A grammarian's lexical choice; It's supposed to hint at the variety of topics I cover in my posts (plus my gender). A little convoluted & punny, but it amuses.
Hey everyone, I just got back to SF last month and have been recovering from jetlag and cultural dissonance and of course looking for jobs.
Taiwan (and Asia in general) has been an amazing fascinating experience, I learned a lot and I'm really glad I was able to take the time off work. I'm planning on returning to Asia at some point, and will perhaps focus my efforts on finding a job that will allow me to do that. Learning Chinese exercised mental muscles I didn't know I had. I've come a long way according to my room mate Angie who has been super supportive. Especially at a recent party where the only 2 people spoke any English at all, I spent 4 hours hanging comfortably, even to the point of introducing myself to the whole group in only Chinese. Of course, speaking is a lot harder than comprehending and the characters are still a bunch of squiggles. I still have a long way to go to attain fluency and accuracy but I've got a foundation now that I would not have achieved at home. I made so many great friends and was getting so close to sort of functional in Chinese that I'm sad to leave. Everyone was so friendly and willing to help me. I highly recommend Taiwan as a place to learn Chinese. But of course I'm glad to be home with Gwynie, whom I missed something fierce.
I'm very glad I took the time for this adventure, I was super burnt out over last year and just decided to do something different, very different from science. It's made me realize I'm not as trapped or pigeonholed in my profession as I felt. If anything working outside those confines for just a short time has made me aware that I can still try to do anything I want. It made me think longer and harder about what I want to do, what I like doing and to question myself about what I'm actually good at. Still no concrete ideas,
Creatively I feel like I've worked on pieces that I've been thinking about for a while. I'm definitely excited about the direction they're going in, altho still not ready for public airing yet. I've certainly enjoyed the blogging, it's helped me stay in touch with so many more people than I expected. I'm really touched at how many of my friends stop by frequently to check in on how I'm doing, even tho it's mostly about what i had for dinner.
I've decided that I need to make a bigger effort to include a variety of people in my life and not choose the "safe option" as much just because I'm scared of how things might turn out. I've been very lucky to meet some amazingly interesting and talented people who have forced me to grow in directions that had veritably atrophied at home. For that alone I'm glad.
Keep watching this space I'm going to post randomly as thoughts occur.
I’ve been living vicariously through Astrid’s blog in Taiwan and now I’m here getting to see it first hand. Initial impressions:…. it rains all the time -even when the sun is shining. As a result the city is verdant yet concrete maze; its sunny, hot and humid- everyone carries an umbrella and people walk purposefully but at a slow pace on the crosswalks (in order to give the scooters a clear path to turn). I nearly got run down looking the other way and walking too quickly across the road until I figured out what was going on.
My first day- we took the dogs Percy and Dodo down to the river for a walk. I was turned around the instant we left the apartment building, lost as we went along a warren of streets. I picked up a smattering of Chinese: "Ni hao- hello", and everyone has figured out that we’re at least sisters- "jiejie and meimei" and then we say "shang bao tai"- twins and then they say "yes we can tell! "
I get the phrase for twins mixed up with shao long bao which are very yummy dumplings.
I didn’t check out a guide book (which I normally do for trips) but when sissy asked me what I wanted to do when I visited, I said “eat everything that’s on your blog” so we did.
We dashed around the city and stopped at Taipei 101 which is currently the tallest building world. Going up in the elevator seemed like a short journey but I felt my ears pop. We stopped at Eslite the biggest book store in Asia and wandered the 4th floor around marveling at all the books then headed downstairs for the most amazing passion fruit and mango frozen yogurt out of a neato machine which blends fresh fruit and frozen yogurt /ice cream on demand.
At the special mushroom restaurant Mushroom Garden, I got to try abalone mushroom which was served like sashimi on a bed of ice and a fragrant salty, gingery sauce and then we had shabu shabu (hot pot) with all kinds of mushrooms in a tasty mushroom broth. There was a sticky rice cooked in bamboo with meat and mushrooms. Yummerlicious.
