Deere Droppings, #3

An excerpt from Jack Deer in his book, Surprised by the Voice of God :

“

Treasuring the Bible

In order to experience the power of the Scriptures, our attitude and desire to obey them is crucial. Yet the main reason the Bible is ineffective in the lives of so many Christians is that they simply don’t read it. Make up your mind to set aside a regular time every day to meditate on the Scriptures, so you can hear the voice of God and see the glory of the Lord Jesus. When you do, you will find that the voice of the Son of God is indescribably sweet, and the face of the Lord Jesus, indescribably lovely (Song 2:14).

Anyone who wants to hear God’s voice on a regular basis will have to become intimately acquainted with the written word of God. I have been treasuring the Word of God in my heart for over thirty years, and I don’t regret a moment of the time I have spent reading, meditating, and memorizing the words of Scripture. If I could turn back time and do those thirty years over again, I would spend even more time meditating on the Bible and less time reading of other Christian books.

Many times the Holy Spirit has brought the words of Scripture to my mind, not only to guide me, but also to save me from disasters. He has used the words of Scripture to guide me in serving others, to keep me from hurting them, and to increase my love for his Son and his people.

(p. 112)

****

Although I haven’t been a Christian (or even alive) as long as Jack Deere, the words he speaks in this passage tell very much the same story as what I’ve come to understand about the Bible, God and my (our) relationship with Him. I’ve never once regretted spending time reading my Bible or studying it diligently. Like Jack Deere, the one thing I would change if I were to re-do the past 25 years of my Christianity, I would also spend more time reading the Bible & I’d also try harder to apply what it says to my life—for of the little I have applied to my life, I’ve seen amazing results. Too bad I’ve wasted so much time not following to & not listening closely enough to the Word of God.

 

The great thing, however, is that the future and the rest of my life indeed can be changed with a simple decision today.  We all choose our own paths and our pasts.

Another Insight from Jack Deere et al.

An excerpt from Jack Deer in his book, Surprised by the Voice of God :

“

Attitude Matters

Any coach will tell you that the right diet and exercise are essential for optimum performance. But a good coach knows you can have both diet and exercise and still lose if the players don’t have the right attitude. Listen to the story of Matt Biondi:

Americans who follow swimming had high hopes for Matt Biondi, a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1988. Some sportswriters were touting Biondi as likely to match Mark Spitz’s 1972 feat of taking seven gold medals. But Biondi finished a heartbreaking third in his first event, the 200-meter freestyle. In his next event, the 10-meter butterfly, Biondi was inched out for the gold by another swimmer who made a greater effort in the last meter.

Sportscasters speculated that the defeats would dispirit Biondi in his successive events. But Biondi rebounded from defeat and took a gold medal in his next five events. One viewer who was not surprised by Biondi’s comeback was Martin Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, who had tested Biondi for optimism earlier that year. In an experiment done with Seligman, the swimming coach told Biondi during a special event meant to showcase Biondi’s best performance that he had a worse time than was actually the case. Despite the downbeat feedback, when Biondi was asked to rest and try again, his performance—actually already very good—was even better. But when other team members were given a false bad time—and whose test scores showed they were pessimistic—tried again, they did even worse the second time.

Biondi's confident attitude made the difference between a good swimmer and a champion.

Attitude is critical in the world of athletics. It’s even more critical when we talk about reading the Bible. The words of God will never benefit us unless we believe them (Heb. 3:7-19). If my friend Dorothy had not believed the words of Luke 24:26, those words would never have turned her away from her suicidal course. Reading and attempting to obey the Bible without having confidence in God’s words robs the Bible of its power.

Not only do we need to have faith and confidence in the Bible, we need to read it for the right reasons. C.S. Lewis wrote that when we come to the Scripture it’s not a “question of learning a subject but of steeping ourselves in a Personality.” In other words, our primary purpose for meditating on the Bible should be to meet Christ, to hear his voice, and to see him more clearly that we might love him more passionately. Scripture reading is meant to aid in the process of “forming Christ within us” (Gal. 4:19)

(pages 106-107)

***

On a wall in my house, I have a poster with this quote from Chuck Swindoll:

“

Attitudes

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I am that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.

I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

Things I’m (re)learning in seminary.

An excerpt from Jack Deer in his book, Surprised by the Voice of God :

“

I grew up loving sports. I was so active physically, I never had to be concerned about my diet. Then I graduated from college, went to seminary, got married, and started a family. With all those responsibilities, my athletic activity slowed down—and so did my metabolism. I began the battle of the bulge. Over the years, through various diets, I lost hundreds of pounds. Of course, I managed to find them again, every one of them, and a few new ones as soon as I got off the diet. Occasionally I mixed regular periods of exercise with the diets and got better results, but none lasted.

About two years ago I threw away all the diets that promised quick fixed and started eating foods low in fat. My tastes have now changed. I actually prefer low-fat foods to the fatty stuff I used to eat. I don’t go on diets any more, and I never go hungry. I have found a lifestyle I can live with day in and day out.

I also started an exercise program with a good friend of mine, Benny and I meet at a local gym three to five times a week to work out with weights and do some aerobic activity. The result of all this is that I‘m in better physical condition now than when I was in high school or college.

When I first started a low-fat diet and exercise program, I didn’t notice much change in my physical appearance or in my health. Actually, it was about three months before I noticed any significant difference. After nine months though, the difference was dramatic.

I learned a very important lesson through all this. One workout doesn’t change you, and diets you can’t live with day after day aren’t going to help you either. It is the repeated workouts over a period of months, even years, that dramatically change you.

