having a party on the Fri night in Bono's (C'hua). Nick was gonna hitch a ride on my scooter... after work we went for some noodles and a beer to shake off the fatigue left by 4 hours of straight teaching. We were just finished and ready to go home to tart ourselves up, when Pascal rang; his van had broken down. It'd managed to do this at the only part of Pascal's life that wasn't half way up a hill. We tried 4 times to push start her, but she was dead. It was after 11pm before I was ready to drive to Changhua... I got a call from Nick: feeling dodgy, cant make party. The ride over was smooth and before long I was in the bar nursing an orange juice, listening to Andy singing and chatting with Gemma and Reah, who were surrouded by Canadians. Ross was well on his way when i arrived. It was a good night, but I was a little tired to enjoy it.
The next morning I woke at 10 and remembered i had to be back in Yuanlin for Annie's (TA) wedding at 12. I ran out of the flats and scootered back like a loon. Pascal was already dressed up when i got back to the house. We still had time to spare after I'd parked the scooter (Mr Bean style; picking it up and dumping it in a space). The place where they were having the wedding was the hub of the wedding industry in Taiwan. The building was 4 floors high and on each floor there were 4 large halls, partitioned from each other.
No sooner was everyone sat down than the food started pouring out from little doors. There was a slideshow in the middle of the room of the happy couple; a picture of Nick, Tim and I kept flashing up every now and then. Half way through the procedings, a woman on a mic started calling well-wishers forward to make a speech. Nick lept at the chance. A grandma despite strong persuasion, refused; and Emma made an unabashed plug for a new English class starting this month. We'd been told that Michelle (another TA) was having her birthday party the same day. I'd assumed that she meant in the evening. But at half two when everyone started to leave, she said that it was 3 til 7. Barely able to keep my eyes open from the night before, i went home for a quick nap; planning to return at 5ish.... however, I didn't come round until half 6... whoops: going to be in the doghouse at school for the next week or so.
I'd promised Gemma a trip to the cinema that weekend. My computer needed taking back to Taichung to change the backup disk to an English version. I thought why not combine the two and go to Taichung via Changhua tonight! It was a good plan until i learnt that the shop closed at 9. So instead we stayed in Changhua watching You Me and Dupree on DVD... not as bad as I'd been told; and eating a '50Pizza' pizza (not as big as I been told).
The next morning, we made an early start to Taichung. Gemma had been once before on the back of a scooter and to my amazement, she managed to get us all the way to Nova without getting us lost. I couldnt have done it! We dropped off the computer at Nova and headed for the Science Musuem - holding an exhibition of the Terracota Warriors.
Before we managed to get through the door, a group of students came up to us waving a camera; I assumed they wanted a picture of us... but no; just wanted us to take one of them. Big city Taichung... foreigners are hardly a novelty.
We noted the prices and asked to see the Warriors, the greenhouse and the Technology hall. NT$140... the lady told us the greenhouse was free today, but then charged us NT$200 each...?
Still the warriors were worth it alone. They had about 15 figures, all lifesize and produced in incredible detail, the hairs on their heads and fingernails as accurate as if they'd been made yesterday. I was ashamed to admit it, but I didn't actually know anything about these Warriors. After misjudging the age of most of the temples in Taiwan by a thousand years or so.
I assumed that these were probably also modern replicas. Gemma asked a member of staff how old they were, and she pointed out an English speaking student/part timer. It seemed that we were the first people who'd spoken to him and he was eager to unleash his knowledge. Turns out the Warriors are 2,200 years old. Emporer Qin Shi Huang (Ancient China) had had them made to take with him to the after life. When he died, they were all buried in a number of pits alongside him, soldiers, captains, generals, labourers, horses, weapons, jewels and tools. They were discovered when a farmer in the 1970s had tried to dig a well. Fearing the first piece he found was a bad omen, he smashed it up. We were lucky to see them when we did, for it is likely that they will not leave China again after they return and are made national treasures later this year. We walked round the rest of the museum. Most of the info and videos were in Chinese. But there were some super cool attractions... moving dinosaurs! a cool yoghurt-pot telephones without the string! A solar-powered toy car. A thermal-imaging imager thing!
Hunger struck! We headed back to Fingers... and dived into a relatively healthy (honest!) burger and fries. It was a real effort to leave without buying everything in the shop: Frosties! peanut butter! Lasagne sheets! Baked Beans! From there we headed to Tiger City to see if there was anything on at the cinemas. Gemma thought I'd have worked out where we were in Taichung by now. But when you're driving in Taichung, you look only at scooters left right and infront of you, holes in the road, cars pulling out, cars turning left, and if you've chance - the traffic lights. Navigation takes a back seat. We put off the movie til a better one comes along, collected the computer from Nova and headed home; again without getting even slightly lost.
Back at Gemma's, we'd barely finished a cup of tea, before Reah popped in from next door and invited us round for tea and cake with Ross, Andy, Rachel and Yarni. The cake was supplied by Rachel's dad... it was nice but rather heavy... and with a touch of brandy... before long I felt myself drifting under a garbled veil of voices. The night blurs into Monday and the week starts again. Time really does fly when you're having fun.

A Happy New Year

2007-01-03T01:43:00.000-08:00

Headlines: Miss X had her second scooter lesson... and didn't crash :)
Also in the news: Andy and Rachel came back this week, so we decided to have a surpise party at NZ Kate's flat in Changhua. Now I know from experience that in planning a surprise party, the party has to be more appealing than the place the victims think they goig to. So i sympathised with them when they didn't arrive at a restaurant for a big meal. I think they enjoyed themselves; Andy brought some take out to ease the pain.
As it was another 3 day weekend; i was woken early on Saturday morning by Pas, who wanted his sleeping bag back to go camping in the mountains. I, on the other hand was content to stay in bed, away from the dull grey day outside.
I had just about surfaced and was enjoying a good read when there was a loud bang and the power went out. It's amazing how little you can do in a blackout. No reading, no TV, no cooking, no emailing.. i stumbled upstairs and played the guitar in the darkness hoping it would come back on... but no. I was starting to get claustrophobic, so i rode into town to stretch my legs and met Nick. We had planned to go to Taipei the next day for the fireworks at 101. However, everyone including Nick was feeling a little run down. Bloody weather! Still we planned to meet at 10:30 at the station.
That night was possibly the worst night's sleep ever; no sleeping bag and finally coming down with the cold everyone else had been spreading. I came to at 10 and for ten minutes thought about getting up. I couldn't leave Nick on his own on NYE.
I rolled down the hill and discovered that Katie (US) was going anyway. I bought my first water bottle of the day and settled in the comfy UBUS seats.
We got to the Big Dumping (Taipei) at 2ish. Nick was eager to see the Paper Museum (we had visions of the Simpsons Box Factory tour): so we started walking in that vague direction, hopeful to pass a noodle vendor. We didn't. We did pass a Subber (no rip off of Subway at all). The sandwiches were good, but the rules were a bit strict: no dogs, no food or drink and no cameras!
Soon after we reached the Paper Museum, to Nick's horror and distress, they were closed on the weekends! What museum wouldn't be? I guess it was New Year. tomake htings worse, someone had left a pile of cement sand on the path for the unsuspecting to stumble over. It's still on my shoes!