We went to Jilong spelled Keelong by slow train and when the conductor stopped to talk to us, it was like a soft rain washing over me, I understood nothing. I was so jealous of my sister’s newly acquired chinese until she fessed up that she didn’t understand either. A really nice gentleman rushed over to help us out, explained that we had to change trains in Bu Dan and kindly made sure that we got on the next train. [Please note that this was the only instance where I had trouble with communicating, but clearly it made an impression on Gwynie- Astrid] We hiked up to the temple with the large Buddha and the elephant over looking the city.
We hiked to the fort that looks out over the harbor and the stone structures were immense. Fashed from all that walking we caught a taxi back to town to go to the night market near the temple to cross shao bing (tasty buns) and gao tie (fried savory doughnuts) off my list of food. So as to not OD on starch I had cherry tomatoes sprinkled with plum dust which was sweet, sour and salty at the same time. Ooh lucky me, I’ve got a bottle of plum fairy dust to take home with me. Now, I’ll be able to replicate candied tomatoes at home.
Another great day was our trip up to Muzha by taking the Mekong gondola which goes a really long way up the mountain to the top. We trekked back down to a teahouse which felt like a really long way but was really not far and a few minutes beyond the temple where we had a bout of indecision. We choose the local specialty tea cooked goose with fried sweet potato and sautéed sweet potato greens with garlic. We drank gallons of Mountain High Oolong. I was so caught up in the pouring, swirling, smelling and drinking of the tea I forgot about the caffeine, which kept me awake all night. The tea was amazing and so we went to the organic market the next day to buy some of the teas that we tried. It’s a very pleasant ritual that I’ll try to keep up when back home.
Samson, a friend of my sister's and a professional tour guide, came and took us around the northern part of the island along. We saw so much in one day, it gave us the flavor of the remote fishing villages and hiking areas that have only recently in the last couple of months got a finished highway. We went to see the natural sulphur springs with the bamboo maze high up in the mountains and took in great vistas of the plumes from the volcano and far off views of the coast. Then we drove to a really large cemetery which had road and roads and huge mausoleums. Then onto a special Buddhist temple covered in shells and coral dedicated to the gods of the fishermen and the sea- there we crawled through the shell lined maze and tunnel as a sort of prayerful activity. Followed by lunch which was a great respite - we had a huge steamed fish, squid so fresh that it will never compare with anything else, that 's my new benchmark. 2 different kinds of sautéed vegetables and a pork belly stew followed by a seafood broth with winter melon vegetables.
Onward to beautiful water carved coastline museum where a cacophony of safety warnings rang out over loud speaker in harsh contrast to the blue peaceful setting and pineapple like fruit in trees! We raced eastward to a fishing village where we tried passion fruit seaweed pudding, delicious!
A tired end to a whirlwind tour was a direct drive home on the newly opened freeway to meet up with friends for dinner. We saw a dizzying number of places but the thing most clearly set in my mind is that we need to come back to do some nature hikes.
I raced back to the states to beat a cyclone but I wish I’d never left. Taiwan, you’ll see me soon too!
The first garbage run is 7:30pm the other is around 9:30pm, you should be able to hear the music down the street before it makes it to our block...
We put all the compostables in a separate bag (can be any plastic) or use the largest tupperware depending on volume (that way it doesn't smell as much if you keep it in the fridge). You dump the compost into the plant waste bucket at the back of the garbage truck, if you use a plastic bag then throw
the dirty plastic bag into another bucket they have provided for that. otherwise the tupperware gets washed at the hose behind the first building in the alley.
The regular garbage goes into the blue stamped garbage bags. There should be some in the bottom cupboard in the hallway opposite the bathroom door.
Recycling goes downstairs to the old lady on the first floor.
After my plans for Alishan were shelved because of poor scheduling on my part, Angie suggested taking the Maokong Gondala up to the Muzha tea plantations. Since Taiwan is famous for their tea, this seemed like an appropriate and super fun day's activities.
We caught the MRT out to the end of the brown line. It's pretty amazing how many hills are cut thru, making the commute way shorter. Next the Maokong Gondola rises thru the foothills up into the mountains. The cable cars are hot and stuffy, better designed to keep the heat in on a snowy alpine day. At the top we take the road to the left and walk down the mountain for about 30 minutes (keep going past the temple).
All of the tea from the farms in Maokong is used at the 100-odd tea houses and restaurants in the area. To keep up with the demand for tea, high end tea from other parts are also served. Tea plantations in Maokong started out offering just tea and desserts. As the tourist trade became more popular, they started offering meals.
