Ticky Ticky Tembin

The size of Taiwan is demonstrated to me in the fact that this is going on down south, while up here in Taipei City it would feel like any other slightly cloudy day, if not for all of the chairs being chained up, the typhoon warnings on every public display in convenience stores, and our concluding EAPSI banquet down in Hsinchu very sadly being cancelled. I just checked the weather stations down south, and found this as the 1:15 a.m. observation from the top of the mountain on Lanyu, where we stood two weeks ago: sustained winds of 37 m/s (83 mph), with gusts to 55 m/s (123 mph). I don't know how accurate the wind observations are in conditions like that, but it's conditions like that, so it doesn't really matter.

It's crazy to think that the islanders down there are used to such things. Hoping for the best for friends and everyone down south.

The Wind Down

We stayed near the corner on the central-
southwest coast

Quite a few deadlines caught us all off guard over the last few weeks, as has our looming return to State-side. While being busy, we've made sure to squeeze in some last minute trips that were high on our priority list. Through way too few pictures and way too many words, I'll take you through one of these trips, which undoubtedly goes down as my favorite throughout this extended vacation.

So Lanyu is this tiny, desolate volcanic island just southeast of Taiwan. While being bigger than the more famous Green Island just north, fewer tourists go there, so it is a favorite to people like me who are enamored more by the serenity and traditionalism in a place than what it has to offer in artificial entertainment. We managed to catch a tiny little plane ride there, which lasted all of 20 minutes, after maybe 8 hours of desperation on standby in Taidong. We were beside ourselves with excitement to finally have a flight, and to be on the tiniest airplane any of us had ever ridden in (roughly 5 feet window to window).

Leaving Taidong

The ferry port in Lanyu

Once in Lanyu, you depend heavily on what Chinese you know or the help of any Chinese speakers along for the ride with you. We had lots of help from our good friend Jay-Wen (J-Wow), who works in a lab with one of our EAPSI buddies. It was a big step back in time. Most of its 4,000 inhabitants are of the Tao aboriginal community, and once in a while you'd even come across someone wearing nothing but a wrap to cover the goods. They had these beautifully painted canoes they use to fish from. We'd sometimes pass by guys hanging out along the road constructing them rib by rib. We were told not to take pictures of any of the aboriginals or their way of life, but there's plenty online (someone's gotta break the rules).

 

Outside of our hostel

The majority of the people you interact with are actually Taiwanese, who either own or work at a hostel, restaurant, etc. on the island. We received incredible hospitality on the island. Our wonderful host - the owner of the hostel we stayed in - was our tour guide, our cook, and by the end of the trip, a great friend (even though we couldn't directly communicate with her). She saw to it that we experienced the local sights, like these really cool nocturnal blooming flowers that looked like fiber optics when you shined a light on them, as well as Lanyu traditional food (flying fish, cooked in a variety of ways, and some items made from taro and yams).

(courtesy of Shala)

Spiced flying fish (it was very tasty)

A major attraction in Lanyu is the world-renowned diving/snorkeling. It's in what our marine bio friends call the coral triangle, which extends from the islands around southern Taiwan across Indo down to the famous reefs in Australia. One thing that has been really cool about being in this EAPSI program is that I am always surrounded by experts on some topic, here to study something very different from me, and that was definitely the case in Lanyu. We were very fortunate to have with us our good friends Cammie and Julia, who study coral and lion fish (they dive reefs for a living...rough life).

On our second day, after a couple of us snorkelers explored on our own, the master divers Cammie, Julia, and Jay-Wen took us to the real deal spot. I must describe...

So you get in the water, and have to delicately float your way out along the surface for a while, keeping all of 3-4 ft of water between you and the jagged, urchin-ridden reef floor. You follow along these narrow, slightly deeper channels in the reef to make your way out. You get to a location maybe 60 feet from the shore, where the shallow reef floor gives way to a nebulous underwater city of coral-covered towers and bowls of reef, contoured by deep pools 20 ft across that go down in some cases to 20-30 ft.

We spent the next several hours bobbing up and down beneath the surface, testing our lung capacity in order to explore a surreal world that most of us had never seen. Certainly a coral lover's dream, as Julia and Cammie reassured us, but I think us less marine-educated folks were also able to appreciate the abundance of clownfish, lionfish, nudibranchs, sea snakes (those were a bit scary), and a handful of fancy marine bio terms that I've already forgotten. I'm throwing in a bunch of photos in at the bottom from the snorkeling, which I've taken from a couple friends albums (thanks Julia and Sarah!).

