Biking In Baihe 白河區

Lotus seeds, Baihe 白河區

It was June 22 and I needed as the saying goes, "to get the heck outta Dodge". A day trip was in order.

I told my Chinese teacher that early Saturday morning I was going to hop on one of those free shuttle buses the local Tainan government provide to get people into Tainan county, but the itinerary was going to mango farms and nothing to do but eat mangos. I like mangos but not enough to ride several buses there and back when I get perfectly fine mangos from my local fruit dude.

The Bike Route

My Chinese teacher (and friend) Kevin, advised we take a 45 minute train north to Hou-Bi. So after mid morning yoga class thats exactly what we did.

We hopped on a train to Hou-Bi, and took a 10 minute taxi to BaiHe 白河區. He dropped us off at a bike rental shop in the middle of car-free bike trails and loads of lotus ponds. It was the season of the lotus flowers in bloom, the locals have a Lotus Blossom Festival every year. You'd think taking photos of lotus flowers would get old after so many years, but fortunately it doesn't. 

 

I was rejuvenated just seeing mountains off in the distance, hearing the wind in the tall grass, there were just so many happy birds chirping. 

Me on the path

The only problem was the weather was extremely humid. It could of been worse, the subtropic sun could of been blasting us, but it was overcast. My daughter was in one of her moods and complaining most of the time. It was during her afternoon siesta, so next time I would bike earlier or later. It didn't help her bike chain falling off twice. Still, even her sour mood didn't spoil the day for me and she was all cuddles on the train back to Tainan.

View of where we were when Z's chain fell off and we decided to eat our sandwiches.

Sometimes when I get antsy, a day trip is just the thing to keep me sane. Bai-He is near enough to get out of the city and in nature. I want to go back as we were only 5km away from a reservoir when the girl had about enough of sweating, chains and tiredness. 

The bike rental shop.

Raining Fire in Yenshui: 鹽水蜂炮

Yenshui

Lantern Festival 2013 was quite memorable. I had written off ever going to Yanshui Fengpao to check out their crazy famous beehive fireworks--where they purposely launch them into the waiting and armored crowd, because my daughter hates firecrackers, especially up close. She may have PTSD growing up here. One minute you're walking down the street or cruising on the scooter and suddenly out of nowhere the rat-a-tat-tat of some local shrine or temple's firecrackers (which in Tainan is every other block) means  someone is scaring away ghosts. Then my friend Tony called me up and his wife offered to watch our kids so we could get our adrenaline fix.

Yenshui is on a whole other level. The town itself is quaint, with an old street, traditional craftsmen like smiths practicing their timeless work. I love the old brick, one story houses with ceramic tiles. Sure beats the concrete charmless apartments that replaced most of them. Yenshui is a photographer's paradise. When the sun sets, the idyllic country town is transformed into welcomed chaos. 

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The day started out with lunch in Jiali at ShuMin's Herbalife seminar/lunch presentation.

Poetry Road cafe and minsu

The kids were antsy so we took them to run around the grounds of the cafe on Poetry Road, while we drank coffee and listened to the owner recite poetry. The little lane has a wall with ceramic scrolls covered in traditional poems. One of  Shu-min's friends who were joining us to Yenshui translated a few. They were all pretty bleak and depressing.

Around 5pm it was time to head to Yenshui, we parted, Shu-min taking the kids back to their home in Sigang. We parked the car outside of town and walked in, carrying our helmets, gloves, raincoats, feeling li, sooe gladiators walking to the arena. (At least I did.) 

Yenshui, Fireworks, bring them on!

We were this eclectic group of gladiators assembled by Tony, ranging in ages 22- 80. We lost the Professor in the beginning  in the first wave of launches, so we tried (unsuccessfully) to regroup by this temple with bathrooms and wound up drinking a few cold beers and gearing up for more launches. The people who valued their bodily safety were out of harms way, launching massive red paper lanterns after rubbing a bull idol, whispering their prayers into its stone ear.

I didn't take any photos while being fired on (it was a bad previous year for me camera wise). The photos I did take were during our regrouping or intermission.

Me

Southern Politics

We all decided to go again next year of we can, it was just too much of a rush.

Tantalizing Taitung

View from Junyi School

Somewhere over the rainbow, there is a less oppressive, creative education system in Taiwan, starting with reversing the brain drain in Taitung. So said my friend Tony when he invited me last minute to Taitung with him for the weekend. How could I refuse meeting uber interesting people, when Shu-min, Tony's wife would take care of my daughter? It was all systems go! I love last minute getaways, thats when the magic happens.

