Nature by our home...

Last weekend was a somewhat subtle affair, we hit up Hualien City (our home next year) and searched for places that were for rent. We found a few areas we liked, a few places that were for rent, and next weekend we will try to arrange a visit to a few. However lacking in adventure it might have been, it was fun. We met up with some other teachers by accident and had a nice visit, got to explore the new gymnasium (pool...two pools!) and had a generally calm weekend.

But, once home, some critters were found...which we will share:

This critter was about the size of my pinky fingernail (holy subjective, batman!) or about 3/4 of a penny. Pale orange with deep black spots.

This dude was massive! Slightly larger than a toonie, not including the legs and antennae, with strikin gblue and white and black colouration. I had to stretch out over a retaining wall to get this close, so no better zoomed in shot exists. Would be awsome to see it up close and personal.

Ahh...love.

And, last but not least, our home. This is Song-Pu Village, in the background are the Coastal Mountains (which we bike through to get to the ocean) and in the foreground are rice fields....endless rice fields! Nothing dramatic to tell tales of, no historic facts to share, just a picture of our home, for now.

Until next time....

Because we have yet to post pictures from last week...

..here are two of the many taken. The snake, a Bamboo Viper, found on the island, and the rescue mission for the goat. Momma was happy, I think, after she was reunited with baby, and we were all happy to walk past the brilliant green potion of death that stalks them thar woods of Taiwan.

The rest are on their way...these were easiy available on our desktop. If these have no context, read the two or three posts ago. Three, I believe.

Orchid Island: School Field Trip

Part I: Orchid Island (School Trip)

Last week was a field trip to Orchid Island (LanYu). We left Thursday morning on the 10am ferry, made it to the island by 1pm. Horrid ride, three hours of swells the height of our ferry, driving winds and it was all I could do to keep my breakfast in my stomach. An absolutely wretched ride, and to stand still for three straight hours while the boat tries to make you vomit is not the nicest way to start a trip! Despite this, there were plenty of flying fish and dolphins to see along the way...and open ocean. Lots of open ocean...

We had some time to kill between getting to the ferry terminal and the actual departure, so I mingled about in the fish market and snapped some more pics of Taiwans sea life (soon to be plate life). This market is, again, highly ordered and auction style and the seller moves through the fish catch with ease and speed. Most fish are, I am told, sold for a very good price.

Then, on to the ferry. No pictures from the ride itself...I just managed one self portrait as we docked on the island. Feeling ill, hungry and tired and just overall contempt for ferries in general, I just wanted to walk on dry land and be alone!

After getting settled in our hotel (the whole school went, teachers and students and some family members, so this took some time to organize...gottal love massive group tours trying to accomplish something simple!) we wenbt for a walk up in the mountains to visit the islands weather station. In driving winds and pouring rain the better part of our group made it to the top and got to see the islands science base.

Then we returned for a meal...

...and then went to the islands junior high school to share dances and meet. This was the primary reason for our visit, a cultural exchange between not only two different schools but two totally different cultures. The tribe that makes up the population of our school is Amis (ah-meece) and the tribe that is on this island is Yami (yah-me). Totally different not only in history and clothing, but in food, appearance and if I was not familair with the diversity of Taiwans people, I would swear that they were no where related...but, alas, they are and their separation has simply driven two separate cultures to arise. Our school wanted to take an opportunity to share cultures - Orchid Island is very separated and isolated from Taiwan, an entity in of itself - and this trip was an outreach to raise awareness of the students of the different cultures of Taiwan. There are 15 recognized tribes, as well as the Chinese cultures (three waves of chinese immigration spawned three distinct Chinese cultures on Taiwan.

The next day we visited the islands primary school, and shared dances and songs again, and took part in some races and games to get the kids playing together. Again, the point was to bridge the gap that the tribal separation has caused so far. The best part, by far, was seeing their indigenous dress. The female dress is fine, colourful and practical. The male dress...