We decided to jump on the MRT and tube to Sun Yat Sen Memorial (the founder of China). It was a beautiful building. There were art collections on every floor; and in the main hall there was a large statue of Yat Sen with two guards in front of him. I assumed the guards were statues too, but apparently they were real. Towards the end of our visit, we witnissed the changing of the guard (all two of them). Here the military pride themselves on taking as long as possible to walk to destinations. Their marching reminding me somehow of Kermit the Frog. What was impressive though, was their ability to spin a rifle in one hand in unison with the flick a wrist.
When we stepped into the grounds we realised that this would be a great place to watch the fireworks that night: with 101 towering in front of us.
It was still early, so we made for 101 itself. Nick was unimpressed that of the 96 floors, only 6 of them were open to the public. We tried getting higher via the stairwell, but no use. i had a premonition of the New Year celebrations being cancelled over a security threat in Taipei 101 in the form of 3 westerners.
By the time we'd found the exits, it was dinner time. A curry on the other side of town with Samantha, the dog, Tai, his brother Weylin, NZ Kate, her friend Kristen, her friends Morgen and Bret and their friends Jovi and Al.
The food was fantastic.
After the meal we parted company. Bret, Nick, Katie and I were the only ones crazy enough to want to experience the madness below 101.
We tried the tube, but it was heaving, and nobody was moving anywhere; so we walked the hour or so to 101. The nearer we got the crazier it became. Traffic was practically at a standstill and people poured forward through whatever street space they could find.

We got to the Sun Yen Sat Grounds and fought our way to a good viewpoint... despite using pick-axes and being roped together, at 11pm, we became dragged apart by the crowds. I spent the turn of New Year with a bunch of strangers. Oddly, once people had found a good view they sat without instruction in neat rows across the grass.
The fireworks were spectacular but a little short lived. By 12:15, the million Taipei residents had left for home, down the chaotic roads.

We rang the others and managed to track them down;near Christines house. Nick and I had planned to find an all night club to dance away in to avoid the cost of a hotel... but an even better offer presented itself in the form of Christine's couch; and walking around for over almost 7 hours... by 3am we were out for the count.
The next morning at lunchtime, everyone met up again at a really nice restaurant; where I spent almost 8 pounds! on a lunch to start the new year in style: soup, house salad, endless coffee, steak with mushroom sauce and 2 puddings. It dawned on me that i was the only English person there after Sam and dog got lost in the taxi.
Nick had invited a Taiwanese flatmate friend of his friend from college to lunch. She offered to show us round the nicer side of Taipei before we left. She took us to Central Park: it was an odd sensation. In 8 months I'd not been in a park: yet here was flat ground, kept lawn, and blossoming trees; there were even people playing boules. It could have been any park in Hull, Hyde or Halifax.
From there we popped into the Taipei mosque to satisfy Nicks architectural curiosity, before walking down the cultural fusion of a market street to the bus station. There were children laughing in a playground, smells of Chinese dumplings and fresh cakes from the endless street-invading food vendors, a man playing blues tunes on his trumpet and neon lights in Chinese characters crying out to be seen.

Merry Christmas and a room rocking boxing day

2006-12-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

Christmas has been brief but nice and today i was shaken to my senses again by a 7.2 Richter earthquake.
After school on Friday i went from feeling queezy and wanting to go to bed, to maybe trying a noodle place, to just a quiet game of pool, to a couple of drinks in Changhua to a full on all-ya-can-drink bar in the big Taichung with Andy, Rob and our very own Nick. Andy introduced me to the Taiwanese girls he was talking to and Nick went to lose money to Rob at the table-football ... table. thing. I joined Andy for some drinking games and enjoyed the endless flow of beer to my cup. Before long, Rob wanted to go to a club... having paid 500 to get in i passed.
The very kind Taiwanese girls let me kip on their floor for the night.
The next day i trailed round Taichung, Changhua and Yuanlin in search of a secret santa present.. when i finally got back to the house, Pascal was ready to go to a KTV with his Chinese mates and invited me along. We were picked up by our landlords son Walter, in a mini cooper coupe. it was sweet: speedometer was 12" diameter!
Pascal's Chinese friends were mainly late twenties early thirties.
i learnt quickly that if you want to drink you have to first toast somebody else in the room and you drink together. As most Taiwanese are not the best of drinkers, they all ended up toasting me or Pascal; ... so before long the tracks were on and i was crooning away with Walter harmonising in the background: 'he's quite a good singer' i kept telling everyone.
While we'd been inside we'd learnt it was Gareth's bday the same day and they were having a party somewhere;
sadly by the time we left we weren't in much shape to go anywhere else. So you can imagine our surprise when we stumbled into Jena, Andy and Ray coming out of a neighbouring KTV booth. We had all been in the same place for the last 4 hours. ah well. what can you do!?
Christmas Eve came; didn't wake til 2or3. Sharne came round for lunch which was nice.. and after she left i decided to write all the Chinese New Year cards that had been sat on my desk for a month. I was still doing it at 2 in the morning and on Christmas morning. By noon I had 16 done... cycled to the postoffice to work-up an appetite for Christmas dinner. I was hoping for stickers; it was not to be. 16 licks of 16 stamps later, i noticed i hadn't put an airmail sticker on... the desk had a tube of PVA glue and a paintbrush... this was gonna be a mission! but by 2 i was ready to leave... right after id queued up again to ask which postbox to put them in.
Nick, Pascal, Sam and I all met at the station and took the train to Stu's in Changhua: between us, a spectrum of clothes from formal to scruffy.

