pungnaptoseong (풍납토성)

for half of the field trips with my school, we drive by these statues, and i always want to take photos...sooo, the weekend of my birthday, i did exactly that...they're really close to pungnaptoseong, which is the remains of what used to be a wall fortifying what eventually became seoul...

i can see pungnaptoseong from the windows in my flat, and the weather was wonderful, so why not go for a walk? i love setting up my camera and taking photos of myself with the timer...it's shallow, i know, but i love it, and do it all the time when i'm around something or somewhere i think is photoworthy...it's the whole "i want to prove i was actually there" mentality, i suppose...i don't have much to show for my life other than proof that i've been a whole lot of places...at least, more than most...

pungnaptoseong...as you can see, there isn't much left...and it must be mowed regularly...you can't walk up on it, only around it...so i decided to do so...the eternal hunt for the perfect photo i suppose...

mokpo (목포) and the end

from gwangju, we took a bus to mokpo (목포)...after the horrid experience the day before, we were understandably nervous, but this was a direct bus, and went straight to the bus terminal in mokpo...though it was a farther distance, the time involved was only 50 minutes...woo hoo!!! mokpo is a port city, on the southwest coast of the peninsula...there isn't a whole lot else going on there...
from the bus station, we took a taxi to the train station, and booked a train ticket back to gwangju the next day...(despite this bus ride being good, we were still nervous about another bus)...we found a love motel close to the train station (only 25,000 won, or about $22...you can't find anything that cheap in the states!!) and booked in...we used the tourist map, street signs and guidebook to get us to the ferry terminal...we figured there had to be some sort of ferry ride we could take just because...and there was...we didn't understand the information boards we could see, but there was a nice lady at information who told us what we could do...the next boat left almost immediately, but we wanted lunch, and that seemed more important...so we went to find lunch, only having to walk across the street...yay...sometime during lunch kim asked me why i kept eating the same food, she had noticed i ordered the same thing quite a few times during our trip...what can i say, i have no problem with repetitive eating:)
the next fery ride was two hours later, so we had some time to kill...we decided to walk along the coast, enjoying the water view, nice weather, and constant breeze...it was sunny, and there were quite a few men out fishing...the ferry ride itself was nothing spectacular, but it was enjoyable...just being out on a boat for a couple hours in calm water is great:)...some people got off at the islands, they were probably going to visit family...
after the ferry we followed the signs to the "mountain" in the middle of town...yudalsan...(유달산)...it's not really a mountain, more a hill...especially since you can drive right up almost to the top...it isn't a high mountain, but the views over the city are great...(though mokpo isn't particularly scenic)...a lovely place to be with lovely weather...up near the top is a statue of admiral yi sunshin...one of the most important military figures in korean history, it was in this area that he showed how much of a genius he is...a story which is related on information boards in at least three places...lol...we definitely had the idea after that...according to the sign, this was also the most "lively" statue of the guy in korea...i thought it looked just the same as the statue in seoul, but apparently, i'm wrong...on our way down the "mountain" we passed by a building that was eerily empty...it looked like a european building, not a typical korean building...behind the building was a gated tunnel, which seemed even more creepy, especially because we couldn't figure out what it was...a little further down we found a sign that said the building was the former japanese consulate...no wonder it was now totally deserted, with no attention drawn to the site...
in our search for dinner, we opted for a place that served lots of different types of mandu...(dumplings, like the well known polish pierogis)...the sign outside the restaurant said they had pizza mandu, among other options, but when we asked about those inside, we were told they weren't available...we sat and waited for quite a while for someone to come take our order...while waiting we counted at least four employees who looked directly at us, and were clearly aware that we were ready to order, but they seemed scared to come talk to the foreigners...when they did come take our order, we did it quickly, and in korean...
from there it was back to the hotel where i stayed up longer than i should've watching a bad american movie...kim went to sleep waaaay earlier than i did...
the next morning we got on the train back to gwangju...the train took longer than the bus! at the train station in gwangju we stored our bags in the lockers they have available, then got lunch...after lunch we decided to go see the one remaining 5.18 sight we hadn't seen...the 5.18 national cemetary...interestingly enough, the bus we took to get out to the cemetary was bus #518...as we looked at the route, we figured out we could've used this bus quite a bit during our first day in town...oh well...the cemetary was nice and quiet...we saw the old cemetary, as well as the new one...the old one was dug up and partly destroyed in the mid 80s when the military dictatorship running the country decided it wasn't good to have a cemetary devoted to those who had died in an uprising about democracy...i have no idea what happened to the bodies, but in 1994, the new cemetary project was started; it was completed in 1997...national cemetary designation came in 2002...the volunteer information lady told us there are over 600 bodies buried there...some of them died during and soon after the uprising, others who were involved are still alive, and will be buried there after they die...there are also a few graves of unknown folks, and a few graves devoted to those they know died back then, but they don't have the bodies...
we took the bus back into town, then took the ktx (bullet train again, yippee!!) back to seoul, arriving 3 hours later...a great trip!!!!!!!

gwangju (광주)

chuseok (추석) is a majour korean holiday...probably the biggest holiday of the year...its three days long, and follows a lunar schedule...(which can be good or bad, depending on the days of the week the holiday falls on)...this year it fell on a tuesday/wednesday/thursday, and i took the friday off as well...i taught that monday at school, or at least, i kept the kids entertained all day...only a little bit of what is normally done in the classroom actually happened, since some kids were missing, and i didn't want some classes to get ahead of others in their books...anywho...
tuesday i relaxed most of the day in my flat, watching the rain out the window...it poured...ALL DAY...after a while i got to wondering how the sky could possibly still have any more rain...that evening, i made my way over to kim's flat, she has two bedrooms...(the perks of being a teacher at an international school often include a higher housing allowance)...her flat is only a ten minute bus ride away from the train station we needed wednesday morning...she had spent her entire day working on lesson plans...YUCK...and unlike my lesson plans, which are done mostly for appearance, hers actually mean something...
we had decided to go to joellanam-do (저라남도) which can be translated as south joella province, the province farthest from seoul on the peninsula...neither one of us had been in that area before, and with the extra days, it made sense to explore while we could...as i read in the guidebook, that area of the country was once where political dissidents were sent as a form of exile...
wednesday morning we got up, caught the bus, and hopped on our train to gwangju (광주)...it was a ktx train, a bullet train...it goes around 300kms/hr, which makes korea really small!! three hours later, we arrived in gwanju...it seemed the rain had followed us, which wasn't so pleasant...just outside the train station was an information booth, so we grabbed a tourist map, and got in the taxi line...we took the taxi to the bus station, knowing that there would be plenty of love motels to be found...love motels don't have the greatest reputation, but both kim and i have always found them to be clean, and usually cheaper than any other option...plus you get cable tv, and sometimes a computer!!...we could've chosen a yeogwan (여관) near the train station, but we knew we'd need the buses to get around, hence the taxi ride...since we arrived around lunch time, both of us were hungry...we'd seen plenty of open restaurants in the bus station and train station, so we figured we'd find something relatively easily...but that definitely wasn't the case...it took around two hours of walking to find food!!! korea reeeeeeally closes up shop during this holiday...of the three days, the middle one is the BIG day, so there is even less open...while walking, we had started following signs toward a cultural center and 5.18 democracy plaza...

