Suspension Bridges, Scooters, and the Big Jump: Memories of Taiwan

"Are you ready to take The Big Jump?"
For decades,
this is the question Den has asked every time we leave on a trip.
Recently we took
The Biggest Jump Of Them All
when we flew to the other side of the world,
Taiwan,
to visit our son Paul and his family.
(Why are they in Taiwan? See link here.)
We traded winter coats for shorts,
pasta for rice,
ticks for mosquitoes,
squirrels for snails,
lighted mall signs for flashing neon betelnut stands,
western toilets for squatty potties,
one mid-sized mountain for a chain of enormous mountains.
Taiwan is an island off the coast of China,
a bit taller than Vermont,
a democratic government with communist neighbors.

We have squirrels in the yard. Taiwan has snails. BIG snails.

Fushushan's mountain is bigger than ours

Squatty potty. Just in case you were curious

The island beaches were beautiful,
full of bits of coral
and colorful pebbles
and shell fragments
and sea glass.
When snorkeling,
the fish were as curious as we were.
Gazing at a section of beach for movement
yielded temporary pets,
tiny hermit crabs.
A huge sea turtle
popped his head up to stare at us
and waved a flipper.
The sea urchins were usually avoidable,                   
the undertows usually marked.
Where the shores were rocky,
I found sea stars in the tidepools 
and tried my Chinese hello,
"Nihou!"
on women picking seaweed.

Watch out for undertows and sea urchins!

Coral and sea glass beach

Tiny hermit crabs

Sea stars were everywhere in tide pools

Collecting sea moss for a traditional soup

Pedestrian suspension bridges are common.
They span steep ravines
and gravelly rivers
and waterfall creeks.
They sway slightly with every step,
more if you jump.
Suspension bridges
can lead to shrines
or to fiddleheads of giant cycads
and epiphytes high in the trees,
banyans and strangler figs,
vegetation that I'd only seen on botanical garden field trips.
The Yushan suspension bridge led to mountain paths
where Formosan rock monkeys responded
when Paul did his baboon distress call.
My baboon imitation is poor
so when Paul left
I did deer
and elk
and turkey
and porcupine imitations.
George was not Curious, however.
He showed me his backside
and disappeared into the mountain canopy.

Lucy takes Den across his first suspension bridge

Lovers' Gorge waterfall

Changchun Trail bridge

Banyan tree with aerial roots

Somewhere in the forest canopy across the Yushan bridge is the south end of a monkey going north

The mountains of Taiwan are spectacular, 
rising from sea level
through the Taroko Gorge
to Wuling at 3,275 meters
(almost eleven thousand feet)
on hairpin turns
through stacks of tunnels
with the Sinbaiyang Cloud Forest halfway up.
The mist made me imagine I heard a gorilla
but Den recognized it as the sound of a pilaster being driven;
the next stretch of road had fallen into the gorge
and was being repaired.
A thousand meters higher,
clouds poured over the mountain pass
and then the sky cleared again.
Climbing above tree line at Hehuanshan
can cause altitude sickness;
it was more fun
to stop along the trail with Lucy
and build stone men
and foxes.

Almost sea level

Sea cliffs near Su'ao

Starting up the Taroko Gorge. Tunnel shelter visible in background, the first of MANY

Entering the Sinbaiyang Cloud Forest

Road construction, not a gorilla in the mist

Pilu Sacred Tree

The sky clears as clouds pour through the pass into the Fushushan Valley

Lucy and the rock friends

Temples are everywhere.
Everywhere.
Thousands of temples,
some with scrolling LED lights,
some with dragons,
some are gathering places reminiscent of fire halls,
others are vacant.
The temples visible from the grandgirls' window
stand one hundred feet apart
and are lit up each night.
I couldn't find out why they were so close;
are they like the Methodists and the Church of Christ
sharing a street instead of a theology?
You'd need every crayon in the box to color a temple.

Temple on Xiao Liu Shiu Island

We biked to one of the see-it-out-the-window temples

Get out your crayons. All of them.

There are hundreds of bicycles
and scooters buzzing at every stoplight.
Scooter drivers often wear big hats
and leggings
and backward jackets
and masks.
Masks are everywhere,
not Kylo Ren's mask in the recent Star Wars
(we watched Star Wars with Chinese subtitles)
but masks to avoid spreading germs
and avoid breathing the air pollution
that spreads during winter
from mainland China
and the local industry.
Scooter drivers carry their cargo under their seats
or in specially made bags handing from the handlebars
or in backpacks
or drag it behind them
or stand it in front of them.

Carrying children

Groceries

Carrying friends

Bundles

Mask

Cool hat!

Sometimes a scooter alone is not enough

Hello, Lucy!

Is it Bop or Kylo Ren?

A view from the apartment window. Interesting skies courtesy of pollution...

Taiwan dogs are everywhere,
thickly-built,
dogs that,
with just a bit of training,
could fix cars and spit.
They are tough customers who lie in the streets
daring you to hit them,
dogs with and without collars
who roam the fields at night,
sniffing,
rumbling,
bullying other dogs.
We didn't see many cats
except on the small island of Xiao Liu Shiu
where one mutant cat shyly approached my outstretched hand,
then swatted it in irritation when he found it empty.
Trivia: "Cat" in Chinese is pronounced "Mao."

One of many Taiwan street dogs

Dozing

Neighborhood dog looking for his gang

Den poured out leftover picnic drippings. Gone!

This dog was missing a paw. He was NOT on the road.

Posing

Proud or embarrassed?

