Rooted in Taiwan, Connected with the World

I just completed my eighteenth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in my country. My destination this time was Hualien County, the largest subnational administrative region by area, bordering Ilan County to the north,  Taichung City and Nantou County to the west, Kaohsiung City and Taitung County to the south, and facing the Pacific Ocean to the east, with the Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Mountain Range occupying the bulk of its area. Hualien County administers 13 townships, including its county seat, Hualien City. During this trip, I visited four townships: Xiulin Township, Xincheng Township, Hualien City, and Ji'an Township, which collectively constitute the northern part of the county. Sadly, a deadly disaster caused by Super Typhoon Ragasa occurred on Tuesday in Hualien's Guangfu Township, about 45 kilometers south of Hualien City. My heart goes out to those who were affe...

I just finished reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , an 1876 Bildungsroman and picaresque novel, among other genres, which, alongside its 1884 sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , is considered by many to be a masterpiece of American literature. The book was written by Mark Twain, the world-renowned American writer, humorist, and essayist, and was said to be one of the first novels to be written on a typewriter.  While I enjoyed following all the adventures in the novel, I equally appreciated reading Twain's biography, as I have experienced from reading other literature classics in the past. I was amazed by his wide range of experiences in life, apart from being a great writer and humorist, he was an apprentice, a printer, a riverboat pilot, a Confederate volunteer, a reporter, a miner, an inventor, and, not the least, an anti-imperialist. Born Samuel Clemens on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, Twain was the sixth of seven children of Jane (née Lampton; 1803–1890...

I delivered a prepared speech at the regular meeting of BID Toastmasters last night. My subject was learning English, and the speech was actually a sequel to my previous speech delivered 6 days ago. The issue of learning English has been such a huge undertaking in my life journey that covering it in two speeches seemed to be just about right. We had a universal and thought-provoking meeting theme: "wrong turns and detours", with the question: "Have you ever taken a wrong path in life, school, or work? What did you learn from it?" To this question, I have many related experiences, and finally I chose the following as my answer: I tried a cigarette with my good friends at 16, and was addicted to it afterwards. So I became a smoker, first secretly, and then openly, until I quit smoking at 39. What I learned from this 23-year detour is, first, that I'll never try another cigarette; second, that I can empathize and get along with smokers. It was Friday evening and af...

I just completed my seventeenth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in my country. My destination this time was Taitung County, the subnational administrative region situated in southeastern Taiwan with the lowest population density. Taitung borders Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County to the west and Hualien County to the north, and administers 16 townships, including Green Island and Orchid Island. Among the 16 townships, five are the so-called mountain townships, with indigenous people as the majority of their population. During this trip, I visited four townships: Taimali, Dawu, Daren, and Jinfeng, which collectively occupy the south of Taitung County. Considering its vast area and less-developed public transportation network, I decided to get around by train and a rental bike. I set off on Monday as usual, taking the first train bound for Taitung. After renting a bike near Taitung Station, ...

I delivered a prepared speech to my fellow Toastmasters during our regular club meeting this morning. My subject was about learning English, a popular topic among my fellow Toastmasters that I first thought I could cover in a single speech. After reflecting on it in my preparation for the speech, I realized that the subject has such profound influence on my life that I ended up making a new plan to cover it in two speeches. So, today's speech is only part one of the story. It is the Ghost Festival in Taiwan—the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar—so we had a timely and interesting meeting theme: "superstition in industry, with the question: "Is there any superstition in your industry?" To this end, I shared the taboo I used to avoid in the shipping industry: never turn over the fish when eating it because it implies bad luck, symbolizing a ship capsizing. After the meeting, we had a group meal together as usual. This is my favorite part because we can...