Two For One

I was so tired yesterday that I didn't have a chance to write, so I'll just hit on yesterday and today in one entry.
Yesterday Nancy and I went to Takoro Gorge. It's the most famous place in Taiwan because it is so gorgeous. The travel book I have talks about all the different sights to see and all the different hikes to go on, and so I was excited that this would be a whole day devoted to hiking. Um, not so much. We went to the bus station at 8:30am. One of the mothers of a kid Nancy tutors wrote down where we were going in Chinese, so we showed that to the lady at the desk at the bus stop and so she printed us off two tickets, but as we were waiting, we were like, oh shoot, which bus do we actually take? We knew the bus was coming at 8:46, so we just waited for the bus that would come at that time. A bus pulled up and it didn't look right, so I went up and showed the driver my ticket and the note Nancy had, and I was right, it wasn't the right bus. So, we waited a few minutes more and a bus pulls up, and right behind it another bus pulls up. Well shoot, there is only one note, so we couldn't show both bus drivers, what were we going to do? Luckily a lady walked passed us going onto one of the buses and told us to get on the bus she wa

s getting on. Nancy showed the bus driver the note and he nodded his head.

We had made it on the right bus!

The bus ride was about an hour, and some of the scenery on the way was good, other times it was just poor little cities at the base of the mountains. When we got there, we went to the information desk to pick up a schedule of the shuttles (we had heard there were shuttles to take you to different trails). The information lady asked how long we had to spend and we told her all day. Then she asked if we had plans, and we shook our heads. She recommended that we do one of the trails close by and then come back to catch a shuttle to Tainsang (the other side of the gorge) and hike the waterfall trail there, and catch the 4:40 shuttle back to Hualien.

That shot down my dreams of a whole day hiking. For the first hike we had to walk in a long tunnel (made for cars) and once you popped out, you headed down a steep staircase and began the hike.

It was gorgeous, and I had to remind myself to look up because I tend to look down when I'm walking. Dad definitely would not have enjoyed this hike, because there were rock ledges throughout the trail that I had to duck a little for, so anyone taller then me would have had to hunch over for a while. On the trail we came to some steps, so we went down and it took us to the river. We decided not to play in it with the rest of the locals, but I did have a chance to pose for a picture and snap some of my own. We got back on the trail and came to a house-ish thing that had a sign by it talking about the Aborigines. The place was pretty dumpy and it didn't look like anyone really lived there, but there were some people hanging out by it, so maybe they really do live there.

On the way back, we got stopped by a student at one of the universities who wanted us to take a survey. We took the survey really quick and got a free thank you souvenir. I love free stuff, so that was good. Because we stopped to take the survey, we made it back right before the shuttle came, but we didn't know where the shuttle came. Nancy ran back inside to ask, and right as she came out, the shuttle came. The shuttle from the Taroko Gorge National Park Headquarters to Tiansang took an hour, and it killed me because I knew that as we were driving we were passing up so many good trails. But it wasn't the kind of shuttle you just hop on and off of, it picked you up at one place and dropped you off at another, end of story. But the drive did have some amazing sites, so it's not like just driving was a waste.

Once at Tiansung, we ate lunch and started off on the other hike. I remembered reading about one trail where you hike through tunnels that can get pretty dark and they recommend bringing a flashlight. I unfortunately didn't remember that part till we had already left the house. But this trail was the one with all the tunnels. We were fine for most of them, the tunnels didn't wind enough to block out all the light. But there was this one that was just pitch black. We entered the tunnel right behind a group of four or five and they were hesitant to go in because they didn't have a flashlight either. I told them, all you have to do is take a picture, and I pulled out my camera, took a picture so the flash went off, saw there was nothing ahead of me, and walked. When I had gone a couple steps I took another picture. The people in the other group were laughing, but I think they thought it was helpful. After walking a little while, I thought I had separated from the group and that my flash was no longer helping them, so I turned around to take a picture to see where the group was and to light the way for them. They were right behind me, so now I have a picture of a random couple on my camera and I don't think they really appreciated being flashed. For some reason, I was thinking that the waterfalls were going to be bigger.

They were pretty and I got some good pictures of them, but I was just thinking bigger. The trail kept going after the waterfall, so we kept hiking. We came to a place called the Curtain of Water Cave or something. We took off our shoes and put on raincoats so that we could walk into this cave. Halfway in, there were two small "waterfalls" where water was leading into the cave. It was pretty cool, but kind of terrifying because I was leading, and the cave went black for a while and I just had to feel my way along the wall and hope that the ledge we were on kept going. If I fell, it wasn't that far to the next step, but I was worried all my stuff would have gotten wet and ruined if I fell. I offered to let Nancy lead the way on the way back, but that wasn't hard because there was light the whole way the other way.

