see you again

Today was a good day and I haven't updated in forever! (I also just discovered that Cat has my main textbook - so even if I wanted to, no way of studying, hehe). After class, Cat and I (because we have no friends) went to lunch at a place that our teacher recommended. She actually suggested it yesterday, since I've been seriously craving fish, but it was closed for no reason. (on a Tuesday? Tuesday holiday! Things in Taiwan are like that.)

Lunch was so delisho! We ate a whole fish and some spicy eggplant. It was like real Chinese food, and only like 1-2USD more than normal. Every time my aunt cooks for me I re-realize that the outside food I've been eating, while delicious, is totally gross compared to home-cooked Chinese food. (So glad I have a kitchen!)

We were planning to go the gym afterwards, but since it was so sunny outside and lunch was so good we decided not to ruin it by running endlessly like a hamster in a hamster-wheel. Instead, Cat went to buy Christmas ornaments! And I went on a hike to Tiger Mountain!

With only a vague idea of where I wanted to go (where the mountains are), I hopped on a bus to something called Songyou New Village, a typical not-too-well off residential area. Walked around in the general direction of the mountains, up a windy road, past a pack of a dozen or so wild dogs and a lot of garbage, and found the trail! Things were pretty iffy to start off with, not just because of the stray dogs who probably wanted to eat me or pee on me:


Trail looked like it used to be nice steps, but they're getting pretty broken/old/green.



Walked past a lot of sketchy shacks, outdoor furniture (=couches that had clearly been outside 15+ years) and roofed areas (the equivalent of the pavilions with benches on nice trails?). Sincerely hope that no one lived in any of the things I walked past, even the dogs (who turned out to not actually be mean or too scary):


Then, a sign I wasn't completely lost - Tiger Mountain:


And a super sweet viewing area on top of a rock. Looking down, you're still aware you've just left a less well-off area of Taipei:


You can look out across the city to the mountains:



And, of course, 101 and the gleaming business district:


Up to this point, I'd seen exactly zero other human beings on the mountain. On a platform towards the top, there were two people exercising (the Chinese way, meaning moving their hips around and clapping different parts of their body).



To get to the peak, I had to climb up here. It was as creepy as it looks. Thankfully a really short stretch that also had handrails! (made of rusty metal and coiled rope - better than nothing.)

At the peak, I saw another human being, a middle aged guy with a climbing stick. He asked me which direction I had come from and we had a nice conversation about the mountains of Taipei. He thinks Tiger mountain is too dirty. I see where he's coming from (so do you, now) and that Elephant mountain has a better view. But despite the shacks and dog packs, I like Tiger mountain a lot. The view's actually pretty comparable, there are a lot more birds and animals because there's less human traffic, and that means there are also less people to 煞 your 風景(spoil the atmosphere):



It still gives me pause every time I see how close the city and nature are. There is no boundary between Taipei and the surrounding mountains and trees, in some areas they just grow into each other:



I like this picture:


I wanted to get off the mountain before sunset because I didn't have a flashlight and none of the paths were lit, so I took leave of my new friend and started down. (Again, no questions about me implying that my Chinese sounded weird, just regular small talk and discussion of directions and the mountains - YES!!)


Closer to the top there was much more signage so I picked a different way down. This one was as nicely paved as Elephant mountain (though still no lighting. It seems like 1- the Taipei government agrees that the view from Elephant mountain is much nicer and so only fixed up parts of Tiger mountain 2- I could have picked a nicer, dog-pack-less, way up had I known what I was doing).


There were a lot of shrines on the way down, like this one to a deceased mother and the one below outside a temple:



The temple had a well-tended garden area and lots of special plants.



You're not supposed to take pictures in temples in case you take spirits along with you (so I've been told). Sorry temple spirits now stuck in my blog. I did want to show everyone, no matter how remote the area, in Taiwan a temple is probably going to look pretty nice, and it is also going to have fresh offerings and recently burned incense. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of, say, remote bathrooms and toilet paper.


