A Week In Taiwan, Part 1: Shuangshi

I was planning to post my Taiwan travel accounts the day I depart from that country, but I miss doing all these typing. Plus, my blog badly needs to show lifesigns.

I will begin at day 3, before I talk about my first to my last day here. And why am I doing that? No reason, except it feels so literary hence pretentious! Nah, I kid. The real reason is, I just think day 3’s events best introduces what happened.

July 29, 2008

Shuangshi Train Station. Yes, the picture gives a different spelling, but I still prefer “Shuangshi”.

My grandfather lives in a province, so I went there just to see him. Right now, he’s at the throes of a cancer, and, after not having seen each other for more than 2 years, I paid him a visit with the intent of lifting his spirits up in my little way. I’m sure you don’t want to hear all these dramas, so I’ll just go on to tell you what his province is like. It’s called Shuangshi, which is the Chinese for “Two Rivers”. True to its namesake, there are two rivers here and somewhere in this town they come to a confluence. Rumor has it that the exact place where the two meets is haunted, but I never bothered to find out. All I know is that they’re very calming to look at, and you can do some fishing and swimming on them. But rivers aren’t all there is to Shuangshi. There are mountains too. Shuangshi is altogether an ideal place to reconnect with mother nature, especially if you’re tired of Taipei’s frantic ways of living. It’s also a good place to bike.

A view from outside home. Yep, my grandfather lives by the riverbank.

Those two pictures show my favorite playground in Shuangshi.

Sadly, I couldn’t go to too many place here. Typhoons were going on in this part of Taiwan, and though it wasn’t raining, the winds were unrelenting. They were so strong, they can sweep you away and knock you off your feet better than love at first sight would!

This is a stray dog that followed me around. 

I would love to have taken that train.

Instead I got this.

Inside.

At nighttime, I went to Sanchung Society Center to watch a Utah choir. They were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. How amazing? Like, behind me there were these fatass jerks who claimed they have mad dancing and singing skills (bum-looking fat guys dancing is not a sight I’d care to take to my grave). By the time the performance was over, though (with encores, by the way), these jerks were screaming like a chicken on steroids.

Everyone in the house (SLANG?! IN DA HAUZ) were very inspired the entire night. I can imagine that the next day they go to work, they’re going to make their coworkers jealous by telling them what a great show they saw the day before. So where does any of these leave me? Well, seeing that I traveled with this Utah choir (nearly) the entire week, I’m overwhelmed. I’m overwhelmed by their talents, and it helps that they’re among the most amiable group I’ve ever been with. Their presence made my Taiwan vacation times very much enjoyed.