On the traverse road looking northwest

Coming over the traverse road towards the east

The arch at Lover's Cave

Posing at the weather station

While I'll miss the crap out of the incredible snorkeling, hospitality, and delicious dan-bing (think Asian egg sandwich), I think I'll miss cruising around the island by scooter the most. It takes about an hour 30 to make it all the way around, and it's eerily quite the entire way (leave the five or so small villages), which reminds you of how preserved and natural such a beautiful place can be if not overrun by tourism. Climbing the cross-mountain traverse road, rounding the southern point to Battleship Rock, and the arch near Lover's Cave stand out in my mind. Also striking gold on a meteor shower while there. I've never seen the Milky Way so vividly. And then we have Alex LeBaron astrophysicist to explain it's dark patches, the origin of the meteors we were watching burn so brightly, and many other things that all us geeks love to ponder.

Sharp reef juts out of the water all along the coastline

Battleship Rock in the distance

The ferry ride out

Underwater Mecca (thanks Julia and Sarah!)

 

Peter giving his stamp of approval

If you look closely, you can see the sea snake in center photo

Just a bunch of sea urchins doing their thing

 

Standing guard on their anemone

Saola: It begins

Today began with Zack and I coming out of comatose around 1pm. This resulted both from a lack of sufficient sleep all week and from a fun night out in celebration of a good friend's birthday. We both got in around the same time last night from different happenings, running around giddy from a good night's fun, and soaked and ecstatic like dogs just getting out of a bath. Heavy rain has been on and off around here the last few days, getting a bit more intense and a bit more windy with each day, but we are finally seeing a turn for the typhoonier.

The real excitement is apparently going to come a few hours after nightfall, but just as I type this, we're finally beginning to see some quite impressive wind and rain, all from the sturdy comforts of our mango-stocked bedroom (we though an impending typhoon was a sufficient excuse to "work" from our side of campus for the day).

The radar images I've thrown in here show what appears to be some intensification, with heavier rainfall in and surrounding the eye of the typhoon. The national centers have been forecasting some intensification because of more favorable atmospheric conditions, though it might not make a whole lot of difference for us. It's not making a direct landfall (the eye is passing north of Taiwan), but we're going to see heavy rain either way. This, as the locals describe, is the trouble that typhoons cause around this mountainous island.

I'll be doing my best to get some video/pictures of the action from our place. No worries form the west though - the wind isn't going to get that intense, and buildings are plenty sturdy. As for rain, we're well outside of the mountains, so quite out of harm's way. Just a guy enjoying some weather.

Typhoons and Sleeping Pills

It's 4am, and I'm awake as though I never adjusted my internal clock since leaving the US. It's the constant roaring and howling winds, the earth-shaking thunder, and the strobe-light lightning show that is lighting up my ceiling. Only kidding. Typhoon Saola is still miles out to sea right now, but I thought I'd offer something more dramatic and exciting than 'we've been gray and rainy the last few days, with very, very mild winds and a surprising lack of thunder.'

Still, there has been a lot of commotion about what Saola might have in store for us as she? he? it? bears down on Taiwan, and in particular, the northern and eastern counties of Taipei, Yilan, and Hualien. This map showing the wave swell forecast is pretty interesting. As far as I can guess, someone takes wind forecasts from a global weather forecast model and crunches them through some algorithms to predict swell height. It's what surfers use to forecast their play dates with the sea. Yes, that's 30+ ft. swell forecast in the Taiwan area.

Today my labmate showed me some live webcam footage of the east coast shoreline (CWB, you need IE to view cams), and it was being lit up by what looked to be the everything-one-could-ask-for, glassy kind of surf. Waves ahead of a typhoon + weak winds = a recipe for magic if the local bathymetry can handle the wave. I won't get a chance to see it with my own eyes, or see as that evolves into a churning, roaring, boiling ocean, but I'll be watching via webcam as long as the camera withstands the wind.

As of now, a lot is left to chance (forecast limitations), which means a lot for a small and insanely mountainous island (ask wiki about Taiwan topography). It has already slowed it's pace in spite of many forecasts that suggested otherwise. One way or another, it's gon rain, so I think I'll cave and buy myself a $200 NT umbrella. Should be an interesting experience, perhaps even exciting for anyone around here who tends to get excited about mother nature.

 

There's something about a pink typhoon glow

Kenting

Zack: I'll get on at Hsinchu. Grab some food. You'd better have some surprises for the ride. Us: alright, we'll grab some bagels at that NY bagel spot in Main Station. And we'll have some surprises, don't you worry. Just don't miss it. Me: Sarah - we only have a bottle of wine in our room, but we have a 711 downstairs. Let's go get surprises.