The teahouse is nestled into the side of the mountain. Lush with greenery, the picturesque stone and wood teahouse looks like it's been there for centuries. We order a local high mountain oolong more toasted but with the light fruit flavors of the green. For lunch we have the tea smoked duck, green mountain vegetables and deep fried sweet potato. We enjoyed a fabulous afternoon tucked inside the little teahouse, learning all about local tea, eating delicious treats. On the way back it rained (surprise!) and we caught the local mountain bus (which accepted the Taipei transit pass) back to the Gondola.
The instructions for brewing are as follows
1. Boil water
2. Fill pot 1/4 with dried tea leaves (should fill pot when unfurled)
3. Add water to tea up and over top of pot
4. Immediately pour out the water into the bone china jug and use to rinse utensils
5. Add water to tea, steep for 15-25 secs depending on taste, immediately decant into jug (to keep leaves dry so they don't go bitter)
6. Pour over spoon or pour into tall cylinders (to develop the nose) and then transfer into regular cups
7. Smell the spoon/cylinders
8. Sip slowly over conversation with friends
NB this is highly caffinated, tea leaves can be reused 4-6x
Yaoyue 邀月 (Inviting the Moon) Teahouse
No. 6, Lane 40, Sec. 3; 指南路3段40巷6號; tel (02) 2939-2025
We started out late the morning of the races, and then our cab driver (who had no idea where Dajajiao was actually) dropped us opposite to where we wanted to go. Forcing us to run 10 blocks in flip flops punctuated by frantic phone calls from Danny our team captain exhorting us to "go straight to the bridge". I think bitter thoughts about the driver, who could have used the same instructions.
We arrive panting and breathless, and grab life jackets - just in time to line up and load the boat. The Taipei City race is a big deal. All the teams are in lycra rash guards and board shorts, sporting hairstyles and skin adornments fashioned specifically for the event. The mayor AND the president are scheduled to participate. We've got our styling watersports functional uniforms in red and white. Our team is the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce. We're an international bunch but mostly Taiwanese, English, American, Canadian with a couple of Aussies & Kiwis thrown in. The teams we're up against look burly and synchronized. We paddle out to the start and mill around 4 boats to a heat, jockeying into position. Our drummer calls us to the ready, we sit with paddles raised, crouched to unleash a torrent of power strokes, when the starter tells us to put our paddles down. As we comply, he fires the starter pistol, and while we struggle to get our paddles into the water, the Phillipino team surges ahead winning by 3 very clear boat lengths. To our disappointment, we have a consolation race in the afternoon but can expect nothing more from this loss. Everyone is bummed and miserable- all those mornings on the river- just to lose it on the start... Oh well this was just a prelude to the meat of the weekend. We forfeit the next day's races as planned, and move on to the Taipei County races.
Day 2 Bitan- Taipei County Races
The next day we're at Bitan Taipei County races, an entirely different event. The first thing you notice is that the ladies take their sun protection seriously. Long sleeve shirts, hats and topped with an uv protective umbrella. We have to attend the opening ceremony so we arrive early and gather in the long covered area reserved for paddling teams. Everyone and their uncle speaks, the sound is a cacophony of marching bands blaring on horns and pounding on drums, mounted police shouting crowd control instructions (the horses freak out and jump into a giant dumpster narrowly missing the small kids running around in all the excitement).
Here the teams are lean and tanned. In addition to the neoprene race shorts, they have carbon fiber paddles instead of the wooden ones which come with the boats. They may be contenders, but we have the sexiest drummer on the river. We start with the compact and brown aborigine teams, they smile red beetle nut smiles, talk smack and tease us about our chances. We paddle down river to the start, our biggest problem is getting the handlers on the platform to stop staring at the the pink shirted dental hygenist team. The aborigine teams crush us convincingly while we place 3rd, they're on their way to the money slots. Up next is the other "foreign" team-IMBA students from DaiDa(?), another local team (Christian and short a couple of rowers) and a boat of "high schoolers", we spank them all but it's an unconvincing competition (Are we doing better or are they really that bad?) Meanwhile, in a super tight and closely contested heat, the flag catcher for the blue shirted aborigine team shockingly misses the flag. The rules state this is a forfeit, the blue team weeps inconsolably. They've been training for months...
