Day Tripper

Have a day or two to spare and need a change of scene? There are some great day/overnight trips and you don’t have to go far or even have a car.


Day Trips (that I have done):
1. The beach. There is Golden Beach, Tainan beach, the beach over Yuguang bridge.
2. Guanziling hot Springs- If you don’t have wheels, a bus from Tainan train station takes about 45 minutes one way. Just ask the info booth in the train station.
3. Tiger Head Lake- Been there once and am going back this April 4th holiday. It’s a ten minute drive from Tainan city and nice for a BBQ and bike ride.
4. Cijin Island, Kaohsiung- Also bike riding and fresh seafood. The beach is nice too, clean sand and showers. From the train station take a taxi to the ferry. You can rent bikes there.
5. Chaishan Nature reserve, Kaohsiung: Or as my daughter likes to call it, “Monkey Mountain.” Nice for asweaty hike. The macaques are unpredictable, beware.
6. Hsitzuwan Beach, Kaohsiung. Beautiful at sunset, mountain backdrop, very clean, on the campus of SunYat Sen University campus.
7. Xiao Liuqiu island- Definitely worth spending the night. The campground is amazing and nearby are some cheap cottages on a green field overlooking the sea. A truly magical little coral island, hard to believe someplace so close to Kaohsiung is so clean. Snorkling, beaches, scooter freedom. Take a train south to Kaohsiung-Pingdong.  Then take a bus to Dongang (40 minutes, every 20 minutes), last stop is the ferry treminal. The first terminal leaves every hour in the morning, takes about 30 minutes one way. My friend got seasick, so if youre a landlover, buy meds in advance.
8. The Reservoirs (Wushantou, Tsengwen, Baihe)- Everytime I went was in a car, don’t know about buses going there. Nice for a BBQ. I camped at one of these and don’t recommend it (late night KTV by the campers next to me.)
9. Various coffee farms in Northern Tainan Co. Definitely need a car and if youre not a total coffee buff, then I’d skip this. The coffee shops selling the stuff are totally overpriced.


Day Trips I haven’t done yet (and let’s be honest, I will probably never will, see final list):


1. Biking around Lotus Pond (Lianchi Tan), Kaohsiung
2. Taiwan Salt Museum
3. Black Faced Spoonbill reserve

Weekend/One nighter trips: With high speed trains, you could easily spend a weekend near and around any city. These are just some of the one closest to Tainan.
1. Lukang
2. Alishan
3. Sun Moon Lake
4. Rueli
5. Kenting


3 Day weekend: In the lucky event you have 3 or 4 days to roam, then I’d highly recommend the following;

1. Penghu Archipelago (the Pescadores). Also known as the Hawaii of Taiwan, need I say more?
2. Green Island
3. Biking Guanshan+ 60 Stone Mt
4. Taipei (So much to see and do in the city and around).

Taiwan is an excellent base to explore Asia. There are always deals on Air Asia and Tiger Air to major cities like KL, HK and BKK and from there you can go to just about anywhere. Flights to Manila and Seoul are fairly cheap. 
5. Hong Kong

6. Tokyo
7. KL
8. Singapore
9.  Seoul- Haven’t actually made a trip there from Tainan, but l worked there before and always recommend it for a few days if you have the time, so much to see and do and possible for a long weekend.


Yes I have been in Tainan for almost 4 years and there are tons of iconic places I still haven’t gone and plan to before I say my final farewell. Trips happen when their meant to happen, right? So I’m hoping I will go to all of these places within this year and create some new memories and adventures, even if I don’t have a 3 day weekend. (Yet, I have been to Nantou so many times, I’ve lost track. Weekend trips, day trips, I just keep on returning to different places in Nantou, must be my affinity for altitude and my Rocky Mountain heritage.)


Here is my list of places I haven’t gone but really want to:
1. Hsinchu- I want to see my dear friend Grace up there since she moved from Tainan and she wants to show me around.
2. Lanyu Island/ Pongso No Tao
3. Matsu Island
4. Camp at Liyu Lake
5. South Cross Highway- I have had this road trip fantasy about the South Cross highway since the day I first started reading up on Tainan. It just seems like a road trippers dream to stop here and there and explore all the hot springs along the way. My scooter wouldn’t make the trip and it just hasn’t worked out with friends w/cars.
6. Finish East Rift Valley, Highway 9
7. Biking the East coast
8. Hike Jade Mt.
9. Hualien and Taroko
10. Biking Ershui, Jiji Rail line


I know what you’re thinking, its sad and shocking that I still haven’t seen Taiwan’s number one natural wonder, the Taroko Gorge. Its definitely high on my list, there were a few 3 day weekends years past when I was making plans and all accommodations were just booked way in advance. There is also no easy way to get there from Tainan, highspeed train to Taipei and then another train to Hualien, or fly there I guess, but I definitely need to go. I guess I’d like time to explore Huelien and also camp in the park.


 For one little island, Taiwan is jam packed with plenty of options worthy of exploration. Mountains and sea, islands and hot springs galore, good things do come in small packages.

