Year of the Dragon

My Lunar New Year holiday started with a series of failures. The plan was to drive our motorcycle to a local friend's house to share a traditional New Year's meal with his family and spend the rest of the week checking out wild hot springs. After waking up late, over-packing, torrential rain, and a near motorcycle wipe-out, we nixed that idea. Instead, we shelled out for two high speed rail tickets and made a dash for the rays of Kenting Beach. Pay-offs are as follows.

Setting a trend – We pitched our tent on a beach rather than a campground. (Who wants to pay US$3/night for something that can be done for free?) Ours was the sole tent at first, but there was a small neighborhood staked down by the time we left.

Waking up to the sound of waves rolling over the shore, a mere 10 yards away from my feet

Overcoming my fear of falling off a bicycle – Learning to ride my bike as a child was downright terrifying. Since becoming legally able to operate a car or navigate public transportation, I’ve been on a bike fewer times that I’ve held a tarantula at the county fair. The last time I did ride a bike, I ran into a restaurant’s outdoor seating area right before swerving into a parked car. (Oh, the beauty of biking in Cambridge.) But this week, a rented bicycle was my main method of transportation—and I only hit one traffic cone.

Seeing two monkeys in the wild (!!!!!!)

Snorkeling, Taiwan style – You wear stiff booties rather than flippers so you kick in a cycling motion to propel yourself through the water, which is hardly efficient. I averaged like nine yards an hour. But the coral and tropical fish I saw in those 18 yards were exquisite.

Sticking my foot in my snorkeling bootie to feel a small inhabitant squirming in protest against my intruding toes – The owner of the snorkeling gear store noticed my frantic attempts to get my bootie off and briskly yanked it off herself, then caught the jumbo cockroach that shot out in mid-air. The roach’s fate: she pinched that sucker so hard its guts went kablooey all over her hand.

Being called lihai (translation: awesome) after literally falling over a laundry basket laughing about the cockroach-in-bootie incident – Apparently, this happens frequently and other customers don’t respond with amusement.

Fitting the risqué American girl stereotype for the first time ever, on two occasions – 1) Seeing as we were camping, I washed off using a public beach shower. Even though I’m assuming this shower was intended for use, the American girl lathering up in her swimsuit scandalized everyone. 2) One of the food vendors sold penis-shaped cookies. How could I resist?

The week’s grand finale: The Lantern Festival in Pingxi – The Lantern Festival is a time to celebrate the new year by writing your wishes on a giant lantern and flying it off to the heavens. My wishes:
$ for me!!!!!! (I was informed it’s basically mandatory to wish for this.)
Peace for my family
Carpe diem!

Happy year of the dragon!