We take a lazy interlude for lunch, where I wander down and buy zhongzi. These are rice packets wrapped in lotus leaves, that are special to this festival celebration. Michael checks out the rankings, if we place in the next consolation heat, the top teams will make it into the last slots for the main draw based on time. The team prepares for another heat. Today we have a full boat plus extra, I'm out and Angie is back in. She gives me her DSLR, some quick pointers and leaves me to snap the race. I head up to the suspension bridge for a different vantage point, and it looks like our team places well again- we're in the final 8.
We're jazzed but tired. The lineup changes again- I and a couple of the other teammates out resting are back in the boat. The boats square up again- based on times we're racing against the depressed blue team, a burly carbon fiber kitted team and a yellow team. The burly team charges ahead chased closely by the blue team hoping to salvage a spot in the upper 4. The yellow team is leading, and we're paddling with concentration and effort, pulling closer. As we churn towards the finish line flags we grunt and groan. Come on! It's all in slow motion- where the roar of the crowd fades and all you can hear is your blood pounding and the feel of the water heavy like molasses against the paddle. We rock and strain without looking now, the boat rises gliding with each stroke and we take the pace up another beat. A couple of feet to go we pull even and then surge forward our flag catcher leans precariously out grabs our blue flag and heaves upwards. We know we beat the yellow team with the orange flag, they know they've lost. We roar our victory, celebrating, pounding our oars against the gunwhales of the boat.
When the official times are posted, we beat the yellow team by 41 milliseconds to take 7th place out of 37 teams in the mixed open division. Not bad at all.
This year since I made a blog tribute to my Mom, it seems only fair that I do one for my Dad as well. He doesn't like a fuss, so this one is a little shorter.
I can't possibly articulate all the reasons that my Dad is the greatest, but I'm going to at least try...
Toppest number one reason- he's my Dad!
Most of all- my Dad loves me (and I love him).
Dad loves gardening, and makes the 2 acre plot a lush rainforest jungle and a cool green place to hang out away from the flaming hot Oz sun. A proudly stated fact- their house & garden is 10 degrees F cooler than the neighbors, you can tell where the property line is by the trees. One of my earliest memories is following my Dad around the garden and planting rose apple seeds to watch them sprout (we got such tasty rose apples from the tree that resulted). I credit him with my passion for plants and gardening.
Dad always got up n the morning to water the orchids. I remember the year there was a drought and I watered all 600 plants by hand with a syringe. My favorite orchids were the ones that grew in direct sunlight and had massively thick roots. Dad helped me with countless science projects involving apical stem/root growth. Dad taught me how to read, helped me with my math/science and how think logically. I credit him with my passion for science and teaching.
On the weekends he'd take us down to the sports club and we'd play squash all day. He encouraged us to join the junior squad, and ferried us to tournaments and practice. We started at around aged 9, and continued until we left for college. Gwynie and I recently started up with squash again and realized the thing missing all these years was our early ritual of squash. It would be better if Dad was there to play too, nothing like the crafty game to keep you huffing and puffing.
He has a typically subtle British sense of humor. Grinning and chuckling silently at the latest dry wit. We grew up listening to Kenneth Horne on reel to reel tapes, and watching Yes Minister/Prim Minister. It wasn't until I left home that I realized that very few people try to work puns into their sentences ALL the time.
I miss my Dad and wish that I could see him more often. Hopefully my folks will travel to the USA this year. It would be so great if they could live in the Bay Area and we could have family dinners, and I could pop over to hang out with my dad anytime.
I love you Dad!
rare Terry family photo
And of course to all those other dad's out there- I hope your day was marvelous!
During Scrabble nite last week Stella mentioned that she was headed on a tour to Hualien with friends for the weekend. The plan was to track down fireflies in the mountains and then hike Toroko Gorge the following day. Angelica and I both loved the sound of this adventure and begged to be included.
Here are a few video highlights of the trip. Check below for still shots.
第一天 First day
台北(龍山寺捷運站二號出口)集合, 開心地出發啦~~!