The same is true with the Bible. A little Bible reading won’t really change you. It is the daily meditation, month after month, year after year, that changes you. Reading the Bible is very much like eating food. Food is fuel for the body, but without exercise, it can’t be used to build up and repair the body. In the same way, the Bible is fuel for the soul, but without exercise, the soul will shrink into a weakened state, just as our muscles do without exercise.

The first step to spiritual health is taking the right fuel day after day. The second step is using the fuel to make right, often hard, choices every day. Over several years, obeying the Bible, not simply reading it, produces Christ-like character. Quick fixes don’t exist in the spiritual realm any more than they do in the natural realm.

(pages 105-106)

Snippets of love, spelled “Joy”

Let everything that isn’t
Pure in Your sight Lord Jesus,
Be swept away by Your power, Lord.
I long to stand before You
Dressed in the finest linen;
Holy in purity my God!
Pure & holy, giving glory to the King of kings;
Here before you, I adore You: praises I will bring.

—"Pure and Holy," Parachute Band.

Oh Lord, You are good & Your love indeed endures forever. I love You so much that words cannot even begin to express the dimensions and facets and volume of the longing I have to worship, serve, know & be with You.

Father, it has been a very long time since I’ve had the opportunity—and the desire even—to spend as much time with You as I have had in this past month. Thank You so much for the freedom to have access to such a soul-whelming time. Man, God, I’ve forgotten so much of the goodness & the wonder that comes when one is living a life which desires resonance with Your Spirit. It is such a refreshing reminder, Lord, to have my spiritual heart pounding again; to have my spiritual mind woken from its coma & to know that even in my inconstancy, You nevertheless remain the same.

* * *

Those who don’t know You; those who have never experienced the communion that can be had between their souls and the Almighty Creator, who in Himself encompasses all that is Love—Father, those souls I pity, for they have no idea of what they’re missing out on. No idea! The marvellous, transcendent ecstasy that You fill my heart with—indeed, my entire being—as I fall in step with Your Spirit, as I feed my soul on the sustenance of Your Word; as I bend my mind toward You & subjugate my will to Yours... man, God, it is amazing.

Nothing compares; nothing shakes a toothpick at the wondrous fullness of a heart & soul falling into its proper place alongside the Lord of all things. There is no other word; there is nothing that can even come close to such a state. It can only indeed be called Joy.

* * *

I’m utterly crazy about You, God: incomparably head-over-heels in love with You. I couldn’t possibly imagine a better companion, a better Lord, a better Love & Centre of my life. “Amazing” and “awe-inspiring” are nothing more than rotting carcasses when I compare them to You. Nothing is greater & nothing is better. Nothing can possibly compare to the boundless riches available when one truly, completely & unconditionally abandons oneself into the hands of the Almighty. There is no way to even come close to describing accurately the state of one’s soul when in resonant harmony with You.

Amazing Love, how can it be?
That You my King would die for me?
Amazing Love, I know it’s true:
It’s my joy to honour You.
In all I do, I honour You.

—"Amazing Love," Chris Tomlin.

Taiwan Adventures VI

Monday

Indeed, my quads were still sore after my GEP experience—my first hike in almost a year. I decided, adding to the fact that it was drizzling outside, that this would be a perfect day to go soak in the hot springs. The plan was to go to this 5-star resort an hour out of Taipei & soak in their various pools, some of which were hot-springs, while others were filled with random fluids like tea, wine and/or other herbal concoctions. How could I resist the chance of sitting in a pool of steaming wine? I mean, really? How many people to _you_ know who could say they’ve done such a thing?

Following a mixture of both the Lonely Planet & the resort’s website, I grabbed an MRT train up to some station outside of a university, where I was supposed to wait for a green bus that would take me up to the town, Jishan, where the resort was located. No mention, however, was made of the bus’ number, so I stood there… waiting for a green bus to show.

A green bus did eventually show up, and it read “Taipei Main Station à Yangmingshan National Park,” and seeing as the park was on the way to the town—and that the vehicle was green—I hopped on. It was a nice ride; it was a pleasant ride. In fact, it was so great that I didn’t even have to pay until I reached the end of the line, unfortunately, right smack-dab in the centre of Yangmingshan National Park.

“That’s alright,” I thought to myself, “I’m sure the other green bus will run through here, I mean it really is the only highway through the park to that town… now, just to find out where the bus stop would be… … …”

Fortunately for me, a nice, elderly Taiwanese lady spotted me as I was thumbing through my various literatures. She asked me where I was going, and I told her, “Jishan.” She informed me that I needed to take the green bus, and that it ran every 30 minutes or so. I asked her what the bus looked like, or what the bus number was, and she told me that there was no bus number: the bus was bigger than a normal metro mass-transit bus, “Just like that one,” she said, pointing to the nice green bus chugging up the mountain highway. *sigh* I thanked her for her help, and asked where I could catch the next bus. She directed me to wait at the bus stop in front of the 7-11. I thanked her, and went in my way.

7-11 arrived—or I did, rather—and there I waited for the next bus. 10 minutes... 20 minutes…... 30 minutes……... 40 minutes. I now was getting antsy. It was getting late in the day, and the hour bus ride there/back was becoming disconcerting. I had seen the International Hotel, another high-class hot spring destination over here, in Yangmingshan Park on the way up in my bus, and although it’s 3-hour price tag was 190 NTD more than my original tea-pool resort, Tienlai’s full-day price, the bus fare & time lost might easily make up for the discrepancy. My decision was to wait 5 more minutes for the bus to arrive & whisk me off to pools of heaven, but it never did materialise. Resolved to my decision, I grabbed my backpack & went hiking down the road, looking for the International Hotel.