at one point, the plaza stopped appearing on the signs, it took us a long time to figure out why...the cultural center also didn't appear...while at lunch, i got out the tourist map, and it said that the cultural center wasn't supposed to be open until 2012!! since there was nothing about it not being open in the guidebook, we figured it was probably undergoing massive renovation...the plaza turned out to be the area around the culture center...oh well...

after lunch, we stopped at a memorial for the november 1929 student uprising...the students had rebelled against the japanese colonialists for the crappy treatment of koreans, crappy treatment of students, etc...during those years of colonialiazation, japan had forced the instruction in schools to be only in japanese, in fact it was illegal to speak korean at all...basically, japan had tried to take away korean identity completely...(on a side note, this history is not being taught in japan, so many younger japanese these days don't know, or understand why the koreans hate them so much)...the memorial is small, in a small garden area, next to the current high school, and next to a memorial hall...the hall was closed, but we figured it was probably a museum inside...

close to that monument was a subway stop (gwangju has a single subway line, stretching through the city, both kim and i wondered how much the subway is used on a regular basis) so we got on a train and took it to the convention center stop...the convention center looked to be the closest stop to a park we identified on the tourist map that seemed interesting...well, we though we had identified the parks...it took us a few minutes to figure out which exit we needed from the subway station, and then we started walking...the signs pointed to 5.18 liberty park, and we followed...at one intersection, the sign pointed right, but that seemed to be a residential street, (massive apartment complexes) so we kept walking...at the next intersection, we saw signs for 5.18 memorial park, (pointing straight) and 5.18 liberty park (pointing right)...needless to say, we didn't know there were two, or what the differences might be...so we turned right...almost immediately we saw what was clearly a park, and walked in...only it had absolutely nothing to do with 5.18...5.18 was the may 18th uprising in 1980...that's when the people rebelled against the military dictatorship that was running the country at the time (propped up and supported by the US government, which made us decide that the US government has no trouble supporting repressive governments, so long as they aren't communist) and the uprising was put down...harshly...this was the second majour uprising that had started in gwangju, and knowing that it had once been a place of exile for political dissidents, we weren't too surprised to find out that their posterity had also become political dissidents...the 5.18 uprising was put down by the military police, with force...some were killed in the fighting...many were arrested, and kept in the military police base in the city...they weren't even put in the regular jail...instead, in the mp station they were imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured...
as it turned out, the first park we found wasn't either of the 5.18 parks...it was called sangmu citizens park...a nice place for people to hang out...a couple fountains, sculptures in a wooded area, a pond, etc...but not what we were looking for...

we decided to follow the signs for the liberty park, with me still trying to figure out where either park was on the tourist map...finally, i did figure it out...that map wasn't at all clear! anywho, 5.18 liberty park ended up being more of a museum than anything else...it was the old military police station, kept as it was during the uprising...the rooms in the buildings are mostly empty now, but there are pictures of what happened in each area, and some of the rooms have mannequins dressed in appropriate clothing, demonstrating EXACTLY what happened...the signs outside each building also told what happened...rather bluntly...kim and i enjoyed learning what had happened, but we were the only ones wandering around, so that made it a bit creepy...since i had figured out the map, we decided that next we'd head to 5.18 memorial park...on the way, we stopped at a temple...a single building instead of an entire complex...it was simple, quite, and nice...and while we were there, there were quite a few people worshipping, with a monk leading prayers, so we didn't stay long...plus, the sun was starting to go down...we followed a lovely wooded path to 5.18 memorial park, which was basically a giant memorial to those who had been killed or otherwise involved in the uprising...a nice, open area

at that point, it was dark, and we were hungry...according to the map, it looked to be a straight, relatively short walk back to the bus station...we should've remembered that the tourist maps in this country are never done to scale, so you never know how far something is from another point on the map...our walk back to the bus station was at least half an hour, and we weren't walking slowly...dinner was at the bus station food court, since that was still one of the only places we knew would be open...at the end, i realized we'd probably walked about a half marathon...i've done that kind of walking before, i did it a lot during my trip...but kim hasn't...either way, both of us were tired, and went to bed not long after getting back to the motel...(i should point out that love motel names are often really cheesy...we were staying at the ritz:)...a good night sleep helped our bodies (especially our feet) recover...

in the guidebook i had read about a temple called (운주사) about 40kms outside gwangju, so our plan was to go the next day (thursday)...according to information, the bus we needed could be caught at the bus station, thankfully...it was only 40kms, but it took an hour and a half...the bus wasn't going slowly, but it did go through neighborhoods and make stops, as city buses are supposed to do...the temple itself is 600m down the road from the bus stop, in a small valley...
when the temple was first built, a long time ago, information says that there were 1000 pagodas, and 1000 buddhas...now, there are less than 80 left of each...the temple itself is a typical temple complex, a few buildings (that all look the same to me as just about any other temple in korea)...the nifty part is all the buddhas and pagodas that are around...they are all over the sides of the valley, and up on the hills...the whole area is beautiful, and in climbing up to see all the buddhas and pagodas, we were treated to some lovely views over the whole valley area...after seeing all that, it's now one of my favourite temples in korea...too bad it isn't closer to seoul...the bus ride back to seoul was awful...just awful...the driver was a petrol head, and always tried to avoid the speed bumps...this means he was always going faster than he should've been, slowing down suddenly at the last minute, and swerving around the ends of the speed bumps...kim and i were sooooooo sick by the time we got back to the city...the driver kept up the crazy driving even in the city, even with old folks and young children on the bus...despite the speed, we didn't get back any faster than we had gotten to the temple...i ended up dry heaving only a couple minutes after getting off the bus...it was AWFUL...
dinner that night was in a restaurant in a tunnel under the bus station, and we went for a walk later in the evening...a walk to nowhere in particular, but it was still nice to walk...gwangju is so much quieter than seoul!!!

lake chungju (충주호) and jochiwon (조치원)

Lake Chungju...a man made lake in the middle of korea...there aren't many lakes here, so it was nice to see...kim and i started our saturday morning early, meeting up at a bus station in seoul...not entirely surprisingly, i was running late, so she bought the tickets for the next bus, and i got there about five minutes before it left...we arrived in chungju faster than expected, and kim and i were both hungry, so while waiting for our friend heather to pick us up, kim and i went hunting for kimchi dumplings (김치만두)...we found them at a typically small korean restaurant...soooooooo good!! and sooooooooo many!!! AND, they were homemade...the weekend was already looking grand:)

After eating we made our way back to the bus station, meeting up with Heather, who had brought along her friend April.  Kim and i have known heather since the two of them worked together in 2007...heather now lives outside of seoul, teaches at a university, and has her own car!! woo hoo...heather having her own car allowed this entire weekend to happen...