Food is delicious
and cheap
and served with chopsticks which function as a built-in diet device.
Kate ordered mussels.
Clams.
Prawns.
Fish.
(Do not turn a fish over.
It is bad luck for the fisherman.)
I filled my plate with a tiny bit of everything
known and unknown;
if it weren't edible, they wouldn't offer it.
Favorites?
Onion fluffy pies,
custard apples,
hot pudding pastries,
hot ginger brown sugar tea,
caramel ice cream waffles,
and squid jerky.
Because food is so inexpensive,
eating out is common
and easy,
unlike the parking spots necessary to get the food.
The local 7-Eleven has inexpensive food
(my favorite was the tuna-corn sandwich)
and an ATM machine
and air-conditioning
and a bill-paying counter.
7-Elevens are the hearts of the towns.

Kate orders lunch

Our chef

Lunch!

...and more lunch!

The heart of the community

7-Eleven food

Shopping is done in crowded streets
where overhead doors lift
making open-air shops
that sell fruit
and bikes
and shoes
and live seafood
and scooters
and rows of chickens lying feet-in-the-air
and clothing
and tea
and helmets.
The markets open in the mid morning
and stay open late into the night.
Taiwan is known for its night markets.

The pinks are dragonfruit. Delicious!

Shoes at the night market

The last hours of crabs

Night market bread

Bubble tea-- a drink you can chew!

Helmet shop

Helmet--gud thot regardles uv the speling.

Shopping is also done
in giant box stores
with immaculate parking garages
like Costco
and Carrefour,
a French version of WalMart.
The stores are multi-level
with magnet-wheeled carts on
people-moving ramps.
Carrefour is a great place to find slippers
as this Asian culture requires leaving shoes at the door.
Lucy helped me pick out a lovely pair of blue bunny slippers.
Outside Carrefour I put 100 NT,
about three dollars,
into a machine
and out popped a ticket for a haircut.
A beautiful girl appeared
and led me to a chair
She spoke no English,
so I pantomined that I wanted a trim.
The haircut combines adventure and frugality,
both things I seek.
Whatever she does
can't be as bad
as some haircuts I have given myself
and in two weeks
anything grows back.

Weekend Costco checkout lines are rather crowded

The Costco parking garage was the cleanest we've ever seen

One hundred NT! Three dollars! Such a deal!

Morrison Academy Kaohsiung,
the school where Kate teaches middle school English,
provides a built-in supportive community.
Paul and Kate and Anna and Lucy
live on the seventh floor
of a well-engineered apartment building
which sways during earthquakes.
The building shelters many friends
who invite you for dinner
and breakfast,
who teach you new games
(Thanks, Maggie!)
and who allow seven-year-olds to make tickets
for an outdoor showing of The Princess Bride
projected on the side of the building,
who throw snowballs
and make snowmen
from giant bags of ice
delivered on Christmas Day,
who host local orphans
and take turns watching the kids on date nights,
who visit in elevators
(Lucy learned her numbers from elevator buttons.)
before exiting for apartments
with piles of shoes at the door.
People work together
and play together
and pray together.

Paul waves from the kitchen window

Morrison Academy, Kaohsiung

Snowman-building contest on Christmas Day

Agriculture surrounds them,
in valleys and on mountainside terraces.
Banana groves.
Mango trees.
Tea plantations.
Rice paddies.
Pineapple fields.
Den was especially appreciative of the tomato fields
and repeatedly bought bags of fresh tomatoes.
"Where else can you make fresh BLTs at Christmastime?"

Banana plantation next door

Agriculture is everywhere

Neighboring pineapple field

Taiwan is on the other side of the world from our mountain,
thirteen time zones away.
In the middle of one night
I woke in a panic.
The Big Jump was overwhelming.
There were thousands of miles between Taiwan and familiarity,
hours and hours of travel
via boat
and high-speed train
(cool as that is)
and multiple flights--
and the shortcut is through molten rock.
And what if I say something wrong?
And am I appreciating every moment?
It will be months,
perhaps years,
before we see the grandgirls again.
I prayed The Lord's Prayer
and lingered on "Thy will be done,"
reaching for Lucy asleep next to me.

There are many moments to appreciate,
to remember:

• Anna in a Jedi costume riding her new bike
• Lucy standing among the giant elephant ears
• Both girls painting my suitcase so it will be easy to spot in airports
• Lucy learning to draw stars
• Anna sight-reading Jingle Bells
• Thinking of ice cream when I heard a musical truck only to find out that garbage trucks make music
• Lucy catching crickets and cockroaches on hikes 
• Feeding koi
• The girls asking Den, "Could you write a song about it?"
• Anna leading "Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul" in the echoes of a WW II gun emplacement
• Lucy falling asleep singing "I Won't Grow Up" 

Jedi Anna on her Christmas bike

Budding botanist Lucy among the elephant ears

No one will mistake my suitcase for theirs after the girls finish painting

Crickets make better temporary pets than cockroaches

Lucy feeds the koi

Anna leads "Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul" in a WWII gun emplacement

We have been back on the mountain for almost two weeks
but we are not entirely here.
Our minds still hear four-year-old Lucy singing John Denver:
I'm leeeeeeaving on a jet plane,
Don't know when I'll be back again.
Oh Babe, I hate to go... 
We left pieces of ourselves in Taiwan,
literally,
on a beauty shop floor
and current science tells us
that we may still be sharing electrons
with Taiwanese atoms--
as if quantum leaps weren't mystery enough--
as electrons take The Big Jump as well. 
Our minds have been altered by beauty,
by experiences,
by new friends,
by love of family
and memories made.
God willing, we will go back.

A street not yet traveled

Good bye: "God be with ye"