Not 20 metres into my hike, as I turned the first bend in the road, did I stumble upon my destination: I was surprised to find how close the International actually was! Within 5 minutes from the bus stop, I was now in my own private hotel room with its own private hot spring bath, whose water was pumped in on demand from the spring outside. It was glorious. A wonderful 3 hours. But, perhaps, not wonderful enough for $30. Nonetheless, it was worth the experience—and my muscles thanked me for it.


Tuesday

I decided, after getting back from the hot spring hotel last night, that I would awake early & grab a train south along the eastern coast to go and see “the eco-tourist destination in Taiwan: Taroko National Park.” 6 am came very early, but I was okay with the short sleep, knowing what was in store. Hopping off the MRT at Taipei Main Station, I purchased my 1st class ticket to Hualien (pronounced hwa-lee-en) & jumped on the train. This time, I actually got a seat! Yes!!!

My train ride was spent mostly sleeping until we arrived at Sincheng, the train station at the entrance to Taroko Park. For a moment, I considered getting off at this station & just grabbing a bus from there to the park, but I had already purchased my ticket all the way to Hualien, _and_ Lonely Planet said that not all busses to the park stopped at the station… so I sat tight until my final destination.

The final destination vomited me out of its train station & within minutes, I was on a bus to the park… that would take 2 hours to reach the end of Taroko Gorge, the feature I’d targeted for this day’s hike—and purportedly the main feature of the park. All was made better when, after an hour of travel, we arrived at the park’s entrance & picked up a couple of boorish Slavic girls that had been on the train with me. I’d lost _no_ time! Hooray!

After another hour of travel through the windy roads of Taroko Gorge, we finally arrived at Tsingshang, the town at the end of the gorge. Quickly, I strapped of my backpack & began my 20 km hike down the highway, tracing the river toward the ocean. The views were spectacular: reminiscent of drives through Banff National Park, except instead of bare rock, lush green & instead of mountains, one continual cliff. The sides of the gorge were literally vertical in some locations, and poking through the greenery (or where life wasn’t conducive) were some marvelous specimens of virgin marble. Spectacular.

However, after you see a kilometer of huge cliffs that blend into the clouds overhead in such a manner as they look as though they could be the very foundations of heaven, the rest all begins to look the same. At the beginning of my hike, I was surprised why there wasn’t more space for walkers along the side of the highway or in the numerous mountain tunnels, but after the 5th km, it became pretty apparent: not many people, I think, would bother to walk all the way out. It was a good hike, nonetheless, and the only thing I’d change would be to have had about another week or 2 in the park to explore the copious side-trails that the gorge had. To hike in any of Taiwan’s mountainous national parks, you need to create a hiking plan & submit it to the park authorities in triplicate before taking the routes. Before actually walking through the gorge, I didn’t really have any idea what the park had to offer, but now that I have, I’d love to come back. This hike to me felt very much like a reconnaissance hike, as I raced through the first 18 km in 3 hours, racing the clock to catch the last train at Sincheng station, which left at 6:14 pm.

At km 18, in the slight drizzle, a Taiwanese pick-up truck passed me along the highway, stopped, geared into reverse & halted beside me. The man driving, poked his head out of the window & asked if I wanted a ride. I asked him where he was going; he pointed along the road ahead, and I gratefully accepted the lift, for my legs were rather tired at this point. We motored along for 1.5 km until the truck reached a fork in one of the mountain tunnels. He stopped, turned to me and said, “I go to Taipei. You want to go?” Politely, I declined, hoping to see more of the features in the park, and hopped out of the truck with a great “thank you” before resuming my trek to the train station.

Lonely Planet’s map of Sincheng shows the train station to be a mere 2 km directly down the same road on which Taroko National Park’s entrance lies. I was counting on this as I planned my schedule, and by the time I reached the park’s gate, it was about 5:35. Plenty enough time to hike the 2 km (20 minutes), but a ticket and hop on the 6:14 train, right? Well, technically, yes it was enough time… if the train station was only 2 km (or even 3 km) away. I hiked 2 km & followed the highway, looking in vain for the train station as the road began to veer to the right—a feature not detailed on the map. After km 3, I checked my watch & noticed that it was 6 pm. Poo. No train station in sight & no confirmation that I was even going the right direction. Saying a quick prayer, I hoped that I was going the right way & began to quicken my pace as much as my tired legs would allow.

At 6:05, I reached a second community & saw the train tracks pass under a bridge for the road. Looking out from the bridge, I couldn’t see a station in either direction. Depressing. A bit further up the road, however, a sign pointed ahead for the train station. Yes! I was on the right track, but would I make it in time? Encouraged, I quickly walked forward, saw another sign a little later, which directed me to my right. It was now 6:10. I had no idea how much farther up the road that train station was going to be, but I knew that I only had 4 minutes before the train would leave. I prayed for God’s favour, asking that I wouldn’t miss the train & began to run. I ran for as long as I could before losing my breath (which was like only a couple minutes after the 23 km walked so far), but I knew that timing was essential: I could rest either after 6:14 & the train station was out of reach, or after I had bought my ticked & was sitting in a chair on the train. This ultimatum (and the knowledge that this was the last train leaving this area for the day) propelled my legs forward with as much urgency as they could muster. After clearing the next block, I saw it: the train station was right in front of me!

6:12 pm. I huff & puff up to the ticket counter, ask for a ticket to Taipei, pay & was urged by the man behind the window to hurry to platform #2. I pass the ticket-taker, fly down the first flight of stars, jog along the hallway, climb the last flight of stairs & arrive on the platform just in time for the train to stop. 30 seconds later, I was on the train & it was on the move. I had made it. Thank the Lord, I had made it! Come to think of it, had that truck driver not given me a ride for those 1.5 km, I would never have made the train in time. Talk about divine providence, eh?