Bag fills up. 711 man: wow (suffice it to say that they only sell beer in singles here, and yes, us westerners all look like alcoholics here).

Miss train. Catch next one. Special note: not stopping in Hsinchu

Beer: spill all over the high speed rail car at 300 kmph. Me: shit. Don't forget to bring a towel. Everyone in car: drunk American (they assumed I didn't understand that because they said it in Chinese, but looks tell all). NY bagels - mmmm. Zack's bagel - mmmm. Taiwan Gold Medal pils - mmmm.

Arrive in Kaoshiung (like Cow Shung)

Peter, Johnson, Zack: whoa where did you guys come from? Us: missed the 7 train, grabbed the express. Sorry Zack, missed the bagel shop in a rush to catch the train. Johnson: taxi, we need a ride to Kenting, a scooter store, one that doesn't require an intl license, and some chewing gum. Hit it. Scooter people - we'll take three. Shi shi. Bam.

Arrive at house

Alex, Cammie, and Julia: Happy birthday Pete! (party hats adorned) Have a beach, have a drink, have a barbecue. Stay a while.

 

Pliability

Sarah, Zack, and I. What a team.

Cultural shocks, as my beloved Taiwanese friend Ruby calls them, are few and far between for me lately. Waking up today, my roommate Zack and I looked excitedly at one another, knowing that we were struck with the same feeling - we are completely in rhythm with our new lifestyle. We have shed the habits that we have been living by, perhaps for years. The foods we eat, the drinks we drink, the people we eat with, the beds we sleep in, the stores we shop in...it is all new, yet it is all becoming home. I expected a much lengthier and more challenging adjustment, but I think there are a few sound reasons.

First, Taiwan is known to be very strongly westernized - the cultural rules and regulations that are so prevalent in places like Korea, China, and Japan, such as a very strongly-held hierarchy, do not have as strong a presence here. People are very approachable, and you can find someone who speaks English almost wherever you are (though things are often more fun and interesting when you can't).

Belting off Bohemian Rhapsody - karaoke, American stylee

Second, adjustment and assimilation is much easier when you are surrounded by a few compatriots...some fellow 'Mericans to confide in with the odd situations you get into throughout the day, stories of communication through sign language, etc.

Some tourists with our new friend Michael (right)

Finally, the people in Taiwan are so incredibly sweet-natured and accommodating that it is hard to find yourself being judged for your actions, whether it be language mispronunciation or just general ignorance. Be ready to laugh at yourself, but there's no shame, and certainly no judgement. The Taiwanese love to laugh and have a good time in pretty much every situation. There is a lot I am learning about how one can approach life. Perhaps their lighthearted approach is why they all look so youthful!



I'm off to Kenting tonight (see map) to help a friend celebrate his birthday and to say hello to the ocean, who I miss very much. It's quite a haul, and the scene in fact changes quite dramatically as you traverse the island, as people tell me. In this picture, southwest of Taiwan, you can also see the makings of a potential typhoon (Asian for hurricane).

Rain gear: check
Party cap: check
Sunblock: probably not

- Ja-mu-shee

Gān bēi!

There is nothing more gratifying than the first time soloing an order in a new language. Sounds simple, does it? Hello. I would like one coffee - "Ni hau. Yi ge kafe." Let's see what the clerk starts spouting at normal Mandarin pace following my unfortunate suggestion that I speak Mandarin. "What kind of coffee? What size? Hot or cold? How many sugars? Do you want a bag? Milk? Any food?"

He is disappointed to discover a nervous deer in the headlights. It begins pointing at things. Frantically turning its head in random directions. Turning red. Confused English mutterings. Uhhhhhhhh. We've lost dial tone. Finally, they walk away and improvise using what mashed up garbling of an order I've provided.

I am slowly learning the various phrases required to prevent such lingual car wrecks. I now know enough to shout a few broken statements to cover all my bases: "I would like one bubble tea. Large. Few ice. Half sugar. Small bubbles" Survival is a good motivator, especially when bubble tea is your primary nourishment. Mmmm bubbles.

First coffee order COMPLETELY in Mandarin today. A proud man I am. Tonight, this first Friday night after our first full week of work, I will test my skills by ordering a couple cans of píjiǔ.

Gān bēi!

<-- Best dumplings I've ever had, with that spicy red sauce you see to the left, and the lab mates say this spot is "okay."