My Newfound Past Time: Hitchhiking

I've truly slacked in posting the past week, but I have had quite the eventful run.
Here is a photo of a normal Taiwan night market, decorated with fireworks to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Fire-works, -crackers, etc. are set of throughout the whole week to scare away bad spirits.

I left Taipei last Wednesday evening and headed to Yilan City, where I stayed with an angel of a couchsurfer, Nikki, and her lovely family. They hosted me with the utmost grace and treated me like family. I honestly felt like there was nothing I could do wrong. They took me to a delicious vegetarian restaurant and drove me around the contryside. Yilan County is previously where I thought I wanted to move, but now I've learned that it rains 2/3 of the year there, and seeing it on a rainy day was lovely, but not an everyday kind of lovely..

And thus my search for a new prospective home begins.
Two days later I hopped a train (my last for a while) south to Hualien, where I met up with an Estonian girl named Kaisa, who would become my faithful companion for the next four days. She swarmed into my world like a ball of fire and brought with her the effects of heatstroke. I've learned so much from this seasoned traveler and hitchiker, and I am so glad to have her as a friend.

Thumbing is the only way she goes, and so I followed suit, trusting not only in her but also in the hospitality and safety of the Taiwanese people. I took the back seat (in more ways than one) on the first few hikes, but I caught ahold of the rhythm after a few, and by the end of the week, we'd made it full circle around the island.

Our destination to the south was in national park territory, where we wanted to meet up with other people for a "Rainbow Gathering."

We finally made it to the site and camped out for one night, but it just wasn't what we'd imagined or were looking for. Though we shared some beautiful conversation and exchange of ideas in a remarkable setting. Yes yes, I am considering moving to the south now...
The next day we hitched to Kenting, a popular southern resort town. The night market was fun, and we befriended some locals. We camped near the beach (in the tent I'd bought at Carrefour for $30 USD) and headed north the next day.
Here is a Chinese New Year ceremony in Kenting, burning money in honor of dead ancestors:

The blue sky faded into grey as we rode in the back of a Beamer with a telecommunication engineer through the industrial hub of Kaoshung City. We made it as far north as Tainan before we decided to break and have a meal. (Tainan is known for its delicious, cheap eats.) From here we tried to hitchike out, but were taken under the wing of two suit-clad, surgical-mask-wearing bus company employees who pitied us enough to comp us tickets on the direct bus to Taipei. We sat, having paid nothing, in luxury recliners on a half-full bus with our own private video screens. Ah, the hitcher's life..

I made it back in Taipei to hear that the commercial I'd come back to shoot (caucasian, female extras were needed for some Belgium Beer ad) had been postponed. I suppose I'll spend the week here and head back south on Friday or Saturday.

Now I'm left pondering where I want to live on the island. My initial stipulations were as such: 1. Near the beach; 2. Near the mountains (I know, the first two aren't so bad, ey?? :D); 3. Within an hour or so from Taipei - to commute on weekends. Well, as Yilan was one of the only decent countryside-living choices in the north and it rained on my parade, one of the stipulations had to be loosened. the mountains came first, but it didn't lead me much further. So now I'm thinking of maybe forgetting about being so close to Taipei and considering coming only once or twice a month.

Studying Chinese and Kung Fu are going to be my main priorities at first on the island, so I now will look into university programs and potential scholarships. I've already met with a guy well-versed in Taiwanese Kung fu, and once I decide where I'll move, he will assist me in finding a Sifu or master.

For now I'm off to bed; I'll ponder some more later!

A teddy bear caught in the disaster of the last Typhoon: