The Painful Irony of Riding a Bicycle in Taiwan

Well, I said I was going to write more about my riding a bicycle to work, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. When I first moved to Taiwan, in spite of riding a motorbike for a year in the insane traffic of Bangkok, I decided that it was too dangerous to ride a scooter here. So instead I bought a bicycle which I planned to use for my daily 5k commute, until I could afford to buy a car.

Last night I was riding home from work as usual. As I was coming up a small hill, I stood up and shifted all of my weight onto one pedal to gain momentum. As I did so, I heard a loud CRACK! as the pedal snapped off the bicycle. I nearly fell off the bike, but instead I slammed my leg into the metal spike where the pedal used to be. I don’t know if the pedal shattered or simply fell off. I was in too much pain to think about that, and didn’t bother looking for the pedal on the ground.

Still, as painful as it was, I could see that the spike hadn’t torn my jeans so I thought the wound wasn’t serious. I rode on, with no pedal, for another kilometer or so. It wasn’t until I had to stop at a railroad crossing that I noticed a pool of dark liquid staining my jeans. At first, I thought it was oil from the pedal, but after I touched it and held my hand to the light I was startled to see that it was red, not black.

I’ve been known to be a wuss about such things. I still didn’t look at the wound. I was probably about 600 meters from home now, so I returned home before I finally took a look at my leg. What I saw was a nasty, gaping wound that was clearly in need of stitches. So off Nok and I went to the emergency room where they cleaned my wound, stitched me up, gave me two shots and five bags of pills.

I returned to the hospital this morning to have the dressing changed and to get a fresh batch of medicine. But it’s not over yet. The doctors are afraid of an infection, so I need to return to the hospital again on Saturday and again on Tuesday, and then yet again in two weeks to have the stitches removed. And even though I have National Health Insurance here, I’m still stuck with a good portion of the bill. Pretty crazy, eh? I bought a bicycle because scooters were too dangerous, and look what happened.

Anyway, for those with a strong stomach you can see a picture of my freshly stitched wound here. The shot was taken today, the morning after the accident.

My freshly cleaned and dressed wound.

The offending bicycle, now with only one pedal.

The nasty spike that bore into my leg. I’m looking into the possibility of taking legal action against the store where I bought it, so far it doesn’t look promising. At the very least, I’d like to have my medical expenses paid. I’ll write more as I know it.

Video Testing - Everyday

Just testing out video embedding. This is a truly creative video of a guy who took a picture of himself everyday for six years.

Tonlé Sap, Cambodia

After spending a day wandering around the temples of Angkor Wat, the ‘rents and Nok and I spent the next morning exploring a massive freshwater lake called Tonlé Sap.  The lake is just 10 or so kilometers away from Siem Reap and was just a quick ride on a tuk-tuk.

Apparently there is some sort of floating village in the middle of the lake which is a popular destination for tourists.  However, we were in no mood to pay loads of cash just to see a phony tourist village, and instead walked around ourselves to see the real deal.  The difference between Siem Reap and this lake village was astounding.  Siem Reap has seen a massive influx of foreign tourists in the last ten years or so, and as a result it is quite a prosperous place.  It’s a clean, quiet town with loads of five star hotels, a brand new international hospital and an international airport.

But just a few miles down the road, the reality of the harshness of life in Cambodia becomes evident.  Dirt roads, tiny shacks and begging children are the norm in Cambodia, and it is hard not to be moved by the people’s resilience in the face of such poverty.  We were greeted with smiles and hellos almost everywhere we went, no less in the poorest little village than in the shiny tourist haven of Siem Reap.

After spending an hour or so walking around the lake village, we hopped in our taxi and made the five hour trip back to Thailand.  In Thailand, we arrived just in time for the annual Loy Kratong Festival, which I will write about later.

A shot of the rents in the tuk-tuk, on the way to the lake.  It was pretty cramped with four people in the back of one small motorcycle buggy.

This was taken on top of a big hill just next to the lake.  You can see the lake stretching out into the distance.  It looked like more of a swamp in places.

Nok makes a new friend.

A view of the lake.  After coming down from the hill, we walked through the little village on the left.

Nok and the ‘rents take in the view.  It was pretty stinkin’ hot that day.

Walking back down the stairs.

This kid found Mom and Dad to be incredibly fascinating.  I guess he was confused about their names though, because he just kept saying “One dollar! One dollar!” over and over again.  I’ve always disagreed with the idea of giving money to begging children, so Nok gave him some orange juice instead.

Taken on the other end of the village.  The hill in the background is the one we had climbed earlier.

A shot of the hero and his mother.  My collar is up because I know how incredibly cool I look, not because I forgot to put on sunblock in the scorching sun.

A closeup of the lake.  There were little huts even out in the middle, accessible only by boat or a swim.

Chunghua and another Giant Buddha

Last Saturday Nok and I ventured the farthest away from Fongyuan since we arrived 6 weeks ago. We hopped on a train and traveled over to a place called Chunghua, which is the next county over and about 40 minutes on the train. Chunghua city is a little bigger than the one we live in, and is most famous for a hill that rises up in the middle of the city. The hill is covered with a nicely groomed park topped with a massive, 70 foot tall Buddha. This Buddha was a distinctly different style than the giant golden Buddha of Taichung.