...rediculous. And before you call me insensitive or irrational in my dismissal of other cultures, you have to see a pic below that explains the irrationality of this outfit. First, it is made of metal. And Orchid Island is the absolute hottest place in Taiwan, which is itself one of the hottest places on Earth (along with many...). So, wearing a full metal helmet while you work might seem like a porrly planned idea. Second, they cant see out of the helmet. When they walk around the villages they have to raise the helmet up above their eyes and look out from under it. Its like an uncomfortable halloween mask, that makes you extremely hot in a sultry hot climate and you top it all off with diaper like pants. These, at least, have a function of keeping them cool and highly mobile (for fishing and farming, which - fishing primarily, is there bread and butter). Its definitely the most interesting traditional dress to be found on Taiwan, on the main island or any of its sub-islands, and unlike most of the other tribes of Taiwan, the people here still wear it, use there traditional materials (boats and houses such) and live the traditional lifetyle. For the most part, Taiwanese aboriginal culture is relegated to festivals and special holidays. You would never find an Amis elder wearing their traditional dress on a regular day, but on Orchid Island, the Yami wear it as their main clothing (the elders, at least).

After the school visit, going snorkeling (where I saw my first angle fish...a massive black beauty!) we returned to the hotel and had a night in. The next day, before returning home (I opted for a flight instead of a ferry....I just could not face the pain again!) we did a tour of the island and saw some of the sights. The best part we definitley the old village housing, seen above, in defence agains the winds from the ocean, and the tradiational boats that are still in use. These were waiting to go out and catch the days fish.

We saw some cool rock formations and tidal flats...

And got to see the traditional dress in action. Here is the dress as it should be, and below...

Is the dress as it is used. Every three steps, they lift the hat and see where they are going. Still, a cool looking outfit.

Then home....I traded in my 3 hour plus ferry ride for a 20 minute flight and although the take off had us going sideways for the first little bit, it was totally worth it. Calm, an awsome view of the island and the ocean and fast.

Part II: ZhiBen Hotsprings and Taitung

After landing I met Crystal at the Taitung (the city where the ferry terminal and airport is that takes you to the southern islands) train station and we crammed some coffee in us and grabbed a train south to the hotspring village of ZhiBen. Now, we are not the most eager hotspring attendees, I mean they are nice and calming and awsome, but a lot of them are just pools filled with hot water and it is really much more unauthentic that the name suggests. There are some natural hotsprings around that are awsome...totally awsome....but these ones are pretty established. So, we didnt really go there for the geologically heated water, but instead a hike and some monkeys.

Not sure how long the trail is, but there is a steep uphill section, all aided by stairs, that takes you to a really cool lookout that allows you to see most of Taitung city and the ocean and the mountains....a total sandwich of awsoemness. We hiked and hiked, sweat and sweat (the heat is creeping back ever so slowly) and made it to the top. Saw some awsome critters and marveled, once again, in the biodiversity of the forests of Taiwan, and even saw two muntjacks (minibarking deer) and heard them bark off in the distance. Cool, totally cool!!!! but, the highlight of this trail is not the awsome biodivertiy, the epic view, the workout, or the barking beer....it is the fig trees.

Taitung is a strange place for us - we go there so often, but explore very little of it. foreigners are unable to rent scooters there and, without transportation, it is very difficult to get into the nooks and crannies like we do in all other places. It is a beautiful place, so much still to see and do, but the simple reality of no transportation makes getting to those, and discovering new, special places a task of futility. We are working on it, though...piece by piece!

Simon Singh Vindicated!

After two years of "hell" in a lawsuit with the British Chiropractic Association, science and reason prevailed.

Well, the BCA dropped the case because, you know, they had no case! But, as per the UK Libel Laws, lawsuits are everywhere and tough to win. So, congrats Simon, you cant get back your two years, or your $100 000 spent on court fees and lawyers, but you were vindicated. Breathe a little easier today.

Crystals Parents Visit: The Second Weekend

Well, after a busy weekend in Taipei and Taroko gorge, things settled down a little at our home in Song-Pu. Rice paddy walks in the morning, butterfly valley hikes (which has very few butterflies visible when it is pouring rain, apparently!), tea farm visits and a rafting trip ... floating while being pushed by a motorboat style rafting...filled the days. when Friday hit, we strapped ourselves into the rental car and took off to the south. Crystal had to work so I drove with her parents to Taitung and waited there for her to arrive on the 10:40pm train. The drive down was nice, rainy and chilled, but beautiful and we got to see some of the sights along the way. The bridge...8 Arch Bridge...and Water Running Up were the highlights, with a brief stop at a fishing harbour to see what was for sale from the oceans depths.

Then, in the morning.....to the ferry (and another stunning fish market and auction) and to Green Island!

