Chinese New Year

This is a story about an adventurous week. We began with a tradition Chinese New Year dinner, where they literally pay you to eat. Having been invited by a fellow teacher’s family, Jeff and I arrived, dressed as if we came out of a J. Crew catalog. After walking to the door, we realized the address was a pharmacy. To our chagrin, every family has a store of some sort, and if you walk through the back door, you will enter the living room. The next room was the kitchen. We sat down to a dinner that was 12 courses wide! On a lazy Susan, all the dishes were served, the most bizarre being Shark Fin soup (I did not eat it out of environmental protest, but I kept that to myself). The funny thing is, however, that they don’t drink when they eat. All the food has some kind of liquid served alongside (such as soups), so there is no need for it. Dehydrated, Jeff and I motioned for glasses, but they believed that we needed whiskey. The Taiwanese love their expensive scotch. So, we were served glasses of 18-year old scotch-whiskey, no water, and the rest is history.

We stayed up until 3am that night, when we had to catch our train for Kenting in the South China Sea. Kenting National Park is the southern most region of Taiwan and by far the most beautiful. With warm weather, we had a week that was filled with discovery and adventure. Upon our first night, we discovered a camping ground that cost 3 US dollars per night. We setup our tent and found ourselves on the edge of a coral reef that dropped deep into the ocean like a cliff. Here we were only 50 meters away from the ocean, on a grassy knoll that overlooked the coral. Each evening, we would put on masks and walk across the jagged coral, ready ourselves, and free dive. People would gather at our tent to see if we were ok, for no one in Taiwan really swims. I would usually go by myself (Jeff had a tough ear thing going on) and the freedom of diving as the sun set was phenomenal. I could swim 20 feet down to the bottom, where I was greeted by caves and crevasses that were explored.

However, the serenity of this experience was soon broken when we awoke the following morning. It being Chinese New Year, every person and their grandparents (literally grandma and grandpa came too) came to the campsite. We found ourselves cramped next to people with their cars and every camping accessory that could be purchased. We decided that we felt like we were in a UN refugee camp rather than paradise, so we rented some very fast motorbikes and left for Jialesheui on the East coast.

Jialesheui and its surroundings are known in Taiwan as “The Lost World.” This place was incredible. We camped for free under palm trees on the shore. Sand and grass beneath us, and palm leaves above us, we were in a state of bliss. We discovered that Jialesheui had one surf shop and one café. We would spend the evenings in this surf café, eating dinner and watching surf movies on their projectors., petting the puppies they had as the dogs would fall asleep in our laps. We were some of the only people there! After the movies, we would wander through the palm trees, the sound of the ocean leading our way, to our tent. There were nights that I slept outside, warm and listening to the rustle of leaves above me and the cacophony of sea beside me.

During the day, Jialeshui lit up! There was an amazing point break where the waves would go on for 30-second rides. Some days we surfed, while some days we bodyboarded. I grew up bodyboarding rocky spots, such as Lover’s Point and the reef section of Asilomar and Spanish Bay, so this was natural. The central part of Jialeshui, or the middles, were a faster wave that on Friday, turned into a great overhead session.

During on of the middle days of the trip, we took our motorbikes, at 85mph, through the mountains and into the central part of the national forest. No people, just full of life! The luscious jungle reminded me of scenes from Kuaui’s North Shore (Ne Pali Coast) and movies such as Jurassic Park and the Beach. We hiked through these mountains, visited the aborigine villages along the way (where people looked more Polynesian than Taiwanese) and stopped by some natural hot springs. In one of these springs, fish would come up and eat the material (dead I hoped) on our feet. This was a special pool that was for people to sit on the side and have a free pedicure from our fishy friends. 20 fish sucking and nibbling on your feet is an incredible experience; I recommend it!

The final day was hell and I would rather not attempt to recount the errand of getting back. 10 hours of traveling on what is a 4-hour trip. The experience of Kenting was liberating from some of the more mundane aspects of life in the city here. I felt revived from the spirit of aloha and everything the waves and sea had to offer.