East Taiwan

This is one of my favorite fruits:

This is one of my favorite fruits:

I'm not quite sure what the trail was called. I guessing probably something simple like "Tiger Trail" or "Tiger Mountain." It went through the hills from Dali to get to the next city, Fulong. From what I understand, these are the trails that in the days before the Japanese and Taiwanese use to travel. Typhoons are a common occurrence on the Taiwan island. This general believed the Tiger quelled the winds on this pass, so he engraved the Chinese symbol of Tiger on a huge rock to reduce the wind. He must have really believed it to make Now it is a major attraction. They've spent about a decade building and rebuilding the trail to make it safe to pass.

It was definitely beautiful and quaint. Everything looked very put together like a Disney walk. It wasn't huge and rushing like the McKenzie might be. It was more of a gurgling river that you might find David Carradine playing a flute next to. There was the cutest black puppy following us half the way. We would give it some water and a bit to eat. I could have taken him home right there. For a on the spot decision I made the night before, the travel was very rewarding. Beautiful, relaxing, good company. Work really interferes with these moments, so I only get them once in awhile and I appreciate them. I heard one man remark that if he didn't work, golfing wouldn't be so much fun. I would definitely agree with this.

When we got to Fulong we had the "famous" Fulong lunch box. The way it was described to me is it is like our hamburger. Lunch boxes which are rice, an egg, some fried meat and some fried vegetables, does not seem very notable. Apparently, the Taiwanese can tell the difference. I definitely couldn't. But a burger, oh, a burger. There are definitely good burgers. And some horrendous ones.

Cheers.

Tiger Trail

Tiger trail

Tiger trail

Our Doggy

I used to do this monologue at the end of Glass Menagerie he talks about "time is the farthest distance between two places." I kind of got it, but I didn't truly understand it until now while I'm 3000 miles from loved ones. But that isn't far. That's 2 days travel. Its the 6 months left to go which is hard to get to. There's no jet that can break the speed of time. I miss you all as I go through this experience. But a poet also said, "distance makes the heart grow fonder." I miss you all on this rainy day.

That's all I wanted to say with this one.

So it's been awhile since I wrote anything but work over the holidays was a bit on the time consuming stressful side. Later I may say something of such.

But I want to say how amazing a day it was today. The kind of day that made you glad to be somewhere completely unfamiliar and exciting.

My roommate had just come back from teaching and he remarked how in the distance he saw snowcapped mountains. Kind of an apathetic "crazy" came from my lips when your thinking, "well I got worked to do on this typical overcast day." He said he was going to the roof in passing as my friend David and I worked on restringing my guitar. We have a roof we can go on?! Yeah, that's right. Been here this long and I don't know we have roof. Immediately, I became pretty excited. From the top, the sun blazed across the blue sky illuminating everything around us. We could see the green lush mountains towering over our valley, and peeking over a few peaks in the distance were the snow covered mountains. It's cool to rise above the city streets and get a new perspective about where you live.

My roommate, Bryce, and my friend David weren't planning on going anywhere because they had Church in a few hours. It only took a few minutes, though, for Ferris Beuller's spirit to ignite and say, "Guys. We can't waste a day like this. Are you Insane! I have all this other stuff to do, but I think this is God telling us to get our butts out there. In fact, I think he would consider it a major sin not too." And yes. There's nothing more holy than packing up your scooter, heading to the beach, grabbing a surfboard and playing in the waves.

Bright rays, good waves, and actually getting up on the board made for an awesome day. I caught some whitewater runs and now I think I caught a little bit of the surfing bug. That whole EMPTY! beach was mine and the waves kept coming in quick for non-stop action. I gotta say that the feeling was like being in Six Flags with all the roller coasters roaring. They're just calling to you to come play. The best part? No ones there so you have no lines. None of that, "let's wait for an hour for each ride. We caught 3, ohhh, look at the time, park closed." (I think we all understand Clark Griswald at that point).

I wish I could have stayed all day. I did have a lot I needed to do so responsibility tore me from the waves. I don't that will happen again. Empty Waiao beach? Thats something to be taken advantage of. Something maybe all responsibility should have been told to take a hike. Maybe I should have just picked up everything I have, rent a hut next to the beach, and never leave from that day forward.

Yeah. Looks like I got a monkey on my back. But sometimes its good to have something that can tear you away from the reason of life. Something, that as you grind at the monotonous, pulls at you and replenishes the well from which you flow. A good run is nice but it takes effort to get it going. This. This riding the wave. It takes more effort not to get going. Oh but work tomorrow... Eh Hem..... I think I feel something coming on....

Now I tell ye a tale of an unlucky leprechaun
From a far off western coast he traveled abroad.
He took a trip across the sea,
Chased by the curse of one Mr. Murphy
Where there was drink, he had a hole in his cup
Where there was food, no fork to eat it up
Just two wooden spikes to grab bits of rice
And some ants on his plate who weren’t very nice.

He arrived on this foreign land with no idea in his head
Had the curse flew among the clouds and onto his bed
When he awoke in the morning he blinked a few times,
And he felt something strange, as if he was free of his crimes.
He stepped onto a land where his pot of gold could survive
Where the wink of one’s eye was one of trust and not jive
A job, not in a mine, but on a worthy hill true to its word
Though some things disagreeable were spoken, mostly good things were heard.

They taught quickly, and he learned presently fast
The future was the future, and the past was the past
He finished, in fun time, and frolicked to the finish
And was off to his school and not to Roan Inish
Fear gripped his heart as he foresaw a drought
This he knew was the part where the bottom would fall out
Mr. Murphy must be lying, mischievously hidden
Waiting for his chance to make the elf Twice Bitten.

But lo and behold, it was not so
Around his head, a ring of luck began to glow!
A place he did find spacious and fitted,
With Piano, guitar, kitchen, and roommated!
The accompanying fellow knew the tongue of the people
Finding needs and goodies was very helpful.
Not only that, just so happened there was a scooter
To discover new lands and not just be a commuter.

“Aye”, the leprechaun thought, “Mi curse has been purged!”
Alas, the sun came out, and a beautiful rainbow emerged.