The sun came out, the heat was felt, and we had a grand time. We rented a golf cart for four - so cool to drive around the island...slow, but a good ride - and did a lap of the island, checked out tide pools, hiked along the rocky volcanic coast (which is actually the inside of an old volcano), played with some goats and got to see some of the islands graveyards, complete with paper money (yet to be burned...which is the usual case with the paper money, so we are a little confused as to why all the graves had un-burned paper money carefully placed all over them). Lunch, rice and veggies, and back on the road to the hot springs (one of only three salt-water hot springs known on this chunk of rock we call Earth). Bathing in the scorching water for a while, watching the evening approach, we decided enough was enough and got back on our sweet ride and headed to the hotel to change and then search out some dinner. Afterwards, we took some beer and sat by the ocean. The days heat blending into the evenings humidity and dampened temperatures, we called it a night.

The next day, to the prison! I wrote earlier about this but here goes a condensed version of Taiwan's most notorious moment in history - The White Terror. A long history of suppression and violence by the Chinese-led Taiwanese government, this moment in time was officially initiated by one lone incident on Feb 27, 1947 where the public took a stand against the government. Like any good totalitarian rule, the government responded with violence. On Feb 28, 1947...the day after...the worst massacre of Taiwanese history took place. The KMT government of China had wrested power of the island from Japan just recently, and immediately instilled a rule of fear and violence. Military rule followed, the imprisonment of intellectuals, artists, politicians and anybody who was willing to speak out against the government became normalized and executions of the most vociferous was standard practice. Green Island was the place where the political prison was built - Oasis Villa - and it was a brutal, horrid place, in violation of anything we consider human rights. Ill treatment, crowded cells, executions, torture and "re-education" to the communist mentality was demanded. If you could not be broken, you were killed. If you were broken, you were kept in a cell...broken.

Then, in the late '80s, the prison closed. Democracy came, the human rights violations were recognized officially and the people who survived the terror of the prison were free. Taiwan now hosts a fleeting number of political activists, political artists and leaders who were involved in this prison. And the prison stands now as a human rights memorial, telling a tale of the past. Walking into the cells, looking at the barbed wire fence and the gunners platforms, the execution grounds...it all seems unreal. Too much. But it was real, it did happen and it was only in the 80's that we humans recognized it as wrong. Humbling.

We made it to our ferry at 2:30pm, watched flying fish scurry above the ocean as we pushed our way back to Taitung. Then we hit the road...home. We saw some monkeys along the way, took a new road home (which is our new biking destination!) and made it home in time for dinner and packing. The next morning was goodbye time...a 7:48am train would take Crystals parents to Taipei for their flight.

The house is now quiet, and empty. So quickly things become normal, and now not having four people at dinner is weird. The shoe rack seems empty. A week went by so quickly, but it was packed with stuff that only Taiwan can offer, and we both hope that it was time well spent!

...until St. Lucia...ZaiJian!

Crystals Parents Visit: The First Weekend

Ottawa to Toronto to Taipei...



Crystal met her partents in Taipei on Saturday morning, showed them the sights and on Sunday brought them to Hualien City. We rented a car, I drove to Hualien and spent the morning playing hacky sac on the beach with a steaming java and a blue sky, they took the train from the soggy Taipei climes to the dry, warm and sunny Hualien City. We met up at noon on Sunday and we headed to Taroko Gorge.

Some of the highlights: the drive (as always) with epic scenery, TienHsiang Village, afternoon break on the roof, dinner and beer and cards in the garden and the calmness that only an evening in this little village can provide.

The next day they got up early and visited the TienHsiang Memorial up the hill, met up with us for breakfast at the hostel and then we walked to the TienHsiang Buddhist Temple across the river. Buddhism and its mysticism and irreparable paucity of reality aside, the temples they build and the grounds they keep are superbly calm, clean and gorgeous. Beauty through simplicity. No gaudy artifacts of religiosity like the other, equally reality-illeterate, religions and their grounds. This temple is a hefty walk up many stairs (they are led by the mantra "Bu Er Men" - No Two Doors - to signify that there is only one way to enlightenment and that one way takes work. There are no two doors to the top...if you want the best, you have to work for it. I think, taken out of its spiritual context, this is excellent advice) to the top. Once you get to the top...you get to go up again! The TienHsiag Pagoda is another 8 stories climb in a cramped circular staircase up, up, up....until you reach the top and are greeted with a perfect view of both the TienHsiang Village itself as well as the temple grounds. All set in the background scenery of mountains, lush tropical forests, chirping birds and endless blooms of flowers red, yellow, green and blue. And mauve. And purple. And white and red stripes. And...... the flowers take on every colour imaginable by genetic alterationa and pigment combination.