our first stop was simply to look at the maps we'd picked up, and figure out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do...that's when these first few photos were taken, i couldn't get enough of the brightly coloured flowers:)

making our decisions took a little while, partly because we were also catching up with each other, and kim and i were talking to april for the first time...(april also lives outside seoul, and also teaches at a university, though a different one from heather)...we decided to drive to the ferry terminal, and see what we could figure out in terms of a tourist ride...unfortunately, the next ride would've involved waiting over an hour, which we didn't want to do..so, this is the ferry we would've taken:)

instead we drove back around the way we had come, stopping at this monument...i'm not entirely sure who it honours, but i love monuments, and with the awesome blue sky, how could i not take the photo?!?!

close to this monument we found a lookout sort of area, it was probably built as part of the damn...walking out  little way is beautiful, so of course i did the shallow thing and had my photo taken:)

since our ferry ride didn't work out, we decided to drive to a nearby national park and do a little bit of hiking...and we decided to take the scenic route...heather had a decent idea of where we were going, so the gps in her car had to reroute itself a couple times...howeva, at one point we ended up on a very very narrow road, one that probably wasn't meant to be used very often...and when i say narrow, i mean really narrow...at times it was just barely big enough for the car...needless to say, the road wasn't paved, and had big holes and rocks, so we weren't entirely sure whether we would make it back to a sealed road w/out some sort of car trouble...this is the road!!

notice how skinny that road is!!! even though we probably shouldn't have been on this road, we still had fun with it...heather kept apologizing to the rest of us, we just laughed it off...somehow or another, the gps still recognized the road!! a couple times we passed other vehicles (not very easily) and the looks on the faces of those drivers were priceless...they were shocked to see another car, and they were even more shocked when they realized it was a car full of foreign girls...hee hee...that road took us over a pass providing sweet views like this one...sure, we went where no foreigner had gone before, but i'm pretty sure no other foreigner has seen this view either:)

the road took us into an agricultural area, we noticed a whole LOT of apple trees...kim and i couldn't resist this picture:)

notice how the trees in the background have bags on each of the apples, while this one is "unbagged"...we figured it must have something to do with speeding up the ripening of the apples, and this tree had just been checked to see if the apples were ready...this photo doesn't show nearly how awesome those apples looked...amazing...

tons of food in korea is made with a spicy paste, though these chili peppers are the first i'd seen being grown in korea...

after driving for a while longer, we FINALLY got onto a sealed road...it took us around this corner of the lake, which we thought was gorgeous...

this seemed to be an area looking down on the lake a bit...when we walked up a little we could see quite a ways over the lake...the photo doesn't show how much we could see, because i couldn't figure out a way to prop up the camera closer to the edge...as it was, to get this photo, i climbed up on the car (heather said she didn't car!) and set up the mini tripod, directing the girls "take two steps left, nooo, move back that way, etc"...they laughed, but did what i said...at one point, while i was on the car, another car drove the other way, and we kept laughing at the looks on the faces of those in the other car...they must've thought i was crazy:)

after driving around for quite a while, we realized we hadn't found the part of the national park where we wanted to hike...argh...but we were really hungry, so that became our next adventure...trying to find food wasn't as easy as we thought it would be...to be fair, it was 1530, not exactly a common eating time...in the end, the four of us had dwinjungjiggae (된장지개) a yummy soup...served with lovely side dishes, it hit the spot...our parking spot was near this stream:)

in the parking lot was a tree already well on it's way to dropping it's leaves, and i loved the redness of the leaves...

since the hike didn't work out either, we decided to drive to suanbo (수안보) to try out their famous hot springs...(famous in korea anywho)...heather had heard of a hotel that had an outdoor hot pool so that's where we headed...we sat in the water long enough to be well and truly pickled, and it was wonderful...soooo relaxing...plus, there was a giant shower room, with shampoo and conditioner provided, so we were all super clean afterward as well...i would love to go back there in winter, when it's snowing...we were there while the sun went down, so just before leaving i took this photo of the city at night...

after the hot springs we drove april back to her flat, about 20 minutes away from heathers place...heather lives in a lovely 2 bedroom flat, and had said kim and i could stay the night...heather wanted to clean up a little bit, so heather and i went to a nearby family mart and picked up a couple snacks...heather had gotten out an air mattress by the time we got back, so it didn't take us long to get ready for sleep...even though we hadn't been super active during the day, we still felt like it was a day in which we had seen quite a bit, so we were all tired...kim and i didn't take long to fall asleep...kim is short, so she took the couch...i had the air mattress, and i'm pretty sure i hardly moved during the night:)

The next morning we got up slowly, and had breakfast slowly...chitchatting about anything and everything the whole time, as women do:)...kim and i packed up all our stuff, and heather gave us a little tour around jochiwon...near this temple is the mountain spring where heather gets her water...

these tombs are from the baekje dynasty...

in jochiwon there is a small reservoir, it only takes about 15-20 minutes to drive around the whole thing...the weather was overcast the day we drove around, but it could be a lovely little spot, a great place to relax...

we climbed up the ladder onto the second floor of this thing, the view over the lake was nice...it would be great to bring a blanket, some tea, and some snacks and hang out for an afternoon...

after driving around the lake, heather drove us to the train station...we got tickets for a train back to seoul, then went to two more places...one was a mart that sold lovely foods like chickpeas...i doubt many people would get as excited as i did, i'm such a dork...the next part was even better...a chocolate boutique!!! the chef/owner is korean, but lived in france for 10-15 years, training...so he knows his stuff...there wasn't a huge selection, but what was there was REALLY good...i REALLY want to go back!!!

then we got on the train, and rode back to seoul...a totally unexpected weekend, and i loved every minute of it..

running near the DMZ

a while ago i signed up for two half marathons near different areas of the korean DMZ..the first race took place in yanggu county, i think it was called the clean yanggu DMZ marathon, or something along those lines..since it was out of town, i asked my director to make sure there was a shuttle bus i could take to and from the race before i signed up, and there was..my shuttle left at 0600, and in order to get to the pickup spot, i had to catch the first subway possible..just so you know, that's at 0532..not exactly the time i want to be on the go on a sunday morning, but oh well..for quite a while i was the only foreigner on the bus, but just before we left another foreigner got on..the seat next to me was still empty (it would've been the last seat to fill up if the bus had been full) so she sat next to me..we had a lovely chat on the way to the race, at least until the road got curvy and we both got a bit bussick..i put my head down, she put her head back, and we both focused on not getting any worse..lauren is from south africa, and it turns out that another girl with her same name was also running the race..same given name and same family name!! about 2.5 hours after we left, the bus arrived at the race sight..the race was supposed to start at 0900, our bus didn't get there until 0840..i'm not one who ever likes to arrive long before the race, but 20 minutes was cutting it close..the parade area was covered with people, apparently most of the other buses had arrived quite a bit earlier...

