Friday morning we were informed that the roads were still impassable because of the earthquake two nights before, so no tour busses were coming up from Chiayi. We had been planning on taking one of the tour busses around town to see the sights. Now we were on foot and on our own.
There were three or four potential sights of interest in the area, but without transporation we were limited to choosing one. We chose the bat caves, mostly because of the distance – about a one hour hike.
Down the bamboo forested road we went. Down, down, down the steep roads until we came to the turnoff. It was hot and humid and I was giving my Tevas and trail shorts a workout.
Finally, after an hour walking we reached a trail which continued on after the road ended. Well, it wasn’t so much a trail as a slight indentation in the vegetation, steeply heading down toward the river. As I stepped toward the overgrown path, Chu-wan said just one word, “Snakes.”
“Snakes?”
“Yes, snakes”
“I thought you said there weren’t snakes in Taiwan?”
“Yes, we have snakes”
“Poisonous ones?”
“Yes”
Later, I studied the poisonous snakes of Taiwan, which include Venomous Bamboo Snakes, 100 Pacers (you won’t live 100 paces if one bites you), Banded Kraits, the Taiwan Habu, Russell’s Viper, the Coral Snake, Oshima’s Habu, the Chinese Mountain Pit Viper and even the Cobra. We won’t mention sea snakes, all of which are poisonous.
Without seeing the bat caves, we turned around and headed back to the hotel. The pleasant one hour downhill walk became and exhausting two and half hour trek back up the mountain, till finally we reached the hotel.
The hotel was an interesting place. It was wood – not wood in the common sense of the word, but wood in the everything sense of the word. Floor, walls, ceiling, ceiling fan, desk, chairs, bed, bathtub (bathtub? Yep.) were all highly polished wood with bamboo wood inlays. Only the mattresses and parts of the bathroom were of conventional origin.
That afternoon, we caught the forest train down to Chiayi, then caught the regular train back to Taipei, getting in after 11:00PM.
Once again we stopped in the McDonald’s in Chiayi, this time I tried a special “local” food item: Spicy Fried Chicken. Wow! It was terrific! If only McDonald’s would import it here!
Notes from the 21st Century
After more trips overseas I discovered that the spicy fried chicken was in other Asian countries, too. I thought I attempt to express myself to McDonald’s and tell them that they should sell it in the US also – it really is the best thing they make.
When I attempted to send eMail to McDonald’s their contact page is a veritable minefield of warnings saying that they you must not send them any ideas for new food items. Such messages will be rejected, unread. (Rather like sending an unsolicited script to Hollywood.)
Of course, that didn’t apply to what I was trying to tell them, I was simply suggesting that they expand the distribution of a product they already sell into new areas.
No matter how many times I tried to phrase that eMail to get the point across, it was rejected by their automatic mail scanners with a disclaimer about not listening to product ideas.
Screw them, then.