Explosions and Floods: A Kaohsiung Tale

Photo provided by appledaily

In the last month, Kaohsiung has suffered more disaster than most other places do in a lifetime.  Before we officially move out of August, I felt I should mention the two disasters and outline their importance so that hopefully, by calling attention to them and demanding accountability (in just one more way), these types of events will be less likely to reoccur.  However, it should be noted that this explosion is the second such event, the first in 1997, so perhaps Kaohsiung residents are right to be wary of politicians declaring incoming change, at least as long as shifting responsibility remains the name of the game here (shift the blame is the unofficial past-time here, more on that in a later entry).

Brief history of Kaohsiung:
Kaohsiung's roots officially date back over 7000 years to when the first aboriginal people inhabited the area, but its written history begins in the 1600s when the Chinese brought writing and bureaucracy to the region.  After this, several Western Powers visited and colonized Taiwan, including the Dutch and the Portuguese, for which Isla de Formosa was named.  The late 1800s to 1945 saw Japanese occupation, and when Taiwan was again ruled by the Chinese in 1945, Kaohsiung was given its current name, and began modern industrial development.  Today, the main residential city is sandwiched between two manufacturing zones in the north and south (Xiaogang and Nanzi), where factories and major companies produce countless goods for Taiwan and overseas.  These areas are rather notorious for pumping out some pretty unseemly stuff into both air and water, and although Taiwan does have an EPA to manage these kinds of issues, they are rather impotent in preventing said pollution.

On July 31st, what we now believe to be one of Kaohsiung's major petrochemical companies was leaking gas via its pipes that run alongside the sewage lines under downtown's major roads.  As is common in Taiwan and elsewhere, several companies played the 'not my problem' game with the gas leak, passing the blame off whenever possible.  According to the government, safety checks are run regularly (this is currently being disputed by those on the inside who suspect the government rubber stamps the checks without running proper evaluations), but several companies share usage of the pipes and it was the individual company's responsibility to check the pipes.

Regardless, the facts are as such:
Around 8pm on July 31st, residents in the Kaixuan (downtown) area began calling the government complaining of gas leak smells.  Fire departments responded and were on scene around midnight when the gas began exploding out of manholes.  Responders account for the majority of the casualties associated with the explosions because they were out in the streets trying to resolve the problem as the length of the streets exploded; people who remained in their homes did not suffer serious injury (more details can be seen here and here).

In the aftermath of the explosions, reports emerged that there were nearly 300 wounded and 25 dead.  The media and government are still investigating the responsible parties, although to date one petrochemical company has been named publicly, though they currently deny any responsibility.


The week after on August 9th, Kaohsiung was hit by a really large storm (not a typhoon) that dumped over 200mm of rain on us in under 12 hours.  Over the course of several days, much of Kaohsiung was left flooded, especially in the areas where the streets had been totally torn up- the explosion site that covered about a third of the city taking the worst of it as the troughs created by the explosions filled up with water and prevented it from draining.  For the first time since I've been here (7 years) the government had no choice but to declare a flood day.  For more information, see articles here or here.


As August draws to a close, the flood waters have receded, but the physical scars created by the explosions remain as do questions regarding the liable parties and who and how they will be held accountable.

As someone that has personally called the EPA numerous (minimum biweekly) times to complain about the smell of toxic gas smells, I sincerely hope that the government decides to make leaks a priority and cleans up Kaohsiung, but I'm not going to hold my breath.  This is a city that runs off of a platform of many facades to please as many people as possible, but ultimately only the least controversial of them, even when lives are at stake.

A Week in HengChun (A Mini-Culinary Review)

Vietnamese soup noodles, stir-fried veggies, and a Jenny-Monster

After one of the more trying days of Jenny's scuba class, we decided to cycle into town (Hengchun) to grab a bite to eat.  Unfortunately, we arrived a little too late to patron one of the town's many vegetarian restaurants (they start closing up around 7:30!), so when Jenny spotted a small Vietnamese restaurant on the side of the main road, we were a little dubious that they would be able to make us anything vegetarian since most Vietnamese restaurants use pork broth (高湯） for their noodles.  Unfortunately, pork is actually the hardest meat for humans to digest (just in case you need to know for a trivia night), so vegetarians have an especially hard time consuming it or anything cooked with pork products, like lard (we lack the enzymes to digest it, so it can even lead to vomiting- so much fun).