i noticed lots of groups of people wearing the same clothes, so i guess it was quite the group event..many of the people wearing the same clothes were korean army soldiers in their pt uniforms..even before the races started (full, half, 10K and 5K) i felt sorry for them..it was muggy, and mesh shorts aren't optimal running shorts anywho..(not long into my race, every soldier i saw had stripped off the outer shirt and was running in just his base layer t-shirt..it was soooo muggy)..
there were the standard aerobic exercises before the gun sounded, and of course i skipped them..why on earth would i want to do aerobics before running a half marathon? the full marathon folks were called to the start line, and sent off..their course involved two out and backs..next up was me, with all the others running the half..they played a bit of def leppard's "pour some sugar on me" to get us excited..then the gun shot, and a military band took over..hee hee..
the course was out and back, which i don't particularly enjoy, though it is a standard of races here in korea..howeva, this course was a whole LOT more scenic than most courses i've run in korea..we ran through several checkpoints manned by soldiers, and past the army barracks..i noticed quite a few folks watching us out their windows..after that everything got really pretty..i could see a river on my right, and rock/hill/trees/bush on my left..most of the time there was barbed wire strung on my right, hung with signs warning of mines every 2m or so..that was a bit surreal..this was definitely NOT a course to step off anywhere if you needed to use the loo..just after the turnaround for the 10K runners, the road turned into an unsealed road..not so fun, but not awful either..at one point i ran through a bridge that was likely loaded with mines/dynamite that could be blown if the north ever decides to invade through this area..it was painted a bright army camouflage, if that makes any sense at all...just before the turnaround for the half marathon i passed the turnaround for the full marathon, and remembered thinking that wasn't very nice...after that the hills started...not huge, but they were definitely hills, and i definitely wasn't ready!! even as i ran down the first one, my thoughts were only that i'd have to come back and run up to finish the race...there were probably three or four hills, which i of course had to run the other way after turning around...

at some point during the second half of the race my ipod died...ugh...i had forgotten to charge it the night before, so it didn't have a full charge when i started the race...i tucked it into my sports bra and kept running...i might've actually run faster after that, as i didn't have anything to keep myself amused...then, to make everything even more entertaining, it started raining...not hard, but there was definitely precipitation...it got a little heavier, then lightened up, got heavier, then lightened up...it never got that bad while i was running, thank goodness...though between that and the sweat, i was soaked...about 2km from the finish, i was passed by the leader of the marathon...in other words, he had run nearly twice as far, twice as fast...yeah, that didn't make me feel so good...hee hee...the end of the race was awesome...the course took us through a small tunnel, past a tank or two, and past more soldiers on duty...it was by far my slowest EVER half marathon...i'm not at all fast, but this was bad, even for me...
post race goodies were pretty much the same as always, though i did have the option of a couple cups of beer...had i been able, i would've partaken...the finishers "medal" was fantastic...definitely the most unique i've seen at any race...they made fake dog tags!! the downside to running a race out of town, and relying on shuttles is having to wait for a long time after finishing...sooo, we waited...at some point after i finished, the rain started in earnest...a total downpour...and it stayed that way for the next couple hours at the very least...there was a small pavilion area that had been used as the stage, thankfully it was covered...a bunch of us were hanging out under there, feeling sorry for all the people working the race, who had to be out in the mud...the marathoners who finished in the downpour were all laughing...why not?
the bus ride back from this race took four hours, due to traffic...yuck...that wasn't so fun...

the second race i ran was called the DMZ international peace marathon...it involved another shuttle, this one leaving at 0530...fortunately, this one left from the majour intersection where i live, so i didnt have to get up any earlier...5 o'clock is plenty early!!! the bus arrived plenty early, i had a lot of time to kill...almost two hours!! for a 9 o'clock race the bus arrived around 0715...even as we arrived, not all the tents and such were set up...so early...everything was also soggy, as it had been raining quite a bit the night before...i was thrilled it wasn't raining anymore, but the ground was totally waterlogged...so walking around in the staging area wasn't fun, as you ended up with wet shoes and socks...
the race started with another korean military band, as well as coloured fireworks:)...the route on this one was a loop, which i love...we ran on a sealed road the entire time, and from time to time there were people out cheering for the runners...good times...instead of running in a gorge this course was in a wide open area...lots of pretty flowers lining the roads, and farmers fields growing...the first water station wasn't until the 5K mark, which i thought was a bit too long, and i was quite thirsty...at that point, i had watched each of the kilometer markers go by, without water, and i was sooooo ready for water...anywho, after that, they appeared every 2.5 or 3K, which was great...at one point i even grabbed a couple choco pies...YUM!!! normally i don't eat those during a race, but i was tired of bananas, which were also available...
at the halfway point or so, my left hip flexor started making it's unhappiness known...i don't know why it tightened up, but it did...oddly enough, it was less comfortable to walk than it was to keep a slow run...around the 15K mark, there was a shower of sorts stretched over the road...the sun hadn't come out for most of the day (which thrilled me, as the weather was nearly ideal for me) but it was still a little warm, so the brief shower felt good...my hip wasn't getting any better...by the end of the race, it was just something i was tolerating...i wanted to get off my feet, and lay down...
my official time wasn't that great, but at least it was back to the times i'd been running in may...thank goodness...i can't wait until the weather really cools down, as i feel like i'll be a whole lot faster...cold weather works so much better for me...
upon finishing, i waited at the finish line because i knew my friend anina was coming in shortly after me...this was her first official half marathon, though she had run one as a practice run a month or two before...her training hadn't been good toward the end, and her knee was causing some pain, so before the race she was extremely worried about finishing before the time cutoff...needless to say, she had no worries on that issue...anina rocked, i was soooo happy for her...another friend, gina, had intended to run anina in, and had started running toward anina just as i was finishing...in other words, she didn't really get a chance to run her in, as anina was far ahead of where she had expected to be at that point...gina is awesome, and had finished the race just a little under an hour ahead of me...she's fast...plus, she's beautiful, and nice...one of the girls you want to hate, but you can't because she's so awesome...anywho...
after finishing, we headed straight for a pool to soak our legs...anina had seen a few foreigners doing it the year before...i climbed in, and it felt good...a bit chilly, but nice:)...the three of us (plus anina's husband phil, who is also awesome) ended up talking to cody (or was it colin?) who had just finished his first ever half marathon, having come up from mokpo (목포) for the race...at some point a couple korean guys walked by, and seeing gina stretching, one of them had grabbed her leg and pushed it a bit...not surprisingly, that was a bit creepy...but he was just trying to be nice...he had just finished his first ever half as well, and was pretty happy...(gina was faster than him, but she never mentioned her time:)
after that, we walked over to the bag check area, where i realized that my bag check number had fallen off my bib number somehow, and i hadn't memorized the number...so all of us started searching for my bag...it sounds like an easy thing to do, but there were thousands to see, and every bag was inside a white plastic bag, making the whole thing much more difficult...eventually, by pure luck, i saw my bag...thank goodness!! the ground was soggy, so a lot of the bags had gotten a bit wet...so had mine...a friend of gina and anina's had skipped the race, but sent her timer chip with them, so they turned that in, and picked up her medal and food bag...hee hee...the medal was so so...the food bag included a box of energy drinks (which, more than two weeks later, i still haven't gotten around to drinking) a banana (which had gotten smushed) and something else...near the bag check area there were a couple tents set up handing out hot food!!! bibimbap!!! (비빔밥)...basically rice, veggies, spicy pepper paste, and meat if you wanted it...the four of us went over to another fountain (this one wasn't on) and sat down to eat...there were people camped out eating all over...good food, good conversation, great people...
the best part was at the end...this might be my favourite race for one reason: FREE MASSAGE!!! somehow the race organizers had gotten a bunch of massage students to give free massages..we got in line when it wasn't too long anymore, and the massages were great...gina and anina liked theirs so much they got back in line and had another:)...i was a little sore from the massage the next day, but it was well worth it...plus the guy who did my massage spoke english well, and was funny...he wanted to set me up with his boss...lol...
the bus ride home was fast, and i was back in seoul around 5...a great day...