The trip was all leading up to meeting Taiwanese celebrity and visionary Stanley Yen (嚴長壽). He is this self made, self educated hotel mogul whose passion is education reform and mindful sustainable development of Taiwan's east coast. He was the one during DPP president Shui-Bien's term  who fought against the construction of a super highway from Taipei to Taitung, because he didn't want this last vestige of pristine nature corrupted into another Kaohsiung or even (gulp) Tainan. Although Stanley is part of the system (he was hanging with his good friend, first lady Christine Chow Ma the day before checking out the art scene in Dulan); Stanley in many ways fights against the traditional mainstream establishment by constantly reconstructing his beliefs and makes his mark on Taiwanese society by transforming people's thinking. He definitely is not shy about using his platform. For him sustainable development starts with education reform. Stanley Yen's (嚴長壽) education reform experiment, is the Junyi School for Innovative Learning, which is a 1st through 12th grade bilingual school in Taitung. 

Upon arrival we were escorted to dinner by two of Stanley Yen's (嚴長壽)'s right hand women from his NGO  The Alliance Cultural Foundation. Mei is associated with Junyi School and Cheryl Robbins is a consultant, author and licensed tour manager and guide (Tribe-Asia) with a passion/expertise for Taiwanese aboriginal culture.

Mei, Me and Cheryl after the Spoon de Chop performance

 On the menu, fresh marlin! With just the food alone, Taitung is already tastier than Tainan. Nothing beats  fresh caught deep sea food from the Pacific rather than fish farmed bla from Tainan. It was more than I could handle, Tony helped me clean my plate.We waddled back to the open aired farmer's market and caught the rest of "Okinawa Night" at the outdoor stage of Tiehua Village. Cold Okinawa beer, Orion, hit the spot on this sweaty, humid Taitung night. We caught the last band Spoon de Chops. The music was a sublime mix of modern and traditional Ryukyuan folk music with the 3 stringed lute sanshin, and taiko drums. It was a very fun, intimate show, laid back and unpretentious  I met the owner of Tiehua Village and then the lead singer after the show.

Watch video bit of show here.

That night I slept well in the female dorms. 



 In the morning Mei gave us the grand tour of Junyi school and Cheryl acted as translator. Stanley Yen  (嚴長壽) arrived  earlier than expected, which was a good thing, because we all got a good hour or two to chat before heading out together for lunch. Of course I was nervous to meet the legendary Stanley Yen (嚴長壽). But he was so unassuming and humble and so incredibly sincere and engaging, I was immediately put at ease. He talked to me as an equal confident. I could see myself work hard for, bloom under this higher vision of education reform united with indigenous led sustainable development. How rewarding to not just work for a paycheck or even just the students, but a grander, long term vision. He was very candid and to the point, which was a refreshing change from Taiwanese leaders and managers that I have known.

The school itself was impressive, a Japanese architectural design fitted with a roof of solar panels, that contributes energy to the local power station. There are uplifting quotes dotting the grounds, a small farm, outdoor covered gymnasium and a pond. How familiar to see a picturesque mountain range in the background. The students and staff had read the popular book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R. Covey), which was just a little shocking for me imagining how to teach this to 1st graders. Interestingly, it was the older students who were more resistant to the books maxims and the younger ones who were more open. He wants all his students to be ethical leaders. One of the things that won me over is Stanley's allowing part of the student body to be from economically disadvantaged indigenous, communities. He was frank on the both the good and bad aspects of that experience and how to improve upon his desire for inclusiveness.

Stanley took us all out for lunch at a cafe behind Tiehua Village, where there was more stimulating conversation.

Cheryl Robbins, me, Tony Coolidge and Stanley Yen (嚴長壽)

After lunch and goodbyes, we went across the street to the air conditioned Esl-lite Bookstore where we could see Cheryl's 3rd book newly published on the shelf.  Cheryl Robbins is an amazing and interesting, groundbreaking character in her own right. Originally from California, she married a Taiwanese man, had 2 sons, divorced and is so fluent in Mandarin she has worked as a translator before she became the first foreigner and woman to pass the Taiwanese government test to be a tour guide/manager. She easily connected with me, being divorced so long as to be a single mom, and we shared more than a few laughs about the dating scene (or lack thereof), men and the vibe of Taitung. She is passionate about sharing Taiwanese aboriginal culture by providing intimate tours of local mountain villages and knows  all the elders, chieftains, and dates of every festival (and there are loads up and down the East coast in summer). Her scene isn't the counter cultural, artsy foreigner vibe of Dulan, though she walks the beaches, but the remote mountain villages. I felt grateful to make her acquaintance. 

