Final Travel Blog 4-28 thru 4-30

4-28-10

on this fine day brian took the morning off so he could take me to taroko gorge. this is something i had to see and do before i had officially completed my taiwanese experience. we got up early, which made me quite sad, however we got on the scoots quick and made our way to taroko. this made me excited and i woke up more and became oh so happy. The weather was very nice when we got up. nice sunny and warm. as we rode on the scooters wr drove through the taiwanese graveyards on the way to taroko. the graveyards are soo wierd. i don't exactly understand the thoughts behind these graves, but they look like little toy cities. all kinds of graves that are small houses. they have one mini door and all kinds of pretty colors. they are actually really cool to see. anyways we continued on to taroko and it started to sprinkle once we hit the hill to go up taroko gorge. we suited up with our rain gear and pushed on. we started up the hill and were doing just fine. after we had gone for about 30 minutes up we had our first stop. we stopped at a memorial for the taroko gorge road. the road connects the east side to the west side of taiwan. it was a mjor undertaking when it was built. the memorial was for the people who passed away durring the creation of this road... there were three beatuful temple type things along the hillside. one has a waterfall going through it and into the river in the gorge. it was a sight to see. very pretty and super unique. we continued on and within 5 minutes we were taking off the rain gear and sweaters because it was so hot. our next stop was one where we got to go on a walk. we walked up somewhere in the gorge on a small path that was through small caves and tube/barrels of rock. you could see the river flowing through the gorge from the path and it was very nice. on the path you had to wear hard hats. someone was walking the path in the past and hit on the head by falling rock. the hard hats were cool. it made me feel like a construction worker! we continued our walk until we had gotten to the end. we walked back and got on the bikes for more adventures. we rode for a bit and stopped at a lookout point. we looked out and it wasn't too exciting so we got back on the bikes and practiced doing wheelies. brian had some very nice wheelies, while i had some nice ones as well. Again we continued on our journey. we got to a spot where there was a suspension bridge over a river and a sweet lookout point. brian parked his bike and i romped the scooter up onto the bridge. i gunned the scooter on the middle of the bridge for fun and the tire started spinning. i lost traction and did a burnout right towards going off the bridge. luckily the scooter stopped before me and it were flying down into the rocky riverbed. brian and i crossed the bridge and i found out that the bridge was so wet and slippery i could hold the front brake on the scooter and gun the scooter. this made the tire spin and i stayed in place. the tire got spinning so fast it started smoking. i looked at the wet bridge where i did burnouts, they were now dry because they got so hot from burnouts. we finished our exploring on the lookout spot and headed out. while i was riding over the bridge on the scooter brian thought it would be oh so funny to jump up and down and shake the bridge on me. it scared the poop out of me! we continued on up the gorge to some spot i think was called the curtain waterfall or something like that. we found the path opened, there is usually a gate so you need to hike, but we were able to ride the bikes! the path was super sketchy. right on the side of a cliff and it was sooooo muddy and slippery. i took one mini spill and got my shoes muddy. so sad! we made it ot the curtain and it was cool. its a cave/tunnel that has a waterfall coming out of the rocks above your head in the tunnel. so you walk into this pitch black cave and start feeling your way through until you can see the light coming from the other side. at that point you can start feeling the waterfall raining down on you. alittle further in and you are in the gnarliest shower you've ever had. we played in the waterfall and had our eyes adjust to the darkness. once our eyes were adjusted we made it through the tunnel without a problem. next spot we headed to was the natural hot springs. we got there and they were closed off. we knew this prior to going. i guess they have been closed for a LONG time. you get to a rock tunnel and there is a gate with a pretty small space over the top. you climb over this fence and squeeze between the fence and the rock roof to continue. once we both made it over the fence we went down the slippery wooden stair path to the springs. we made it the springs and got in. the springs were in the river. the river flowed and coming out of the rocks beside the river was the sulfery hot hot water! people had created little pools with rocks so the hot water would flow in the pools, and the cold water from the river would stay out. some spots were cold and others were hot. we decided part of the pools was too cold because the water was flowing in from the river. we created a dam and rerouted the water awy from our pools of hot water. we did this for about an hour and did a pretty good job. our dam looked great! we got back in the pools of hot water and couldn't tell the difference, but the dam was still very nice! I decided i would try to go down a "slide" in the river. basically it was a rapid spot. it was smooth rock that was right in the middle of the river. it was pretty small so i decided it was going to be quite nice. i slide down the slide. at the bottom it sucked me under water and churned me around for a while. while being churned it slammed my booty right into a huge rock. it hurt real bad. shortly after i was released from the churning water. i was about 10 yards down the river. i came up and brian was laughing. i came up laughing, but in pain from a bruised booty. brian found a much nice softer slide. he tried it and i followd shortly after. this slide was from a marbled rock into a nice pool of water. it was great. the river water was cold so we got into the pools again to warm up for the hike back to the bikes. we got back to the bikes and slowly made our way back down the gorge to get some lunch. we made it back and ate some lunch. i then ran all kinds of erands i needed to do to pack up and get ready for my journey back to the states. brian went to work for the eve. we met up in the eve for some cruizn around the st. markets. we didn't do too much other than walk around. that was it for the day.

