My Taiwan Adventure

I decided to break up today's post into two parts - don't miss Hualien Friday to catch up with my entire trip!

Shamless self-promotion aside:

Today I travelled into Taroko Gorge by mini-bus. The scenery is just stunning. Sadly, the day was overcast and the wind quite cold in places but happily the tour covered much of what you can see from inside a bus. *laughing* I will return here to take a more leisurely hike around in better weather.

The gorge is on par with America's Grand Canyon. It is not as tall or deep or wide, but it is another kind of spectacular beauty that is available to see. I would have to add this to my "must-see" in Taiwan list. I even spotted some genuinely wild monkeys who were even frightened enough of tourists to stay mostly hidden in the trees. They were really wild! I was expecting the monkeys that tourists have to be afraid of because they ruined nature by trying to feed them.

I was lucky enough to have 2 other English speakers on the trip and one of them was a native of Taiwan who was able to translate some of the tour for me. Yay! I definately got my money's worth as the buffet that we went to at Taroko's Grand Formosa Hotel was listed at half the price of the total day's tour cost. (The half day tour is not nearly as much as a bargain.) And there were signs in English as to what I was eating. They even had a vegetarian table. The tofu here is really good. I also had green-tea cookies and bamboo shoots. These are some of my newest favorite foods as of today.

We also went by the ocean today and the waves are bigger than I've ever seen! I've been to California, but didn't spend any time by the ocean where there wasn't a breakwater. Because Taiwan doesn't have a continental shelf the waves pound the beach at full force in many areas. It was wonderful to see the raw power of nature at work! I'm my happiest when there is nothing between me and creation. I stood as close as I could to the surf without fear of getting sucked in and reveled in the awesomeness of nature. My glasses were covered in salt by the time I got back to the mini-bus. I'm the only one on the tour nutty enough to go out there *laughing* everyone else was too cold from the wind. I was cold too, but the fun of nature was enough to make me happy.

Other highlights of the trip include:

• the wonder of travelling hand-chisseled tunnels through the hard marble rock.
• Entirely beautiful mountain vistas uncluttered with masses of people.
• Water spray that by the magic of science travels 50+ feet upward to hit you in the face as you look at the river down in the gorge!
• Swallows that nest in the hollowed out rock.
• Getting to walk on marble stones that fall from the cliffs above.
• Watching buses and cars pull over because the road is too narrow for more than one to travel the curves at a time.
• More wonder at the amount of lives lost chisseling a road through solid rock.
• Temples that perch on the mountainsides on top of waterfalls.

Such a long list that I could go on for more paragraphs. I am pleased that I decided to partake in the journey. I am pleased that I was blessed enough to come to this place and enjoy life. I am so blessed as to have done this all safely.

The tour guide was nice enough in the beginning, but turned out to be a betel-nut chewer. Now, this doesn't make him a bad person, but I've come to notice that men who chew the nut tend to be more aggressive in seeking my attentions. Basically, my opinion is that it lowers their inhibitions. It kind of put a new spin on my trip and I'm ready to head to a safe place and just work. While I'm fully capable of turning a potentially bad situation to one that is harmless I'm tired of being constantly on my guard with the men of this country. This is just an observation - in no way was my day ruined and I am still in good spirits.

I'm wondering if anybody out there has recieved mail from me yet. I've done several mailings to many different people. As it is already after the official New Year's holiday here I was told it would take less than a week to have mail overseas. Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

Love you all, Nature is Great. Blessed be. Best wishes to all of you.

Love,
T. Destiny

Posted by T. Destiny in Taiwan at 7:24 PM

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