Wednesday

And that leads us to today. Thanks to my resistive stretching on the 3 hour train ride back, my legs aren’t sore at all today. The downside, however, was that it rained rained rained all day, which made for a bunch of chillin’ here at the hostel & reading some books. Tomorrow’s my last day here & then I fly back to Thailand at 11pm for 2.5 days before heading back to North America.

Taiwan Adventures, V

Sunday

After a long sleep, I woke up to some stiff quads and to some knees that protested at even the thought of stairs. My original thought before hiking in Gold Ecological Park was to go today down to Taroko Gorge and have another 20 km or so of hiking. My body was not in favour of this option, so instead I decided to head north along the MRT to the end of the line in Danshui, where the old colonial forces were stationed.

I had read in my Lonely Planet that there was a Canadian missionary who came to Taiwan at the end of the 19th century who practised medicine and introduced western educational practises to the island. The travel guide hails this man, Dr. Mackay, a one of the pivotal players in modernising Taiwan. This must be true, because as I walked toward the San Domingo Fort--the colonial bastion used by pretty much every foreign power who had a presence in this country, ending with the British by WWII--I passed by a large sculpted bust of the Presbyterian Doctor in the middle of the town square, below which was a plaque extolling Dr. Mackay for all of the great things that he had done for Taiwan. Further along the road to the fort were his hospital and Taiwan's first Presbyterian church (perhaps also the country's first protestant--and maybe even the first Christian--church), both reverently preserved historical sites.

The fort was really nothing to write home about: a small, red-brick cube sitting at the top of a look-out hill over the Danshui Bay, strategically placed to observe naval traffic. Beside the fort was the former British Consulate's office & quarters--a building erected in very much the British style, complete with the red bricks & the royal symbols.

Up the hill, however, from the fort was Alethia University, which I originally thought was the fort, owing to the gothic vaulting windows that I attribute to Spanish architecture. It turns out, though, that Alethia (alethia is the Greek word for "truth") University is the modern extension of Taiwan's first post-secondary institution, founded by Dr. Mackay in 1882: Oxford College. Oxford College received its name from Oxfordshire (I assume in Ontario), the place from which Dr. Mackay came in Canada.

Reading about the history of Dr. Mackay's work a hundred and twenty five years ago stirred my heart within me & made my soul leap for joy in very much the same way that hiking in the mountains yesterday made my soul rejoice and worship God as I walked through & took pleasure in the beauty of His creation--a feeling that I haven't felt in a long, long time. The stirring of my soul was brought about because I know that Dr. George Leslie Mackay's work 125 years ago has brought life--both physical & eternal--to people in this country. It reminded me that even if we don't see the results of our work, God still can take our efforts and use them to advance His kingdom. The work of Mackay and other missionaries like him in this country are why you see one Christian cross for every three 7-11 signs (and there are, says Lonely Planet, over 7,000 7-11s here) and why the spiritual feeling of this country I _so_ much less oppressive and dark as compared to the spiritual environment in Thailand. After seeing how much the Taiwanese people respected Dr. Mackay, I was compelled to give thanks to God and worship Him for bringing life to this country through His servants.

After visiting Danshui, I began retracing my path back south, and then went a bit further than my usual station to go check out another Taiwanese historical figure: former president/dictator Chiang Kai Shek and his massive monument. The monument itself is huge & imposing, giving off a feeling of oppressive authority, which discordantly contrasts the ginormous statue of the former leader inside the main hall, where the president has been immortalised with a big grin on his face. In the basement of the monument is a small museum containing random artifacts related to the late president, including a couple of Cadillacs that weighed 7 tons each and were 6 feet wide--one of them was even bullet-proof.

At the same site as the memorial were the national theatre & the national concert hall--both huge Chinese palatial buildings decked out with red and yellow roofs. In the shared central square, some hip hop groups were practising as was a marching band. I didn't stay for too much longer, as my feet were beginning to remind me that yesterday's hike was long.

Tomorrow, if my quads are still sore, I'm considering a dip in some hot springs, which will be a good use of the day, as the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms.

Taiwan Adventures, IV

Saturday

Yesterday was epic. I got up at about 6 am to get ready for my trip to Gold Ecological Park. After scarfing a quick breakfast at McDonald's, I came back to the hostel, filled my hydration pack, woke up this French college-level PE teacher named Patrick who was flying out that day, grabbed the next MRT & got off at Taipei Main Station.

Taipei Main Station is nothing short of a bona fide mass-transit interchange. From the station, you can catch any of several bus lines—both local & inter-city; you can catch MRT trains for 4 of the 6 city lines; you can purchase tickets for & board Taiwan's High Speed Rail service (trains that whip across the country at 350 km/hr.) and you can do the same for the regular—but much more extensive—rail service, and for all four classes. It's intense: there are at least three underground floors and at least two above ground. All the trains leave underground, which means that you have rows and rows of train platforms crisscrossing each other in three dimensional space. It's nothing short of an engineering marvel.


The Train Ride

At the station, I purchased my ticket to Rueifang (pronounced "Roo-fahng") for something like 24 NTD (under a buck), whereas Lonely Planet said that the price would be somewhere around 80... I was having the sneaking suspicion that the train I'd be getting on was a.) either heading to the wrong place, owing to the communication barrier, or b.) a super-slow, stop at every station kind of train. It turned out to be the second type.

