My Taiwan Adventure

This morning the rain had cleared off and I was able to see the city of I-Lan for the first time in the light of day. There was actually some blue sky. There is a river that runs through the city and I followed it around the perimeter of downtown. A puppy decided to follow me for part of the way and I desperately wanted to adopt the poor pooch. He had obviously been outside in the rain for the few days before and looked to be hungry, but he was friendly when he saw I wasn't going to hit him or otherwise throw things at him. He let me pet his head but got overly excited and tried to jump on me, but one firm "no" let him know that it was not to be permited. I could quite like the city. The banks of the river are lush and green with vegetation and there are mountains in your line of sight, everywhere you turn. They too, are covered with a beautiful greenery. I suspect the rain has something to do with that!

Left I-Lan this morning to head out to Taipei, but not before checking for word from prospective employers. Nothing new on that front. The train trip to Taipei was good and I was amazed at the vast array of scenery provided along the rail line. I can see several great day trips from I-lan in the making, if I'm offered the position there.

Taipei is big. Lonely Planet is not a good street guide to the city. To make mention of the fact that they have given an address for a hotel that I couldn't find after 1 hour of wandering the immediate vicinity I gave up. I stayed at the YMCA beside the train station. Now before you go thinking that I settled for a crappy hotel let me tell you that it was twice the price and then some of my most expensive hotel stay to date. And it has a concierge. *laughing* I just am plain tired of looking for places from that guidebook. Half the time there are roaches and the other half the map is plain wrong!

I went and saw the Chang KaiShek memorial tonight in the dark. It is both enormous and beautiful. I took pictures for a Japanese tour group and they were all very impressed at my 2 lines of Japanese language that I recall from class. Then I met some Mormon folk and puttered around the memorial a bit. The lantern festival's theme this year was the Phoenix. As a result they focussed on recycling as a "rising from the ashes." A huge lantern maybe 50 feet long was made from old pop bottles and newspapers in the shape of a dragon. It sits at the base of the stairs at the memorial. In the dark, all lit upfrom the inside, it is a very impressive sight. At a distance you would never know that it is made up of used bottles.

There is such a huge pressure on the people here to look good and to have the best of everything. I am saddened by the materialism. It is no better here than at home and it may actually be worse. The Taiwanese place a huge emphasis on how you look. Tonight teenagers actually asked what was wrong with my face. Well, to tell the truth it kind of stung to have somebody say that. I have a wonderful rash going on from the water/soap/insects or something here... and there is a nice little pimple growing on my chin - yuck. But I realize it is part of their culture. Anyway I'm babbling and it is past midnight so I must run.

Love and Hugs
T. Destiny

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