In spite of my opening, the logical conclusion that can be made, and necessary explanation that is due, I have instead decided to digress for a while so that I might write about my last week in Taiwan.
Taroko Gorge National Park
We took the slow train from Taipei to the city of Sincheng and arrived sometime in the afternoon. It was clear outside and a friend at the hostel had spoke of a place where we could rent a scooter. Determined to find the scooter vendor we walked up and down the one road town for about an hour with no luck. We decided to move on and our guide, a book, said that there were buses that ran from Sincheng to the park. These buses were no where to be seen so we walked back to the train station and caught a taxi. The taxi driver gave his friends thumbs up as we passed through town and took us to the park entrance for $7 USD. It was about 6 miles away.
We found a map of the park and quickly learned that it was no place to explore on foot. The park ranger at the desk spoke very little English but understood that we needed to get to a campsite about 35 km into the park. He was helpful and tried to find a someone who would drive us in but no one was comfortable doing so. I, making vroom vroom sounds whilst twisting my hands, communicated that we would somehow manage to find scooters. We, after a brief arguementesque exchange concerning which way was most promising for scooter prospects at a fork in the road, made our way away from the park. I won the arguementesque exchange. It took about 20 minutes on foot to find the aforementioned scooter rental extablishment in a town between the park and Sincheng.
It was no trouble renting the scooter as there was no deposit and very little paperwork. Meredith had at some point in her childhood driven a scooter whereas I had never sat on one. So, naturally, Meredith was set to drive. She sat on top the scooter just outside the establishment, which by the way did not advertise scooter rentals but was in fact a hotel, and gave the handle a twist. Now, one must understand that in order to accelerate a scooter just a little twist of the handle grip is needed. Meredith did just so but perhaps too much and naturally leaned back in the seat. I'm assuming this caused her to twist the handle even more which sent the vendor, who was holding on to the scooter, dragging across the front entrance of the hotel. For about 7 feet I witnessed some of the most genuinely frightened expressions grace Meredith's face.
The hotel was rather hesitant but decided let me try my hand at scooting under the condition that I drive around for 5 minutes while they scrutinized my abilities. I passed, but felt the entire time I would topple over. Meredith jumped on and we made our way back to the park. It began to rain shortly thereafter which contributed little to my thoughts of safety as we sped around the snaking two/one lane mountain roads frequented by maniacal tour buses and cars. I would periodically stop and pretend that I wanted to admire the beauty of the park when in fact I just needed to collect myself for a minute. During one of these breaks a biker passed by and said hello in English. Things continued as they had and we ended up passing the same biker a number of times each occasion saying hello to him as we scooted along or as he passed us while I collected myself on another "stop to enjoy the scenery". At some point along the way we found out we were all heading to the same campsites and decided we would talk more when we arrived. We found the campsite and soon learned that a 3 person tent in Taiwan is not a 3 person tent in the U.S. Apparently, one our nations is inhabited by giant or miniature humans.
It continued to rain but we were too hungry to wait it out. We placed our giant bag inside our big or perhaps small tent and continued along the park road to an area where some of the aboriginal peoples sold food. The food was no different than anywhere else in Taiwan but I was able to purchase a bottle of the infamous pharmaceutical company manufactured "Whisbih". It was explained to me that Whisbih was essentially Red Bull, alcohol and a dash of methamphetamine salts. I would have to say, although I haven't tried any methamphetamine salts, that the description was correct. I immediately placed it in my hand and began drinking the syrup like "liquid" only to find that it would rarely leave that very place for the remainder of my stay.
We returned to camp and the bike rider had already set up. He was speaking with a couple from a neighboring campsite and we soon found ourselves all having tea. The bikers name was Bob, Richard, Henry or something American that I have written down somewhere but can't recall and the couple's names were Ken and Sue (actual names). Richard, as that seems appropriate at the moment, spoke English as did Ken. Richard had worked for Texas Instruments in the past but now worked for a solar energy business. Both Ken and Sue were chemists however Ken now drives a cab, Sue I'm not sure. They were all very friendly and we learned half of all there was to know about drinking oolong tea in the Taiwanese fashion the first night. Richard had brought a small bottle of deer antler liquor, aptly named 49 in reflection of its price, that we passed back and forth throughout the night as we had a good conversation about something that I'm not sure of. We were put to bed by our new Taiwanese friends, slept terribly on the wood plank platform underneath our tent and awoke early the next morning.
to be continued...