That said, we were genuinely excited when the boss told us that they didn't use pork broth for their noodles.  Even though they used chicken broth, which still isn't vegetarian, the chicken broth wouldn't make us sick, and honestly, we're all for less waste since they use the bones and chicken scraps to make the broth (so, our motto is actually something like, 'if it had to die for consumption, we'd better eat the whole damn thing and waste nothing').  Win-win. 

The boss was even able to stir-fry up some veggies (water spinach- 空心菜, kongxincai) that were totally vegetarian and totally delicious!  The soup noodle was a basic lamian noodle with fried shallot, spring onion, and cilantro, and each table had a small box of kumquat fruit (small citrus fruit like a lime) we squeezed into the broth to give it a kick.  The taste was absolutely wonderful- the fried shallot added a really rich flavor while the cilantro and kumquat gave it a really fresh kick.  Jenny then added some spicy chili paste, which she said was quite good (but I almost never try because it's just too spicy!).  I thought this meal was one of the best we had while we were in Hengchun- it was simple, but incredibly fresh and delicious.

The restaurant has a large red sign, is on the left hand side, and is the first one you'll see if you're coming into Hengchun from the main road (coming south from Kenting and traveling north through Hengchun.  The business card reads 簡太郎，but unfortunately the rest of the business card is in Vietnamese, and I can't type in Vietnamese (I'll work on that though).

After our amazing dinner, we were craving something substantial, sweet and local, so douhua (豆花) immediately sprang to mind.  Douhua is a Taiwanese specialty that can be found across the Chinese cultural area, including Malaysia and Singapore; it's a soy product, sort of like silken tofu or pudding, to which they add a sweet brown sugar syrup and your choice of toppings.  It can be served hot or cold, so it's an all year dessert, although usually people eat it as a snack, popping into a small Douhua Shop or 豆花店 to nibble as they chat with friends.  It's sort of like the Taiwanese equivalent of afternoon tea (that can be eaten well after midnight!).

A two minute bike ride down the road, we found a cute little shop where they make their own douhua the traditional way- we were especially impressed by how soft and fluffy this shop's douhua was.  If you look really carefully at the photos, you can see the little air bubbles in the slivers of douhua.  By far the best douhua I've had in a long time- the beans were sweet and firm, rather than smooshy, like most shops who buy pre-made bean pastes, and it was sweet, but not too sweet.  It was so good, in fact, that when we arrived we ordered one bowl of red bean (紅豆 hongdou) douhua and finished it so quickly that we had to order another round of green bean (綠豆 ludou) douhua!

If you're in Hengchun, I definitely recommend this little shop.  The douhua is great and the shop owner serves it with a smile!

PS- If you find that you like douhua/豆花,  look for the 綠豆湯 ludoutang sign- the sign reads 'Green Bean Soup (a sweet green bean congee)," but almost every one of these "soup" shops will have douhua.

Dive Village Review (Scuba Resort)

Hi!

It's Jessie again.  Even though I didn't really get much of a chance to go diving on our last trip down to Hengchun/Kenting (unlike Jenny, who finally certified for PADI Open Water! Read her blog for more info), I did get to spend a lot of time hanging out in the resort and wanted to share my own experiences about the resort itself.


The resort we stayed at is called Dive Village, a small hotel resort just outside of Hengchun city.  To get there without your own scooter/car, you have two options.  The first is to take the public bus down from Kaohsiung to Hengchun and then either rent a bike or a scooter when you arrive, or, alternatively, the dive resort can pick you up from the bus stop for $400nt per person.  If you prefer door to door service without the hassle of changing transport, it's also possible to catch a shared taxi from Kaohsiung city at either Kaohsiung Main Station (train station) or from Zuoying High Speed Rail (HSR) station.

