July 2, 2007

  • Floating
    Cloud

    I
    brought the return flight from Australia forward by a day. Not only
    did I not want to eat in to the weekend of my hosts, but I also
    wanted to take advantage of the long weekend in Taiwan, a 4 day
    holiday to celebrate Dragon Boat festival.

    Recently
    I have been dating a young lady by the name of Emily, and now we are
    officially together. I told the mother about this, and she told me I
    had kept it quiet. That is true – but if there is nothing to say
    about something or someone, then perhaps sometimes it is best to keep
    quiet and say nothing. Returning from Australia, I had arranged to
    meet Emily at my home, and we were to go out for dinner, and then
    think of where we would spend the next 2 days. As always, my thoughts
    went out to Taroko Gorge (see many posts passim), but was also open
    to any other suggestions, perhaps Ilan or Jiaosi... with many
    beautiful places on offer, Taiwan is a veritable treasure box of
    amazing destinations.

    Emily's
    other name is late, but women are allowed to be fashionably late, and
    I should build such tardiness in to my own schedule when meeting her.
    Having arranged to meet at 7, she turned up at Guandu MRT station at
    8:30, hungry. Having eaten several times during the day thanks to the
    many Cathay Pacific flights feeding me on very regular occasions, I
    was not exactly hungry, but a fat bastard like me can always eat
    another something. So we headed out to Danshui on the Suzuki, took a
    walk along the river and found some street food that was decent
    enough – Emily was still hungry though, so we stopped off to get
    something else – soup and another thing I can not remember. Had
    meat in it though.

    Satisfaction
    lolling around in our bellies, we headed back to my apartment to take
    a look at the map of Taiwan. Emily did not think that 2 days in
    Taroko were enough – I decided not to tell her that I have done day
    trips there before. On the map, looking at the northern section of
    Taiwan, there was one road that went in to the mountains close to
    Hsinchu, and it stood out, looking very inviting.

    "That's
    the place I want to go to," I exclaimed, excited like a 5 year
    old kid choosing ice cream.

    "OK,"
    agreed Emily. I like a woman who is easy to please. And thus the
    decision was made.

    The
    following morning we drank coffee, nice and relaxing, before jumping
    on the Suzuki. Now most women would need a massive case for a 2 day
    road trip. Not Emily – compact and bijou, her change of clothes and
    stuff fitted in to my bag. We sun-creamed up – it was a hot day! -
    and headed down the coast. From Taipei Port all the way down through
    Dayuan and Guanyin we seemed to be going at a pretty similar pace to
    another guy on a scooter, and after about 40km the Suzuki hit a
    pothole, and something went flying. As the aforementioned scooter was
    right next to us at the time, I was not sure if the unidentified
    flying object was from the Suzuki or his bike, but his bike stopped,
    so I assumed it was his. A little later I saw him in my mirrors,
    tonking along like a mad man, and I figured he either liked the look
    of Emily (very possible) or the UFO was indeed a piece of the Suzuki,
    so I slowed down. As he pulled alongside us, I saw that it was indeed
    the rear panel of the Skywave, so we stopped at the side of the road
    and had a chat, with your humble chronicler showing huge amounts of
    appreciation. There are not many people left in the world who have
    such courtesy to pick something up from someone else's bike and bring
    it for them. He's a very nice man – won't hear a word said against
    him.

    We
    found out that he was going to Chunghua, south of Taichung, and it
    was then that I explained to Emily what we were doing was not so
    crazy after all. In Taiwan for many people, anything more than 15km
    is "far" I think.

    After
    a short chat we carried on, heading through the tunnel just north of
    Hsinchu before we turned left, our companion continuing along the
    coastal road. Following the signs for the 122 road, we headed through
    Hsinchu and out towards Chudong, before losing the road (signs
    miraculously disappeared) before finding it again, 5 km from where it
    actually should have been, according to the map at least.

    Lunch
    was taken in a very nice place in Chudong, some salty asparagus and
    egg, rice, tofu and cabbage, and then on to the long and winding road
    that was to take us up in to the mountains. After a few kilometres we
    were stuck behind a car, which did not seem to stop a motorcycle from
    overtaking us and the car on a blind bend.

    "DAMN!"
    I exclaimed. "That guy's got a death wish!"

    And
    it was almost at this exact moment that the heavens opened, and
    soaked us. I stopped the bike under a tree, and we took shelter under
    some banana tree leaves, hoping the rain would only be a short
    shower. Thankfully the rain abated within a few minutes, but Emily
    and I were both soaked, but with big smiles on our faces, so we
    continued our way up the mountain.

    The
    area we were in was aborigine country, with various tribes scattered
    all over the place. I wanted to find a guest house around this area,
    as it looked absolutely stunning, but there was none to be found. We
    headed as far as the road would take us, before having to turn back,
    and on to another road that took us even higher in to the mountains.

    And
    then Emily showed me a sign.

    "Look,"
    she said, pointing at the sign on the side of the road. As someone
    who reads very few Chinese characters, it took me a couple of seconds
    to work it out. And then it slowly dawned on me that I was looking at
    myself. Well.....kind of.

    A
    little further up the road was a guest house that had adopted my
    Chinese name - Floating Cloud.

    "We
    HAVE to stay there," I said. Emily had no disagreement, and so
    we pulled in to the hotel, and spoke with the lao ban who seemed a
    very amicable chap. When I told him that my Chinese name is also
    Floating Cloud he made me honorary boss for the day.

