Sunday October 7, 2012
Wakey wakey! Time for a buffet breakfast! We have here,
boiled eggs, French fries, tater tots, dumplings, hash browns, apple slices,
fried green pancake thing, toast with various toppings and more. All very
delicious! Drinks of coffee, soymilk and black tea are also available! Come and
get yours today! :D
For me, I went to town with the apple slices. Any chance of
fruit, especially the particularly healthy fruit of apple, I take readily and
devour oh so happily. Everything else was very scrumptious. I was very proud of
my ability to read the Chinese character signs that labeled the different
beverages. My research and study paid off! Muhahahahaha! >:D I didn’t have
coffee, but the soymilk and black tea were quite yummy. For those who know me a
bit better, do you recall my dislike of tea in America in past years? That’s
all changed now! I find the tea (cold not hot) that I’ve been getting in Taiwan
has been very tasty, more so the ones with half or less sugar than others.
Nonetheless, I can’t really tell if it’s considered bad or good on the health
meter. I figure it’s not bad as long as it’s drunk sparingly. Am I right to
think that or does anyone know something different?
Moving on, I was told the previous night that we would ride
a boat on Sunday. What comes to my mind when I hear that is a tour boat is
sailing around on the waters for sight seeing purposes. During breakfast I was
shown a picture of the boat we would be on that fwooshed away my original
thought. It was an image of people white water rafting. Oh good lordie YES!
WHITE WATER RAFTING!! BOOMSHAKALAKA! I’ve done it once many years ago on a
vacation in Colorado and remembered both good things and bad things about it.
The bad thing was just me having extreme chapped lips in freezing waters with
no chapstick available for hours. Not the happiest Andrea in the world. (P.S.
Sorry Mom and Dad) This time, I was armed with chapstick and my adrenaline
junkie side!
No pictures for a while because obviously, I’m not going to
bring a brand new camera anywhere near water. The procedure before the actual
rafting included renting shoes, receiving a comedic form of instructions on how
to put on the life-vest and hat, watching a short movie, and getting another
set of instructions. Though it was in Chinese I could tell well enough what the
overall idea was. I find that slightly amazing because I did that while a bit
dizzy either from dehydration or just the elevation.
What shocked me most about this rafting was the position you
were in while riding the boat. Back in Colorado, everyone sat inside the boat.
In Taiwan, we sat ON the boat along the side. It almost felt as if I was riding
a horse, a welcomed feeling of course since I kinda miss doing so. For each
boat, we were provided individual paddles and a scooper incase of the need to
empty the boat’s inside of water. After getting an average of eight people per
boat with over ten boats in the entire group, we set off down stream.
In my mind and from experience, the rafting would be working
as a team to synchronize our paddling, riding through adrenaline pulsating
courses and enjoy the scenery while gliding down smooth areas. That’s in
Colorado. From my experience in Taiwan, it’s the complete opposite. Paddling
was uncoordinated with the boat constantly twisting and turning from uneven
rowing. The size of the boat made us sit close together which proved difficult
to row properly and powerfully because I kept hitting the girl’s elbow in front
of me. Also, my boat when counting yi, er, yi, er (one, two, one, two) went for
a very quick pace, which didn’t allow for as much strength in each stroke.
The river itself was a super easy course. Thank goodness it
was because we would’ve easily gotten knocked off the boat if doing the white
water rafting back in Colorado. This comes from the fact that we were sitting
on the sides of the boat instead of inside. That concept still blows my mind!
But here’s one way I can describe the level of difficulty of the river. Several
guys were smoking while rafting. Smoking, people! You can’t get much easier
than that! And whenever there was a small little area (maybe five seconds
worth) of bumpier waters, you had to duck inwards and grab onto a rope in the
middle of the boat. After a couple times I merely grabbed the rope lining the
sides because it was easier than lunging for the middle rope. The side rope
wasn’t as “protective” if you will, as the middle one but truthfully, I’ve
ridden horses for many years and have developed a keen sense of balance. I
little wave here and there isn’t enough to knock this cowgirl off. Should I
mention I like mechanic bull riding too? :P Riding the sides of the boat were
similar to bareback riding on horses except for two differences. (1) The
air-inflated boat was more comfortable than riding a horse’s backbone (2) Bareback
riding is loads harder than the rafting cakewalk. :P
The last major difference of rafting in Taiwan is that the
calm waters weren’t time for viewing the breath-taking scenery of green
mountains and flowing rivers. Nope. Instead it was, as I like to put it, a
water war while riding a boat. The tools of destruction were the paddles and
water scoopers with bombardments of splashes from the lifeguards’ boats. Yes,
we had anywhere from 6-12 lifeguard motorboats that were assigned to our whole
group. Their job was to ram into our non-motorboats and act as if herding
cattle along stream while also towing us around a couple of times.
