Dour, 電通-controlled, family-centric Belgian Neocolonialism, enthusiastically jaded observations, support for state-owned neoliberalist media and occasional rants from the twisted mind of a privileged middle-class expatriate atheist Crypto Jew and とてもくだらないひと projecting some leftist ideals with my ridicule of Tucker Carlson, all while taking America's blood money and cashing out that pension and TSP (from The Blogs Formerly Known As Sponge Bear and Kaminoge 物語)
*see disclaimer below
Tianhe Stadium 广州天河体育中心体育场 as seen from the outdoor balcony of Parc Central
As the old saying goes "All good things must come to an end". When we arrived in Guangzhou 广州 in early September, you could say I was on a high, following two recent trips. The first was from late May to the middle of June when I traveled solo again to Japan, and spent almost three weeks exploring the island of Shikoku 四国, with much of that time behind the wheel of a rented car. This was followed by our Home Leave stay in Washington and Oregon, which lasted from the start of August until the first week of September. The winning streak continued with our recent trip to Taiwan during the beginning of October. Another old saying talks about "good things coming in threes", but that hoary adage doesn't delve into what happens after the third has finished. In my case it has turned into something akin to depression, exhaustion and/or an overwhelming air of malaise.
Whichever noun applies, the trigger came when I returned to Guangzhou from Taiwan alone, after my wife stayed behind to spend more time with her family. I returned feeling rested and confident, intending to start doing many things while Shu-E was away, including swimming, exercising, riding my bike, cooking, discovering new (for us) restaurants and so on. Instead, the opposite has occurred. With the exception of the now unpaid work I'm doing for the American taxpayer, for the most part I have stayed hidden away in the apartment, avoiding going down to the community swimming pool, while also having little desire to take the bicycle out for some exercise, and remaining uninterested in exploring the still-new surroundings.
Why? The easy answer is to pin the blame on the ongoing federal government shutdown, now in its thirty-first day. I'm one of those "fortunate" employees who have been deemed essential, meaning I still have to go to work as usual. Except that my services are being performed without any remuneration. This is happpening in spite of the fact Consular Affairs has its own revenue stream, separate from Congressional appropriations, and in past shutdowns (why this is an ongoing occurrence is just one of many reasons that the U.S. as a society has some serious collective mental health issues) I continued to be paid for the work I still had to perform. This time, however, the powers that be have determined that people like me must also work gratis, so my most recent paycheck just showed a lot of empty boxes.
These past twenty-five days since coming back from Taiwan have also had an effect on my health, leading to sleepless nights, gastrointestinal discomfort, raging heartburn and the return at times of uncomfortable sensastions in my chest. But the stress of the shutdown isn't the only factor taking its toll on my mental and physical well-being.
I'm currently on my third go round in Mission China, but with the exception of our first tour in Shanghai 上海, I have never felt comfortable or at ease in this country, despite extensive domestic travels and with a working understanding of the Mandarin dialect. With retirement so close I would've preferred another location in Asia to keep the interest-sparking flame burning on this (presumably) last go-round in the Foreign Service, but this isn't going to be the case. Shanghai was enjoyable because not only was it my first tour as a diplomat, it was also assumed (by us) that it would be our one and only posting in the Middle Kingdom. Instead, if I retire according to plan I will have spent half my career in the State Department in a land I've never been all that enamored with.
So can this be written off as a China-weary jadedness? Most likely. But something else might also be at play. I've been diagnosed with depression in the past, with medication to deal with it prescribed at times. Travel has helped keep it at bay, but with my wife away for an extended period (and our daughter off to school in the U.S.) the black dog has returned with a vengeance. And unlike in Beijing 北京, this time I don't even have a cat around to keep me company. All I can do for the time being is to 我慢 until Shu-E returns at the beginning of November.
Despite what's written above, I haven't entirely pursued the lifestyle of a recluse or hikikomori 引きこもり. In fact on the weekends I did go out several times on walks so I have some material for padding out this otherwise pathetically whiny post.