Once boarding the rail-car, I was a bit surprised to see about 6 bicycles in the back wit their owners. Everybody else seemed to pay it no attention, so neither did I. Next, I noticed that there was a general absence of seating on this train—again the others paid no heed as we sandwiched ourselves into the passenger car like there was no tomorrow. Then, after a ring of a bell, off we went! The next 70 minutes went by as you'd expect, but I feel I must mention one interesting detail: A girl climbed on the train wearing a black felt mask (as is common over here when people are sick, though the mask colour / design varies by personal preference), then she pulled out her mobile phone. Attached to the phone, along with a fist-full of other random keychain baubles was a square, yellow package with the number "18" printed in black but placed inside a red, slashed out "do not" circle. I was wondering what this might mean, and on closer inspection, I noticed that this plastic square was the right size and shape for a condom package. Looking even closer, I noticed the slightly raised form of a disc underneath the red "do not" circle. I have no idea why he had it on her keychain—I mean who in the world carries around a condom on their keychain that says "not 18" on it anyways? A couple of ideas come to mind, but really...?


Gold Ecological Park

Okay, off the train at Rueifang and on to a bus heading to Juifen. Arriving at the park, I'm informed that the 110 NTD ticket price will be waived if I have a receipt from any purchase that I've made in Taiwan. Score. Free admission!

Then the bliss begins: a day of pure mountain hiking. It was _awesome._ I climbed several hundred stairs to a long-disused highway (at many points, there was only a dirt track on this "highway") and followed the highway up to a mountain pass, where the trail veered off onto a 1.x km ridge-walk.

It was on this ridge that I ran into a Taiwanese gentleman who was taking a break for lunch. He offered me some of his green tea, and we struck up a conversation that continued along until we had traversed the ridge, passed "through" Teapot Mountain & climbed down from the summit to a pavilion where we then parted ways. He was a pretty interesting individual, who happened to teach himself English because of a failure in his first business promotion. One of the jobs that he was given was to translate a document from Mandarin to English, and when he told his boss that he couldn't speak English, his boss said, "Just use a dictionary!" After the translation was done, it was deemed a failure, but his boss covered the shame by saying, "Perhaps he just didn't realise the context" from over 200 of the words that had been mis-translated. As a result, this guy went home in personal shame, closed the door to his room & vowed to learn English. So, for the next who-knows-how-many days, he would spend hours after work teaching himself English until he became so proficient, that his company chose him to be the international sales-rep. For their manufacturing business. It's a pretty amazing story.


The Knee-buster & 13 Levels

After we parted ways, I proceeded to descend the entire mountain on the hundreds of granite & concrete stairs below. The decent was too steep & the soil too hard or too overgrown with vegetation for me to avoid the knee-jamming stone steps, but where I could, I did.

Further down the mountain, I ran in to a WWII memorial, recognising that the gold & copper mines in the mountain (hence thee park's name: Gold Ecological Park) were at one time POW camps in service of the Japanese, employing Allied prisoners as workers to collect the valuable ores. Further down the mountain was the remains of the copper refinery, called The 13 Levels (aptly named because of the number of levels the complex had in the side of the mountain). The refinery had three concrete "smoke tunnels" that traced their way up the side of the mountain to very much near the summit. These "smoke" conduits looked like blood vessels or concrete train tunnels that spread out up the mountain. I put "smoke" in quote, because I'm pretty sure that this is only the official statement for what these concrete tubes—6 feet tall and 4 feet wide—were used for... If that truly was their purpose, then why did these "smoke tunnels" have windows built into them every 20 metres or so? A better explanation would have been that the Japanese constructed them to hide the existence of POWs as they mined the mountain.

After passing the 13 levels, I reached the ocean shore. I knew at that point that it was time to catch a bus, for my water had long since run out (here I where I mention that I found 500 NTD on the ground while exploring in one of the mining tunnels-proper by the 13 levels. Score.). The lat bus stop that I had seen, however, was up at about level 7 of the refinery on a municipal road, and my feet/knees (more the knees) were not really interested in any more elevation change. Hoping to find another bus stop along the coastal highway, I started walking back to the train station...


Hiking to Für Elise & Standing in 1st Class

But no bus station ever appeared. I passed by a flood diversion spillway (huge), past a cave of which I had been told about, past a small town wherein the garbage trucks blare out "Für Elise" to signal to the people that it's collection time (the sound at which the people obediently stand at the curbside waiting, garbage bags in-hand, for the small yellow trucks to accept their offerings. It made me feel a bit creeped out, as images from Soylent Green and other dystopic Pavlovian-abusing sci-fi depictions of the future popped into my head.

I stopped in at a 7-11 on the highway—the first I'd seen that day—and bought a Pocari Sweat drink (which makes Gatorade hang its head in shame) before continuing onward. Then, there was a fork in the road, and one pointed to Keelung, while the other pointed toward Jinguashi (a town on the way back to the train station). It was getting dark, and the thought of walking along the side of either a mountain highway or a coastal one really didn't appeal to me, so in order to minimise the chance of taking a wrong turn, I went over to the gas station at the same corner and asked, while pointing in the alternate directions, "Rueifang?"

The kind guy tried asking a clarifying question in Mandarin, to which I replied apologetically, "I don't understand."

He lifted an index finger and aid, "Wait," while he rushed into the station & grabbed his mobile phone. After a minute of Mandarin conversation, he hands me the phone and said, "My teacher ask you."

His teacher was on the other side of the line, and after a few moments, we figured that there indeed _was_ a bus station that would have the correct bus to take me back to the train station. And it just so happened to be directly across the street [who would have known that being able to read Chinese could've come in so handy? : ) ]. After a 20 minute wait, the bus came & about 2 km later, I was at the train station. But the adventure doesn't end there...


