Wednesday February 2, 2011

11:45 a.m. Roadside Coffee Shop (sort of)

I haven’t covered much distance so far today. I keep heading off down mountain roads to the left and the right and seeing where they lead. There is so much to see right around here, that there isn’t much point racing off to points south for hours and hours.

My first side trip was off to the left. Before I’d gone a hundred meters, I spotted a large wooden building down beside a river and near a small waterfall. It was a fairly typical sight here in Taiwan – a bunch of broken-down buildings with lots of signs everywhere. It looks like a place that wants your business, but it is impossible to tell what that business is or whether it’s open. On impulse, I pulled over and went down a very steep concrete driveway to check it out. A bunch of friendly dogs and a couple of puppies ran up to greet me. I’m open to greeting these dogs, but I do keep my wits about me. They are Taiwanese dogs, after all, and I think they come in for a lot of abuse from strangers. They’re wary, and could easily bite if startled. They’re not used to friendliness. I moved slowly and let them check me over before I pet them. Then we were good friends.

Luckily for me, there was a man down by the river taking pictures of the falls with his cell phone. I say that’s lucky because he looked educated and I assumed he spoke English, which he did. I asked him about the building across the water. I thought it would be a cool place to spend the night if it was some kind of cheap hotel. He said it was a resort, but it was only open by invitation for very large groups. In the summer, he said, large numbers of people would come here and barbecue beside the river. There was a room with karaoke a small swimming hole near the falls, and that was all they needed. How they arranged payment and that sort of thing, I have no idea. The conclusion was that, like most places in Taiwan, this was only open to large groups and then only when you somehow make prior arrangements. It would be next to impossible for someone like me to just show up and find a place to stay.

After that encounter, I went deeper into the mountain valley on this road. It got narrower and narrower and rougher and rougher. I passed small settlements of the local aboriginal group. There are a few of them in Taiwan, and this group is called the Atayal. The people and the places were a complete mystery to me. I can’t imagine how they live there, what they do, how they make money, and how they spend their time. By this point in my life in Taiwan, I’ve driven down many such roads and seen many such places, and I still have no idea of the day-to-day life there. The houses, such as they are, look like shacks. It seems that they are very poor people, but then you can see new jeeps and trucks and scooters from time to time. You also see satellite dishes and such things. I’d love to look inside the houses and see what life is like for them, but it’s tough to do stuff like that here. People are friendly, but independent. They aren’t very open to outsiders.

I followed that road as far as I could and it finally came to a dead-end right in someone’s property where people shouted at me and dogs barked at me and chased me away. It could be that the people were shouting at the dogs, but whatever was going on, I didn’t feel welcome. The road probably continued beyond their property deeper into the mountains, but it was already so rough that it was pushing the limits for my scooter to handle. I wouldn’t want to have a breakdown up there.

My next detour was down the very next road in search of a famous waterfall. The experience was par for the course. The waterfall was quite beautiful and I got a wonderful view of it from the road. Unfortunately, the main viewing points and the trail down to its base were all closed. Many things in Taiwan are like that – broken down or closed or somewhere in between.

The area was quite attractive and I kept my eye open for a place to say. I actually found one hotel and after a lot of asking and looking, I found someone who seemed to be in charge. It was a large hotel and you’d expect people to be at the desk greeting customers and that sort of thing, but it doesn’t work that way in Taiwan. Anyway, this fellow told me a room cost NT$2,000, and he showed me a dungeon-like room way down in the basement. I always seem to be shown rooms in basements when I show up at these places. Perhaps all the better rooms are reserved? Anyway, it wasn’t worth NT$2,000 to me, and I left. I saw signs for another place, but it was clearly a hot spring spa and way out of my budget. I even found a hotel that was labeled as such. It didn’t say hotel anywhere, but there were symbols on the signs showing the standard international signs such as a coffee cup and a bed. I pulled into their driveway not expecting much. I assumed it would be too expensive even if I could rouse someone. In the end, I never found out. A mangy white dog growled at me constantly and kept trying to bite me on the leg, and the front door was locked. I peered through the glass but I didn’t see anyone or any signs of life. I had no choice but to turn and drive away.

I’m currently back on the main highway and I stopped at a little outdoor coffee shop. It has a nice view of a large bridge over the river. I got a good cup of coffee and a cookie from the nice lady who runs the place. It’s noon now, and I’ve barely made any progress down the road. That’s okay, though. I’ve already had lots of adventures. I also nearly crashed once. I’ve been driving very slowly because the roads are wet and slippery. However, even that wasn’t slow enough and my front wheel nearly went out from under me one time. That scared me enough that now I’m driving even slower. My scooter never seems to have much traction. It’s okay on the main highway, but the back roads often get a layer of green fungus growing on them. This stuff is more slippery than ice. I sometimes forget how slippery it is, and I need a little slip like that to remind me and keep me on my toes.

 

Tags: cell phone, North Cross-Island Highway, NT, Roadside Coffee Shop, scooter, Taiwan