Day 37 - Fangliao To Fangshan Pingtung, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
Day 37 - Fangliao To Fangshan Pingtung, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
Outside of the town of Fangliao, there are many miles of salt water fish farms.
The day started hazy, which obscured the views of tall mountains that are located in the middle of the island.
The mountains are covered in trees and greenery.
I have developed a bit of a fear complex of the wild dogs that seem to live in packs, alongside the fish farms.
They are hungry and fearful of people, and living in packs gives them a sense of power.
We passed by fish markets by the sea, in which tourists stop to eat seafood, including grilled oysters, and sing karaoke.
The huge buses stop, people spill out into the restaurants, or walk through the fish markets that also sell hats, t-shirts, snacks and souvenirs.
The views of the sea were beautiful, with black sand rocky beaches fringed with palm trees.
The road we walked on was a busy road with lots of fast moving cars and many buses.
But this was the only road going south.
We walked by two men who were resting in the shade of a temple.
They signaled for me to come over and gave me two big green oranges, that later when we sat to eat them, were very delicious and tasted sweet, like clementines.
It was a long, hot walk and we were happy to get to a Seven-Eleven convenience store where we planned to eat lunch, rest in the air conditioning and also buy food to eat for dinner, as our guesthouse for tonight is located on an isolated stretch of beach with no restaurants nearby.
I bought some rice balls filled with mushrooms, bananas and boiled corn.
The lady at the cash register gave me a pomelo which she meticulously peeled for us, making sure that I knew to eat only the meat of the fruit, and not the connective tissues which are fibrous and bitter.
With pride, she said it was a fruit of Taiwan!
I was touched by her kindness, generosity and concern, but a little surprised by the fact that she didn’t know that pomelos grow all over the world, and that I already knew how to eat them and have eaten them thousands of times.
As we rested, I thought about why we had encountered so many wild dogs on our walk, especially by the fish farms.
Maybe the dogs belonged once to families who had too many little dogs being born, and they just left them by the side of the road, like the four puppies that we found and rescued with Wendy and Joseph on our walk along the east coast of Taiwan…
Maybe those were once guard dogs, kept near the ponds at night to protect the farms from poachers.
The ponds are never gated and it would be easy for people to scoop up the fish if they wanted to.
I did see many people fishing by the sides of the ponds in the murky canals between the farm ponds.
I always wondered why they didn’t see the many dead fish in the canals, and how they could think it was a good idea to eat the fish they caught there…
We put on our backpacks and kept walking.
Most of the vehicles passing us on the road were tour buses.
The nice breeze that we had started to enjoy turned into a really strong wind.
Frequently I had to stop and spread my legs, allowing the gusts of tornado-like wind to pass me by.
A group of cyclists cycled past us, and their support van stopped to give us two bottles of water.
He even took away the empty plastic water bottle that I was carrying, so I wouldn’t have to carry trash.
I was so thankful and I remembered the famous phrase used by long distance hikers:
"The trail will provide!”
The other phrase that is frequently used is:
"You pack your fears!”
Which is proving to be so true… we carry our fears on our bodies in the form of extra weight and many ailments, and we pack our luggage or fill our backpacks with our fears, too.
As the day progressed and we continued walking south, the cities disappeared, the haze dissipated and the air became much clearer.
The mountains on our left side had pink flowering trees, which I couldn’t identify from a distance, but they were very beautiful.
We arrived at our guesthouse for the night, just as it started to drizzle.
The place had beautiful grounds by the sea, and the accommodations were white bungalows that were shaped like domes, resembling spaceships.
They were so nice and comfortable inside, with big beds, a great shower and good linen.
They even had a laundry machine and Netflix on the TV which we enjoyed, as the wind was howling outside and sending every outdoor chair that wasn’t secured flying.
It was the strongest wind we had encountered on this walk, even including walking during the typhoon while we were in Tainan.
We ate for our dinner the food we’d brought with us, using the microwave and plates that the guesthouse had.
We would have enjoyed the outdoor seating, but it was too windy to dine outdoors.
Instead we ate in our room and felt safe and comfortable in our bed, as the storm continued all through the night.
I thought about this quote:
“Like vagabonds we roam the earth, walking to distant shores, our destination is unknown…”
It wasn’t meant to describe actual walking or actual vagabonds.
It is a metaphysical statement referring to the fact that we are all star-seed beings, roaming the earth-plane like vagabonds, away from our real homes, forgetting our godly powers, forgetting who we really are, not remembering where our home is, not sure of our mission here on earth….
With love,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Steps - 20,813
Daily Distance - 14 km.
Total Distance To Date - 583 km
