A Couple of Cool Old Men and 12,749 Feet

I knew absolutely nothing about our (Gloria, Joseph and I plus our hiking club buddies) trip to Syue Mountain before leaving. Everything was a surprise. Since Taiwan is a relatively small island, I figured getting there would be a relatively short trip. Boy was I wrong! We left Feng Yuan on Saturday at 7:40 P.M. and arrived at our mountain hostel nearly 6.5 hours later at 2:00 A.M. The bus ride was perhaps the most grueling I've ever experienced. You know that feeling when you're completely exhausted but you just can't sleep? Well, don't worry, the bus driver clicked the tube onto the Yankees vs. Blue Jays game and we all know how exciting baseball is to watch on T.V., right? It's almost a toss up between baseball and golf with baseball barely edging out golf in the enjoyment category. I was asleep by the bottom of the 1st inning.

My first thought upon disembarking our chariot of fire was, "Wow, I'm breathing fresh mountain air!" This is certainly a novelty here in Taiwan. I was thrilled to be in nature with the sounds of bugs and frogs serenading me to sleep instead of cars, scooters and fireworks. I slept soundly that first night, although I never did catch the name of the guy sleeping next to me whom I most certainly clobbered with elbows at some point during the night seeing we were sleeping close enough for me to feel (and luckily not smell) his breath.


The Confucian group-mindedness was at times great cause for frustration for us individualistic Americans. These pre-hiking calisthenics were a wonderful opportunity for a round of laughter, though. I've never begun a hike this way before. The matching vests served to designate us as trash collectors. I thought it was a cool thing to help take care of the environment, especially while wearing the sexy vests.

Mr. Gi, the man wearing rubber boots, was one of our guides. This guy was a certified bad mamma jamma. He is 74 years old, ran a marathon last year...barefoot, spends 260 days out of the year on mountains, packed all of our cooking gear and most of our food and then cooked it for us (DELECTABLE!), and never spoke a word of Chinese. This added to his mountain man, untouchable aura as Taiwanese sounds so powerful and rustic. Keep in mind that the trail was 14 miles in length and changed from 6,561 ft. elevation at the trailhead to 12,749 ft. at the top, where Mr. Gi became a celebrity with a line of folks waiting to get their pictures taken with him. I was inspired by his endurance and his obvious joy at doing what he loves.



Dick was a climbing instructor on both Mount Everest and K2. He is now 74 years old and ran his last marathon 3 years ago. Doesn't this picture just scream mountain man? He was our other guide and since he spent a lot of time in English speaking climbing schools, we could communicate pretty well.



Our second night's, concentration camp-esque accomodations turned out to be a blessing as far as keeping warm goes. But, somehow, sleeping on plywood like a sardine with a roomful of 20 snoring people didn't lend itself to much rest. Luckily we got up at 3:00 A.M. to start hiking that day so we could see the sunrise. I don't know how much longer I could've endured rolling from side to side in hopes of catching a few Zs.


The rhododendrons were in full bloom and were spectacular.


Gloria, Joseph and I from the top of the trail. Often I hear people talk about going into nature to commune with God and to feel his presence in greater abundance. I certainly felt that on this trip, but even more I felt the inspiring power of human beings. The people I met and the already-existing friendships I deepened were definitely the highlights of the trip.