If you're arriving via HSR from elsewhere in Taiwan, the Kenting bus is just downstairs and stops in Hengchun on the way to its final destination.  If you're coming from TRA (standard rail), the bus station is located behind the rail station on the south side.  From either of these places, it's easy to find a cab to take you to Hengchun, but you'll need to have the address and negotiate the price before you go: cabs will usually wait until they fill up, or may drive around to pick up others, so it won't be a straight shot down, but it's around $350-400nt per person in a shared cab vs. 1200-1500 for a cab all to your self.  The bus is even cheaper, although it won't take you to the front door:  a single ticket to Hengchun is $312nt.  If you have a bike bag, you can store your bike under the bus for free and cycle the rest of the way like we did.

Scenes from the Bus pick-up/drop off zone, including temple behind the visitors center

If you take the bus, you'll be getting off at the last stop in Hengchun (the bus continues to its terminus in Hengchun, so make sure you get off when you see the visitor's center and Family Mart on the left).  If you have time on the way back through Hengchun, I recommend taking a look at the temple behind the visitor's center (walk straight through the main doors towards the bathroom).  It's got a traditional Taiwanese Daoist temple along with a very new art installation, including Taiwan's favorite thing: poo flinging!

Once in town, bike or walk towards Kenting.  If walking, about 600m down the road are a bunch of scooter rental shops.  Many of them have electric scooters, which don't require a driver's license, so picking one up is easy and convenient- they run about 30-40km per charge which should be more than enough to get you around the peninsula.  If you're biking, just follow the signs to Kenting and when you hit Nanguang road (南光路) and the 7-11, turn right.  Dive Village will be on your left.

The overall experience at Dive Village was good.  The facilities are new, including their outdoor pool, and the scuba instructors are very nice.  Our instructor, Steve, was exceptional; classes and dives were well organized, and the atmosphere of Dive Village was generally good (See Jenny's post for more in depth info about her diving experience).   We were even able to participate in a birthday gathering for our instructor, and got to witness the extraction of a cobra from the kitchen area! However, one major issue with Dive Village is that staff are only on site until midnight, and there were many guests who are rather inconsiderate of others (a commonality in Taiwan).

One of the nights we stayed, people in the room above us were pushing furniture around at 1 am, even after being asked not to by staff earlier in the evening.  The night after, a family with small children along with a large group of man children were screaming, whooping, and making a ton of noise in the outdoor pool at 1am.  Despite being asked 3 times to keep the noise to a minimum, there was no change.  The father in question then paraded his children through the common area (all rooms are off of this area) while his kids were screaming, and proceeded to bathe them in their room (kids still screaming) with the door wide open so everyone could hear.  After I asked him to keep the noise down (again) and close the door to his room, he verbally assaulted me, deciding that this was a good time to show off his ability to curse in English.

Common area of Dive Village (agoda)

That said, our experience with our instructor and our classes were really good, although getting up at 7:30 for 8:30 class after a night of no sleep left my body in shambles and negatively impacted Jenny's ability to adjust in the water.  However, the dive resort itself is rather unpleasant, depending on who is staying there, and may undermine your diving experience if you are unable to sleep (or at attacked by megalomaniac jerks in the middle of the night).  My personal impression is that certain kinds of people are drawn to this resort- and that kind of personality is loud, arrogant, and oblivious about impacting others.  I recently reviewed another hotel that we have stayed in several times, and even with dogs and other animals staying in the hotel, it was still quieter and more pleasant than staying at Dive Village because the people who stay there are more conscientious of others.

Cobra extraction from the staff kitchen!

Therefore, my recommendation is to dive with the instructors at Dive Village, but stay elsewhere if you can- it's not worth paying all of the money for diving and gear if you can't sleep and end up having a shitty time, or worse, aren't able to dive at all because you can't equalize due to lack of sleep (this happened in my case and I didn't get to dive at all the whole week).

If anyone else has experience with Dive Village, feel free to comment below- I'm interested to know if anyone else had a similar experience.

Jenny's First Scuba Diving Adventure

Hi everyone! I'm Jenny, and I'll be contributing to the blog today with my first post about my very first diving experience. Sorry, there aren't very many photos this time - I couldn't document the event because I was in the PADI class and Jessie was out sick for the most part. But don't worry! We'll be diving again soon in September and we'll definitely be taking more photos then! In the meantime, enjoy!

