%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |   ON THE WRITE PATH: travel journal for Around-the-World in 2015, 16, 18. |
|
For there are many paths.  A tlog. A travel blog. A keeping-track of my trials, er.. travels. February 26, 2015 until ... June 18,2015. January 12, 2016 until February 15, 2016. November 13 to 30 2018 ... 2019, 2020: Taiwain. I went nowhere in 2021. 2022: Portugal, Thailand. Will include: Hawai'i, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Untied Arab Emirates, Portugal, Norway, Ireland and... (2015) ... Norway and Estonia (2016), México (2018), Taiwan, Balkans, Baltics, Turkey, Costa Rica, Nicaragua. Vi får se.  "Where I have traveled, stayed and visited. Over 181 places."     |
| "Money!" she shouted pointing to where I had dropped 100 NT$ on the floor. We laughed and then she helped me mark on a piece of paper what I pointed at behind the glass. I pay 115 NT$. Now two plates, one bowl and an offer of free broth. I respond with a gesture, "A little". Then two bowls move on their own over the hard smooth surface of the table, a mystery to me. Hot broth, warm turkey on rice, cold slices of pork liver (zhu gan), shredded ginger and a shrimp (xia) roll sliced in pieces. All served with a smile. And then a small bowl of sliced vegetable (who-knows-what) with a spicy sauce ... too hot ... the young man goes to find something milder. I say do xia (多謝) as I leave. More laughter. I hunt down some masks, buy some snacks. On the way back, I walk past the restaurant where the turkey lady squats by the curb scrubbing out a steel pot. I motion that it's lots of work. More laughter. Kare Enga Chiayi, Taiwan, 7.february.2020. |
| I didn't do much yesterday... may do less today. I can now say thank-you in Atayal: Mhuy su! I'm working on Hakka and Taiwanese. Mandarin is Xiexie. Jenny at My Story Inn speaks English, Japanese, Mandarin, Hakka, Atayal and understands Taiwanese. She's awesome. Guests just arrived from Virginia and Nottingham. Staying in hostels exposes one to the world. It can be a beautiful place! Ronan put a plate for some type of nori covered crackers out. They disappeared... I'm always hungry it seems. Yesterday's black squid sausage on fried rice cake is sooooo yesterday! Time to go fishing... or hunting again. The rainy fog has shrouded us all day. I find the thousand steps difficult when I'm focused on not slipping. It never snows here in this lush sub-tropical clime, but wet is wet. Even the dogs curled up last evening looked miserable. The Japanese tourists just paraded in their polka-dot plastic rain-ponchos with groups holding matching umbrellas. It can be packed. I'm not getting great photos. Perhaps this drear will lift tomorrow. |
| It's a bit confusing. It's almost 1 p.m. here in Jiufen, midnight at WDC, still the 17th in Montana going on 10. I'm never quite sure what day it is on good days. This trying to live in different time zones is disconcerting at best. The 17th... get up, eat my noodles, shower, pack, sit and write. Leave to Beimen to catch the bus... standing on the wrong side of the street... but finally getting on. NT$ 90. I heed the sign, a NT$ 1500 fine for not buckling up. I'm not in Kansas, Toto. I miss my stop at the Police Station because I don't push the red button. Get off and walk downhill on a road will no sidewalks, aware that a moped, car, truck or bus could snuff me out in a matter of seconds. Jenny greets me. 'I'm home.' I meet a young woman from Devon, England; Lim, a young man from KL, Malaysia and Nancy from North Carolina. The evening is windy and chill. The kitchen below the 42 steps is open. I order chive-pork soup dumplings. NT$ 100 for 7. I'm still freezing. Lim puts on the heat but I'm exhausted and decide that going to bed is best... and warmer. Behind blue and green curtains I sleep. Written about a wooden monkey that sits on the stairs to My Story Inn: You watch us come and go. It's that look on your face we'll always remember. Are you glad we came? Will you be happier when we go? In chilly, windy Jiufen your silence fills the void between us as you guard the 42 stairs. My Story Inn, Jiufen, Taiwan. 18.january.2020. |
| I didn't do much yesterday. Bought 10 pens of varied color ink. Bought postcards to send. It was a day to celebrate not being on a plane! I slept okay both nights. It's nice to comeback to a place I'm familiar with. Even though the name has changed, much of the staff is the same. The rooms, bed, showers, breakfast buffet... no changes that were evident to me. Today I'll travel to Jiufen for 4 days. I'll need to plan the next part of the trip. New Year's Day is the 25th and many people travel or have dinner with their families the night before. Not a great time to visit but... flights, money, time... Fortunately, my journey is just trying to be present, to observe, understand, learn... share. No great photo opportunities yet today, so I took one of this morning's soup and wrote: What floats in this clear broth ... green shards, bean sprouts, a tangle of Tan-Tsu noodles? This is not Breakfast at Tiffany's: no cheese, no baguette, no you... The melody of the morning chatters in Taiwanese until we have finished and a smock-dressed worker clears it all away. Taipei, 17.January.2020. I posted it on spacebook. Not all days are exciting.  |
