A Walk on my Ethnic Lines

Diversity... on the Western Slope

2009-03-12T19:25:00.002-06:00

Today,
someone driving down the main strip
in a yellow Mustang
called me a "chink."

photos of Paonia

2009-03-01T15:36:00.012-07:00

Here's a selection of photos with captions.

This is the town of Paonia. I finally got a chance to walk up Lamborn Mesa (I think) and along an irrigation ditch. This is the main strip in town. It's got everything you need, except brown socks. This view gives me a better perspective of where I am.

Something - I dunno.

Something else - I dunno.

me.

Whatever - I just thought the colors were cool.

This is where the coal trains run multiple times a day.

My roommate and I are the co-hosts for a "mountain-grown" public radio show called Musical Convergence. It's on every Thursday at 9:30pm MT, but we're on every other Thursday. We were on this past Thursday (2/26/09) so that means our next show will be on 3/12/09. So I guess you've got to count 14 days in between if you want to tune in. You can listen at www.kvnf.org. Call in with requests!

A co-worker's car.

I'm running the Sound EFX for the community play. It's based on the book Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis. The world premiere was last night. It was awesome. My boss wrote the play.

That's Babbitt looking directly into the camera.

That's the crazy woman.

I hope the play makes it big somewhere. It's really well-written.

And these are some berries outside of my office.

In conclusion, iPhoto is fun. Hope you're having a nice day.

2009-02-16T12:30:00.003-07:00

It's probably a good thing that many nights here end with pulling chairs up to the oven and eating tater tots.

the first miner i ever met

2009-02-08T21:49:00.003-07:00

Sorry for the couple weeks without a substantial blog post. I got caught up in work and being busy and being lazy and not having a computer at home.

I was walking to the office tonight to catch up on blogging, and as I walked out, a man happened to be walking by and drinking a beer. We were headed the same direction, so I said hello, and we walked toward the center of town.

He's worked in the West Elk mine, a coal mine 27 miles north of town, since the 1970s. Starting with his grandfather, all the men in his lineage had worked in the mines. He'd been to 'Nam and all across Asia as part of the U.S. Navy. I'll name this guy Fred to keep him anonymous. I feel weird writing about people in a town of 1500. Everybody knows everybody, and I'm beginning to know a lot of them too.

Fred's the first miner I've ever met, so I guess that'll bring a new dimension to all the folk songs I come across about coal mining. He said he works 12-hour shifts 4 days a week. 6am to 6pm one week, and the next week is 6pm to 6am. That puts my part-time graveyard shift at the T.V. station to damn shame. I'll never complain about that again.

Anyways, I just felt compelled to document my first (I think) encounter with a miner. They're not all conservatives haha. In fact, I think a whole bunch of left-leaning miners around here got in trouble for trying to form a union. I'm troubled by the concept of mining because it's unsustainable, but at the same time it's what's in place already, and it's what human beings depend on for their lives. I've protested against mountaintop removal because I think it's completely fucked up, but the only real solution I've thought up for our nation's energy is very general. And that is: we need to speak up about clean(er) energy, we need to study its human health impacts, and we need to develop the infrastructure for all of this. AND we have to do all that while keeping in mind that what we do as humans has an ENORMOUS impact on the rest of this living and dying world. I know that's a horribly general solution, but when I think of energy solutions, those are the basic principles that come to mind.

...which brings me to my next point...

GET OUTDOORS! whoever the fuck you are. A lot of natural places are getting torn up for our way of life, our over-consumption, our need for everything at all times. GET OUTDOORS and see nature and speak up about it. If you don't see it or if you don't have a connection with the outdoors, you ain't gonna do nothing to stop its destruction. And neither is anyone else.

I've been really fortunate out here to have really active roommates and friends, so most weekends, I've been able to get out and see the land. Here are some photos of last weekend...

This is the decent down the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. In 1 mile, we dropped 2000 feet. I crawled the entire thing back up. Probably the longest 2 miles of my life.

At the bottom of the canyon, we wandered around a bit. We were the only people that attempted this route this winter season. While we slid down the snow, I wondered if we'd get back up alright. We would also create these small landslides of about 4 feet in length. That was kinda scary. I'd imagine that us humans have caused quite a bit of erosion in the canyon from the miny landslides.

Today was cool. I randomly got certified to administer CPR and AED. Oh yeah, that's another thing... If the opportunity arises and it don't cost too much, go get taught how to do CPR, AED, and First Aid. It's all common sense, but it can really help your fellow brothers and sisters. Sure would've helped during that spate of hit'n'runs in Rhode Island last summer. You might recall seeing the video of that man that got hit by a car in the city. No one did anything for a good minute and a half.

I can't write anymore; I started listening to music. Here's some photos near my home.

This was taken a little ways up Steven's Gulch, a piece of Forest Service land about 5 miles from my home. I live down the hill from here in the valley between the mountain I'm standing on and the two mountains in the distance.

Goodnight.

toast

2009-02-02T09:08:00.003-07:00

My bad. Haven't blogged in a while. I'll try to blog soon. But hopefully this exchange in conversation will give you a good idea of the town I'm living in.

Guy in bike: Ahh, what a beautiful day in Paonia...
Guy in car: Yeah? What'd you do today?
Guy in bike: Ate some toast.... and... listened to Flogging Molly.

High Country News

2009-01-27T18:36:00.005-07:00

Dominguez

Anyone that may or may not be reading this: I encourage all of you to check out High Country News on the Web at www.HCN.org.

It's a great news magazine that explores issues of the American West. It focuses mainly on natural resources and the cultures surrounding them. A lot of cool investigative stuff. So if you care about nature and what it has to offer, make sure to check it out. Spread the word! Let me know what you think.

I've been blogging a little for The GOAT Blog, which is a part of the HCN website.

We do on the ground reporting...

Boots of Spanish Leather

2009-01-27T17:51:00.003-07:00

Dominguez Canyon area.