     Late last month, I took the first of what I hope will be many scuba diving courses to come. It was one of the best experiences of my life and an accomplishment I'm truly proud of. 

  

     I used to tend to steer clear of water if I could help it. A near drowning incident at Disneyland had instilled in me a great discomfort and fear of any body of water that not only came above my chin, but also wasn't completely and absolutely still. As a child, I could swim - and by swim I mean float on my back, and when necessary, paddle awkwardly and frantically from one wall to another. For a long time I could only admire and envy others who could so fearlessly enjoy themselves in water. But in college, Jessie insisted that that was simply unacceptable for a person of islander heritage. I had to learn to swim. So with great effort, she taught me to swim with more finesse and confidence, and thanks to her, my world got infinitely bigger and I was able to consider and explore options such as diving.

     I actually started thinking about taking lessons about 2 years ago. I saw an ad for it, and I was intrigued, albeit a little intimidated. Jessie had already certified in high school, and I wanted to certify too so that we dive and explore places together and, at the very least, have a common hobby. I hated trying new things alone, so I was willing to do it if I could take lessons with a group. However, I quickly discovered that with a group, especially one with people you don't know well, plans often fall through, someone postpones, drops out, or gets sick (which is really easy when living in an industrial city like Kaohsiung). No one stayed committed, including myself, and it just never worked out. 

     This year, I decided solo was the way to go. Weather conditions aside, the only thing that could get in the way was myself. So I signed up for a PADI Open Water Diver course in Hengchun, near Kenting, way down at the southern end of Taiwan. Jessie came with me to do a refresher and also to provide moral support. 

     Immediately upon arrival, we got acquainted with our recently certified dive instructor, Steve, a quiet, but very relaxed and friendly guy. Jessie and I knew immediately while arranging plans with him that he was going to be a great instructor and an excellent resource. He exuded an honest enthusiasm for diving and truly wanted every diver to have the best experience possible. 

     Knowing that I wasn't a hundred percent comfortable underwater yet, he took us out to a swimming pool in Kenting to practice our basic confined water skills. Jessie didn't join us this round, but she documented the class as she watched and supported me. After assembling and strapping on the enormously heavy equipment and gear, the first skill I practiced was breathing with a regulator. At first, it didn't seem very hard or unusual. It felt somewhat like snorkeling, but with the added bonus of bubbles and raspy Darth Vader sound effects. 

     I learned to acclimate to breathing underwater easily, and I was having enjoying myself, occasionally laughing at myself for a few failed, yet comical attempts at demonstrating some skills. but as I learned to perform more complex skills such as taking the regulator in and out of my mouth, especially filling my mask with water and purging it, I subconsciously felt that even though we were kneeling at the bottom of the two meter end of the pool, I had been underwater for an unnaturally long time, and I was beginning to feel a sense of claustrophobia I wasn't ever aware that I had. 

     Of all the skills, I struggled the most with emptying the mask, especially with taking it off because when water entered it, it went straight up my nose, which made me panicked, sputtering and gasping for air every single time. Each time I inadvertently snorted up the chlorinated water, the burn in my nostrils and my eyes made the task even more daunting. 

     However, there were other other skills that I did with ease and much more enjoyment. Basic buoyancy control, or the fin pivot, was by far my favorite. With concentration and delicate breath control, my body bobbed up and down, then slowly levitated and suspended itself in the water. It was like meditation and magic! I mastered it almost instantly at the 5 meter section, and especially after the number of times I failed at emptying my mask, this was a real confidence booster. 

