Up, Up, Up

We rode in her sister's car down the coast, the bold sun so huge in my right eye. Wendy rotated a specifically-designed, padded polyester sunshade extender to shield her vision in the driver's seat while still blocking more of the sun's shadows.

Wendy told me, in clear and brief sentences, that Leukang is somewhat of a historical preservation, keeping the look and feel of an old main street with the low, double-doored shops and workshops. This area used to be the largest city in Taiwan due to its proximity to ports and fishing industry, and walking into the center of town at 4:45 on a weekday afternoon did have a buzz to it that would be hard to stir up in a museum or pure reinactment. I didn't bring enough cash to fully appreciate it, but the town is full of specialty treats, sweats, and beverages, handmade or crafted in the old way or crafted with a lot of different colors, it was all there. Wendy had me walk into a pineapple-pastry shop at first, with a wide, white-tiled front facing diagonally onto the maiin square. Well dressed salespeople spoke to well dressed clients between gift baskets of pineapple cakes and tea. She led me on a quick lap of the store pointing at various types of pastries and then leading me out to the fast-moving, all pedestrian square. "Better pastries at the airport" she said to me "but this is an oldest shop in Leukan"

next she pulled me over to a vendor selling beverages from a cart, in front of an open storefront with an espresso machine inside. For 30NT, around 1 USD each she purchased two drinks- one made of hot, sweet and malty wheat, and the other a fresh thick hot almond mild. I immediately burned the hell out of my hard palate because it was super hot but I LOVED the almond drink she bought me. I love things with textural contrast, so the smoothness of drinking a beverage was totally bouncing off the mouthfeel of feeling crumbs, and the flavor was extremely neutral but made me feel like it was spiced with cinnamon or nutmeg.

We wandered out from the center of the downtown core, past houses with more formally, traditionally decored gardens and gated yards. We went into a store or two where I hemmed and hawed about buying guava cakes and tea and dried plums and I wish I had had the focus, decisiveness and cash money to buy tons of stuff, but I got overwhelmed quickly and just got some almond cakes that may well have gone rancid by now but I am saving them for Christmas goddamnit. Wendy eventually found the spot she was looking for, an old alley with a tight passage between the houses that formed it, too narrow for us well-fed modern people to fit through straight-forward. Probably too narrow for the original inhabitants too, because it was called "Gentleman's Alley," Wendy told me, as she raised her eyebrows and made a gesture with her arms as though she was caressing some shapely curves. "Too small to walk, gentleman touch a breast" she said wagging her finger and shaking her head. I'm honestly still not sure if she meant that a gentleman would go through that alley and not touch a boob because he was a gentleman, or if gentleman is a euphemism for John or if gentleman is a euphemism for a guy who goes looking to touch a boob in a narrow alleyway...but I'm the autistic one here, not Wendy. We took this picture imitating one style of this potential interaction::

We pop out of Gentlemans alley on the north side of a building and in this new coordinate the light from the sun is no longer direct at all and the stone buildings's shadows cover the whole stone street. It's cooler and drier than I realized- the wind has blown in a lot of dust. I'm thinking about the typhoon again and picture the image from the state weather bureau- this thing is rolling towards the island faster than the US election was rolling into the hands of idiots back home. I wonder when I'll get back to Taipei in relation to that spiral.

Wendy wants me to eat oysters from this town because they are local and good quality. After Gentleman's alley, I think she gets one of the reasons I'm not super into oysters- they kind of ruin vaginas for me if I think about them at the same time. She suggests getting them in an omlette which I thought would be a great idea. It turns out to be more of a fritter and I do like fried things. We also eat an oyster soup that highlights the delights of green onions and things that are warm. I still dont really like oysters.

We walked on in the dark streets, past several monuments to the sea goodess Matsu. From little shrines to a formerly-glamorous, huge hotel, Leukan has lots of acknowledgement to this figure as a large pilgimage to her passes through this town every year.

Was cold and dark so we head towards home- with a stop to double park egregiously in front of a fancy hotel with a food shop in an alley behind it that served mochi rice balls filled with a sweetened pork floss that was honestly so good.

We ate some, then I passed the hell out on the spare bedroom - a large firm bed with a thin bamboo matress and a single blanket I had to ask for and she had to go look for in a closet deep in the upstairs rooms.

The next morning, we woke up nice and early- finally, someone who also wanted to leave the house at 6am! Wendy gave me a helmet and put me on the back of her motorbike and drove me out of the city center, up increasingly winding roads with much more vegetation although no less orderly in their infrastructure (traffic lights with countdown indicators), clear signals for merging traffic, lots of signage and bus stops. We made it to our trailhead, a temple where older people were finishing up a tai chi session and looking energized, chatting and buying fruit from vendors. Wendy used to live in this area and nodded greetings to a few people. The instructor told us to come back for his 9am class. We used the bathroom at the temple then started an "easy" hike. unfortunately, I am out of shape, Wendy is a top teir athlete, and Taiwan is mostly made up of steep hills. I had a great time puffing my way along and swinging on the rope bridges. Several times we were passed by old people wearing flip flops who were moving at like 50kmh haha.

