Nature: Not So Bad?

5/12

No internet.  I feel hardcore.  And I'm actually rethinking this nature stuff- it's not really that bad.  I'm currently sitting on part of a giant marble mountain that forms one side of a gorge with light gray waters stippling on the immersed rocks as they rush by me.  I'm at Taroko National Park in Taiwan and I had to climb sideways to get where I'm sitting now.  The only sign of human existence within 360* of where I'm sitting is an old cable the color of the dark mountains behind it, now tied to the branch of a tree which has twirled itself partially around it, resting on it for support.  The temperature is perfect; not humid nor dry, not hot nor cold and I'd say the weather was perfect except that the clouds and surrounding mist are covering any hint of sunshine, making the whole valley look as if only two colors have ever existed: dark-grass green and gray.

It sounds quite depressing when I put it like that but it's kind of nice.  I heard a beeping a while ago and was concerned that someone else was on their way to steal my tranquility (albeit, tranquility with a laptop) but I realized that it was actually just a bird chirping.  Am I that far removed from nature and has it been that long since I've been in it?  Maybe I've just avoided it because I think of it as "NATURE" meaning hardcore wilderness trampling through a humid jungle.  Perhaps I just don't like humidity?  It does make me love my netbook even more.  Now I can have peace, but not too much.  Also, I might spot a leopard in the wild- how cool would that be?

I got here by leaving my hostel, late as usual, at around 6:30 a.m. for a train that left at 6:45.  In my usual dashing way, I made it with two minutes to spare.  Through the tunnels and the city and into the rural countryside, we traveled.  The train trudged uphill, pushing its way as if through sand, through the unexpected rainforest.

I was reading my book by my window seat on the right side on the train, glancing up occasionally to see the verdant mountains in the mist on my side when I looked over to the left, and there was the ocean view I'd been longing for in Japan, at least for a short while.  I hopped over to an empty seat on the left side and watched the small island we passed, and the shoreline, all large, dark boulders.  And I think we just passed a large white mosque.

The roadside temples I've seen so far are particularly different from those in Cambodia, Thailand, Korea and Japan.  The same basic structure is there, but these ones have incredible carvings of dragons with fine details and many spikes.

If you'd asked me what I'd expected of Taiwan, after first admitting that I hadn't particularly considered it, I would have said that I thought it was little more than a city-state island nation, with Taipei and a little bit around it.  But it's surprising me, more and more.  It's much closer to a large Caribbean island, with one main city, but several other cities/large towns and huge jungles, beaches and rural areas.  I'm still not impressed by the people, but little bits of the country are unexpected and interesting.

Mei told me one interesting thing and that was that -keeping in mind that this is just what she said, I'm not stating facts here- about half of the Taiwanese, including herself, wanted reunification with China, which surprised me as I wouldn't have expected it to be that high.  She also said that the reason they couldn't be reunited was because the U.S. wouldn't let it happen because then China and Taiwan together would be too powerful!  I thought that was a pretty preposterous thing to say as I don't particularly think of Taiwan as threatening in any way.  China is, of course, but to suggest that the difference Taiwan would make is that significant strikes me as hugely arrogant, and quite delusional.  To me, it's the equivalent of a Puerto Rican saying that other countries would be threatened by the combination of them and the U.S. because together they'd be too powerful.  It's just insane.

After a three hour train ride, I bought a bus ticket for Tiansiang.  The bus didn't leave for another hour so I went and got a breakfast burger before boarding at 10:50.  The bus ride, half of which was truly exciting scenery along the Taroko gorge, took about an hour and forty-five minutes, so I arrived a bit after 12:30.  I walked up to the hostel and checked in.  The manager wanted to charge me $400 NTD, about $13 but I said that it said $300 online and he said, it's for your own room.  Considering that the sign in sheet had only had two other visitors (two couples) in the entire month of May, I felt fairly certain that the dorm would be my own room anyway so I made him give me that price.

After feeling the beds, which are basically wood covered with very hard, tightly woven hay mats, I'm grateful I didn't pay any more, though now I almost wish I'd skipped it and camped outside, though then I might be eaten by black bears that inhabit this park- they're nocturnal right?

I spoke too soon.  The thing I'd forgotten about Nature was the reason that I didn't like it- I'd just remembered the fact that I didn't like it.  It's boring.  It is boring as all flip-all.  When you're actually doing the hiking or something like that you're usually too miserable to be bored, but at night, especially if you're alone, it's totally uninteresting.  I need stimulation, even for meditation, I need stimulation, and I don't like the idea of forced calm- I want to choose to be calm when it suits me, like in the Tokyo train station, not when the rest of the world wants to force me into it by lulling me to boredom.

Boo, I wanted to learn Mandarin tonight.  Now I can't because there's no internet access (and yes, I'm going with that as the reason I can't learn an incredibly complex language in one night).

I met some of the local people when I went down to buy beer and guess what?  I was right.  They're people, exactly like everyone else anywhere.