December 14, 2008
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Digger
I took the mountain bike out for a spin, the sun shining in the sky, the summer coming to an end, and the lack of typhoons making riding every day pretty much an absolute pleasure. I had Pink Floyd on the MP3 player as I rode along to Danshui, and then upwards and onwards, my usual trip up to Da Tun Shan being modified slightly because I was not coming back the same way…. Oh no – I am heading out to Jinshan on the other side of the mountain and then heading home around the coast. 90 km. Just what a fat boy needs to justify extra ice cream to himself.
I got to Bei Hsin Chuang, and stopped for my usual Pocari drink, resting for just a few minutes as that cool liquid slid down my throat, refreshing me immensely in the sweltering heat. Typhoon – I believe – is definitely coming. I continued my way up the mountain road, the sweat dripping off me as the pedals reluctantly turned.
As I got to the 6 km marker on the road, I saw on the barrier stopping the crazy Taiwanese drivers from plummeting down the ravine to an almost certain death, caterpillars. Black caterpillars. Lots of black caterpillars. And when I say lots, I mean literally hundreds upon hundreds, all crawling along the top of the concrete barrier. Sweet, beautiful, black caterpillars. It was the most amazing sight.
I called up Linn to tell her what I was looking at, and she sounded less than excited but probably because she could not hear me very well, having to concentrate with work and my cellphone chose that moment to cut out, perhaps the sweat from my constant riding corroding the microphone.
I got to the top, and then headed down the other side. As I was about 8 km outside of Jinshan my phone rang, so I stopped the bike. I was pretty sure the guy calling would not want to hear the whoosh of the wind as I tonked down the slope at 50 km/h. Alas the mic cut out and I could not hear anything anyway, but when I hung up, I saw a family of monkeys, eating in the treetops.
I watched them for a moment, they watched me back. There was at least one juvenile eating as well – but unexpected because I did not know you find monkeys in Yang Ming national park. Now I do, though. People ask me regularly why I love Taiwan – it is moments in nature where you find something totally unexpected that make living here so special. Plus the food of course. And the girls!
I continued my ride down to Jinshan, and then around the coast, making it home in the late afternoon, just as the sun started to go down behind the mountains.
The next time I rode up the mountain, I stopped a little further up because I had just seen a marsh harrier, one of Taiwan’s birds of prey, perched on one of the trees. I watched it for several minutes, cars and bikes zipping past, oblivious to the beauty of nature that this island has to offer. Taiwan is a place that has so much, and even after 8 years of living here, it still surprises me from time to time. Feeling at home somewhere is a very comfortable feeling, and I am very pleased to feel right at home, here in Formosa.
