Going along for the ride

I woke up Sunday morning feeling a little lethargic, in kind of a bad mood for no apparent reason and not really feeling like doing anything.  I scanned the news online for a bit, got a little food to eat, and then around 11:30 the phone rang.  I thought it was probably Jose calling to talk about some notes I had sent on Friday night about possible topics for me to discuss when I lecture in his class next week, and I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone yet, so I let it ring and figured he would probably call me on skype.  When that didn’t happen, I thought maybe it had been Yungnane calling instead, so I checked email to see if he had sent a message there, and sure enough he had.  He was inviting me to go with his family to visit an organic farm that afternoon, which admittedly didn’t sound all that intriguing.  I laid on the bed for a little while trying to figure out if I was going to say yes or no.  I almost always say yes to such invitations, sort of as a matter of policy, partly because I don’t like saying no especially in the absence of a very good reason.  So even though I wasn’t all that keen on the idea, I finally decided that getting out of the room for a couple of hours would be better than sitting around in a bad mood not being very productive.  So I called him up and told him I would go along.  By then it was 12:15 and he was going to swing by at 1:00.

I should learn by now that when I make plans to go do something with someone here it is probably not going to be as easy and straightforward as it first sounds.  So when I get in the car Yungnane tells me that we’re going to Kaohsiung, which is Taiwan’s second largest city, about an hour drive south of Tainan.  I’ve been to Kaohsiung before and like it there -- it’s actually my favorite city in the country.  It’s right on the coast, and the river running through downtown has been developed into a nice area with shops, walking areas, etc. that make it an attractive location for locals and tourists.  The city itself is more spread out, with wider streets and a less congested feel than the other major cities.  I’ve made the comparison to folks before that Kaohsiung is to Taipei like LA is to New York.  It’s got a mellower vibe, a nicer climate, and for my tastes seems like a preferable lifestyle.  So while I wasn’t necessarily disappointed that we were heading down there, this was my first clue that the trip probably wasn’t going to be just a quick couple of hours out at some nearby farm, which is what I was anticipating.  

The next clue came when, on the way there, Yungnane placed a call to Luke Hsiao, another USC alum who lives in Kaohsiung and who I had visited with the last time I had been there a few years ago.  Luke is the one person I’ve known in my life who seems to be what some might call a “player,” although I’ve never really known for sure how much of that is real and how much is just sort of an image that he likes to convey.  He definitely seems to like money, and appears to be pretty interested in making more of it, but I don’t know if he comes from a wealthy background or if he’s just managed to have some success on that front as an adult.  (Apparently he legally changed his last name recently to the Chinese character that means “gold”!)  Luke is on faculty at a private university in Kaohsiung that was founded by a wealthy businessman who is also involved in numerous other business enterprises and who at some point decided to use some of his money to start the university as well as an intriguing elementary school that I visited last time, where the whole theme is oriented towards creating an environment in which kids are happy, based on the premise that they will then be more willing and able to learn.  For awhile, Luke was working directly for the President in some sort of staff position, which put him at a higher level in the game than where most young professors end up, and has probably helped him to become reasonably well-connected in the Kaohsiung area.  Anyway, the plan was for Luke to meet up with us later on, which seemed to imply that our itinerary would include more than a stop at the farm.

 

Before too long we arrive at the Jing Yaun Leisure Farm, where there is a long line of cars waiting to pay an admission fee and go park.  While there were some fields right there growing what I presume is some organic produce, I soon deduce that that is not the main draw here.  Instead the place has been designed as an attraction for families with young kids, as there are pony rides, a little equestrian center where older riders are running around on horses jumping over fences and such, a number of tropical birds on display (not even in cages, just hanging out on posts or more elaborate contraptions that have been built for them), a few goats that kids can pet and feed, and a turkey wandering around, as the humans stroll through the fairly small area that has been created to house all of the above.  There is a picnic area with barbecues where families are cooking their lunch, and since the facility is right next to the Kaohsiung airport, a little walk down the road there is some kind of café up on the second or third floor of a building where people can sit and watch planes taking off.  We spend probably no more than an hour there, if that, and pile back into the car to head to our next stop, which Yungnane had described in terms something like a little fish market near the harbor that has a good restaurant where we’ll get something to eat.  The plan, as I understood it, was that Luke was going to meet us over there.

Yungnane explained that the place we were going was actually out on an island, and the road soon went down into a tunnel that went under the water and resurfaced on Cijin Island, where we headed past a port area that he said was the seventh busiest port in the world back in the 70s.  Not too much longer we ended up in a long, slow-moving line of traffic that was heading where we were -- as this was another holiday weekend in Taiwan, I guess the throngs were headed out to enjoy whatever it was the harbor/fish market had to offer.  After crawling along for probably a half-hour or so, we finally came to the area that was the main draw, and here masses of people were out on foot and bikes along side all the cars and ubiquitous scooters, with a promenade -- or what in Latin America would be called a “malecon” -- along the seafront to the left and a big kind of market area on our right.  We had it in mind to go rent some bikes to ride along the path next to the water, so we walked for about 15 minutes down a street packed with pedestrians and lined with little stands selling food, clothing, sunglasses, and a whole array of other knick-knacks.  Somewhere along the line Yungnane talked to Luke again, and now the plan was for him not to meet us here but for us to meet him later back on the mainland for dinner at “a five-star restaurant.”  Apparently he had indicated we shouldn’t get there too late, for whatever reason, and so now we decided that it would take too much time to rent the bikes, make our way back through the crowded street, ride along the malecon for awhile, bring the bikes back through the crowded street, and then turn around and walk back to the car, so we nixed the bike-riding plan.  Instead, we started walking back to the car, with a quick stop along the way to buy some ice cream from a place that would definitely have some marketing problems if it were in the US:

Instead, with the orange sun sinking close to the horizon, we walked down to the malecon to an area where a number of folks were flying kites.  The boys wanted their parents to buy them a kite to play with, but they declined to do so.  However, as we were walking away from the vendor, a young lady came up and explained that she and her boyfriend had bought a kite earlier and now they were done using it, and since they didn’t want to take it home with them on their scooter, she offered it to the boys.  They were very happy to take it, so we stood there in the warm late afternoon sea breeze for a little while as they sent it skyward and the sun slowly descended into the haze and out of sight.

We got back in the line of slow-moving cars this time heading off the island, and after about an hour we ended up in downtown Kaohsiung at the very nice Ambassador Hotel.  When we walked in the lobby I recognized it as the place Luke had put me up when I had visited here previously.  We found our way to the restaurant where he was waiting for us, and we proceeded to have a dinner of dim sum Taiwanese-style.  Dim sum is another Cantonese style of food, served in small bite-sized portions that often involve some kind of doughy exterior with a wide variety of things inside, usually steam-cooked I believe.  We had a nice mix of dishes, that I gather were Taiwanese variations on the dim sum theme, including some yummy little rolls made with/from water chestnuts that, because they were a little sweet, we saved until the end.  After dinner, Luke wanted to take us up to the bar at the top of the hotel (20th floor) for a drink, since a fireworks show down in the harbor was scheduled for 9 PM and the table he reserved for us in the bar was going to give us a great view out the window of the fireworks exploding in the sky.  He ordered a plate of fruit and a bottle of nice red wine, of which he seems to be a particular fan, as well as some french fries and fried calamari that the boys polished off by themselves (I hadn't noticed, but maybe the dim sum wasn't their thing).  Sure enough, right on time, the fireworks went off, and everyone in the bar watched the brief but beautiful display.  Luke said this was the penultimate day of Kaohsiung's new year's celebration (OK, I thought new year's was over like two weeks ago!) and that tomorrow night they would celebrate the end with two shows at 7 and 9 instead of just the one show they'd been having up til then.

At some point during dinner Luke suggested the idea that I should just stay in Kaohsiung that night, and he and I could go out after Yungnane and family headed back to Tainan.  Up in the bar he was more specific, indicating that we could go out and get a massage.  That sounded like a good enough idea to me, and even though I wasn't at all prepared to spend the night, I figured I could manage without the overnight accessories I'd normally have with me.  I didn't have any obligations the next day, and in fact it was a holiday in Taiwan such that the NCKU offices were going to be closed anyway, so I figured why not take him up on his offer.  Now, I had gone with Luke to get a massage last time I was here, so I knew what to expect.  In fact, not just with Luke, but I had traveled around Taiwan that summer with another USC alum, Kevin Yeh, and he had also taken me for a massage a couple times during our travels.  I suspect that there are cheaper and simpler ways to get a massage in Taiwan, but both Luke and Kevin apparently like these more upscale places with a higher standard of service.  The massages are good and long, so I was happy to take advantage of Luke's offer, even if it meant extending my afternoon outing into an overnight trip.

We said goodbye to the Yang family and headed over to the massage place.  We were taken upstairs to our room, where one of Luke's friends was waiting for us.  The room had four massage tables, although these are more like chaise lounge chairs that can either lay flat or have the front half raised up at varying angles.  Up above each chair/table is a TV, with lots of cable channels including a few showing movies in English, and they each have their own remote control so you can choose what you want to watch.  The massages I get in the US usually take place in a private room with soothing music playing in the background, so it's a little odd to have multiple TVs going on at the same time, but so be it.  I change into the cotton shorts and tops they provide, Luke sits down with the rest of the bottle of wine from the bar and decides to get a foot massage, I kick back in my chair ready for my body massage.  As the masseuse worked on me, I realized I was more sore than I had realized.  My neck and shoulders can always use some work, given how much time I spend on the computer, but in working on my legs I figured that my muscles must be that sore from all the stair-climbing I've been doing!  After about an hour of working on me while I'm laying on my back, she has me turn over and places a number of hot towels on my back while working more on my arms and legs.  I can hear Luke's masseur pounding on his legs as part of the foot massage he's getting, and by now I'm mostly oblivious to the television.  Another 30-40 minutes of work and we're all done, I'm definitely pretty relaxed, by now it's about 1 AM, so thankfully Luke had no further plans and it was time to head back to his place to get some sleep.