| Go fish ... I take a picture of the pink lady taking a picture ... as fish jump, as startled I jump, as water cascades over a rocky wall where the pothos hangs in silence, green and lime-green over ... a pool. The white, orange, calico carp are huge. We sit for breakfast. I hear English spoken at a distance, no western faces. One young girl stabs her happy face fry putting chops through each eye. I life my noodles, a taste of Taiwan. Cold scales and whiskers surface. Do they see me? What plea or warning do they mouth? K. Taipei, Taiwan 16.january.2020 |
| I saunter up narrow streets with barely a sidewalk, fearful that the traffic behind me will not yield to my age or roller bag. Local people just stride by confident, oblivious. I must be getting old. I need to trust. This is a town along ancient trade routes the Ottomans built. Life matters here. Stray cats and dogs know it. They rely upon the unrelenting kindness of human strangers. Why can't I? As I pass the local ice cream hang out, I promise myself to come back later. The prices are right. Life may be precious but the food is cheap. Fruit markets snug the curb. Manitje is on the menu. Those spicy meatballs wrapped in phyllo and baked entice me, but I'm on a mission. Where is the apartment that I'll sleep in tonight? Ah... above the döner shop named Bazar! Apartment Bazar is up a flight of white stairs, clean, easy to climb. The apartment... is wonderful! Two sofas, a table, a kitchenette, a washing machine... time to do laundry. The bedroom has a double bed. This place would be great for families but I travel alone. Time to go back down the hill to the river and cross over to restaurants and tea and coffee shops. The city may be over 400 years old like the inn, Amir-Agin Han, but it's vibrant at night. The streets are full of young and old, men and women, the open happy faces of a peaceful people. Backgammon anyone? I wish my friends who are fearful of Muslims could visit here. For this town is definitely Muslim. The pristine white interior of the Altun-Alem Mosque built in the 16th Century stands open. A calico cat greets me in the courtyard asking to be petted. Yet, others live here as well. I do not see oppressed people. I do not feel depressed. The call to prayer does not instill fear. After a good night's rest, I wander around, have my ice cream served with a smile, know that I will come back. © Kåre Enga (14.novembra.2019) [176.xxx] A memory of Novi Pazar, Serbia. Septembra.2019. |
| Nothing of note = no specific creative writing! May be plenty to note otherwise. I'll need them for other purposes. I took photos of most of the postcards. Over 30. NORWAY 21.avgust to Gary: nothing of poetic/prose note. 22.avgust to Nancy: nothing of note. 23.avgust to Mary: nothing of note. 25.avgust to McCormants: nothing of note. 26.avgust to Debi and Eric: nothing of note. CROATIA 1.rujan to Gary: "I'm sitting in an alley where local people are chatting w/ family/friends/neighbors. I imagine it's the same most everywhere. Dog said hello. People climb the stairs with luggage — not me. 2.rujan to Jamie: nothing of note. BOSNIA 4.septembra to Gary: nothing of note. 5.septembra to Jacob: nothing of note. SERBIA 11.septembar to Noelani: nothing of note. 13.septembar to Cecilie: nothing of note. 13.septembar to Gary: nothing of note. 15.septembar to Teresa: "A city of ruins, rebuilt, bombed. All wars came here to wrest control over the rivers Danube and Sava. Back and forth from Hapsburg Austria-Hungary & the Ottoman Empire. The fortress of white stone & brick guards the passage while people party on the floating night clubs below. A working city. Country people come here for jobs. Parts are quite pretty but nothing to entice tourists. It's not Vienna or Budapest. It's a nitty gritty dirty city... the kind I feel at home in." 18.septembra to Merry: nothing of note. 18.septembra to Anne: nothing of note. 19.septembra to Jane: nothing of note. KOSOVO 21.shtator to Gary: nothing of note. 21.shtator to Linda: nothing of note. 22.shtator to Annabel: "Ah... to be newborn. I tell people I need a new body... and then add "sleep well tonight". I'm having too much fun! But really? I must decide whether I can continue traveling like this. I purposely slowed down this trip. One week in Beograd, now one week in Prishtina. Enough time to actually get to know a place and its people. Just a taste for sure. But it helps keep me alive & slower may let my legs & back heal. Hard to write this with a kitten in my lap. She's purring & doesn't want to move! Peace." 23.shtator to Lavinia: nothing to note. 24.shtator to Allen: "Oda sits on my lap. Others work; she naps. I'd get up — if she'd let me. The presser turns, ironing duvets, music adds a tumbling beat. A taste of chocolate or walnuts. Coffee ripples tickling my lips. I ruffle Oda's white undercoat; she grabs my knee with claws. Dare I close my eyes? Dare I get up to leave? Hostal Oda — there are two cats Oda + her brother Odi. They insist that everyone's lap belong to them." 27.shtator to Nanette: "Soft bread innards assuage the wait on a busy afternoon as the waning sun bakes leaves turning red. The marigolds pray for another month before frost drives diners inside. Today, green chairs await for an evening event. Elections begin. sun pours over pavement. The sky remains blue. Those who are thirsty must wait. My chicken fillet arrives. (At Shaban)' NOT FINISHED |
