在天祥我看過了這兩只蝴蝶. I saw these two butterflies in Tianxiang. They had some other friends they were playing with. They would chase each other around for a minute and then land on a blade of grass. Then do it again. It looked fun. Then they flew far away.

I had a good conversation with a friend yesterday about our lives, what brought us far away from home, love and happiness. I asked her if she believes in love. She’s pessimistic from experience. But that night after our conversation, she told me she believes again. That’s deep. —> When in love, we should be just as happy as these butterflies…and it should last. That’s happiness.

I had breakfast from the reserves, black soy milk and black sesame crackers (黑豆將和黑芝麻餅乾). I found the butterflies off the beaten path of Baiyang Trail (白楊步道). This trial takes you to Baiyang Waterfall (白楊瀑布) and the Water Curtain Tunnel (水簾洞). Along the way you have to pass through quite a few tunnels. It’s good to have a flashnight but it’s not necessary, they’re no potholes. Follow your the dim light and use your senses. Maybe for the ones with turns you can use the light.

At the entrance to one of the tunnels there was a bird that I’m not sure what he was up to. The little guy swooped passed me several times. He was perched up on light with his buddy. I think he was saying get off my turf. Really, he’s got a sharp beak and was flying fast. At the same entrance I was following the path of this ant. He was busy. Running up and down, back and forth. I tried to get a shot of him hanging upside down with the gorge in the background. I moved on to the waterfall. The suspension bridges are fun to cross. They are really stable. Near the waterfall, I met a family who was camping in Tianxiang for a few days. I told them I brought a tent too and they told me if I was still in Tianxiang that night to camp with them. After I left, I looked for where they were parked but couldn’t find it. I wanted to camp but I also wanted to move on.

Taroko Gorge is awesome. Once again there are tunnels with turns, water dripping from the ceiling and no lights. It’s crazy when you see huge tour buses driving through the smaller tunnels, with like inches of space left overhead. I heard of a traffic jam happening once because two buses couldn’t pass each other. Luckily, I didn’t come across that. I did wonder about how much work it took to build the road. It’s hard to fathom.

I visited Changuang Temple (禪光寺). It was quiet. The first monk I spoke with was very friendly. I entered the temple and said a prayer. One of the ladies that was volunteering there asked me if I had eaten. I hadn’t. I was treated to dinner. Sometimes foreigners stay at the temple and volunteer. I think that would be interesting. Before I left she told me where I could swim. On the way up the road to the temple there was a fenced off path that led to a small spring. The water was clear. I wish I had a friend to swim with then.

The sun was setting. I headed for Hualien. I made it Carp Lake (鯉魚潭), west of Hualien (花蓮). It was almost 9pm. A flat space to camp was 500nt ($15). Luckily, I met Norman (高清玄) and his wife. He was a pastor in Bloomington, Illinois for 25 years. He has 3 sons in the States. We chatted for a while. He was going to close up soon and he said there was a cabin still available. He let me sleep there for the price it costs for an empty lot (usually costs 1000nt). The cabin had power, I could recharge my battery. That was important. I unloaded my things and went down the street to the lake. There was a lightshow happening.

As my friend Wangmi (王咪) would say, “Huashuai!(花帥!) ” or really cool! But you have to say it with a Taiwanese accent. I think it’s his own word.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 12:33 am and is filed under 好玩儿, Taiwan Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.