Post RV and Rocky Mountain High Recap

The view from Mt. Evans

It took a day or two to catch up on sleep once we returned to civilization. I did not miss sleeping in the RV at all, it was amazing to be home. My parents' guest bed is a million times more comfortable than my beds in Taiwan.  I spared no time and quickly got online and starting ordering goods I couldn't get in Taiwan and calling friends to make plans.


One of the observations my daughter made about the States, or at least where we were was, "There's so many white people here!" Which one of my brothers found hilarious. For me I noticed how much worse the traffic was, how everyone has smart TVs and bluetooth their cell phones to theirs cars and of course there were all the green cross shops from marijuana legalization.

High above Berthoud Pass

 America is more comfortable generally. I ate well to say the least. While all my friends were avoiding carbs at all costs for health reasons, I was happy to eat spelt tortillas and bread. I couldn't get enough. Unlike bread in Taiwan, one slice with organic butter is all you need to be satiated. I was having turkey melts for lunch, with New Mexican green chili. That was one intention I did do as planned, eat green chili for every meal. I had it with my eggs, my lunch, my dinner.

 I embraced my inner hobbit and had 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners; or one breakfast, one brunch, lunch, supper, dinner and dessert. Suffice to say I gained 2 kg, which is fine with me (and totally noticeable as I'm so short) because I had the creamiest yogurts, kefir, cottage cheese with peaches and blueberries, Ben and Jerry's ice-creams- my bones were stocking up on all the calcium I ate from the dairy. (Here in Yilan I hardly eat dairy, a little yogurt or kefir as its expensive at the local Santa Cruz health store.) I had so much cheese as my mom gets raw cheddar. It was fabulous.

 I went to the gym almost everyday with my Mom for a Zumba class, which was fun if the teacher was decent. I caught one amazing yoga class with my friend who taught it and mostly did yoga in my folks' backyard. I wanted to do a massive morning yoga class at Red Rocks, but they were all sold out, so before I left CO, my friend and I went to a Yoga Journal sponsored Yoga Rocks the Park downtown taught  by Amy Ippoliti. It was incredible. I was inspired to walk in wheel pose, see the demonstration here.

Hiking at Chataqua, Boulder

 Sadly I didnt do half the things or catch up with half the people I wanted to.  I had this brainstorm of places to go and things to do, and who to do it with- but its ok, resting at home, my daughter playing with her cousin, me trying to bake at altitude (upside down lemon cake, zucchini bread with goji berries and pumpkin seeds) and cook (chicken tandori, biriyani) was relaxing.

Bear Creek Lake.

 We had wanted to go to Water World, Elitches (an amusement park), but never made it. However my friend took us to Bear Creek Lake where our kids could play and we could catch up. It was blistering hot that day, I stayed under an umbrella most of the time, the sun at altitude was intense, but every afternoon like clockwork there was summer thunderstorm. I love the crackle of thunder right over head, the Thor dazzling lightening,  The weather the whole time was in a word-perfection. It wasn't too hot (80F/ 24-26C) and in the evening and night it got chilly. My daughter liked to say, "This is like winter in Yilan!" She loved it. People, kept on telling us how hot it was "just the other day", but we didnt really see it. What a relief not to be melting in the sweltering Tropic of Cancer humidity. It felt more like the end of September than August, autumn is early. Colorado was uncharacteristically green due to a monsoon summer, El Nido no doubt. Everyone agreed winter will be intense this year.  I hate to miss the aspens change color.

Hail Out of Nowhere 2
They had a blast gathering hail for cranberry snow cones! I was weary for them, with the thunder and lightening.
Posted by Kathy Benavides on Monday, August 10, 2015

 It was just like Colorado weather to unleash a mighty hail storm for my daughter to experience. I pitied anyone caught in it, it would be painful. My daughter and niece braved the hail under a massive umbrella and gathered buckets of it which they later ate with condensed cranberry juice, heaven's own slushie.