Taipei (Longshan Temple MRT exit 2) Picked up by our guides Amao & Crystal, happily starting our adventure la ~! We (Angelica, Stella and I) are greeted with smiles and cranberry cheesecake stuffed mianbao. Everyone is talking Chinese but I'm catching the gist of the easy stuff and Angie's filling me in on the more complex topics. After a while we get caught up in the conversation and Angie forgets to translate, but it's ok I'm happy to listen to all the jokes flying around. On the way out we pass a labyrinth of freeway ramps. I'm glad someone else is navigating.
下北宜高抵達蘇澳. (路程中可視團員狀況沿路休息)We travel towards Ilan thru the Suao tunnels of the Taipei-Ilan highway. (It's an amazing feat of engineering, but cuts right thru the aquifer layer- affecting groundwater and catchment areas!). What used to be a long, tortuous and winding trip has been massively shortened and straightened by boring directly under the mountains. I'm glad not to be carsick but I feel a little guilty about the ruined aquifer layer (the local environmentalists had a cow when the highway was built).
享受整路蘇花公路美麗的東海岸風光, 到達小房子, 先將行李放好..喝杯咖啡稍事休息, 也討論一下行程選擇 The drive along the eastern coast highway was long (4 hours total) but with beautiful scenery. We made a well planned stop at a scenic temple perched on the bluffs overlooking the elongate Hualien Bay with a fantastic view of fishing boats and (very importantly) toilet facilities. After another hour we arrived at the B&B cottage, dropped off our luggage, made necessary pit-stops and refreshments. The cottage is an old style farm village cottage, with raised platform bedrooms and hard mattresses. The rooms are open onto the wooden rafters, so no ceilings. The roof is tiled the old fashioned way (after a typhoon 3 years ago destroyed the aluminum roof). Everything was decorated in a rustic Ikea style, bold colors and simple furniture. The backyard is fully planted as a kitchen garden. If you walk down the road, you can see other cottages built in the same style but in different states of repair and conditions.
We discussed our plan of action for the day and agreed that since I was short on time in Taiwan our goal was try to fit as much in as possible in a sort of "ultra speedy crack mission impossible ". Crystal jokingly promised that we would get to a site and then they would say "see that trail? you have 30 minutes- run, run run (pao, pao ,pao)". After a confusing conversation about manta rays I determine from small concrete reliefs in the garden that the sunfish or Mola mola is the mascot of Hualien. Crystal asks me to draw the difference between a manta ray and a sunfish- she laments that instead of marine biology Taiwan has "Seafood biology".
Impromptu stop at the beach. No swimming, coz it's a steep pebbly beach (like Monastery Beach in Big Sur) with a dramatic drop off and a strong long shore current and hidden rips. It's a working beach coz the substantial drop off allows the fishing boats right up onto the beach to land their catch. Still it was nice to rest on the beach after the long drive. The pebbles look like a mix of marble and limestone, all Jackson Pollocky. Everyone is armed with a camera, I feel somewhat redundant with my little point & shoot when everyone else has massive DSLRs. The breeze starts picking up, and the air force base down at the end of the bay had planes flying overhead, so it was interesting but a little noisy.
阿美土產午餐~ 超級推薦的山野美食~!! Lunch- Amao and Crystal recommend the local seafood and we're all enthused to drive down into Hualian harbor and buy fresh fish from the local fishermen. They have a kaleidescope of fish- flying fish, octopus & squid, flat fish with bio-luminescent skin (bacteria in the skin cells), all kinds of coral reef fish; I even found a guy skinning (ever so casually) an entire bin of poisonous puffer fish! We didn't risk it ourselves considering the conditions, but I saw other people ordering it by the jin (Taiwanese measure for 600g). After Crystal chose our fish, they cooked it for us. Each dish tasted very different. We started with some incredibly fresh tuna and salmon sashimi, followed by fish ball veg soup, salt and pepper oysters, eggs noodles and mounds of fresh steamed shrimp. Wow. fantabulous.