Summer Soujourn

 
 With the parting of summer and somewhat cooling climate, its only fitting I reap the harvests of my summer journey both outer and inner, they somehow reflect each other. It began in May, going to Kenting with friends and staying in an opulent resort in the mts. Cabins and pools, kids playing, wine at night, me addicted to archery.




Then in June, spending Dragon Boat weekend in Green Island.
Camping beside a rocky coral cove beside a dramatic cliff wall, lush black sky full of milky stars, a primordial fire to watch us while we slept, then recovering in the rare sea water hot springs.


Salt water hot springs



 In July we spent 14 days in the Malaysian peninsula and ending in Singapore. I met 2 wonderful men I had a kind of connection with, whom I’m still in contact with. The first a Syrian in KL, who is doing some rare stones trading between Sri Lanka and Dubai who is now trying to get a Taiwanese visa to come visit. The other a roving Irishman I met in a bus to Cherating, where we stayed and traveled down to Singapore together. He did come for a short visit just last weekend here in Tainan and hopefully will return before Christmas.

Pulau Pankgor



I am well acquainted with my own company and don’t mind being alone, but one night in Pulau Pangkor,  I had this excruciating experience. I was so utterly lonely and so acutely aware of it. It was so incredibly painful, a piercing rawness that this night, it was as if the Universe held an enormous galactic mirror up to me. I thought I might burst into tears right there on the paradise beach where all the European holidayers where having dinner with their families watching the pink sunset. I never felt so odd and out of place before, even the monkeys were pointing their fingers at me. To slightly make up for it, I was blessed the next day with a free snorkeling trip to a nearby coral island, by a local, who gave me enough attention and was still a gentleman. Still,  I was recovering from the previous night, of being slammed by the accumulative past 5 years of being independent, being alone, all of it overwhelmed me like karmic avalanche.

So we headed back to the mainland to the other side of the peninsula to Kota Bharu. The difficulty of the travel, waiting for buses hours late, crowded buses w/o seats or AC, night buses w/o sleep, filled that space. Then the magic of traditional Malay culture a few days in Kota Bharu strengthened my spirit. Soon, I met a kindred spirit again, as a kind of blessing. The easy togetherness also threw off my equilibrium, I got used to it, so did Z. I realized I need other people to be my sledgehammer and break through my walls, the illusion of being this strong, independent, single mom.
 
Traveling solitary its like this dance of being alone for a while, which is fine, because its so temporary, then I meet up with lovely company and I certainly did in Malaysia. If that Malayisa/Singapore trip taught me anything, its there is this wide world outside of Tainan full of available, single men of quality (there were some nice Frenchmen along the way too I'll briefly mention).


Singapore Zoo



Universal studios, Singapore

In August, me and some Taiwanese friends went to Alishan. They organized everything. It was like a pilgrimage to this ancient cypress forest with 2000 year old trees, a gorgeous sunset, waking for sunrise, hiking in clouded tea terraces, great food, happy kids, coming home tired and happy.


In early September, for Moon Festival's 3 day weekend, Z and I took a weekend to Guanshan to see the blooming Daylillies in the East Rift Valley in Taiwan's East Coast. Later in September, I met up with an old friend from my Taipei days a decade ago and we went camping in a farm in Kenting. BBQ, more wine, great company, our kids, her great husband, great fun in finding this past friendship and picking up where we parted. I felt lucky. Then, recovering in the Pingtong hot springs, the original Japanese structure, hinting of October.

In October for 10/10 holiday, I took an extra day off and flew to Tokyo for a 4 day stint. Autumn was just beginning to breath her first breaths into this phenomenal city. Z and I didn’t want to come back to Taiwan and even now I’m considering moving to Tokyo in a year or two if I can wait. I know what neighborhood I’d like to live in more or less. There is so much to see, so much under the surface, calling out to me, “explore me, stay here.” The magical part is I had no desire to even go to Japan until like a month ago, and now I can’t get Japan out of my dreams. I simply liked looking at the faces. The people bent over backwards to help me, locals went out of their way to make me stay. Tokyo is this paradox of ancient medieval Endo with uber-modernism, the bustle of crowds on their way, belaying an inner gentleness. There is this gentleness and then you sense this hidden cruelness. I can’t put my finger on it, especially after only 4 days, but I’m hooked.

I’ve been to a lot of countries, exchanged in many courtesies ad currencies but only a handful of places sort of grabbed me, beckoned me to linger a while. After 2 years of working around Western Europe, Galway totally conquered me. I couldn’t leave, I grieved when I had no way to stay there permanently, legally. Guatemala, I was there all 90 days of my visa and mourned leaving. I’d probably be living in Kashmir and married to a Kashmiri if it was more stable. Now after living in Tainan 3 years, 5 years total in Taiwan, I feel that itch again. Ok I admit when we went to KL I exclaimed I could live in KL too (I could, Z could continue her Mandarin, and I could have my piece of Indian culture). So who knows?