i've never seen any other place/race organization that can match koreans in terms of putting on a good race...they send out race packets a week or two ahead, along with the race souvenir...shuttle buses are usually provided if the race is out of seoul...there is always a finishers medal, and a bag of food after the race...LOVE IT!!!

templing taipei

soon after i arrived in taiwan, ben told me there are more temples per capita in taiwan than anywhere else..now that the holiday is over, i'm very much inclined to agree..there are temples EVERYWHERE!! at times it seemed as though i saw a new temple everytime i turned my head..at least in taiwan they're really colourful, often with really intricate designs and decorations..then again, if i lived in taiwan, i'd probably get tired of them in taiwan as well...
after saying goodbye to ben on the hsr, i continued to taipei..it was nice that the train comes into taipei main station and that i had been there before, so i knew where to go for the hostel i wanted..lonely planet maps are often VERY confusing, and i'm not sure i could've found the hostel w/out having known ahead of time where to exit the station...there are lots and lots and lots of exits, and the hostel isn't on a main street..since i arrived just after noon, the hostel had a bed for me, and i was good to go..since i arrived just after noon, it was also blazing hot, so i stayed in for a couple hours, reading and relaxing..
while reading and relaxing, i spent some time looking at the taipei section of the guidebook, and figured out a few things i wanted to see around the city..
my first project was finding the post office to mail off a letter to my sister..according to the map it was straight out of one side of the bus/train station..the hard part was finding the right exit, and walking in the right direction after exiting..that was probably the least recognizable main post office i've ever seen..at least the people inside were really nice..
the first sight ended up being the chiang kai shek memorial..i walked there, it wasn't far..a couple subway stops, but that wasn't necessary, i walked it..(again, the most difficult part was figuring out which direction i needed to walk in after finding the right exit out of the subway/bus station)..according to the guidebook, it looked like the memorial was a bit back off the street, and i was worried about seeing it...it turns out i needn't have worried...the entire complex is surrounded by a big white wall with a blue top..the entrance area has a huge gate, which i think is called the taiwan democracy memorial..given that chiang kai shek was anything but democratic, it's ironic that the two are so close together..the middle of the complex is a wide open flat space..(broken up only by a giant flag pole in the middle)..on one side is the national theater, and i've forgotten what the fancy building on the other side is..(they look the same)..toward the back, in the middle is the chiang kai shek memorial..it's another building with a blue roof, the outside is painted white..it's round-ish..you walk up a couple flights of stairs outside, into a room with a giant statue of chiang kai shek..is it bad to say that i found the ceiling more interesting than the statue? inside the room i saw entrances to two stairwells, and saw a few people going down..i didn't know what was down there, but figured i should find out..it turns out the stairs go all the way down to the first floor (the statue is on the 4th floor) where they have pictures and items related to the life of cks..there are a couple armoured cars that drove him around, medals he received, former flags of the republic of china, etc..i'm a geek, i like seeing that sort of stuff..
after making my way out of the memorial and looking at the map in the guidebook, it looked as though there was a teample fairly close, so that's where i headed..for once, the map was accurate, and easy to follow..the temple wasn't so easy to find, as it is on a busy street, and the entrance isn't big..another taiwanese temple..fancy, colourful, intricate and a few people worshipping..
from there i walked through a designated shopping area..mainly just to see what was there..street vendors caught my attention (food always catches my attention:) and i bought mangoes and watermelon..YUM..not long after the fruit purchase, the rain started..not too badly at first, but then it started pouring..thankfully, many of taipei's sidewalks are under overhangs, so i was able to walk a little while and not get too wet..but there came a point when it wasn't possible anymore to walk w/out going out in the POURING rain..so i sat near a store for 10-15 minutes..just watching people, eating my fruit..eventually, the rain let up enough that i was able to walk across the street w/out getting totally soaked..i made my way under more overhangs, eventually back to taipei main station, where i went underground..underground all the way to the correct exit out of the bus station, and back to the hostel..lots of stairs, turns, etc..it would be easy to get lost under there foreva!!
i met interesting people in the hostel that night, just hanging out in the lounge..
and that night was when i began to wonder if the hostel is ever truly full..i heard the owner guy tell more than one person that there weren't any beds left, but in my room i was the only one sleeping in my bunk bed..and the other two folks in my room were the only ones sleeping in their bunk beds..so my room alone could've held 3 more people..not that i minded having just the three of us in there..
the next morning i got up and made my way back to the mrt station..i took a train to the suburb/town of danshui..it sounded like a nifty day trip..an easy subway trip, out to the end of the line..(and i met fun locals on the train)..
danshui wasn't what i expected..there were two forts i wanted to see, so i walked..and walked...and walked...(not that far, but in that heat it felt far!)..the first was more camouflaged, and near a shrine, which i also checked out..the fort was hidden in the sense that invaders/attackers wouldn't have been able to see it easily..they would've been almost upon it before they would've seen it, and by that point they would've been in trouble..the walls are redic thick..not very big, it was really only one big square with a courtyard in the middle..
from there i walked back toward the train station, and stopped at another fort..fort san domingo...this one was a bit more interesting, but still very small...it was actually mostly the residence of the british consul in taiwan for a long time, so you get to see the house where they lived, and worked..the rooms didn't have any furniture in them, only displays talking about the history of the area, who had attacked who, and lived where, and defended when..nifty information, but a LOT of information..i'm probably one of the only people they've ever had who actually read everything..what can i say, i'm a geek..i tried to climb up onto a wall to get a good photo but the lady watching the facility immediately told me no...boo hoo..
from there i stopped at starbucks..i needed calories, sugar, and liquid..i know starbucks is an evil international company, buuuuut...
then i started looking for temples..in dansui the temples were all relatively small..still and complicated and fancy as ever though..one of them was quite difficult to find, hidden in a market with only a small entrance to be seen..the guidebook always talks about different aspects of each temple that are unique, but they never seem different to me..i love them, but i don't see big differences..the last temple i wanted to see was close to the train station, and completely deserted..i love those kinds of temples..
from there i went back to taipei on the train, i can't say enough about how fabulous public transportation is..taipei has a particularly easy and convenient system..
i decided to go see two majour temples, one of which was the confucious temple..it was one of the quietest temples i saw in all of taiwan..across the street from that one were two more, both of which i enjoyed as well..i left the last one as night was falling, so the lights were on everywhere..i'm such a sucker for night lights in a big city..dinner that night was at another street market, and it was FANTASTIC..
the next day i was a bit slow in getting started with my day..no reason in particular, but i didn't make it out the door of the hostel until after 11 in the morning..ooops..my first stop was the memorial for sun yat sen, who is regarded as the founder of modern china by almost everyone, even those who otherwise disagree politically..sun yat sen spent a lot of time with chiang kai shek, hence the memorial on taiwan, despite his actual tomb being just outside nanjing, china..the memorial wasn't anything special (another big room with a big statue of the guy) but i enjoyed the changing of the guards, a ceremony with happens every hour..it looked as if there were sailors, air force folks and soldiers in the ceremony, but i don't really know..high stepping, everything choreographed with great precision, etc..nifty..of more interest to me were the groups gathered outside the memorial..there was a rifle group practicing a routine (to the britney spear song "toxic"..!) and some old folks doing tai chi, and another group in yellow shirts doing i don't know what..it seemed to be a popular place for groups to get together..from there i spent the rest of the day wandering around temples..there are TONS of them in taipei..i made my original choices based on what sounded interesting in the guidebook, and what would be easiest to find using public transport..taipei not only has great public transport, but outside of the exits to most subway stations are maps showing whateva is nearby..schools, temples, historical sites, majour stores, etc..using those maps i found temples not listed in the book..and those temples were all better than those listed in the book!! the one that was highly recommended in the book was super crowded, and i thought it wasn't anything spectacular..but there was one two streets down that was awesome..three levels!!! fantastic..
after dinner in yet another street market that night i decided to splurge on a foot massage..my lower leg was still super scratched up from my fall in hualien, so i didn't envy the guy who had to work around the giant scab..anywho, he did a great job, and i did not want to get up and walk back to the hostel..
my last day in taipei was rather bland..i got up late, packed up, walked out the door late, and walked back to the chiang kai shek memorial to get postcards..i didn't get as many as i wanted, but i did get what most people would consider WAAAAAAAAAY too many postcards..(more evidence that i'm really just a geek)
after picking up my stuff at the hostel i took the hsr back to the airport and flew back to seoul..the flight went just as well on the way back..i was sad to leave taiwan, in many ways i like it better than i like korea..but oh well..someday i'll get back to see more..maybe..

