Early Saturday morning, I met 40 exchange students at Taipei Main Station for a four day trip to Taitung with our Rotary District! We were heading by train from Taipei, on a four hour journey to the east part of Taiwan. We all boarded the TRA which is the slower train, and found our seats throughout two carriages of the train. It was a rainy day, however the ride was really unique. The entire journey is either a view of little villages and lots of rice plantations, or the lush green forest on one side and the ocean on the other. With the rain that was falling, this was an entirely new view for me!
We arrived to the Taitung Railway Station around lunch time and were greeted by the Rotary District's of Kaohsiung and Taitung. There are also exchange students living in these two cities in Taiwan. These Rotary's were getting together for a meeting. When I traveled to Taiwan back in August, many of the kids aboard my plane live in these cities. It is fun to see them all again! Definitely lots of country pride when there are so many of us together. Feels like I am in the Olympics there are so many flags being worn and flown! Together we had lunch at a local restaurant - a typical Taiwanese restaurant with the big table, and the large amounts of food. Rotary ordered so much food and I don't think they kept in mind the fact that there were no Taiwanese at the table to help us finish the food. Having so much food at a table is still so foreign to us. I ended up being the only American at my table, the rest being French and German! After we finished lunch, we hopped in our tour buses to our first activity location.
In Taitung, there is a famous attraction called "The Water Flowing Upward." As you can probably glean from the name, it is indeed a creek where the water flows upwards. I don't know why, it doesn't make sense and that was that to be honest. You can't spend two much time looking at water that is flowing upward, with no explanation why. So, we hopped on back on the bus, now with our matching hats to what the Taiwanese called a "Fish Feeding Show." Well...they gave us some bread, took us to the ocean, and YES there were fish!! The beach was really pretty though. The view is the lush green mountain to the sides, the water to the horizon, and large rock formations in the water. Pretty cool! Just a few miles away, we were above the beach on a cliff which is known for its strong winds. The winds were crazy, I felt like I was going to blow away!
After finishing our time at the beach, we headed to Taitung Rotary's headquarters. At the headquarters, we were greeted by our host family's for the four days. YES...another host family! I was assigned a home with a Mexican exchange student named Marilu. Our family was incredible! Words are not even enough. Really. When they picked us up, we headed back to their beautiful home for dinner. At this home I had a 妹妹 (little sister) , and a brother. We had a nice dinner together. They don't speak any English. It was SO FUN to speak with them like it was my normal. I also was playing translator for Marilu, which felt so good too. These are the moments that I feel proud and know that I am making the most out of my exchange. I realize my time studying the language so hard, every day, has paid off when I am able to communicate! When we finished dinner, we headed to a carnival of lights, a tea shop for bubble milk tea, a walk through the central market, and a tour of the mothers store. To add to the excitement of the night, Chinese New Year officially comes to an end this weekend so there were non-stop, I mean non-stop fireworks all night. We came home and took our showers, then headed to bed for the next day!
On Sunday morning, we woke and headed downstairs where we were greeted by our kind host father. He gave us breakfast and we watched television -which are two things I don't ever do here in Taipei. I never eat breakfast at home, always on my walk to the bus. Before that morning, I cannot even tell you the last time I have watched television! When we finished, he drove us to Rotary headquarters where we all gathered again for our day. We hopped in three tour buses, and drove through Taitung to our location. The first stop that morning was the irrigation facilities. I cannot tell you much about the irrigation facilities because we just took some pictures there. Once we finished the endless photo sessions with Rotary, we hopped back in the bus to large field with thousands of different flowers. After looking around, we went inside for our lunch. Everybody had the same lunch, which was a really delicious and fresh - a bowl of rice, vegetables, and tofu. We finished lunch with famous Taiwanese almond and red bean popsicles. Lunch was so good and a really nice time to spend with each other in good conversation.
Our next location, was a bit of a bus ride after lunch, to a place called "Bombing of Master Han Dan."
We arrived and were immediately told to put on our thick clothes, masks, eye goggles, put in earplugs, wrap towels around our heads, and FOCUS. The fact that they ran out of eye goggles made my nerves a bit crazy. But also, you know when you are at one of those sketchy carnivals that comes to your town and you go to ride a ride? And the guy working the ride is smoking, sitting back, relaxed, doesn't check your seat belt, and then hits go? Then you think to yourself as the ride starts moving, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, but then you finish the ride and everything works out OK? Well, this is exactly how this event was. I suggest you look up a video of this event if you have not heard about it before. But I will explain.
