Fairy Mountain

Well things have been busy so I haven't been able to keep on top of blogging. Over the last weekend I went on two hikes or what Asians refer to as "climb mountain". The first hike was very short and manageable. It was steep at first and then we went through pineapple and tea fields. It was quite enjoyable after the hike we then went to dinner and watched the high speed rail train go by.


The next day I was picked up at 7:30 at my apartment by my students and their parents. I had a hard time not laughing as I entered the car. The three boys and father all had matching plaid shirts on. I wanted to lean over the seat and ask the mom if she felt left out and maybe next time we could arrange some matchy matching going on. But I refrained from doing so. I was very nervous about going hiking with this family because the children are very quiet and I don't know what they classify as hiking. Some of the Taiwanese think that I short walk down a path is hiking. However the family that I went with does hard core Asian hiking. By the way it was not just me and the family this also included the grandparents aunts uncles. When we arrived at the trail head I was introduced to all of the family including the bubbly Asian grandmother that just kept hugging me. The mother introduces her "handsome single brother" she then gave me a big smile. The Asians try to be quite the match makers. Too bad he only speaks about three words in English which I taught him. When we get all our stuff out of the car I notice that most of the people that are hiking with us are all geared up for some serious trekking. I kept thinking is this going to be an overnight trip? We start climbing the mountain as the Taiwanese say it. The first part of the hike was fine. I just kept thinking I am sweating so much am I that out of shape. Then I remember it is so humid here. By the time we stop for lunch I look like I just jumped out of the shower with my clothes on. I was so disgusted. I kept thinking that we had been hiking for some time and that we were almost to the top. I then noticed that it said 5 km to the top. I kept thinking am I going to make it. I do have to mention that I was not the only one struggling. I kept right at the front one of my students was with me who is 7(Vincent) and his brothers who are 10 (Trevor) and 11(Edward)were at the last. The seven year old is a very interesting child. I cannot tell if he loves me or hates me. He is what I like to refer as a little stone faced Asian. Mainly because I cannot see his eyes. While hiking I would occasionally pull out my camera and say Vincent you need to smile. He would give the I'm so pissed off right now look and flash an Asian peace sign. I find this quite conflicting. Anyways while I'm sweating to death I keep thinking when is this going to end? I mean this hike was pretty much straight up wooden stairs. Throughout the hike I would stop catch my breath and check to see if my heart was still pumping. I kept thinking I can do this one step at a time. I mean Vincent the seven year old kid can do than I can. Long story short this hike was not my cup of tea. It kept going and going and it was mostly stairs going at about at least a 45 degree angle. I kept thinking I have got to make it to the top. There were a lot of thoughts going on. Like if I do make it to the top there better be a frozen hot chocolate from dairy queen. If this would have been the case I would have probably moved faster. Another thought was if I broke my leg how would I get down? I figured this was a realistic question. One observation that I noticed was when the climbers were coming down they would say jaio jaio jaio. Meaning go go go. The Asians really are very motivational. I mean at my apartment every time I empty the trash the guard cheers me on. As if I have just ran a marathon. He also grunts and points to his arms I think he is saying how can you carry all of that trash. Apparently this man doesn't know that I usually can pull my own weight. Another difference with cultures is even if you are a hard core hiker. You still stop frequently to take a tea break. Another side note is that the mountain that we climbed is full of history. A long time ago when the Japanese ran Taiwan they would cut down all the trees and send them back to japan. There was a elementary school way high in the mountains. When I was checking out the ruins. I kept thinking if I would have been one of the those Japanese kids I probably wouldn't have made it up this mountain to attend school. But one thing I have learned is Asians take schooling a whole lot serious than I have ever. After the short break we continued onward. I thought to myself I think I officially hate hiking before I really enjoyed hiking this better be one hell of a view. We finally make it to the top of the mountain. I had to say that there wasn't much of a view. Vincent, his father, Joe Joe(uncle) and me were the first ones to make it to the top. Later Trevor, Emma, and Edward finally made it. Trevor immediately ran to his dad and started crying. The funny thing is, that I wanted to do the same thing when I made it to the top but I found it inappropriate. I kept thinking that this hike is way to painful. I then wanted to ask if we could just camp on the top. I realized that we wouldn't have enough tea to last us through the night. Which by the way most of the hikers on this trail will stop every two kilometers to boil some water for their tea. So we ate some fish snacks took a breather and headed back down which was just as painful. During the hike I just kept thinking that at the bottom was a hot spring. By the way this hike was about all together 17 km long. We didn't have time to go to the hot springs so we went straight to Gongshin and had shrimp dumplings and noodles. I really held my own on this one. I ate 6 dumplings and a whole bowl of noodles. Grandma kept putting more and more on my plate so I kept eating. I was not going to turn down a perfectly good shrimp dumpling I mean these Asians work hard for this food. I was exhausted and now full to the brim. Living in Taiwan I feel like it is a marathon of eating but the great news is that I have lost 14 pounds. I love Taiwan. The family also asked before they dropped me off so what are your plans for march I said that I would have to look at my schedule. I mean next time I might not want to go on a 17 km hike. Overall with all my complaining which was going on in my head it was beautiful and Ill probably do a lot more hiking.