     We kicked our way around the pool a bit when we approached the deepest end where the floor suddenly dropped to 10 meters below and I felt as though I were soaring. It was a stunning, indelible experience looking over the edge and then suddenly hovering high above the floor, effortlessly like a bird. But that became a fleeting experience that suddenly plummeted into uncontrollably panic and extreme claustrophobia, which was especially unbearable because I had to contain it all, physically and mentally. My breaths were shallower and uncontrollably faster, my throat was dry, and I remembered just how many volumes of water were over my head.  And with the watery silence I knew that even if I had tried to make a sound in distress, the effort would be pointless. I just couldn't scream loud enough. And I had contemplated abandoning Steve, but the surface seemed unreachably far away and no amount of fast kicking could get me up there soon enough. I did the only thing I could, signal pleadingly to Steve about my anxiety, breathe deeply and calm down. I managed to control myself in the end, but the fear I had felt before was so severe it would stay in my chest and my head for nearly two days. 

     The dive ended early due to my overwhelming exhaustion. We walked up the pool stairs, and while I felt completely weightless in the pool, every step out with my gear on made me feel as though I had added several kilos to my legs and hips, and each heavy step was a reminder of my defeat. I ended the day feeling nauseated and absolutely terrified. As soon as Jessie and I got back to our hotel, my head hit the pillow and I fell asleep instantaneously. All night, I breathed through my dry, wide open mouth, and sometimes I would I breathe through my nose and wake up convinced that I was choking on water. By morning, I was very scared, not so much wishing that I never made this decision, but more that the experience could just end a little bit sooner. 

     There had been a typhoon only three days before, and the currents at the dive sites were still rather strong, so Steve brought me to a current-less bay where I could finish off the list of confined water skills that I had given up on the day before. I dunked myself underwater, and despite the turbidity of the water, I was encouraged by the sight of very small fish swimming around me, and I knew this was only a very small sliver of what I could see in deeper waters. 

     I gathered all my courage, concentrated on not sucking in salt water, and success! I completed all my skills. But just after attempting my final skill where I took off my weights and BCD underwater and, like an astronaut, spun around to put them back on, I swam back up to the surface and promptly vomited on myself.  (Side note: Surprisingly, throwing up in the water turned out not to be a completely unpleasant experience. It washed off immediately, and the taste of seawater that I used to gargle made the vomit taste somewhat more tolerable. Also, Steve kindly informed me that I was contributing to the ocean by feeding hungry fish around me. I always felt sorry for fish that had to swim around in vomit, but if that's really the way things are....) 

     The same afternoon, Steve and I swam out into more open shores where the ocean rapidly undulated, sucking divers in and tossing them back. Already, I felt motion sick. We descended into the much deeper waters, and as I neared the bottom, my descent slowed and then I stopped in the middle of the water. We re-ascended, and as were about to descend again, I threw up again and decided that doing that twice was enough. Time to end the day. 

     The next day, I couldn't bring myself to go on the morning dive. I was so miserable having already thrown up twice the day before, and thinking that the claustrophobia wasn't ever going away. Jessie had been unable to dive because she was having sinus problems, and I felt utterly alone the whole weekend. As I wept, Jessie helped me rearrange my morning, and I completed my classroom portion of the course with Steve. Afterwards, I knew I couldn't keep evading dives. I was done with my test, and more than halfway through with the dives. It seemed shameful to quit at that point, and quitting would only make me feel more like a failure. It seemed there was no other way around it, so I willed myself to do at least one more dive that afternoon.

     So we got set up and didn't linger. We dropped down into the ocean and checked every skill off the list for the day. I conquered my greatest fear, taking off my mask in open water, putting it back on and emptying it. Excited and blinded by the saltwater, and with a few droplets still left in my mask and up my nose, Steve high-fived me and rewarded me with a brief tour and exploration of the site. 

     We kicked around in the fish feeding area near HouBiHu. After we swam away from the empty, sandy bottom we were occupying, we were suddenly surrounded by a multitude of colorful fish. It wasn't the Great Barrier Reef, yet I was overwhelmed by the variety of life that waved and swam around us. We spotted a parrot fish glittering and gleaming, changing colors in the light with every bend and wave of its body. We saw anemones, and spongy and slippery corals, some that looked like shrubs and grasses, others like pillows or pickled brains. We resurfaced, vomit and panic-free, and I had my first great day underwater. I was starting to feel truly optimistic.

