Adventure in Taiwan

Our adventure begins at Taiwan's Great Wall. Nothing like the Great Wall of China, as far as I can tell (I've never been to China). There is a paved trail that took us to a suspension bridge. Crossing the bridge was fun, but afterwards, the real work began. After the bridge, there is a trail, which is made of logs that are sometimes a walkway and sometimes more like a ladder, that runs along the ridge of some mountains. Small mountains, but steep. The trail was, by far, the most physically demanding part of my Taiwan adventure.




My dad taught me that, when hiking in the mountains, the biggest rule of survival is "Nobody falls-nobody dies." I didn't fall. Other people weren't so careful...


The next part of the adventure wasn't so exciting. (We really couldn't take much more excitement after the Great Wall, but we wanted it anyway.) We roamed the nearest town, looking for some kind of excitement. We didn't find any, though, just a 7-11, and it was probably better that way.


I learned, though, that you really don't have to go very far to find adventure or excitement. It can be found even in my own cabin. Here I am, sitting in my bunk, minding my own business, and I come this close to being skewered by wooden chopsticks.


Emma learned that the adventure involved in crossing bridges is not in the fact that you could fall off of them, but the fact that trolls tend to live under them. You can see, she's very frightened, but aren't those the cutest trolls you've ever seen?


The good news is, after all these adventures, all the excitement, all the life threatening experiences we have, we can always come together for a nice cup of tea. mmmm, boy. What a way to end the day!



Another great thing about adventures in Taiwan is the signage. Check it out:



* * * * *
Rachel

taiwan

I think I haven't written the whole time I've been in Taiwan. I don't have internet access, so I can never actually look at my blog. I just email in my posts.

About being in Taiwan:
I'm becoming an expert at using chopsticks, and I'm trying to learn to speak Chinese. I had this theory that if I stare at Chinese words long enough the language will eventually become clear to me. There will be a sudden moment of breakthrough. I will go from looking at symbols that mean nothing to me, to reading and speaking Chinese fluently. So far, it's not working out for me. I've been at it almost a month. So far all I can say is what people have taught me: hello, how are you, thank you, my name is Rachel, Doulos (it's something different in Chinese).

Next week I'm going to see Taiwan's Great Wall. I've never seen the Great Wall of China, so I can't compare the two. As far as size goes, Taiwan's wall is probably less great. But, as far as "wow, this is great!" goes, it could be more great. But, being that I will have only seen Taiwan's, I may never know...

* * * * *
Rachel