View from our campsite

We had another family camping weekend at YMCA's Snow Mountain Ranch in my parent's pop up. During a short hike to a waterfall we saw a mama moose with her calf just a few yards away, it was indubitably memorable. I felt honored that this massive animal let us be so close to her precious baby. I've seen elk before but never moose, let a lone at this close range. My sister in law, got great video of the calf, I only saw it on the way down from the waterfall and my photo unfortunately was too blurry.

We saddled up in the morning and went on a trail through the mountain forests. The scenery was stunning, relaxing. We stopped for ice-cream in Empire on the way up and for views of Berthoud Pass on the return trip back to Denver.

Views overlooking Boulder

 My trip would be incomplete without more hikes and a trip to Boulder to catch up with friends. I hiked the flat irons at Chataqua in my mom's clogs which wasn't ideal and I def felt the altitude having to stop a few times, but it was worth the views and exercise in the end.

Z had to see Red Rocks! Maybe next time we can catch a show

My Dad took my daughter and I to Mt. Evans, which has the highest paved road in America, far above tree line. The views are usually extraordinary, with big horn sheep and the Rocky Mountains extending as far as the eyes can see in all directions, but because of forest fires in Washington State and Oregon, the visibility was compromised. It was still stunning and cold despite the sunny day, the wind chill made it 45 F (7 C). My daughter was cold and the altitude made her dizzy. As is our tradition, we went down to Echo Lake at the base of America's highest road and had some famous pie at the Lodge while watching the alpine hummingbirds feed out the windows.

My Dad and daughter, Mt. Evans

Later we went fishing. My kid has been lucky in Taiwan to catch fish easily with her little bamboo pole, but for some reason her patience was tested with these brown trout. It took  several hours for her to catch 2 brown trout while everyone around us seemed to be reeling them in. I had a few bites myself I failed to hook. The real kicker was when the fisherman on site was teaching my kid how to gut a fish. She was utterly disgusted, but being the adventurous epicure I know she is I dared her to eat one of the beating fish hearts and she did. She popped it in her mouth like a little raspberry, 'Temple of Doom' style. I knew she would, she's eaten fish eyes, grasshoppers, some kin of larvae caterpillar and  crickets before. That kid won't do anything she doesn't want to.

Z ate a fish heart while it was still pumping! She caught 2 brown trout (after much time and effort) and when the guy was teaching her how to gut it, I I dared her. She chewed it up! Haha!
Posted by Kathy Benavides on Friday, August 21, 2015

One of the things my daughter hankered to do was eat at the nearby Fondue Restaurant. She's been keen to eat Fondue the past year after reading about Switzerland and wanting to live there when she's an adult.  It was my first time at the Melting Pot, although it's in my neighborhood, I suppose its slightly been out of my price range or occasion. Anyways, it was expensive, but amazing. We shared a few dishes and were stuffed. I enjoyed a local Denver cider with the mouth watering white wine, Gruyere, blue cheese, whatever it was, which was perfect with green apple, strawberries, anything. It was the ultimate delectable experience. It reminded me of Hot Pot places in Taiwan, all the family gathered around heated pots of vegetables and meats, except fondue, chocolates and cheeses are so much more appetizing. I doubt Taiwanese would like to eat there as the place is haunted, they have ghost dinners for Halloween and the staff testified to their own personal close encounters.

Dip it good!

My folks, it will be their 42nd anniversary the beginning of September

The day before we had to fly out of DIA, all 4 of my brothers and their kids got together in the park, which had prior been impossible with everyone's schedules. My little nieces and nephews are beyond cute, precious and of course I think they are all extremely intelligent. We ended the day with chicken wings and beer, the restaurant had the Bronco cheerleaders and mascot so my daughter and niece got some posters and autographs, a great souvenir for her, although the meaning is lost on her not having grown up at the mercy of Bronco season.

The first time my kid tried Gatorade, which boggled my brothers

Z with Miles the Mascot

The highlight of my trip of course was spending time with family and resting. The entire time in the forefront of my mind was when and how I would settle back in Colorado. I cried when I said goodbye to my grandparents, because tears ran down my grandpa's face when he said, "I probably will never see you again," implying they will die soon. It wasn't pleasant to leave him like that. It wasn't pleasant to leave America as it turned out, but that's another story.

Uncle Mike behind the camera, and some of the Benavides clan, Albuquerque.

