Cycling Around Taitung

Well, it's good to have some Taiwanese friends reading my posts. I have edited some information on this post.

I took the bus about 50 km away from the hot springs resort where we were staying. I rode part of the way back with a couple of cyclists, but got turned around and rode about 5 km in the wrong direction. I was starting to have doubts when Teacher Chen and his family pulled up next to me and said, "Where are you going?" They set me in the right direction, but it turned out for the best since I arrived in a small town down the road just as a small parade was starting. I would have missed it if I hadn't gone the wrong way. Isn't life like that sometimes.


Many of the roads have very large bicycle and scooter lanes, but you don't want to go off the road. That culvert is about two and half feet deep. Talk about hard shoulder.



Falun Dafa is a kind of exercise. Yes, exercise is good!


A video of the parade in 'I-don't-know-where'. You gotta love the drummer in the pink afro. I also get a kick out of the guy walking with a box of fireworks and holding some hot ones in his hand. I guess he's living the motto 'a life without risk', eh. Also, I don't know why they're spraying the 'marching' guy with water. (Okay, I got informed. The guy is a shaman and he's 'beating' himself to channel the power of the gods. The water is magical and blessed and gives him power. Yeah, you go man!)

Weekend In Taitung-Chulu Ranch

Some students, teachers, and parents went to Taitung, a small city on the east coast, for a table tennis tournament. I tagged along with my bicycle on the bus. This was our first stop on Saturday. A ranch in the mountains with gift shops, painted cows, and walking trails. It was very beautiful. It was great to get to know some of my students outside of class too.





Flowers growing on trees.
The river stones embedded in the middle of the path are for massaging your feet. Some people will take off their shoes and walk over the smooth stones. It feel good enough through my sandals.









These flowers look like something from Star Trek. They are as delicate as they look.

Relaxing and Watching Snakes Fight

It's been a long time since my last post, but this will be a short post. There is a strong drinking culture in Taiwan. Occasionally, I go out for dinner with teachers, retired teachers, and other community and business people. The Taiwanese culture is very welcoming to foreigners. So, when I go out for dinner everyone wants to toast me as this is an acknowledgment of respect. "Gambei" is a common toast and it means "bottoms up". Many people will respect my liver as they respect me and say "cheers" and we will take a sip of whatever alcoholic beverage we are drinking. But, some of the older members of community really like to assert their positions of power (as older members of the community) and make the younger members of the community drink. It's also a chance to them to flex their 'drinking' muscles and show that they can still keep up with the younger guys. Anyway, there is a retired teacher that always likes to toast me with "gambei". He has been nicknamed the 'snake' teacher (when I see him I get bit). But, at our last dinner, there was another 'snake' from the business community. So, I got to relax at dinner and watch the snakes "gambei" each other as they were more interested in each other. Like so many things that happen in our lives, our stories have larger meanings and applications. But, I'll leave the interpretations to the reader.