The Xinhe Building 信合大厦:
The Haixin Bridge 海心桥:
The Canton Tower 广州塔, which we can't see from our apartment but is visible from other parts of the building:
The sightseeing boat pier for excursions on the Pearl River 珠江:
Still bored, and with nothing to do on yet another Saturday afternooon, I took a walk through a park with no name. This fire engine is parked above ground; spreading out underneath is the Mall of the World shopping center. The park with no name also has several sculptures depicting heroic firefighters, so it would seem there's a theme to the layout:
A spa where patrons can lie down while their ear wax is removed with a special ear-cleaning tool:
A philosophical cafe. Note the sign in Amharic for Ethiopian coffee:
The following day I went to check out three large shopping malls located close to one another. Along the way I passed this shop - I, too, felt baked in Guangzhou, but that was due more to the heat and humidity, and not a certain herb:
Grandview Mall 正佳广场 was the first of the three I visited. The presence of a rainforest ecological garden, an aquarium and animatronic dinosaurs ensures this shopping complex will be filled with families on weekends. Being on my own, at times I felt uncomfortable, much like Phil Carr:
Next door is Parc Central, more upscale than the other two, with fewer families and more couples. This photo shows a long line of diners waiting to get into Rou Rou Rice 肉肉大米, a "Japanese-style beef burger restaurant". Even if I were feeling confident I would not have waited in a queue that lengthy:
Last of the three, TeeMall was the most similar in appearance to shopping centers in North America. By this point I was tired and feeling a twinge of loneliness, being surrounded by families, couples and groups of friends. Maybe I'll pay a return visit someday after the wife gets back:
It would've been better to have taken the metro to these shopping centers. Instead, I made the mistake of walking to Grandview Mall, so I was very hot and sweaty by time I arrived. However, soon after the weekend in question, the weather changed for the better, at least temporarily. The view at night after the temperature had dropped, the wind was blowing hard and the Canton Fair 中国进出口商品交易会 was taking place:
Going on a longer walk that took me temporarily outside the CBD:
In front of the R&F Center are thirteen sculptures by the noted Chinese artist Xu Hongfei 许鸿飞, whom it would seem has a fetish for "chubby women". Here are seven of them:
These past three and a half weeks have for the most part been a wasted opportunity to further settle myself into our new surroundings. Hopefully, with the much better half coming back this weekend, I can banish the black dog to its house in the back yard for the time being, and enthrall my few followers with more engaging (and less whinier) tales our adventures in Guangzhou.
Sometimes the calendar has a way of working to your benefit. One of the biggest public holidays here in China is National Day 国庆节, which commemorates the establishment of the People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国 on October 1, 1949. The official holiday period is three days in length, from the 1st to the 3rd, but as many Chinese take advantage of the time to take the entire week off, this period is also known as "golden week".
This year National Day fell on a Wednesday, with the Thursday and Friday therefore also being public holidays. Add the weekend and most people would have five consecutive holidays. But the icing on the cake this year was the fact the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节, which is held according to the lunar calendar, just happened to be on Monday, October 6 this year. And as American embassies and consulates observe most local holidays (in addition to U.S. federal ones), this meant I was also gifted six days off in a row, none of them requiring the use of annual leave time. And because only a masochist would travel in China during an extended public holiday period, my wife and I decided to take advantage of the long break by visiting Taiwan, where only the Moon Festival is a public holiday - the Republic of China's 中華民國 own national day falls on October 10. It should come as little suprise that Shu-E will be staying in her homeland for the rest of this month, but I had to return to a life of drudgery work at the end of the holiday period. Read on to find out how that free time was put to use.
