Taiwan Time

Taiwan was more than we expected. More beautiful, more industrialized, more unique, more expensive, and more difficult. The country is only a third the size of South Korea, but still managed to seem fairly big to us. We stayed on the east coast, dividing our time between Taipei, a remote island, and a truly spectacular gorge.

Green Island is a tiny little thing, a 10 minute plane ride from Taitung. We ventured there for two reasons--the island maintains some very authentic aspects of Taiwanese culture, and we'd never been to an island together before (save Jamaica). We had the island to ourselves, as the peak season was months ago. The weather was hit or miss, but we managed to get a few beautiful days out of it. We rented a scooter and putted along the only road on the island, stopping to hike into caves, find spiders as big as our hands, and watch beautiful sunsets. You can traverse the island on scooter in 30 minutes. The tourist center also had battery powered bicycles, which we used as well. One of the main draws to the island is that it boasts one of only 3 salt water hot springs in the world. Again, because tourist season was over, we were literally there with 4 other people.

Getting off the island proved difficult...there are only four 19 person flights a day, and ours was cancelled. We were forced to get on the ferry, which we'd heard was a harrowing, sickening experience. The waters between Taitung and Green Island are not kind. Fortunately, we made it without vomiting, apparently an amazing feat.

From there we went to Taroko Gorge, a really amazing crevice in Taiwan's topography. You could compare it to the grand canyon, although this one is narrower and greener. The water flowing through it is an amazing aquamarine color...it doesn't look real. I've found that beauty like this is almost impossible to capture through pictures, so much so that I saw pictures of this place before we went and almost decided to skip it. I'm so glad we changed our minds.

This was a large pagoda that we could go inside of, on the side of a mountain.

I found this vixen in a natural hot spring, right next to the ice cold mountain stream. The water was almost too hot to get into.

After our time at the gorge, we traveled up to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Being that Taiwan is very close to Hong Kong, the city felt like it in many ways. Very efficient subway, large bustling streets, and plenty of neon. What we enjoyed the most there were the night markets. Loads of outdoor shopping, arcades, and carnival type games were all around. The food was of particular interest, and it was as varied as it was amazing. Fresh fruit smoothies, shrimp hibachi, giant oyster omelets, and stinky tofu.

Beth's favorite food, however, was the giant, pounded, deep-fried chicken breast. They flatten these things so their nearly the size of your head. The line was long, so we knew it must be something special.

I Feel Pretty Good Even When I Don't

This is my first post without a picture. I really hate posting without a picture. In fact, most of my posts are really just an excuse for me to show off pictures, framed with contextual commentary for legitimacy.

That being said, I felt this was worthy of posting about even without the flashy, spectacular pictures that you've come to expect on No.1 OK blog.

Beth was sick this week. Sick enough to warrant a trip to the doctor. WAIT! you might say...that means taking a precious sick day, finding parking, waiting an unknown amount of time to see the doctor, and then being shuffled off quickly once you've seen him. All this before you've made it to the pharmacy to get your prescription. An all day affair for sure.

This is not the case in South Korea.

Beth decided that her cough was enough that she could use some medicine. We got up, walked 10 minutes to the doctor, waited about 30 minutes (the receptionist asked if it was okay to wait that long), saw the doctor for about 10 minutes (all doctors speak english here, no language barrier issues), and paid the receptionist $3.

Yes, $3. It's true, we both pay $75 a month for insurance, but we think it's still pretty amazing how inexpensive and quick the process is. We left with a prescription and headed to the pharmacist who is downstairs, in the same building. Beth got 5 days worth of pills and a bottle of cough syrup for...$3. Our entire trip to the doctor minus our monthly payment was $6 and it took less than an hour to: walk to the doctor, see the doctor, get the prescription filled, and get back home.

If there was ever any question in my mind about the healthcare system in the U.S. being completely broken and a racket, that question was ejected out the 3rd story window of Dr. Shin's hospital. How could there be such a gap between the costs? We aren't talking about a third world country that hands you a salve made of beeswax and sulfur to cure your ills...South Korea is ranked 5th in the world in the national wealth category. There are really too many points to make about the efficiency of healthcare here as compared to the states.

Not everything is perfect here. The fact that you can't find a decent piece of cheese is pretty darn frustrating, and don't even get me started on the dismal state of beer here. That being said, one of the great things about being in a different place is seeing how things can be done differently, whether it is better or worse than what you are used to.

