Life here in Taiwan is going very well. Summer is in full swing. Some friends of mine and I went up to Ping Ling where a cool river with a great swimming hole runs along the side of a beautiful lush green mountain. Long necked white birds swooped down the river valley in search of food, their white bodies and wings in stark contrast with the deep hue of green leaves pushing out from every possible rock and cranny, competing for the summer sun. High above, especially in the morning, eagles flew searching for their own breakfasts. During the day the water was cool and the large flat rocks by the river baked hot by the summer sun. I felt like a reptile, constantly alternating between jumping into the water to cool off and then basking on the rocks to dry off and warm up again. My friends and I spent the day swimming and sunning, some of the gang did some diving off the cliff opposite the river bank while others critiqued the performance offering armchair advice, the armchairs being the shallow cool bank on the opposite shore. We all spent the night in Ping Ling. I had my tent set up on a nice grassy spot under the shade of some trees. We even climbed a few of those trees in the evening. And at night we conversed by a fire and alternated between watching the stars and the fire flies.

Upon awaking the next day some of us hit the water right away, while others went to town to fetch breakfast. A typical Taiwanese DanBing affair with coffee. My favorite kind of breakfast. We swam till well past noon and then we headed to the beach. Breakfast was long digested and the meat eating friends I traveled with were craving a fish barbeque on the beach. I'm a vegetarian still, but my friends and I went to the fish market to get something from that days catch.

Dasi is a fishing town where the boats unload into ice buckets and tubs of salty water on the docks and you buy the catch of the day still flopping around straight off the boats. Tuna is in season so they bought a huge black tuna, had it cleaned, and then went and bbq- ed it on the beach. All claimed it was a mighty good feed. I wandered down to the Taoist temple / town restaurant and ordered a fried rice for my dinner, and brought it back to the beach bbq along with the beer. There we ate and watched the surfers and families play on the beach till sunset, when everyone left and we had the beach to ourselves.

Ironically I was already a little drunk before we arrived in Dasi. This is because we had stopped in a larger town known as TouCheng to pick up a few supplies. TouCheng is the nearest town with a grocery store. In front of what looked like a Taiwanese Safeway were two middle aged men behind a sample table. But rather than the run-of-the-mill sausages or sushi samples, there were 3 small colorful bottles of alcohol drinks - Kind of like Smirnoff Ice drinks - and 2 big bottles of Gao Liang, a Taiwanese white alcohol like Vodka but 50%+ alcohol at least. The men offered my friend and I a shot glass of each. The first 3 colorful bottles were almost like soda. Though the plum flavor of one was a bit disturbing. Not one of my favorite Asian drink flavors. Ever had plum tea? Very bitter. Strangely enough though I think I am becoming accustomed as it is less disturbing each time and even occasionally pleasant. Then came the shots of GaoLiang. Whoowhee. Talk about Grandma's moonshine! The first one was like jet fuel. Good thing I quit smoking a year ago. It would not have been wise to light a flame near my mouth for that one. But we saved face and nodded approvingly to our Taiwanese hosts. They suggested the second one was not as strong - and indeed, it was only battery acid in comparison. After returning from the shopping expedition and seeing the state Jack and I were in, our friend Trevor also tried a shot. Afterwards he ignited his paper shot glass. You could not see the flame in the noon-day sun, but the cup quickly turned black and shriveled with the pale blue flames. This is the condition in which we arrived at the docks and the fish market in Dasi. Quite a trip.

A few of us stayed on the beach all night. A dark orange moon was rising over the bay while the many colored lights of the fishing boats, going out for the night time catches, ploughed across the horizon. Turtle Mountain Island was barely visible standing out in the distant background as a dark silhouette in the sky. My friends had labor day off so they stayed the next day as well. I had to work so I caught a train back to town. It's so cheap and easy to take trains here. Just show up at the station. Hop on the train and buy a ticket from the conductor. For a trip to Dasi from Taipei it's less than 100 NT$.

That was the end of last weekend. Now that summer's here I'm looking forward to many more weekends of the same or better. Hope you are all having fun as well. Enjoy the summer for those of you in the Northern hemisphere - and for my kiwi friends down south, have a nice winter!