The next train to Taipei wouldn't leave for an hour, which gave me little else to do but wander the streets, looking at the night market & food courts before boarding the (now) 80 NTD train. I'm pretty sure that this 1st class train had reserved seats on it, because my ticket said on it (I think): Car 3, Seat 33. When I got to the car with my seat in it, there was a gaggle of uniformed old ladies who were sitting in mine & 3 other individual's seats. Not knowing Mandarin proved to be another issue in getting this sorted out, as only the Taiwanese lady whose seat had been usurped received a sitting location. The couple from Hong Kong & I were relegated to standing between cars right outside of the bathroom until we arrived back in Taipei.

Taiwan Adventures, III

Friday.

Yesterday, I travelled along the North line of the MRT; today was discovering the East/West line. I decided to go see Longshan temple, because it was one of "the things" to do in Taipei, and then trace my way eastward to the city's centre, where Taipei 101 was located—I couldn't really visit this city and not go at least to the base of the world's tallest office building!

Longshan temple has a 350ish year old history, whose story begins when a person hung an amulet on a tree & it apparently glowed brightly because of the god's power in that location. Since then, they've built a temple & they've increased the godly patronage from just that first single one to now dozens of worshipped statues and several incense altars. Every time I visit a temple or religious location where people pray to, sacrifice and in other ways worship idols, my heart cries within me. I cannot wrap my mind around the notion that a rock or that a piece of wood or even that a lump of baked mud can contain any power in which to help people. Granted, I can concede that these images are not the things worshipped, but the ideas behind these images and the spiritual forces involved there could in fact be very real. The depressing part is that you can see that the worshippers of these spirits are slaves: they give up their freedom, their resources, their very lives to kneel down & pay tribute to these things in the hope that their actions might bring about a positive impact on their lives—and if they become slack in their devotion, bad things will happen.

A Rabbit Trail (or snake tail)

This reminds me somewhat of the recently installed sculpture in Bangkok's international airport: one that depicts a classic scene from the creation account in their religion—a blend between Buddhism and Hinduism. The scene shows a struggle between the serpent lord and demons against men and angels in the middle of the sea of milk. The serpent lord has himself wrapped around the mountain of the world, and the demons are tugging on his body in one direction, whereas the men and angels are pulling on the serpent's tail in the opposite direction. The resultant struggle causes turmoil in the sea of milk, which creates, somehow, the elixir of immortality. This elixir is held in the hand of Vishnu, who is dancing atop the mountain between the serpent lord & his demons, and the men & angels.

Why I 'm reminded of this is because in Thailand, they not only worship images of Buddha, but they also pay tribute to local animistic spirits, and a set of the Hindu gods—including this serpent god, the king of the naga, whose minions are used as wards or protectors of the temples & holy places. Take that as you will, after some consideration. It gives me the chills every once in a while.

Back to Taipei

Longshan was pretty interesting, albeit sad. There are some beautiful pieces of artwork created for the temple, like the intricately decorated columns which have been carved to resemble twisted vines on which birds perch. A couple golden altars of incense mark certain areas within the holy place, and in the outer courtyard, a man-made waterfall rushes down over rocks into a coy pool. Pretty nice.

As I arrived there, I was met by an older gentleman without many teeth in his mouth who had been sitting/lying underneath a pavilion to stay out of the rain. When he saw me, he ran up and shook my hand, expressing several things in Mandarin of which nothing made sense to me (surprise, surprise). Eventually, I had to tear myself away from him to get to the temple, so when I returned to the MRT station, I purposefully avoided the pavilions, just in case another incident of the same likes would happen.

Several stops down the MRT line, I jumped off to wander around the city centre. It was getting close to lunch-time (and when I saw close, I really mean 2 hours after), so I decided to take the advice of my Lonely Planet & check out Taipei 101's basement food court. Fantastic! It reminded me of North American food courts, but on a much higher scale / class. There were sushi bars, rib BBQs, subways, pizza joints, Italian cafés and a slough of indigenous eateries. Opting for something I couldn't get elsewhere, I grabbed a bowl of Shanghai beef noodle soup and supped till I was stuffed.

The Mall on the first 5 floors of Taipei 101 is nothing really like anything I've seen in North America. The only thing that comes close is Siam Paragon at the heart of Bangkok: piles of boutique shops where only the crème de la crème could ever afford to drop some cash into the offers. For those of you familiar with Paragon, 101's mall makes the Thai equivalent look like a grubby strip mall on the bad side of the tracks.

On the fifth flood of this mall is a cavernous hall that possibly could be used for expositions, but instead "housed" a few posh dessert shops and a top-tier tailor. Up the escalator from here was the entrance to the observation decks. I decided that I might as well take a peek of Taipei from 351 metres up in the air while I was here, so I dropped down 350 Taiwanese dollars ($12), jumped in the waiting line & then rocketed up 83 floors in like 20 seconds on the world's fastest elevator system (top speed is 61 km/h). The next two hours of my life were spent looking out from the tower through clouds and amidst the slight swaying of the floor, only to then proceed to walk by & see the building's 651 tonne passive sway damper and the walk through about 60 coral jewelry stores before being let down to the base of the behemoth building.
It's funny to me, knowing that the CN tower is much taller than Taipei 101, that all the signs in the observation deck proclaimed that this structure was the world's tallest—and then it struck me as even more humourous when they listed the top 10 tallest buildings in the world, and the CN Tower was conveniently ignored. Apparently, Canada's engineering marvel doesn't rise higher than the Empire State Building. Heck, the observation deck even cites the Space Needle, but it doesn't anywhere mention anything about the CN Tower. I wonder why... ; )

It continued to rain for the rest of the day, so I headed back to my hostel to get some research and planning done for tomorrow's adventure to Gold Ecological Park.

Taiwan Adventures, II

End of Day 1.

Let's call today a day of discovery, shall we?

