The other side of the family

The first time the entire family came to Taiwan, I was 5 years old and my dad was the same age as I am now. Nearly all of my mom's side of the family lives in the US or Canada now. However, I haven't seen many relatives from my dad's side of the family since 1985. My father comes from a huge family of 11 siblings. I guess contraception wasn't used back then. My cousins Steve and Mary (who are music teachers) live in Taipei have proved to be excellent tour guides. One amusing thing is that their German is better than their English. When we are speaking, they inadvertently throw in German words into their English. We communicate with a mix of English, Taiwanese, Chinese, and some German mixed in. It must sound really wierd for people listening.
Steve and Mary took me to Yilan for a long spa session. The entire area is littered with hotels specializing in hot spring spas. They have been going there every weekend for a long time so they had everything sussed out for me. The first pool had tiny fish in it to peck away dead skin from your toes and whatever else you put in the water. After that, you had a variety of pools to choose from. Some pools were infused with chinese herbs, others with fruit or flowers. There was even a milk pool! Once we were done with the pools, we moved over to the massage jet area. This section had at least 40 different stations with all sorts of jets to massage any part of your body. You had to search for ones which felt good since some of the jets are so strong it feels as if the flesh is being ripped from your body. My favorite was the foot massage jet shooting up from the bottom. My cousins will try to whip me into shape for the Yushan climb. We are going to hike some smaller hills in east Taipei tomorrow.

Miscalculation

The second typhoon missed the northern part of Taiwan this weekend. I was able to do some outdoor activites now that the skies were clear. Peter and I went to the coast to do some snorkeling. It was better than expected although I did have to swim through some debris. The water was not as clear as in the Caribbean, but visibility was good enough to see some fish and coral. One thing that was kind of funny was Peters swim suit which I can best describe as a red banana hammock. I have no idea why he wears a suit which weighs about 1 gram. It was not pretty.

Sunday morning was sunny and hot. Peter went snorkeling again, but I decided to head to Yangmingshan mountain. It is a relatively small peak with abut a 650 meter climb. The trail is basically a bunch of stone stair steps similar to those found on the Inca trail. Some sections of the trail are steep to the point where you can crawl on all fours. Maybe it was the heat or my lack of fitness, but I found the hike difficult. Although I reached the top in half of the normal time, I thought it would be much easier. This has worried me a bit since I'm scheduled to climb Yushan (Jade Mountain) in three weeks which is about 2800 meter higher than Yangmingshan. Jane once said "Don't even talk to me if it isn't over 4000 meters." I can't help but think not only have I miscalculated my fitness level, but I may not have enough cold weather gear for this climb. This is one peak that I don't think I can do "off the couch."

Mmmm Chicken Butts

I'm discovering that Taipei is a really easy city to navigate. There have been many improvements in the cities infrastructure in the past decade which makes every corner of the city accessible by a short train or bus ride. Peter has not been the most ideal tour guide for me. We have been to Keelung and some other night markets, but he doesn't seem to know anything about the cities main attractions. I've been setting off on my own over the past couple days after class to check out some of the sites.

My class schedule allows me to wander around the city for a couple hours before dinner during the week. I was able to see Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Longshan Temple, and Taipei 101. This weekend I'm going to summit Yangmingshan mountain which is just outside of Taipei. One funny thing about wandering around a foreign city is that you will stumble on things you wouldn't normally seek. I accidentally walked down hooker alley when trying to find the MRT station to leave Longshan. At first, I was walking down a street market also known as snake alley. There were some normal restaurants and shops, but I also noticed some sex shops which I haven't seen in normal market areas. I suppose it makes sense that if you keep on walking, you will eventually run into the red light area.

The night markets are a great way to spend an evening. The stalls have all sorts of various food items, CHEAP clothes, and toys. The food here is sooooo friggin' cheap! I can eat three meals daily for about $10 a day. My stomach has been bombarded with many questionable eats over the last few days. I think that a normal stomach would be turned inside out from all the foreign food. But hey man, I was in Bolivia for two weeks! My stomach has seen worse days. I think back to Bolivia and say to myself that maybe I could retire in Taiwan on my current savings. It is cheap an better than Bolivia!

Hunker Down

Dude! If anyone wants to know. I'm okay. I had to hunker down in the hotel room this entire weekend. Apparently this typhoon was a pretty big one and shut down the entire country. The eye of the storm passed right over Taipei so it has been super wet and rainy for the past few days. Peter and I were able to venture out a bit to see debris all over the roads and up-rooted trees. The east side of Taiwan was severly affected with flooding, landslides, and roads washed away. I had planned on going to Taroko gorge to do some hiking, but that may be dangerous. I'll need to see if the weather clears up before going (biggest danger is falling rocks).

After some though, I decided to get my own room instead of sharing with Peter. It will be an extra $300 per month, but totally worth it. Peter has been obsessing about a couple girls who he has met during his stay here. It is almost unbearable hearing him talk about these girls all the time. Any subject we talk about inevitably morphs into a discussion of his relationship with these women.