Around here, people know where you've been by the mud on your boots. This weekend, I took some of our recycling to Grand Junction, which is about an hour and a half West of Paonia. On the way back, I dropped in on the real Dominguez Canyon area. I hiked about three miles in but still didn't see the petroglyphs everyone's been talking about. It was getting dark, so I hiked back out. Definitely an area worth going back to. My boots were all covered in red mud when I got back, and people knew almost instantly where I was.

me and the cool bridge.

And for the past few days, I added a layer of gray mud to my boots. That's from visiting a farm after a couple days of unexpected rain. The farmers at White Buffalo Farm showed me around and we chased Daffy (the duck) around for a while. There's been a bobcat that's been catching some of the birds on the farm, so they wanted to help Daffy out and put him in a safe place. We never caught him while I was there though.

Pretty landscapes you don't get to see on the East Coast.

The boots I brought out here are usually what I wear for longer backpacking trips back East, but out here, they're good for everyday use. They feel like tennis shoes now; I've worn them every day. It's either been snowy or icy here, so they've come in handy.

Weirdest rock I ever did see.

American History

2009-01-19T15:49:00.013-07:00

I feel like a newborn out here... with an implanted chip of basic knowledge in my head. So I guess, maybe that makes me a toddler. I'm seeing so much that I'm not used to seeing on the East Coast.

Here are some of yesterday's photos:

On the road to West to Dominguez.

Everything is so big out here.

You can't not take a photo of train tracks.

You can't not take a photo of little berries.

Man, perspective is weird. Who decides so many streaks go across the sun in a photograph?

18mm lens just isn't wide enough to fit the entire sinuous river in the picture.

So much diversity among the rocks.

One of my roommates.

On our way out of the Dominguez area, we saw some petroglyphs. It really sucks that many have been vandalized. It appeared that people were using them as target practice. I'm learning more and more about America.

things to do before i die

2009-01-11T17:54:00.006-07:00

My roommates and I stopped into the Trading Post last Sunday and were told they do free lunches on Sundays. Free or on a donation basis. The Trading Post is an organic market near the outskirts of town, just over a mile's walk from my home. They also serve meals there -- delicious organic meals. On a normal day (not Sunday), if you bring your own plate and utensils, you get 2 bucks off your meal. Yeah!

Today, we got there around noon and a woman was playing the fiddle. She was the music act during the meal. It was awesome. Cafeteria style meal and the cool thing was... cafeteria style dish-washing. When you're done eating, you wash your own dishes and utensils. They had a scrubbing bin, soap water bin, and a bleach water bin. I bet about a hundred folks came through that meal line. All the washing was done with, I'd guess, 10 gallons of water.

A good portion of the town is really into buying local. And today after lunch, one of my roommates and I got a tour of the local agriculture. When we finished lunch, we went over to the store and got some groceries, and then we ran into a guy that we'd played music with last night at the bar. There was an open mic, and towards the end, it just turned into some sort of "jam" session. This guy played the djembe all night.

He was dropping off the raw milk that we were searching for. So we paid for the raw milk, and the guy said he'd show us around town a little bit. He works on one of the organic farms in town, I think, and he took us to see it.

"What we're looking out for," he said, "are two sheep." They came up behind us, and the male sheep instinctively wants to buck people to protect his mate. So he bucked us each a few times -- nothing hard. It's rather playful. I think the sheep is one year old. They keep the sheep around to graze on the grass in the farm. They can also shear it when the time is right.

Mt. Lamborn and Mt. Land's End (I think that's the name) create The White Buffalo

The other farms the guy took us to were a little higher in elevation with a great view of Mt. Lamborn and the other peak right next to it that form the shape of a "white buffalo." It's what they call the formation. It's real pretty.

We met the "pioneer" of organic farming in the area. There's a possibility of us being able to garden a bit in a greenhouse -- some spinach, swiss chard, and other greens -- so we'll have some fresh, organic, Jeff's-paws-in-the-dirt greens to eat. We also saw some turkey, some more greenhouses, and some more sheep (that get milked). It was a really educational afternoon.

So anyways, I guess I can check-off on my "Things-to-do-before-I-die List" that I got bucked by a sheep. Sweet.

I can also check-off "drank raw milk."

The label "Not for human consumption" is used to bypass expensive food certifications

holes in your underwear

2009-01-09T21:38:00.004-07:00

I'm most likely sitting at a desk like you're sitting at a desk, but my desk is most likely a mile higher than yours. I'm at 5,682 feet in elevation. Where are you? What elevation are you at?

Write back and tell me. Who cares if I don't know you?

The dress code where I work is this: Holes in your pants shouldn't line up with holes in your underwear.

I think this is Mt. Lamborn. Upwards of 11,000 ft. 5 miles from my home. I'll be on top of that in the Spring or Summer.

The Wild West

2009-01-09T20:57:00.003-07:00

As an intern, I get to do occasional tasks like drive a consultant to the local airport. Obviously, I jumped at the chance to drive the company car an hour and a half West, drop off the dude, and get a meal out of the deal.

Not only that, I get to see the American West. Things are big here. Things are wide. I, unfortunately, do not have any pictures to share with you about these big and wide expanses. The plan was to drop the guy off, grab a quick bite, and head back so I could photograph the Western Slope of the Rockies to show all ya'll back at home. Dinner took too long, but it's cool, because I got to hang out in Grand Junction, Co. for a little bit and eat Nepalese food.

It's interesting out here. I drove across BLM land [that's Bureau of Land Management. We don't hear much about BLM "back east." Speaking of which, I didn't realize people out here use the phrase "back east" even if they aren't from the East Coast. They're referring to their ancestors that made the great trek to the Wild West. Anyways, I feel like I'm taking advantage of these brackets now, so I'll stop typing within this bracket, but the transition to the latter part of this sentence will be weird, because I've taken you, dear reader, on a wild literary excursion in the confines of these damn brackets!] and Forest Service land between Paonia and Grand Junction.

