Mmm, I'm in love with Taiwan's LYCHEES 荔枝

How do you like your lychee's? Out of a can? Perhaps with ice cream? Only in a martini? Never had one before?

I like my lychee's fresh. Fresh from a tree. Green bug bitten leaves intact. Stems and all. Smelling sweet and fresh.

We have been fortunate in Taiwan, having access to 'exotic' fruits such as guava, pineapple, papaya, various melons, mangoes and the sort. I love seeing my fruit growing in the roadside fields and then being sold at a roadside stand. I love knowing that the fruit was picked from the tree, stem and all to secure freshness, right before I bought it.

Lychee's just taste better that way.

To be brutally honest, I had no idea how lychee's grew until I came to Taiwan. I also had never seen rows of spiky pineapples shooting up out of the ground. And in Taiwan is where I spied green mangoes hanging from a branch, on random roadside trees. I will miss the ease, organic nature and family run businesses which supply us with our delicious  fruit here in Kaohsiung. I will also be missing the price on return to Australia...

My Ex-pat Dilemma: Friends

Travelling and living abroad has endless ups. New countries to explore, new places to find, new food to try, new people to get to know, new thoughts to have. BUT, it also has its drawbacks. When away from home there are some things which will be missed, and cannot be easily replaced. Some things last only for a little while - a mirage - and then the reality sets in.

The truth is, I miss my friends. We have now been apart for 4 years. Small visits within that time bring comfort back, but after the week, after the plane ride home, its gone. I think I have taken those friendships for granted. I assumed they would be easy to come by. Wonderful people like them can be found anywhere right? I was wrong.

Of course I have created relationships; colleagues and acquaintances, friends and foes. But nothing compares to that of real friends. Nothing comes close.

I feel comfortable being alone. Me and my thoughts, my meditation and projects. But sometimes, you just need it. You just need a friend to pop over, to watch a movie, to cheer you up, to take you shopping, to go for a run, to go for a drive, to cook dinner, to reminisce...

To be fair, this is the first time in four years that it has hit me this hard. I have met wonderful people, but I am sadly still not satisfied. I am not greedy. I am not selfish. I just miss my friends. That group of girls who will do something with you because you want to, not because they want to. Those girls who are up for a laugh and some fun any time, and if they aren't can be easily persuaded. Those girls who can read your mind. Unfortunately oceans have separated those minds and the girls do not know. It's too far away. I'm too far away. I'm too far away for them to know.

They can't be replicated and can't be replaced. They're one of a kind. Really. Years of getting-to-know-you are precious. Those awkward teenage years would bond anyone. Now, in a different phase, out of partying and into partners, weddings and babies, it's still the same. But it's different. I am out here and they are still there.

Perhaps it's time to bridge that gap.

Taiwan Traffic: A Graze with Death

Well, it very well could have been. I could have been. Dead. Too close for my liking. Way too close.

It went down something like this.

I was heading off to an 8pm Yoga class at Our Yoga House, which is very conveniently located at the end of my street, past the Husia intersection. I usually wear my black zip-up jacket to Yoga, but since it was raining, and getting dark, I decided to wear my white rain jacket. I distinctly thought it would make me safer against – scooters riding on sidewalks, cars running reds, the usual Taiwanese traffic terrors.

I waited for the light to turn green, and then cautiously crossed the road, making sure not to skid on the slippery white paint on the crossing. I was halfway across when I froze. Well, I didn’t really freeze. I don’t remember. From the corner of my eyes, on my right I saw a gold coloured 4WD coming towards me. I instinctively swung my upper body to my right, grazed my right hand on the grill and thumped my palms on the hood of the car.

I can’t remember what went through my mind. I remember looking at the middle aged male driver, anger screaming through my eyes, terror on my face, head shaking slowly from side to side at the imbecile behind the wheel.

He looked fearful. Perhaps because he was almost a murderer, sentenced to a life of guilt and prison, or perhaps because he thought in rage I might damage his expensive car, or perhaps he wasn’t paying attention and this was a close call. Perhaps he ‘lost face’ – a term thrown around here in Taiwan too much for my liking.

I regained my composure, although I felt like I hadn’t lost it too much. I slowly walked to the end of the crossing, left hip a little jarred from the quick turn, right knuckles slightly scratched from the connection to the grill, head spinning, breath unlikely slow and deep.

People stared at me as I turned around, got my little notebook out of my bag and wrote down the license plate of the almost death -car. ZL-3616. I really didn’t need to write it down as I kept repeating to myself to the short walk to the Yoga House.

Taiwan traffic is dangerous. A well-known hierarchy exists here. Trucks and buses rule supreme. They are the bullies of the road, followed by large, medium and small cars, then scooters, bicycles and finally the lowly pedestrian. Just because the green man says ‘go’ and there are no cars in sight, does not mean you are safe. 

Lesson learned.