Zee dayz, zay are packed

No, I don't know why I'm affecting a bad French accent, and in writing at that, it has nothing to do with anything, it just occurred to me.

So thank you to all of the people who tried to make us feel better by telling us about their heat problems (Marie's Aunt Lorre in Phoenix where they're still in the nineties) or lack of the same (Michelle in Seattle where it's just about perfect for fall) but we're doing much better now. The temp. dropped about 5 C all at once a couple days ago. It's now around 20 to 23 C so we're both much happier. We've almost completely quit using the A/C and we're talking about investing in a comforter and blankets for the coming months.

As an interesting side note, you cannot, repeat can not get flat sheets in Taiwan. I'd buy two single sheets and stitch 'em together, but they just aren't there. We're using a cover for a comforter as a flat sheet, and it works pretty well, but it's made for a comforter so my toes keep sticking out in the night, which really wasn't a problem until two days ago. I'm considering buying a fitted sheet and hacking off the elastic. But enough of my problems, the important thing is, Marie and I have been out into the wider Taiwanese countryside!

We took a whirlwind rafting tour a couple weekends ago. It has to be whirlwind 'cause we work on Saturdays so we can't leave until after 7 on Saturday night and then we have class Monday afternoon.


















This is most of the group killing time before the vans arrive. That's Marie, Katy's opposite her, then Georgia, Kat and Cindy (who are from Hawai'i), and Vera. The vans were supposed to be there so we could leave just after seven, but not so much. But, we did get to try this neat little cafe kinda thing. It was the first time in months I've had more or less American fries.

I'm sure there's a joke there about American french fries (how do I hyphenate that?) but I can't find it. So dinner made up for a little of the delay.

We didn't leave Taipei until about nine or so, so we didn't get to the campground south of Hualien until about two a.m., so the pictures skip to the next morning when I was more coherent and able to comprehend a modern autofocus camera.


















I just liked the mountains in the mist and the complete lack of other people.

This's out of one end of our little hut. I was so tired the night before I just threw my sleeping bag down and went to sleep. I wasn't thinking about bugs. That made for a long night for Marie. She's like a buffet to mosquitoes. I slept pretty well.


















This's the other end of our hut. What surprised me was the lack of other campers. The other tents are all our group. I don't know when the camping season is in this place, but it's not now, and you're thinking "well of course not in late October!" But it was warm at night and hot during the day. Maybe people camp in the winter, I dunno, I'll look into that. But we were about the only people there. And it's like a KOA campground. Central bathrooms, even showers, tho' they do have mostly eastern toilets around, but there's usually a western toilet in the area. So I think the only real problem was the bugs.



















This's getting ready for the raft ride, packing everything to go back in the van. That's one of the vans we came in and the driver, in the orange shirt, who, I'm not kidding, goes by the name of Cobra. Apparently it's from his Taiwanese nickname, which I didn't catch, but he was a solid driver on some pretty twisty roads, and pretty good with a camera, too. I haven't seen the photos he took, but they're out there. I'll post a few once I get my electronic mitts on them.

I did not take the camera on the raft. I'd thought about it for maybe ten minutes. I had an idea that I could use a couple of bags to keep it dry, but I got a look at what we were gonna do and I just put it back in the van.

The river itself was fairly sedate, only a few rapids and mild ones at that. But we were riding eight people to a raft. Four people straddled each side of the rubber raft. So there were a lot of paddles flailing around, at least in the beginning before we got the hang of it. But then we discovered the real reason for the trip, to splash other rafters.

Not that it wasn't a little fun, but I did like that our raft was more interested in paddling. I must be old. There were maybe a dozen to fifteen boats, and a lot of groups would pull alongside another raft and dig in with paddles and the bailing buckets, which I'm sure were there less for bailing than I first thought, and the two boats of people would wail on each other for many minutes. It was more amusing to watch from a distance. We'd splash people as we went by, but we mostly just kept paddling.

And it was a very good trip. It was mostly calm and level. We only had a couple of bumps on rocks and a couple of scary racing-right-at-a-boulder-in-the-middle-of-the-river moments. And the day was mostly bright sunshine and calm. And the river is a real river and runs through a well-cut gorge. And hills surrounding the river are covered in greenery, as you'd expect in a tropical climate. I was hoping for some bare rock and cliffs, but after months in urban Taipei, lots and lots of greenery was pretty welcome.