On my way back, there was a huge accident that stopped the two-lane traffic for a while. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it involved an 18-wheeler carrying lots of timber. Well, that's just another one of those moments that you let pass by in your life. I threw on the radio and seeked out the local NPR station and the voice of Meeee-chelle Norris brought me right back to D.C., except this time I was listening from the middle of nowhere, it seems.

Fun picture of my last few hours in MD. Really, it's just to break up the text and keep you reading!

There's a lot of things going on in D.C. There's also a lot going on out here too. For example, I kept looking for a place to pull off the road so I could enjoy a serene few minutes to myself without traveling at 75 mph. So, I pulled onto a road I saw, and the sign said "Hidden Springs Rd." It was dark, and it was private property, so I didn't explore the "spring," but I hung out there and I could hear only two things: the wind howling and a cow moo-ing. How wonderful. There's a lot going on out here in a different sense. That cow is consuming thousands and thousands of gallons of water in the form of liquid, grass, corn, and probably other things to sit dead on your dinner table for your consumption in D.C. It's the development of a lifetime... sitting dead... on your dinner table... for your consumption in D.C. I'm no vegetarian, but in a land of little freshwater, we should all be a little conscious of what we eat.

I switched radio stations and heard all kinds of religious radio. Something about daughters baking a cake and the cake collapsing like a sinkhole in the center, and that's why you should choose Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. Another preached knowledgism [Is that even a word? Is this even the correct usage of brackets?] as the wrong path. What in the world? Who is listening to this stuff? Was this preacher advocating accepting Jesus without knowledge of anything else?

Anyways.... I'd say it's pretty busy out here. The cows, the wind, etc.... You can't hurry, though. So far, the pace of life has been a little slower, of course. I walk to work; it's maybe a 10-minute walk. It's wonderful. Snow has been falling many mornings, and it's just such a breath of fresh air. But you really can't hurry. Physically, you can't hurry, or else you might slip and fall and crack your head open.

Last night, I went to the local brewery with some co-workers. They're based in a former Episcopalian church. Revolution Brewery is their name, and they taste great. I'm getting used to the habit of introducing myself to everyone, because it's a small town, and I think it'd be great to know everyone.

A few nights prior, I went to another local bar alone, and I met some of the guys there. After drinking a little, the ol' guitar made an appearance in one of the guy's hands. He sang a few memorable tunes of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. And then I sang a few tunes. Folk songs just seem to make sense here.

Is this blog entry getting too long? Yes. Am I struggling for a way to end it? Yes.

Bless You

2009-01-06T13:07:00.002-07:00

I've sneezed at least 6 times since I moved to Colorado, and no one has said "bless you" or "god bless you." Oh man, I love it. I think the phrase is completely unessential to the English language.

Anyone agree? C'mon!

Breaking Bread

2009-01-05T22:49:00.005-07:00

1/4/09

Since my arrival in my new home, I feel like all I've done is cook delicious food and hike. This is somewhat of the good life that I'm always seeking. We'll see what the first day of work on Monday has to say about that.

Oh yeah, I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging. I guess I just wanted to fill ya'll in on what I'm doing out here.

Here's a brief description of Paonia; some facts and also my own thoughts so far. Geographically, Paonia is on the Western Slope of the Rockies. It's in, what they call, a banana belt. I don't get it, but I've heard that reference twice already, and it means that it's slightly warmer than the rest of the surrounding area. Sounds good to me. There's a bit of snow here, but not a whole lot. There are approximately 1500 residents and 22 churches. Major employers in the area are coal mines and a sandal factory that's recently decided to move production to China.

Aside from that sandal factory, most people (it seems) are really into keeping things local. A lot of "buy local" signs. It's great, I think. It seems to transcend political lines. Right next door to the place I'll be working is a small-scale meat-processing store. They specialize in wild game and grazed meat. I'll be sure to try some out.

My roommates have been teaching me to bake bread. It's awesome. I'll post pictures later. Bedways is rightways.

This is, like, the second rise or something.

6 Months in the Wild West

2009-01-05T22:24:00.006-07:00

1/3/09

It's been about a year since I last wrote in this blog. I'll change the title of it soon, but I can't figure out how right now. Anyway, the Taiwan trip finished well, and I made a radio documentary about it, and hope to upload it on the Web soon. No promises when.

Since the walk, I've graduated university and I live in Paonia, Colorado now -- for the next six months, unless I get fired or something...or if elk hoove me to death... or if I get stuck in an avalanche. I brought 88 pounds of my old life into my new life out here. Most of it was clothes. Regular clothes, work clothes, hiking clothes, etc.

I'll be interning at an environmental news magazine called High Country News. Check it out: hcn.org.

My trip out here was fun. I flew into Denver, and stayed with friends of a friend. Thanks Davey, Nick, and Ira! The next morning, I caught the Greyhound to Glenwood Springs, which is further West -- on the Western Slope of the Rockies, in fact. On the bus, I chatted with a lad named Karl from New Zealand. He'd been traveling for some time now and attributes it to avoiding living in one place for too long. As we chatted, I looked across the isle and saw a woman clutching a book about pregnancy. She was reading about Month 5. She also had a pack of Marlbloro Reds in her pocket. I hope she wasn't pregnant, and I hope she was just reading the book for shits and giggles. Or maybe she was a Med student. I doubt a Med student would smoke Marlboro Reds though.

Took two more public buses to get me to the other side of town, and then I tried hitchhiking for more than an hour, but not a single car offered a ride. I thought it'd be relatively easy in Colorado, but I guess I'm wrong. It was nighttime though, so maybe that was a factor. I called my roommate in relative desperation. He drove an hour and a half to pick me up, and I'm grateful. I just wanted to be in my warm future house.

After failed hitchhiking, I went shopping.

Well, I'm here now (but I'm also writing this in the future, like a few days later. whatever). It's beautiful here.

