Sunday, January 6, 2008

The 7-11 to Spirital Enlightenment

So this post I'll try to be succint. Lets go through where we've slept during the time here on the road:
Night 1: Giant, empty hostel somewhere by the sea
Notes: Cold, I woke up, jeff was over by the window watching the morning sun with a blanket wrapped around him: he looked like a Bat.

Night 2: Old lady's house in the town of Yilan
Notes: The town was awesome, had a great feel...tactilly.

Night 3: Basment of Yilan University Lecture Hall
Notes: It was kinda cold and at about 5 am some ladies came in to do some excersizes to typical Chinese music. We kept sleeping.

Night 4: By the train tracks in the town of Shin Cheng
Notes: We went to a night market the day we got in. It was fairly magical, warm sea breeze, palm trees. The actual sleeping part was a little rough due to mosquitos and very loud trains passing by, but it was fun none-the-less.

Night 5: On a platform 2 miles down a trail in Toroko National Park overlooking Several Waterfalls.
Notes: It was beautiful in the day. Everyone left the trail, Jeff and I made a fire, and ate noodles.
We pitched our tent on the wood overlook and woke up and put everything away before the first visitors came. I woke up in the middle of the night freaked out for some reason. It was kind of hot in the tent and the waterfalls were pretty loud. Had some weird dreams; it was great.

Night 6: Bhuddist Monestary
Notes: After we got out of Toroko National Park we started walkin down the road. Same ol same ol. We got tired after a few hours and decided to take a break at a 7-11. We sat on a bench outside the store and then Jeff saw the sign for the Tzu Chi Academy. That was the place we were supposed to go to, although when we stopped, we had no idea of this. So we went into the grouds of the Monestary, and immidiatly were in a Bhuddist prayer time in the temple. After that we ate dinner and a glorious shower (separatly) and joined the other volunteers in sleep. We woke up at 3:50 am, like all mornings at the monestary, and were in another prayer service by 4:20 that lasted about 2 hours. After that, we volunteered, shovelling rocks at a construction site on the grounds and later, making chocolate candy. Soon we'll be back there to eat lunch, probably pray again and then go to sleep. We'll leave tomorrow.

So there you have it, a little synopsis of the last few days. I kept it as breif as possible. I'm at a University right now, and I can't upload pictures. Trust me though, we look awesome!!!

Next post, I'll list the various rides we've gotten along with pictures and zodiac signs.

Praise the 7-11 that gave us the gift of the Bhudda.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

no doctor of the day? this is blasphemy

. said...

Your clean sonnets? I want to read your filthiest secret scribblings, your hope, in his Most Obscene Magnificence. My God!

. said...

Also, here's something I just thought of. Please touch as many things in Taiwan as you can. You said Yilan had a great feel, tactilely, and I would be sorely disappointed if you made that claim without firsthand knowledge. Touch is the most beautiful and neglected of the senses and its mysterious ecstasy affects us on the most visceral level and at least, I think equals that of music.

Curiously,
Danny

Unknown said...

"We went to a night market the day we got in"

there are so many things wrong with this sentence i dont even know where to begin