Day 15 - The Hottest Day Of Walking, From Fengyuan To South Taichung, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
Day 15 - The Hottest Day Of Walking, From Fengyuan To South Taichung, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
When I was a young kid, they used to cancel school whenever temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
This was because these temperatures were considered too high for people to be out and about, especially since our school rooms had no air conditioning.
In those days, they only measured the actual temperature, not giving much notice to the heat index, or apparent temperature, which is always so much higher while sitting or walking in the sun.
Well…. Today was the hottest day yet of our pilgrimage.
The temperature reached only 97 degrees, but the heat index brought it up to 43 degrees Celsius, or 109 degrees Fahrenheit.
We have never walked in these kinds of conditions before… Never.
And now, we have another thing to be aware of…. There is a typhoon approaching from the south of Taiwan, rapidly swooping up the island into our path.
The people at the front desk of our hotel were full of admiration for our great challenge of walking from the north to the south of Taiwan.
First they looked at us with awe, and then a cloud came over their faces, as they mumbled something about the approaching typhoon, strong winds and heavy rains.
“Please take care and safety first!” they said carefully, not wanting to scare us.
They gave us a gift of two beautiful coasters as a memory.
Just an hour after starting our walk, we needed to rest in a convenience store. It was full of students, but we were able to find a seat, take off our backpacks and drink a bottle of coconut water.
Another hour later we rested in the shade in a park, and we talked about the fact that even though today was the hottest day of our pilgrimage, we were experiencing the weather as cooler than yesterday.
We concluded that perhaps it was the humidity level yesterday that caused us to feel more fatigued.
An hour later, I saw that there was a Starbucks nearby.
We walked around a big mall that was being renovated and saw a guard and a gate.
I asked if there was a Starbucks there, but the guard said that there wasn’t.
We kept on walking for another hour and arrived at a Starbucks where we planned to rest and organize our plans.
I ordered our teas and asked for a glass of ice water.
The friendly woman said: “Why don’t I give you two glasses of ice water, because our air conditioner is broken.”
Needless to say, we didn’t stay there for long.
We drank our teas and kept going.
In the city, walking was easier.
We were shaded by the buildings and we had sidewalks that were not blocked by hundreds of scooters and parked cars.
We walked to a vegan restaurant that had a huge dining room, with a big menu which included all the delicious Taiwanese dishes as well as vegan sushi and macrobiotic Japanese food.
As always during our walks in the heat, we stopped to eat lunch not because we were hungry, but because we needed the rest.
Jules ordered rice in a hot clay pot, and I ordered the burdock and goji berry hotpot.
Even though I ate only the vegetables that I had cooked in the hot fragrant soup, I felt so full.
Two women who were dining at a table near us, got up to talk to us as we got ready to leave.
They were very curious about how we could read the menu (Google Translate app with a camera translation) and where we were walking with backpacks.
When we told them about our walk, they immediately said: “Oh no! You are walking right into the typhoon!”
I mumbled something about having two rest days in the city of Taichung, and that we would be okay.
But the constant mention of the typhoon being in our path was bothering Jules.
He said that we should listen to the warnings and be prepared to hunker down or change our plans if necessary.
He was voicing basic common sense, laced with a little fear, and I believe that fear should not be our guide.
Up until now, we have been protected and supported by the gods, and it would be silly to start relying on our own powers now.
We have an inner mantra in life, that we have used in many circumstances.
It goes like this: “I will step back and let Him/Her lead the way!”
‘Him or Her’ refers to the Higher Self, or the Sacred all knowing God within.
If we are in danger, She will let us know.
Otherwise, we will continue on, trusting that all will be well.
We cannot hold two contrary belief systems at the same time.
Either we believe that this physical world is an illusion and a dream, that bodies are ethereal energy fields that can be changed by dreaming a gentler dream, or we believe that it is a solid and real world, and that everything that is born is destined to age, get sick and finally die.
If we allow cracks in our belief system, the flood of water could come rushing in and destroy what we have achieved.
The reason that Jules and I do not experience any age related illnesses or physical weakness or wearing down, is purely a result of our belief system.
Nothing else.
We walked through a street market on our way to the hotel.
I bought a pair of funny sunglasses with eye lashes, just as a goof.
Then we checked into our hotel.
They didn’t have a laundry room and there were no good restaurants around.
There is a night market within walking distance, but we didn’t feel like walking there in the steamy heat.
Instead, we took hot showers, I wore a bathrobe and ordered vegan food on Uber Eats.
The hottest day of the pilgrimage was behind us, and we actually did pretty well managing the heat.
With love, light and tenderness,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Steps - 28,512
Daily Distance - 20 km.
Total Distance To Date - 240 km
