Taiwan

One of the most amusing moments during my Taiwan trip occurred before we even got there. Steven and I were sitting with a girl our age between us, and we idly chatted during the 13 hour flight from Detroit to Osaka. At one point a flight attendant, who was obviously just as bored as we were, came down the aisle and struck up a conversation with me: "What does the W on your hat mean?" I told him that it was a Washington Nationals cap, which I had just bought in anticipation of my move to DC. He asked further, "Are the three of you traveling together?" I told him that it was just Steven and me-- we met the girl on the flight. "Oh," he responded with a wink, "Are you and he together?" "No," I answered, "we went to high school together and played on the same high school team." That seemed to satisfy him, and he continued down the aisle. The girl next to me turned and said, "Was he just flirting with you?" "Yes," I said, "yes he was."

The saga continued after I got up to stretch my legs. When I was standing in the galley by myself, the same flight attendant approached me and continued our previous conversation. When the topic of my accident came up, and he said, "I would never have guessed you were injured. You look so athletic." When I mentioned that my surgical scars are pretty convincing evidence, he responded, "Ooh, can I see them?" Then later he asked, "Did you know that you have really beautiful blue eyes?" At this point I concluded that my life was getting back to normal. If gay men are hitting on me, I've obviously made a pretty good recovery. Nobody flirted with me when I was wearing a back brace. Well, except for Gloria, I guess.

Our pleasantries reached their end when he asked me, "How does your injury affect your sex life?" At that pointed, I decided that it would be best to return to my seat. I told Steven and our female traveling companion the details of my encounter, and they laughed themselves silly. As awkward as it was, it certainly helped make the time pass. We were desperate-- it took almost 24 hours to get to Taiwan from Memphis.

The amusement continued when we arrived in Taipei. Steven's cousin came to pick us up and took us to his apartment. When got in the door, I looked around in surprise. Why is there a stack of hot water bottles at the door? Why are there boxes of medical supplies in the kitchen? They explained that the large apartment operated as a medical clinic during the day, and Steven's cousin slept in a small room off to the side at night. It seemed like an efficient use of space, especially for a crowded, expensive urban area. After a little more snooping around and looking at the sterilized instruments on one of the tables, I realized, "Oh my God, we are going to sleep in a gynecology clinic." This must be a woman's worst nightmare.

The principle purpose of my trip was to meet Steven's girlfriend Bonnie. Since Steven and I have been friends for 15 years, I wanted to have some input as to whom he might spend his life with. And for Bonnie's sake too, I thought she should meet one of Steven's American friends in order to see what she would be getting herself into. Fortunately, I was overwhelmingly impressed by her, and we had lots of fun together. In the capital city of Taipei, we toured the campus of her alma mater, Taiwanese National University, affectionately known as "the Harvard of Taiwan." We also went to a night market where the number of vendors was truly mind-boggling. Amid all the chaos, Steven helped me buy a flashy new suit for $75 and a wool dress coat for $50. Seriously styling stuff, good quality, rock-bottom prices. I'm telling you, even in a trendy place like DC, this suit is going to turn heads. Of course, I'll give you a full report about the response it generates.

Besides the great shopping opportunities, the food and drinks are definitely worth mentioning. The first day I was there, I spotted some asparagus juice for sale in a convenience store, and I just had to try it. Of course, it tasted as noxious as it sounds, but it was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. Of the good-tasting drinks, I quickly became addicted to iced milk tea, or what they call "bubble tea" in the Bay Area. Here in Taiwan it was even better because the little black tapioca balls in the tea were fresh, which taste delicious. Inferior varieties use frozen tapioca balls, which taste like little rubber pellets and induce a gag reflex.

Concerning the food, I couldn't read any of the menus, but I had a standing request to Bonnie and Steven to help me avoid consuming blood or organs. The food they ordered me was both excellent and amazingly inexpensive. But many times they had to point out food that did not meet my criteria-- pig ears, eyeballs, intestines, coagulated duck blood, and most vile of all, rectum. I didn't even bother to ask what kind of animal it came from. My mouth is never going to come in contact with rectum. Not now, not ever.

Another great moment in my trip was going to a baseball game in Taichung with Bonnie and Steven. In addition to Nicaragua and the United States, this was the third country where I've watched professional baseball this year. It's a dream come true. Here it was particularly fun. The fan enthusiasm and participation is comparable to American college football or European soccer. It's loud the whole time, even between innings. In our game, we saw a lot of seriously nasty breaking pitches, a number of terrible baserunning blunders, and some late-inning heroics. I concluded that the greatness of baseball is truly universal.

The highlight of the trip was going to Taroko National Park. This place is absolutely stunning: more majestic that anything I've seen in the Austrian Alps, and in terms of otherworldly beauty, surpassed only by the Grand Canyon. What makes this place particularly great is that you can bike through the entire park along a narrow gorge, 100km in length, hemmed in by shear limestone and granite cliffs the entire way. The road is good enough that you could take either a mountain bike or a road bike and cycle to your heart's content. The road has little traffic, tons of curves, and a number of places to stop for food and drink. You'll definitely want to mount a headlight because the road has several dozen tunnels through solid rock. Steven, Bonnie, and I spent three days in Taroko and did lots of hiking there, plus a little biking too.

So if you are an outdoors adventurer, put Taiwan atop your list of places to go. Opportunities for biking, hiking, and rock climbing are unparalleled. Besides Taroko, include Sun Moon lake on your itinerary, where you can bike its vast perimeter. Also, there are also a number of small, nearly empty roads that lead far up into the mountains where tea is cultivated. Adventures abound here, and there is no limit to the amount of fun you could have.

I hope you enjoyed reading this account as much as I enjoyed writing it. You're welcome to view my photos, too. I added commentary to most of them so you'll know what you're looking at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2308103&l=68c27&id=1219341

Stay tuned for an account of my European travels in late June/early July.