A Stranger Day: A Walk in the Clouds

To those of you who don't know the "walk in the clouds" reference, it is a 1995 Keanu Reeves film.  To those of you who do get the reference, Hi Madeleine!

This past Sunday I had a fun and exciting day trip to Yangmingshan with - who else? - a few total strangers.  How did this happen, you ask?  Becca (not a stranger) and I had briefly met this med student named James (stranger) last week.  James then invited us to meet up with him and some of his med school friends (strangers) for an hour or so.  They were all extremely nice and friendly, from all over the world, and it was a lot of fun talking to them, however briefly.  It was here that I met Francois and Coralie (strangers), who invited me/us to join them on a trip to Yangmingshan, a National Park in the north of Taipei which offers hikes and scenery for all.  Becca already had weekend plans to travel to the South of Taiwan, so she declined.  I hesitated only briefly to consider the probabilities of kidnapping, rape, murder, etc. by these potentially dangerous people before accepting.  We met up on Sunday morning where Francois and Coralie introduced me to another med student, Natasha (stranger), and we all spent the day together.  At the end of the day, with promises to meet up in the future and do more things together, I said goodbye to Francois, Coralie, and Natasha (friends).

We met up at 8:45 (meaning, I woke up at 6:45... yikes) and bought sandwiches for later.  Francois and Coralie are both from France, which was great because I have been wanting someone to practice my French with for years without success.  Natasha is from England.  The three of them are all medical students doing a rotation for something like 8 weeks in Taiwan.  Being with them was funny and strange for a few reasons: for one, they've only been here 3 weeks, so I was the experienced, knowledgeable old-timer.  I also think this was the first time in my life that my Chinese was the best (or maybe tied with Natasha's) in the group, being the only one who has ever taken any formal lessons.  This was such a reversal from the rest of my time here, where I am typically the most helpless and ignorant of all us helpless and ignorant American exchange students.

After arriving, we decided on a trail that involved going to Qixing peak, the tallest point in the park.  Now, for some reason, every hike I have seen in Taiwan so far is just made up of stairs.  I hate it!  Stairs are boring and hard and so obviously man-made that I feel like they really change an outdoorsy "nature" hike into a workout you could do at a department store.  Alas!  I continually reminded myself of this article that I recently read to make myself feel better.  And these stairs were tough.  We had to stop every few minutes, out of breath, sometimes with the pretense of photographing something along the trail or admiring the view.  The hike was about two and a half kilometers, but was so steep and difficult that it took us an hour and a half or so.  The trailside plants/scenery was beautiful - My favorite part of Taipei is that it can be a big urban center but still have mountains in and around the city.  Where we were, I couldn't hear any cars or city sounds - just birds chirping and the panting of my companions (and me).

As we hiked, the stairs grew steeper and steeper, narrower and narrower, windier (\ˈwīn-dē\) and windier, and more and more slippery. After the first kilometer I thought for sure I wouldn't make it and would have to stay behind to meet the group on their way down. However, we persevered, and continued on. At some point, as we started reaching higher elevations, we got higher and the trees got lower so we could look beyond them to see the vast expanse of... nothing. We had hiked straight into a cloud. Although we were all disappointed to miss the view that we were supposed to be seeing, we agreed that the foggy mist was equally beautiful in a different way. It definitely made the whole experience more mysterious and magical. The childhood fantasy of bouncing on a cloud became our reality. After much sweat and struggle, we reached the top of Qixing peak where we celebrated with a rest and our sandwiches.

Triumphant!

The supposed view

... the actual view

But we weren't done there!  Rejuvenated by our sandwiches, we decided to continue down a longer path which would take us to the East Qixing peak, then some visitor center that started with an L, then another spot with hot springs (the name of which changed with every sign or map we consulted), all to get to the waterfall trail where we could pass Jyuansih waterfall and then return.  That added a total of something like 8-10 kilometers, but mostly downhill or flat.  As we set out, walking downhill through the cloud turned out to be even more visually striking than walking up it...

A wind blew and suddenly we could see!  And lo and behold, there was a road!

It's hard to say whether the difference was our elevation or just the passing of time, but at some point we emerged from the clouds and came back down to Earth.  The hike to the waterfall was definitely less strenuous, and the flatter path let us appreciate some of the plants and animals around us a little more.  Anyway, it was beautiful, and a great time, and definitely a really good workout!

Silly mirror pic of me, Francois, Natasha, and Coralie

Exhausted after something like 6 hours of hiking, we took the bus back to Shilin where we decided to hang out and roam the night market.  We stopped at a cafe to recharge and kill time before the night market started up.  They grilled me (excuse the pun) on what delicious foods I'd eaten since getting here, and we all excitedly shared stories about our favorite Taiwanese delicacies: papaya milk, mochi, black sesame (on EVERYTHING), this ice cream/crepe thing (more on that later), steamed buns, and red bean cakes.  They praised the grilled octopus, and I enthusiastically recommended dou hua, a coconut milk and taro ball dessert, the little purple eggplants, and stinky tofu (what a change from the first time I tasted it!).  One of the things I really loved most about hanging out with my new friends is that they reminded me of what it felt like three weeks in to my time here.  I know this sounds ridiculous - I have only been here 2 1/2 months - but I did feel like being around them re-ignited the spark and excitement of trying new things every day, and trying to fit as many adventures in as possible.  It also put my own time here in perspective - I don't have much longer, and I'm afraid I'm getting too comfortable!  It feels too much like just living in a dorm and going to school.  And, extending that, my time in college is really running out - just one year left! - and that is all a limited adventure in itself!  So, I am going to try to remember that as much as possible while I'm here, as well as in life in general.