星期三 (Wednesday)
The two of us flew from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport 广州白云国际机场 to Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport 桃園國際機場, a flight that lasted fewer than three hours. From Taoyuan we were driven in a hired car to Songshan Airport 松山機場 in Taipei 台北, arriving at 15:00, giving us time to check-in for our 16:00 flight on this propeller-powered Mandarin Air plane going to Penghu Airport 澎湖機場, the main gateway to the island county of the same name. Less than an hour later we were touching down close to the capital, Magong 馬公:
The Penghu Islands 澎湖群島 (once known as the Pescadores) are an archipelago situated in the Taiwan Strait 台灣海峽. There are at least 64 islands (some sources say 90) stretching 60 kilometers/37 miles north to south and 40 kilometers/25 miles east to west, of which 20 are inhabited. The major population center is Magong, where we were met by Shouyu (an old friend of Shu-E's), and Shouyu's sister. Shouyu is a native of the islands (though she currently lives in Tainan 台南) and was especially keen to show me some the highlights, which she would proceed to do with unbounded energy during the next few days. For this first night we were taken to a seafood restaurant in downtown Magong:
Lowering my standards. The seemingly only way to escape from Taiwan Beer, Heineken or Corona was to shop for libations at a 7-Eleven, of which there are many on Penghu:
These poor shellfish would gyrate in agony as they were being cooked, thus giving the dish a colorful name that I now struggle to recall:
The quickest way to my wife's heart is to take her out to eat crab:
Central Magong after dinner. The city is home to around 64,000 people, accounting for more than half of the county's population of 102,000:
星期四 (Thursday)
Penghu is a major tourist attraction between April and September, and as a result there's a huge number of minsu (guesthouses) 民宿 located on the various islands. Shouyu's sister operates one not far from the airport and she kindly put my wife and I up in it for our first two nights (we were the only guests as the tourist season had already peaked):
The day kicked off with some cultural confusion. I was told we would be taking a boat to an island, where I could go swimming. As a result I had assumed that meant riding on a regularly-scheduled ferry, which we would take to the aforementioned island, spend some time there and then return to the main island of Penghu on another regularly-scheduled ferry. It would turn out, however, the boat we traveled on was part of a tour group package, a common way for Taiwanese to travel but a means I've never been fond of. This is me sternly sitting at the stern as we left port:
Passing by Yuanbei Island 員貝嶼 and its basalt rock columns, a noted geographic feature found throughout the Penghu archipelago:
With Shouyu:
Like many Taiwanese women when traveling, Shu-E and Shouyu took many photos of each other striking modeling poses:
After about an hour we reached the wharf on Niaoyu 鳥嶼, but not before being passed by a boat bringing back a group of divers:
Following a group lunch (an essential component of any Taiwanese tour) we were given time to explore the area around the harbor, dominated by the local Mazu temple, one of many in Penghu. Mazu 媽祖 is the Chinese goddess of the sea, and a protector of fishers and sailors, so it makes sense that even the smallest of settlements we came across in Penghu seemed to have a largish temple dedicated to her:
A local woman tending to her squid drying in the hot sun. And though it was early October and our daughter back in Oregon is already complaining about the chilly autumn there, in Penghu it was very hot and humid:
A traditional coral house, buitl to shelter the inhabitants from the islands' notoriously strong winter winds, in addition to the typhoons that frequently pass through Taiwan. The coral also served to provide a modicum of internal cooling:
Shaved ice (bàobīng) 刨冰 was one way to try and escape from the heat:
Back on the boat and heading out to sea again:
This is how I picture retirement to look like:
In the Seychelles we would rent a car, drive to a beautiful beach, spend some time in the water, and then head off to a restaurant for lunch. In Penghu, the boat anchored close to shore on another island (which I now can't find on a map), where those of us who wanted to go for a dip had to don bulky life preservers before getting into the water. Which made it rather difficult to duck down and check out if there was any life below:
Still, I made the most of it. Spending time in the water, even when just paddling around like this, did much to improve my mood:
Back on the boat we were given the opportunity to try our hand at fishing using a simple reel, with small shrimp employed as bait:
