This previous weekend was a bit of a mashing of events. We got around to a nice 70km bike ride south along hwy 9 to a little village (with a horrid story to tell...which I will tell in brief fashion down below) where we got to swim, meet some people and go critter searching; we went squid fishing which involved more vomit and less squid; we went to a wedding ... a "traditional" Buddhist wedding.
Us at the watermelon competition holding part of an obvious loser (i'm sure we could not be able to eat the winner!)
Saturday was a gorgeous day, clear blue skies and nothing but heat, heat, heat. We picked out a place we had never visited before, a little village named DaXing that is about 70k south of our city. We had heard of a nice waterfall there, but it is certainly off the beaten path and not well known so details were scarce. We took our chances, had an excellent ride and were rewarded with a beautiful swimming hole, a neat waterfall and some crazy new critters (see first picture for a taste...but, um, I wouldn't actually eat it).
Along the way we came to a little town called FongLin, which is apparently the location of the rift valleys annual watermelon contest, where the farmers vie for the Biggest Watermelon Award. It is all in good fun, as it should be, and we got to be celebrities for a while (being foreigners, living in the east of Taiwan, biking "so far", speaking Chinese all together... to them it was strange and quite a photo op). We got a lot of free watermelon and had a few nice chats...then hit the road again.
Betel Nut Palms....an endless vista, and some monkey poop!
Once in DaXing, we were drenched with sweat and drained of energy (mostly from the heat) and when we saw a nice little swimming hole in the river, were delighted. Clothes off, in the water. Relief!
It was only after returning home and chatting with my co-workers that I heard of the reality behind this village. It was, one year ago, a larger and well developed area. Then a typhoon came, the landslides came and this village was nearly entirely wiped off the map. Literally. Essentially the village was gone - the structures turned into fragments and the bodies buried. We were, again literally, swimming on top of dead people. After searches, endless searches, only a minor percentage of bodies were found, so we know they have to be under there somewhere. The village has picked itself up and tried to move on...life does go on...but the memory, the history of nature, is in their minds. Landslides and typhoons are normal here, part of life. But to be sitting on top is what is essentially a natural mass grave is a testament to this raw power of nature, and humbling.
Our swimming hole in the evening dusk, and stopping for gas at an illegal place that stores extra gas in water bottles in case of emergencies. This - an empty tank and two hours of driving ahead - was an emergency worthy of illegal actions.
...intense immaturity of their beliefs stunts my appreciation for the human mind.
Moving on....
Crystal and I taking the trip out to sea, with visions of squid dancing in our minds...
Monday night we took to the high seas and went squid fishing. Patching together a rag-tag group of expert (not!) squidders, we suited up and ventured about 15 minutes out to sea... stopped .... and did our best at catching some oceanic oddities. And vomiting. The ocean rolled, we rolled, we cast out....we caught nothing. Nothing!!
But that is ok, because the joy of fishing (I really do hate regular fishing ....I feel sorry for people who go fishing for fun......!) is the camaraderie and the connection to the water. Half of us were fine, half of us spent most of the time starring into the ocean waiting for our dinners to become fertilizer. We did get to see some flying fish in a non-flying state, swimming around curiously in the water.
