Going Out

Independent Trip to Japan

During the first week of September, all the children below university age had already gone back to school. My mom and I figured that Japan might have fewer tourists once school started, so we booked flights from Taichung to Kobe¹ for a six-day, five-night trip. We discovered a few fascinating things:

1. Japanese people really aren’t good at English
   In my experience, once we left Universal Studios and the airport, everyone’s English went from understandable to gestures plus translation software. When I was leaving Japan, I was stopped at security because one of my duty-free purchases contained liquid exceeding the limit for carry-on luggage. After a lot of gesturing, customs brought out translation software. We went back and forth for ages before I was finally allowed through; they almost opened the duty-free item.

2. I can actually understand some Japanese
   Watching anime since childhood has paid off. My Japanese has improved enough for me to understand the announcements on trains. But only when listening: my umbrella had disappeared ages ago, and I couldn’t say or read anything about it. The only Japanese I can speak is extremely rude anime Japanese.

3. You don’t need an Express Pass at Universal Studios
   If you go on a weekday, there really aren’t many people. We spent both days in Japan at Universal Studios, and had unlimited access to Super Nintendo World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. By the second day, I didn’t know what else to do. I had ridden everything I dared to ride, and the fun attractions two or three times. The only thing that slowed me down this time was my stamina.

Photos are here.

Beipu Old Street

The day before going to Japan, I checked the weather and saw that it would rain during our days at Universal Studios. My umbrella had disappeared ages ago, so I went to Carrefour to buy a large one. When I opened it there, I discovered that its central shaft was broken. It would automatically close after being opened. What a self-closing umbrella; no need to press a button, it closes by itself. When the umbrella suddenly closed, the droplets on it would fall from their inertia, so I experienced several showers from the sky at Universal Studios. After returning, I picked a day to have the umbrella repaired. Since the repair shop was close to my home, I went home. Then my dad suddenly asked whether I wanted to go out the next day. Before long, we had left without even knowing where we were going.

We drove north and decided to visit Beipu Old Street, but then saw Emei Lake along the way and turned in. There is a short wooden walkway around the lake. Following it along the shore, we saw a small island in the middle of the lake, with a temple and a giant golden statue of Maitreya Buddha. After walking around the lake, we decided to look at the island. We stopped on a steep slope in front of the bridge leading to the settlement at the edge of the island.² There wasn’t much to see inside, so we walked around once and left.

We eventually got back on track and drove to Beipu Old Street. However, because we had eaten something on the way, we couldn’t eat much once we arrived. The best things were the almond tea at the temple entrance and the almond tea slushie!! There seemed to be lots of delicious shaved ice on the neighboring street too, but I was simply too full. I’ll have to try it next time.

Sanjiaonan Mountain

This mountain is said to be one of the most difficult Xiao Bai Yue peaks. The day before setting out, we had originally planned to camp near the Zengwen Reservoir, but the reservoir had risen above its full level to an extraordinary extent, flooding the nearby Lakeside Park and creating a sight rarely seen in several years.

That night, we stayed at Jumping Farm near the trailhead. We started hiking after eight the next morning. The route was basically divided into two sections. The first was an access road with a gentle uphill slope the entire way. The road appeared to follow the traces of an old vehicle road, becoming more neglected as we climbed. We kept walking until we reached a bend with a concrete wall to stop vehicles from driving off the road. A pile of gloves left by previous hikers sat on top, indicating that the rope section began there. Once the steep slopes requiring ropes started, we had to keep pulling ourselves up until the summit.

Cafes

Celaffee Cafe

One day, after visiting SunnyHills, I stopped at this cafe for dessert. The pistachio tiramisu was delicious!

School

Dormitory

After school started, I moved in with three graduate students. One seems to spend all day reading papers, one plays MapleStory all day, and one is either in the lab or in a band. Four people sharing one room in the old men’s dorm is quite cramped. I got used to a double room last year, so this feels especially crowded. Just like last year, I still don’t know my roommates’ names. My freshman-year roommate now lives directly across from me, and I keep going to his room whenever I have nothing to do.

Oinkoin

This is an open-source expense-tracking app that I quite like. It lets you record multiple profiles at once and keep accounts in several wallets. Unfortunately, it didn’t have Traditional Chinese, so I contributed a translation! Once the author releases the next version, I’ll be able to use my own Chinese translation!

Footnotes

1. Fun fact: Kobe is called Kobe because the English name of 神戶 is Kobe. Apparently, this is because his father liked eating Kobe beef. ↩

2. It was my first time parking on such a steep slope. Very exciting. ↩