Free Time and Me
The scooter problem was minimal. It would seem that a part came loose and required exactly 10 minutes to fix, including the time it took to attempt to explain in broken Chinese and gestures what the problem was. I had him throw in an oil change and the grand total of repair costs came to 330 NT. About $10 USD. Incredible.
The rest of the weekend was fantastic! Kristy and I drove to the mountains and on our way out of town found this five storey temple. We happened inside and as we looked around, a young woman brought us some tea and introduced herself. She invited us to sit down and explained that she was a "happy volunteer" for the temple. We asked her as many questions as we could think of about the temples and the gods, and she did her best to explain. Although we had some problems communicating, this woman was incredible. She never formally studied English, she taught herself from books with some help from the foreigners that visit the temple! She took us to the various floors and described the gods and what they do, why they are arranged the way they are, why they burn incense, and how much upkeep is required. Eventually, a man came and sternly talked to her, at which point she had to leave us, but she managed to answer a lot of our questions. For the first time, I didn't feel like an idiot staring at the pretty things. I actually felt welcome and began to understand a little more of what I was seeing. She invited us to come back and visit her, Sandy "happily volunteers" every day of the week.
The second leg of the journey took us into the mountains to another temple. As we drove through the windy roads and small towns, we found ourselves next to a small gorge. As we came to a clearing, we spied an enormous temple that seemed settled into the mountainside. We drove across the bridge and walked up the staircase, turning to notice the smell of flowers in the air, hear the birds chirping, and the reddening sky as the sun began to set. The red paper lanterns that hung around the perimeter were lit and as I turned around to face the stairs, I was struck by the beauty of the green mountains across the crevice, framed by the lanterns and drums hanging from the ceiling.
We returned refreshed and I noticed how the open space and fresh air did wonders for my frustration concerning the Saturday night traffic! Next we were off to dinner with Susan and Brian at a restaurant they call "U Shrimp It." For 100 NT, we got poles, some raw liver as bait, and all the prawn we could catch from the pool in the middle of the room. We grabbed some beers and settled in to talk about whatever it is people talk about while fishing. I caught the first shrimp about 5 minutes after casting my line, but it was pretty slow until they restocked. I had plenty of bites, but I never caught another one and total we caught about six. I impressed with how big they were! I don't have a lot of experience with prawn, and maybe it's the fishermen's tall tale getting the best of me, but they seemed big to me! We threw some salt on them, skewered them and then threw them into a barbeque while they still squirmed. Luckily, we had gotten some snacks from the night market up the road so we weren't ridiculously hungry as waited to catch our dinner. They were delicious!
After that we walked back home and over to Soundgarden, an outdoor bar in a garden to hear a band that seemed pretty good last time. Either the band was different this time, or we were really drunk last time, because this time around they were horrid. Let me say only this: keyboards and a ridiculously bad rendition of the girl from Ipenema. Bad.
Finally, around 1:30 am I joined some friends at a party out by Dong Hai University. There was a barbeque, a bunch of live bands, a freestyle rap competition, and a drumming circle. It had this amazing view of the city from the top of a hill. The air was fresh and crisp, but not too cold, and the company was great! All in all, it was a super cool Saturday, start to finish!
The rest of the weekend was fantastic! Kristy and I drove to the mountains and on our way out of town found this five storey temple. We happened inside and as we looked around, a young woman brought us some tea and introduced herself. She invited us to sit down and explained that she was a "happy volunteer" for the temple. We asked her as many questions as we could think of about the temples and the gods, and she did her best to explain. Although we had some problems communicating, this woman was incredible. She never formally studied English, she taught herself from books with some help from the foreigners that visit the temple! She took us to the various floors and described the gods and what they do, why they are arranged the way they are, why they burn incense, and how much upkeep is required. Eventually, a man came and sternly talked to her, at which point she had to leave us, but she managed to answer a lot of our questions. For the first time, I didn't feel like an idiot staring at the pretty things. I actually felt welcome and began to understand a little more of what I was seeing. She invited us to come back and visit her, Sandy "happily volunteers" every day of the week.
The second leg of the journey took us into the mountains to another temple. As we drove through the windy roads and small towns, we found ourselves next to a small gorge. As we came to a clearing, we spied an enormous temple that seemed settled into the mountainside. We drove across the bridge and walked up the staircase, turning to notice the smell of flowers in the air, hear the birds chirping, and the reddening sky as the sun began to set. The red paper lanterns that hung around the perimeter were lit and as I turned around to face the stairs, I was struck by the beauty of the green mountains across the crevice, framed by the lanterns and drums hanging from the ceiling.
We returned refreshed and I noticed how the open space and fresh air did wonders for my frustration concerning the Saturday night traffic! Next we were off to dinner with Susan and Brian at a restaurant they call "U Shrimp It." For 100 NT, we got poles, some raw liver as bait, and all the prawn we could catch from the pool in the middle of the room. We grabbed some beers and settled in to talk about whatever it is people talk about while fishing. I caught the first shrimp about 5 minutes after casting my line, but it was pretty slow until they restocked. I had plenty of bites, but I never caught another one and total we caught about six. I impressed with how big they were! I don't have a lot of experience with prawn, and maybe it's the fishermen's tall tale getting the best of me, but they seemed big to me! We threw some salt on them, skewered them and then threw them into a barbeque while they still squirmed. Luckily, we had gotten some snacks from the night market up the road so we weren't ridiculously hungry as waited to catch our dinner. They were delicious!
After that we walked back home and over to Soundgarden, an outdoor bar in a garden to hear a band that seemed pretty good last time. Either the band was different this time, or we were really drunk last time, because this time around they were horrid. Let me say only this: keyboards and a ridiculously bad rendition of the girl from Ipenema. Bad.
Finally, around 1:30 am I joined some friends at a party out by Dong Hai University. There was a barbeque, a bunch of live bands, a freestyle rap competition, and a drumming circle. It had this amazing view of the city from the top of a hill. The air was fresh and crisp, but not too cold, and the company was great! All in all, it was a super cool Saturday, start to finish!
posted by CJ at 9:26 PM
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