hualien, hiking, rain and falling

from taipei main station ben and i took a train to a town called hualien..the trip was three hours, and both of us planned to sleep heavily..ben slept a lot better than i did..considering i'd been awake all night i thought it would be no problem to pass out..but i couldn't stay asleep for more than 20 minutes at a time..ugh..
anywho, we arrived in hualien, and made our way to a hostel ben knew, he'd visited hualien once before for a party..there was no one to be seen anywhere in the lounge, but ben knew where the beds were..so we walked into the dorms, found a couple empty beds, and went to sleep..again, i thought i would sleep a whole lot more than i did..i only slept a couple hours, but ben managed to get a good five hours of sleep..after a while the owner of the hostel found us, and asked if we were the couple who had come in earlier..of course we were..she said we could move beds (she indicated to beds that had been pushed together, and each bed had a heart pillow on it) as soon as they put new linens on all the beds in the dorms..i told her we weren't a couple in that sense, but i'm not sure she believed me..anywho, we went down and hung out in the lounge for an hour or so while the beds were all being made, then went back up and slept again..well, ben slept again..i just read and wrote part of a letter..
later in the afternoon, i convinced ben to go for a walk..being the guidebook geek that i am, and feeling sluggish since we hadn't done anything all day, i thought we could go find a temple or shrine or something..so we did..we also walked along the river a bit, enjoying the scenery, and continuing to compare teaching stories..we also found a yummy place for dinner..
after dinner we went back to the hostel, where we met a lady who was in taiwan visiting her daughter..since her daughter hadn't been able to take much time off, the mom had opted to travel a bit by herself..the lady had lived in korea in 1985, a time VERY different from now..she had lived in korea when the government was still a dictatorship, and the people didn't have nearly the freedom they do now..it sounds crazy, but at that point south korea wasn't much better off than north korea..it was fun for me to hear what she had to say..not surprisingly, ben and i went to bed early that night..and slept the whole night through..
the next morning we got up and had breakfast nearby..then walked back to the train station, and found a place that would let us rent a scooter..neither one of us had an international drivers license, and most of the rental places in town want one, but we got lucky..the place we found asked if we had scooter experience in taiwan, and ben told her he lives and drives in hsinchu..so we were good to go..
unfortunately, it was raining..ugh..but every 7-11 in taiwan sells cheap plastic ponchos, so that took care of that problem..at times the rain was gusting rather strongly, but ben seemed to have no problems in handling the scooter..the drive from hualien to taroko national park took about 40 minutes..a pretty drive..we arrived at the park easily enough, found the information center, and figured out what to do..there were a couple hikes that sounded interesting, and we intended to drive the scooter all the way through taroko gorge..taroko gorge is supposed to be one of taiwan's crown jewels..and it is really pretty..neither ben nor i was particularly stunned by it's beauty, but we figured both of us are jaded travelers..(him more so than me)..we both found the place beautiful, just not stunning..not like the way the guidebook described the beauty..part of that was also due to the overcast weather..when the rain did let up it was still a white sky..the hikes that most interested us were both closed due to rock falls:(..halfway through the gorge is a little town that pretty much exists only to serve the tourists who come to the gorge..there was a post office, three restaurants, a carpark, and i've forgotten what else..we picked three things off the menu and shared them..the only noteworthy item was stinky tofu..i eat a lot of tofu in korea, and i like it, so i was keen to try to the stinky tofu..it did indeed stink, but the taste wasn't near as bad as the smell..since that's one of the foods for which taiwan is most known, i was excited to have it..
after lunch we climbed up to a temple and took more photos..(that was one thing we had been doing all the way through the gorge, stopping the scooter and taking photos)..after lunch we looked for the beginning to the hike we wanted to try, but didn't see it, and ended up driving much farther than we had intended..that didn't bother us, as we ended up driving quite a bit up, and therefore had some nifty views..then it was time to go back down and back through the gorge to go back to hualien..just before exiting the park we checked out the shrine of the eternal spring, and another smaller shrine in a cave..(don't remember the name)..right around this time it started to rain again, yippee..the ponchos went back on, and we were good to go..along the way back we stopped at 7-11 for coffee and a snack..(i had a smoothie, ben had some starbucksy sort of drink, though a taiwanese brand)..
as we arrived back in hualien we stopped by the train station and checked out times for the next day, we had decided to move on to go hiking..from the train station, we figured out how to get to the "beach"..it was labeled as a beach in my guidebook, but let me tell you, it wasn't a normal beach..it was a shoreline, with a small park, and a small nightmarket, and an area with carnival type games..as we walked along the beach, ben pointed out the wave breakers to me..they are large, cement, x-shaped objects that are put in the water to break the massive waves that come during typhoon season..apparently, if those aren't in the water, the waves do even more damage..taiwan (especially the east coast) gets hit with several massive typhoons each year, they've all figured out how to deal with the destruction..there was a giant statue of matsu, the goddess of the sea in a grassy area, and a stadium of some kind..the stadium looked like it hadn't been used in quite a while..it was during this part of walking around that i was the cause of a bike crash..guys on two different bikes were checking me out and crashed into each other!! hee hee..i wasn't paying attention, but ben saw it happen..awesome..farther along, we found some of those breakers on the beach..me being me, i wanted to climb them and take a photo..so i did..then ben did the same..i decided i liked his photo better, and wanted one for myself, so i began to climb up again..but i fell..i should mention that these wave breakers were rather slippery, from mold and such..ben was picking up the camera as i felt myself start to fall, and he watched the end of the fall..i ended up landing flat on my back on one of the breakers, and scraping one of my legs pretty badly..it could've been a whole lot worse than it was, though with the blood pouring out of my fingers, it certainly looked rather icky..ben isn't the type to lose his cool unless that's needed, so he remained calm..while my fall wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been, i ended up in a rather awkward position, and ben had to lift me out of it..hee hee..from there we walked to a bathroom, where i was able to clean off my leg..at that point i figured nothing was all the bad, but it would sting a heck of a lot for a little while, and i wouldn't be sleeping on my tummy anytime soon..oh well..we wandered around the night market/game area, and opted to have dinner there..steak, spaghetti, and a sunnyside up egg on a hot plate..YUM!!! i couldn't eat the whole thing, but at that point, it was exactly what i wanted..and cheap!! less than $4USD!!