Okay, I can't help it. Here's a picture. This is a machine that you punch a padded square and are judged electronically on your strength. Why on earth it is mounted on an exposed ass...I can't explain. This is in the middle of a kids amusement park.

Part Two: Cambodia

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries on Earth. Life expectance is under 60. We got to see a different world during our time here. We experience equal parts beauty/horror in what we saw.

Getting around Cambodia is a lot of fun. They don't have taxis there, everyone rides in a Tuk-Tuk, which is a scooter that pulls a sort of carriage on the back. Once a driver finds you (they are very cutthroat) he wants to be your driver for the entirety of your stay. Here's a view of the pandemonium that you see every time you get in one.

The Killing Fields

In Phnom Penh we learned about an amazing atrocity that is still very recent. Pol Pot tried to exterminate most of the population of Cambodia on the grounds that they were slipping into western ideals. They had to be cleansed. He killed 21% of the Cambodian population from 1976-1979. In 1979 an astonishing amount of mass graves were found, as well as an appropriated school that was used for torture and abuse.

This building was erected in 1998 to house all of the bones and clothing that were found on the site now known as The Killing Fields. Beth and I agreed that it's a very appropriate monument for such a horrific event.

Inside, the bones are arranged by body part. Skulls, legs, arms, etc. are all grouped together.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think the grounds were a sort of wildlife refuge. The grass is green and lush, there are beautiful birds flying around. You can see the indentions in the ground in the picture below. Each one of those were mass graves. One of them was designated only for bodies that had been decapitated.

After The Killing Fields, we went to S1, the compound that Pol Pot used for detaining and torturing prisoners. It was a harrowing example of what a sick mind can create. How someone can justify what we saw there is incomprehensible.

We were in Phnom Penh for a few days before heading to Siem Reap, the major tourist destination for anyone visiting Cambodia. This is because Angkor Watt, one of the wonders of the world, is located. This is an ancient civilization that some Spaniard found just walking around one day. The site is massive and contains dozens of temples. It was quite a spectacle, and I compared it to the Grand Canyon because it's one of those places that you'll see pictures of for your whole life, but seeing it in person blows what you already know away.

Here are a few more pictures that we took along the way. The flooding was sad to see, we were lucky that none of the roads we traveled on were washed out. If we would have arrived 2 weeks earlier our trip would have been very different.

We ate frog legs. I know it's cliche, but they really do taste like chicken.

We did not eat crickets. If Jacob or Jeremy were with us I probably would have.

Part One: Vietnam

Our most recent exploits took us to Vietnam and Cambodia. I'll break this trip into two separate posts since both Countries were unique in their own ways.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh (formerly, and still know to many as Saigon) to a pretty deserted airport. You can see a picture of HCM above, taken in the post office. Our taxi driver took us to our hostel and upon our arrival presented us with our first task: crossing the street. Scooters are EVERYWHERE, and they stop for no one. Luckily our friend had given us advice before we left...just walk. The tide of bikes will shift with you. Check out all the bikes at this moderately sized intersection:

Seemingly everyone has a scooter, and one of the interesting things was how they all use them to relax. On any given sidewalk you'd see a character like this, propped up on his bike like it's a recliner or something.

Another form of transportation are these bicycle things. A guy sits behind you, pedaling and tooling you around town. We didn't take one because we'd heard they are notorious for scamming you, but we saw them everywhere.

Our main focus of the trip was to see the Cu Chi tunnels that the Vietcong built during the Vietnam war. It was really fascinating to see these small tunnels that the Vietnamese built without shovels or machines. It was also sad to see that war essentially forced these people to live like ants.

We were shown all of the torturous tactics that the Vietnamese used against the Americans (in the propaganda video they called them "angry white devils"), anything from boards with nails in them to elaborate booby traps in the ground. We were able to slide into some of the holes they stayed in waiting to ambush the enemy. Here's one of the guys in our group going into the hole. Once you were in they covered you up completely.

We also crawled through one of the tunnels, which was really unsettling. Once you were down there, you couldn't see any daylight. You just crawled until you found a way out on your hands and knees.

There was also an area where you could shoot a multitude of different guns. You just had to buy a magazine and then you could go blast the side of a mountain. It didn't seem very appropriate to do, but I watched another guy.

Ho Chi Minh was fast paced, crowded, and a little dirty. The food was incredible. The markets were beautiful and the people friendly. One of the best parts though was that everything was cheap!