Megan Lael Yancey: January 2011

Merry Christmas, I mean, Happy New Year!

It was such a delight to see my family again. Grant is cute as a button! They were so nice as to postpone our Christmas traditions for me. We celebrated Christmas on New Year's Day, and it actually felt like it was Christmas. Because of jet-lag, I had to take a couple of naps. It was so great to spend time with my family!

Dad and Grant

Perry, Rachel, Grant, Me, Mom

Last 24 hours in Taiwan...

When we got back to Fengyuan after Alishan, I got lots of attention when I limped into Berhan. Frances asked me to take off my shoes and socks so that she could examine my injury. She thought my foot might be broken, so she took me on her scooter to a hospital. The first one we went to had no available doctor. So, later she had Uncle take me to a different hospital. Have I ever said that I love Chinese medicine?! There are no unnecessary tests with added costs. The doctor just looked at my foot, then held my foot and asked me to move it different ways. He determined from that that I only had a bad sprain and it was not broken. Thank goodness! The doctor put some green stuff on my ankle that looked like ground-up seaweed mixed with pesto, and then wrapped it up. The green stuff smelled like icy/hot and felt very cold on my skin. He also gave me some medication to help with the swelling. There were four different pills. I also love healthcare in Taiwan. All of this only cost me $200 NT (that's like $7 USD). Not bad. Not bad at all.

All wrapped up!

That's a lot of pills for 3 days.

We had a slumber party in the lounge. I don't know why we didn't do it sooner. It was really fun. Allison, Lien, Libby, Erin, Kristi, Devin and I had grand time. The next morning we had one last hurrah by playing Wacky Six. Erin creamed us! Are we surprised?!

Slumber Party in the Lounge!

Taking my bandage off... Ew!

Libby and Erin were going to the airport with me. Allison, Lien, Devin and Katy were headed up to Taipei for the New Year. It was the same bus as mine. Erin, Libby and I had to change buses 2 hours into our trip. Anyway, Kristi was going to meet up with some friends in Taichung, so she waited with us until our bus arrived. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone. I love these people!

At the Ubus station
Allison, Erin, Kristi, Katy, Me, Devin, Libby, Lien

On the Ubus to the airport

When Erin, Libby and I got to the airport, we parted ways. I needed to check-in at China Airlines, and they at Asia Air. It was the understanding that we would meet up right after security and hang out until I left. My flight was a couple hours earlier than theirs. So, I didn't bother saying goodbye. After through security, I waited for about 90 minutes. They never showed. I had to leave and board my flight. I was sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to them.

I found out later that Asia Air would not let them check-in more than two hours before their flight. So, they couldn't get into the airport.

That's a lot of luggage!

We got carts!

About to check-in

With cane in hand, I was surprised by how much special treatment I got. Airport workers directed me to the handicap lines, so I didn't have to wait. They let me onto the airplane before anyone, well, with all the people in wheelchairs. The stewardess put my bags in the overhead bin for me. And I was offered a drink before the airplane even took off. When I got to America, there was none of that.

The Flora World

Hello Kitty Pay Phones

Mango Smoothie and on the airplane by myself

Out my window

Empty airplane

Although being on a long flight, I had a really good seat mate. He was an older man who grew up in Taiwan, but immigrated to America when he was in college. It was fun to talk to him about all the cool places I visited in Taiwan. I hope that I will have the opportunity to go back to Taiwan someday. I love Taiwan! 我爱台湾! It has become a part of me, always in my heart. The people I met and the experiences I had have changed me forever. And for that, I am very grateful.

Alishan 阿里山

After Green Island: When we got into Gaoshiung by train, we split ways. Devin, Erin, Libby and Katy spent the next couple of days there. And Allison, Kristi and I continued on to Chiayi. I did not want to miss an opportunity to go to Alishan before going back to America. We stayed the night in Chiayi before heading to Alishan.

Something is missing.
Similar idea to Floor 13 in American hotels.

The next morning, we met up with Lien and her brother and his friends Bobby and Tram. We all took a van up to Alishan. There were no seat belts, of course. They seem hard to come by in Taiwan. Anyway, I shared a bench seat with Kristi and next to me was an open space. I was very tired and fell asleep on the ride. The journey to Alishan was very windy. On a particularly sharp turn, I had a rude awakening, quite literally. I tumbled forward and out of my seat and into the side of the van. That was number one.

Making deals.

Hiring a taxi

In the taxi van, before I fell asleep.