Intelligent Travel.2

2008-01-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

I'm back in the States, and jetlag's got me in a tight hold. Here's the latest post for Intelligent Travel. Check it out:

http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com/it/2008/01/walking-taiwa-1.html#more

the road before and behind

Some statistics for your statistical pleasure

2008-01-27T16:10:00.001-07:00

Distance Walked: 135 miles or 218 kilometers

Longest Day: 22 miles or 34 kilometers
Shortest Day: couple of spins around the monastery

Best Sleeping Spots: train tracks, waterfalls, elementary schools, fishing port

Longest Sleep: 13 hours

Best Hitchhike: Buddhist Monk

Weirdest Eat: Octopus eyes

Longest Detour: approx. 3km. of beach-walking and uphill battle in thick brush to uncertain destiny
Funniest Acronym: ROTU (pronounced Row-Two) - Realm Of The Urinatrix

Closest to Death: speeding freight train

# of Dogs that Barked at us: 1.2 billion

a standard purchase at 7-Enlighten before heading into Taroko National Park

blah blah blah the end blah blah

2008-01-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

We're done walking! ...for now at least. We finished our walk in Kenting, Taiwan, one of the southernmost cities on the island.

We arrived in the afternoon at the main strip of town. Most stores were closed, and no one was walking around on the street. I guess this is what all beach towns are like during the off-seasons.

We spoiled ourselves to a small hotel room that cost us about $20USD. It included dinner and breakfast. Good news for us, but quite potentially bad news for our stomachs. I was couped up in my aunt's house for a whole day because I got some sort of intestinal infection haha. I didn't see the outside world at all. Steve got sick too. We both feel quite a bit better now, but it was a pretty terrible feeling being immobolized from sickness. I wonder if that's what it feels like to be old sometimes. I guess I'll find out in many years.

Still got some intestinal germs to fight off!

So we're done walking. It's weird to be done. It also seems like history already. It's kind of like it happened years ago. It was only 17 days of my life. That's nothing in the timeline of a life, but I guess a lot can happen in half a month. We didn't sleep in any one place for more than two days. That's probably one of the cooler things about the trip.

Each day we awoke to different scenery, people, questions, whatever... and it's just a great feeling to have continuous change in life. It keeps you on your feet, literally.

We're in Chia-yi now, my parents' home town. We've been here for 4 days -- one too many, because of this intestine thing haha. It's fun though -- just chilling in my would-be home had my parents not decided to save up money for the big move to America.

As I grow older, relationships with relatives have the potential to grow a little deeper, and I've realized that my limited language has slowed my ability to communicate. It seems unfair. There's only so much that can be discussed, and it seems like if I stayed any longer, there'd be nothing in the air to chat about anymore.

So far as I've noticed, language is the barrier between me and half of my ethnicity. It's the point where I can't learn any further about the culture. Sure I could sit for a million years and watch the world spin and see what kind of interactions take place between the people of Taiwan, but without a stronger sense of linguistic communication, it can only go so far.

Religion is a huge factor in the culture. Only by the guidance of any close relatives would I know how to act in any sort of religious setting. I don't understand most the gods I'm praying to, why I'm praying to them, and the hierarchical structure of which I should do so. It's wild how this culture is so intertwined with religion.

The relationship between culture and religion is interesting here, and I'd like to learn more, but at the same time, I've never really been one for any certain type of religion. I treat it as more of a learning opportunity to see what kind of faith people have in different aspects of the world.

My parents come from a Buddhist ancestry line, and since they've moved to the U.S. 20-some years ago, I've noticed that the amount of days they burn incense and set out offerings has gone down quite consistently. Instead, they seem to have taken up more humanitarian issues in the community with helping in Adopt-a-Road programs, nursing homes, food for the homeless, etc.

Has one form of spirituality turned itself into another? Was religion lost because there was a lack of culture surrounding my parents in America? Has religion evolved into a new species after having traveled thousands of miles to America?

It's more than just immigrant families that feel disconnected with root cultures. One distinct culture I know of is the native population of Taiwan. The youth are often stuck between the ability to work in the city or to lead a traditional life. There are positives and negatives to both lifestyles in today's world, and I think that it's highly important for the youth of all multi-ethnic families to insist upon and garner a healthy balance between traditional and progressive values.

So, I guess the "walk" in the non-literal sense is not over yet, and won't be over until I die. Perhaps that's why the supposed ending to this trip wasn't a celebration. It's not over yet. Nothing's concluded. It won't be for a long time, and that's probably the greatest thing in the world, because endless possibilities are forever challenging, and that's what keeps us alive.

Thank you, dearest reader, for reading. I guess this is sort of a final post for this adventure, but I'll post up some walking stats soon and probably some pictures too. This project might turn into an independent study for Spring semester, so stay tuned for a potential multi-media short documentary. I've been recording audio and video along the route. I'll keep you posted.

WALKING TAIWAN: Modern Monk

2008-01-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

For the other blog: (more pictures coming -- this computer's taking forever)

I had tea with a police officer who talked through current politics, only half of which I understood. We slept at a police station in a small town in the South of Taiwan that night.

Apparently, the wasp we had almost stepped on earlier is known to kill humans. A teacher took a few students to do research in the mountains some years ago, and unfortunately, came back dead after two stings. On the bright side of things, if local patrols find wasp nests, they can be steeped in rice wine and the resulting product is great for sexual impotency: the more poisonous, the longer the night! Before night fell, we crept out of (what I like to call) the jungle after following a one-lane road for some 20 kilometers. A stray dog we decided to name Slinky followed us for about 5 of those kilometers and then disappeared before we got to town. We even saw a couple monkeys. A truck was stuck in the sand on the beach, so we offered a helping hand to push. The driver thanked us but said it required a tow truck, so we kept on jaunting down the road in the rain. A while later, the truck pulled up next to us and offered shelter from the storm: a ride to the next town. Good deeds come full circle. I told mother I wouldn't walk at night, but I guess that's what happens when you're a lazy college student who usually gets a late start to the day. About a week ago, as we walked down a mountain road at night, a van stopped to offer us a ride. We approached with caution to find only the kindest of all earthly creatures: William, the driver, and his two golden Labradors.