With her 3rd travel book on Taiwan's indigenous, this one focused on Taitung.

Will I back in Taitung and will the stay be more permanent? Time will tell, but I hope so.

Six Months in a Nutshell

View from Wisdom Garden

I've been pretty lax with updating my posts. To make a long story short:

Z and I spent Christmas in Tainan. I finally got Christmas Day off! (Usually it fell on a weekend.)




We welcomed the New Year working our way from the Southeast Rift Valley to Hualien with my friends Binh and Kirin. We spent a night and 2 days in Yuli at the serene Wisdom Garden.

Wisdom Garden

Antong hot springs, New Life Resort, Yuli.

 From there Wisdom Garden provided scooters and we tried unsuccessfully to hike the Walami trail in the rain, followed by a long soak in the nearby Antong hot springs. 

Rueisui

Walami Trail

The next day we took a freezing, rainy scooter ride on the mountain highway to soak in Rueishui hot springs. We returned to Wisdom Garden and hopped on a train to Hualien.

 The first night we slept in Hualien city at a backpacker lodge. Everything booked fast for that weekend. I needed my space just with Z and asked to be switched to their other lodging in a residential suburb, which was the total opposite from the loud, social hub of the previous night. After dinner at the night market, we moved our bags to the other location.We were pretty isolated, not to mention after the taxi dropped us of, no one was there and the place was locked. The next morning we took a shared taxi with me, Z, Binh, Kirin and a Korean traveler into Taroko National Park.

Taroko Gorge was stunning, picturesque, but freezing! We were wearing all of our clothes, layers of 4 or more, under coats. We went to all the major sites, did some easy walks and hikes, had lunch there and ended the day chillin' (literally) on the Pacific ocean north of Hualien,

Chinese New Year, Z and I made it home to Colorado, for a long overdue visit with friends and family, it was 2 years since we saw them in Los Angeles for my bro's wedding. It had been 4 years since we last went back to the Mile High City. That trip deserves its own blog, but suffice to say I reconnected with friendships that are 20 years old and older. It was magical to have my folks watch Z and then be given the royal treatment by my friends. Lets just say I ate and drank well, all too well, I returned back to Tainan 5 kg heavier and it was worth it! Unfortunately I haven't lost any of it.



I've been struggling financially since then. My return paycheck was meager from missing 2 weeks of work and its been one step forward to steps back ever since we got back, but looking at the photos of our time, it was also worth it.

Garden of the Gods

In April we managed a weekend in Matsu. I went with my friend Vicky and her family, she planned everything. It was amazing scenery, beaches, very isolated. I will write a separate blog about it. Matsu is definitely off the beaten track.

Matsu day 1, Beigan

In May we took a trip to Taipei. I stayed with my old friend Monica at her sister's place near where I was having an interview and demo in Xindian (they haven't called me back).

Sunrise from my window, Xindian

Sherry, Z and Marion, saying goodbyes.

I may not have got the job, but I got to see my old manager Sherry from my Kid Castle Chu Wei days, my old roommate Marion from Tamsui and of course Monica and her family. We have all been friends since 2000, Sherry and Marion have visited me in Colorado over the years. Monica used to live in Tainan.

Which brings me to last weekend's trip to Taitung, very last minute, quick, full of happy surprises and outstanding individuals.  It was because of last weekend I decided to finally catch up on my blogs.

(To be continued, I hope),

Mind the Gap

Apologies for the gap in my blog posts. Quite a lot has happened worth recording in word and photograph; Western New Year in Eastern Taiwan, Chinese New Year in Colorado, and Lantern Festival in Yuenshui. I've exceeding my photo limit from Blogger so have to go back and reformat my photos and free up some space (or just pay, which I am not ready to do). So a blog post coming soon!

Seasons Greetings and Christmas Blessings from my little Dove and I!

Another free photo slideshow by Smilebox

10/10 Happy Birthday Taiwan

Happy Belated birthday Taiwan. My class decorated a wall all based on the Taiwan flag.  We had a beautiful summery Wednesday off where I went to my friend's rooftop BBQ, complete with kiddy pool, garden, great company and hammocks.

 



Its not exactly the 4th of July, but I appreciated the midweek break. As I was taking my hammock making friend to the beach from our rooftop BBQ party, a car full of young Taiwanese were waving a gigantic red flag from their car and my friend (who is married to a Taiwanese woman) starts yelling fanatically, "I love Taiwan, go Taiwan!" To which the young men in the car explode with cheering. It was a fun 10/10. Last year we went to Tokyo for a long weekend, so it was nice to be here, with friends and support this most interesting process of Taiwanese sovereighty.