     On the final day, we returned to complete a few more underwater skills, and then we explored some more, this time encountering the more memorable cuttlefish and scorpionfish. We swam through a chilly thermocline that made it seem as though we had passed through different seasons. Steve pulled out a bagel and suddenly a whirlwind of fish swirled around us, diving in and out of sight, taking nips at the bread. It happened so quickly and close to my mask, it was dizzying.

     We proceeded later that day to the ocean outlet where we saw feeding baby shrimp and a handful of small clownfish rubbing against an anemone. We moved in and out through cement jacks that were piled along the shore, and entered a dark cavern. As we turned a corner towards the sunlit opening, we could see in the light what appeared to be a curtain of mesmerizing little silhouettes weaving and waving back and forth, veils and organized layers of miniature fish completely surrounding us as we passed through them. It was at that moment, as time seemed to slow down, I had a chance to appreciate everything. Thoughts of all the fear and the anxiety I'd had, the nausea I'd experienced and the vomit I'd expelled started to dissipate. I had come so far, not only as a diver, but also as a person. I'd overcome myself. I took a deep breath in, exhaled bubbles, and as I gently kicked forward once, the fish opened up like a curtain and closed behind me. 

     Before our final ascent, Steve and I waited at our safety stop. I was still thinking about the fish when he pulled out a notepad and wrote, "Congratulations! You did it!" I had nearly forgotten that we were still in class and that I would at last complete the course once we reached the surface. Joyous bubbles briefly burst out of my regulator as I smiled and laughed, and I waved my hands and fingers in celebration.

My heart was buoyant, and I had finally fallen in love with diving.

Best Hotel in Taiwan...

Any ideas?  Where is this awesome hotel located?

Hints:

1. It has two dogs in residence, a Husky and Dachshund
2. It allows pets of all shapes and sizes
3. It is near a historical land mark (pictured)
4. It hosts a number of themed rooms, done up to the highest (and coolest) level!

So frustrating!  This is now the third time I have attempted to write this post- it's going to take me some time to re-write it so just hang in there; blogger is being a real jerk today!!

So, after several days of fighting with google, I’ve finally gotten a chance to post this without it being deleted, timing out and disappearing, or something else equally as wonky!  A big thank you to the Internet nymphs for cooperating at last.

The answer to the hotel question I originally posted last week is 哈Cheese, a small family run hotel in Hengchun, a small city in the south of Taiwan.  哈Cheese is my favorite hotel for a number of reasons, but the one that makes this place stand out above the rest is its friendly atmosphere and its acceptance of pets.  People wanting to visit Taiwan’s southern beaches of Kending with their non-human companion will find this place totally amazing; they not only accept pets of all sizes and species (reptiles, snakes, and birds included), they do so with excitement and warmth:  every human and pet is a super-star! 

Their personal Mascot, a Husky named Torol, can be found on most days hanging out in the front of their townhouse property, soaking up the cool air from his personal fan, while his Dachshund sibling, Bagle, usually keeps a lookout from inside the guest house and mans the front desk.  Every guest is asked to take a picture with the two, one of which is posted digitally to Facebook and the other, a polaroid, is given to the guests as a keepsake.  We’ve collected quite a few photos by now, and they’re all equally adorable- we even took some of our own (see the pictures of me making out with Torol above).

Many “pet hotels” I’ve visited tend to be dingy, and many people accept this as the price you pay for bringing your companion on vacation with you.  哈Cheese, however, is totally different: all rooms look brand new, and are constructed around a theme, such as ‘nautical’ or ‘countryside’ in order to offer guests a one of a kind experience- even the floors are designed and textured to mimic the ocean!

Moving on to a more technical aspect of staying in Taiwan, there are a few different terms for hotel.  In Chinese, most hotels will advertise using the words: 飯店 (fandian)，酒店 (jiudian)，or 旅館 (luguan).  These words are usually associated with larger hotel chains, although also can be associated with larger independent hotels.  The key here is that these hotels usually have larger buildings and lots of rooms available (think 30+).

