Thursday 6 December 2012

MRT Trains, Local Trains, Express Trains....oh the Timing of all the Trains....

MRT Trains, Local Trains, Express Trains....oh the Timing of all the Trains... So I'm traveling to Hulien so that I can finally visit Toroku gorge and I actually end up falling asleep on the train.  Now I made three mistakes in this little adventure. First, I was so tired and I fell asleep, second, I woke up and read my clock wrong,  and third, I got off the train thinking that I would just have to re-route back for 10 minutes or so based on the time that I'd overslept.   As I was stepping off the train, I had a thought flash across my mind that maybe this wasn't the best stop to get off due to the lack of other passengers exiting and the darkened station.  But I did get off and I found the station manager who was so sweet to help me and seemed especially confused about why I was at that particular station.  Using monkey talk (basic charades), I managed to convey that I had been sleeping when the train had stopped at Hualien and so I had decided to get off at the next nearest location to try and correct my error.  After discovering that the only other person at the station could speak a little bit of english, we were able to translate what I needed to do and where to go.  So, with ticket in hand, I made my way back up the platform where I waited for a local train to take me to Saaoxin station where I would re-board another Express train to Hulien City. After all of this hooplah, I sat in my seat and re-looked at my map and realized that yes, I had fallen asleep but that I shouldn't have gotten off the train in the first place!  I had still had an hour left of my trip!  It turns out that my ipod hadn't synced up with the local time and instead of adjusting for that hour ahead, I took it as the real time and thought that I'd missed my stop by a mere 10 minutes.  No wonder the train manager was so confused about why I had gotten off at his station when all I had to do was stay on the train!!!!!  And so, here I am feeling foolish and wide alert and waiting for my next stop, hopefully in Hulien City!  Update:  I am here in Hulien and safe and sound and going to bed to get a good night's rest for tomorrow's adventures!

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Angels in my Asian Outfield

Angels in my Asian Outfield As a member of the Murphy's Law team, I've always found myself in the strangest, most random, and, at times, the most frustrating of predicaments.  As a result, I've learned to always have what some would like to refer to as a backup plan. I'd rather refer to the strategy of being a problem-solver becuse even the back-up plan to the back-up plan rarely gets carried out in a linear fashion as was pre-arranged.  And so, while it usually works out in the end, I cannot fully take credit for my successful adventures in the midst of traveling chaos.  My best friend once said that I was the type of person where one angel was insufficient, the angels must have had a meeting where it was decided that I would have a whole team of angels on duty for me.  There have definitely been times where I would agree one hundred percent with this!  This trip has been spectacular and though I attribute a large percentage of it to my "dynamic" personality (and I've had so many taiwanese and korean people so sweetly tell me this) but in my moments of gone with the wind attitude and when my plans have gone belly-up, those angels have stepped into high gear and saved the day.  If I think about them in terms of angel office policy I cringe when I think of the paperwork that has been submitted due to my behaviour :p  On the other hand, my journey has been wonderful, random, and full of positive experiences; everything that I was hoping that this traveling adventure would be....

Traveling Souls....

It seems like every time I sit down and get started writing that I'm always  wonderfully interrupted by someone!  I keep meeting the kindest, most interesting, and most generous individuals.  Of course they always apologize for how "poor" their english is even though they seem to keep up with our conversation and my wacky expressions just fine (with a little bit of an explanation about my humour).  It seems like the written story of my asian journey may never be written about sequentially or written accurately at least in terms of the emotions and the various and random combination of choices and details that led to these special meetings.   I believe that everything happens for a reason and that stumbling upon these people brings something special to my life and, I would hope, their lives too.  My journey is not so much about the places that I visit and the statues and landscapes that I pose with (though they will be plentiful and posted accordingly) but rather, the tiny happenings and thoughts that are along the way and are too numerous to even attempt in documenting.  These momentary occurences may not be the most memorable of my trip if I try to recollect them as an individual but if I think about them as a whole then the are given a collective identity within my mind as a guiding positive force.  I feel my energy rising as I talk with these people and I can see the other people responding in a physically and energy-reviving way.  It creates a circular path as we connect on a deeper level than mere words.  Separate of the language and culture barriers, we are part of a soul-coupling that allows us to be authentic with one another.  For that moment, even though I will probably never see them again (although nowadays with facebook I am quickly gathering up the number of internet friends as I go along) I have taken part in the pure essence of what it is to be a person; to be full of positivity, to reach out, to ascend beyond the restrictions of norms and pleasantries, and to be consciously ignorant of the pressures to form a good impression.  As a result of this soul-coupling, I have willingly accepted this natural and positive friendship and can move forward with a greater sense of self.    ` `