That curtain cave was the end of the trail, so we turned around and went back. We had a while till the shuttle came, so we went exploring another area. It wasn't a hike, but we went up a bucket-load of stairs to go look at a Buddhist Temple and prayer houses and shrines. We were able to kill some time there taking pictures and things, but we still had a while before the shuttle, but nothing was only going to take 20 minutes. There was a hotel near by, so we walked over to make sure we knew where the bus would pick us up, and we looked at a couple of stores, and then we just waited. Once the bus came, we bought the tickets and sat down and got ready for the trip back. The drive through was again gorgeous, but it still made me sad. Apparently, in order to enjoy the gorge to it's fullest, you have to be there more then a single day, and you most definitely have to have your own car. I don't regret going what-so-ever, and I really enjoyed myself and I saw plenty, but because I know there is so much more, I am a tiny bit sad about the trip.

Once we made it back to Hualien, it was dinner time and we were trying to decide where to go and Nancy suggested that we just try one of the places across the street from the bus station. So, we went into a place that looked like it was a buffet place. But we didn't know if it was pay one price and eat all you can or if it was load up your plate and we'll charge you accordingly. So, I only got a few things on my plate, just in case it was expensive stuff. Nancy was freaking out that they didn't have rice, and I told her to calm down, that they have to have rice, it's an Asian restaurant. But, I wasn't too sure, so that's another reason I didn't grab too much. When we were done choosing what we wanted, the lady pointed to a table outside. Okay, first of all this lady looked really stern, and when she was trying to talk to us, it sounded like she was yelling, and then she kicks us outside. She tells us that it's 120NT$ for dinner and I got really scared that it was each, but it turns out it was for both of us. And since Nancy got more food on her tray then I did, we now know that it's 60 bucks for all you can eat. Man, I really should have gotten more. Shortly after paying we realized why they had put us outside and had us pay at the beginning (most places they wait until after you're done eating to get the money), it's because they were trying to close, so while we were eating they shut the door and left us sitting outside of a closed restaurant. But the food was good, and now we know that it's all you can eat, we'll go back and try the whole fish that they had sitting out, and I'll get more then an egg, tofu, and vegetables. And we'll try some of the other stuff they had sitting out since we know that we don't have to pay extra for the weird stuff, we'll be more willing to put it on our plates to try it.

After dinner we rode around town looking for dessert we could eat while watching a movie back at the house. We turned down a wrong street and ended up getting a little bit lost, but it was mostly funny, and we weren't at all scared. Finally Nancy just went into a 7-11 and asked then which was to Chi-An road. On our way back we also picked up some fruit to munch on after our slice of cake was gone and went back to find a movie on TV.

We just sat down and relaxed while we watched the movie, and by time it was over, it was only 11, which isn't all that late, but we both were too tired to do anything.


And then there's today, Sunday. We went to church at 8am today instead of 9 because there were two convert baptisms and Nancy and I wanted to go and support their decision. I didn't know them, but here, you don't only go to baptisms if you know the person, you go to show support.

There wasn't any inappropriate Jazz music playing today, but I did appreciate that the music appreciation song was in English. But, after that, I lost them as they started speaking Chinese, so I read the lesson out of the manual. I'd already read it, because I'd had the lesson before coming, but it was okay to read it again. Because it was Mother's Day, they passed out tissue roses in Relief Society and Nancy and I got one too.

In Sunday school, we met a man named Bob. I didn't realize it at the time, but he's not a member. He's from Canada but he's been teaching in Taiwan for two years and will be going home in July. He said that he's not very good at getting in trouble, because while his wife is gone for the weekend, he decided to come to church. It was nice to meet and chat with him for a while.

For sacrament meeting, the Branch President brought out the microphone and head sets for us again. Elder Ware sat next to Bob, and Nancy and I sat three rows behind them. Apparently Bob's headset died, so it was good that Elder Ware was right there, but Nancy's died too, and she didn't want to move, so for the second half of the meeting, I was whispering to her what I was hearing. I realized how how translating is. I mean, I was just repeating the English I heard and I wasn't doing it so well. These poor Elders that help us have to hear Chinese and speak English. No wonder Nancy and I don't always get the whole message, it's hard! It was Elder Taylor's last day today, he gets transferred to Taipei tomorrow, so he got up and bore his testimony and said that if the members go to the temple in Taipei, they have to look him up. He told Nancy and I the same thing, and I told him we'd be there on the 31, so we'll look for him there.

Josh and Vicky left some food in the freezer when they left, and so Nancy and I are planning on getting rid of it by using it as our Sunday dinner. We've already got it planned out and we did have to buy some things, but we're going to have egg crepes, dumplings, and rice. It sounds pretty good, so I'm excited, plus it's always nice just to be cooking and eating with someone else and not always by yourself.

Oh, don't think that we're terrible people not including Luke and Kaylene in any of our weekend plans, they went to the West coast this weekend with a group from the Tsi-Chi University where Luke is doing his internship. So, they're off having fun of their own, so I don't have to feel bad that Nancy and I are living it up back here.

There's not much else planned for the day, because it's a day of rest. There aren't any firesides tonight or anything, so even though I'm writing at 1pm, I don't think anything else exciting will happen that I'll miss out writing about because I didn't wait till later.