Water wars made it impossible to attempt synchronized
paddling, kept flooding the inside of our boat, constantly splashed water in
one’s eyes, made people drenched with cold water and turned into a game of who
could steal the most paddles and scoopers from other boats. All in the
meantime, the lifeguards deliberately kept speeding by and suddenly stopping,
which created a tidal wave that soaked us to the bone while also filling our
boat with water.
It became very difficult for me to take time to bask in the
landscape’s radiance of magnificence. Water attacks or being knocked over by a
lifeguard’s boat always interrupted me. The knocking over part comes from when
the motorboats rammed into our raft to push us in a different direction. Poor
Andrea was constantly thumped inside the raft in order to avoid being squashed
by the motorboat because of being located in the key place that the lifeguard’s
used to target their assault. Fun.
The group had a halfway break for lunch on land with a tasty
meal. We were provided with a lunchbox of vegetables, meat and a whoooooole
bunch of rice. As an option, we could pay for some hot soup at a food stand. A
Rotarian that joined the trip was caring enough to purchase me some soup since
I didn’t bring any money. I was very grateful for his act of kindness because
hot soup was just the thing for a chilly body. Actually, it was more like hot
broth with two meatballs inside but nonetheless was very satisfying.
Everyone’s clothes in the group were thoroughly saturated
with cold water. Combine that with an arctic wind and you will get many
shivering people. Some got dangerously cold and had to decline going on the
second half of the rafting route. It was a little scary seeing some violently shudder.
If it weren’t for the water war, we would be barely wet and not face such
coldness.
So people took the hint the second half of the trip and
turned the knob down on the aquatic combat. There was still some battles but
not as extreme as the first half. It gave me a small about of time for sight
seeing.
During the trip I remained pretty silent for one reason.
Something in the mountains made me speechless. I just couldn’t speak. The
splendor around me was just too much for comprehension and I say that very
sincerely. The sculpture of the mountains, the shading of colors, the mist
adorning the tops like hats, all of it was just magnificent. It launched me
into a mute awe. Just superb. I was fully reminded why the mountains are my all
time favorite landscape.
Sadly, the end of the route came about and I was forced to
bid farewell to that brilliant little river with its sides being engulfed by
mountains. Our Roteract cluster broke off from the rafting group and fled to
the bus for dry clothing. Once obtained, we were off to the shower facility
nearby. I was fortified with everything I needed, slippers, towel, clothes,
etc. Except for one small thing…the knowledge of reading Chinese hygiene
characters. In each shower stall, there was a little box on the wall with two
separate sections. The left one was filled with an orange liquid and the right
one blue. Both were labeled with unknown characters that prevented me from distinguishing
if they were soap, shampoo or conditioner. Without a single clue, I just took a
chance and guessed the orange was shampoo and the blue being conditioner. Was I
right? We’ll never know. But I know for next time what to study before hand. XD
As you might guess, everyone was pooped and longing for a
snooze. When safely seated in the bus, we did indeed conk out. I continued
listening to mountain music through my headphones but barely heard a minute
with how fast I dropped off. Once I came around to being conscious, I saw a
peculiar sight. For a split second, the bus sped past two American flags waving
on the side of the road. Woah! AMERICA!!! :D But…why are two American flags in
Taiwan? Maybe the owners were born in the states? Maybe it was a souvenir?
Maybe a gift? It would be interesting to find out the story behind it. The spectacle
of the patriotic stars and stripes made me smile in national pride. Now if they
were Texan flags, I might have had to make the driver stop the bus for a
minute. XD
Our destination at that point was going back to Taipei with
the trip wrapping up. The bus swerved along a curvy road that was straddling
between the bottom of a mountain and the ocean to the east of Taiwan. It was my
first time seeing the sparkling ocean waters clasping the Asian country. Twas a
beautiful sight. The mountains continued stealing away my love and affection
with their splendor. During this whole trip a thought of varying natures kept
reoccurring in my mind. ‘I want to live in a place like this.’ ‘Can I live in a
place like this?’ ‘What would it be like to live in a place like this?’ I just
adore the mountains too much to not contemplate such considerations. During the
trip, I felt overwhelmingly relaxed when taking time to focus on the mountains
and meditate on things. If I can create a life in such landscapes, that would
be a dream come true. Time will only tell if that’s where my path takes me or
not. :)
The bus driver told us he thinks this island looks like a lady sleeping. It actually does a bit!
The sleeping bus was awoken with the announcement that we
were stopping at a Hua Lien night market for one hour. This was the equivalent
of gathering up bits of dinner and munching at it later on the bus. Our
Roteract group broke up into sub-groups that ventured separately around the
night market. The people I was with had a mission to find specific foods
located in different parts of the area.
