A Trip to the Top of the World



"T-t-t-to the top of the world!
Boy you know you get me highh."
-Cataracs Ft. Dev

 

A collection of various plant seeds



A few days ago, Kai Ling Jie took us to visit one of her friends whose nickname is Shan Zhu, which translates to Mountain Pig in English. Shan Zhu owns a B&B that is quite well-known around the area. From a first glance, the B&B seems messy with random stuff all over the place, which includes but not limited to numerous comic book series, two guitars, three cats, and collections of plant seeds. But after looking a second time, it’s hard not to come to like the unique character that this house holds.


My first thought looking out the window was "Wow, what a
beautiful view!" which was quickly followed by "Oh crap... that
hill sure looks steep..." when I looked over the side and realized
how easy it would be to tople over with one wrong turn. Hahaha...

After Shan Zhu had shared some very delicious black tea with us, he took us on a trip to the top of a mountain nearby. I am, once again, impressed at how well Taiwanese people drive their cars. I am not sure how the Chinese in Canada got the reputation of "bad drivers" because it honestly takes a lots of skills to maneuver through the narrow and crowded roads of Taiwan or to drive up small mountain roads as Shan Zhu had. He literally ripped up that mountain in 20 minutes at about 40km/h. Now, that might not seem so fast but it's quite fast when we're going up a tiny steep one-lane winding road in a mini van that could be as old as me. Not only that, Shan Zhu managed to turn at the exact moments without stopping or slowing. With the confidence and the seemingly minimal effort that he put into the drive, it looked like he might as well as had only been driving down an empty 3 lane highway! 



Left: What the road looked like by the end. By that point, we had to
close the windows to avoid being hit by the trees
Right: The mini van that got us safely to our destination!

When we finally arrived at the top, the view was breathtaking. From that height, we could see all of Taitung city, its surrounding areas, and also the Jhihben area. In all the years that I had lived in Taiwan and all the times that I had visited after moving to Canada, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a view that wasn’t completely urbanized like most of Taiwan. The lack of dense city lights and high skyscrapers were a refreshing change from Taichung and Taipei. 

Shan Zhu mentioned that he wanted to share this beautiful place with the rest of the world but he also wanted to be selfish and keep it to himself. His explanation for this contradiction was that he wants everyone to come see this beautiful place that holds such importance to him but he is also afraid that its beauty will be destroyed if it becomes a popular tourist attraction area like Shi Ling. Understanding this, I hope that in the future, others can still see the same view that I saw and that it has not not been corrupted and tainted by urbanized cities and their lights. 

  

The view of Taitung City taken over about an hour.



Love, KHou