It Can't Get Any Worse

We awoke in the dark single room on the third floor of the giant hostel refreshed. A good 12 hour sleep will do that to you. Spirits had risen as our internal body clocks were starting to change. We started walking early and walked a good 20 kilometers by the end of the day. The walking day was tiring, but satisfying. We passed lots of interesting things: Shrines on moutain tops to our right, the ocean, beaches, temples, taj mahal looking structures, and boats to our left.
Oh you shouldn've seen the pictures, they were wonderful.

Now your thinking, "but steve, you have a camera, and internet access, why should wonder what the pictures look like when you could just show us?"

The answer lies in The Great Nikon Tradegy of January Second Two Thousand and Eight.
We were taking a look over an beach and Jeff started asking some people for directions.
A few minutes later he came over to me and said, they can give us a ride to Ilan (pronounced ee lon). We were tired and needed to get to Ilan to meet a relative's friend's mother, so we accepted the offer. (Note: this was done with careful planning and we figured we needed to get to Ilan sooner than later so that we could get to the South quicker, past a dangerous section of highway. We really are walking!)
So they picked us up at a small restuarant. I had my pack and a Nikon Digital SLR camera. I got distracted. The camera stayed behind with the asphalt. The car left for Ilan. We got to the city of Jiaosi to go to hotsprings. At this time the Nikon was no longer hugging the asphalt. A truck driver was hugging our Nikon. The truck driver got something to eat. Then he sung a Karoake song. Our theif was a singer. Jeff says: Where's the camera. I check the car. I Freeze. That deep freeze that you freeze when something is terribly wrong. We return to the restaurant. The restaurant owner tells us all. A survallence camera is nearby. We drive to the police station. I am silent. We ask to see the camera footage. They drive with us back to the restuarant. They speak to the man. They are getting angry. I don't know why. I hope I havn't caused more trouble. They talk. I stand silent. We leave. They will call us to tell us if they can access the camera footage. Phone ring. The speak Chinese. I can't interpret the sentiment. Then.
Tiang gi mey yo jo le.
Jeff turns to me and translates:
There is no Hope.

The camera is lost.

They friendly people that had picked us up had bought coffee and popcorn for us. I didn't eat.
Jeff later called it "the saddest popcorn".

We got to Ilan later, ate, drank "Taiwan beer" and slept.
I realized that the Beatles song "It's getting better" is about failure.
So indeed I have no hope for getting the camera back, but there's always hope for things
getting better since as the Beatles say in the same song, "It can't get any worse."

Today's famous doctor: Dr. Doom

January 1st was a Dangerous Day

This post if for New years day. The start of our adventure. We were sent off by Jeff's aunt and uncle in the usual way that I've become accostumed to leaving people who's language I do not speak. It ends in "Shei SHei" (Thank you) and "Tsai Chien" (goodbye). We set off crossing a red line painted on the road as our first official step. Walking on a busy highway is just as glamourous as it sounds.
Loud. Diesel. Dangerous. Some words that come to mind thinking about it. The shoulders are okay and will get better in the south. To avoid walking on the road, we saw a lower road that lead by the train tracks. We started walking near the train tracks as it was quieter except for the occsional train. We calculated that our walking would be a safe distance from the train. It was. Barely.
As we walked we ended up going on a thiner bridge-like stretch with a 15 foot drop to our left. We started on this stretch, Jeff voice recording, both of us looking ahead. All of the sudden:
HOOOONNNKKKKKK HOOONNNNKKKKKKKKKKK
A Train.
We did that thing that you do when your in a dangerous situation and you don't think and you don't remember what you thought after the fact and you just act:
I think that's the definition of survival.
We quickly sat, feet dangling off the ledge, ready to jump if need be, and ducked as the train passed at 60 miles per hour 2-3 feet to our sides.
Jeff was recording the incident the whole time and upon listening to it again, the whole series of events from the first Train whistle to the time that the Train had passed, couldn't have taken more than about 5 seconds.

After the incident Jeff said, "Lets get outta here!"
We got out of there. I came to the conclusion later as we continued walking on the road that
You live and learn, as long as you don't die.
Luckly, we learned.

Not long after, around dusk, we stopped, both of us mentally and physically exausted (we got about 3 hours of sleep that night.) We went to a giant, cold hostel that housed no one but us, and went to sleep. It was 7 pm.

Today's famous doctor: Dr. Kavorkian

A Pinch More of the New Year

Me and Dave on the rooftop.

Ah yes, Jeff and I had a haircut party. Both of us look pretty serious now.

I got the bad end of the deal with a suprize Taiwanese haircut. I told him to make me look like this kid in a magazine...hair-wise...a simple cut. Instead I came out looking a little like a Nazi youth.

My plan is to let it grow out along the walk...along with my beard.

Cheers!

Today's famous doctor: Doctor Robert- Revolver, Beatles

News Years Night!!!

New years day came and went like a fruitless crush. Its 2008 and of course I feel not too much different, but today we will begin our walk which will certainly be different from anything Jeff or I have ever done.

We packed and water-proofed our equipment today and then went to meet a mutual friend from middle, high school and college, Dave Schultz. After meeting wasted no time going to a party where the new years festivities began. Four "Taiwan Beer" brand beers later, we were on the roof of the apartment building counting down for fireworks to be shot from Taipei 101- The world's tallest building. It was very festive and after the spectacular short lived fireworks from Taipei 101, roof tops all over the city started lighting up with more individual, but very public fireworks shows. When we entered the house at 2:15, fireworks were still going off.

The night was a fantastic way to see Taipei's life capacity. Energy was everywhere just before the fireworks, on the streets, with quick walking and running everywhere, all directed at Taipei 101.

I described the scene as follows:

The waterfall of mopeds must be far outside Taipei. They buzz and buzz towards an education at Taipei 101.

Here are some pictures of the night.

Until the completion of our first day of our walk (or possibly second or third),

Stay Healthy Gang!

We've Arrived!!!

After a total of 20 hours on an efficient flying machine, we've arrived on the other side of the world! Pictured above is a view from said flying machine.

It's Sunday night and jet lag is telling me to go to sleep after I write this post, but Jeff and I may go out for a celebratory beer...
All is well except for my Mandarin, but I'll learn.
Tomorrow we prepare the equipment, buy any final important items, and then celebrate new years on a rooftop where we can watch fireworks being set off from Taipei 101, the world's tallest building.
Then its off to the races, our tentative goal to get to our end point by January 20th, my birthday.
More pictures of nonsense will come soon! In case there is no post tomorrow,
Happy New Year!!!

Home

Hello Everyone and Thank you for Looking at my Blog!
This Blog will be devoted to following my travels as I walk from the North of Taiwan to the South with my friend Jeff Chen.
Our journey will be 260 miles and I will be Blogging at any possible points along the way. We'll be sleeping in tents, temples and/or the houses of people willing to put us up for a night.

My goal: To interact and bridge cultural gaps with the people we meet and also, to gather information on the political beliefs of the Citizens.
Being a Government and politics major, I find this very interesting, as the political beliefs of the citizens are what will decide the type of president that is elected. So why should you care?

Because China is a rising Superpower and Taiwan seeks independence. China has said that it would not allow Taiwan to declare legal ndependence without major retaliation. The U.S. supports the Taiwanese government and if such independence and subsequent war were to occur, the U.S. would be involved...somehow. So essentially, this Blog will give you an idea of whether the majority of Taiwnese people support independence or not and will give individual accounts of Taiwanese citizens' beliefs about Taiwanese independence and U.S. intervention.

If that doesn't interest you, the various encounters we have should, as essentially we have no set plans and are just going to see what happens. I can assure you this Blog with maybe the excpetion of this post will be more interesting than:
*Clicking refresh on your email every 5 minutes
*Clicking refresh on your facebook profile every 2 minutes
*Searching youtube with no goal in mind
*Browsing for items on ebay
*Making poor cyber small-talk on AIM

So Please, Check back! Write a comment! Give me an Opinion! Insult me! This Blog is about being interesting, provocative and fun! Yes thats right...Fun!
I hope everyone has a terrific new year!
My next post will likely be from Taipei, Taiwan.
Stay Healthy.

P.S. The picture is from my room at my house in College Park, MD...My starting, starting point.