(no subject)
I think I'm just going to talk about being white and women all together because they are related.
Nothing major on the flight over and I got on the bus to the train station ok (of course with looks and a few questions, but that is to be expected). Then on the train ride I had two seat to myself for a while and then a group moved in and was two women in their twenties and a girl about 10. I moved my bag so that someone could sit there (instead of doubling up since I don't think the had an assigned seat, or maybe they just didn't want to ask for the seat). The girl sat next to me and stared. But this is nothing new. But I saw her looking back at her mom (or whoever she was to her) and they kept giving her looks like 'just-do-it-already' and maybe they were talking I don't remember. And she tried to talk to me a little. I said my name and she tried to teach me a few words in Chinese (the ones that she knew the English counterpart to, which I had absolutely no interest in learning so used about half my brain to try and remember and the other half stayed on my puzzle). She played with my hair. Eventually her mom sat next to me. She spoke more English and said asked where I was from and talked a little about how she wanted to go to America (but she didn't speak that much English so there wasn't that much room for conversation, which was fine by me). Eventually the girl switched back and would stare at me, play with my hair, try to talk to me, ect. for the rest of the journey. I don't mind this, it just gets old pretty quickly because I don't know what they want me to do and I'm not there to teach them so I talk and then go back to my own stuff.
Made it to the hostel and signed up for a tour of Tokoro national gorge, which is like 'the' nature tourist attraction in Taiwan. It was about 40 minutes from the town I was staying (and I went to that town to go to the gorge) and according to the guy at the tourist information I could have gotten on a free shuttle bus since it was lunar new year, but saw that I could sign up for a tour at my hostel and figured that that would just be so much easier and less stressful (which while not 'the' purpose of my trip was something I was definitely aiming at) and just signed up.
As I signed up they told me the cost and at first my heart froze, it was NT$800, but then I did the conversion and realized it was like $20 so no big deal. The exchange rate was abut NT$32 for US$1, and it was easy enough for stuff that was only a dollar or two (US) but tripped me up like no other. I'm usually pretty good doing exchange rates, but it was like I had funny money, which ended up being good because I wasn't stressing over money the whole time (it also helped that stuff there was pretty cheap so I really didn't have to worry about the cost of things).
I kind of figured that since I signed up through the hostel it might be a more western leaning tour (English, as the sign was in English). But it wasn't. I was the only white person on the tour. There were 2 Indonesian tourists who spoke a good bit of English and one other guy, but that was it. The tour guide knew nothing. Oh well. I ignored the speaking and just looked, it was pretty. It was a bus tour (mostly) so when we stopped the first time everyone started getting off and I was just 'ok'. They found the one Chinese guy who spoke English and told me to stay with him. He was probably mid-twenties with his parents. He said that I should stay with him and walk around with his family. As I didn't know what was going on I walked with him for a little and then realized that this was essentially just free time so I said I was fine and he was a bit shocked. After that I just asked how long we had at our stops, usually from the Indonesians. Not that the guy was in any way creepy or anything, I just didn't need a family to walk around with and it felt a little weird having someone looking after me.
I talked with the Indonesians a bit and they offered to take my picture and I said maybe a little later at a better spot so when I came to the better spot he took my picture, but also took one with his camera. I guess they really don't see too many white people.
The next day I head back to Taipei. Again I had an open seat next to me and then an old guy sat down. I had my ken ken puzzle out and he was looking at it. Then he was pointing and talking a little. I kind of tried to show a little what it was, but always in a disinterested sort of way.
Nothing major on the flight over and I got on the bus to the train station ok (of course with looks and a few questions, but that is to be expected). Then on the train ride I had two seat to myself for a while and then a group moved in and was two women in their twenties and a girl about 10. I moved my bag so that someone could sit there (instead of doubling up since I don't think the had an assigned seat, or maybe they just didn't want to ask for the seat). The girl sat next to me and stared. But this is nothing new. But I saw her looking back at her mom (or whoever she was to her) and they kept giving her looks like 'just-do-it-already' and maybe they were talking I don't remember. And she tried to talk to me a little. I said my name and she tried to teach me a few words in Chinese (the ones that she knew the English counterpart to, which I had absolutely no interest in learning so used about half my brain to try and remember and the other half stayed on my puzzle). She played with my hair. Eventually her mom sat next to me. She spoke more English and said asked where I was from and talked a little about how she wanted to go to America (but she didn't speak that much English so there wasn't that much room for conversation, which was fine by me). Eventually the girl switched back and would stare at me, play with my hair, try to talk to me, ect. for the rest of the journey. I don't mind this, it just gets old pretty quickly because I don't know what they want me to do and I'm not there to teach them so I talk and then go back to my own stuff.
Made it to the hostel and signed up for a tour of Tokoro national gorge, which is like 'the' nature tourist attraction in Taiwan. It was about 40 minutes from the town I was staying (and I went to that town to go to the gorge) and according to the guy at the tourist information I could have gotten on a free shuttle bus since it was lunar new year, but saw that I could sign up for a tour at my hostel and figured that that would just be so much easier and less stressful (which while not 'the' purpose of my trip was something I was definitely aiming at) and just signed up.
As I signed up they told me the cost and at first my heart froze, it was NT$800, but then I did the conversion and realized it was like $20 so no big deal. The exchange rate was abut NT$32 for US$1, and it was easy enough for stuff that was only a dollar or two (US) but tripped me up like no other. I'm usually pretty good doing exchange rates, but it was like I had funny money, which ended up being good because I wasn't stressing over money the whole time (it also helped that stuff there was pretty cheap so I really didn't have to worry about the cost of things).
I kind of figured that since I signed up through the hostel it might be a more western leaning tour (English, as the sign was in English). But it wasn't. I was the only white person on the tour. There were 2 Indonesian tourists who spoke a good bit of English and one other guy, but that was it. The tour guide knew nothing. Oh well. I ignored the speaking and just looked, it was pretty. It was a bus tour (mostly) so when we stopped the first time everyone started getting off and I was just 'ok'. They found the one Chinese guy who spoke English and told me to stay with him. He was probably mid-twenties with his parents. He said that I should stay with him and walk around with his family. As I didn't know what was going on I walked with him for a little and then realized that this was essentially just free time so I said I was fine and he was a bit shocked. After that I just asked how long we had at our stops, usually from the Indonesians. Not that the guy was in any way creepy or anything, I just didn't need a family to walk around with and it felt a little weird having someone looking after me.
I talked with the Indonesians a bit and they offered to take my picture and I said maybe a little later at a better spot so when I came to the better spot he took my picture, but also took one with his camera. I guess they really don't see too many white people.
The next day I head back to Taipei. Again I had an open seat next to me and then an old guy sat down. I had my ken ken puzzle out and he was looking at it. Then he was pointing and talking a little. I kind of tried to show a little what it was, but always in a disinterested sort of way.