They even fed us lunch, though after a couple of hours of paddling I was ready for burgers or sandwiches, chips or fries, and a cookie. That might've been the first time I really forgot where I was. We got these box lunches, which aren't bad, they had strips of fried pork chop and a couple of veggies and rice. But they're not what I'm used to, so I was really yanked back to reality. But anything's good when you're using muscles for hours that aren't used to it. Though I was grumpy that they didn't mention that if you wanted something to drink, you'd better bring cash. I still haven't tested whether Taiwanese cash will go through the wash like U.S. currency, so I didn't think to bring coins on the trip or anything on the boat ride. But we mooched some water and all was good.

So, after another couple of hours of paddling (and splashing) we came to the end of our trip under this bridge.



















We parked the boats just down the bank there, and dumped our vests, soft helmets, and paddles and took off. Not bad for 600 NT apiece.


















Maybe the best part was seeing this view. That darker blue is the ocean. And this little landing has a zillion little shower stalls so you can rinse the sand outta your nooks and crannies. Again, no one was there. We basically had the place to ourselves, total of one dozen people in a place meant for a hundred or more.


















This's the group after we're mostly clean and ready to head for the campground. Food and taking pictures of the local dogs took priority, though not in that order.


















No, wait, I lied. This was the best part of the trip, though that shower was a close second.

This was just ridiculous how beautiful it all was. Green plants, red flowers, blue ocean, white surf. Kat (from Hawai'i) kept saying, "when did we get to Oahu?" or something. It made you a little stupid to look at it. But the real reason it was ridiculous was this little hut, with all the amenities of the last campground, but this view, was still only 500 NT a night. That's about $15. There were only a couple of other people there. In the U.S. this space would cost a hundred bucks and there'd be a three-year waiting list. I still can't fathom why this place isn't overrun by people.


















This's food that night. It was really quite dark, until you use a high-powered flash and light the place up. You can see the headlight Fay (in yellow) is wearing to cook by, Cobra's next to her, then Vera, Spencer, Georgia, Amber, and Lee-Anne.

The amusing part is how strange time is, first when you're camping, and then when you're in Taiwan. We have no daylight savings here. The sun heats things up, so the day starts early, and it gets dark quick, especially when you're camped on the east side of a short but very sharp mountain range. So by seven in the evening we're working on food and it's pitch black out. Of course it takes time to feed a dozen people when you only have a couple of little camp stoves (don't ask me why you want hot soup when it's this hot, but them's the rules in these parts). And Nick started a fire so a few people played at making s'mores.

So we're wandering around getting fed and talking and Marie made me pack a bottle of Kahlua (but we compromised and she put it in a lighter plastic bottle) and some people made a run for milk and beer (don't get weird, the milk was for the Kahlua). So after all this preparing and eating little bits at a time and talking and drinking, people started to yawn and some one asked, "what time is it." It was nine o'clock. Old, I'm telling you. But at least the other kids were feeling it too. The paddling that is. I think everyone was tucked in or just crashed someplace more or less comfortable by ten.


















And this's what we woke to. Marie was complaining that photos don't capture anything of a sunrise or a lion in the zoo or any sort of natural wonder, and I certainly don't dispute that, but it does a lot better than my text, so there ya go. Six a.m. up with the sun. And it was already 27, 28C, blech. But worth it to feel like I was on vacation and I lived at least near a tropical paradise.


















This was probably the most popular pastime that morning. Taking photos with the amazing sunrise as a backdrop in a hope that some of the grandeur will survive to the picture. You decide.


















Here's Marie and my contribution to the effort. (Oooh, look how long his hair is.)


















And this's getting ready to leave. It was almost like we'd just arrived.... But it was worth going and doing and seeing.


















And this's the whole group: Spencer, Cat, Vera, Marie, Amber (bottom) Georgia (top, who will not tell us her actual, Chinese name, as if it'd mean anything to us), Lee-Anne (bottom) Cindy, Nick, Fay (who would not raise her head 'cause she was counting the cash, I'm not joking, about nine times 'cause she was worried about over charging us, but after all we'd done it felt like we were paying about 20 bucks, for both of us, Canadian), and Katy.


















Finally, I took a LOT of photos on the drive home. I opted against illustrating just how sharp the dropoff was next to the road (there was always a heavy K-rail between us and a hundred-foot plummet to our fiery deaths, mom). But this was worth noting, I thought. The water is so blue and perfect, and there's nothing between here and Hawai'i, but what looks like white sand is gravel. And where there should be a quaint fishing village turned tourist destination for lying on the beach and drinking ice-cold daiquiries and buying pointless gifts for friends, there is an ACTUAL fishing village and industrial center where I think you can buy concrete by the ton.

It was odd. It felt like the entire coast should've been overrun by holiday people and beach goers but it was basically us. Not such a bad weekend.