Hualien

You were run off your feet working. Whenever you stopped to catch your breath and looked out of the window, the weather appeared lovely and charming. You wondered when to go outdoors to embrace the sunshine yourself. Finally, you had a weekend off and determined to leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind. Unfortunately, your weekend off was accompanied by the cold front.

The first weekend of November, when we visited Hualien, was like that. Cold. Damp. Annoying raindrops all day long.

No, I'm not a whiny person... Well, at least I wouldn't have been.

Actually, the weather kinda reminds me of the UK when I was there this summer. So nostalgic and so poetic. It's, however, not quite right for those of us who are overworked and need some sunshine to sweep the gloominess away.

It's not my first time visiting Hualien, but previous memories have long since blurred. Hualien has gotten more and more touristy over the years. The infrastructure appears better off, apparently for the sake of tourism. Fancy souvenir and omeyage [local produces] shops are everywhere now and so welcoming.

Hualien, located on the eastern edge of Taiwan, escaped tourism for many years because Taiwan’s central mountain range posed a significant hindrance to explorers stopping them from rushing in. Hualien’s isolation became its advantage sparing it from over-exploitation. Yes, over-exploitation. Just look at what we have in the western part of Taiwan: Pollution. Pollution. Pollution. I'm afraid the planned build-up of new highways may accelerate the corruption of Hualien's natural beauty.

I'm not a hardcore environmentalist, but I don't trust all those politicians who merely want to feather up their own nests. What if poor construction causes irreversible damage to the environment? It seems like a lose-lose situation to me.

Fortunately, as long as disagreements continue to halt actual construction, the nightmare will at least be delayed.

One of my friends seemed to be really attached to Hualien. Along the journey, he kept daydreaming about moving there, working in the Mennonite Christian Hospital and living in one of Hualien’s villas with their magnificent facades. I was kinda sucked into this dream weaving process, well, at least for a little while.

Currently in my late twanties, I spend most of my life in the city. Although I enjoy the countryside's peace and quiet, I can't live without convenient transportation and vivid commercial activities for too long. Taipei is noisy, often chaotic, a place we like to complain about. Yet, the noise and chaos are the driving forces of the city and, strangely enough, the driving force of my life as well.

Maybe all the downsides of living in a city may heighten our pleasure in escaping it for holidays.

Hualien is certainly a great distraction for the weekends, even if there's no sunshine. Crummy weather can’t keep you from avariciously breathing in fresh air while wandering about the Taroko Gorge and acquiring inner peace sitting by the Pacific Ocean.

Get started

I'm thinking about starting my own blog for a while, but cannot really make up my mind when and how to do this. Working long hours is a perfect excuse to stop me from doing so. Still, it's an excuse. Perhaps it's more out of an inner fear of my poverty of thought and lack of insight to life. I wonder how other bloggers have such an abundance of experiences to share. I'm not a good storyteller after all.

Why now? I dunno. I worked on-call yesterday. Although exhausted now, I feel uninhibited and propelled to write something down. I become a bit philosophical when I'm stressed out. LOL.

Also, I kept my record of life on a bulletin board system maintained by a friend of mine over the past 8 years or so. The system crashed recently for some elusive reason and all the words and memories disappeared. It's a huge blow to me.

I guess it's time to move on and establishing a blog seems a good start.