On arrival everyone dumped their presents under the tree as discreetly as possible and made their ways to the kitchen. It was a really nice afternoon. Everyone looked quite worn from the heavy weekend... Jena had a fever, Nick a sore throat, Dave a sprained ankle, Gareth backache... worn but content. The food was fantastic: i've never seen so many meets together since ive been out here.
Unfortunately for whatever reason, the wine and the food didn't mix so well and after taking a walk to get some air and digest... i found myself throwing up... which was odd. The feeling didn't go away so i collected my things and headed home, doing my best to control my stomach on the train and then on my scooter. i spent the rest of xmas night watching Batman Begins... until it was late enough to ring home and have a natter.
Today - Boxing Day - I was back at school; still feeling rough with an oral exam for 20 kids, a presentation and a cover lesson to look forward to. The cycle in didn't help things... almost hit a Volvo coming down the hill: even if i had something loud enough for him to hear, he wouldn't have stopped in time... i slammed the breaks and waited planning the best place to land... to my astonishment the bike stopped inches from his bonnet: still far too much adrenaline for this time of day.
I started the exam extra early to insure i wouldnt be late for the presentation class. Extra early, but i still finished a minute over. The presentation was with my Kindergarten class KC. most classes are 1:30: that's 30 min practice.30 mins correction or modify plan and then 30 mins presentation to parents. KC classes are only an hour long; that's practice 30mins and then do! whether it needs modifying or not. Luckily they were on the ball today. They were a bit shy in front of the parents but we got through everything... including 'We wish you a merry Christmas' as a cheezy touch to finish. By the end my head was somewhere else... i could hear my voice, but had no idea what i was saying.
So in the next lesson when the earthquake struck, it took the kids to point it out to me. I thought they were trying to correct me on the answer i'd just given 'no i'm sure that's right' i was saying, when boom, everything shook and then started swaying... and for a long time. It's only the second movement i've felt in Taiwan.
Now people say we fear what we don't know... but in this case; the kids looked all the more scared for knowing what could happen than i did in my blissfull ignorance. We are conditioned to respond. It's only now as I look at the BBC web report that I realise how bad things could have been: and on the 2nd anniversary of the Asian Tsunami. As Nick pointed out later, there are no national policies or safety measures that cover earthquakes as they have in Japan. Let's hope we'll never be in a position in which we need to use them.

Ms X and the red scooter

2006-12-21T20:27:00.000-08:00

I know that everyone back home will be devastated to hear that Katrina the red scooter (what! Everybody names their scooters! … no I’m not getting lonely!) was involved in a collision with a high kerb outside a supermarket this week.
At the time we weren’t sure if she was going to make it: the front forks were twisted out of place… she was lying cold on the floor covered in mud. I tried twice to revive her, but she kept rolling back on her side.
Luckily a local couple noticed her distress and rode quickly to the nearest mechanic. He came sprinting onto the carpark with all the heroic grace and style of David Hassehoff. As soon as I saw him, my heart leapt; she was going to be OK.

We all followed as the mechanic moved her to his workshop. He said that he would have to keep her overnight and that only in the morning would we know what her chances were. It was a sleepless night for everyone involved. Possibly the longest night since I’ve been in Taiwan. The next day I returned to the workshop. Oh happy day! There she was outside on the roadside; weak but very much alive and on the road to recovery. I thanked the mechanic and he said something in Chinese… then I rode home; forever indebted to Mr Mechanic

Now some of you are probably wondering how the scooter hit the kerb in the first place.
Well generous Dunx was letting someone practice on his scooter before buying their own. But it’s been an emotional time so to save on any more unnecessary embarrassment or trauma; we shall call the rider Ms X.
Here's a song about Miss X.

I know a girl called xxxxx
In scooters she saw terror; everyday.
Took her for a spin
Let her do the drivin; she was ok

Then wow she hit a wall
Didn’t see it coming at all
I just saw her fall and ran

She got up and walked away
The Gods it seemed had heard me pray: that night
Relieved to see that she was fine
She asked to drive it one more time: said alright

But wow; the scooter won’t go
The front wheel looks awfully low
Looks like we’re walking home, tonight

Hey xxxxx don’t you cry
Better to hit the kerb than a passerby
Hey xxxxx let me see you smile
Everybody crashes once in a while
Don’t you worry about a thing
That scooter needed a servicing
Wipe that mud off your face
You can share my happy place
Hey xxxxx drink your milky tea
A smile from you’s all I wanna see

Christmas Cosco: buy 20 get 10 free!

2006-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been a collection of pre-Christmas shopping and chilling.
On Friday exhausted from the post xmas show week and chopping a bit of my finger off while cooking on thursday; Nick, Paz, Sam and i had some noodles at our usual and went to the cinema to see the late showing of Deja Vu with Denzel Washingotn in; wasn't bad... but by the end i was half asleep.
On Saturday; was planning to get up and go for a cycle (as i have the past 2 weeks) but the weather was cold and drizzley. Before i knew; it was time to go for lunch on Linda in Taichung. It was a way of saying thankyou for getting your clothes off at the xmas show: we were worried she'd want us to do it again. She took us to a proper indian curry house... we were all festivally plump by the end of it. Steve (her husband) had videoed the show and was going to give the staff a copy; but thanks to our routine; she's confident that she can sell them to parents.
As we were in the big city; we thought we might as well do a spot of shopping: popped into Nova and found myself flicking through laptop magazines comparing prices. very tempted to get an apple... watch this space.
We then went into Sogo (huge department store) where we all had a look for pressies for our secret Santa (to be revealed at Stu's house on xmas day); before working our way back home. Traffic in Taichung is crap; you can never simply 'pop in and out'. By the time we got back; we were late for Ross and Rea's xmas party (Changhua teachers). Nick, Katie and I took the train after a brief shower... and followed the route i remember taking after getting lost on the way back last time. It was a cool party; everyone was there. They had 3 types of cheese. grapes, cake and doritos by the bowl full: started to feel like xmas. I would have stayed longer, but knowing that the next day was the bi-anual trip to Cosco; i made my way back to the station; the last train pulled into Yuanlin at haf 2; I did the best i could to ride home without collapsing with hypothermia.
Woke at 8:30 this morning; downed a coffee and hitched a lift with Pascal into Changhua. We were using the two school 4x4s. Gemma, Sharne, Yarni and Stu were waiting for us with TAs Tina, Tracy, Sammy and friend.
Assuming that we would meet up at the other end; i went with the TAs. That was my first mistake of the day.
Sadly the two Coscos in East Taiwan are both 3 hours away from Changhua. After tossing a coin, we decided on going south to Kaoshung. Yarni knew the way so we would follow their car. Things started well, i was fed an egg and bacon pancake with soup. We were chatting about weather, the xmas show, xmas in general, when suddenly we weren't following Pascal anymore. We pulled up on the side of a road into the city. Turned out they'd stopped at some toilets a while back. Another ten minutes past. I asked if we all knew where the shop was. The TAs said 'yes'. So i suggested meeting at the shop rather than hanging around on the busy road. That was my second mistake. An hour past going round in circles lost in Kaoshung. By the time we arrived and parked... the teachers were almost finished and ready to head home. If there's one thing I've learnt out here it's that Taiwanese are hopeless at giving (and following for that matter) directions. It seemed pointless asking the others to wait while we shopped so they made their way home. The shop by the look of it, could have been any Cosco back in the UK. But walking round there were two things that made the experience 'more Taiwanese'. Firstly, like at home - when mother goes to get the shopping she takes the kids with her. Well here when mother gets the shopping she takes the kids, her parents, her sister and her kids and they all like to stop and talk mid-isle. Now the second thing is that the trolleys are bigger than Tesco's trolleys (for bulk buy), but the isles aren't! And on top of that, the back wheels are locked making manoeuvring round the aforementioned obstacles impossible for even the most experience trolley drivers - like myself.
Before long i'd stocked up on enough tuna, pasta and sauces to last me my contract. What i wanted to buy was some fruit and veg; but i didn't think i could get through 20 carrots before they went off... that would take some planning; carrot soup day one, carrot cake, day two, salad and grated carrot day three, a roast with carrots day 4 and i've still got 12 left! I did buy a giant tub of peanut butter and a huge box of porridge... bought to last, but the way im eating, i wouldn't give either longer than a month.
I was also tempted to stock up on meats but with the likelihood of getting lost on the way back being high, i decided to pass. Amazingly we didn't have any problems getting home, the TAs dropped me back at the house, which was nice, and before long I was drifting off to Shrek 2.

