Taiwan...Touch my heart

Taiwan East Coast highway road trip, originally uploaded by Jerry Tok.

Taiwan...Touch your heart

This is the Taiwanese tourism board tag line. Indeed, Taiwan had touch my heart in many ways.

A brother ask me, what is my deepest impression of Taiwan. I answered without hesitation: 雪山 (Snow Mountain) and the Taiwanese, especially the brothers who housed me and spent time with me.

雪山-Xueshan-Snow Mountain
A picture speaks a thousand words, so pls refer to my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerrytok/sets/72157594407548916/ There are a few millions words there.

I like the 黑森林（black forest). 黑森林 is full of alpine trees (or so I think). During the day, little or no sunlight penetrates into the forest and hence the name black forest. The trees are rather tall with branches and leaves at the top. It was as though all the trees are racing against each other to catch as much sunlight as they possibly could.

Off course, I love the snow. The last time I see snow (on the ground) was at Nepal. And that was 4 years ago. Singapore is located 2 degree north of the equator. Our weather forecast is 24-35 degree C thruout the year. Back to the snow- It was snowing prior to the day before we make our ascent to 雪山主峰(Snow Mountain Main Peak). According to our guide, the possibility to make the ascent is slim. So they next morning, we were praying hard for the ascent to be possible. There is no way to know than to try. Fortunately, there was another group, they went ahead of us to 开路. By the time we got to the snow part, it was quite easy to walk. The previous group had helped us melt the snow on the trail.

Taiwanese
Taiwanese are warm and friendly. Service industry is excellent. Take for instance, Taiwanese greet every customer 欢迎光临. You can step into any shop and make as much enquiry as you like. You can step out of the store without making any purchase. Retailer rarely give you the black face nor pressure you to make any purchase. Once at Kending, George and I went into a restaurant. The waitress serve us plain water while she hands the menu to us. George and I both agree that the price is abit to steep for our liking. We told the waiter that we decided not to eat here, she remain courteous and thank us for patronising (strictly speaking, we only walk in). No black face. I really salute their excellent service.

During the Xueshan trek, we stop by along the side of the trail. We sat there and right in front of us is a beautiful mountain range. Our guide, nickname Ferrari was there with us. Besides the 4 Singaporeans with me, there were 6 other Taiwanese uncles and aunties with us. We were chatting and laughing and really enjoying each other's company. Ferrari is very nice. He made coffee for us. Because of his kindness, even the hot water that he prepared tasted sweet.

台北教会的弟兄姐妹
I am so grateful to the Taipei brothers for housing me. They are so warm,sincere, caring and loving. Thruout my staying there, I have to privilege to stay in 3 brother's flat.

The first brothers' flat was with 振宁，阿鸿，建明，Danny and Wei Yu. I feel especially close to 振宁. I love to ride around Taipei in his scooter.

The second brothers' flat was with 世渊,Sunny and 阿杰. When I arrive, 阿杰show me to the room, the brothers prepare a fruit basket to welcome. Honestly, I am quite overwhelmed by their hospitality. Besides the fruit basket, 阿杰print a map of their house location and a local phone card. 世渊 is very fatherly. He is very patient to explain things to. He gave me some insider stories to the never ending unusually relationship between Taiwan and China. I really enjoy talking to him. Sunny is the brother that treated me to 臭豆腐Fermented bean curd and 鸭血糕 Solidified duck's blood.

The third brothers' flat was with 9 brothers, I know 富源 most. On Sunday, he took time out and brought me around Taipei. We went to hot spring together. Then on Monday morning, he woke up at 4am to sent me to the bus terminal for me to catch a bus to the airport.