Back at the bike, I felt bad sitting so close to Wendy with my body so covered in sweat, but it couldn't be helped and she was ready to take me to our next destination. This giant Buddha is one of the most famous locations in Chunghua and I had been considering seeing it when I first made my itinerary, before actually getting to Taiwan. There are several of them around the island, with different histories of their funding- because it is a huge project, and dogmatic Buddhism can be used as an arm of cultural propaganda. Enough about that topic from an outsider!

The whole area around this statue was impressive- a hill top recreation area with lots of playgounds, exercise stops, trails, and vendors. We sped past it and parked at the base of the Buddha exposition area. We walked up a wide staircase flanked by human sized statues of prevous encarnations of the Buddha and then eventually into a curving, decorative bridge that brough us facing the impressive statue- maybe 50 feet tall? 4 full stories of building within it, with a tall foundation below. The grounds were beautiful and orderly, with a variety of flower installations as well as arrangements of folded prayer papers that looked like flowers. I've always been a fan of the swastica shape for its symmetry and movement, and I got to feast my eyes here.

We spent a long time exploring this place- there was a covered portico with small rooms off of it used for temple activities, nuns performing singing and writing rites inside the main temple space. There were also kitchy statues of the zodiac animals and we took a photo together, as we are both 1990 Horses! We climbed into the Buddha statue itself, which housed 4 floors each with a diorama/tableau of a scene of the life of the Buddha. It was so cool!

We came back down and spent more time in the gardens, watching a bird that we both found fasicnating and exotic, but is apparently super commonplace in Taiwan. Further on was a metal statue wall that was a memorial to a famous poet and people who had died in the revolution in China that led to the formation of Taiwan as a republic. I need to research what this wall was about and update this entry.

We scooted to our next spot, a mealball establishment! Apparently, there are two rivaling restaurants across the street from each other that sell very similar menu items. The more popular one, covered in signs proclaiming is quality and popularity, was closed that day, but Wendy said that the one that was open was actually the suprierior establishment. We joined a line comprised heavily of Japanese people and got our meatballs. They were sweet, with chunks of meat, water chestnuts, and tubers in them. Served in a thick, sweet gravy made of sweet potato startch. The closest think I can compare them to is somethink like a meatloaf covered in BBQ sauce and gravy. It was strange and very filling, and I think in the top 5 meals of my trip.

We got a milk tea, we got me some bluetooth headphones because at this point in the trip I had already lost my Loops earplugs and sent my headphones through the washer, so I was wanting them for our train journey.

We waited at Wendy's house her sister with the car to come pick up us and go to the train station. Wendy was going back to her apartment in Taichung, near Taipei. She wanted me to come with her, see her clinic, and celebrate Halloween the next day. I wanted to and would have, but as I checked the weather and SJ and I texted about the upcoming storm (Kong Rey), and I decided I would rather be trapped in an apartment for a days with someone I knew really well than someone I was just getting to know.

Wendy and I compromised- we would go to Taichung and meet up with her friend and owner of the clinic, an orthopedic physician called Peggy, have dinner at her place, and then I'd head back to Taipei in the evening, getting home before the transit system closed down that night at 10pm, in preparation for the storm.

We hopped on the train, I enjoyed this hydrating beverage "fin" and enjoyed the views of the industrial West coast of the island, with increasingly grey skies.

By the time Peggy picked us up at a regional station of Taichung, the sky was dark and dripping rain. We got into her car and went to pick up her 1 year old daughter at day care. In Chinese speaking families, its typical to give children an animal nickname that they keep through early childhood. Peggy's daughter was called "Little Pig" which was extremely close to my heart.

The evening at Peggy's house was low key and wonderful. She and Wendy clearly had a really healthy relationship, both as professionals and as friends, and her English was great so the conversations between the three of us could be more deep and detailed. She uses dry needling and estim in her orthopedic work, so we had a lot to talk about with our overlapping skills and techniques, and we talked about the limitations of the healthcare systems in both our countries.

All of us were the same age, so we discussed partnership, children, career, and aging, all with this light hearted and friendly attitude. All of this while eating delicious fish, veggies, and rice, as well as a package of wine flavored ramen and some local kombucha. It was just the best time, and I could clearly pin my anxiety to the approaching storm, so that made it easier to ignore.

At 8pm, we loaded up the car with the baby who had just woken up from her evening nap, and took me to the train station, and then Peggy and Little Pig continued on to Wendy's apartment to drop her off.

I got my ticket to Wanhua station in SJ's neighborhood and hopped on the train, rainy darkness outside the windows whenever we exited a tunnel.