A Christmas show and hot chocolate

2006-12-10T05:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas is fast approaching and although no-one over here really celebrates it; the shops have all put up decorations and plastic trees and cashiers have donned their Santa hats. Shane schools have taken down the bats and broomsticks to make way for snowflakes and smiling santas. The weather is now cool enough to wear a blanket at night and a jacket to work, but it still doesn't feel very festive.
In an effort to make us feel more Chrimassy, Linda (boss) decided to put on a Christmas show for the kids and parents. We were told about this before i went to Thailand. There would be songs and sketches by the Changhua students and teachers; there would be a dance by our Yuanlin TAs and then we would have a 5 minute slot for the Yuanlin teachers to do a sketch or something. Well for two weeks we threw ideas around the staffroom. Do a comedy sketch dressed as girls, students, monkeys; a pie throwing contest, a talentless singing competition...Andre even suggested doing the full monty. but everything we came up with had either been done before or the humour would be lost in translation. Meanwhile the TAs had put together a fantastic dance routine and were rehearsing daily.
The weekend before the show and getting desperate we bought some whisky and a copy of The Full Monty and came back to our house. By 4:30 in the morning we had a dance (well syncronised movement) thanks mainly to Tim for the first two minutes of the tune 'You can leave your hat on.' What we didn't have were costumes, music and time. On Sunday we finalised our dance and went into to town to buy some outfits. Obviously we weren't going to be doing the 'full' monty as kids would be watching. We had hoped to be wearing gorilla outfits underneath; but we couldnt find four big enough. So we resorted to buying skirts and frilly tops (less than a fiver). A foriegner in Yuanlin gets stared at enough; but when 4 blokes buy womens clothes together... well! We'd have got away with it, had Nick not come out of the changing rooms still wearing his pink skirt. The next five days were a little stressful. Between teaching, marking four sets of exams and doing 2 presentations; I was stitching up velcro patches on my trousers, burning CDs and practicing the routine.
It got to the night before the show. First time in full dress (so to speak): jacket, tie, shirt, T-shirt, girlie top, trousers, skirt and school hat. We went through the routine and to our relief the velcro worked... it was then that Pascal announced that no-one had ever done this before at a show, he wasn't quite sure how the audience would react to us stripping. So far we hadn't told anybody about what we were doing. Was this to be the end of our careers?
On Saturday, we drove down to the theatre after some last minute adjustments. Pascal had led us to believe that it was a 1000-seater city hall type building. But when we arrived we were a little shocked to find it a cosy little temple style building with only 300 seats. A little too personal for what we were planning.
As we looked round at all the little kiddies with their respectable parents, we wondered: What are we doing! Whose idea was this? Then we remembered; it was Andre's - and he's on holiday in South Africa. Pants! A few of the Changhua teachers tried to guess what we were doing. A few came close but only jokingly "I'm not gonna here Hot Chocolate am I?" said Dave.

The show started promptly and row on row of students went past in their Christmas costumes. Christmas! We should have had santa outfits underneath! Idiot! Ah well, too late now. We were told to get changed. The cubical was small and very hot... I was just about to come out, when i remembered I'd not put my skirt on. Another ten minutes undoing velcro and reattaching... i was sweating like mad. I walked carefully past the line of kids praying that none of them pulled on my trousers.
We got our que and walked out past a line of beeming TAs.
The audience was silent... the odd titter about our school hats... and then there was a lifetime waiting for the music to start. For the first few bars we were pretty convinced that it was over... but then some angel started clapping..and before long everyone was loving it. Stu was at the front snapping away and Linda's husband had a video camera running... it was like being back at manchester. When we got to the final fling; my trousers went a little further than expected... but a nice lady brought them back to the stage. The lights didn't go out as expected so we bid everyone merry christmas, gathered any clothes we could find and scuttled off back stage.
The TAs dance went like clockwork... made our strip look tame: it's not surprising that Linda has the most successful school in Taiwan. What father wouldnt want to go to a show with 20 young ladies jumping around the stage in leotards? Very sly!
It was very nearly the highlight of the show; but that title was stolen by Dave's three musketeers at the end... who were just superb: comic genius, confident kids and snazzy outfits.
The whole evening went down very well so Linda treated us to a meal at The Temple restaurant. Ross's (Ch teacher) parents were in Taiwan and had watched the show. They joined us for the meal. I think they were surprised how much we could all eat. The food just kept coming in Taiwanese fashion; and I kept eating. The rotating table made things more exciting: looking around I noticed that everyone's table manners had declined somewhat since being out here.

Afterwards; most of us went on to Bono's bar for some celebratory drinks and pool (Gemma, Jena, Sharne, Pas, Rob, Andy, Nick).