from there we went back to the hostel, and again, i went to bed early..the next morning we got up and used the scooter one last time..(it was a 24 hour rental)..ben had heard about a breakfast place called country mother that supposedly had great breakfast burritos..we both ended up getting quesadillas, and those were good too..pretty much everything on the menu looked good to me..and the portion sizes were big too..
then it was back to the hostel, check out, drive to the train station and return the scooter, buy train tickets, and hop on..we took a main train most of the way, then transferred to a little local train..we got off the second train in a town called daxi, which is known to surfers..(or so i'm told)..daxi was where we planned to start hiking the caoling trail..it's a trail that was originally built in the 1800s, as an easier way for locals to get from one town to another in that area of taiwan..within the past decade, the taiwanese government has built another trail as an add-on, making the full trail a total of 16km..the guidebook described it as strenuous in areas, with lots of beautiful views along grassy bluffs..we found the start of the trail, and started climbing..and climbed, and climbed..the first 2.7km of the trail was straight up stairs..it was during this climb that i began to think the guidebook author hadn't actually done the hike himself..i know i'm WAY out of shape, but geesh..ben had to wait for me a lot, i felt bad..since taiwan is semi tropical, and july is one of the wettest months of the year, it felt like we were hiking through a rain forest..so humid..while taking photos i realized i looked as though i had just gotten out of a shower with all my clothes on..whoops..anywho..we finally reached the grassy bluffs, from which the views were indeed awesome..i don't know that i had had any expectations for the hike, but ben was far more impressed than he had expected to be..we both loved it..at one point, we saw some water buffalo, and started taking photos..the water buffalo behaved the same way most cows do..they watched us..they didn't blink, or turn away..at one point, one came over to us, and we got the idea that he/she wanted us to leave..so we did..we didn't go nearly as fast on this hike as expected, and were constantly confused as to where we were on the trail..there were plenty of signs at the beginning, but at that point we hadn't seen one in a while, and we were wondering how much longer we had to go, since sundown was going to happen pretty soon..we stopped and had dinner, and watched clouds pour over the lower bluffs, and start to obstruct every view..at that point, the trail started going down, so we ended up in the clouds, not able to see much more than a few steps in front of us..finally, we came to a spot where we had to choose where to go..either go down, and get to the town of dali, and catch a train..or, continue for 7km longer, and end up in the town of fulong..it was nearly dark by that point, so we headed down..on the way down (down more stupid stairs) both of us slipped and slid regularly..finally, ben and i made a bet..the first one to fall had to buy the other a drink..both of us continued to slip and slide, but after a while, naturally, i was the first to fall..it was a slow fall, one of those when it seems like it takes foreva, but you can't stop it..we kept the bet going, of course..after a little while longer we started talking about what the exact definition of a fall was..go figure, while in the middle of this discussion, i fell..wiped out, landed on the edge of a stair, on my butt, and knew i'd have a massive bruise on my arse..that was a fast fall, i was down before i knew what was happening..both of us burst out laughing, i stood up, and we continued going down..fortunately, i didn't fall anymore..unfortunately, ben didn't fall either, so i ended up owing him two drinks..argh..at the very bottom we found a temple that was all lit up by running christmas lights..really pretty i thought, and i wish i was able to hold my camera still while taking night photos..many photos later, we made our way to the train station, where we caught the next train to taipei..and from taipei we took the hsr back to hsinchu..we could've taken a bus, as it would've been cheaper, but it also would've taken an hour longer, and we just wanted to be back..my clothes were still soaked with sweat, and i was cold..
we finally got back to hsinchu, and got to where ben's scooter was parked..also parked there was james' scooter..it turned out that because we had james' bag, (it had been stored with the rest of our stuff while we were at the rave, and we'd been carrying it with us ever since) we also had the key to his scooter..so i drove that back..i was nervous, of course, but we made it w/out trouble..after getting home, we found out that james had made deviled eggs..james has gone to culinary school, and worked as a chef for several years, so the eggs were GOOD..
the next day we took it easy..ben was taking off for three weeks in china the day after that, and someone was going to rent his room while he was gone, so he had some cleaning to do..he had a whole list of stuff to do, so i read, wrote part of a letter, and napped until early afternoon..both of us did laundry..
mid afternoon, we collected james, and ben led the way (on scooters, of course) to a nearby lake with a suspension bridge..it's a reservoir, so we weren't able to go swimming..there were a few locals hanging out, taking photos with each other..we didn't stay long, but it was nifty to see..while we were on the bridge, it got really windy, which was interesting to experience on a suspension bridge..from the lake we drove to a temple..it was actually one temple on top of another..from the lower temple we walked up to the upper temple by going up stairs through a dragon..neither temple was super different from any other temple i'd seen already in taiwan, but every temple in taiwan is much more colourful than any temple in korea, so i love them all..a few photos later, ben and i headed to rt mart (james went home) as he needed to find a murse (man purse) to take with him to china..i found toothpaste and double stuff oreos..rt mart is basically taiwan's walmart..from there we went back home..as it was ben's last night in hsinchu for a month, he got a few people to go out for a couple drinks..he met up with a chinese friend a little earlier, and left me at home..james then drove me a little later when everyone else showed up..i paid my dues, and bought ben his drinks:)..the first bar catered mostly to foreigners, and then we went to another bar which was more typically taiwanese..we had our own private room..the girls (morgi and mari) had lychee beer while the boys went for taiwan beer and beer chiang..i had water:)..ben called it a night around 2300, and everyone went home..
the next morning we woke up slowly, and packed up..then we were driven to the hsr station..ben got off at the airport, i rode all the way to taipei main station..

