Dakeng and Do Liu

This morning (Monday) I woke up, my body still witness to the effects of this weekend...On Saturday, Josh met me after work. After a long lunch, we drove up into the mountains to "Dakeng Scenic Area," known for it's numerous trails and adventures. It is only 30 minutes from our apt, but we've never really managed to get there successfully (we tried once and ended up somewhere else). We found trail 2, which I had heard of because of it's ropes. It was about 4:30 when we started, and quite overcast. The trail led us up into the mountains, quickly. The whole thing is built of logs-a staircase through the mountains, hand rails on either side, and sometimes steep drops there too. It was grueling the first few inclines, as my muscles got used to the vertical and my brain got used to the height. We found a pace and settled in, agreeing we would turn back before it got dark.

The insects were incredible. A tiny shrimp-like thing, almost sheer, with a neon blue tail the likes of fake Christmas tree trim. A praying mantis an inch long, her tail like a scorpion, perfectly camouflaged to the green around her. A tiny (pinky-nail sized) white creature, with four feather-like appendages sticking straight up from it's back. And cicadas. Making a most ridiculous racket, louder than the city below.

After an argument about when "before dark" was, I finally convinced Josh to turn around and head home. As we returned to the cement beginning of the trail, we saw several people watching the trees. Indeed, there were at least three monkeys, meters off the path. How funny that in our hour+ in the mountains there were no monkeys. Only when we could see the metal house of a vendor were there monkeys. Interesting really. But the insects were incredible.

We returned home, made dinner, watched a movie, and read books. Sunday, we left around 11 for the train station. Met our soccer team in Taichung and caught a train to Do Liu. We had a make-shift soccer tournament with three other teams. The field looked like a prairie...it was badly in need of a haircut. We played well, but not nearly as well as I would have liked. We lost a very frustrating team that we should have crushed, but had a lot of fun. One team we played was a local concoction of players. During this game we switched positions and let everyone play where they wanted. After putting in my time at defense, our goal keeper (now playing striker), switched so I could play up top. Two minutes later, and 1 minute before the end of the game, a cross came in and I scored! It might have been a sloppy goal, but it was well placed and well intentioned. Pretty exciting, as all the boys had been saying that today I'd get my goal. Jokes were made that Josh would now sit on the bench and I'd be a starting forward. It felt good to play well for a day. I had a few good tackles, caught a few guys on breakaways, etc. Felt like part of the team. I even started two (of three) games. Of course it was only for a day when we were playing crappy teams and our whole team wasn't present, but still makes for a good Sunday.

So indeed, I'm tired and sore and not ready for another week to begin...