BBQ in Taichung

2006-11-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we were invited to Tom's (guy who used to work for Shane, went back to uk to do masters, then came back and stayed at Pascals for a week) new flat for a BBQ.
Nick and I didn't need much more persuasion than a pot of food at the end of the railway rainbow. So over we went... took Nick to Sogo (massive Japanese supermarket) to get some meat and booze: you ever see the father ted episode with 8 priests stuck in a lingerie department... well suffice to say, we didn't find any food. We needn't have worried, Tom had bought in for the 5,000, or 2,000+ me and Nick.
There were about 20 there, mostly Taichung English teachers (I'm yet to meet a westerner who isnt) and a few local friends of Tom's including his ex?girlfriend Sophie.
The BBQ was held on the roof with great illuminated tower blocks filling the skyline.
Now, I've been to plenty a raucous party, and this was not one... i don't remember anyone even laughing paticularly loudly, but at 11:30ish, up comes the local constabulary asking us to disperse. This is quite typically Taiwanese, I've even had it happen at a club in the middle of Changhua... it's not OK to make noise after 10:00. 6am on the other the other hand, that's fine! Turn that Karaoke machine to full and wake all your neighbours. 6 is a respectable time of day! I yer!
Anyways, we (Tom, Sophie, Nick and I)decided as the night was still young that we'd ... go bowling (obviously)
Having had a fair amount of whisky, it wasn't my best ever game... but the highlight was Nick's shoes.
Whereas everyone else in the place had been given purple and green slip ons. Nick's were gold on black, with 'Tiger' emblazoned on the sides. Even the laces were sparkly gold. They were a wonder to behold. so amazing that it seemed wrong to imprison them in a bowling alley for ever, so Mr X (he shall remain nameless) with Tom, Sophie and myself walked out with the shoes in his hand.
At 3 we went to the Sound Garden, but it was empty, with the exception of 3 Armenian girls - who worked as performers at the Amusement Park i visited - and some South African lads (one of which had fallen for our Sam, months back and wanted her number)
So fun night all in all.

Halloween

2006-11-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

Now in Taiwan, Halloween is not celebrated as it is in the West. In fact the only thing they can associate with is the odd hollywood flick they've seen... but being an English scool; Shane has a tradition of doing something for the big day... so come that All Hallows Eve; I arrived at school to find that Nick (Art Grad. from NYC) had decorated the building with skulls, bats and other ghoulish images... in the staff room on my desk were 4 bags of sweets (candy for US viewers), a plastic sword and black cloak. I think the TAs had missed the point that its the children who are supposed to dress up.. but keen to receive my pay-cheque at the end of the month, i donned the black cloak borrowed some make-up, bloodied my sword and barged into the classes on my list... most took quite well to the performance (Oscar winning I tell ya), some were a little too scared of the sword to take the sweets (which meant more for me later) but then one class of heroes decided to take on the monster and broke my sword... don't know where there sweets ended up!
The following weekend, we heard there was going to be a Halloween party in Changhua.. so me Kate, Nick and Sam all dressed up as vampires and walked down to Yuan lin station. We got some funny looks and most people gave us a wide bearth... but thankfully we provoked no violence... the gothic scene hasnt kicked off in Taiwan yet.
When we got to the Sportsman Bar, it turned out that it was only a Shane party... I say only, there's now around 40 of us past, present and associates. I met the new teacher, Gemma from Middlesborough, who's gonna be taking over my classes when i go to Thailand and then cover Andre for 2 months. She's cool. Had a "me too" conversation with her; geography grad, speaks French, birthday same week...etc.
Linda was there as well (boss) and she's paid for us all to have a couple of drinks (so generous). At the end of the night there was loads of drinks left over, so it was a free bar. Didn't get back until 5ish... but good night!

November, No sun, no warmth, no...

2006-11-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

It is official: November - for the majority of the world - is a bad month for weather.
When in Uganda on the equator, it was a month of cool highlands-style drizzle.
Here in Taiwan I've been looking forward to cooler temperatures since the day I arrived.
Everyday I've cycled to work and had to stand in front of the air con unit for 10 minutes before i could think about teaching... but this week on exactly Nov 1st, the temperature didn't become pleasant: it plummeted!
Apparently the low temp was 20': I disagree! On Wednesday night I woke up shivering and had to wear half my wardrobe to sleep. Yesterday I cycled into work in a woolly jumper, and was still chilly.
Then to top a unpleasantly cool day off: I forgot my keys had to cycle back to work and it started raining - not heavy: just cold highland drizzle - the stuff that soaks ya right through.
After all these months thinking 'I'll be able to go jogging when it cools down a bit' - well now it's cool and I just wanna stay tucked up with a mug of cocoa.

Taichung Jazz Festival

2006-11-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, after spending a day shopping and cycling to Changhau looking for Nick, who was cycling round looking for an orchid shop (he hasnt got a phone), we were invited to the Jazz Festival by Sam.
At 8:30ish, Sam, Tim, Nick and I got on the train (only 66p) to Taichung (an hour away). We dint actually know where the venue was but thankfully our TPR for jazz paid off and the guy knew straight away.
We arrived at a small empty park: 'must have finished' said the driver... but then from up the street we could here the boom of bongos. So we followed the noise. I was impressed at how big and full of people the park was. There were big light displays beamed onto surrounding buildings. We caught the end of one Jazz Band playing what i think of as 'aimless jazz' and then saw some young local hearthrob (apparently) sing a few songs to the smitten girls in the audience - think Jamie Cullem without the voice - After that there was a far more funky set played by a purely Taiwanese group... the audience (probably typical of Taiwanese) were quite reserved, but we sang along anyway; Tim tried to see how many he could get to dance with him: result: one toddler!
This weekend, after a week of planning my trip to Thailand in Nov, we decided to make more of our time in Taichung (the No.2 city in Taiwan). So Nick and I took an early train (by early I mean before 3 o'clock) and visited the art museum. There were plenty of wierd and wonderful things to see.
Most of the art in the main room was what I'd call 'freaky art' - the art that makes you feel queezy. There were many pictures of people with distorted faces (all grimacing), a multiimage display of someone's heart with their body superimposed, a colouful collection of rags entitled 'child birth'.
The next gallery was far more up my street: 'the changing urban scene'.
Nick kept taking photographs of everything: we must have got told 'no photo' 7 times in an hour. He used to work in a gallery: he assured me that flash doesnt actually damage the picture, and nobody has ever been thrown out for taking pictures.
From there we walked across town (against the advice of the advice desk lady) to the Sculpture Park. The road was long and traffic ridden, but it helped work up an appetite. The park was lovely: a very mini Central Park. An oasis from the urban jungle around. There was a lake in the middle and as you'd expect: sculptures everywhere.
It was getting dark by this point, so popped into a noodle bar for some nosh. There was a picture board of dishes on the ceiling; sadly the reverse side (what the chef could see) did not match the side I was pointing to. So again in this country of surprises, we got pork dumplings in soup, instead of noodles and chicken. Still very nice.
We met Sam and Tai (her Taiwanese friend with car) at the park and enjoyed a nice night of Jazz.
There were some musicians from Brazil (outstanding) and one guy who obviously wasnt local trying to get everyone to sing along to *****. At one point he had 10 volunteers doing pelvic thrusts in time to the music.
At the end there was a competition. A free CD to anyone who could sum up the Jazz Festival in a short speech.
Nick needed little persuasion. He had to fight his way to the front, but he's an American, they couldnt turn him away. The speech went down very well -cant remember what he said exactly - and he got his CD.
On the way home, we were a little peckish, so Tai took us to the nightmarket in Taichung. It was large block of
stalls selling every type of snack you could think of; we had chicken blood soup, sweet potato balls, baked potato with everything on it, gooseblood rice. Delicious.

