Around the island and back.

In Hsinchu I met with a good friend who I have known from the internet for quite a long time. She was busy at her MBA class, so she arranged for me to meet with her good friend for dinner before. Afterwards we then went to a teahouse together to drink green tea.

The day after I then went north gain to Taoyuan, in the afternoon to meet with some new friends I met ofer couchsurfing at Taiwan Central University. With them I went to their basic chinese lessons. It was quite interesting but also frustrating on the other hand to see them struggling with problems of chinese which now come natural to me.

In the evening my dance partner from the walz performance back in the day was of her work and we met up. This is maybe the worst thing, seeing all those old friends and just being able to spend only one or two evenings with them. But at least bein able to do that is already great. I love being with people who just know what you are talking about because they somewhere along the way shared a few moments with you.

From Taoyuan I went on through the mountains towards Taichung. I let myself be distracted from the real direction and just followed any road and ended up near Wufong, a mountain village with aboriginal people. At one dead end I met three guys, cooking fish soup on the fire (fish soup, not mountain pig, like the reporter is saying) and inviting me to join them.

Aboriginal people here are very friendly and love to share with others, so I really felt welcome.

After a good chat I had to leave. The road I chose now was really deserted, with a good reason. I bumped into a dead end, the road being interrupted by a landslide, only leaving a very narrow ridge, which was quite difficult to traverse with the motorcycle. By a hairs breath could I prevent my scooter from sliding down a few meters of the slope.

With a racing heart I went on, to new adventures.

Arrived in Taichung I met up with Gene, an retired firefighter from Las Vegas, who is living as an Expat in Taiwan for two thirds of the year. He is always a source of useful informations, great inspiration of where to go and just interesting to be with.

In the evening I met up with my old friend Bonnie and later with the girls from the dance department of Taiwan National Sports University, who have been my rescue last year, when I was at Taichung and needed friends and help. Again, this might be the last year to meet them all at one spot, afterwards they also will spread out to all kinds of jobs all over the island and maybe the world.

Nevertheless, I had to finish my round, with one last stop on the way. In Chiayi I went to see Nico, a german who has been contacting me for about two years now and who I have been helping to come to Taiwan with ICYE. His job is to be big brother for the children at a buddhist orphans home. He seems to be doing fine.

Because it was not so convenient to let me stay there, he helped me to find a place at a friends, an acupuncturist for shortsighted kids who let me sleep on the couch originally intended for his patients.

After meeting Kerstin Richter the next morning, a missionary who is working here for several years now, I then finished my Trip by riding to Xinying, where I turned in my scooter. I had to pay a little extra for a small repair, but still, the scooter has been a good friend those last 14 days I needed to make the whole trip around Formosa, the beautiful island.

So, again on my feet, I took the train to Tainan and met up with two reporters, the one who already wrote the report when I set of and the other who was to write one when I arrived here.

Then two last days in Tainan, another Taiphoon on the way, meeting up a few friends, meeting new people and preparing to leave for Taibei.

Because of the approaching Taiphoon I needed to take the High Speed Rail already quite early in the morning, around noon they would not operate anymore. Afterwards it turned out, not taking the bus was quite a good choice, as the high winds toppled over one on the highway, injuring quite a few people.

So, now my last two days in Taibei and then the flight back home. Sad all of this is over now.