Taroko

Day 19

I stayed out last night as long as I could until it rained. That drowned my beach sleeping plans and bench sleeping plans. I called it a night at 2am. It rained till 5:30am. I got up to walk on the beach 6:50am. The ocean felt great. I had fun looking at seashells. I didn’t go for a morning swim. I starred at the ocean for awhile and decided to can that idea. Felt good just to be out there on the beach. Watching the ocean before entering is one thing my surfing teacher drilled into our mind. It makes a difference between life and death. He would have us watch the ocean every morning before we enter. It was a good thing.

A-Hing paid for my breakfast. I had a vegetarian ZhongZi. I handed $300NT for my stay before the ferry ride. A-Hing was a decent person who is passionate about the ocean. Yesterday he showed me his camera and video gear. He designed his own water box to keep his gear dry. He saves money because it’s homemade and not name brand. He showed me his video clips from the Phillipeans last year. The experience with A-Hing reminded me of how much I love being in the water. I love to listen to my breath I love to listen to my heart beat. I love to listen to the ocean and all that is in it. I love to listen because I can hear in the water. I can hear within and I feel safe to do so.

I decided to run up the to the second floor of the ferry and I sat towards a window. A family of three sat behind me and a man in front. The family was doing the east coast drive, which is very pretty. I offered myself and money to ride with them and gave them the option of not taking me in. I thought I would take a chance. No takers.The next best thing was to take the bus with the gentleman in front of me to the train station. So we buddy up and found the no sign bus stop together. I told him the bus was only $23NT cheaper than the cab. If we missed the bus which comes every 20 minutes we could still get a cab. He had plans to spend a few hours in TaiTong and while waiting for his train back to central Taiwan. Instead he decided to go to Hualien with me and go shopping for omiyage and spend his extra few hours there. We both got standing ticket. We weren’t afraid, we had a plan, sit down at first available seat. He was a law graduate and is finishing the military service in three months and dreams of going to UC Berkeley Law School for his graduate program. He wanted to know how many Christian clubs there are on campus. I don’t know what denomination he is in English. I am unfamiliar with the terms in Chinese.
He handed me this classic caramel candy of which I haven't had since I was eight years old and one was enough for old times sake. I think I maxed out all my candy in take when I was in elementary school.


The women who sat next to me also had a standing ticket who had her eyes closed shut most of the ride. Just when I was about to close my eye to rest during the last trek of the train ride, all of sudden she jumps and opens her eyes with vigor and talks to me refusing to let me rest ignoring my shut eyes. She just kept on talking to me so I decided to not be rude and open my eyes to listen to her and all she had to say, her story.

This is the story she told me. All her life Mrs. Shiao’s been ill with this and that. Her husband was 13 years her senior and a career military service person. At the time when they met she made more money than he did by far. Her father didn’t like him because of his background being Cantonese and he had no living parents. But she liked how he didn’t have living parents for in-laws to be afraid of. It was the cultural urban legend that in-laws sit around getting their entertainment by abusing their daughter in-law. She also like that he cooked really good Cantonese food. She doesn’t know how to cook. She figured that since she has such bad ailing health, she probably wouldn’t live long and that the age difference is a good thing that way he wouldn’t be alone for long. It seems to me this sweet woman took all the negativities that others see and saw them as positives in her life. It took seven tries of marriage proposal with help from many others to finally get her father to agree to the marriage. Her parents owned a vegetable farm. Her husband would help at the farm whenever he was off duty. This helped to warm up her father. Now he has life time pay because he served as a military officer his whole life. They are now well to do. Her father of all the 5 son in-laws he has, finds her husband to be his favorite and is proud of him. Those who had more money in running businesses when they were younger and mistreated them now has financial challenges. Everything turns and changes. She didn’t think she would live long and she is now still alive. He made very little money then, now he is well to do. Mrs. Shao turned to say the last thing to me as she moved to exit for her stop, “in life look beyond the current immediate suffering, obstacle. Things turn and change in the future.” I am glad I opened my eyes and out of respect listened to her story and found gold she had to offer.