Rita's wedding

2006-10-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Is it a Vegas hotel? Is it Microsoft HQ? No; it's a Buddhist monastary

2006-09-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

This week has been slightly tougher than usual due to 2 presentations and an observation from head office for me and Tim... so come the weekend relaxation was the key. On Friday night we went out with the TA's to the Fish Restaurant (Nic joined us fresh back from his Taipei training): beautiful food; octopus, shark (cross between tuna and chicken)raw salmon with radish sauce (v strong clears your noise in seconds but short term effect), goose blood and rice cubes.. a lot nicer than it sounds, bamboo, beans, prawns that had been decorated a top a potato salad... all good!
From there we popped in for a drink in a nice BBQ bar with Sam and Katie(US)before home.
On Saturday, I remembered that Nic had said he wanted to get into cycling while he was here, so i lent him Pascal's bike and took him on a leisurely ride up the mountain... well I thought it was leisurely! I remembered my first treck up the mount did take a while. After a few rests, we reached the top and stopped to explore the village. i never realised how intricately decorated the small temple was on the hill. An engineer (gave me his business card to prove it) greeted us and shared his knowledge of the temple. When people here go the temple asking for something; they light a candle (a sign of their search for enlightenment) they then throw 2 blocks on the floor... depending on which way the blocks land is the God's answer (I guess it helps if you think of a yes/no question before you go in) a bit like a divine magic eight ball. We also learnt that people see spiritual fortune teller types to find out which day they should marry.
In the afternoon Nic, Tim and me thought we'd try to catch up with some Changhua peeps at a monastary near Pouli. Apparently they had a contact their that could get us a tour of the place. Well we didn't get there til after 4 and the others had gone home, but we thought we'd try and get in. Tim failed to see the scooter parking zone and was soon being pursued by scooter-mounted monastary police; not the best start. As we got closer the enormity of the place started to dawn on us. A monk was walking towards us; i nodded reverently (as you would) and to my surprise he jumped into a Mercedes truck and sped up the driveway. 'Modern times!' i thought. We reached the main door and stood in awe of the statues inside. Centre stage was the laughing budda and stood in the four corners of the entrance hall were four 4-headed 'heavenly kings' all of 12meters tall.

We'd been walking round for 3mins when Tim started talking with one of the monks. She offered to give us a tour. We discovered that they were 600 monks in the place and they were pretty much self sufficient... not just growing food; they had language lessons in Chinese, English and Japanese and a computer suite to spread enlightenment to the world; they had their own carpenters and sculpters; it was a senior monk who deigned the building in the first place; they made their own clothes and made their own musical instruments which sadly i couldnt persuade her to play for us.

She told us that the design of the building depicted the Buddhists path to enlightenment; some take a gradual path whilst others may have a sudden rise.
Buddhism promotes respect, compassion and moral integrity and teaches that with a purity of mind will come peace. It's easy to see how Buddhism is so global. For a few minutes I pictured myself here meditating, sewing, gardening and living a contented life... when i remembered they dont eat meat; ah well!

We were the last to leave the monastary a couple of monks were waving us off. 'mayo' means 'dont' i thought 'they must be saying don't "leave - stay for dinner"' but no, turned out the path was blocked 'dont go out that way!' got it!

That night Andy was playing in Taichung again, but there was also 2for1 drinks at the culture club (dilema) so we decided to ride to Changhua eat, train to taichung and then back in a taxi. And we did... good night lots of food, a couple of drinks, a good show and countless games of pool. Me and Nic left the party at 5am got back to our house just before 6am. The sensible thing to have done now would be to go to bed... but looking at the trickle of tai couples hiking up our hill and the odd cyclist, i thought it would be a waste to snooze through this glorious morning.
So out came the bike and off I went up the hill. The alcohol meant i had to keep stopping for drink but it also numbed the pain in my legs. There was a stocky guy in orange lycra who i past... twice: he grunted something at me, i assume it was 'pace yourself, stupid!' i just about managed to keep up with him to the top of the mountain, where I bought some energy juice. A guy in blue lycra rode with me next along the top of the mountain heading south. He was far more cheerful company; but he cut off when he reached his village. I was alone for a short then just as came to another short steep climb, from out of nowhere this guy in black lycra rockets past me up the hill. As soon as i got to the top i quickly caught up with him again. For 3 miles he tailed me down the road to the plain below (probably using my slipstream!) then we reached another hill and he's off again; 'must be on something' i thought.

I stopped at a small temple for a drink and there were about 30 people doing dawn exercises (most of which consisted of throwing your arm over your head-syncronised arm flop-they should call it) it was almost artistic.
From there it was back up hill for what seemed too long before i reached the temple Pascal and i had visited before: incredibly when i got there the temple that was had been taken down! There were still a few visitors looking at the view and nice gardens; just no temple! I bought a pineapple from an old lady to restore my sugar levels;
then when my backside had regained feeling i started the final descent.
All was going well until about half way back... when the feeling of complete exhaustion kicked in.
The last leg was a slow one made worse by mozzi bites everytime i stopped; but by 9ish i was back home: trip 26miles, av sp 10mph, mx sp 31mph, trip 2hr30. Then i went to bed.

Can't Cook Won't Cook

2006-09-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend i had the choice of going to Hei Sun Wood with the Changhua crowd or go out in Taichung with the Yuan Lin bunch... however neither of which came to fruition due to food poisoning! Felt a little light headed on Friday afternoon, then while feeling queezy, gave Laura (Changhua teacher) a lift to our house (for Pascal curry special). As soon as i got home I told her where everything was an then ran upstairs to die; or throw up .- which ever happened first. but unlike previous bouts of bad food: it dint budge... so spent most of the weekend feeling bad.

This weekend to make up for a lack of feasting; we had invited the TA's over to our house to make some Chinese dumplings and eat a Pascal curry. The night before we were in Changhua to see Sharne before she went back to England... we went to the Culture Club as usual, and had a great night... met a new teacher for Changhua Andy from Wigan (a northerner! fantastic)... and I ended up crashing at Laura and Sharne's place.
So the next morning i was in the doghouse coz i dint get back til after 12... and we hadnt even done the shopping yet. That same morning at 6am, a new teacher for Yuan Lin had arrived: Nic from NY: so he was knackered, I was feeling the effects of the night before and Pascal was rushing around trying to get everything ready for the feast. And at 2pm, Nic was surrounded by 7 young ladies, wondering why there were no male staff.