hsinchu and the gods...and ben

even though i knew when my summer holidays would be, i didn't get around to booking tickets to go anywhere until the month i left!! i ended up deciding on taiwan, for a couple reasons..one, because it is close to korea, and two, because my friend ben lives there..i've known ben since we both lived in garmisch at the same time, have traveled with him before, and he said there was another gapper as his neighbor in taiwan..i looked at lots of different ticket finding web sites, each saying they could find the cheapest tickets, the cheapest were actually to be found on the airline web site!! go figure..
the most recent lonely planet guide to taiwan was published in november 2007, which means the research was done most likely in the first six months of that year..taiwan has changed quite a bit (at least in terms of infrastructure) during that time..
while i was waiting in line for immigration at taoyuan international airport, a couple ladies in official uniforms came up to me and asked if i would be willing to participate in training drug dogs..i said yes, and they put a cloth that must've had a particular smell to the trainee dogs in my pocket..i was told to stand in line naturally, while they brought the dog through the area..if the dog smelled the cloth it would sit next to me..and it did..the people behind me in line hadn't been there when the officials asked me, so they were surprised at what happened, and joked that i shouldn't carry doggie treats in my pockets..
getting through the rest of the airport was a breeze..the airport is definitely under renovation/construction, so it seems kinda dark/dingy right now, but oh well..the guidebook said the hsr (high speed rail, otherwise known as a bullet train) didn't go to hsinchu, but according to ben, it did, and i knew he had far more current information..i asked the nice ladies at the information desk how to get to the hsr station, and they gave me directions to the bus company desk that would get me to the station..30 taiwan dollars ($1USD = (approximately) 32NT) later i arrived at taoyuan hsr station..$125NT and 13 minutes later i arrived at hsinchu hsr station..like many of the english teachers in hsinchu, ben has a scooter, and he picked me up with it at the station..it was only out in the sun for a few minutes, but when we came back out from the station, the seat on the scooter was hot hot hot!! ben knew where he was going, and we drove to his housing arrangement..but first we stopped off for lunch, in a small restaurant he said he frequents that has good noodles..yum:)
ben told me ahead of time that hsinchu isn't a very interesting place, that it doesn't have as much typical taiwanese culture..there is a science and engineering "park" there, where quite a few companies have offices, and maybe factories? driving through there (as ben lives toward the back of the area) felt like driving through a business district in any town in the states..ben lives in a complex that operates much like a hostel, only there aren't any dorm rooms..people rent rooms monthly, so he didn't have to sign a year long contract when he moved in..he lives in a studio type room, has his own bathroom, and shares a community kitchen with others living in his building..it's not a bad setup..ben also told me ahead of time that a guy who had also lived in garmisch (overlapping with me by a few months though we never met) also lived in this complex so we tried to go see him..but james was severely hungover from the night before..lol..instead, we got back on the scooter, and ben said he would show me around town..he didn't think it would take long, telling me again that hsinchu is boring and there isn't anything to see/do..not too long after we got into the downtown area, we noticed traffic getting a bit crazy, and we could hear fireworks going off..when traffic got bad enough that we weren't moving anymore, ben pulled the scooter over, and parked it on the sidewalk..(along with tons of others)..we figured it would be easier to see what was happening if we could run around..at the first intersection we came to, people were setting off fireworks..nothing big, just the ones that whistle, and put out a lot of smoke..after getting through the intersection i was nearly deaf, and the smoke was awful..thankfully the wind was blowing..we kept following the parade, and finally saw the gods..ben said he had heard that occasionally the gods are taken for a walk, and it seemed that we had been lucky enough to see it happen..the gods are really big costumes put over the heads of men..the men then walk along for a little while, before they trade places with someone else..i'm guessing it's pretty toasty inside the costumes..it was funny to see sneakers coming out the bottom of each "god"..we were able to walk faster than the parade was going, so soon we moved up and kept finding more people..there were drummers, guys riding in trucks with gods in the bed of the truck, etc..nifty stuff..there seemed to be several groups of gods as well..each time ben and i thought we had circled around to the same place in the parade we realized we were seeing different gods from what we'd already seen..after a while we figured we'd had enough..after wandering through a food market, we hopped back on the bike, and been took me to what he called a country club..i don't know what it is really called, but in a lot of ways, it did seem like a country club..a couple of his friends were lounging around the pool, so we joined them..getting in the water felt fantastic, as the weather was soooooo hot and humid..from the pool we went home, and hopped in the shower..
a week or two before i arrived, ben had asked if i wanted to go to a massive rave with him..even though it's not my normal cup of tea, i figured why not..that was scheduled to happen the first night i was there, it was called the white party..obviously, you had to wear white..and there were supposed to be thousands of people there..after cleaning up, we met up with james, the guy who had previously lived in garmisch..james and i figured out that we had overlapped by a couple months, but hadn't ever met..fun to catch up with someone who lived in the same place as you, and knows a lot of the same people..anywho..james, ben and i drove to a bus station and caught a bus to taipei..we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes for the bus to leave, yahoo!! the bus took us to taipei main station, which is a giant transportation hub in the middle of the city..two subway lines come together there, lots of buses end/begin there, and the hsr goes there..at this point ben, james and i had been hoping to get hostel beds for the night, since it was going to be super late in the morning by the time the party was over..unfortunately, the hostel ben knew, (the cheapest hostel in taipei) was full..at least, that's what the guy said..while we were trying to figure out where to stay, ben and james were getting texts from mari, who had just arrived at taipei main station, she had taken the hsr from hsinchu..the three of us went to find her at the station, which took a lot longer than anyone expected..the station is pretty big, and to get from the hsr station to the bus station involves going through a lot of stuff underground..it's confusing, to say the least..then we went back to the hostel (which was only a 5 minute walk) to preparty and continue figuring out the sleeping situation..after a while, it became clear that hostel beds weren't going to be easy to find, and they would be over $20USD..which seemed ridiculous, especially since we wouldn't have been going to sleep until sunrise or so..in the end, james ben and i decided to go to the rave with our bags, and find a way to store them there..that was an adventure in itself..
the party was held in a conference center near the base of taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world..nifty..i was amazed when we walked in, just seeing all those people (5-10,000) all in white..i attempted to make a meeting time/place for ben, james and i, but that didn't happen..and i knew i would lose ben, as he has ADD when it comes to partying..since i knew where we had stored our bags (james didn't know, and ben had already been drinking) i figured i would just wait for the boys there..two djs split the night, and kept the music going the whole night..fun times..it didn't bother me that i completely lost everyone i had arrived with, i knew eventually things would work out..plus, i was sober..i danced the night away, moving around a bit myself..when 4 o'clock rolled around, and the party was over, i realized i was completely knackered..i can't remember the last time i voluntarily stayed up all night! maybe when i lived in germany? anywho, i went to the security guard booth at the carpark where ben and i had left our stuff (along with james' stuff) and decided to wait..0445 came, and still no ben..i got a bit creeped out by the REALLY DRUNK guy who decided to sit next to me and try to make conversation..three problems: one, i could smell him from 2 meters away..WAAAAAY too much alcohol..two, english wasn't his first language, and in his condition, he wasn't able to say more than ma'am, and beautiful..three, he moved where he was sitting so he could sit across from me and look at me directly..after realizing he wasn't going to go away, i stood up with all our stuff, and went walking..i found a foreigner who let me use his mobile phone and called ben..ben was passed out on a bench in a small park somewhere, and didn't know the answer to "where are you?"..ooops..fortunately, he was able to come to where i was, and we figured out a new plan..
we ended up deciding to go straight to hualien, instead of going back to hsinchu..sooooooo, we walked to the closest MRT station, waited for it to open (the MRT opens at 0600) and took it a few stops back to taipei main station..i should mention that while we were waiting, ben behaved like a local, and "rested" on the ground:)