Being Present in Taiwan

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Recently, I was reminded of the importance of being present. The concept stems from Echart Tolle’s A Power of Now. I’m not a huge follower in neo-spirituality, but I am keen on self improvement. Essentially, he argues that in order to be happy and enlightened, people need to be more in tune with the now. Not the past. Not the future. Now.

Here are some moments of the “Now” that have really stuck with me while here in Taiwan:

    • Silently watching the Taiwan countryside whiz by at 300 km/h on the THSR.
    • Hearing little children shout for joy during a fireworks show at Taipei 101.
    • Feeling the wind on my face as I drove a motorbike in Kenting.
    • Listening to the sounds of cars barreling down East Heping Road.
    • That nervous yet excited feeling before meeting new people.
    • Eating my daily morning sandwich on my way to class.

It’s so easy to forget these trivial moments, but it’s times like these that make me forget about worrying about the future or pondering the what-ifs of the past. I’m living in the now. And it feels great.

Feel the moment. Appreciate it. Enjoy it.

Taipei: Two Months Later

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How time flies! I can’t believe I’ve been here for nearly ten weeks. It feels like just a couple days ago I was checking into the Eight Elephants Hostel ready to embark on a new adventure. When I came here back in November, I was planning on staying for three school terms with the hope of getting my Mandarin to working-level proficiency. Since then, I’ve had an ongoing internal debate whether to stay the course and be here through August, or change my plans and return early.

I finalized my decision during the CNY break. I decided not to enroll for the spring term. Several reasons prompted my decision to end my stay earlier than expected. I came to Taiwan for two main reasons: for the experience of living abroad and to increase my fluency.

After considering the costs/benefits of staying here for another term, I realized that staying here would not be worth the money. I’ve already gotten the experience of living in Taiwan. Although I wish I could be more fluent, I don’t think time spent here can justify the opportunity cost of not working. Not to mention I still have a ton of student loans that I still need to pay down, and that I’ve spent much more than budgeted for Taiwan. I plan to hire a tutor to provide discipline around my studying efforts once back in the States.

Instead of using the tuition + housing money for another term in Taiwan, after the current term ends, I’ll be heading down to Singapore to embark on a visit around Southeast Asia. I’ve already booked my tickets to Singapore, but am currently in the process of figuring out where to visit. Any trip suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

A part of me feels guilty for traveling even more considering I still have loans to payoff, but I figure I’ve already spent a lot chasing my language fluency goals, might as well spend time traveling before returning. I’m really excited about what SE Asia has to offer, but truthfully I am a bit terrified of backpacking around a region alone. I can only think of the interesting experiences that’ll happen.

Here’s to hoping everything works out!

Relaxing in Kenting

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The last three days of the trip were spent in Kenting, about 90kms south of Gaoxiong. After sight seeing for the first few days of the trip, the last few days in Kenting were spent relaxing. Some highlights from Kenting:

–       Renting a motorbike for the day. Technically, it’s illegal to drive a motorbike without a license in Taiwan. Fortunately however, our hostel owner helped us rent out motorbikes from a friend of hers. Even though we only had the motorbikes for a day, I’m glad I had the opportunity to drive one. Riding the bike in the open was thrilling! I felt totally alive, even though I was only going max 40km/h. More importantly, I’m glad we didn’t get pulled over by the police. Apparently, if caught without a license, drivers are fined the equivalent of US$300!
–       Swimming at Baishawan (White Sand Bay). This was my first time swimming in the ocean on this side of the Pacific! The tide was a bit strong, so I didn’t dare go out too far. But the water felt fantastic!
–       The hostel owners. Unlike the hostel in Gaoxiong, the “hostel” we stayed at in Kenting was actually referred to us by friends of friends. After leaving the amazing hostel in Gaoxiong, we were all a bit worried (re: safety and cleanliness) of the place in Kenting. To our surprise, the place was actually pretty great. More importantly though, the owners were able to hook us up with great deals: renting motorbikes for a day sans license, renting a private driver for 8hrs, and getting us a fair price for our taxi ride back to Gaoxiong.

While in Kenting, I couldn’t help but draw similarities between the lifestyle here with the lifestyle back in Hawaii (specifically Naalehu, on the Big Island). The whole portion of Taiwan south of Gaoxiong was primarily rural. Though very scenic, there wasn’t much to do on a daily basis as a local. In the morning I could hear chickens crowing. Rice paddy fields dotted the landscape. Life here seemed to move slowly. Far different from the Taiwan that I’ve learned about while living in Taipei.

Exploring Southern Taiwan

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Next stop was Gaoxiong. We were in Gaoxiong for 2d/1n before heading down to Kending. From a traveler’s perspective, there really wasn’t much to do in Gaoxiong. After dropping off our luggage at Walking Story, we headed off to Lotus Pond – one of Gaoxiong’s main attractions. The whole city didn’t really appeal much to me. It was really commercialized. There were vendors everywhere. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, especially because the area is a tourist hot spot. Whatever. After Lotus Pond we spent the remainder of the day back at the hostel.

The next day we ventured to Little Liuqiu Island. Although the island was located about 20 km south of Gaoxiong and about 15km offshore, getting there was a bit confusing. The bus ride was supposed to last for about an hour, but took a little over two hours. Even though it took some time getting to Little Liuqiu, the trip over to the island was absolutely worth it. Unlike Taiwan, Little Liuqiu is actually a coral island. Because of this, the island is incredibly small and flat. Once on the island, we rented bikes to cycle around the island. The whole experience was absolutely amazing! The road surrounding the island was really short, maybe only 10-12km in length. However, including stops to eat and take in the views, it took us the whole day to get around the island. We didn’t leave till around sunset. Later that night we headed back to Gaoxiong, this time by taxi, to get our stuff before heading down to Kending.

Some additional highlights from Southern Taiwan:
–       The hostel owners at Walking Story. The owners are a grandma/grandpa. They made us feel incredibly welcomed. I almost felt like I was staying at my grandparent’s house. They were so nice!
–       Liuhe night market. Although I generally don’t like night markets (streets full of vendors selling everything, primarily either food or clothes/items) this night market had a lot of interesting things I’d never seen before. Most notable was drinking pulled milk tea from a plastic bag.
–       Taking the High Speed Rail from Taizhong to Gaoxiong. FAST!