This is really weird. Why is "five finger stem" (in Chinese) called Nipple fruit in English. Something is horribly wrong with the English language. Or maybe in this case English is really more descriptive:


Nipple fruit?


Pretty soon, back down in the dirty dirty.



This is what basically every older Taiwanese residential neighborhood looks like.



Still some cool views, even off the mountain. 101, bball court, and community water tower.



Figured out where I was and found a bus stop. Guy burning things while I was waiting for the bus.

Ok anyway, I promise not to post anymore "after school I went to a really cool mountain and ran around" posts. It probably looks pretty much the same to you (plants. hiking. 101!). But, first of all, I cannot get over how cool it is that instead of going to the gym I can just go one of the neighboring mountains, such as one of the Four Beasts Mountains, and run around. I mean, I was literally like running around, 1- to make up for the gym, 2- cause I had no idea where I was going and wanted to make sure I did by the time it got dark 3- I was so ecstatic to be on a mountain! I literally couldn't wipe the smile off my face, it was quite silly but nice.

Second of all, it's a good comparison to the hike up Elephant mountain, which was towards the beginning of my time here. This time, I talked to some old Chinese guys (the one I mentioned, also while waiting for the bus, etc.), no problem. (Ok, I purposely avoided talking about the handrail rope thingys on the really steep stair part up the slope, because I didn't know what to call them. Switched instead to "Walk slowly!". Telling someone to do something slowly is like the Chinese equivalent of "take your time", politeness and a reminder to be careful all in one).

And because my mom sent me my last last summer's purchased-in-Taipei mp3 player (thanks mom!), which had a bunch of songs that I listened to a lot that summer still on it, made a lot of comparisons to that summer. There's nothing like music to bring you back to how you were feeling and thinking at some other point in time. It's now really clear to me that I am currently much freer and happier than I was at that time, but also than any other time in my life since the carefree age of five. And part of it is that I've been able to build a lot on things I started that summer.

A lot more things worth mentioning, but for now one basic difference is that I know a lot of areas of Taipei well enough that I can successfully set off with no map and only a general idea of where I'm going! Wow, what a change in my life this is making. Also being able to read. On the way home, I missed the bus I was planning to take by like 5 seconds (meaning I would have to wait around half an hour for the next), so instead I took another one in the same general direction, got off 10 minutes away from my house (even closer than I was hoping), and on the way home picked up a 肉包 yummy meat stuffed bun thing to eat and some milk tea.

[Aside: If you want to read something really funny, check out DPP councilor slams Taipei bus signs. Not only is the reporting hilarious, like their random interviews of passerby's with English skills ("A passerby, who asked to be identified just by his surname Lo, said he studied in the US and scored nearly 600 in the TOFEL exam, but he could not figure out what “Bin Park Nakagawa China” meant."), it includes a DPP candidate asserting that he knows what the problem is ("he suspected the city had hired a Japanese with poor English to do the translation"), and the accused company's response: " 'We will work overtime tonight and we will not stop working until we accomplish the task,' said Lin Jing-yi (林靜宜), deputy manager of the company. Lin said the translation was handled by an employee in his 20s, adding that the student had 'studied in college and thought his English was good [enough].'". ]

The point is, getting around Taipei is becoming less and less of a struggle, signs translated by Japanese 20 year olds aside. And I can kind of read and speak Chinese.

More thoughts after today's hike:

1. Nature makes me happy

2. Though I should consider taking someone with me next time I go somewhere this sketchy, because I have no back up plan if a wild dog tries to eat me or I slip on a steep, unmaintained section of a trail, other than wait for one of the three old men also walking around the mountain to find me

3. I am much fitter even just compared to two months ago. Also happier, better at Chinese, and more capable

3. It is Wednesday, December 1, and I just climbed a mountain called TIGER MOUNTAIN in shorts and a T-shirt. MLIA