What happened?

Sorry I trailed off before... the inspiration I had to write of our trip dwindled some. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun, encountered a great deal of obstacles and close-calls, and most importantly we made some memories that will remain etched in our minds for the rest of our lives (i just can't seem to recall any at this particular time). Here's something new though, but please don't take this as a cause of any serious concern. I'm not writing this to worry anyone but I'm also not going to pretend this is all just a big cake walk (what is a cake walk anyway?). Last week, Jesse and I were witness to a couple of serious fights. This past Saturday, I myself was attacked while I was leaving the club with my girlfriend (it's not serious, just a couple weeks so far). Anyway, something had happened in the club, some girls had been trying to get my attention and were not happy I was with someone so there were some words thrown back and forth (most of which I just didn't understand). When we left, 7 or 8 people (including the 3 girls) followed us out. No one was badly hurt, I chose not to fight back for several reasons: I didn't want the girl i was with to be hurt, I didn't want the the few guys who weren't involved to become involved, and as I mentioned earlier, Jesse and I had already been witness to a couple of serious fights that week and I didn't want this to become a "serious fight". I am completely ok. It did shake me up a little though. So I've done something that's perhaps taken me far too long to do and begun training again. Who is my instructor, you ask? His name is Sammy, he's a Chinese man in his mid-fifties or early sixties and he is a former student of Bruce Lee. There are 4 students: a South-African, an American, a Taiwanese guy and a Canadian (that'd be me), and there's also a translator. It's a little expensive but this was something I couldn't pass up (especially not now). I'm stoked. By the way, I'm sorry I've been a bit of a ghost lately. I hope you're all well and safe.

me

At the Bridge of the Three Immortals... we got here at midnight and crossed the bridge (which stretches for ages over the ocean) to a small island with three gigantic rocks and camped there for the night... or attempted to rather.

Off the main road, in a little grove filled with butterflies.

shadow and light (and beautiful green grass)

The Cross-Island Catastrophe (or A Week in the Life of Chris)

Last week was Chinese New Year's. The week started off pretty well... pretty well if you consider losing $5000 in one night of gambling a good night. Not too big a deal though when you remember this is Taiwan money we're talking about here (in translation it's under $200 CAD). I suck at gambling. Jess and I planned to do a tour of Taiwan. We'd start by making our way down to the southern tip of the island, a place called Kenting and proceed to make our way up the East coast to Hualien (the jewel of Taiwan). Did some drinking and dancing till the sun came up, slept a little, and then we set off into the night (it was a late start). Our drive down to Kenting (about a 3 hour trip) was relatively without incident... except somehow my bike fell over and I didn't realize till I was back on the highway that the clutch had completely broken off. Unfortunately it was Chinese New Year, and it was late, and nothing was open. We made it to Kenting anyway (don't ask me how), and in the middle of the city, on the busiest street my bike stopped. Yes, just stopped. I couldn't get it back into neutral so i couldn't roll it. Thankfully Jess was there to give me a hand getting it to the side of the road. Within minutes, a swarm of Taiwanese guys were surrounding my bike and trying to figure out how to solve my problem. Despite Kenting being the big city of the south, it has no repair shop for bikes. After much debate, ripping my clutch to shreds, bending and snapping metal and wires, still no one seemed to sure about anything but as always I put complete faith in them. It didn't work anyway so what choice did I have. Within the hour, I was back on my back. It wasn't pretty but it worked (in a temporary sorta way). The next morning we got it fixed properly by backtracking one town, but before that happened there was a whole night of revelry I've yet to discuss.