I have two main, extremely rational fears- snakes and
heights. Like, Indiana Jones afraid of snakes. I don’t want to see them, touch
them or hear about them. Just nada. And you put me high enough over the ground
and my hands grow clammy, my heart starts to pound and my feet hurt.
And what did we do our first couple days in Taiwan? Visited
the snake exhibit in the zoo, then rode a gondola to the top of the mountain.
I mean, they were both some pretty amazing experiences (the
zoo as a whole, not just the snakes), but I feel like it says something when on
your second day you face two of your fears. It really makes me wonder how many
other things I’ll look back on after this year and think wow, we’ve come a long
way.
One of the most difficult things so far we’ve found to get
over is the sleeping. Our bodies are still in North America mode, meaning we
still want to sleep during the day here and be awake when it’s dark. We’ve been
trying to force ourselves to stay awake while it’s light out and relax when it
gets dark. Last night I turned in around 8 and woke around 4:30, but it’s
better than the night before when I didn’t sleep at all. But I guess it’s a
process, just like learning Mandarin (every day we seem to learn something new,
it’s slow going, but I do have a Chinese lesson in a few days!!). Nothing happens
overnight.
So far I've felt two earthquakes- one of the HR guys says
they happen every day but you won’t feel 99% of them. The first night I was
sleeping, and when I woke couldn’t figure out if I was still on the plane or if
the earth was shaking. Earlier today the Dave and I had just gotten off the
elevator with a lovely couple when I felt dizzy. It is an interesting
experience, to say the least! I was told one of the largest buildings in Taipei
was built on the fault line, and over time the weight of the building has
slowly helped push the line apart.
 |
The squatter. |
Still on the topic of fears, one of my concerns about moving
to Taiwan was the lack of western toilets in certain public places. I realize
it sounds like a silly concern, but it just one of the those unknowns I wasn’t
sure how I’d handle when it came time to. Sure enough, second day in I walk
into the washroom stall and stopped. “Hello there,” I said to the porcelain
hole in the floor. “I was wondering when we’d meet.” Honestly girls, really not
that big of a deal. Kind of like using the bathroom in the woods, except
cleaner, and you leave your tp in the garbage.
The internet here is really hit and miss, which is not at
all what I was expecting. It frustrates me a lot because I can’t even make a
phone call through skype. Part of that may be the hotel we’re staying at (which
is one of the main causes of my frustrations in general), but it’s pretty
obnoxious just the same.
 |
Riding the Gondola. |
David's Thoughts - Nov 8

 |
The view from up here is fantastic!! |
So Steph and I had
the chance to go to the Taiepi Zoo. I had been looking online for what our best
options where to get there, Bus, The Rail Train or a Cab. So what we decided to
do was just walk a bit and flag down the first cab we could find. What I
figured would be easiest to communicate to our cab driver who was an older
gentleman and could hardly speak English was to write on paper the words in
large print
動物園 (tōng-bu̍t-hn̂g) which translates zoo In Taiwanese. Then as we
were going he said the word “PANDA” and “LION” He was great and even found
102.4 cfrc the English news channel and in a radio voice said 102.4 C.F.R.C.
anyways the cab ride was very inexpensive 320 ntw dollars or 8 bucks Canadian.
The cost of the zoo for the both of us was 120ntw or $ 4.27 cdn. We got see a
lot of different snakes, birds, fish, reptiles, butterflies from the all over Asia and we even saw a
couple of Pandas. A few signifigant things that happened at the Zoo I found a
500 ml bottle of PEPSI for 25 ntw or .89 cdn. Another cool thing that happened
was that 2 Chinese boys asked me to take a picture with them. I was wearing my
Canada shirt and they asked where we were from and they thought I was very tall
and cool. Hey I’m a giant in this Country and I get people looking up at me all
the time and nodding and waiving hello. The zoo even had a few familiar
exhibits such as the Beaver and the Racoon both found in North America (slight
Canadian Pride).



After the zoo Steph and I decided that we would go up the Maokong
Gondola. This gondola ride has special cabins called the eyes of Maokong which
have a glass bottom so as you ride up the mountain you can see directly below
your feet. The Maokong District has a very long history for growing and
harvesting Green and oolong Tea and it was really neat to see all the rows of
tea growing on the side of the mountain. After getting of the gondola we went
and found some food to eat for lunch. I was not sure what to get as our Mandrin
is very poor and all I could see was symbols and numbers so all I did was
point. What got for 25ntw or .89 cdn was a plate of glass noodles, vegetables,
and steamed pork ( I’m confident that it was an old boar intestine) the texture
was very different sorta rubber like but also very light on the mouth hard to
describe but the taste was actually not all that bad. I found steph a bubble tea and it was really
good. It was made with coconut milk, sweetened Soy and tapioca pearls very
tasty and refreshing.

“TAEPEI ZOO” which is also
referred to the locals as the “MUZAH ZOO” well the reaction we got was the best
ever. The cab driver read the word and pronounced the word “Monkey” with the
sound and gesture’s that he was an orangutan and when we said yes he got all
excited! Monkey he laughed and then said okay you mean zoo.
No comments:
Post a Comment