As primitive as it sounds, the three of us didn't have any luck, but a couple of guests reeled in some surprisingly large fish, which led me to draw the logical conclusion that you don't need expensive rods and lures, though my brother-in-law (an avid fisher) would no doubt strongly disagree:
Back in port at around 17:00 at Qitou 岐頭 on Baisha Island 白沙島 (one of the three main populated islands in Penghu, all of which are connected by bridges):
That evening Shu-E and I treated our hosts (Shouyu and her sister) to dinner at the Lakshore Foodie CLUB, located along Magong's waterfront:
Back at the minsu, refreshments courtesy of 7-Eleven:
星期五 (Friday)
Breakfast, Taiwanese-style. The bacon danbing 蛋餅 was fine; the "hamburger" on the right was undercooked and almost inedible - even though I couldn't finish it, I still had some mild but uncomfortable gastrointestinal difficulties throughout the morning:
A very expensive-looking yacht moored in Magong close to where we had dinner the evening before. The reason we were back in the neighborhood was that my wife had left her bottle of ghost pepper at the restaurant and wanted to retrieve it. Like an Aussie and their vegemite, she doesn't go anywhere without it:
Shouyu drove us to "Moses Parting the Sea" 摩西摩西. The name comes from the fact that Chiyu Island, a small islet located 500 meters/1640 feet offshore from the village of Beiliao 北寮, becomes connected to the mainland via a wide sandbar that is exposed at low tide:
As we had arrived a bit early Shouyu drove us nearby to explore the largely abandoned village of Nanliao 南寮:
We returned in time to see the tide slowly go out, and slowly it did. Though the sandbar was starting to become visible, when we learned it was going to take up to a couple of hours before it was fully exposed (thereby allowing visitors to walk over to Chiyu) we decided it was better to move on elsewhere:
We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant in downtown Magong, though the food was mediocre, as is often the case with Japanese cuisine in Taiwan:
My wife's clothing matched the color of Mazu's outfit, surely an auspicious sign:
Shouyu, seemingly possessed of an endless well of energy and a complete lack of concern when it comes to gasoline consumption, then drove us to see the Tongliang Great Banyan 通樑古榕, located just before the Penghu Great Bridge 澎湖跨海大橋, which connects Baisha and Xiyu 西嶼 Islands. This centuries-old gnarled giant is an impressive sight covering 600 square meters/6458 square feet as it sprawls out in front of Baoan Temple 保安古. Visitors (like us) tuck into cactus ice cream 仙人掌冰淇淋 while walking along the ruins under the branches:
A resident feline:
Afterward we crossed over to Xiyu, eventually stopping to admire the scenic Dream Beach 夢幻沙灘:
Looking down on Naian Beach 內垵 from a pavilion beside the road:
From there it was on to the Daguoye Columnar Basalt 池東大菓葉玄武岩. The Mazu statue we had visited earlier could be seen across the water:
The small pond in front of the columns was the result of quarrying:
Cactus is not native to the islands but is widespread and celebrated on Penghu. Cactus ice cream is tasty; cactus juice not so:
I noticed this oddity of waves forming and breaking in just one small area of water offshore:
Next up was the Erkan Historic Village 二崁聚落保存區, which my wife and daughter had visited years ago while I was working in Shanghai 上海:
There are around 50 traditional houses (outnumbering the current residents) of basalt foundations and coral walls, with the oldest dating back to 1690:
While many buildings are in a state of disrepair, others have been renovated and converted into shops and food stalls. Here I am trying to get the right shot of a bowl of dòuhuā (tofu pudding) 豆花, while Shu-E couldn't be less interested:
The Erkan ancient residences is an area that requires time to explore, but it was getting late in the afternoon (after 17:00) and time to move on, which for us was to the Chixi Rock Waterfall 池西岩瀑:
At the foot of the basalt columns is the ruins of a former fish farm:
The day comes to an end on Naian Beach:
Pausing at the equally scenic Wai'an Fishing Village after dark, where we stopped to buy fried rice for dinner at a small shop across the road...:
...as well as some drinks from, you guessed it, a 7-Eleven:
Shu-E and I spent the night in the Neian South Fishing Harbor, in an empty house belonging to some friends of Shouyu (the family is currently living in Tainan). The house is close to where Shouyu grew up, and many of her relatives are still living in the area. A fish-processing company run by some of her in-laws was just down the street from the house, while this fishing boat is owned by her sister-in-law. Many of the fishing boats in the harbor are crewed by sailors from southeast Asia, and we passed by many of them as they relaxed with each other onshore while we took a walk in the neighborhood after dinner:
Shouyu had shown us quite a bit of Penghu on this day, but tomorrow her unbridled energy would not let up for even a minute. I only wish I could still be that 元気...