    "The
    rooms will be ready a little later," he explained.

    No
    problem, we answered, and asked for a place to go and get a coffee. A
    little further up the mountain we stopped and had tea at a
    fly-infested cafe. It was run by a Chinese lady and her half Spanish
    husband, who also gave us complimentary fruit and cakes, which were
    the usual fare for Chinese cakes – look great, lacking severely in
    taste.

    After
    tea time we headed further still up the mountain, finding a very
    steep bit that the Suzuki had troubles getting up – Emily and I
    both had to dismount for the bike to climb, and when the road became
    nothing more than a track, we decided to head back down towards the
    hotel.

    On
    the way back down we found an aboriginal family who was single
    handedly maintaining Taiwan's birth rate. Taiwan has the lowest birth
    rate in the world, but you would not notice it from the amount of
    kids this family had. Add to the children, they also kept chickens,
    geese, turkeys, some other kind of fowl, dogs and, we were reliably
    informed by the children, monkeys. The children happily chased the
    geese, who in turn took it out on the other animals by chasing them.

    After
    a discussion with the kids, we finally returned to the hotel, our
    comfortable room having been prepared for us. We changed clothes and
    then watched TV for a while – our host was preparing dinner for us,
    vegetarian fare being organised for your humble narrator. A knock on
    the door told us that dinner was ready, and as we were getting very
    hungry, we quickly made our way downstairs to the eating area – a
    large open room with lots of tables all put together, and the
    customary uncomfortable plastic chairs to sit on.

    Egg,
    vegetables, rice were all on offer for me, with chicken and fish for
    Emily and another family that was also staying the evening, friends
    of the owners. We also found out that the big brother of the lao ban
    was there for dinner, the very same Death Wish owner of the
    motorcycle which had overtaken us on the blind bend a little earlier
    that day.

    Lao
    ban went and got a bottle of chilled rice wine, and gave it to Emily
    and me to drink. We shared it around, but most people were not
    drinking, so it was down to the two of us to drink everything. We
    were not too distraught at this. After a very satisfying dinner we
    all gathered outside where they were building a fire. Emily decided
    to go and get showered, whilst I sat talking with the lao ban, his
    father and the rest of his family, as the local chief of police
    arrived along with some of his subordinates. As the fire burned we
    watched the eclipse of the planet Venus, which I did not know was
    Venus until afterwards. It was a clear night, and the stars were
    bright and in abundance. The lao ban brought out his guitar and
    started singing a few songs, the rest of the guests joining in – I
    can only assume they were singing in local Taiwanese language.

    As
    Emily returned, her shoulders burning from excessive sun that day,
    and not enough sunscreen, we watched the fireworks from the city of
    Jubei, down in the valley, before the guests slowly made their way
    home, and Emily and I retired for the evening to our room.

    All
    in all – apart from Emily's sunburn – it was one of the most
    beautiful and relaxing days I can remember in a long long time.

    The
    next morning we woke up to bright sunshine and went out on to the
    patio which overlooked the forest and the valley, and were treated to
    an amazing sight – two eagles soaring on the thermals, gliding all
    the time, climbing up and up, round and round. We watched in awe for
    several minutes until Emily decided she was hungry, and heard the
    call for breakfast.

    I
    was not hungry, but ate some rather nasty garlic bread all the same.
    They also made me a coffee (even though I asked for tea) which really
    was disgusting. Emily, on the other hand, had a veritable feast for
    breakfast.

    The
    other family left, we said our goodbyes too, and jumped on to the
    Suzuki and headed for Beipu. Past the family we had seen the previous
    day, and around a corner where I slammed on the brakes. Emily saw it
    too, and gasped anxiously as a 1.5 metre long grey-brown snake felt
    our presence, and also got scared, managing to slither off in to the
    undergrowth, and back to relative safety. It was beautiful, and I
    tried to get a closer look at where it had headed, but there was
    nothing to be seen, no more to be heard.

    In
    to the mountains, past amazing valleys, stunning views of the river
    in the distance, combined with the forests and small aboriginal
    villages. We rode past some stands where the locals were selling
    their produce, vegetables and fruit, and some other things that I did
    not recognise, the occasional lizard scampering away as we
    approached.

    After
    we had hit the peak, it was downhill all the way, which put some
    serious pressure on the brakes. After maybe 20 minutes of pretty much
    continuous braking, they failed, and so I had no alternative but to
    stop and wait for them to cool down. I poured on some water, and we
    took a walk for a while, looking at the nature surrounding us. I saw
    something from the corner of my eye, but was not sure what it was, I
    took a closer look and was amazed to see a spider, jumping from plant
    to plant. I pointed it out to Emily who also jumped in surprise when
    she saw it for the first time!

    With
    the brakes cool enough, we continued along the road, riding through
    puddles as often as possible to cool the brakes further, and finally
    made it to a major road, which would take us down to Beipu. We had a
    very tasty lunch here before heading a little further south to cut
    across and make it to the coastal highway before riding back home to
    Taipei County, stopping off at Hsinchu to have a quick look at the
    ocean and beach.

    The
    parents are coming out to Taiwan next year for a couple of weeks, and
    already I have an itinerary worked out for them. Places I have
    already been, combined with central Taiwan that I have explored with
    Emily for the first time – I get the feeling the olds will have a
    full and fun packed schedule.