Taitung with Jane
On the 14th - 16th January, I travelled to Taitung from Hualien to meet up with Jane Lau and her friend Perry.
If it was the me from a few months ago, I probably would've rejected this invitation because of the reluctance to step out of my comfort zone. But having lived through the most amazing 3 weeks of my life, it felt justifiable to continue making impromptu decisions like these. So off to taitung I went!
Thank goodness Jane is like half a Taiwanese who knows her second home well. Under her lead and direction, we managed to try many different food and travelled to many beautiful sites! It might be difficult to get to these places if travelling alone. So we rented a car!
AND I DROVE!!!!! WOOHOOOOO!!!
SUPER HAPPY!!! Thanks Jane and Perry for having faith in my driving skills :) to be honest I really love driving, so really wanted to try driving on this trip no matter what. So glad to get the chance so early on :)
AND I HAD THE HAPPIEST SLEEP OF MY LIFE IN TAITUNG ❤
Was supposed to head back to Hualien on 15th night to be in time for my morning shift on 16th. But thankfully Ah Qian messaged to say it's fine as long as I make it back before noon. So thank goodness for that! I had the chance to sleep in a treehouse!!!
Jane had already stayed at this place twice before this trip, so she brought us on her third time. The host, Uncle David and his Wife Nancy, had built the whole place on their own! It's called "美人歸" Nature's Paradise ("Beauties Return" if direct translation) because they hope their 4 daughters can have a place to return if they want to escape their busy city lives. What a beautiful idea right!
Basically it's up in the mountain and is quite difficult to find, and to get to our treehouse, we have to cross a wooden suspended bridge also built by Uncle David himself.
That's not all!
Apparently most of the things you see at their house, from furnitures to utensils to barsoap to the whiskey and plum wine and steps and houses, all these were built and made by him! It's really incredible. He said if he doesn't know how to get it done, he'll go learn and figure out on his own. So inspiring to meet a man like that.
And we also had some life lesson from him while he smoked and drank. Here are some points that I wanna share!
" 你現地有什麼你就想辦法利用它，不要去買其他。"
"Use whatever you already have and force yourself to figure how to solve a problem, instead of buying solutions/resources from outside."
"用智慧去賺錢，不要想用勞力來賺錢/你所要的東西，那你就永遠只會用勞力。"
"Rather than using manual labour/hard work to earn money, wisdom is more important. If your method of accomplishing something is through labour, then you'll forever be stuck in that loop.
"希望你人生的過程是精彩的，結局就算不是你要的，但過程是最漂亮的。"
"Hope your life journey is a beautiful and fruitful one, even if the end may not be what you have in mind, always remember that the journey/process is the most beautiful."
He also mentioned to always have a positive outlook in life. A few months ago, because of heavy rain and strong winds, one of the bridges he built had collapsed. He said he was devastated for 2 hours, but suddenly realised it was actually a good thing. Because this unfortunate incident had helped him avoid possibly an even worse outcome. If his Wife or Daughters had crossed the bridge another day while the safety of it was already compromised, he would have to face an even more upsetting consequence.
I thought these points are important and made me stop and really think about them. Hopefully they'll make you think too!
Definitely coming back here someday! Perhaps even to help out for accommodation! People like these restores my faith in humanity and really inspires our generation to step up our game.
Back in Hualien for now :) it's been 3 weeks already~ time is going too fast!!! Hope to continue to have fruitful encounters everyday until it's time to leave. Hope all of you reading are doing well! Miss you guys ❤
loves,
marilyn