I bought my bus ticket to Taroko at the bus station that is to the right of the train station. Then I walked across the street to 7-11 and bought a bowl of instant noodle. I didn’t want to walk beyond the train station area to get food because it was hot and I had my luggage on me. I prefer to sit in the 7-11 enjoying my food in A/C.
I met Danny from Madrid who is an exchange student from England and Aziza from France who are both studying in TaiDa, Taipei University. I ended up helping them with their bus route and later on their housing and Taroko tour outline. They each spent $650NT without YHA card. They fell asleep the whole bus ride and missed the entire scenic ride from the park gates into Tien Xiang.

Upon entering the Taroko National Park there was no rain or mist, only sea of clouds “Yun Hai” over the mountains. I love the good chi in natural parks of Taiwan. I was dropped off by the bus driver at the TienXiang strip and hiked up to my hostel. In the lobby I met 2 couples in their retirement. One set from Cheng Hua named Shih who traveled in their car. And the other from TaiTung, Huangs, on their moped. The Huangs also had full on paddings on. They look like experienced travelers on two wheels that tour the country. I ended up hanging out with them for two hours just chatting. I do like times like this. I really lucked out on listening to their traveling experiences and I learned a lot. The Chens are Buddhist vegetarians. We had plans to go on a hike tonight but it was really dark by the time we were done chatting. Plus they had dinner planned with their housing arrangements at 7:30 so it wasn’t going to work. Plus they just arrived from soaking in the hotspring that is currently closed to the public due to last fall’s mountain slide. This hotspring is a natural hotspring along the river, two pools and free to the public. They said the water was really good. I think the fine is gianormous if you get caught.

Feels good here. Feels really good here in Taroko. I like the sound of the running water. Feels really good to listen to it. Dinner at the CYA center is $180NT per person included 5 dishes, 1 soup, 1 dish of fruit. What an excellent price. But I didn’t wan to eat that much for dinner so I passed. I wanted to eat my mochi and drink tea. So I walked to the strip and had stinky steamed tofu with kimchi. The kimchi is my favorite part.

The Shih and the Huangs are showing me a different way of living old age, continual discovery, adventure, live out your dreams, find a way. The value of time and how to experience quality of time and experience itself. Don’t just pass things by and move through them in motions, experience and deepen.

You can buy discount tickets for double beds at 2990NT at the Travel Fair in the fall for all the hostel chains but you buy 3 at a time. Still an awesome deal!

Tonight I sat in LiJing hotel in Taroko listening to indoor waterfall and live gujeng being played. A young lady named Jessica was playing and it was beautiful. What a treat. The hotel is air conditioned and it felt nice just to stay dry for a few hours. Felt really good. A person’s peace, calm, and contentment in joy can inspire other to do the same in their own life. This gujeng artist has done so for me. I feel inspired to play guqin, piano, and guitar.

The CYA center is packed with people dinning right now. I am on the first floor and the dinning hall is in the base floor that opens into a round atrium where my door faces. So I have come across to the Tian Xiang section to chill. I stink and I so need to do laundry. The lady is young and is really enjoying her performance. She has her pieces memorized. Nothing like listening to a musician who enjoys music and playing, the joy that comes forth is wonderful to listen to. I guess in cooking that is ingredient called secret spice.

Took a bus from FuGang warf to TaiDong train station $23NT
Train to Hualien $355NT standing ticket
Lunch: Instant Noodle at 7-11 $49NT
Bus from Hualien to Taroko into TienXiang $145NT
CYA Center hostel $550NT per night breakfast buffet includedDinner: Steamed stinky tofu stew and cabbage kimchi $30NT on the TienXiang strip.
Dessert: Hualien handmade Macha brown sugar mochi $20NT Taro $10NT from LaoTseng to the right of train station and to the left of the long distance bus station

LyuDao

Day 18 con't


A-Hing is a scuba diving instructor who owns a small outfit in Tsai Kou called “Hao Peng You” Good Friends, on the north east side of the island. There is no scuba diving today, there is business tomorrow with a diving club from XinZhu. They are all licensed to dive. They booked a boat for their excursion. As he drove to take me shopping for possible other places to stay besides his tin shack, he gave me a quick tour.




