The Sights and Sounds

It seems like i've developed some weird allergy to Kaohsiung on the weekends. Every weekend i've gone off to some amazing little adventure. I've traveled up, down and around the island of Taiwan. As much as I like Kaohsiung, I couldn't bare to stay here all the time. The air is thick and gray, the buildings are high and concrete, and the trees are sparse. I mantain my sanity by escaping as soon as I can.

Here are some of my recent excurssions:


I joined a group of people who were camping in Maolin, a scenic mountainous area about 2 hours north east of the city. I bought a new/old scooter in the morning and then my roommate Amy and I loaded it up with camping gear and head out in a little scooter caravan. The first night, there were over 40 people camping at this remote place on a dried up river bed. The next night, only 2. I think my highlight of the weekend was while we were driving around the twisty mountain roads and passed a little building with public toilets that were right next to a house. The family was sitting outside and when they saw us, they invited us over for a quick little karaoke. Until you've been here, you can't possibly understand how much the Taiwanese LOVE their karaoke. There are few things they like more, but if I had to pick something it would probably be Michael Jackson. You can just imagine the pure extacy that comes by combining the two. I was the translator of the group and got to say over and over "you girls are so beautiful, so pretty, your voices are so wonderful..." You can always count on lots of compliments from the Taiwanese.


About a month ago, A bunch of my girlfriends traveled to another city, Taizchung, to see a production of the Vagina Monologs. I was vey sad to have missed the Harrisonburg production of the play featuring my dear friend, Kelly, but the replacement show was completely entertaining. It half Chinese and half English so my vocabulary was expanded in ways that weren't covered in the classroom. After the play we put on our dancing shoes and head over to a bar that was having salsa night. Somehow, i found the only Latino man in the country (or so i've decided) to twirl me around the floor for a few hours... I knew those salsa nights at the Doger would pay off eventually. The next morning, we went to the campus of a huge college and wound up playing in the fields for hours. We climbed trees, did gymnastics, got our pictures taken with numerous Taiwanese people to whom we were a complete novelty.


My biggest excursion was to the island of Borneo with my friends Luke and Katie. This place captured my heart. We stayed in Malasian Borneo, which is the northern part of the island. Malasia is a Muslim country, which I hadn't realized before I got there. The people are conservative but incredibly kind and welcoming. We landed in Kopa Kanabalu and got to town around noon. I was floored when the bartender at a little restaurant on the water "read my cards" with a regular playing deck we were using to play a game. He told me about my past relationships and left me speechless. I still can't get my head around it.


Later, we made friends with a Taxi driver named Baktian and he ended up meeting us after his shift. He took us to an outdoor food market where we got some local delicacies like stir fried fruit, and Avocado shakes. My personal favorite was the ABC shake. The ingredients included, but were not limited to: fruit, ice, tapioka balls, peanut butter, cornflakes, and gummy worms. He played Shania Twain the entire time we were in his car. We started to measure distances in terms of Shania Twain songs. I think it took us about 3 'You're still the one's to get to the bus station.
The next day, we took a bus to a nature reserve in Sandakan where we saw Orangutans in the "wild". They're so human-like; I couldn't draw my eyes away. After the orangutans, we traveled to another town from which we were transported to a little scuba diving place on an off shore island. This was my best scuba diving experience to date. When i'm diving, I feel like i'm transported to an entirely different world. Everything is different: the way things move, the colors, the animals. You have to conscously do things that are completely natural on land... like breathe.


After returning for a whole week of teaching, I had another long weekend. Most of the other teachers were stir crazy and making fun travel plans.... so what can you do but join them right? I ended up renting a car with my friends Sarah and Trevor from which we explored the east coast where guge magnificent mountains plunge right into the Pacific Ocean. We camped on the beach the first night, then explored numerous little fishing villages before heading into the mountains. The second night was pure luxury at a hot spring hotel. Hot pools, cold pools, even the jacuzzi tub in our room was fed by hot springs.