My first day of Mandarin class was great. I have one on one instruction, so I will dictate the speed of the material we cover. I get the feeling that I will profit very little with only one month of Mandarin. However, it should give me a good base to start. I hope that being in Taiwan will also speed the learning process. On the other hand, my Taiwanese has improved tremendously. There are still many people (typically older folks) who still use Taiwanese regularly. My vocabulary is coming back and I have been able to get by a little bit understanding and speaking some. My knowledge base for Taiwanese covers mostly what I learned up to about 5-6 years old from my grandparents and cousins. That means I know a lot of fart and booger jokes in Taiwanese.

Just in time for the typhoon

The simple action of slipping on old hiking boots seems innocuous enough, but the last time I had the boots on my feet, I was on a different continent. The anxiety started to rise as I put all the gear next to the front door. As with my previous trips, I was wandering throughout the house for the last hour or so to figure out if I had remembered everything, or if there was one last item I forgot to pack. Did I need the 32 degree sleeping bag for the mountains? Was the house in order for Jaime to live without me? Could everything be set on auto-pilot? None of these questions had immediate answers, but I knew the answers would come to me once I was on the road.

The great land of America left me with one funny stupid moment before leaving. At the ticket counter, the ticketing agent was reviewing my Taiwan visa. She noticed that the visitor visa was for 60 days and then said "You have a problem with your visa. Your trip is more than 60 days (as she was counting the weeks on her fingers)." I replied that I was leaving from Bangkok on December 17th and I was only in Taiwan for five weeks. She acknowledged as if I was telling her something she already knew, then I realized that she didn't know the difference between Taiwan and Thailand. Not again! Are you friggin' kidding me!?

The trip was extremely long, but I was lucky to arrive before the typhoon. Peter and I were supposed to go snorkeling this weekend, but likely not with the rain. It is really coming down hard now! No worries. It will take a day or two to get over the jet lag and to get a feel for the city anyways. I should be back to full speed by Monday.

More on the accommodations and my cousin Peter later.

Count Down

Almost one more week to go. The countdown has officially begun. Everything seems to be squared away here in Dallas. I'm now making a list of things I'll need to buy before leaving. REI and Whole Earth Provisions love me!

I've learned a whole lot about how to pack for these backpacking trips from my experience in South America. My pack should be a lot lighter this go around compared to the last trip (not packing five pairs of pants this time). However, I do have the same delima regarding what clothes to take since I will be doing some hiking in the Taiwan and Thailand mountains. My guess is that I won't need too much technical equipment, but it may get a bit cold at 3900 meters. My parents are also expecting me to bring gifts for the family as well. I'll be loaded down when I arrive to Taiwan, but the pack will be super light once I'm in Thailand.

It's good that I'm leaving again. It will be nice to be on the road and taking language classes. You would be amazed at how quickly the day goes by when you are not working. It is not like I've been just sitting around, but there were a couple days where I nearly spent the entire morning and afternon in a t-shirt and underwear eating a giant bowl of cereal. Jane would be proud that I'm still eating breakfast regularly.

The South East Asia route has been decided. Everyone has been great giving me suggestions for places to see. I'll be wined and dined by family and friends while I'm in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The real backpacking begins when I arrive in Bangkok. I'll be headed north into the mountains then cross into Laos. From Laos, I'll either bus it down the Mekong to Cambodia, or fly directly to Siem Reap. The next stop will be Phnom Penh, then off to Phuket. My plan is to be in the water so much that I grow fins. Getting sooooo excited to go.

Treading Water

I've pretty much taken care of all of the house admin tasks required since returning from South America. The house needed quite a bit of work since Jaime was moving in. I also had a will drawn up (kind of morbid) which was necessary after consolidating all my liquid assets. The list of things to do was much more than anticipated and derailed my plans to travel to the west coast. Too bad because I miss the mountains.

In any case, I now have my reservation set for my trip to Asia. I'll be in Dallas for another two and a half weeks before heading out. If I didn't have the house, insurance, and finances to deal with, I would have only stayed for two weeks. Being at home for so long and getting back into the old routine feels like I'm treading water figuring out where to swim to. I'm trying to keep the internal fire stoked for the next leg of my adventure.

There are a few good things I'm really happy to come back to.

1. Diverse cuisine. Man! I've missed good Chinese food. I've been to Chinatown every week for lunch.

2. http://www.kexp.org/playlist/playlist.asp Cheryls voice sounds like home.

3. Cubs baseball. They have the best record in the NL but will probablly choke at the end of the season.

4. Fishing. I finally was able to head out to the lakes the past couple weeks.

Many people have been helpful giving me tips for Thailand and the surrounding countries. There are a ton of books on my kitchen table I'll need to browse through this week. With most of the to do list crossed off now, it looks like I'll have some time to make a quick trip if I can find a cheap ticket somewhere.

The picture is me at lake Texoma on Laborday weekend.