The Rob Report: Life in Taiwan

Flower power.

I wanted to test our my camera's ability to take super-close up shots, and this was the best of the pictures I took. Quite beautiful, really, perhaps one of my best shots of the trip.

Seeing red.

A beautiful local plant I snapped a picture of on our way back to the cars.

On our way out, I spotted these two giant statues in local aboriginal costumes standing by an upper roadside, so I got David to stop so I could take a picture of them. To get a sense of scale, if you look to the bottom of the female statue, you can see the roof of a pickup truck that was passing by underneath her when I took this picture.

Time to take a dam break!

Winding our way through the hills and low mountains, we decided to stop and take a break at a local resevoir lake. This shot is of the roadway that goes across the dam, which as you can see is rather long. To the left of the picture is water, and to the right is a rather steep hillside which makes up the dam and looks out onto a forrest valley below. (Sorry, none of the pics I took of the valley or the resevoir turned out well, so I didn't include them. Please use your imaginations, if TV has left you any.)

Going for a stroll.

We decided to walk to the other side of the resevoir damn to see what was there, and we found...nothing but a dead end. It was worth a try, though, and it gave us a good chance to stretch our legs. I couldn't take a picture of it, but the resevoir was so filled with fish that we could see dozens of little flashes of light under the water near the edge as their scales caught the daylight. We also saw a few giant power Windmills in the distance, majestically using the power of the wind to generate electricity. I really love those windmills, I'm not sure why, there's just something so awesome about them.

Ancient Chinese Torture Technique

"So, it says here we put our right foot in, and then take our right foot out. We put our left foot in and we shake it all about...hey!"

Connie and Monica are reading the instructions on how to use the accupuncture path they're standing on and what benefits it can bring to those who walk barefoot along it. If I remember right, only David and Narissa actually gave it a shot, the rest of us just watched and laughed.

Moving On.

Having seen enough of the resevoir, we decided to head back to the cars and get ready to continue on to TaiChung, our destination for the day. (Pictured here, from left to right, are Apollo, David, Paul, Narissa, Connie and Monica. Ryan and I are absent.)

The Lights of TaiChung!

Upon arrival in TaiChung, we made a quick stop at the Evergreen Hotel (a high quality hotel located in scenic downtown TaiChung) and then took off to a local hillside with many patio restaurants where we could overlook the nighttime city. TaiChung reminded me a lot of Toronto from this view, very spread out (unlike super-compressed Taipei) and fairly low with some rolling hills. It's located on the large plain that runs along the West Coast of Taiwan, and this has allowed it to expand in a less constricted way. It was nice to just sit up on the hillside and watch the lights come alive as we ate, it was a fine example of Taiwan's outdoor culture. (Actually, the restaurant itself was a little cheap and uninteresting, but the view made up for it.)

After dinner.

From left to right, we have Connie, David (behind Connie), Monica, Ryan (behind Monica), Narissa and Paul. Absent from the group is Apollo (standing next to me when I took it), and myself (of course).

Split screen...Activate!

While we were in TaiChung, I remembered that my camera had a split-screen picture mode, so I stuck my head out the hotel window Sunday morning after breakfast and took these shots of the city next to the hotel. A nifty effect, and it lets you have a more detailed impression of what TaiChung looks like. Actually, the key differences between TaiChung and TaiPei are that the streets are wider here, and the buildings are lower, only averaging 4 storeys or so compared with Taipei's 6 storey or higher buildings. It was weird to be in the city and be able to see the sky! It made me realize just how used to Taipei's urban canyons I have become.

After this, we bundled into the cars and took off for our final destination of the Ching Jing Farms!

Buddhist Puppet Theatre!

If you look closely at the front of this temple (conveniently located next to a 7-11 in Tsao-Tun), you will see stage for puppet plays. There weren't any in session when we passed by, but I snapped this shot because I'd never seen a temple with a puppet theatre out front before. It's very Taiwanese, really, they have a deep history of puppet theatre, especially as you go into the Taiwanese heartland. I imagine they use it for their equivalent of Sunday School.

This was the point in the trip when the landscape suddenly started to bring back memories. This area around Tsao-Tun was one I had passed through many times when I lived in Taiwan previously, and there was an exchange where I knew if we just turned and drove a few minutes we would have been in Nantou city. A part of me wanted to go back and see my old school (or the new one they replaced it with after the earthquake) and see if there was a memorial, and how much of the place I recognised from my time there. But, I didn't want to inconvenience the rest of the group, and besides, the past is the past. I might go there myself someday before I leave Taiwan, just to see it, when my Chinese is better.

(In case someone reading this has no idea what I'm talking about (which is quite likely), I lived in Nantou city several years ago right before a very large earthquake (called The Puli Earthquake here) destroyed a good part of it. I went away for a weekend to renew my visa, and while I was gone the Earthquake struck and wiped out my job and my life there in a single stroke, forcing me to return to Canada at the time.)

Ching Jing!

Winding our way up narrow mountain roads for over an hour, we finally arrived at Ching Jing, the land of tea and sheep! When you think about it, tea and sheep are pretty much the only things you can grow when you're this high up. We arrived just before lunchtime, so our first order of business was finding a place to park near the sheep park. I snapped this picture as we made our way down from the parking lot towards the food court.

Food Court

Next we headed down the mountain a little to the park's food court where there was a wide sampling of local cuisine. It was mostly fried foods with a local flair, but not really that much different than what you'd find in any night market in Taipei.

Sausage on a stick!

Connie taste tests my sweet local sausage to "make sure it's safe and MSG free". (I think she just wanted my sausage...)

Chopsticks? You don't need any chopsticks!

Monica informs Apollo that here in Ching Jing everyone eats with their hands, so he won't be needing any chopsticks. I don't think Apollo believed her, though.

My Lunch.

Fried Rice, Pork Sausage on a Stick, and Coca Cola! The lunch of champions! And I followed it with frozen cheesecake on a stick! Nothing like eating healthy, right? ^_^

Playtime's Over!

With lunch finished, we headed up into the sheep park. I'm not sure what this place was called, really, but as you can see it involved stairs, lots of stairs. My legs shook at the thought of climbing all those stairs, but I perservered! (Actually Connie wouldn't let me stay behind, something about getting exercise...Exercise? Who needs it!)

Distant Farms

I have spent little time in the mountains in my life, so going to Ching Jing left quite an impression on me. It was amazing to see these mountains teeming with life and the farms on them, and I kept wondering how the people here lived. It's such a strange sensation, to be so close others that you can see them just across from you, yet so isolated because of the real travel distance between you.