We hop in and he hands me a card.

"Read the card, and you'll know why I picked you up," he says.

The card read, "All for one, one for all." He explained that he was a fellow backpacker and that his club had handed out these cards for its members to share with the world. The basic concept: help the world feel at home in your part of the world and others will do so to you in their part of the world.

That night, we stopped at a 7-Eleven (or 7-Enlighten as we like to call it now) and William helped map out some great destinations. He dropped us off at a world class sleeping spot, a fishing port, where we woke up to the freshest of all starts.

Fast forward a few days and about a hundred kilometers, a simple twist of fate puts us back in touch with William. We'd been walking along the main road and we hear a yelp. The van swerves to the side of the road. He tells us to get in.

We can't turn him down after our first run-in, so we grab dinner at a vegetarian joint and find out that William's a monk. That explains his shaved head, thin structure and gray clothing, but not his cigarette smoking and coffee addiction. He's still a monk though – a modern Buddhist monk.

Monks these days aren't quite the mystical characters we think them to be in the West. Sure they wear the robe and are devoted to religion, but they also use Mac products and are into organics too.

By this point, William, a beautiful specimen of the Earth, has talked our way into a free dip in the local hot springs where we can relax our tired bones.He discusses politics in the form of humanity, and he likens Buddhism to milk: chocolate milk, strawberry milk, apple milk, etc. Just like any other religion, some sects think they are the one and only milk. A few hours of chatting later, we find that he teaches art and volunteers at prisons.

So long for now, William. The world still spins round and I promise to pass along the goodness of mankind.

After 15 kilometers of walking today, we're almost at our final destination, Kenting. A pretty girl offered us a ride, but I had to turn it down. We're almost there, and besides, this is supposed to be a walk on my ethnic lines. Maybe we'll run into her tonight.

[Excuse the silly Bob Dylan references; I listened to too much "wandering music" before I left for this walk.]

2008-01-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry -- no pics today. The Internet Cafe doesn't allow USB plugs.

The other day, we were walking on the road to Taidong, and our buddy William (you might remember from previous posts) pulls up next to us again!

It had been a few days since we saw him last. He had dropped us off at a good sleeping spot at a fishing port. We thought that would be the last we'd see of him. This time, he tells us to get in his van, and he'll show us some cool look-out points.

We get in, and he takes us to a few beautiful Pacific look-outs. We had dinner at a vegetarian place, and then find out that he's a monk. He took us up to the hot springs, and talked his manager friend into letting us all in for free. Sweet.

I've learned a lot from him, a fellow traveler and continuous learner. I'll get into some (probably) in another post.

The past two nights, we stayed in Taidong with my father's cousin, so I think that's my uncle. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) He's a cop in town, and we got the executive tour. A co-worker of his took us into the mountains and we saw this art studio where these guys make ceramics.

We also went to sort of a cultural center for one of the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan, the Bunun Tribe. It was interesting. I need to do some research, but I think there are a lot of similarities between the way aboriginal tribes all over the world are treated by colonizers. (Also something I'll try to touch on in another post.)

Today, we walked about 15 kilometers, and we got to a pretty dangerous part in the road, so we stopped. The first car I thumbed down picked us up. I guess it's that easy here. It was the Coast Guard. Again, authority over here is real nice.

We're at our stopping point for the night now, Dawu, Taiwan. My uncle treated us to a hotel room for the night. Awful nice of him. We'll be getting a 20-minute ride in the morning to a safer starting point. From there, it'll be a few more days until we reach the tip of Taiwan. We'll be doing a couple days inland until we get there.

It's so chaotic in this Internet "Cafe."

Good People

2008-01-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started out pretty lazily, but we picked it up after dark, and walked 27 kilometers for the day.

It started as we left our pavillion sleeping spot on a pier:
Again, we were waved down for lunch, so we went over for some food and song. Apparently, the chef that had cooked up the meal was an award-winning Amis Tribe chef. Sweeeet. The sashimi was fresh from the morning catch in the Pacific.

We walked through the Tropic of Cancer and hungout with some other folks in the afternoon.

One guy said, "The Pacific Ocean is our big refrigerator. Whenever we want to eat, we go catch something."

We left with a bag of sticky rice, and the woman told us to go find some ingredients so we'd have a few more meals to eat. At night, we found just what we needed: a 7-11.

7-11s are on just about every other block in the big cities here, but less frequent in the rural areas. We got what we needed and had a hobo feast.

We walked on and found ourselves at an elementary school where we talked, ate delicious school-grown crops, and drank Kaouliang Jiou (a strong liquor) with the principal, vice principal and some teachers. A joyous group it was.

Today, we woke up bright and early to elementary school kids poking around us while we slept. The east coast of Taiwan is full of great people and natural beauty.

We walked on, napped, and soon a police officer picked us up, and offered to take us a little further down the road. I'm going to bed now... at the police station. We've run into really nice authority here.

I think tomorrow, we'll try to make it to the big city, Taidong.

Intelligent Travel

2008-01-11T06:21:00.001-07:00

Intelligent Travel posted one of my entries! IT is a National Geographic Traveler magazine blog.

Check it out at:

http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com/it/

I'm under Jan. 10, 2008.

All for One, One for All

2008-01-11T04:01:00.000-07:00

1.9.08.

We left Tzu Chi University in Hualien and headed south, but didn't get far before we had to ask for directions. (How many times have I started this blog with something along the lines of "We're heading south..."?) The road diverges and there's two options. We wanted to go the coastal way, but we had walked towards the mountain road.

We turned back around, and it was already dark, so I called a Hualien contact my aunt had left me before we started walking.

Degrees of separation: my aunt's co-worker's son's friend.

People here are friendly. We met up and slept in their home for the night. After breakfast, he dropped us off at the city limits, the beginning of our next big stretch.