Originally, I started off the day by going to try & get my digital tour buddy (aka free cell phone for the duration of my visit), only to find the whole place cordoned off with a yellow ribbon that had what seemed like health warnings written on it (I now wish that I had taken a photo). Outside of the building, I saw some workers spraying water & scrubbing carpet. Why? Not exactly sure. I think that perhaps the office had been quarantined for disease, though what disease will forever be a mystery to me.

I hopped onto a train at the MRT station, travelled a whopping 1 station to Taipei Main Station & debarked to pursue another train on another line of the MRT. Two more stops, and I left the subway in search of an English bookstore called Caves Books, which Lonely Planet recommended for me to find hiking guides of Taiwan (in English). As I walked, I wandered through an underground strip mall that connected two MRT stations; I passed out front one of Taipei's hospitals, only to "almost" get run down by an ambulance that was travelling 15 km/hr & making a turn into the decorative driveway toward the front of the hospital. The driveway was so well-manicured, in fact, that I didn't think the emergency vehicle would make its way up the lane toward the main entrance--I thought that the roadway was for something like limousines & maybe for taxis... Oh well, another Taiwanese person again came to my rescue & said, "Watch out, sir!"

So, most cities that I've been through generally have pedestrian crossings at street level & then often also above street level. Taipei has the secondary crossings underground. Why? My current theory has something to do with the propensity for this region to suffer earthquakes: an underground tunnel probably withstands shaking earth better than an overhead concrete bridge--and if in the event of a structural failure, the tunnel would at least not send huge blocks of mass crashing down onto someone's poor vehicle.

I turned the corner from the hospital & saw Caves Books across the street. The light changed just in time for me to not bother with the underground passage, and I made my dainty trip to the bookstore.... Only to find its doors shut. Alas! Two destinations already visited and _both_ were closed! Undaunted by this omen, I continued my Taipei trek back toward the MRT, through a back-alley, along a parkway & up to the next station on the line. Now, off to Beitou & its Di-Re valley!

I got to Beitou & eventually oriented myself sufficiently to head in the right direction toward Di-Re / Hell Valley. Passing by the public hot-springs, which were closed at the time, I vowed to return later & see what they'd be like. So, on I go, up the side of a small mountain (for you Albertans, that "mountain" is a large hill), along alleys & up moss-covered staircases (some of which lead nowhere) until I see what's been making the air smell like the Banff Hot Springs since I got a whiff of the air when I was back on the MRT, 2 stations before arriving. Di-Re valley: a veritable geothermal experience, I was told. It was spectacular: spectacularly overrated. Talk about a letdown! _ALL_ I got to see was a big, steaming pool of water. No Taiwanese fumaroles, like what I read in my Lonely Planet. Nothing. Boo! Perhaps, however, there might have been more to see _in_ the Di-Re area, but can you guess what I found when I got there? Yep: closed. So far, Taipei was seeming like one big "we're not open" party.

I wandered up the hills, through more alleys & up random staircases--one of which led me to an abandoned complex that had been destroyed by seismic activity (I took a picture of this one!), and the leas one led me up on to a local highway. For a good few minutes, I was considering the 5-km walk from where I was to a national park, but given that it was a "mountain" highway, where the roadway was hemmed in by concrete barriers and cliff faces, I decided to take the shorter route toward what the road sign called the "Taiwan Handicraft Museum." I thought to myself, "Might as well. I mean, it's on the way back & it's a different route & it might actually be interesting."

I get there and guess what? Yep. Also closed. Renovations or something. I was now getting somewhat disheartened by the state of closure of this state--so far. I meandered down the road back to the MRT station & passed the local public hot springs. After reading the sign, it became clear to me that even after bringing all the stuff I thought I needed, I still couldn't go in: I didn't own a swimming cap. Merde. The one place that was open so far didn't admit me. *Sigh* back onto the MRT & off, now, to see the Grande Hotel.

And Grande it was! Oh-my-goodness. It is without a doubt _the_ most spectacular/impressive hotel I have ever seen. Banff Springs and Chateau Lake Louise seem like Barbie houses in comparison. A twenty-seven floor, red, ark-of-the-covenant-shaped, Chinese decorated monster. It's so impressive in fact, that I'm seriously contemplating staying there just to say that I have. Wow.

All the maps of Taipei that I've seen so far seem to want to make the city huger then it actually is. Even the Lonely Planet maps give you the illusion that what's there is actually much more spread out then in reality.

I took a random hiking trail off the side of an MRT stop on my way to visit the Grande Hotel, and after perusing the map placard, I surmised that if I took the short loop, I'd probably be done within an hour, which would still give me enough time (and light) to check out the monster motel. Well, I accidentally took the long loop & completed the majority of the paths in the hiking park before hitting up the Grande... And it only burnt 30 minutes. Seriously, they need to find some better way to establish scale on their maps, since even the scales proper still give the illusion of great distance.

Now, I'm again sitting in Taipei's biggest McD's, only because the other restaurants that I wanted to go to either a.) were packed with supping patrons; b.) selling food with menus--that didn't have pictures (I can't read Chinese); or c.) had tables too small to spread out big maps upon to plan my next part of the adventure.

That begins tomorrow. Cya!

Taiwan Adventures, I

16/04/09

I landed in Taipei yesterday, after a day's worth of preparation and travel. The leaving part of this journey was relatively uneventful. In the morning, I did my usual 7-11 run for ramen noodles and Coke Zero, saying hi to the Sev. Girls. They made some comment about my peculiar attire in Thai, as I was decked out for travel & hiking--an atypical raiment. After munching on my morning meal in the staff room & printing off some maps along with some other documents, I grabbed my things & jumped into a taxi at 9:30, destined for the airport.

