This blog will contain some introspective and wishy washy nonsense, so if that's not your bag, I understand.

Right so, after the crazy fireworks in Xinzhu, comes a day off that resumes the time honored tradition of me hiking. This time it was that giant mountain you see on the way to Danshui. Guanyi Mountain is pretty remote, maybe the most remote mountain I've been to. The length of the trail was about 8km, so it took quite a while. At the end it let me be stranded in Bali. I had intended to take the boat from there back to Danshui, but they don't run on Tuesday afternoons - so I had to bus it back. Before leaving I did find a little bit of excitement in Bali, but there's really no reason to go there when Danshui is so much closer and better. On the way home I stopped at Beitou to see a few touristy things I never got the chance to do before - Thermal Valley and the Hot Springs Museum. Both are actually pretty cool, but you can do each in under 10 minutes. Thermal Valley is one of the 3 sources of hot water for the springs, and the whole place is covered with a sulfur fog. It's pretty much hell if you stay near it too long.

I'm also pleased to report, at long last, I have visited the Toilet Restaurant. Yes, this is a thing. An entire restaurant, where all the decor is toilet themed. Surprisingly (or not), this place isn't super popular with the locals. It's really not that expensive, comparable to like an Applebees. But the food is kind of... meh. Or at least my chicken curry was meh. A bit bland, I prefer the microwave version at 7. You can't deny the presentation is awesome though - I'm a big fan. So Lindsay, I'm sorry we weren't able to go when you were here, but you're really not missing that much.

So that's about it for life event stuff. Now for me, more wishy washy and personal, I've been having a bit of a quarter life crisis (shut up, I'm making it to 120). Nothing too extreme I assure you, but it was kind of started by a salary issue at work, which thankfully has been cleared up. But the result was that for a while, there was a chance I would be very broke for a few months. Thankfully I won't be, but taking more careful look at my finances caused me to realize I'm really not saving as much here as I did in China. I mean, it's a lot better than being in the negative for sure. Dan has frequently told me that I worry about money too much. He's right, I've always known he's right, but only recently I'm trying mentally to overcome that worry. I'm also trying to think about what really makes me happy. It sounds trivial, but it can be a surprisingly tough question to answer. The best I can come up with is that I like to feel unique. I like being able to say I've done something nobody or few people have done before, which I guess is a large part of the impetus to move to Asia. Anyway in short I went and got a crazy new hairstyle, which I'm trying to convince myself is "New Weg" - the guy who doesn't worry about anything, and is a better friend.

Seriously.. I have product in my hair now. I don't know if this will last long.

Another city in Taiwan? Yes, it's true! This one with lava tigers!

October 10th is Taiwan's Independence Day... or the founding of the country day. Honestly I don't really know, and I don't much care. It seems the Taiwanese don't really care, either. It's a government holiday, so I was off work. But for the most part, things are still business as usual. I asked friends and went online to see what the events for the day are, and they are extraordinarily tame.

First, in Taipei, the President will make a speech and raise the flag at the capitol - at 7:30 in the godamn morning. I fail to see why anyone would ever go out to see this. I thought about just staying out the night before, but later I was told it's invitation only. That kind of made the decision for me.

Tiffany asked if I wanted to go to Xinzhu. Xinzhu is a medium sized city about an hour by train, and this year they were selected to hold the annual 10/10 fireworks. Seeing as I had nothing to do for the day, it sounded as good of an idea as any. Instead of taking the train, we took the Taiwanese version of a Megabus. I for one, am incredibly impressed. The buses are a bit cheaper than the train, and surprisingly just about as fast. They use a special lane on the highway that gives them the right of way, so we arrived at our destination down to the minute. But, the big advantage the bus has - the chairs are absolutely amazing. They're basically reclining La-z-boys with cup holders and a TV. If I ever go back to Kending, I'm taking the bus. Yeah it'll take maybe an hour or two longer, but the comfort and price make up for it.

Right, so we got into Xinzhu a few hours before the big event, so we did some sightseeing at really, the only two things in the city. The East Gate and the main temple for the town. This temple was pretty, and kind of cool in that the night market wasn't just around the temple, it was in it. But at this point, I think I've seen over 100 temples over China and Taiwan. They're not surprising me anymore. The East Gate was maybe a little better, as it had some kids skateboarding around, as well as doing some breakdancing and singing. It was more like a hipster village that happened to have a gate there. And in this gate, the city constructed some sort of giant, wicker... phallus? I don't really know what it is to be honest.

Right so, fireworks. We had to wait about 30 minutes for the shuttle, and the traffic was terrible. We got there about 15 minutes late, but it turns out either the fireworks were also late, or we looked at the wrong time. We instead arrived just as they were starting. It was about a 30 minute show, and was well... fireworks. But when they went off and lit up the place, I realized I was standing at the back of the largest crowd I have ever been in in my life. Just as the finale started I suggested we vamoose, because oh god, so many people. Despite this, it took almost 2 hours to travel 15km. It would be faster to walk, I think. We missed our first train, and managed to get on the 2nd by just shoving in and standing up. There were an estimated 3-4 million people at that firework show. This was absolutely insane. It took 2 hours, and we were at the front of the line. I'll bet that place didn't fully clear out until well into the morning.

In a bit more current news, I was at 7-11 the other day and ran into a foreigner. This doesn't really happen in my neighborhood, so I struck up a conversation. It turns out his is an American named Mike. Funny, I am both of those things as well. He is also from Akron Ohio. What the hell, Ohio?! You have like 90% of the astronauts at NASA, and 2/3rds of all the Americans I met in Taiwan have fled from you. Why does everyone want to get out of there so badly?

Finally I don't know if this is news news, but I've decided to go back to school. Or at least, back to school for 1 month. After my contract ends here, I'm moving to Bangkok to get a higher level teaching certification. It's rather intense course, and I will probably have very little time for sightseeing while I am there. Although after I will most likely be staying on in Thailand for another 1 year gig.

And now you're all caught up on my life. Anyone have a desire to visit Thailand?