This is a little out of order, I haven’t caught up yet on my blog. This just happened yesterday, sometimes those memorable events have to be told :)
I hired a shared van to go down the east coast of Taiwan to get to the very tip of the island. On board with me in our 8 passenger VW van were 6 young professional mainland Chinese “kids”... in their 30’s on a holiday in Taiwan. They all worked together in Shanghai. The reason I know their ages is the way this trip started out. I was the last to sign the manifest where we were required to put our birthdates down. I squawked to the driver, and put my 1945 year down among the many 1984 dates.... the driver looked at my entry with big eyes, looked at the kid behind me and they were counting on their fingers in disbelief.
Haaaaa, that’s how we started. Things were quiet till the first meal stop when technology took over. We all got out our phones and “chatted” at the table using Google translator.. which is quite good. It was fun and we bonded a lot. I know they knew more English but are shy in using it. During the trip one young woman was translating the allotted times at each rest/view stop for me. She watched out for the old man.
Then I shared USA music, some real new hits with the architect guy who quit work to travel. He was up on it, said his favorite was Almost Lover, by Fine Fantasy...we shared music titles back and forth during the drive, again with Google. Lots of smiles and nods - music bonds.
I have a few new WeChat friends now!
This all day drive along a beautiful east coastline brought me to the Southern tip of Taiwan and the town of Kenting. I’ll tour around the area today. The coast is amazing, although very rocky for many miles like Northern California, there are miles of unused beaches, no houses, and not even any surfers....some good surf and not a one surfer in sight all day. This coast has huge potential.