| Dried monkey and a choir of angels 7月24日2019 Memories of Mintaro Hut in Yamagata, Japan, March 2015 Sato-san asked me to try some dried meat. The others were more skeptical. It tasted like dried meat, like beef jerky. It wasn't beef. It was monkey. Sato-san is one of the most gracious hosts I've ever met in my travels across the world. His table was often full of salty snacks and he would join the guests when he was free. Nobuki and other men chatted with me in their limited English, but since I don't know Japanese I could only assure them that I understood and that they were doing fine. The questions did get a bit personal but everyone was friendly. I took a picture of one of them with me in my long sleeve grey shirt and one of Nobuki with my toy dog travel companion Esteban. In the rear garden it was the last gasp of winter. There isn't much smell after a snow has cleansed the air. The old plum tree wore its diamond necklaces gracefully. There are other images I remember when walking around town. In the pottery district, ceramics were displayed in glass cases along the roads as water streams down baffled canals. In a cemetery stone statues were wrapped in coats. One seemed serene with a blue-green jacket and a yellow Pooh scarf. Snow mounds marked the corners of temples; cones of ice with a hole bored from the dripping melt. On the way back, a store with jade plants in bloom with small white stars enticed me to enter. I stopped in a bakery with Pikachu buns. I took a picture of a café: Snow White and Chocolat Noir. A good joke for those of us who know both English and French. By the fortress, a cedar snuggled in its canvas cover, protected from snow. A fisherman stood along the moat as snowflakes fell. Not even a cold March day had deterred him. Back in the warmth of the wood stove, Sato-san introduces us to his 8 voice choir. They sing a French carol to Alyssa and a friend. They sing Ue o muite (Sukiyaki) to me. I am moved to tears. My lasting impression was Sato-san at the table with his cat, 20 year old Little Boy. It only saddens me that I've never gone back. |
| I've met many travelers and tourists. Tourists tend to be conventional. They've been to London, Paris and Rome, visited the churches, museums and monuments. Just as thousands of others have. They feel safest on a package tour. Even if they are adventure tourists seeking out a mountain, a zip-line, a dive into a blue lagoon... they only do what others have done before them. Few are true adventurers going off into the unknown. Travelers however... may not know what they are doing next week or tomorrow.... why? Because it doesn't matter! The trip is more important than the destination. They may travel with maps and guidebooks but those are only for reference. Why go where everyone goes when there's a neat place to visit just around the corner! And why make definite plans when something better may come along? Me? I'm in between. My bad nerves do not allow me to just go on the spur of the moment without some plan. I tell myself that I don't have the financial resources if something goes bad... I avoid risk. And yet... I've been in difficult situations and people have helped me. I've relied on the kindness of strangers and been inspired by their humanity. And I do like taking a different path and seeing what others do not see... with my own eyes Monte used the terms "random romantic" and 'concrete sequentialist" today. But that's for another blog. |
| How to adequately express my trip to the Taipei Zoo? I went with my friend Allen. We took the MRT to the last stop on a threatening-to-rain 8th of February. They may have bred pigs back to the original inhabitants of Taiwan, but the people are still a delightful mix. But so many visitors 4 days into the New Year of the Pig! We walked down paths of orchids hanging from trees, past waterlilies and flamingos, ignored by camels and llamas. I took a picture of Allen as a llama.  I have lots of flattering photos of him; but, that isn't one of them!Some of the animals are shy. Some hard to see. Others weren't out. The meercats were sleeping and my photo of a panda... well, at a distance and not my best, but at least a gibbon was just hanging out. People can say what they want about zoos; but, elephants, rhinos and hippos are not found in Taiwan and if it weren't for the zoo they may be thought or as mere myths. In person... they are huge! They had a pygmy hippo... that did not prepare me for the full-size brutes. One snap of their jaw and your family can bury you in two pieces! And rhinos... they're built like tanks. The Taiwanese are blessed to see these animals while they go extinct in the wild. It raises conscientiousness. Taiwanese have a sense of humor, by-the-way, the restrooms are labeled as the "Zoo Poo Poo". Birds are kept in pens, cages or roam free in the aviary. We saw hornbill, cassowary, a scarlet ibis, cranes and glorious pigeons. Some birds were nesting. After turtles and tigers, giraffes and baboons we were ready to head out. It was closing time. We'd been there 6 hours and I'd taken over 600 photos. And we hadn't see it all... We looked up at the gondolas going up the mountain... decided that would have to wait for another day. Peace, Kåre. My incomplete facebook album can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/kare.enga.9/media_set?set=a.2371405706227373&type=3 |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