After this, we got back in the car and headed east back to the ocean. Once at the ocean, back to Hualien City. We did a tour around to our old house, old schools, and to the area we will live in next year. Then, to the coastal road (Highway 11) and south, south, south. Now a bit wet and cloudy, the drive was not as scenic as it could have been, but the mist in the mountains and the blue ocean pounding the shore still had a purely 'Taiwan" feel to it. We stopped at the ShiTiPing fishing village, saw a brief fish sale, then continued on our way homeward.

Then we rescued a goat. Two, actually. Mom was calling for them, they were crying back at her, stuck in a drainage ditch that was as deep as my waist. After crawling through goat poop, a highly aged drainage tunnel and trying to make soothing goat calls at them to calm them down, we prevailed and they were saved. Two goats, running back to mommy. Happy times.

Had to convince crystal not to take one and hide it in our trunk and keep it as a pet. She really wants a pet goat.....


Then, home, we made a nice dinner and called it a night.


Since then we have been to the WuHe tea farm, where the best of Taiwans coffee beans are grown and where Taiwans most famous tea is grown, a hot pot dinner and tour of Yuli, and today Crystal and her parents are off to the Buterfly Conservation Area and the hotsprings...


...the rest will be posted as it happens!

Tomb Sweeping Day

Tomb Sweeping day, held every year on the weekend that falls two weeks after the vernal equinox, is one of the very few special days in Chinese culture (thus Taiwanese culture too) that follows the solar calendar. Most special days, events or seasons are based on the lunar calendar. This one escaped...

Called Qing Ming Jia, or Clear Brightness House (to make your ancestral and current house beautiful and clearly loved and respected with bright - happy - thoughts and actions...) is the annual homage to ancestors. We often will go back to our family grave sights, plant flowers, clear away weeds, wipe down the tombstone...and this is very much the same. However, this one has a tinge of the crazy and the folk-religion taste that makes any regular event extravagant.

The timing is meant to both respect your ancestors and also welcome spring and mark the beginning of the new planting season. Two birds, one stone, as it were. They believe that the dead ancestors, in their dissociated molecular state, take care of the living and in respect to them (and to make sure that they keep taking care of the living...) they clean, wipe, sweep and leave offerings of food, incense (burning incense is a faster way to have your message meet the gods, they say) and the ubiquitous 'spirit money'. Tombs cleaned, food left on it, incense lit and spirit money burned at the foot of the grave, people meet with extended family and eat and reconnect. It is a family reunion afterwards, and people travel from all over the island to return to their traditional family grounds to take part. Its a nice mix of historical homage, contemporary reality (people live very far away and rarely get to go home because Taiwan has approximately no holidays other than a handful ... some of which are holidays, but you dot get time off work) and the wickedly crazy-ass religion and spirituality.

Some highlights:

Food - you have to leave food at the foot of the grave, and it has to be bland. Why? Well...don't you know...ghosts walk around the graveyards and they are ever so hungry. You need to leave food that will not entice them to your ancestors grave, yet food that your ancestors will also like in their afterlife. A fine line...

The Grave - needs to be oriented to maximize the ... and I'm serious...the cosmic flow of energy. Beyond being utter bullshit, this is a fine moment to ask what cosmic energy is, how it is measured and just why orientation parallel to it is better than perpendicular. I would love a physicist to take this one on. Or anybody with a skeptical bone in their body...

Pray - Everybody in Taiwan (and country with Chinese people....) prays for their specific ancestors to be happy, for themselves to become rich and be happy at the same time. God must have a really...and I mean really...good secretary to keep track. He must hate this day...so noisy, so busy...and finally being asked to do something. Or...pulling out my razor...lets see ... gillette...no....straight edge...close, but no.....ah, here it is...Occam's Razor. It would tell me something totally different. Probably that god is imaginary, and that they whole shebang is a typical tyrannical observance of pseudo-reality. I wonder if the pray-lines have a bandwidth limit....I would hate for an overload and some of those ever so important prayers to be lost in cyberspace...or cosmicspace...or godspace...whatever they call it.

Despite being a typical folk-religion based exercise in futility, it is also a perfect time for families to get back together and to do things that will put their minds at rest...just as we do...and it is a holiday that lets people have a long needed break from their working lives.

A typical grave; elaborate and mostly above ground, as compared to the westersn "6 feet under" version.

A broom. On Tomb Sweeping Day, I think it is obvious what this tool is used for.