It was a 34 kilometer walking day from Hualien to somewhere above Jici. At that point, an artist by the name of William would pick us up and shuttle us 30 kilometers to just above Shihmen.

The road south from Hualien is mountainous and cliffside. The ocean reflects the sky, so on a good day, it's bright blue. There were a lot less cars and not many trucks at all. The coastline breeze and some rice wine kept us trekking.

Around lunch time we came upon a group of families that had gathered for a meal. They waved us down, so we stopped to say hello. We ate what was left over, mostly sticky rice, fish, shrimp, and chicken. We drank what they called "Taiwan Whiskey." The bottle said "Rice Wine."

The group was mostly people of the Amis Tribe, the largest aboriginal group in Taiwan. Today, they live mostly on the east coast of Taiwan. The talking and singing was great. Most spoke bits and pieces of English, so they would try to talk with Steve. Most of the food items on the table were great for sexual prowess, according to on one of the guys. After some songs, we hit the road (walking) a little tipsy from rice wine and a drink mix involving milk. Cool!

At that point, we decided to christen the almighty "The Cup" that we had been carrying in our packs for the past 4 days. It was time.

I think it was more rice wine, but I can't be certain. Either way, it made the walking a bit easier.

The coastal road went inland, and for dinner, we had noodles in the mountains. We trekked further as night fell. I told mother I wouldn't walk at night. Mother's usually right about things, but we had to do it anyway. The burn to walk was in us, and the walking was tense. We subconsciously worked out a system where Steve would walk up front and I would be behind. He'd have his flashlight out and ready if a car came from in front of us. My blinking headlamp would signal cars from behind. We made it most the way down the mountain this way until a van stopped in front of us.

We approached slowly and saw that it was a man offering us a ride. He secured his dogs in the back and we jumped in. His name was William, and he handed me a card when we stepped in and said in English, "Look at the card, and you'll know why I picked you up."

It said "All for One, One for All." He explained that he was a backpacker too, and that if every traveler helped one another, than the traveling world would be a lot more at ease. I agreed. A long story short, William was awesome, a bit quirky, and as Steve put it, a bit like an Asian Woody Allen. He pointed out some good destinations for us, and dropped us off at a good sleeping spot.

We're sleeping on a pier tonight.

Trading in the Monastic Life for the Road

2008-01-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a trip summary so far with some updated pics for something else...I'll try to get back to your comments soon. Sorry for the delay.

It's 4:10am, and we have to go pray. I'm not cut out for monastery life.

For the past two nights, my longtime friend and I have been sleeping at a Buddhist monastery on the East Coast of Taiwan, eating vegetarian, shoveling cement, making chocolate candies, and mopping the temple floor.

I'm here on a self-administered project I've decided to call A Walk on my Ethnic Lines. This exploration of my ethnic identity has been bubbling around in the depths of my gut for some years now, and the opportunity came for me to fly to Taiwan this winter, so I took it.

It's not the first time I've been here, but it is the first time I've been here with a critical eye on the half of me who is formed on this island. My other half, I would argue, is something along the lines of White American.

I started walking a week ago more than a hundred kilometers north of where I am now. My travel plans were to walk south and meet people. I've hitched a couple of rides and taken a short train ride, but they were all either tangential to meeting people or for the sake of convenience to some of my hosts. I've slept by train tracks and staked a tent near waterfalls. Today is the start of the second segment of our walk -- 150km to Taitung, a comparitavely larger city than what we've seen so far.

The start of the trip was just like any beginning to anything that isn't well planned: different. After a coffee at a cafe on the cliffside coast above Dali, we headed South. The weather was cool, but our walking subdued most of the cold.

We headed down to the train tracks to follow the rails, but were hurried back up to the road, when a speedy freight train honked and roared by us. We hit the ground and let our feet swing off the ledge that offered a 15 foot drop into a muck of a garden and various degrees of trash.

We'd been walking on a coastal road that most cars abandoned once a faster route opened. It's mostly tractor trailors now. Sometimes even tractor trailors towing tractor trailors.

The thing about walking is that it's accessible to most people across the world and it really helps you understand the land. People take note of what you're doing and ask questions. Questions turn into conversations, and then there's an exchange of cultural information that's priceless. For the world to meet one another is an endless opportunity of both inner and outer exploration. It's that simple.

We met some folks from I-lan, a city that's known for its winter mosquitoes. The folks told us to take a dip in the hot springs in the town above. Unfortunately, we lost our camera, and in a big ordeal involving the local police and a karaoke bar for truck drivers, we didn't go to the hot springs. Instead, we went to the cold springs the next town over.

In I-lan, we stayed with my mother's friend's mother's sister for a night. We were getting ready to leave town, but day was turning to night fast. A kid we met helped us ask his middle school if we could spend the night in the school yard. After a welcoming "yes" from an English teacher, the Assistant Principal turned us away. No worries. I understand.

But as we were leaving, it began to rain. Bummer. We dawned our goofy ponchos for the first time and searched for the local university. The security guard told us to stake out in the basement of their student union. In the morning, we awoke to an elderly crowd exercising to their favorite tunes. The mosquitoes kept me awake, so I wandered around. The floor above the exercise troupe was partner dancing to tango music. It was like a nightclub, except in the morning, and with old people. The elderly here are far more active than those I've seen elsewhere. Our second wake-up call was students milling around from class to class.

Eight kilometers later, we met a man that had seen us down the road. He bought us "bin-lang," an addictive nut that's chewed in Taiwan. We gave it a shot, and decided to save the rest for later. After meeting some of his friends, we stepped into their abandoned house, had tea, and watched them gamble amongst paper bills and dominoes. Some things might be better left unexplained. All I know is that they were kind to us, and at the moment, that's all that mattered. Later, we had coffee at a Mazda dealership and chatted with a salesman.

