This weekend saw us wearing two hats...one as participants in yet another sports day event at Guan-Yin Elementary, as another as freelance adventureres in Hualien City. This trip was more about the nightlife, and we got to have a "city night" that we were in need of. So long in the boondocks leave you craving a hot coffee made for you and a bit of selection when shopping. The small things, but kind of important.
Here are some pics of our Hualien City night, and a day trip biking along the coast and playing in the surf. Freaking nice place, that Hualien:
"If these guys are not careful, they might find themselves in a slump... "
A hat tip to the geologists in the crowd.
Signage along the way....the left an environmental awareness sign about cleaning up your garbage and clean ecosystems, the right a warning that perhaps people with lead sim trunks may need to heed. ... Ok, I get why deep water is a concern, but the way it is worded caught my eye.
Markets. Left, farmers selling their fare along the roadway (the standard way to get our food) and on the right, a larger market area that would house fresh fish, etc, veggies, meats, and of course random products that you would never assume would need to be in a food market. For example - high heel shoes, bandanas and bookmarks.
Trevor biking away: to the left circumnavigating a loader as it fixes the retaining wall for the bike path extension, to the right navigating through a side street trying to find the access path to the coast ("I think it was this one....").
On the left is a snapshot of three stray dogs trying to stay out of trouble in the afternoon sun, the right a still of Crystal pausing and looking out towards the ocean along the bike path. These bikes are borrowed...no meaning is to be found in the basket at the rear of her bike!
Rock. Taiwan is made of, mostly, schist and marble. The schist makes hiking on the steep slopes absolutley treturous, landslides epic in their size and the sunlit mountainsides spectacular. The marble makes money. The blocks on the left are all mined marble - Taiwan, in the 1990's, was second in the world for exports of marble, behind only Italy. The industry was booming, still is of sorts, but not like it was. To the left is the industrial section of Taiwan that was built to process the marble. I especially like the colours (make them bigger by clicking on the pics, and you can see the colourful, creative buildings). This section of town was a workhorse of the Taiwanese economy back in the day, but still accounts for a large portion.
There are significant environmental concerns with the industry, both in terms of how it is done, and how much it is done, but the segment of the population that is aware of this seems to be limited. As such, the industry continues and digs away. I bet that if you have marble in your house, appartment or have seen a carved statue...there is a good chance it came from Taiwan. Made in Taiwan. Perhaps not made, but it would be an expat of Taiwan. Of sorts.
The election continues......they are all trying hard. I know. But most of these posters are just so.....fake. Like the dude who's poster screams "I play baseball, I stand in front of scenic picture of a place I have never visited....vote for me". There are some candidates who have donned running outfits and their posters are of them running....but one look at them can give you enough evidence that they have never taken the stairs when an escalator is an option, let alone actually jogged somewhere. But their poster screams "I am healthy, I want a healthy Hualien County" with a pinch of "I bought this outfit yesterday, does it fit ok?". Then, on the right up there, is the poster genre of folks who beg for votes. The hand clasp is a Taiwanese way of showing that you are trustworty and caring. To me it looks like it says "I pray with a hot-dog in my hand" or "somebody photo-shopped out my microphone while I was singing karaoke".
Overall, my subjective analysis of Taiwanese elections is that they are in your face, impressively fake applications to your sense of security. More on their electioneering style later....its fraking weird.
Crystal on the beach, and by a fountain drinking pearl tea. Although we only had one day to play about on our bikes, on the beach and in various alleys and villages that we came upon, we tried to make the most of it. And we did. The best parts, as usual, were the unplanned and chilled out times...like the beach pics here. We stopped, hopped over some erosion barriers (big bulky cement monsters) and poked around the beach for a while, watching the surf, getting soaked in the surf, washing up and generally drinking in the oceanic splendour.
Beach fun, fishing boat.
Trevor, full, and lubricating the remaining bites of bbq'd okra with Taiwans finest. To the right our empty plates telling a tale of a meal well eaten.
The Hualien Bay surf to the left, and our bikes taking a break along the bike path on the right. We wanted to keep going, but our bikes insisted that we stop for a breather....so we complied. This is the section of the trail that is still being constructed to link, via urban bike path, the entire coastline with the city centre (which is itself on the coast, but it is a more populated, built up part of the coast, by East coast Taiwan standards).
Us piddling away the evening at the All Star Pub in Hualien with some new found comrades. Live music accompanied us as we chatted the evening away.