On the other hand, there are 民宿 (minsu), or what is commonly translated here as “home stay.”  However, I should note that these home stays are not really what Westerners would think of when it comes to a home stay (i.e., staying in a guest room in a family home that looks… like a family home).  These hotels or hostels are usually much smaller in nature and have fewer rooms, and often, although not necessarily, have cheaper prices than larger hotels.  Sometimes, these establishments are more like Bed and Breakfasts; they are a mom and pop operation and the owners live on the property.  Sometimes, they are more like a standard international hostel, and can have dorm style housing.

Knowing whether it’s a 飯店／酒店／旅館  or 民宿 will usually tell you roughly how large the establishment is, but beyond this, there is little way to really know what kind of place it is.  Really, the best way to get a better idea about the particular place you’re staying is to do a little searching on the internet and on an internet map like google maps.  Unfortunately, the Taiwanese hotel scene can sometimes be a little bit confusing, so I highly recommend booking based on friends’ recommendations when possible.  Also, prices for hotels in Taiwan vary on the season and whether they're peak (weekend) or off peak (weekday), so it's a good idea to check online to confirm current prices.

Teaser... Hengchun Holiday

Guess where we went... ?!

Yesterday I posted this photo collage of us on vacation last week.  If you can read Chinese, then it's not much of a guess because the answer is written under the photo!  But, for those of you who don't read Chinese, we took a midnight trip out to what I like to call the mini door to hell.  Actually, it's not nearly as epic as the actual Door to Hell in Turkmenistan (which I also hope to visit on our 'round the world tour), but it's made from the same stuff, just in smaller quantities- plus, you can roast some pretty kick ass marshmallows on it; try doing that over the Door to Hell:

Basically, these amazing phenomena happen when natural gas is released continuously from an underground source and gather in pools around the ground.  In the case of the Door to Hell, a Soviet Natural Gas drilling team accidentally released the gas while doing exploratory drilling.  The smell alerted workers to the presence of gas and it was decided that the best option was to let the gas burn off, so they lit it up.  Unfortunately for them (but awesome for the rest of us), that was in 1971, almost 50 years ago, and the seeping gas is still burning strong.  For more information and the credits to this awesome photo by Tormod Sandtorv, have a look at the wikipedia article.

Chuhuo （出火）or Rising Fire, the smaller but delicious cousin, is exceptional in that people will buy a variety of food at night and use the fires as a sort of natural barbeque space.  People bring sausages, popcorn, and marshmallows, and take great delight in roasting up a midnight snack while they take tons of photos.  As you can imagine, this kind of behavior is greatly discouraged by the park staff since it can leave the area a mess (and can be dangerous!), but as there is as of now no night watch, roasting various snacks remains a night time delight enjoyed by many tourists. 
Note:  if you don't want to fork out an exorbitant price at the fully-stocked carts parked in the parking lot (manned by very nice shopkeepers), stop at a local grocery store on the way over- Chuhuo is only a 10 minute drive from Hengchun city and it's well marked.

Needless to say, we gave in to the gaieties this time and decided to buy a pack of marshmallows and try our hand at roasting them over the open flames (the last time we went, we decided to play by the rules.. but we were truthfully quite hungry after scuba so we said, what the heck!).  I've got to say that roasting marshmallows over a natural open flame is not the easiest thing in the world to do: the flames are quite high, maybe a foot or two, and they aren't consistent because there's no protection, so if the wind changes even slightly, the flames dance around like crazy and it's easy to get burned (or to set your marshmallow on fire).  In the end, I roasted two good marshmallows (one of which I gave to Jenny), and Jenny roasted 4 bad marshmallows, which she blames on her impatience and hunger- she just couldn't wait for them to cook all the way!

I would definitely recommend popping by Chuhuo if you're in the Hengchun area- make sure you go at night though for the best dramatic effect, although trying to roast your own marshmallows is definitely tricky- best leave it to the professionals.

Typhoon Day Boredom

Today's post is to recount last week's typhoon, the first of the season and what should have been a pretty exciting time- typhoons in Taiwan generally don't generate a lot of damage, like they do in the Philippines, but they do bring much needed rain to the island.  In fact, since I've lived in Taiwan, there has always been a drought in progress when typhoon season arrives, so the rains that come with rainy season are actually really essential for the lush growth this island is so well known for.