The Bombing of Master Han Dan occurs for two days out of the year - the last two days of the Chinese New Year. It occurs only in this city, at this location. There is a shirtless man, with nothing but short red shorts, goggles, a hat and towel to cover his ears, earplugs, and a tree branch to protect himself. He stands on a bamboo platform that is carried by six men in a circle in front of the temple. Once he is carried around in one full circle, the "bombing" begins. Volunteers, and some exchange students were volunteers for this, receive a stack of firecrackers and fireworks to throw at the man for however long the man can last and until the firecrackers run out. Someone yells, and it all begins! Even though I was not one of the people who was voluntarily throwing firecrackers and fireworks, in order to see it, you have to be in the same circle. So, it begins. The man who was being bombed first was a South African English teacher here in Taiwan. Let me tell you, I was scared out of my mind. For four minutes straight, firecrackers and fireworks were chucked at this guy and thrown in the air. I had firecrackers land on me, I had burns in my sweatshirt, and I could not even scream. I was silent. My body and mind were truly in disbelief for what I was witnessing and experiencing. When the South African man came down from the platform and came to the area to be interviewed, he was bloody and burned, but smiling. It was crazy! The Taiwanese believe that if a man can withstand this bombing ritual of sorts, then there is a God protecting him within and he will have a large amount of wealth. After watching another German man go through this same process, being around this bizarre piece of culture, and now being educated on the reason for this ritual, I still do not completely understand what has to go through ones mind to get on the platform or be one of the volunteer "bomb" throwers. This experience was one that I have crossed off a list, not knowing it ever even existed!
We walked back to the headquarters which took about thirty minutes. Two little Taiwanese girls, whose parents were chaperone's, walked with me. We spoke Chinese and they had the biggest smiles because I was able chat with them! We arrived back and had an outside buffet dinner with an assortment of noodles, other Taiwanese food, and some tomatoes and guava - a pairing of fruit that is common here. Our host family's joined us this night for dinner which was nice. After the sun went down, a magic show, and a leg full of new mosquito bites, we headed home with out host family. It began raining really hard this night so we stayed in the house, watched a movie, and shared family pictures with each other. The father went out and bought a famous fried seafood snack for the movie. This host family is so thoughtful. They even had a bowl of my favorite Taiwanese fruits for us. So nice!
On Monday, we gathered in the buses and headed to Jhiben National Forest Park. It was a beautiful day! We hiked on a trail for about two hours. We saw crystal clear creeks and waterfalls, crazy insects, and lots of greenery. It was all tucked away in the mountains and the view of our surroundings up was nice. After our hike, we headed to our next activity for the rest of the day. The famous Toyugi Hot Springs. We spent the afternoon, having "chicken fights," swimming races, and relaxing in
the hot springs. It was a really great way to end the nice morning and day. When we arrived back in the central city, we were once again picked up by our host family's. My host family took Marilu and I out to dinner. Dinner was delicious. But it was if they were feeding champions. SO much food! We watched the fireworks/firecracker parade crackle down the street for as long as we could, until there was too much smoke and our ears were ringing. It was a nice way to finish off our time with them.
Tuesday morning, we had breakfast with our host family and said our goodbyes. I really will miss them. Thank you for being so accommodating and kind to me these few days. I am so thankful for you! All of the exchange students had to wear our blazers the next day and had a chance to exchange pins and our business cards. We then loaded on the buses towards the ocean front for a bicycle ride. We were facing California which was pretty exciting. I was only an ocean away from the US. The closest I have been - yet still SO SO FAR. I rode on a tandem bike with a New Yorker friend. Well, our bike day was great until my driver took a bit of a detour into the grass while racing another bike. I flew off the back of the bike and have a torn up knee and elbow and ripped pants. Ha! Everything is cool, no big deal. But, the Taiwanese thought that it was good to call the cops...who yes, four of them, got out of their car with AK-47's to make sure my road burn was OK. The cops may not have been the first aid kit I needed, but it was sure the laughter I needed in the moment. Later we made a visit to the city council building and a council meeting. Our group had a box lunch together and then loaded our buses for one last ride together to the train station. Everyone said their goodbyes, then our District hopped on the train back to Taipei. Games of UNO, music sessions, Japanese and Italian language lessons helped to pass the time. I also enjoyed just sitting back and taking in the view. We arrived back into Taipei late that night.
Thank you to Rotary for planning this trip and giving us the opportunity to see another city in Taiwan. It was a very memorable and nice trip!