星期六 (Saturday)
Shouyu came by the house that morning on our last day on Penghu. The first stop on Saturday's itinerary was the Yuwengdao Lighthouse 漁翁島燈塔, located on the western edge of Xiyu Island. The 11 meter/36 foot-high lighthouse (designed by a British architect in 1875) was covered in scaffolding:
Behind the girls was the expanse of the Taiwan Strait:
From there it was a short drive to the Sanxian Tower (Three Immortals Pagoda) 三仙塔, overlooking the Wai'an Fishing Harbor below:
This blog post does a better job than I could at explaining the meaning behind the three pagodas:
"Sanxian Pagodas...were constructed to balance the life expectancy of men and women. As Wai'an Village relies on fisheries, men often face accidents, resulting in shorter lifespans for boys compared to girls. Villagers believe that the mountains on the east side of the village extend shorter to the south, contributing to this difference. To address this, they were instructed to build the Sanxian Pagoda on the hill on the west side of the village, aligning it with the end of the east side. The three towers run north-south, with the central tower representing the main tower and the left and right towers symbolizing the man and woman, respectively.":
Nearby were some abandoned military structures:
Next came the Xiaomen Geology Gallery 小門地質探索館 and the Whale Cave 鯨魚洞. The gallery wasn't that interesting, though it only cost NT30 ($1) to enter:
The Whale Cave was more visually dramatic, though I couldn't really see the resemblance to any cetaceans:
We stopped for lunch near the museum at a restaurant Amber and Shu-E had visited years before, though my wife was disappointed to learn the wall our daughter had signed her name on had since been remodelled, thereby erasing any old signatures:
The beach next to which Shouyu had parked her car:
We stopped at a visitor center prior to driving across the aforementioned Penghu Great Bridge (2494 meters/8182 feet in length):
From the bridge it was a 45-minute drive (long by local standards) to the western tip of Penghu Island and Fongguei Cave 風櫃洞. When the tide rises water rushes into spaces in the basalt, creating a blowhole effect. The water wasn't strong enough when we visited, but it was still a scenic spot, accented by the futuristic-looking Youfu Pavilion:
From there we were taken to Shanshui Beach 山水沙灘, where a handful of surfers were trying to catch some waves...:
...and then from there to Lintou Beach 林投海灘, where took a break to snack on some tofu and waffles, and where I was able to snap a pic of the ladies in a rare, unguarded moment (i.e. no poses):
While the two were chatting I took a walk down to the water:
It actually felt cool so close to the sea and I wish I had the time to go for a dip:
Our penultimate stop this day was at Duxing 10th Village 篤行十村, site of one of the oldest military dependents' villages in Taiwan. Many of the old buildings are being converted into cafes and nostalgic gift shops:
Like Erkan, this area deserved more time than we had to explore, especially the old Japanese-period houses, but this trip was just a taste of Penghu, and I plan on returning someday...soon?:
An old Qing dyansty-era map showing how the area looked at that time:
The girls, with the 60 meter/197 foot-long Rainbow Bridge in the background. Fireworks shows take place nightly in the park from April to June, which I was informed attracts huge throngs of visitors:
And that was the end of our brief but action-packed sojourn to the Penghu Islands. Shouyu (aka 澎湖美) did a fantastic job playing host and tour guide to the two of us, even if her itinerary left me exhausted at times. But there was a method to her madness that I understood and appreciated. I'm rapidly approaching mandatory retirement, and Shu-E and I are seriously thinking of settling down in Taiwan for the remainder of my so-called golden years. The benefits are obvious - family ties, a lower cost of living (an important consideration as my eventual pension won't be very generous) and an excellent national health insurance system (an important consideration as my mental and physical health continue to erode away). And of couse there's the current disastrous path my homeland seems to have embarked on.
