Formosa by Ford Laser

Two great tours of Taiwan, a quick trip back to Yorkshire to see my lovely newborn nephew and finally, a week before I head to India, the rains have kicked in and I get a chance to blog. Lots of new tours are coming together, including a cycling trip of Taiwan, an incredible hilltribes trip in China (check out Ewen’s pix) and photography, cycling and unicycling (yes, you read that right) trips in India. Given the way the rest of the year is looking, it’s been great to have some time back at home in Taiwan, although, as always, a few weeks in one place and my feet were itching, so the opportunity for some research trips around the island in the car were welcome respite…

So several hundred miles of mountain roads, a rusty Ford Laser, me, Tot, Cocoa the dog and a stack of camping gear and we were off. Whenever I take time off from travel I manage to quickly forget how beautiful the island is. Sure, I tell everyone that it’s great and that they should come, but when we head out on the road with no set plan I feel like yelling it from the mountain tops. Of a route that took in remote beaches, the biggest spider I’ve ever seen, 3000m passes and hot spring pools surrounded by lush palms, the highlight was a visit to a mountain orphanage, predominantly attended by aboriginal kids. Smiling, friendly faces and a sense of inspiration in the face of adversity pervade, and we were both moved by the visit, and Cocoa liked chasing the lizards. We will visit again and will start contributing some of our tour proceeds to the orphanage.

Next it’s to India in the monsoon to research some tours and maybe even buy a little plot of land. India seems to supply curious, crazy and challenging experiences on a daily basis, so doubtless I’ll be back to blog soon … 

A Very Buddhist Birthday

35 today and another blinding & bizarre birthday on tour! Running a private tour of Taiwan and spent last night in a lovely hotel in Tainan with Tot, opening my pressies at midnight. Today we headed out to Foguangshan, Taiwan’s largest Buddhist Monastery, a huge complex stretching across the bamboo-clad hills, dotted with shrines, statuary, lanterns and orchids. We were shown round by a lovely, lively nun, radiant with inner belief. We meditated for 7 minutes that somehow managed to feel like 7 years (and yet 7 seconds at the same time) and then headed up to the giant gold Buddha which overlooks the complex as the sun was setting. It was here that the nun took it upon herself to sing “Amitofah Simon” to the tune of Happy Birthday. Afterwards we headed for a vegetarian feast at the monastery teahouse where a birthday cake was rustled up and my 35th was firmly sealed into my memory banks! To cap it all the monastery is only half-an-hour’s drive from our house so I headed home for a night with Tot; thanks Arlene & Don for being such lovely guests!

Simple Things

Having spent the last year divided between China, Europe and Australia it was with great excitement that I once again set foot on Taiwan’s shores. Over the past year I’ve been asked a hundred times why, of all the places I’ve traveled and worked, I’ve chosen to live in Taiwan. There are a million answers spanning from bubble milk tea to hot springs and all of them are right. But it can be difficult to put your finger on exactly what draws you to a place and, when asked, I struggled to find a nice, succinct sentence to sum it all up. Then I got back here and one short bike ride simply crystallized everything that I love about Taiwan: we passed ornate temples and shrines, banana palms and betel nut girls, and headed down a timeless lane alive with old folks passing the time of the day, and amused by our presence. The lane led to rice paddies which reflected the towering mountains, ringed by cloud, lying beyond. Already I felt light years from the metropolis. Entering a forest the trees were alive with colour, the sun was cutting swathes of light through the bamboo and the cicadas were creating a cacophony. We stopped for a break and, sleepy from the heat, I thought I must be dreaming when I heard, then saw a procession of worshippers hacking through the undergrowth. Hot on their heels a Taoist deity was being shouldered through by four exhausted but elated devotees. Then they were gone, and we were left in silence (even the cicadas stopped), wondering if we had, in fact, imagined the entire event. On the way back we meandered into a pineapple field and a weathered farmer appeared. I expected us to be forcibly removed. Instead, he smiled as he passed me a pineapple!