Here’s a small part of the night market before it was
actually night. Alright, tell me what you think the guy in the picture is
looking at and what thoughts are going through his mind. XD
First part of the night was to hunt down a food that lacks an
English name. The stand was packed full of people waiting for this particular
food. We were very fortunate because we just ordered in time before the place
ran out of ingredients. Lucky! :D But because we were waiting for too long, one
girl stayed behind while the rest of us went to gather up the rest of the food.
Second on the list was “bing” (shaved ice). Previously
warned beforehand by my dear Texan mother, some places don’t use clean water
while making ice and therefore one must be careful where they go. Expressing
this to the lady named Martina, I was surprised because it almost seemed like
finding shaved ice made with clean water would be a hassle. So apparently
Taiwan people’s digestive systems are strong enough not to worry about unclean
water but are extremely sensitive when it comes to the immune system with
diseases. XD But in the end we found a place that looked safe with white ice
and adorned with several award-winning trophies.
Lastly, we finished our expedition with the search for cake.
A Rotarian dropped the hint to bring back some cake from Hua Lien to my host
family. Unfortunately there wasn’t a bakery in sight so we settled on something
else. This particular treat is very famous in Hua Lien, roughly pronounced “mua
chi.” In English it is more widely known as ‘mochi.’ Do you know what I’m
talking about? It’s a tasty, chewy rice dough with filling inside and powder
usually covering it. Sometimes mochi is round while sometimes it is rectangular.
The gift box I bought for my family was an assortment of rectangular flavors.
I’ve never tried a rectangular kind before but I’m sure it’s just as delicious.
Back at the bus it was time to eat
our spoils from the night! The entire group was given three steamed dumplings
that were oh so delicious! Gosh I love those things!
The food lacking an English name
turned out to be a pancake dripping in grease. XD No way was I going to take it
out of its bag for a full-on picture, otherwise my lap would be coated with
oil. So this pancake like food was wrapped around a fried egg that had a yolk
that was still a bit runny. A messy meal but tasty nonetheless!
The shaved ice turned out ok but
nothing special, that opinion coming from both an American and Taiwanese perspective.
At least the ice looked clean. The slight yellowness in the picture comes from
the sauce. Underneath the chunk of ice, the toppings, or rather bottom-ings,
hid below. I’m not sure what they all were but some were balls of slightly
sweet chewy things. Meh, it was ok but nothing to write home about…apart from
this Taffy. :P
Another little treat we received
were cookies made by the children we spent time with on Saturday. It was so
sweet of them to make them! The notes on top made all of us smile because some
of them didn’t make any sense at all, like this one here. My guess is that the
child’s name was “Li,” they had a heart as a way of saying thank you and lastly
attempted the English ABCs. It’s just too cute! ^_^
During the last bit of the bus ride
back home, the vehicle was filled with the sound of karaoke, also known as KTV.
See? Singing is so popular in Taiwan that they have karaoke on tour buses! It
was fun listening to different kinds of Chinese songs and different
personalities of singers. Some were very serious while others just clowned
around, screaming their lungs out. XD I was trying to get some rest in because
I knew I would arrive home late and miss out on some needed sleep. But it got
very difficult to do so throughout the singing and at one point it became
impossible when a Rotarian asked me to sing a song. I knew it was coming but I
still unsuccessfully tried to avoid it. XD
Karaoke is fun and all but I have
some snags with KTV in Taiwan. First of all, the microphone on the bus had an
extreme echoing effect that muffled anything you sang. Second, the speakers are
so loud that I started to get a headache. Third, the small English selection of
songs are all really old choices that I have no idea how to sing. So when the
Rotarian was encouraging me choose a song, I started at the list and kept
saying “wo bu tsu dao” (I don’t know) to every song he pointed at. I finally
settled on “You are my Sunshine.” During the performance, once again, I
couldn’t hear myself at all and unknowingly kept spitting out notes. Who knows
if I was on key or not? The Rotarian sang along as well as an unknown lady so I
definitely couldn’t hear myself! But I seemed to do alright which is what
matters, with a song that has meaning I relate to Taiwan instead of something
like “Jingle Bells.” Right afterwards, I continued my pursuit of sleep. XD
The bus arrived in Taipei a lot
later than I was expecting and I arrived home at a whopping 11:50PM! Holy crud
that’s late! All of my host family was asleep and I had to tip toe my way in
extremely quietly. NINJA ANDREA GO!!!
But overall, I must say, I quite
enjoyed the pleasant trip to Hua-Lien. It was gratifying to see the countryside
of Taiwan and experience a bit of culture I hadn’t partaken in before. The
people were super friendly and I look forward to seeing them again. The weekend
trip was way too short for my liking, which should describe how much time flew
by while having fun! I would go back in a heartbeat!
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