My Taiwan Adventure

Greetings All,

Well, I'm pretty determined not to stay long-term in Kaoshing. I can not say I've seen huge areas of the city, mostly because my body seems intent on rejecting the air here. It's hard to be interested in the place when I'm experiencing headaches and other physical symptoms almost the moment I leave the hotel . Interestingly enough the visibility index is an indicator of the air around here. Visibility in Calgary the other night was 11.5 km with ice crystals in the air. Visibility in Kaoshing was 1.5 km. I couldn't imagine being in Kaoshing in the summer when it's hotter and the fog keeps the smog trapped even worse. I hear it's cold and snowy in Alberta... and do feel kind of happy that I'm not in the -20 weather.

The new hotel I found is both affordable and friendly - even if we can't understand each other at all. The building appears a little older and run-down but the floor attendants have kept the place wonderfullly clean. I have discovered no little critters in my room. Yay! And it's back in the price range I was gearing for. It's missing some ammenities, like air conditioning and a good view, but I've got a room on the north side where it is quiet and they have provided a fan, which is adequate for the temperature right now is quite comfortable.

I have walked a good portion of the area surrounding the train station and to date am convinced that Kaoshing is not the place I'm meant to be. I can not say that I find the place distatestful... the weather here right now is divine. (I do belive we're on a similar latitude to Hawaii.) Yet I simply can not picture living here. Strangely, aside from Adrian, this is the only city I've been to where I have not met fellow foreigners or even locals to chat with. I've seen foreigners, just not struck up any conversations. Perhaps it is because I don't feel chatty right now.

Yesterday I took a stroll down "Love River" or rather the canal that runs down to the harbour. They've developed a nice little park area on the river with paved paths, big trees and nice shady areas with flowers. Apparently the river was quite filthy, but has been cleaned up over the last few years. It seemed nice enough to me... I stopped to watch the old men playing checkers in the park. It seemed so idyllic, people napping in the afternoon sunshine (they take kind of a mini-siesta time here around 1 pm) and eating their lunches. And it was a really pleasant time, until I was propositioned by one of the men. Well, I frowned at him and shook my head, and made sure he knew I meant NO. I guess the stereotype that western women are "easy" is alive after all. I made sure he got on his scooter and drove away before I moved from watching the others playing checkers. I was pretty disgusted by the whole affair. Maybe it's coloured my view of Kaoshing.

Today I discovered how the locals keep their hair from puffing up so badly. Hair wax. Yup, consisting mostly of glycol, petroleum jelly, and alcohol, it serves to make the frizzy fuzzy folicles behave. Not really different from hair products at home only, a little goes a very long way.

Listening to Ron & Nancy Rockey as I type this: http://urfixable.com/offerspage.html
It's nice to try and drown out the video games here in the internet cafe with good English programming. Not to mention the "ice cream truck" outside. For those of you don't know the trash trucks, don't pick up the trash here - you take it to them. The trucks drive around on a schedule and when you hear the tune the truck plays (at EAR splitting decibles) you run outside with your trash. If you miss it you have to catch the next one... but it appears that most places get the truck at least 3 times a week from my count.

Learning about food in Taiwan is going to have to start taking precedence for me. It wouldn't be bad if I had my own place, because I could just buy stuff at the market and then make what I need to eat. Omellets being one of the first things that I could go for right now. But, because I'm travelling and staying in a hotel, I'm kind of on my own unless I search out an English menu. Now, there is food EVERYWHERE here in Taiwan... on any given street there's a half-dozen or more food stalls. I could point and gesture... and it works for the most part, but not feeling that adventurous at the moment. (There's a big surprise. Not being adventurous seems to be a running theme right now.) I'd like to be able to speak well enough to ask for food that I know I'll be okay with. So, that is a goal.

There are all kinds of fruit and vegetables available here. Corn is a staple in their morning breakfast soups. I bought some mixed nuts, and it featured black beans and also soyabeans. There are fruits I've never seen before - like breadfruit and dragonfruit. Neither of which, I've had the courage to try. The market is full of oranges right now, as they are in season. There are strawberries, melons of all different kinds, bannanas, pineapples, coconuts, kiwi, mango and papaya. The list is even longer if I start to think about it. I've seen cherries, wax apples, regular apples, apple pears and more.

I noticed I'm still thinking about working an awful lot again. I suspect I'm still working through the identity thing. I don't know how many people in this world experience the addiction of work, but thats where I appear to be at the moment. Relaxing into a vacation just isn't happening. Yet, stressing out about it isn't going to help me any... so I'm just going to take this one day at a time with a lot of prayer.

Still determined to adventure? You Bet! I'm too stubborn to let little things get me down.
Love and hugs all!
T. "Destiny"

Post a Comment