Hiking and Artillery

Published on Oct. 7, 2006 in Taiwan

Today we awoke much later than normal. After stretching and cleaning up the room a tad, we walked downstairs and over to the little coffee shop that acts as headquaraters for our guesthouse. Included, again, in the price of our meal is a breakfast and coffee. We paid for our room, and ate breakfast, whih consited of a muffin with egg and vegetables inside it. Our coffee came, with the lady announcing "I made his real strong, since hthat is how an American's Americano should be." Or something like that. After breakfast we decided to start our mission for the day: go get an ice cream cone from 7-11. THe main problem with the mission is that the 7-11 was in a village, on the exact opposite side of the mountain.

Winding up through the hills is a small grandit trail. we walked up and up. Saw a small temple, walked up and up some more, and eventually reached the crest between two mountain ppeaks. Another small village occupied this crest, however nobody seemed to occupy this village. Nearby a small map existed, and we had two options: 1) up through the hills, to the top of the crest, then down some footpath. 2) down the road into the village. Since we were on a mission, and missions should never be easy, we walked up the mountain. And what a workout! UP and up we climbed. We passed some other people doing the same. On either side o the road "hidden" were large artillery guns, all pointed in the same direction. One couldn't help but wonder what it would be like on this island during a conflict, or whether the weapons are still active.

Soon the top was reached, and we ha an amazing view down into the large village, which contained the 7-11. Nearby the airport loomed, and we witnessed one of the three planes of the day take off. Everything looked slightly surreal, but beautiful either way. We found the papth down to the village, and started the long decent. Stone from China was used to build a majority of the walls and roads here, as it costs half as much than the stone from Taiwan.

Eventually reaching the bottom of the trail, we wandered through the village, which once again was largely empty. After finding the 7-11, which is the most recently built one in Taiwan, we bought several drinks and a small muffin. We sat chatting about the day, life, and walked to the airport to change our flight tickets into ferry tickets (which is less expensive, and plus, I've never riddent a ferry between the Islands and Taiwan). Making the exchange we wandered to the bus stop, and I sat practicing my Chinese. Boring quickly, we got food, and came back just in time to catch the bus back to near our village. Dropping us off nearby, we walked the last mile or so and came to our room. Then we picked up our books and journals, started reading and writing, and mused about where the rest of the day should go.

After yet another nap, and some more reading, we walked over to Rita's house. Up the curvy road, and along the ocean, we talked how close China is, and some of the surrounding politics. After maybe 30 minutes of walking we reached the house, and immediately knew that we would be eating much. The house was filled with the usual 20 or so people, all eating various types of food. We were escorted to one of the tables, and started to dig in. Knowing that this was just preparation for the next "course," we didn't eat too much. The BBQ outside started to get heated, and we meanwhile talked to several of the people inside. When the BBQ was ready, everybody moved to the outside tables, and started eating. First course: snails. Well, sort of. I think they were hermit crabs, and they were heated to perfection.

Some of you might not believe the above paragraph, but I tell no lies. You have to use a toothpick and do a little swivel manuever to get out the inside snail. Overall, they don't taste too bad. Just don't eat the last part, a little too bitter. Next on the menu was stingray.

So, what does stingray taste like? It is a little hard, well, really hard. Not too much meat at all, but that is ok. I'm sure most people reading this will immediately think of Steve Erwin, indeed I did.

There were a few other adventurous things on the menu, but nothing as interesting as the above. I wonder if that counts as me eating es' cargo, or however you say it. As was expected, we had some more 'lao jiu,' and eventually were given a ride home. I luckily was able to escape the Majong game -- especially since had I played, I would have been giving my money away. Looks fun, but I'll wait to play it.

Tagged as: china | culture | guns

Comments are currently closed for this entry.