Children's Day and Tomb Festival

Tomb festival (also Children's day) was a public holiday that fell on a Wednesday in April this year. Me and a group of friends (my Monday night crew) made plans for a BBQ at Tiger Head lake, but because of the threat of rains changed our destination to one with some kind of covering. They chose a place called Green Dragon Mountain on the grounds of an enormous temple. There were trees with orchids, swings, covered stone picnice tables, it was perfect. There were also artistic statues of musicians and mothers like an outdoor sculpture garden that led me into the temple itself which was more like a mini art museum than temple. (Photos here).



There was an assortment of veggies, a massive stew, and lots of meat; Taiwanese greasy sweet sausages, fish balls on skewers, giant prawns, mussels, clams, squid, a great seafood collection. My favorite was the squid, so sweet and light and refreshing, incredibly fresh. We also drank lots of tea, some of them (Vicky my Saturday afternoon language exchange buddy) brought her 5 star bag of tea and it was a great mind/body high all based on oolong and fellowship. All together there were 17 adults and 9 children.

We ate and grazed all day, playing with the kids, taking pictures. My favorite was taking care of the newest little member.

There was live KTV set up across the parking lot and no one was singing. The guitarist was pretty good, he was jamming, I was surprised he didnt know Jonny Be Good, which I would of sung. The aboveYoutube song is some Chinese number I have no idea what it is.



It was a wonderful break in our busy schedules to be with each other and make new memories. Last year we went to Alishan for the weekend, and we'd love to have more entire family get togethers like this more often, but so hard with busy schedules so it just happend with our kids on Monday nights. (And Vicky and I on Saturdays).

Thanksgiving in Tainan

For work we had to do something on Children's day, November 21st, which I was happy to do. A few years back I bought Z a book from the UN in English and Mandarin with kid like illustrations of the different rights children have. I combined this with Thanksgiving. Living in Taiwan teaching the kids, I sorta forgo all the Pilgrim story/myth and just try and talk about gratitude, being thankful. Its not their myth.

My class is only 4 years old, so its very basic. I showed them the book w/ illustrations and in basic English, sometimes sprinkled with basic Mandarin, they got the gist of most of the rights. It was my moment to indoctrinate the youngins with UN propaganda (that I whole heartily agree with), like every child has the right to shelter, food, education and health care. (There are some in America that would call that socialist, big sigh as I shake my head). We watched a few Youtube cartoons of the various rights, produced by the UN in cartoon form. The right to a fair trial, and open jury was probably the most difficult for them to understand, but two or three understood when I explained that 2 kids have a disagreement the teacher acts as a judge and cant play favorites.

For Thanksgiving, I was invited to one of the first foreign friend I made in Tainan, their house. Pat is American, his wife is Taiwanese, they have a son a few years older than Z. They had a houseful of coworkers and Uni students I never met before which was nice. It wasn't a typical Thanksgiving meal, but Joy provided Costco chicken and pumpkin pie, along with rice and Thai curry, pasta and clam chowder. I made a lovely (if I do say so) coleslaw with purple cabbage, pear and celery, a savory red onion and sweet potato tart, mashed potatoes and gravy. John another Yank thankfully brought wine and Imma's brownies. (Immas the Israeli bakery in Tainan, the best and most expensive bakery).

It was fun, Z was entertained by the 19 year old Uni kids. There was a young guy from Japan to round it out. I asked if he watched the recent Taiwanese epic (part 1 ) about the indigenous fighting the Japanese during their occupation of Taiwan.  He was honest and transparent (unlike the Japanese stereotype of the friendly face masking deeper contrary feelings). He was studying Theology to be a minister, an even greater rarity in Japan. I talked with the Spanish professor (from Barcelona so we had a lot to talk about).  He convinced me to formally apply to the job in Santiago. We talked about the myth of the 1st Thanksgiving meal, White guilt, the genocide of the Americas. It was nice to touch the surface with someone who already knew deeper collective tragedies and had no need to defend. History has the final say I suppose. And even then I bit my tongue about Japanese text books.

I was certainly thankful for a great evening even if it was late for a work/school night.

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.