Porthole

Trash

30DBC THERE ISN'T ANY

I've waited almost 3 hours. I can wait no longer. I'm traveling in Taiwan = I have a life.

So much for prompts.

What to write about?

It's a day to do wash. But, I got talking to a Dutch man... and I never shut up. With all due respect, he held his own. It's great to chat with a traveler.

He's been to North Korea so he mentioned the expenses, what one sees from a bus standing up and not sitting down... some things (trash in ditches) are hidden from outsiders. Crossing the border was 'fun' took a long time and all electronics had to be set out for inspection. But... he got there.

One thing he mentioned: both North Korea and China were swept-clean. To a lesser extent that is true in Taiwan. Japan, on the other hand is trash-free except for trashy tourists (Japanese would never throw anything on the ground).

Which brings to mind how filthy the roads and rivers were in the Balkans. Deja vu ... the USA in the 1950s... cigarette smoke blown in your face, trash everywhere along the roads, rivers festooned with trash.

Change comes slowly ... but it comes.

The smog here in Northern Taiwan and in South Korea and China is unhealthy at best. The air quality is very poor (Missoula is too by-the-way) even if you can't see it. Some days you can see it.

Blue sky days are rare.

So maybe that's the blog entry: trash!

One bright note... Allen gave me two reusable straws yesterday. They can be slit open, washed as one flat strip, and then reattached.

There is progress and solutions everywhere.

I wrote this years ago when I went around the block in Missoula and picked up trash and wrote to each piece:

Trash.1 (after the melt)  (18+) 24 items collected May 13th and mused about. Written in a hour. Edited over days. #1563173 by Kåre Enga in Montana

An earlier blog response to Joy (edited):

Awareness: I try to notice when I travel. Exhausting if I spend every minute overthinking what's going around me... but better than being totally oblivious. Like the relationships among men is different in Chinese culture. Important since I'm in Taiwan and have made male friends here.

About people leaving: "That's the end of their part in your story" Kevin was supportive for 24 years... I just assumed... and then *snap* his wife cut me off when I was really in need of his friendship. It still hurts.

The 60s... I was a teenager but lived in a blue-collar box oblivious to much that was going on around me. I was never a party person nor a joiner nor a follower. I think the 60s music opened up doors to the 70s, when it matured.

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