The island is only 16-20 kilometer in diameter. The prison that is now a human rights sanctuary is not a place I plan to visit. Just as I have not yet visit Alcatraz that is in my backyard. I am clear that not riding a moped is a good idea. There are curvy mountain roads with winds blowing from the East Wind Storm. I have also excluded the idea of not riding a bike. There is just too much incline twists and turns, the short 20 kilometers seems very long in this distance. There is no hospital on this island. In order to get aid, they have to go onto the main land. During the tour I got to see the housing options and check out the buildings. Only like 4 were adequate in my opinion regardless what they advertise on the internet. So a good deal and typical package deal looks like this and ranges from $1,800 to $2,800NT: 3 days 2 nights including breakfast, hotspring entrance ticket, ferry ride, snorkel and moped for the 3 days. It is a good deal. The camp ground is right next to the hotspring. It is pretty decent campground. It is a nice option for the future. Forget about food and night life here. So not interesting.


The thing about everyone in this Good Friend outfitter is that they are all chain smokers and all kind hearted indigenous natives. They smoke nonstop. This is killing all the good chi and air from Alishan. They all carry with them the pains of aboriginals. And which culture on the planet hasn’t experience pain and been changed by it. This outfit is a scuba gear wearhouse for wet suits, tanks, gear. It is a metal shack. The rooms, one is upstairs in a loft with 3 sleeping pads. The other on the first floor with 6 sleeping pads, all floor style. The set up is very bare minim. My first impression was, “and you plan to charge $300NT per night for this?” The restroom and shower is set up like public beach restrooms for sand rinse down. I refused to use the shower and I am stuck with the toilet. I don’t know what to do about all the smoke in the air. I didn’t discover the chain smoking part until I have decided to board here for a night. I prefer to sleep on the beach or even on the bench outside, the air is better.


People snorkeled in surf booties not fins. I guess this means they are not snorkeling far. People get snorkel package as part of their housing package and moped. It’s really a good deal and very economical. For those who cannot swim they are tugged on a rope in a life saver. Looking out in the snorkel pockets, it seems this is the first time for a lot of the people to be in the ocean, they would try the salty ocean water and taste it.


The sky is grey, the ocean is grey, typically it is celadon jade green. The ocean is a sea of visual gem. The natural beauty is not in the land but in the clear, high salt density ocean. When the waves curl in the grey colored sky reflecting into the ocean, just before it bubbles white foam, the curl of the wave is in the color of florescent electric lightening aqua. Could I have noticed this under clear bright sunny day? Probably not. Nice surprises in the midst of cloudy black skyline. It is such an amazing color to look at, so raw, so clear, so clear, so pure, so natural, so beautiful. Taiwan has a lot of natural beauty preserved due to lack of development and openness to public access, or the public’s lack of interest in venturing beyond tourist areas and as a result, this has kept Taiwan’s natural beauty preserved and pristine in many ways. It is a good thing.

I walked on the beach, they are all covered in coral on the lava cliffs. I walked in the water and it was bath water warmth.


Meeting with A-Hing, it is clear to me getting a padi license is a necessity in my future. But I would like to get it in a tropical place, not in the cold waters of Monterey. I should have gotten it when I was going to school in Santa Cruz along with canoe flipping skills. I can see myself getting into diving doing video and photography. I am interested in pure, clean, pristine nature. I love to travel to see it.

I was dropped off at the hotspring at 7pm. I soaked till 9:40pm. I hung out with college students. I enjoyed them. The soak was good in the sea cliff pools with ocean waves rushing in mixing with natural hotspring water to fill the pools. The natural hotspring bubbles from the sandy coral beaches at the bottom of the pools. It produces a nice bath water temperature which is just right for hot summer weather. For this stormy weather, it is a bit cool. So people were looking the hotspring bubbles sources in the dark, by dark, it is black dark and hogging them. The sea side pools are not open when it is high tide time. This place is famous for being open all night during summer season so you can soak and look at the stars the same time while listening to the sounds of waves and watching the sunrise from the Tropic of Cancer in the horizon. It is pitch dark tonight due to the overcast covering the sky, no stars, no moon. Felt good to soak in natural ocean water. I soaked to flush out exhaustion.
Thinking to myself, I can stay in Alishan longer, I can stay in Yushan, I can go back to Shuili, I can go to Penghu, I can stay in Kenting longer, I can stay in Lyudao longer, I can go to Lanyu etc,… all is good and okay. However I thought, ” “ So one night in Lyu Dao and Kenting, no Yushan, off to Taroko tomorrow to meet up with my cousins and the Kimura girls on Saturday.