Songkran is amazing for me not because of the water fights, or the flowery shirts or the general party atmosphere that comes along with the festival. No, the best part of Songkran is the fact that there literally is an absence of vehicles on the roads! I managed to get to the airport in a little over 30 minutes. After my checking in & emigration paperwork, I had ninety minutes before my flight took off.... If it was going to take off on time.

My flight to Taipei was delayed for some unknown reason. We passengers sat in the departure gate for an extra half-hour before the announcement to board was made. However, the delay in departure really didn't effect our arrival time very much: I still landed in Taipei at about 5 pm, and I exited the plane in a groggy state of mind, inadvertently forgetting my hat at my seat. I only discovered the missing chapeau from my noggin when I went through the "fever scanner" at the Taipei airport, when they had infrared scanners checking for body temperature extremes. A sign mentioned that you should remove your hat while going through, and I noticed at that point that my hat was already removed... Alas, once on the other side of the health screen, I couldn't return to the plane.

Leaving the airport was remarkable: Taiwanese people are amongst the most helpful people I have ever met! I read the same statement in my Lonely Planet, but I didn't really think much of it until I was looking at thee airbus route map, trying to figure out which route I was supposed to take to get to the Taipei Hostel downtown. Within 40 seconds of me standing there, an elderly gentleman came up & asked me in rough English where I was going. I showed him the map & address I printed from the internet and he, after some reading, pointed to #33 and beckoned for me to follow him to the counter. After exchanging some Mandarin with the counter clerk, I was 90 Taiwanese dollars (about $3) poorer and one bus ticket richer.

After getting off of the bus downtown, I followed my map & the directions to the hostel--but not without grabbing the attention of a lady who was walking in front of me, who said, "Come, follow me: I live right close to there." (I guess a white guy with luggage and a back pack really spells 'international hostel' quite clearly. Ha!)

Taiwan has a program wherein travellers between the age of 15 & 30 are allowed to borrow a mobile phone from the government for up to 30 days--it's part of their youth travel initiative--and it just so happens that the Youth Hub, where these devices are lent out, was on the same block as the hostel: literally less than a minute's walk away. Among other close things of interest are the MRT station (apparently one of the world's best systems), about five 7-11s (just like Thailand!) and the Taiwan national headquarters for McDonald's, which also happens to have a flagship restaurant in the first two floors. Turns out that Taiwanese McDonald's is cheaper than Thailand's--perhaps the only instance of this happening. Everything else, so far, seems to be from twice up to four times as expensive as the comparable item in BKK.

Today, my plans are to go see Beitou & the national park there, which has a feature called Di-Re Valley (which translates to Hell Valley), owing to the geothermal activity in that area. There's also a mountain peak & some hot springs at the park, which is within walking distance from one of the MRT stations. Sweet.

I can see Taipei 101 by looking east down the street from the corner where McDonald's is located. It's not as impressive as I thought it would be--but perhaps when they say it's the tallest building in the world, they really mean the tallest office building. The CN tower would make 101 look like a shoebox.

Well, now it's time for me to plan the rest of my day. Peace.

Song of Peace

Every once in a while, I catch myself reminiscing about the time that I spent with a group of international missionaries in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. It now has been 11 and a half years since I last saw any of them, but my memories of those people never seem to fade.

I spent the first 5 weeks of my grade 11 year visiting / working with a tent-outreach ministry group called "Christ is the Answer", or Христос есть ответ, the Russian equivalent. The weeks' activities would include home, prison & hospital visits; street evangelism; evening church services in the big, circus-style tent and youth / child outreach activities in the smaller, adjacent tent. It sounds like a lot of activity, but while we were doing it, these ventures didn't ever really seem to feel consuming or draining. We always had enough time to sit and eat simple meals together, either right outside the small mess trailer or at a house-on-wheels of one of the families in the group. And there were Bible studies and corporate worship times and prayer meetings. It was awesome.

I will never forget the people in that ministry. People like Timon—a Belgian boy (at that time) who was my age—his sister, Ortja & their parents who spoke English, Flemish and some Russian. Their family oversaw the ministry's activities. Or people like Oleg, the man who used to work for the Russian mafia but then found Jesus. Sasha, the college-aged guy who hung around the camp with us in his free time; the little blonde-haired boy, Max; Margarita, the little girl from (if I remember correctly) Latin America and her parents. The two or three women with the name Natasha, one of whom was a national-grade athlete. And, of course, the dozens more whose names have begun to fade from my mind, but whose faces are permanently emblazoned into my memory.

Their lives were simple—the families lived in trucks or small campers/trailers, while the single team members lived inside a converted tractor trailer container: where freight once was stacked on palettes, now bunk upon bunk was found stacked one on the other to accommodate those who were serving God in this area. I lived in the "guesthouse"—a passenger van whose seats were removed to & replaced with a plywood plank and a thin mattress—along with another Canadian fellow, Marty. There was just enough room to sit up & crawl out of the front doors, but it was ample enough for our needs.

While serving with these people; while eating borsch or toast with jam or even sala as the hornets buzzed about our heads, devouring the few meager crumbs that escaped our maws; while praying or even while visiting the market on daily errand runs, I have never felt a stronger sense of community and kinship elsewhere. They are, to date, the only group of people over whom I've shed tears when I left, knowing that I probably would never see them on this earth again. They were—and are—a group of Christians that inspire me, and even today, still encourage me with the knowledge that true Christian community can be had on this earth, and that true brotherly kindness and love can exist—even in close proximity for extended periods of time among people from all corners of the world. Their exceptionally wielded secret was this: they knew Jesus Christ, and they knew that following Him with 100% of their beings was the best way to live. And they knew that Christ is the Answer: that Christ is the Answer to all of the questions that life presents.