This is where we found ourselves this weekend. We had a permit to summit, barring no inclement weather that would make either the 3+ hour bus ride through mountain passes to reach the base "camp" (base hostel, I suppose?) or the 12 hour hike itself dangerous. And that is just what we were presented with this sultry weekend. Two typhoons and a closed National Park. But - a significant but - we did not really know this until the last minute, and we had already planned the trip to the west to access the park. So, invalid permit in our hand we stuck to our plans and headed north, then south, to get to the west. It makes sense if you think about it...
Arriving in Tainan we were presented with lovely weather - sun, sun and heat. We found a hotel after a brief stint of searching and headed to the hotspot of all hotspots - the Taiwan Salt Museum.
Salt. Museum. Salt Museum.
And it was awesome. It is not just a museum, but it is a museum that comes with its very own salt mountain that you can climb (and lick if you are ...Crystal....so inclined). Taiwan has a very distinct salty history that is much more important to what Taiwan is today than we realized, and taking time to ponder this as we walked the halls of the museum was quite an interesting realization. Not only is the salt mountain and museum a nice place to visit, but the whole area is replete with demonstrations of Taiwan's salt legacy with brine ponds splattering the whole area. Now the salty brine ponds and the power of desiccation via the sun has been taken over by more mechanized systems, so these ponds are defunct memories of the past, but they still speak to a valuable brick in the development of the reality of what Taiwan has become. 
We traveled to the museum, walked up the mountain (hill.....) and plodded through the historical workings of salt in Taiwan, and then were presented with a problem. There is a new park, Taijing National Park, which is a highly important home to black-faced spoonbills during their migration. From October to early December they (and 21 other endangered migratory birds) stop and re-fuel among the inter-tidal flats of this newly minted park. The inter-tidal flats, the mangroves (nearly extirpated from Taiwan now, save for this small region and a smaller still region in Taipei) and the birds combine to make for an ecological hotspot that is not to be missed. We are told. For, we were here in August with only a police guard on duty and a few oyster collectors splattered among the vast muddy flats. But it was stunning. What was more stunning was how we got there, which is the first act of human kindness for which this post is titled.
We spoke to a lady at the visitor centre, asking for directions and the like and told her that we intended to go no matter what and that we would find a way. Could we walk, we asked? No. Well, yes. Yes we could. There was no law to stop us, but the time we were quoted seemed quite unpalatable. Then came the kindness that permeates all of Taiwan.
"Its too far to walk...here....take my scooter."
After knowing us for no more than three minutes, she gave us her keys, helmet, scooter and told us only that she had no need for the vehicle today, and to come back whenever. Her kindness allowed us to visit a place that would have otherwise been untouchable at this time of year. No request for rent money, no hesitation or request that we leave ID, anything. She asked for no proof or assurance that we, strangers, would bring her scooter back to her.
She, a stranger still, just gave us her vehicle and wished us a good trip. We got to see mangroves and a place of ecological significance all due to her kindness.
The next day led us to the interior of Tainan County, up in the mountains and to a hotspring hotspot. However, this, like so many other Taiwanese hotspring locales is replete with high-scale hotels that pump hot water into your bathtub, charge you exceptional prices for coffee, tea, eggs, anything, that is made with hotspring water and have an overall ugly tourist hue to the whole area. Its not like Wulu or Ruisui...its like hotspring Las Vegas. It is quite distracting from the natural beauty that could be focused on. We decided to pass on staying here, and went for a long walk instead. And what a walk it was!
- three new bird species
- tortoise shell beetle (FINALLY!!!)
- 2 crested serpent eagles up close....REAL close
- Graphium on film, finally
- our first substantial glimpse of a Taiwanese woodpecker (and mystery nest)
- water on fire...methane leaking from a natural spring, on fire
- hiking trail to monstrous temple
- discovered the 'sausage tree'
All along a little section of road that we probably would have missed/passed on/never known about had we decided to stay in the gaudy hotspring village. Walk on...walk on.
Then, as we were walking down the road to what we thought was a small town where we could stay, we encountered act of human kindness part two. A man we purchased coffee from earlier drove by, stopped and asked where we were staying.
Us: "Baihe"
Him: "Its too far to walk"
Us: "Um....whatever the next town is, then"
Him: "Nowhere to stay there..."
Us: "....."
Him: "Get in, I will drive you wherever you want to go....back to the hotspring village, to Baihe, Chiayi, anywhere".
So, from another complete stranger came an offer that saved the day. He drove us over half an hour away to the next train station, saving us form what would have been a foot-killing walk along a road that had no end for a hotel-dinner searching couple. It would have been a long, hot, boring evening trying to find a place to sleep in a town that had nowhere to sleep.
Two acts of kindness, done without hesitation. Two strangers who made our trip wonderful. This is what Taiwan is made of. If salt was the economic backbone of yesteryear, humanity is the social backbone of today. Value that can not be valued by money, and a value that so much of the world lacks. But not Taiwan. And they still have a lot of salt, too.