Linda (the boss) turned up mid afternoon with 7 boxes of chicken feet in a nut sauce! Lovely!
Well, we started cooking about two and dinner wasnt served until after half five! But when it was served, there was a lot of it! 2 different curries, huge bowl of rice, more dumplings (pastry wrapped onion and mince pork balls) than i could count, 3 salads, experimental chapatis and a fruit salad.
Amazingly these petite girls got through most of it! They must have really high metabolism over here. Saying that, Pascal and i will still be living off the remains for atleast a week.

The cooking was an eye opener: I started chopping the onions and felt everyone's eyes on me.. i assumed they were critical of the way i was chopping; but no! Turns out, girls in Taiwan don't cook. The dumpling mince they had brought was ready-mixed at the supermarket. Most still live with their mothers or grandmothers and whoever doesn't work cooks the meals. During the day everyone eats out anyone... it must be one of the few places in the world where it isnt cheaper to take a pack-up to work.
(80p will buy a pot of curry and rice with veg!)

Return to Kenting

2006-08-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Pascal and I thought we'd make the most of the nice weather and go back to Kenting for a cycle and a swim... as last time, we set off after school and arrived at 1am ish; but eager to learn from our mistakes, this time we carried on round the seafront and i pitched my tent on the clifftop (in pitch blackness); had a good nights sleep!
What we didnt realise was that the ground on the clifftop was a little too soft for Pascal's van; took a few attempts to get it back on the road again the next morning.
After a lot of deliberation and a greasy breakfast of egg and bacon in a pancake type thing, we decided to cycle round the coast and then up into the hills... so we dumped the van and pitched my tent in the only campsite in Kenting (and still miles from the centre). been there 3 minutes: 4 moquito bites... I'm obviously far sweeter than pascal! As we were getting ready an ominous dark cloud started to drift in off the sea... the also brought a breeze that pushed us round the first leg of the journey and kept the temp down to mid twenties.
After an hour or so we got to the foot of the hills... and followed our map down the A159; now in England A means big/fast... here it was barely wide enough for one car.. still we followed it and followed it until we were cycling up a 1:1 gradient potholed track... a man drove past us and said there was no road ahead... this was confusing (had he misunderstood the question?) i thought id check; but after another 5min slog uphill; the man was right... the road just stopped. Apparently it's common in Taiwan for roads on maps to be wiped out in earthquakes... and not replaced for some time. This left us a problem of getting round to where we wanted to be... without knowing where we really were in the first place (GPS: we need you!).. still we tried bombing along the tiniest trails in the hope they might pop out on the main road... no luck! So we headed back downhill... then suddenly there it was- the A road that is straight on the map actually doubles back on itself: we looked up at the v steep winding road and decided if we tried it; we'd not have the energy to get back to Kenting.
After a couple more hours, a papaya milkshake, fried rice and 60km on the clock; we arrived knackered back at the campsite and agreed to go for a relaxing swim.
Relaxing, it was not. We went to the far side of the beach so i'd remember where we'd left our stuff; got into the water and soon realised the waves were more choppy than usual; and whereas everyone to our left was up to their waist in water; i was up to my neck; every wave carried me about 10ft forward then took my feet. After i was chilled and refreshed, i thought i'd get out the water... well i tried but the undertow was so strong the best i could do was not fall over... and then the next wave hits, you lose your footing, and again your being dragged back into the sea [I read Moonfleet as a child, and a character drowns by being dragged off the beach by the waves... until now, i've never understood how that was possible] so i panicked; a almost on all fours hauled myself across a sharp patch of choral back onto the sand.. and collapsed into my towel.

Back at the family campsite; a group had brought their own megaloud karaoke rig with them and were wailing songs for everyone to hear: noone but me seemed to mind: typically taiwan.
That evening; we discovered Kenting's biggest problem is parking: the resort consists of only 3 narrow parallel roads; we drove in but ended up driving halfway back to the campsite to park the van.
We stopped at a Chinese restaurant/bar/club, where the doorman said "we have dancers! 2 girls and one boy: very macho!" there in the middle of the club was a pole and to my surprise the whole place was filled with families. The show wasnt on for an hour so we went to Thai restaurant and demolished a green curry, shrimp balls, chicken sour bamboo and 3 bowls of rice; much to the horror of the staff.
We went back to the 'dance show'; the place was filled mainly with young lads, although the odd old couple could be spotted here and there. There were four dancers; 2 girls, one scary bloke in latex and a big bloke in a dress... they all kept there clothes on, which in retrospect was probably a good thing.

The next morning we packed up and left.... i was in a bad mood most of the day because someone had taken my wallet with my tai bank card in... we stopped in the afternoon on Baisha beach further up the coast; equally attractive but far less touristy... and it had 3 campsites within walking distance aswell as a cycle track going right through it. Next time we'll stay here! There was also a girl who asked to have a photo taken with us: it would have been rude to decline!
The journey home took forever due to roadworks; but i did get a pic of this taiwanese robocop directing traffic!

Malay Discovery World

2006-08-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

On Sunday a collection of TA’s and teachers from the 4 schools of Linda (the scary boss - see Farewell Martin and Kate) went up to a theme park up somewhere; making this my 3rd visit to a themepark in 4 months. This one was called Malay Discovery World.
Sadly you haven’t got a brochure describing the areas of the park; so let me give you a taster to show how little is lost in translation:
o Yaymay Island Bay: Mysterious lost island for contented elderly people.
o Enchanter forest: Magical fantasy land, for romantic lovers.
o Fairy Tale Village: Cute fairy-tale land for young and innocent children.
o Palace of Dream: Eccentric extraterrestrial planet for the pioneering dream seeker.
o D-Street: Thrilling sci-fi and fantasy city for those who have “guts”.
Although all of the Yuan Lin teachers were there I spent the day with Jenna (US new teacher in Changhua) and the TA’s from Pin Hir School (where I covered for a teacher on hols for 2 weeks)… they were the only ones who’d waited after I went to buy hat no.3.

Being the only Brit and the only male in our group… there was obviously a lot of pressure to put on a brave face… and smile at whatever ride decisions the group came to. Now I’ve known some thrill seekers in my time… but this Jenna; we were no sooner off a ride than on the next one along: indiscriminate… well apart from them all being fast.
When I went the last theme park I was a little worried about Taiwan safety measures: I needn’t have been. This time I really should have been.