The question, of course, is where. I've long dreamed of eventually settling down somewhere by the sea, having been to places like Okinawa 沖縄, the Seychelles and New South Wales. And in Taiwan, the closest in atmosphere and scenery to those locations is the Penghu archipelago. My wife waffles on living in Penghu (the heat being one concern, with access to hospitals another), but she's currently feeling positive about island life. Her friend Shouyu is also keen on the idea of the two of us retiring to her Taiwanese verision of the Japanese ふるさと, hence the great effort she made to show me some of the sights on the islands. And though the government on the other side of the Taiwan Strait could end up throwing a spanner into the works, for the moment at least I've also been persuaded. I now have 2-2½ years to see if dreams and goals can come into alignment.
星期日 (Sunday)
Shouyu had dropped us off the at Penghu Airport the evening before, in time for our flight to Taichung 台中, just a forty-minute hop over the water on another propeller airplane. We were met at the airport by my brother-in-law, and I would stay the next two nights at his house in Fengyuan 豐原. For my last full day in Taiwan I took the train from Lilin Station 栗林車站...:
...to Daqing 大慶車站, where I was met by my friend Steve, whom I hadn't seen our previous visit to Taiwan back in early March:
The day was spent hanging out, quite a change from the Penghu whirlwind of the past few days. We stopped for tea at a stand that exuded positivity...:
...and picked up some lunch from MOS Burger and a cafeteria:
We also made a stop at Steve's English school...:
...as well as at a Mister Donut to satisfy my sweet tooth. China is severely limited when it comes to leavened fried dough pastries of the Western variety - even the Tim Hortons in this country don't carry doughnuts!:
Steve's wife March, always a pleasure to see her again:
And while both Steve's in-laws and mine were having the traditional Taiwanese Mid-Autumn Festival barbeque, the two of us went out for pizza at a busy street market:
And that was it. On Monday morning Shu-E drove me to Taoyuan where I caught the flight back to Guangzhou, and on Tuesday I was back to work...because it turns out I'm exempted from the latest federal government shutdown, though I won't be paid while the ridiculous charade is played out in Washington, D.C.
In the meantime I'm on my own in Guangzhou 广州 and not loving it. At this point I'm tired of China. I have nothing against the people and the culture, but three tours are two too many. And unlike Japan, where I can comfortably get around on my own (though company is always welcome), here I've yet to reach that level of familiarity, which makes the single life simultaneously stressful and dispiriting at times.
One positive for all this time living and working in China is that it's reinforced the fact that Taiwan is very different place, and that realization has put into greater focus the positives of life in the so-called "breakaway province". I once heard Taiwan described as "China under Japanese management", and the longer I live and work in China the more willing I've come to embracing that idea, as ridiculous as that can sound. The beautiful isle may lack the glittering modernity of Guangzhou's central business district or Shanghai's Pudong 浦东 area, but I'm learning that I can also be comfortable in Formosa. Perhaps not to the degree that I have with Japan, but enough that the idea of eventually settling down in Taiwan does not feel as discouraging as it once did in the days when I was a struggling bǔxíbān 補習班 teacher. Let's hope the authorities in Beijing don't take that away from me in the years ahead.