4-29-10
today the crew got together for lunch at country mothers for some good eats. after a meal we decided to go to tingben. i believe its a national park type of thing. its pretty much a river coming down from the mountains. we traveled up until we got to a sweet pool in the river. this was our destination. willie, brian, charlie, john and i changed into our boardies and walked down the path. to the water. willie was sick so he didn't get in the water, but the rest of us gingerly got in because the water is COLD! brian crawled over the rocks to the cliffside to jump off into the river. i attempted this same rocky path only to slip into the water. i decided to swim the rest of the way to the cliff. john also swam over. the 3 of us climbed up the cliffside to do some sweet stunts into the river. it was pretty high up, im not good at estimating height, but i was scrd. me john and brian all jumped off at the same time. it was a wonderful jump. no one bonked into eachother in the air or the water! the water very cold when you hop in. it wasn't cold enough to take your breath away, but it was chilly. charlie was being a baby boo hoo eyes and wouldnt get in the water with us. the 3 of us climbed up for the rock jump again and hollered at charlie until he FINALLY came up to jump with us. we all 4 jumped off the rock jump and again perfect success! we got out jumping out of the water shortly after because the others needed to be getting to work soon. we drove back and i was going to do some more things to tie up loose ends in taiwan. well i got to chuckles shot. hes the mechanic to get a tune up on the white scooter. thanks to brian and iwllie for letting me use the beast. anyways i get the tune up and no wallet. shit!!! it must have fallen out in tungben when i changed from boardies back into my shorts. its a solid hour drive to get there and it started POURING rain. i didn't have rain gear so i just charged it. by the time i made it to tungben i was soaking wet. i did however find my wallet sitting in the plants right where i changed. it was a great relief. i went back paid chuckles and did some other erands. after finishing up erands brian and willie got off work and we went to visit our taiwanese families, tims family and johns family. we visited had some food and said our goodbyes. the familes in taiwan that i grew close to i will never forget. they are the kindest most giving amazing people i have ever met. i will miss them very much. after saying goodbyes we headed back to the house ot have some goodbye drinks. we chatted drank for a bit and then sacked out. what a great final day in taiwan.

4-30-10

its time to leave taiwan. i had alot of travel time planned to get back to the states. it started out in the morning saying goodbye to willie and brian for letting me stay at the house nad being the most incredible hosts i've ever had. these 2 guys really took me in and taiwan and made my trip what it was. without them the trip would have been totally different i wouldn't have had as much fun. im forever in debt to these guys for what they did. thanks a bunch guys! anyways charlie and i drove to the train station with my gear to start my travel. i got on a 2 hour train to get to taipei. after ariving tapie i took a short 15 minute walk to the bus station where i caught an hour bus ride to the airport. 2 hours in the airport waiting for my flight. 12 hours on the flight home. pops picked me up at LAX and s 2 hour drive to the house in esco. IM FINALLY HOME!!! dinner was an epic carne asada burrito from pacific taco and a classic budwieser. I have mixed emotions about being home. im so glad to see the family and have the wonderul amenities of the us, but i miss the travling lifestyle. either way im back home and its good to be home. this will conclude my blog of this adventure. i can't wait until my next adventure!