At Shilin night market we steered pretty clear of the clothing and accessory shops and stayed single-mindedly focused on food.  Coralie and Francois got their first order of stinky tofu - which they seemed to tolerate decently well - and I got myself a spicy order as well.  It really is amazing how my opinions of stinky tofu have turned around - I now actively seek it out to eat!  Stinky though it may be, it makes regular tofu seem a little boring.  We also got some typical night market buns - stuffed with pork, crispy on the bottom, totally delicious.  And they had the ice cream thing I was talking about earlier.  I don't know the name of it, but it is so so tasty!  It's basically a thin crepe (cold) with a pile of peanut brittle shavings on top, and then two or three scoops of sorbet, and wrapped up.  Sometimes they add cilantro - last time I got without, this time I got with.  I think the cilantro adds an interesting flavor, and it's not bad, but I'm not sure it's my preference.

By the end of our tour of the food stalls, I think we were all pretty stuffed.  And tired.  And happy.  We took the MRT back to Taipei Main Station, where I transferred to the blue line and they headed home, with promises to meet up again in the future.  Then, on my MRT ride home, I dropped something and the boy walking behind me (stranger) picked it up and started a conversation.  He was very friendly and we chatted for a while about Taiwan and my time here.  As soon as he got off at his stop, I sat down, and the woman next to me (stranger) confessed that she had been listening in and wanted to wish me the best here in Taiwan.  As I mentioned - never have I had a strangerer day!

In other news, I am trying to remember to post about all the interesting notes on the culture here, so I will stick them in whenever I remember.  For one thing, almost all sandwiches have a thin layer of peanut butter on them.  The first time I encountered this I was really surprised - ham, lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayo, and ... peanut butter??  But it adds a nice sweetness that I quite like.  Since then I've seen in on egg sandwiches and chicken burgers, too.  Also, remember my complaint about the overuse of umbrellas?  Well, I didn't mention (since we had only had about one sunny day at that point) that Taiwanese people also use umbrellas in the sun!  Talk about overkill.  But seriously, it's really interesting how different the views on skin tone are here.  In America everyone wants to be tan; here, everyone avoids getting tan as much as possible.  In America, they sell sunless tanner/bronzer; here, they - no joke - sell body whitening cream!  Kind of crazy.  Also, the cyber cafes here are a little different than in America... they are high-class with luxury seating in row after row, and people (adolescent boys) go there for 10 hours at a time and play video games all night.  At least they look like they're having fun...

One thing that I definitely noticed in the first few days of being here that I don't think I've commented on yet is the table manners. Basically, there are none. During family-style meals it is common and accepted to stand up, reach alllll the way across the table (over people's plates and communal dishes) and use your personal chopsticks to grab something out of a far away dish. And since most of the meat has bones, you are expected to disgustingly spit out whatever bones and gristle you encounter, sometimes straight onto the table! If anyone notices me doing this when I get back to the US, please kindly slap me out of it. Also, remember how I mentioned how everyone makes fun of Bejing accents? Well, I forgot to say that Taiwanese people also seem to really hate Chinese tourists! They love western foreigners, but all seem to be unmistakably distainful of tourists from China. When I told my roommate that I had been in the Taipei 101 area, she scoffed, "Ohh... there must have been a lot of... Chinese tourists." And every time we talk about going to any sight-seeing type location, a Taiwanese student is sure to say how full of Chinese tourists it is bound to be. Anyway, I was recently talking about this to an American friend, and then I just came across this Taiwan travel blog. It is run by a tour guide who seems very friendly, and who lays out a number of day trips full of photos and advice. Under one photo of a group of people milling around the south shore was this caption: "The Chinese tourists entered a prohibited area. They ignored the warning from me and their tour guide. They didn't care about or obey the laws. They just did whatever they wanted to do. There were some incidences which happened to some of Chinese visitors in the pasts because of their ignorance. For example, a few people were washed away by unpredictable waves which is very common on the coast of Taiwan. They were warned before they visited these places. But their ignorance got them in trouble. " This really cracked me up. At least people seem to like Americans well enough!

Other than Sunday at Yangminshan, things have been pretty much the same as usual - some class, some food, some going out, some staying in. I did stay out late enough one night that I walked back up the mountain to my dorm as the sun was rising - that was nice. Yesterday and today involved trips to the hospital to get a physical exam required of all exchange students. Last week was my Chinese midterm, so there was studying, as well as Emily and Gene's birthday festivities, so there was celebrating (with all-you-can-eat Thai food!). Tomorrow is the beginning of the Rice finals period, which is really weird for me, since I won't even have a midterm for one of my classes until May 10. I hear my friends back at Rice talking about the school year ending, summer starting, becoming seniors (or even graduating), but I still have two months left before I even start to think about that stuff!

Anyway, I have an assignment due later tonight that I am somewhat less than prepared for... I guess nothing really is different here after all. :)