Ok, my phase of denial is over. My flights are booked, and I have begun the
process of sorting everything I own into one of three piles: “pack”, “give
away” or “throw away”. When I left the
states two years ago, I told myself, “The next time I move will be so easy, I
won’t have much stuff”, apparently I forgot how much of a hoarder I am
regardless of which country I live in.
My apartment is full of stuff, but somehow I will only be leaving Taiwan
with two bags of it.
When I’m not holed up in my apartment making arrangements
for my departure (which is quite frequently, I’m a terrible procrastinator), or
at the school, I’m still finding time to get in those last few, truly unique,
Taiwan memories. Two weekends ago was
some friends and I made our way north to a district in Taichung called
Houli. I had visited Houli once before,
for a biking trip last summer, but this was not a cycling weekend, it was a
water weekend. Houli is home to one of
Taiwan’s (surprisingly numerous) theme parks, known as Lihpao Land. Lihpao land is divided into two sections, the
water pools and slides of Mala Bay and the coasters and amusement park rides of
Lihpao Land. Unfortunately, you need to
decide before entering, which park you want to cash your ticket in for. Hot as it was that day, I was far more
interested in the amusement park than the water park, but I compromised and
bought the two-park ticket. Walking
through the gate to Mala Bay, I was quite glad I had decided to give it a chance,
it was unlike the sad, falling apart, life-guardless parks I had seen in other
parts of Taiwan. There were proper
rides, slides, pools, and tubes, which could rival parks in the States, and
more surprisingly, it was full of people.
I have never see so many Taiwanese people actually in the water! You know what is unique about water parks in Taiwan
(most of Asia, I hear)? Use of swimming caps is strongly enforced. In a country that barely cares about covering
children’s heads with helmets while on scooters, they absolutely require every
head be covered with a swim cap to go in any pool or on any slide. I had never thought to own a swim cap before
Taiwan, now I own three. The only
benefit I could see (since I am not concerned about a few stray hairs) was that
no one ends up with a sunburnt scalp at the end of the day.
Suited up and sporting our swim caps we got into the wave
pool, which was…silly? Strange? You can pick your own adjective I suppose. The pool was packed with people, and once you
got more than 3 feet into the water you were greeted by large signs saying you
needed a life jacket to enter further.
I’m sorry, I’m 25 years old, and I need a life jacket? I kept to the shallow waters, uninterested in
spending 100NT on the rental, and prepped myself for the first set of waves. Suddenly, everyone around me started slapping
and splashing the water upwards, essentially to the tune of Queen’s “We Will
Rock You”, and the waves started. It was
a spectacle to see, and the wave pushed me back a few feet, and then, it was
over. I’m not kidding, one wave, then it
was over. I suppose their name was
accurate, it was only a “wave” pool, no plural –s on that.
Easily the most entertaining part of the pool was the Foam
Party. Anyone who has been to a spring
break style city has probably seen advertisements for a foam party, but most,
myself included, have opted that to be a nightclub best avoided. However, in the middle of the day, when no
alcohol is involved, and you are already in your swimsuit, it is ridiculously
fun to bop around to a DJ’s dance mix while foam rains down over you and
everyone around you.
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| Buried in the foam party. |
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| The last ride of the day (with the longest ride). So many screaming people! |
When the sun set and everyone was ready to go home, my
friend and I redeemed the second half of our two-park passes in Lihpao
Land. We rushed in and went straight for
the scariest roller coaster. Despite the
park being open until 9pm, when we arrived just before 7 the roller coaster was
already closed. In fact, as we walked
around the park we watched the maintenance signs flipping to close essentially
all of the rides. The ride attendants
directed us to the main stage, telling us that was what we should be doing, so,
with no other choice, we found some railing space and watched oversized stuffed
animals and tropical-themed dancers jump around to popular Chinese and English
songs for half an hour. I do suspect the
show was cute, and it was hilarious to watch the “rain dance” result in the
sprinklers soaking the audience, but I was still bitter from not having any
rides to go on. A few things reopened
for the final hour, most of which didn’t have lines, but it was still a bit of
a disappointing part of the day.
Sunday I needed to get some travel taken care of, so I went
north a few hours to Taoyuan to visit Daxi.
Daxi has been named one of the “top 10 small towns” by the Taiwan
Tourism Bureau, but I would not place it in my list of favorites. I award “cute points” to the baroque
architecture that lined the old street, and to the statues of spinning tops
that were almost everywhere, but I didn’t find there was enough to keep me
entertained. Perhaps if I had ventured
across the bridges, perhaps if I had been early enough to visit the mausoleum,
perhaps if I had been hungry enough to enjoy the local food, I could have made
some real memories in that town.
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| The architecture of Daxi's Old Street. |
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