Kaohsiung kindness

I promise to post a pile of pictures soon. My battery died tonight in the midst of my walking session.

I had a funny day.

I started out seeing the Taiwanese Museum of Literature in Tainan and was given a personal tour by a guy, "Paul," who'd lived in the USA for a few years and was keen to share his knowledge and English with me. Afterward, I hopped a train to Kaohsiung, which was sort of poo-pooed in the guidebooks and by everyone else here. But I love Kaohsiung. It's a port town. I have an affinity for port towns, so it wasn't a hard sell. Add the former British Consulate on the hill overlooking the harbour (which is now a cafe and museum) and a smattering of art-culture areas, such as the Film Archives, a large Central Park with "Art Spotlight" and the Love River area and I've decided that this is my favorite city in Taiwan.

After I'd whiled away a couple hours on the hill of the British Consulate, I wandered down the stairs to the bus stop and tried to figure out which bus to catch. This proved difficult, since it was all in Chinese. My feeble attempt at Chinese translation by comparing my map to the sign was a complete failure. I finally asked a group of strangers if they could help. After a bunch of back and forth (a Japanese lady who spoke English and Chinese was conferring with her Taiwanese friends), I hopped into a Lexus SUV with two locals and a Japanese couple to get a ride to the nearest subway station. People here are really sweet. Honestly.

In other thoughts, I've been unemployed over a month and a half. It's hard to believe it's been that long. But then it feels like only yesterday I was leaving Portland and that was a year ago. Well. Whatever. I am very happy with my wandering lifestyle. Daily, I think how amazing it is to be having this experience. I feel like I am part of the whole world and we are all connected.

There is something to being "peace" and sharing that peace with the world.