松園別館~ 感受遍地舖滿松針與徐徐清風吹來的靜謐 On the way over to Tsung Yuen Museum we stop at a roadside stand to pick up some thirst quenching stewed winter melonade (it's got a kind of caramelly melony depth to it, good pucker factor & brain freeze for sure). The museum is atop the only hill in the city, surrounded by trees and covered with pine needles and a quiet breeze blows slowly thru the tree tops (Qing feng dian). It's more of an artsy craft center, complete with drumming circle (occupied by a class of drummers pounding away), display galleries for art, poetry and classrooms (jewelry making, etc). The museum store has a full selection of postcards and other knickknacks. You can see the red bridge we crossed on the way into town. The roof had been slightly altered for skylights. I like the impromptu poems on slabs of 2x4. Many of them are wild running style, which has a lot of energy, but the folks who are supposed to be able to read the characters complain that these are illegible. I can only make out a a handful of characters like ren, shui, bu, zhong, da - enough to feel like my studying is starting to have some relevance.
We spot some fallow fields with a cover crop of cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds and daisies. There are other flowers I can't identify. It's so pretty we whip out the cameras and start snapping more pics. We all have cameras and we're using them, so it's tough to get a good shot of someone with out them looking at their cameras. On the plus side between us all we've generated about 700+ pics over the weekend. Amao thinks we prolly have taken more pics than any other group they've had. It's so photogenic, as is the derelict cottage and old man with a twig broom.
林田山的舊宿舍... We head on over to the Lin Tianshan the old quarters of a logging village. It's got all the original equipment and possessions of the people who lived there during the lumber heyday. The highlight for me is the constructed art section where huge models of insect lie in wait.
"跑跑跑"的散步完後, 黑心團特色的"吃吃吃"時候到了, 來吃個特別的鮮韮菜臭豆腐..攤子旁就放著大大把的新鮮韮菜.. Amao asks us if we're ready for the most challenging part of our trip "the black heart of our Mission" , "Chi Chichi" to eat the fresh leek special stinky tofu ..
上場囉, 為了讓切丁的韮菜方便食用, 會將炸好的臭豆腐中間挖一個洞, 若要加辣就會把辣椒醬放進洞裡, 再把切丁韮菜鋪放上去., 這攤的臭豆腐真是有夠臭, 把車停在旁邊門一開, 感覺就像被臭味劈頭打中的感覺一樣, 也有普通加泡菜的炸臭豆腐, 加泡菜的話則是將臭豆腐切成三角型後再炸..外國朋友都讚不絕口, 說外皮酥內心軟, 又臭又夠味, 整個就是一個決配~!! 放着外帶裝盤中..臭豆腐上鋪滿滿新鮮切丁的韮菜..
韮菜是要用多少切多少, 才不會因為切好後放太久而縮掉..
We all agreed to share just a couple of servings coz we were still full from lunch. We stopped at an open air stand that did both original pickled veg as well as special leek chou doufu. The smell is a wall that splits your head open. Good things it's outdoors and has good ventilation. The doufu is cut into triangles and then holes cut into the middle to increase the spicy sauce diffusion.
Leeks are cut fresh and then sweated slightly to enhance the flavor. Another version is ladled with vinegared veg- cabbage, carrots onion etc. I like the pickled cabbage version better, I think that the vinegar adds a bite and clarity to the taste that the leek doesn't. But it's all delicious. It was a case of everyone eats it or no one eats, the smell was that strong. Crisp inner skin soft, smelly tender insides Gou Wei! The car reeks afterwards and we have to roll all the windows down for air.
吃完臭豆腐點心, 又轉戰一定要推薦給外國朋友的"豐春冰果室", 大家用了超級清涼的甘蔗冰, 快六點了, 準備來去鯉魚潭看螢火蟲囉.. 豐春冰果室~ ㄧ路搭車, 來去吃個冰消暑吧~! We hardly have room but for the famous Feng-chun fruit ice we'll make space. The ubiquitous shaved ice is replaced with frozen sugar cane ice. It's juiced, condensed and frozen in bright orange pipes that line the walls. The industrial set up indicates that they're ready for the sweltering summer demands for ice, ice, ice -Xiaoshu ~!