Unfortunately, in the last few decades, global climate change and more local environmental changes caused by industrial development across the island have caused more rain to fall in a much shorter amount of time than was previously standard.  This means that despite typhoons being mostly benign as long as the government calls a typhoon day for more serious storms and people stay out of the winds, the sheer amount of raining falling here in just a few months can have devastating consequences to the surrounding environments.  One result, caused by heavier rains and deforestation, is heavy sedimentation build-ups in our reservoirs, streams, and other bodies of water, which limit water availability and can negatively impact local wildlife.  Click here for a really fascinating movie about Taiwan's development and its environmental impact.

This problem is sadly not unique to Taiwan; in fact, the US and many other countries are currently facing this very same issue.  As sediment fills our reservoirs while our annual water consumption rises, we will eventually run out of usable water.  A pretty scary thought.  And yet, there's just as much rain falling as before, so there must be a way to harness it somehow...

Anyway, onwards to the fun!  Jenny and I did some grocery shopping in preparation for the typhoon, and as usual, all of the produce has sky-rocketed in price.  For example, tomatoes pre-typhoon at normal price were about 70nt for 4 small tomatoes.  However, the day before the typhoon they were 99nt for 4!  This is an unfortunately common occurrence here in Taiwan; the hiked up prices are the "insurance" for farmers who may end up with damaged crops after the typhoon.  Still, it's a bit of downer when suddenly food nearly doubles in price (in some cases, it does in fact literally double in price, particularly for leafy greens which sustain the most damage during typhoons).  And, I would imagine that it may in fact become unaffordable for some... I know it hurts more than my pride when the prices go up so high!

The price differential discussion out of the way, Jenny spotted a box of ginormous mushrooms for a very cheap price (45nt), so she jumped at the opportunity to buy them.  When we actually brought them home and had a better look at them, we realized that they screamed for silly photos, and since it was a typhoon day and we were stuck inside until the winds died down, we decided to go for gold and take a series of mushroom photos.  I'm only including two here though since I have a feeling it would be very easy to overdo mushroom pics.  Looking back on it now, we probably should have taken some equally silly photos with the dogs and ferrets, but perhaps that will be a project for the next typhoon day!

Kaohsiung Forest Park Outting

Hi Internet!


We took a bit of a break from blogging for a few weeks for the fantastic reason that we went on vacation/staycation!  This week we'll try to post an entry a day outlining what we've been up to and the highlights; Jenny will even be popping by this week to give her personal account of the best and worst scuba training class ever.


Our first outing during our summer vacation was actually to a local park, which on the face of it sounds pretty lame.  Actually though, this park is one of a series of parks that were recently designed in Northern Kaohsiung and together create a super park that can be seen here from googlemaps， although unfortunately the image is pre-gardening:

The first part of this park, on the right with the grid, is home to seasonal flower exhibitions that the parks service plant and maintain every season.  More recently, these flower exhibitions have turned into large scale flower gardens, sculpted to create large mazes that are tons of fun to walk through.  And, although this land used to be a large open space (as you can see on the above image) where local dogs and their people came to play, these new flower mazes provide a new kind of stimulation for dogs to enjoy (Souffie certainly had a good time!).

The second, middle, section of the park is called Forest Park and has developed quite a bit since the Google satellite image was taken; it now has a very large water feature with a number of bridges and walkways around it, a skate park where local kids rollerskate/rollerblade, and our favorite place, the section just across from the small visitor's center: a patch of rolling green grass minihills that often hosts a very large dog get together.  Sometimes, during the earlier part of the evening, the ground looks like it's moving from all of the small dogs (mostly hotdogs) running around!  Later on, the larger dogs usually join in, including our Formosan and Beagle, and romp around playing and stealing toys from one another.

Unfortunately, this time we showed up a little late and most of the dogs were already on their way home, but we brought the light-up collars so we let them play until the mosquitoes got so bad we had no choice but to move on!  Still, all in all, it was a fun outing and the puppies had a lot of run romping in the flowers and then with the last of the pup-meet-upers.  We can't wait to do it again!