Alishan is a mountain town. It was very chilly there. I had like 5 layers on and I was still cold. In all actuality, the coldest it got was in the low 40's F. I have just turned into a Taiwanese weeny.

Taiwanese 7-Eleven

Heading to our hostel.

In our hostel

After eating lunch, we started on the Alishan Loop Trail. The first attraction were the giant trees. There is a thousand-year-old "Three Generations Tree--a massive cypress crowned by a 10-foot-high second tree; and Tree Spirit Pagoda, which commemorates a stand of noble and ancient trees ignobly cleared in 1936." (NG Taiwan)

"The onion explodes the beef" Haha!

Heading to our first hike.

Kristi warming her nose.

Elephant Tree

They got in trouble for getting on the tree. Haha!

Peaking.

Kristi, Me, Allison, Tram, Bobby, Lien
This forrest reminded me of Twilight.

Hallow tree.
I think this is the Elephant Tree from behind.

I saw this really cool hallow tree. So, I asked Kristi if she would take a picture of me inside of it. As I got closer, I realized it was filled with spider webs. Well, maybe a picture in front of it. Meg wanted a picture. Meg got a picture. Meg saw spiders behind her. What followed was Meg's not so graceful tumble number two of the day. I was on a bit of a hill and jumped down, landed wrong and tumbled the rest of the way down. Or we could just say, I fell down a mountain. (It's more dramatic that way.) Anyway, when I tried to stand up, I couldn't. I did something to my ankle. It hurt so bad, but I couldn't stop laughing. Very quickly, I realized what this meant. We were only 10-15 minutes into our first hike and I couldn't put any weight on my foot. That meant no hiking for me. I felt like my trip was ruined, and I am embarrassed to admit, I got a little depressed about it.

I have misplaced "the picture." So you can look at this one instead.

I just made the realization.

Some French tourists helped call us a taxi to go back to town. Allison, bless her heart, opted to hang out with me. We first went to the small (very small) hospital in Alishan. 没有医生. (Méiyǒu yīshēng.) What kind of hospital has no doctor. They didn't have a wheelchair or crutches either. The receptionist was very nice and gave me an icepack and sent us on our way. We asked the receptionist what I could do. She just said, don't walk. We went back to the hostel and asked the owner what we could do that didn't require much walking. He said, nothing. This was a hiking place. That's what you do there. Allison got a bright idea. We could take the train up to Jhushan and watch the sunset. The hostel owner gave us a ride to the train station. We went to the ticket counter. There were no more trains running that day. 没有. Pooh.

At the hospital with my ice hand-shaped! ice pack.

We went into town and souvenir-shopped instead. I thought maybe I could find a walking stick. I found a cane instead. It is a pretty cool cane actually. It folds up and it says "Trail of Alishan" on it in Chinese characters. It was very hard and painful to hobble around everywhere, and the cane made it much much easier.

Souvenir shopping.

I was trying to get my ice pack to stay in my sock. It didn't work.

My new cane!

Later, we went with the others to a cute boutique for dinner. I ate clam and octopus for the first time. Not a fan, by the way. It's a texture thing.

Yummy pumpkin soup!

Kristi about to try octopus for the first time.
I was going to try mine after she went first.

This video did not inspire much confidence.

A whole shrimp covered in cheese!

The next morning, we were out the door by about 5:30am. We took the quaint red train up to the Jhushan to see the sunrise. The view was gorgeous with several mountain peaks framing the sunrise, including Yushan, the tallest mountain in Taiwan (also called Jade Mountain). I loved the way the sunlight bounced off of the many mountain-sides. We took a lot of pictures. Kristi, Allison and Lien got a kick out of my cane. In our silhouette pictures, you can always tell which one is me.

On the train to Jhushan

Haha! Potential jumping photo!

The gimp has attempted to jump.

Lien

Perfect form Kristi.

I love the red leaves on the trees!

Here comes the sun!

Allison

Guess who!

Kristi

I'm not sure who this is. Haha! Just kidding!

Allison

Taiwan Touch Your Heart

Proof that it was cold!

We got round-trip tickets, but I conveniently missed the train for the ride back down the mountain, with Allison and Kristi. It was what I wanted. I didn't go to Alishan to sit on my bum. I wanted to hike. I feel grateful to my friends for letting me be stubborn. The hike down was very pretty. The trees were dense filling the forrest with green. It reminded me of Washington. Kristi said that their hikes the day before looked just the same. That made me feel better about missing it. We took a lot of pictures and I got to be with my friends. I was a little slower going, but I think I kept up pretty well with my hobbling. My foot killed by the time we got down the mountain, but it was worth it!