Paint with All the Colors of the Wind

Taiwan is awesome.

You wanna know why? 

Because they have places like this:

Right in the middle of a big city. 

That is a little "village." An old village, that was supposed to be torn down, like their next door neighbors:

Instead, these historic buildings were painted. Wild, flashy, insane colors that make up wild, flashy, insane pictures. EVERYWHERE. 

There is, however, one problem with this place.

It's a little hard to find. 

Even with the help of those who have been there before, three scooters, a good sense of direction, and Google maps, we still made quite a few U-turns. We even stopped to catch our breath and re-orient ourselves at one point when we hit an uncomfortably populated rural area. 

When we stopped, there were kids playing around outside that simply could not get enough of us. There were stares, giggles, and nudges directed in our general direction, and this is probably what was going on at their end:

First girl: *grabs arm* "Look look! Foreigners!

Second girl: "Oh my gosh, they're on scooters! Look at them!"

First girl: *elbow nudge* "Go talk to them. Their foreigners."

Second girl: "Your English is better than mine. You do it." 

First girl: "Ah, no! They're looking over here! Quick, look away!" *giggle*

Second girl: "You do it." 

First girl: "No, you do it."

Second girl: "You."

First girl: "You."

And so forth.

 Until we finish dinking around, decide on a general direction to try, and leave.

(Sometimes this conversation does end with one of the girls bravely coming up to one of us, saying, "Hello, nice to meet you!" And when we smile and reply, they run, giggling, back to their friends and form an excited huddle. Other times the stares, giggles, and elbow nudging just continue indefinitely.)

And then, we finally find The Painted City.

Victory. 

(That's one of the actual painters of the village, aptly named "Rainbow Grandpa." Which is amusing, because there are students at the school--students whom Kendra teaches (lower middle with the silver headband)--that call me "Raynebow Sister," and write stories about me, and my Rainbow brother, and Rainbow mother, and even my Rainbow granpda. So. You know. How could we not take a picture?) 

What a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

By The Sea Where There's No One Nosy

Here we are a-traveling.

Again.

Kaohsiung.
(Gow-shung)

With its beaches, and its mountains, and its university, and those big, giant, cement jacks that are on practically every coast around the island.

 

(Those jacks. I don't know why they're there. But they're everywhere. For stability, maybe? At least, that may have been what someone told me once.)

One of the things that my roommates, Kendra and Kaylee, were SUPE TOTES excited about, upon frolickin' through Kaoshiung was the *mexican restaurant* there. Now, being in Taiwan, good, authentic, savory, multi-flavored Mexican food doesn't really come around much. I'm not a fan of Mexican food, generally--besides, of course, quesedillas, which I can't seem to live without (and Cafe Rio salad, but seriously: is that legit Mexican food? I think not)--but being surrounded by unidentified pieces of meat and sauteed veggies can get a bit tiresome to a girl used to cultural diversity in her food. So I was hankerin' for some good Mexican. 

I ordered a burrito. Nice and safe. Who can mess up a burrito, really?

Well, boy. 

The rice? It's definitely yellow saffron rice.  Complete with tumeric, pepper, and cumin.

The cheese? It's definitely canned nacho cheese sauce. 

And as a garnish? Three raisins.

.... Definitely not the kind of Mexican food I'm used to. 

Mind you, it was quite the taste bud adventure, having Indian rice and American cheese sauce overtaking my Mexican burrito. Not that it was bad, exactly... 

But, I mean. Really.

Dessert was much more of a success:

Shaved ice HEAVEN. 

We couldn't decide what flavor we wanted dancing on the roofs of our mouths, so we picked the two most appealing: mango, and chocolate banana. These brilliant Taiwanese people shave their ice until it's so smooth it's almost ice cream, and then put sweetened condensed milk on top, and any other toppings that catch their fancy. Like mangoes, or bananas and chocolate.  

I almost forgot to take a picture, I was so excited to stuff this down my throat.

Dinner was followed by a stroll down the beach:

One of the most awesome things about this country are all the "don't do this for your safety" signs people pointedly ignore. This beach had a wall, multiple gates, and tons of frantic signs warning people not to swim, eat, fish, cross the gates, walk, take pictures, smile, or breathe.

I'm used to following authoritative signs.

But when in Rome, right?

 So we entered.

And had a blast.

Those jacks were CALLING MY NAME. I almost got stuck. And it was dark. Kendra was there to document it all.

Kaylee caught us unawares.

 

She planned this one, though.

The next day was BEACH DAY.

All Day Beach Day. 

Hooray, Hooray Beach Day.

Oh, Kendra! Those two photos up there are amazing!

So far, I have been to two types of beaches in Taiwan: Kenting, which has the most blue, clear, perfectly temperatured water I have ever encountered; and Kaoshiung, which has greenish, blueish, murky water nostalgically reminiscent of sunny Northern California. Which do I like better? Gosh, do I have to choose?

The water temperature was still perfect, by the way.

Beach Day was such a success, that this happened:

That's right. Pretty much like clockwork, at least twice a summer, I'll get burned to a crisp to the extent that moving is painful.

Did I put on sunscreen, you ask? No. 

Do I ever put on sunscreen, you ask? No. 

Am I a thoughtless, twenty-something-year-old that thinks skin cancer can't touch me, you ask? Well, maybe sorta.

But, ask me in two days--when I can fully move my arms again--if it was worth it.

I will have forgotten the lesson I learned.