dì zhèn...aah, earthquake!

sorry if i worried all of you by not uttering a single peep since my pre-xmas post, but i've been traveling around taiwan and their wi-fi access is not nearly as good as in japan. anyway, i have finally returned to taiwan after 15 years! i may not remember too much of taiwan when i was last here, but it still feels familiar and certain memories have started to waft back like the smell of stinky tofu that ebbs and flows on the streets of taipei. a bit of a change from japan, where tokyo is the sleek and elegant older sister to taipei’s rough and tumble younger brother who never seems able to stay clean. but tokyo cannot compare when it comes to the myriad and delicious street food vendors and deli/café-type eateries that open out onto the sidewalk but aren’t sidewalk cafés per se. there are more high-rises and a lot more motorcycles who don’t seem to follow any rules of the road (as a former mass-hole, i would have to grow a new set of balls to even begin to think of trying to drive around taiwan). don’t even think pedestrians have the right-of-way! and they are quite clever and resourceful...who says you need hazards when you can drag an orange cone behind you!

christmas was spent on the road as i embarked on a bus tour that circled the island in 4 days. it was a fun-filled trip with the parents of the 8 families (friends from new england) in the front and the kids in the back. it had been about a year since i last got together with these friends, so it was great to be able to spend time reconnecting and reminiscing with them. there were many laughs to be had as well as heated arguments over scrabble words (note: “aa” is a term for cindery lava, “ok” doesn’t count, and “fatly” and “drifty” are actual words). since the island of taiwan was born from a volcano, the eastern coastline is one dramatic cliff after another, the western coastline is replete with sandy beaches, and mountains fill up the middle section. but we didn’t just take in the coastline, there was also taroko gorge filled with marble stones, taitung aboriginal village, sansiantai island with the 8-arches bridge, chihpen hot springs, bashian caves that each had a small temple, hsitou forest, and sun moon lake.

the climate is very tropical so there are plenty of exotic fruit that i h
ave never seen before but are quite tasty. and yes, i did see some grapevines interspersed with the pineapples, beetlenuts, taros, leafy vegetables, and shrimp ponds! but i believe taiwan mainly grows raisin and table grapes, especially since i visited a supposed winery that made a lot more rice wine and sorghum liquor than grape wine (yes, you have to specify grape wine in asia). the wine i was allowed to taste was a blend of syrah and merlot grapes that were shipped over from france, but was definitely not worth the price of about $20. funny thing is that when i asked what grapes were used for the native grape wine, i was told that red grapes were used for the red wine and white grapes were used for the white wine...oh really...

i also experienced my 1^st earthquake while on land. i had just arrived at my hotel room when the room started to shake. my first thought was that this was going to be a long night if my upstairs neighbors are already making this much commotion doing who knows what. once the room started swaying, it dawned on me that maybe this was an earthquake! not too terrible, so i kept about my business readying myself for a dip in the hot springs. half hour later, i was in the hallway waiting to go down when another earthquake started. this one was a tad scarier since it was stronger and lasted longer. little did i know that i had only felt maybe 3.0 to 3.5 since i was a bit north from the 6.7 epicenter! i must admit, standing in a doorway is cold comfort when you’re on the 8^th floor of a 15-story hotel.

i hope everyone is doing well after the holidays and gearing up for new year’s celebrations as the year of the dog closes out and the year of the pig begins! so, i’ll leave you with one (of possibly many more to come) hilarious sign that is further proof that google translations should not be taken at face value. so please, don’t beat your children!