The swings: fine. The stinger: fine. The galactic spin: slight feeling of veins popping out of my head, but surprisingly fine. Sonic circle: no padding on seats; backache. Wild-Crazy flume: fine. Wild river canyon: fine. Pirate Ship: feeling of weightlessness and nausea but fine.
Energy Storm: the harness on this ride has two settings: Sumo wrestler or Taiwanese lady: so as the ride spun me round and upside down all I could do was fight to not slip out of the seat. The opposite problem occurred on the Mine train ride where the clamp was so tight I couldn’t breath for the duration. The Gravity Max was there big attraction: the World’s only broken-track roller coaster: train stops high in the air: the part of track its on pivots into the vertical: the train hangs for a moment then plummets down.
In 6 hours we’d done 10 rides; we would have done more; had it not been for the parade: all of the paths were roped off and like it or not; you were to watch fluffy bunnies and assorted animal friends dance (I use the term loosely) past you.
It took a second to sink in; but when I looked more closely at the performers I was astounded to see they were all westerners!
I’d never seen a more bizarre picture: Taiwanese people crowding to see Western people dressed in Taiwanese costumes in a dance routine for which white people are renowned for being rubbish.
By 7 our group were all feeling a little queasy: I was proud that outlasted most of them with my usually poor tolerance for all things spinny. We went to stock up on energy; Candy and Bess came with me and Jenna, to Scream Pizza to share a large Hawaiian. This was obviously their first pizza experience: they didn’t like it one bit! It was hilarious! When I think of all the truly weird things they eat everyday: but then cheese and tomato are not common foods here: nor is non-sweet bread for that matter.

We were all too knackered to do much else yesterday so we all went home and crashed out to wake up this morning with various bruises and back pains. So next weekend I think I’ll stick to hurtling down a mountain on my bike: much safer!

This is the beautiful Rita: jobs include school manager and making everyone feel good.

Kenting in the summer time

2006-08-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

Kenting is the furthest south you can go in Taiwan, a fair distance! So to make the most of the weekend; me and Pascal set out straight after work on Friday night… the journey should have been about 3 hours however the map I was using was in Chinese and although Taiwan now has English name signs with the Chinese; I only new what the characters for a place were when we got there… so when we reached a place called Kanding, it wasn’t unreasonable to assume this might be where we were headed: but no.

We thought we could simply go back onto the freeway; but no… there was only a slip road off – not back on the freeway. This is really not a great place to get lost. Luckily we found another road heading south and after a rice cake for supper we pulled up in Kenting at about 3am.

Now the plan was to pitch a tent on the beach and sleep for free: however in the darkness the sea sounded pretty rough; it had been raining moments before and the tide seemed rather high and the car park was rocky and full of ants; so I passed on the camping. Opted to sleep in the front of Pascal’s van: big mistake! The engine is under the seats and for 2 hours they did not cool down: I was semiconscious with the windows down for maybe half an hour when I realized there were 4 mosquitoes in the van; one of which had just bit my foot… Pascal had took the lock levers out for safety so I ended up pulling myself out of the window and going for a walk: if I can’t sleep I might as well get up! The thought of jogging hovered for a second but soon disappeared after walking a few paces.

I took my camera hoping to get some nice shots of the sunrise…

well I got halfway down the path to the beach when a mozzi bit my wrist; then another bit my hand… I tell you now I was feeling pretty low at this point… I walked into a 7Eleven (corner-shops of America they’re all over this country) holding my arm over the freezer and buying yet another rice cake.

Pascal was still sleeping in the back of the van so I went for a walk round Kenting. A collection of tourist-aimed gift shops, hotels, restaurants, eateries, bars and clothes shops (some of which were opening at 6am) Kenting seemed smaller than I’d imagined; there were a few visitors walking round buying breakfast, but for peak season on a weekend there wasn’t a lot going on.

Pascal was up by about 8; so after another rice cake and iced coffee; we got the bikes out the van and prepared for a morning cycle. We had two choices; drive out to the mountains or ride around the coast… it didn’t take too long to decide: how easy the coast road was! It was perfect: nice breeze, sunny skies and hardly a thing on the roads… we kept stopping to take pics of the coastline.

The first place to head had to be the southern most point; so using my bike compass, we headed south til we found signposts to it. There it was marked with an attractive obelisk.

From there we carried on round the coast until over the brow of a hill we could see the South China Sea back to the left of us and the Pacific Ocean on our right: it was awesome!

We pulled in at a group of catering vans at a toilet stop on the road: and were very grateful to be offered some shade and a stool by a drinks vender. He had his henchboy fetch us some mango smoothie and iced coffee and we chilled trying to ask him if he knew the route back to Kenting from here. He pointed us in a direction and off we headed. Before long the road split into 3 and each one seemed to go uphill (so much for our gentle coast-route) we stopped to ask a group eating dinner in their garden the best route: all five of them gave equally convincing and equally different answers; one said it was 45km back to Kenting; another said 6km; but after 5 minutes they managed to agree on one road; so off we went again. My logic was that we were on the west side; we went south then up the east coast; so if we headed west; we’d eventually hit the sea again… well we went west and west some more and we could still sea towns on hills beyond the towns on hills: but we were definitely heading west. After what seemed like forever we stopped at a busy junction to ask a family for directions: bemused at how we’d got so far from the place; they smiled and gave us their map in sympathy… we weren’t far from the coast but we had misjudged how far north we’d gone initial… so by lunchtime we’d done 30 miles, were knackered and drenched in sweat and all we wanted to do was fall into the sea… so we did.

The rest of the teacher crowd had arrived a little while before so we spent the rest of the day chilling and swimming.
The waves in the South China Sea are surprisingly powerful; first wave, I forgot to jump with, nearly drowned me and deprived me of my shorts.

After making ourselves look beautiful at the hotel, we headed to a Thai restaurant for some well-earned food. The difference in the place between now and that morning was phenomenal: there were people everywhere!
The streets were lined with little games stalls: Dave shot 10 balloons with 10 bullets and won a strange cat thing...
The food was good and plentiful; but for some reason the restaurant had a 1hr30 max eating time; so we were kicked out just before we ordered pudding: not very satisfactory at all! From there we walked to a little bar which had very attractive staff.

Lack of sleep caught up with me soon after; so when everyone headed off to a club i meandered back to the hotel.

The next morning i was annoyed to discover i'd missed breakfast... so i went and filled up on rice cake.
The day was spent shopping, eating and chilling by the beach again until at 5 the coach arrived for the others and after having a last walk round and watching the sun dip from view; we climbed back in the Pascal wagon and headed home. A far quicker trip. A good weekend all round!