After a short evening train ride and a sloppy night market meal, we went back to the train station to sleep under a covering that seemed to overlook just the tracks. In the morning, we would find a spectacular view of the mountains. A kind station worker gave us a lift closer to Taroko National Park, and said that travelers can always use a helping hand.

I got more than my share of worldly wisdom after sleeping under the roar of four waterfalls in the park. We hit the road again in the morning, keeping in mind that we needed to get to this charity organization by nightfall. We stopped at a 7-11 for an afternoon snack. As we were leaving, I saw a sign that pointed to the Tzu-Chi Academy. Our afternoon hunger landed us exactly where we needed to be. We walked to the monastery, dropped our packs in front of the temple, and went in for an evening prayer, as directed by the man who greeted us at the entrance.

There we spent two nights of 3:50am wake-ups, 2-hour prayers, chores throughout the morning, and a visit to an even larger temple boasting a mosaic of Buddha holding the Earth. After living in monastic order, we're on the road again, now with no order to our travels except a road going South.

2008-01-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

In Hualien now at a university -- will continue walking tomorrow.

We stayed at a Buddhist Monastary last night and will do so again tonight. Wake-up call is at 3:50am. I didn't hear it.

We had to get down to the temple by 4:10am and start prayer at 4:20am.

Obviously, I'm lost in the words. I just try to go along with the melody sometimes. This is funny. Just the other week, I was in an Episcopal Church singing at Christmas Eve service, and I didn't have a clue what was giong on. This sort of sums up the reason I'm here.

I live within two cultures, both of which I don't understand fully, and neither one understands me fully. More on this when I get some more time on the computer.

We spent the first half of the day shoveling cement and making chocolate covered cashew candies at the monastary.

Both the trainyard and near the waterfalls were great sleeping spots.

Yours peacefully,
Jeff

2008-01-04T03:18:00.000-07:00

The day was beginning to turn night yesterday when we left the Internet cafe, so we decided to stay in I-lan one more night. We met a middle school kid that said he'd help to ask if we could sleep at the middle school for the night. Excellent. We got permission from a teacher, and then after some reconsideration, the assistant principal gave us the "no." No worries. I understand.

As we were booted out, it began to rain. Bummer.

We got directions to the university in town and the security guard granted us permission to sleep in the basement of one of their buildings. In the morning, I woke up to sounds of what seemed like a night club. I walked out, and I saw some older folks doing morning exercises. I couldn't get back to sleep because of all the mosquitoes, so I walked around a bit. Further upstairs was partner dancing. It was 5am.

I finally got back to sleep and awoke to morning school bells and students walking through our sleeping quarters.

We met up with our middle school friend and shot some hoops in the rain, and after an hour of indecisiveness, we took off walking down towards Suou.

About 8 kilometers later, we met a man that had seen us further down the road and offered to buy us "bin-lang," a nut that is chewed quite often in Taiwan. It offers a little buzz, I think, probably the eqivalent of chewing tobacco. We went in for some tea and met some of his friends. They gambled around a 4-sided table, a game that involved dominoes.

Now an hour behind on schedule, we picked up our pace and went a little further, and ended up spending some more time at a Mazda dealership drinking coffee and chatting with a salesman.

Later, a man offered us a ride, first a little down the road, and then he said he'd take us to Suou.

We obliged and took his advice for a dip in the cold springs in town.

Gotta run for now. The train's a-comin'. Yeah, we're taking the train, so we can get to Taroko National Park tomorrow.

Will catch up later. For the time being, here's a link to an article written about us in The World Journal:

http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-wa-news.php?nt_seq_id=1648337

Yours in Travel,

Jeff

2008-01-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my life, I am blogging in an Internet cafe. We're sitting in the non-smoking section as the smoke billows in from the other room.

We spent the day here in I-lan milling around in the sun, drinking creamy coffee and looking for a new digital camera. After a few hours, Steve finally decided on one, and here's our first picture displayed on one of the store TVs.

James, our salesman friend sold it to us.

We're supposed to be leaving now, but I-lan is a pretty cool place. At breakfast, we finished and paid, but the lady that served us fed us her home-grown guavas. She gave us one, and then another. After we left to buy the camera, we had to head back toward her store. As we passed, she gave us another guava. Delicious.

It's 4:40pm now, the clouds are building, and it gets dark around 5:30pm. We're late. Off we walk towards Suou.

Let's hope today is the last day of the cold wind blowing along the coast.

The Saddest Popcorn...ever

2008-01-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

After about 13 hours of sleep, we're off to walk toward I-lan. This is where I need to change the title of my blog a little bit.

I'll explain: We've decided we'll take some rides sometimes when they're offered, and maybe a train ride if the walking is dangerous. There are thin roads here on the coast, and some cliffside drop-offs that have no return. I know, I know -- "You wussy, Jeff..."

Well, in response to that, I need to live. Afterall, this walk is about meeting people and getting to know the life of others on this island where my parents are from. On my walk across America after graduation, I promise, I won't take rides.

Sooo...we took a ride from some people when we got to a town called Waia, I think. A woman, her sister, and her sister's friend were out having a good time on the beach, and I approached them to ask about directions. We chatted briefly and they decided to offer us a ride to the next big city, I-lan. I talked it over with Steve, and we decided it would be good, as we'd be able to talk to some people. They live in I-lan and know their way around. I would've never been able to get to where I needed to go without them, and for that I am grateful.

We boarded their small truck and went to the next town up, Jiao Si, where they wanted to show us the hot springs, where we could soak our tired feet. We took our shoes and socks off, and I asked Steve to get the camera for some pictures. This is when I began to sing in my head:

I been havin' some hard travellin', I thought you know'd
I been havin' some hard travellin', way down the road...

You see, dear reader, Steve lost our camera -- our camera that we borrowed from a family friend of mine.

A quick recollection of our past hour's travels led us to the point where we left the camera. One of our I-lan friends that we met drove us back to the spot. The camera was gone. We asked the roadside store to see if they knew what might've happened.