夜間活動(還有體力嗎? 逛夜市、休息、來去鯉魚潭享受寧靜夜景跟找螢火蟲?) We continue our drive up into the hills directly behind Hualian to Guangye Shi, where Liyu (Carp) Lake sits in a bowl between two ranges. As we pull into the park I see a sign for the Hualien 2008 Triathlon. We just missed it by a couple of hours... Oh well we'll just have to enjoy a quiet night searching for fireflies. The frogs come out in their brass section complemented by the cicadas and crickets string section- an evensong symphony as the twilight fades completely from blue to black. Groups of nature lovers congregate near the trail head but we ignore them and press on around the lake and up into a gully as small sparks of light start floating around. I try to film the queer green pulsating strobes. It's so faint that it's not making any impression on my camera screen (which is so backlit that it's killing my night vision), I switch off the technology and decide to rely on my memories of the event. As my eyes gradually acclimate to the dark, it seems all of a sudden a swarm of fireflies descend from the canopy, flitting around with steady beams or pulses tracking the path. Amazing. We grow quiet as we absorb this kufee (cool feeling) glad that we were able to leave the masses of people behind. The best side for spotting fireflies is the east side in damp brush covered places. We circle the lake and climb into the car after a good long hike (estimates range from 5-10 km) It was dark and it took a long time but so worth the effort and blisters.
七星潭(帶著自強夜市採買的美食,來去七星潭吹風吃美食) It's so late all the restaurants in the area are closed. Luckily the local night market Qixing Tan is well stocked with local delicacies. We can't eat the BBQ, there's a 70 minute wait, so we walk down and grab a variety of Taiwanese night market staples- coffin bread stuffed with lamb stir fry, oyster omelet (but with the locally fresh oysters it's lifted to a different plane of being), mango/watermelon/papaya smoothies and rice congee. I'm so stuffed from the day, I can only sip on a mango smoothie and taste Angie's "dead bread".
回小房子休息 Back to the cottage to rest. We pass out as if struck on the head with a baseball bat.
第二天 The next day
七星潭看日出!! We skipped the optional visit to see the 5 am sunrise and local fish market by simply sleeping thru till 7am. Amao got up early, but decided against waking us up.
享用小房子的田園風有機特色早餐.. We wake up to an organic breakfast of wild veggies (fern tips, sweet potato greens, bamboo shoots, seaweed) gathered and cooked by Amao's mom.. Delicious.
今天我們有一整天的時間逛太魯閣國家公園, 首先到達的當然是不能免俗一定要"到此一遊"的, 橫貫公路入口牌樓.. Today we have a whole day planned around the Taroko National Park, we stop to take the typical tourist pics at the cross-island highway entrance decorated archway to the Taroko and buy the casual 7-11 picnic lunch for later .. We take several different paths along paved walkways designed to exhibit the natual beauty of the rock formations and wild gorges. Amao drops us off, and we walk prolly an easy 30 minutes. He picks us up and drops us off again. This time the trail cuts thru the mountain, and the tunnels are pitch black with no lighting. We make our way up the trail to the Crystal Waterfall Caves, where we don plastic rain gear and wade into the dark tunnel. About 5 minutes in the sounds of the waterfall are so deafening, you can hardly think. But the light is so bad, it's impossible to take good pics and I'm afraid of getting my camera wet. Still it's exhilarating to stand under the torrential cascade and feel the pounding force. Ack my raincoat sprang a leak and I can feel the cold water rushing in with it's icy cold fingers.
On our way out we pass a convoy of buses. I'm so glad that our tour is special, instead of being herded on and off those massive tankers. They have to stop and buy things from the "tourist shops" specially designated as part of the tour. We're off in search of a wild onsen- a mineral spring in a river that has been made into a bathing pool. It's deserted and rustic. We soak our feet, and wish that we had brought our bathing suits. The water is hot and smelly. The views are great.
The mists start to roll in, it's getting cold and we're all tired.
晚餐-南方澳最新鮮的富美活海鮮 dinner - Nanfang Ao fresh live seafood-rich and tasty plus crunchy fried frogs' legs. What a treat!
回到台北溫暖的家..(龍山寺捷運站) Taipei to return to the warmth of home .. This time dropped off outside our lane since it was on the way back to Longshan Temple MRT for everyone else.
It should have come as no surprise, since there are tons of evidence of geothermal activity. But when I felt the tremors, I was like "Is that an earthquake?" Neither of them lasted long enough to do anything besides register in my consciousness. They both felt pretty small, about 2-3 in magnitude. Interestingly
I felt these earthquakes but lots of people didn't.