Z’s stability, and continuing her Mandarin is paramount. I just feel like the poetic eagle, phoenix being reborn and itching to spread her wings. If that means growing in a new territory, moving, or staying in Tainan and having this inner journey, remains to be lived out.

LA or Bust

This is a continuation of a previous blog in April "Should I stay or Go" about my youngest bro Matt's March wedding in LA. Skyping w/my folks it just seemed like me and Z would be missing out not to go to LA. Sure I had a crap experience with flying over an ocean for Andy's wedding, but I guess in the end Im a hopeful optimist or a sucker for punishment. Maybe a little of both.

 

Uncle David's



Great Grandma Bernice, Chino Hills



 The flight was from Kaohsiung to Tokyo and then on to LAX. This was right after the devastating earthquake and radioactivity scare/meltdown so my flight to Narita was empty. My row and the rows in front and behind were empty. Japan Airline was by far the cleanest plane Ive ever been on and the food was the absolute best. The miso soup alone was worth the trip, the tea was top. The wine was free. I wish I could of stayed with them to LAX. We had 3 hours to kill in Narita and spent most of the time in the kid playroom. The CNN footage of people standing in Depression Era lines trying to get out of Tokyo was not in my terminal. We took American Air to LAX, the plane was full. The crew was old, 40s + and not looking too great, but I had to hand it to them for not laying off female staff who looked like drag queens or should be pouring coffee in a diner in the middle of North Dakota. Finally, real people for once, I would not be the most haggard looking person on the plane.

Z was a nightmare. She could not get comfortable enough sleep so there was no way in hell she would let me sleep. She verbally abused me the whole time, “youre driving me crazy!” Where did you learn that I asked her later? I asked the stewardess for a small bottle of Merlot and whipped out a 10$ bill. She said, “oh we take credit card.” My shocked face immediately made her react and she said, “here its on me.” “Bless you!” I said in relief and just about drank from the bottle. I was her biggest fan the rest of the flight. Obviously she belonged to the sisterhood of mothers who understand.

Outside San Diego

Dad and Ed picked us up at the airport and we waited for some time for a shuttle bus to their hotel, then drove to Aunt Stella, which felt like my home in LA.  I have so many warm memories from that house. Whenever we made road trips to LA to see family, we always stayed there. The upstairs, the house in the back yard (use to be a play house now converted to an extra bedroom) has this nostalgic musty smell that I always associated with a kind of comfort, so nice to go back to that.

The missing element was Uncle Bob who lost his battle to cancer. When I left 3 years ago he was starting to waste away. I endured the gut wrenching video Stella made of his memorial and in the end he was an emaciated, skeleton version of his former self. Stella's story is hard to listen to. The hours of sleepless nights nursing him, all the natural cures that they had tried, she hoped until the end of his miraculous recovery. She is very matter of fact about some of the more unpleasant details. Now she in her self sacrificial fashion is taking care of a friend who is suffering from breast cancer. I was sleeping in the bed Uncle Bob died in, which didnt creep me out at all. In fact I was wearing his jeans the first 3 days I was in LA. My co-worker told me the weather was warm, so I brought all my best spring/summer clothes and it was flipping cold. I was stuck in Uncle Bob's favorite jeans until my Aunt Terry blessed me with a bag of assorted quality hand me downs (and a new purse).


 The first week was all spending time with my niece and extended relatives. I didnt get to see my other brothers until the last weekend, the weekend of the wedding. David and Terry was seriously cool and drove down to see us a few times that week. We had brunch at a fish and chips place with freshly caught fish in Little Tokyo. I bought my dress for the wedding at the Garment District for 10 bucks. It was a size or 2 too big, but I wasnt complaining. The weather really made it difficult to actually do alot of the things we wanted, rainy, cold, misterable grey skies, so un-sunny southern Cali. One of my personal highlights was hangin with my dear cousin Jonathan who was more like a brother. He was kickin it in the other house (what can I call it?) in Stella's backyard. Another dude had died there from cancer. Jonathan is a total rastafarian, kindred spirit, who is helpful and full of interesting stories. He was a paremedic who worked Hollywood parties, like Oscar and Emmy after parties and he has been in jail for 6 months and the things he saw and learned were intense and educational. "In jail everyone is so cool." He should write it all down. I enjoyed just soaking it all in. Aunt  Stella, along with her lush homemade cooking and huge servings, kept the wine supply ever flowing, so for those 2 weeks, I ate and drank like a queen. It was great to have folks watch Z and Emma while I could have adult conversations with wine, etc with Jonathan. I also got to hang with cousin Stephanie and her kids, she took us on a sunset walk, I needed the exercsie after her mom's wonderful cooking.

As for the wedding...Matt’s wedding was beautiful. His bride Carmel (who I adored from the first—unlike Cristi) was stunning. She has asked me to be a bridesmaid, but the dresses were 200US+ and Im just too “old” to be a bridesmaid. Im more of a woman than maiden. Z and Emma were little flower girls and in their element.

For  my LA photo album click here.

View from aunt Stella's house, East LA