Chicken Organs and River Chasing

Mountains. Rivers. Spiders. Pretty much sums up my weekend. A group of us went “river chasing” in Wulai, an aboriginal village just south of Taipei in the mountains. The water couldn’t have been more perfect for the hot summer day, and not long after starting, we were completely hidden from the sun by an amazing jungle canopy.

Wild butterflies fluttered all along the river. Giant spiders set up camp along the sides of rocks and floated in mid-air beside the stream. We also saw a caterpillar the size of a hot dog and an abnormally large frog while working our way up the river. It was amazing how quickly we were able to be completely out in the wilderness.

While I would love to show you pictures of the awesome day, I slipped and took the bag down with me.  It was holding all of our wallets and my phone and camera. No big deal we thought; we had everything inside of a ziplock bag. Once we finished our journey, and took our belongings out of the pack, we noticed the cup of water sloshing around inside the ziplock bag. Probably a bad sign. Ziplock fail. My phone and camera are currently buried in a bag of rice, although after almost 3 days there is no sign of life to either.

Yesterday morning I cycled out into the mountains past Daxi. Great country roads with practically not a car in sight.  While I was climbing up one of the tiny mountain roads, I heard a sudden ping of metal snapping. I quickly looked to both my sides, praying that there was some farm equipment malfunctioning or another person working on some sort of machinery. No such luck. I looked down and saw my worst fear. A spoke in my back wheel had popped out.

For those who are unfamiliar with wheels. A spoke is the metal piece that goes from the center, or hub, to the outside, or rim. When the spokes are not tensioned properly the wheel will become unbalanced and structurally weak. If you have ever seen someone riding a bicycle with a wheel wobbling awkwardly, it’s probably a good guess that it has to do with their spoke tension.

I was able to crawl back into the closest village and find a bicycle shop. I waited for around thirty minutes for it to open before having them take a look. Unfortunately, I had to leave my bike there. After a long cab ride home, I had to start figuring out how I was going to get to work. Fortunately, some people at the dorms were able to give me a ride there and afterwards back to the bike shop.

The evening ended with me meeting up with some people at the night market and yet again trying some ridiculous foods. For those interested, the random body parts of chicken that normal people dare not consume, are really not too bad. The texture is awkward and the taste is quite bland.