Gao Mei Wetlands

Taiwan is a beautiful country full of people that are so eager to be friendly.( I wonder if it is because everyone lives in such close proximity with each other that if your not friendly with everyone you might end up offending a close relative with out even knowing it...)This weekend I went to the Gao Mei wetlands (高美湿地). I got most of the way there by bus then took a Taxi for the last 3 miles. The taxi driver was super kind and would pull over with out me asking, always insisting that I had to photograph what ever it was we were passing because it was too beautiful to pass up. Once I arrived in Gao Mei I was welcomed by an avalanche of wind.  I felt like if I jumped the wind would carry me away to China. Sand pipers scurried about unaffected by the never ending bombardment of wind, and went their way, burring their beaks into the sand in-search for mud skippers. I fought the wind all the way down a long wooden pier dodging large crowds of people huddled together for warmth. Once I got off the pier, I took off bee-lining it for a mound of sand in the distance. With every stride my spirit soared a little more until it could no longer be stifled and sprang out of me as bursts of joyful laughter. I felt like a kid running around in the vast open space, wind blasting all around. 

After a good time at the windy wetland and on my way to the train station I met two locals Freddie and Charles. (I gave Charles his name because his kind warmheartedness reminded me of my cousin) We quickly became friends and found a local noodle shop near the train station to get out of the chilly coastal air and chat. They treated me to some new cuisine: black tofu and boiled pigs feet. The black tofu was light and cut into thick strips and tasted like burnt liquorish. The pigs feet were boiled so long that the skin became super soft. For those that have never had pigs feet they don't have much meat on them, so all you get is skin and fat. It didn't taste too bad  but the fact that I was eating gobs of skin made my skin crawl. Especially when my teeth would sink into a piece of skin and I could feel it cling to my teeth like it was trying to reattach itself to something living once again.