He implied that he was going to sleep in in the morning, and then we would go out for some brunch, and the impression I got was that that may not happen before noon.  I knew I wouldn't sleep that late, and would prefer an earlier start to get back to Tainan, so just in case I borrowed a little notebook computer from him so that I could go online in the morning and read the news and do some email if/while I was waiting for him to roust.  I was up by 9 AM or so, and by noon I was starting to get hungry and wanting to get on with the day, and a little later Luke finally showed up at my bedroom door, only to explain that he had been up for awhile and was down in the living room watching the Academy Awards, which was just about to announce best picture.  I guess he had been expecting me to come out whenever I was up, and I figured he was going to let me know when he was awake, so I was a little dismayed that the miscommunication may have delayed the start of the day for awhile.  On the other hand, by now it didn't matter all that much!

Luke asked if I preferred spaghetti or seafood for lunch, and I opted for the former as the first thing to put in my stomach for the day.  After watching the acceptance speeches for The King's Speech, we headed to an Italian restaurant that he was familiar with, and while being seated learned that this was the last day for the restaurant, it was shutting down because it wasn't making money.  Our server, who was probably a member of the proprietor's family, thus encouraged us to try the "best" (read most expensive) item on the menu, which was a piece of Kobe beef.  Luke doesn't eat beef, apparently, and given how hard she was selling it, I broke down and went ahead and ordered it.  Fortunately it came with soup and salad and then dessert and a latte, so then the price didn't seem too out of control, but I was feeling kind of silly for ordering it especially when the main course itself wasn't all that spectacular.  So I made sure that Luke let me pick up the tab for the lunch. 

Somewhere along the line Luke had indicated that, after lunch, he wanted to go back to get another massage.  It seemed kind of unnecessary to me, even a little extravagant, but he says he usually goes there three times a week or so, so maybe in his life it isn't all that unusual.  Given our history, the assumption is that this is his treat, so rather than resisting and making any kind of insincere argument that I need to get back to Taiwan, I figure I might as well go.  When we get there and go through the same ritual to get started, I actually verbalized that this time I'd take a foot massage, but when the masseuse came around it was clear that I hadn't effectively communicated that message, so I proceeded to get another -- and to be honest, even better -- long massage.  This time, while I'm on my back, one of the stations is playing the movie The Sting, which I still think is one of the best movies of all time, so was able to watch the rest of it right up til the end before I turned over to have her work on my back.  The massage oil, the hot towels, the two hours of methodical body work, it was all quite luxurious, certainly worth sacrificing a few hours back in my little dorm room in Tainan! 

Needless to say, after the massage Luke wanted to go out for an early dinner before getting me to the train.  This time he wanted seafood, so we picked up the same friend who had met us the previous night and went to a cute little outdoor place with short tables and stools, which I think Jose had explained to me earlier is sort of "Tainan style" or maybe at least southern Taiwan, and with the seafood laid out on ice for customers to choose.  We started off with some sashimi, one piece each of two different fish, and then came a dish with chicken and cauliflower (I thought this was a seafood place!), and rice with some salmon baked in, and a juicy, bitter vegetable that was thinly sliced and put on ice that we then dipped in 1000-island dressing.  We got two of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen that had been skewered and grilled, some clams in their shells dripping with a garlic-basil concoction (that was good!), a Japanese-style chicken wing -- straightened out and skewered and then maybe baked, not sure how they cooked it.  Our main dish was a nice big piece of fish that had been cooked with little strings of shredded vegetable to add a bit of flavor.  Also needless to say, Luke had brought another good bottle of red wine along for the dinner.  An interesting feature of meals in Taiwan is that you aren't supposed to take a sip of your beer or wine alone, ie you're always supposed to toast someone and drink with them.  So with many light clinks of our glasses, we slowly made our way through the bottle of wine as we polished off most of the food on the table. 

We finish up dinner at about 7:30 and the plan is for me to catch an 8:10 train back to Tainan.  We park Luke's car at his house and then walk a couple blocks to the main metro station in Kaohsiung.  There are two lines in the city, a north-south and east-west, and they meet below a big intersection at street-level with at least three very big, obvious station entrances.  The system is only a few years old, not sure if it was running when I was here last, but this was my first time to ride it so was excited to see what it was like.  Very new, very modern, very clean, what you'd expect.  The trains come about four minutes a part, at least that was the length of time indicated on the LED information sign right after we missed the previous train -- a little jingle plays throughout the station to let people know when a train arrives.  We're on the metro by about 7:45, and it's only one stop to the train station, so we get there in time to buy my ticket and find the right platform.  Luke points out I can by a ticket without a reserved seat at the machine, but if I want to reserve a seat I need to go to the ticket window.  He advises on the latter, or else I might have to stand for the trip back to Tainan.  But the man selling tickets said all the seats were sold out already -- this was the end of a holiday weekend, and lots of people were traveling.  So it turned out that I stood the whole way anyway, although it wasn't that big a deal since it was only a 30-minute trip with no stops along the way.  I was back in my room by a little after 9:00, and didn't manage to stay up for even an hour more, hitting the sack before 10, happy that I'd decided to go along for the ride to the organic farm.