Along the road are lots of small shops that serve the truck-drivers that go by. They'll often drop in, buy a beer, eat at the cafeteria, and before they depart, sing some karaoke. To make a long story short, a truck driver ran off with our camera about 2 minutes before we arrived. We drove to the police station to ask them to check the roadside video cameras.

Back to the roadside store, and there's some sort of political party gathered around singing karaoke. I couldn't fully understand what was going on, because mixed in with the Chinese and Taiwanese languages was a local dialect called "minan-yu." I have no idea what the Western translation for that is.

We call the manager out, and he gets angry that he did a good deed and told us about who took the camera, and then we bring the cops to his store. I try explaining that we just wanted to view what was on the camera, and the police had to come to take down witness statements. We were sorry; we really were.

We left the store, left our numbers with the cops, and left the whereabouts of our camera to the local police. Some of the roadside cameras belong to the local government, and the cops have to check with them to get the footage.

I'd hate to burden our friends further, and we really needed to get to I-lan, so we drove off. We picked up the others still waiting at the hot springs. They had bought us snacks for the ride.

We got the unfortunate call from the police, and I sat in the middle seat eating the saddest bag of popcorn I ever did eat. It was delicious.

A Beginning Like All Beginnings: Different

2008-01-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Other World,

The last I spoke to you was when I was in a warm Taipei apartment, helplessly buzzing around, packing last minute details and tangible items into my backpack.

Now we have walked about 25 kilometers (not an exact figure because I lost my pedometer...who needs a pedometer anyway. Do you even know what a pedometer is?), were almost run over by a freight train, are on the east coast of Taiwan, and I don't have pictures to show for it....well maybe one or two, but I'll get to that in another post.

The first day on the road was quite something. We got to a late start after my aunt and uncle treated us to a seafood lunch somewhere above the town of Dali. After our first steps from a seaside cafe, we decided to walk a little on the train tracks. It offered a spectacular view, and plus, after reading the book Hobo a few years back, I've always enjoyed the feeling of being on train tracks.

Bad Idea: Within half an hour, at least four trains wizzed by, the last of which nearly nipped both my friend, Steve, and I. We heard the horn a-comin', and jumped to take a squat on the ledge which offered our other potential option -- a 15 foot drop into a muck of a garden and various degrees of trash. Luckily, we're alive to tell the story, and I have minidisc audio to prove it.

Our main route at the moment is Rt. 2. With the openning of another faster route to the coast, the urbanites generally choose to take a faster route to the sea. This leaves the tractor trailors to Rt. 2 zooming down the coast.

After a close call with the train, we walked the road with varying shoulder widths to Dali. We went to a YMCA, but no one answered our calls. Dogs barked us out through the gates. We tried seeking shelter at a temple, but it was quite the tourist attraction, it seemed, and offered no form of shelter. It even had an information center. Mentally exhausted and physically wrecked with a 13-hour time difference, we chose to stay at a hostel, deserted from the likes of the winter "cold." It's chilly here, but it ain't nothing like an American winter. Barely anybody comes to these parts in the winter.

Thank you all kindly for the comments. It keeps me going.
tootles

The New Year!

2007-12-31T14:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings from 2008! In about four hours, we should be walking South from Fulong. I need sleep.

Earlier, we met up with the all-encompassing David Schultz for an unforgettable New Years celebration. Fireworks blasted off from the world's tallest functional building for several minutes as we drank beer atop a Taipei apartment complex. An estimated 400-thousand were present in the surrounding blocks of the towering Taipei101 building.

We met a whole bunch of English teachers that came from abroad to spend a year or two or lifetime in Taiwan. A fun evening for all.

Happy trails in 2008 -- not just physical ones. I have no idea where we're sleeping tonight.

Peace on Earth!

Cups - plastic ones

2007-12-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

I should be sleeping now, but as you'd imagine, the 13 hour time difference is throwing me off. We went out and got some chicken and bubble tea with my aunt and cousin, and now it's almost 3am.

It's amazing how a day's long flight will get you to the exact other side of the planet. Quite a long way we've come since flagellum.

On the two plane rides over, I tried to use only one plastic cup, you know, because I'm all about the re-use of all things. I failed. The flight attendant reached into the middle of my airplane tray table where I had been doing some work, and snatched it as quick and precise as a bird diving for fish.

"Hey!" I yelled, but she didn't look back. The next time she made her rounds, I made sure to tell her that she ruined all my plans of using the same cup for the trip to the East.

She said back to me, "Now there's an issue; I'll take that up with the chief!"

Anyways, someone told me this is sunrise, but it makes more sense that it's sunset somewhere over Siberia. Either way, it's real pretty.

Tomorrow is for equipment sorting and New Year celebrations.

'Til next time, for the love of recycling,

Jeff

I'm going on a walk!

2007-12-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

It's about 12 hours before I board the airplane, switch my clocks 13 hours ahead, celebrate the New Year in Taipei, and begin a trek south to the bottom of Taiwan. I'm out of shape, still in America, and my longing to travel has eaten away at my scholastic productivity this past semester.

It's about time to get out of here!

On Jan. 1, 2008, I will embark on A Walk to Remember.... no I'm just kidding.

A Walk on my Ethnic Lines is what I've been calling it, and the plan is to walk, meet people, and blog in the general theme of multi-ethnic identity. Of course, that won't be the only thing I blog about. I'm no scholarly database of useful information; mostly just a college kid trying to see the world. So, you'll probably read about and see pictures of my daily thoughts and observations.

My friend, Steve, and I will be walking for around three weeks, blogging wherever the Internet is available to us. I’ve got a sleeping bag and a tent in my backpack, so we’ll sleep wherever the wind blows us.

Please check back every day to find the latest updates and to comment on our posts. Click here for Steve's blog. Oh, here's a funny one: We got some food earlier today and below is the fortune cookie "fortune" that I got...

Let's see what walking 260-miles has to say about that.

To all I wish a joyous New Year and all the best to you and your loved ones.

PEACE!