The Whiskey Jar in Du Lon

If you asked me to come up with a motto for my approach to travel it would easily be "Always an Adventure."  I have found that anytime something doesn't go right, I'm lost or confused, or plans are otherwise jeopardized it is always easier to just approach the situation as an opportunity for a new adventure instead of mourning over what went wrong.  This readily applies to just any opportunity that comes my way so when my roommates said they were heading to the east coast of Taiwan to play a show with their band, I was down with going along. 

A gang of 13 of us set out Saturday for Taidong.  It is a little town almost exactly parallel with Kaohsiung but on the opposite side of the island.  We took an easy 2 1/2 hour train ride to Taidong where we rented scooters and drove about 40 minutes up the beautiful coast to Du Lon.  Du Lon is a tiny little village that is mostly made up of Aboriginals, a few Taiwanese, and about an equal amount of westerners most of which hailed from South Africa.  It is a poor town but is home to some of the most amazing beaches I have ever seen.  And the ocean.  Oh the ocean. 

More important perhaps, is the Sugar Factory.  It is an old building that used to be a sugar factory but has been turned into a very awesome venue/bar area.  My roommates and their friends have a band called The Whiskey Jar and they played a really great show there Saturday night much to the enjoyment of the locals.  It was a wonderful time and there was much fun had.  I, however, was feeling the affects of my jet lag so when everyone else went out after the show I turned in.

We stayed at a hostel that is owned and operated by a South African man and his Taiwanese wife, their friends and their children.  Leoni, the youngest daughter of the owners, became my friend and I had a good time taking photos of her.  The hostel was very nice and incredibly clean.  A bunch of us stayed in the Japanese Room which was just a hard wood floor with padded mats.  It was simple, very basic, but exactly what we needed and cheap!  It was about $8.30 (250 NT) a person for the night. 

This is Leoni.  She is maybe about a year old. 

Leoni is holding a bag of Betel Nuts, as they are known here, or Areca nuts (wiki that).  This photo was meant to be a little funny; a little girl playing with many adult things.  Anyway, these betel nuts. They are not nuts but a lot of people, especially on the east coast, chew them.  They are a mild stimulant so they use them in place of coffee I think.  The bottle in the photo is Paolyta B.  It is probably best described as a liqueur.  It is dark red in color, tastes a little like bubble gum, and is very, very strong.  The ingredients list would make anyone shake in their boots.  It includes nicotine, pure ethyl alcohol, tuarine, etc.  I tasted just a small amount and that was enough for me but it is definitely the drink of choice in some places.  The bowl is just serving as an ash tray.  Many people still smoke here.  Actually, let me rephrase that.  Many foreigners smoke here.  I don't think I have seen a lot of Taiwanese people smoking but a lot of westerners and ex-pats are smoking fiends.  It is probably my least favorite thing about the country thus far.  I appreciate America's stigma against smoking. 

Sunday was my favorite day in Taiwan so far.  We spent almost the entire day at the beach.  The sand is a dark grey and is so fine and soft.  The ocean was the perfect temperature.  It was refreshing and cool but not cold.  The beach turned into ocean at a pretty slow rate so you could walk out very far without losing touch with the ground.   No seaweed, not a lot of fish, no sharp stones, just perfect soft sand to walk on. 

The waves were pretty big, at least in my mind.  I've seen waves that big in Lake Michigan but not very often.  I had a blast swimming around and crashing into the waves.  I could have stayed there forever but eventually we had to leave. I was not a huge fan of the salt water but I guess you get used to it.  After many hours of playing and amassing a substantial amount of sun burn, we took a scooter ride, in the rain, back to Taidong and hopped a slow train home. 

Naturally I was completely exhausted and crashed into bed immediately. 

It was an excellent weekend and I made many new friends.  With both N and S leaving in the next couple of months, I am feeling the pressure to try to branch out beyond The Edge staff and find other people to hang out with.  I would love to make some Taiwanese friends but very, very few Taiwanese people speak English and my Chinese is not good enough to really connect with them.  I am learning a little more Chinese each day.  S was a Spanish teacher before he came here so he is naturally good at teaching languages.  I try to learn from him whenever I can. 

Wednesday a new teacher comes. For this week I have a pretty empty docket.  Just adjusting and settling in.  The heat and sun have been brutal but I will try to make a few outings.  Monkey Mountain is nearby and that is definitely on my list.  This time it isn't called Monkey Mountain because it is shaped like a monkey, it is because it is filled with monkeys.  I am excited to see that!