My Travel Adventures

I honestly did not think I would manage to see as much as I did the previous day, leaving me with much more time than I expected to explore Gaoxiong. I began the morning by taking the metro down to the river. To be honest, I expected the riverside to be a little more scenic, Gaoxiong being Taiwan’s number two city, but there were some interesting buildings along the banks nonetheless. My first stop was Holy Rosary Cathedral, widely renowned as Taiwan’s prettiest cathedral, and also, technically, the oldest church in Taiwan (it was established in 1860, but the primacy is a questionable one as the building was rebuilt to its current dimensions in 1928). Unfortunately, the cathedral was closed, with a sign outside the door saying that a mass was in progress. I resolved to return later.

On the next day of my tour to the south, I left my hotel in Tainan at around half past seven. I had seen everything I had wanted to see, so I made ready to leave for my next stop: Gaoxiong. Once I got to the train station, finding the right train was more confusing than I expected it to be, but luckily, I found a member of staff who was able to direct me to the right platform.

This quarter’s examinations, for reasons unknown to me, fell on a Wednesday. The reason this decision did not quite make sense to me is that the 28 th of February (the following Friday) is a bank holiday in Taiwan. Essentially, the program expected us students to sit a day of class right after our finals until consenting to release us from our misery.

I don’t think I have written about earthquakes yet, which might be because I remember feeling only one weak tremor last semester. Furthermore, as far as I can tell from the maps that locate earthquake epicentres, most earthquakes tend to hit the east of Taiwan (which is logical as its mountainousness betrays the region’s proximity to a tectonic plate boundary). Therefore, even 5 points on the Richter scale in Yilan, which is not that far away from Taipei, feel closer to 2 in the capital. So I am told, at least, for I have no idea what 2 points on the Richter scale are supposed to feel like.

Exams are coming up next week, so even though my feet have been feeling a little restless, I decided I would not go anywhere far this weekend and focus on studying. My resolve weakened as soon as I woke up on Saturday morning, for the sun was shining and it looked like we were going to have a nice day. I ploughed through my work anyway, telling myself that if I finished early, I would go out and see a temple or a monument in the afternoon. The weather, however, was not on my side, and by midday, the wind had picked up and a light drizzle came over the city. By that time, I was already so excited to get out that the weather was not going to stand in my way. I remembered that I had been putting off a trip to the National Palace Museum for an ugly day, so I packed my camera bag and set off.

The end of the week was quite eventful. Frances, our resident Yale alumni organiser, planned a Valentine’s – or rather Friendentine’s – evening at KTV, which was well attended. My un-transposed renditions of Teresa Teng were, if I may say so myself, a source of general wonderment, though I really ought to practice my upper range better if I am to join the Russian Chorus on its next gig.  

I have had some very interesting conversations with friends and teachers about the recent epidemic, which has, so far, thankfully only infected under two dozen people in Taiwan. One friend related to me a conspiracy theory according to which the novel coronavirus is in fact a disease that Chinese agents stole from a Canadian lab and accidentally released in their own country. One of my teachers had heard an even wilder theory, which posited that the coronavirus was intentionally developed as a biological weapon by the USA – hence, the conspiracists argue, the low death rates among foreigners.

The next day of our travels, we took the train to Changhua. It is still unbelievable to me that I can use my public transit card throughout the whole island without the slightest of difficulties. The greatest attraction in Changhua, and the only reason for our visit, is the Baguashan Buddha, a massive statue erected in the sixties, that overlooks the city. What surprised me when we got there was that practically all the vendors were selling meat products, or at the very least fish and dried squid. I do not remember anything like this happening at the Buddhist attractions of Yunnan – in fact, many temples had their own vegetarian eateries.

As other Light fellows have been leaving China, some more frantically than others, several have chosen Taiwan as their safe haven where they can keep on studying Chinese while evading the novel coronavirus. Among them is my friend Zach, who was vacationing in Hong Kong when it became evident that the situation was worsening and his programme would have to be cancelled. I welcomed him in Taipei the evening he arrived, and we went out to get hot pot together. I know some other Yalies in my programme have been hesitating about seeing Zach, seeing as he has just returned from across the strait, but as an avid reader of Outlaws of the Marsh, I did not think it right to leave a friend hanging.

Coming back to school from the New Year holidays has been a surreal experience. We received a few emails from our programme the day before, of which the most important one instructed students who visited Wuhan to self-quarantine for two weeks. I am not sure whether any students actually did go there, but we were all asked to fill out forms about our holiday travels. Another measure put into place was the wearing of facemasks. These past two days of school, all students and teachers had to speak in muffled voices through a layer of synthetic fabric, and also to disinfect their hands upon arriving at the building. I am not sure how tenable this will be in the long-term, as stores have been selling out of facemasks and the government has recently instructed healthy people not to deplete supplies.