To be honest, the icons and imagery of Buddhism have never really held much interest for me. As such, I really don’t know much about the different styles of Buddha found in all the many countries where Buddhism is practiced. But this particular Buddha seemed more in keeping with the traditional Buddhas I saw while in India and Nepal.

Not far from the hill park, Chunghua also harbors a lesser known Confucian temple. The temple is unique in that Confucian temples are not so common anymore, and this particular temple is more than 200 years old and built largely from wood. It was covered with elaborate woodcarvings and colorful paintings. All in all, Chunghua was a very pleasant city and definitely worth a visit.

The giant front gate of the Confucian Temple.

The front of the Confucian Temple.

We came across these dogs at the entrance to the park. This set of stairs was actually part of a university.

A shot of the giant Buddha from the front. Beneath, a massive fountain of carved dragons can be seen. Later, they blasted some Yanni and the fountains came to life.

A closeup of the giant Buddha. You could actually climb up inside it, as there was a sort of museum inside depicting the life of Buddha. The head was blocked off though, as going into his head is considered disrespectful.

Taken just in front of the giant Buddha. The city of Chunghua can be seen in the background.

This huge, four-story temple was just behind the giant Buddha. It was flanked by two tall spiral style temples and two long halls for the monks to live and study.

Inside the temple. There was something similar to this on every floor of the temple, with loads of Buddha statues and a huge open space for prayers and incense.

A vendor selling an assortment of eggs. I have no idea what animal these eggs came from, but they were massive. They looked more like potatoes than eggs.

By the time we started to walk back, the musical dragon fountain was in full swing. Nok and I sat and watched the fountain and listened to Yanni and Doraemon as the sun began to set.

Nok and I stopped for a photo on the way down.

 

Thanksgiving at Angkor Wat

I first went to Angkor Wat four years ago, during my second tour through Southeast Asia. At that time, I never would have imagined that four years later I’d be back on Thanksgiving day with my parents! It’s really unbelievable, but I have to say I think it’s fantastic. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad are pretty atrocious (Brosius?) about sending updates and even more terrible about sending pictures. So I’ve taken it upon myself to share some details from our excellent trip.

When they came, it was less than two weeks before Nok and I were due to fly to Taiwan. They arrived on Wednesday evening at Bangkok’s new “Suvarna-crappy” Airport. Nok and I picked them up at the airport, then we spent the night at my apartment in Bangkok.

After less than five hours of sleep, we headed out bright and early the next morning on the road to Cambodia. We hopped on a Casino Bus that left from a shopping mall just down the road. People from Bangkok love to flock to the little casino village that’s been built just across the Cambodian border, and everyday the casinos run buses along the four hour route to bring in the gambling addicts.

So, we posed as degenerate gamblers and hopped aboard. Four hours later, we arrived at the border. Poipet is the name of the town on the Cambodian side. It is a pretty horrible place, and even before you leave Thailand you’re immediately attacked by dozens of scummy conmen trying to swindle you out of some cash by “helping” you with your Cambodian visa.

The town itself, like much of Cambodia, is like something out of the wild west. It is completely disorderly and dirty, with bumpy dirt roads full of bicycles, motorcycles, carts and cars. You have the feeling that this place truly is no-man’s land, and almost miss the security of the money-hungry police of Thailand who will at least help you if you bribe them.

Across the border, the ‘rents and Nok and I secured a “taxi” that would take us to Siem Reap, some 170 kilometers down treacherous, crater-hole pocked dirt roads. Mind you, this “road” was a national highway! A trip that on ordinary roads would take two hours took nearly five.

Along the lonely stretches of highway, it was clear why only a few years ago traveling by road was unsafe in Cambodia. Even today, stories of highway bandits and robbers are not unheard of. In fact, when I first went to Cambodia four years ago, I read that it was unsafe to take trains in the country, as they were very often held up and robbed.

But we arrived safely in dengue fever infested Siem Reap and spent a comfortable night in our $8 hotel rooms. And yes, we did pay in US dollars. The Cambodian currency is so devalued that in Cambodia, people can pay with US Dollars, Thai Baht or Cambodian Riel.

The next day we headed for the temple complex, and spent the day riding on a modified motorbike buggy (called a tuk-tuk) exploring the ancient temples of Angkor Wat.

Nok and I standing in front of the main temple of Angkor. This is the largest religious structure in the world, and is still used after almost 900 years.

Nok and the ‘rents standing behind the main temple. Unfortunately, we were unable to go to the top of the temple as they were doing some reconstruction.

Walking towards Bayon temple. On the last trip, this had been my favorite. But there were way too many tourists this time around. Still an interesting place.

Mom and Dad standing under some giant faces. Bayon temple is famous because it’s full of these giant, four-sided faces.

These stairs are much steeper than they look. That’s me in the green.

Dad has a go up the stairs. Not bad for double nickels, eh? There was a wooden set of stairs built up the backside for the sane. That little wooden sign on the bottom there says, “Danger, No Climbing!”

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Well, my internet connection is not working very well at the moment. I can’t upload any more pictures. But this post will continue soon, with pictures from my favorite and definitely the most mysterious temple, Angkor Thom.

Cambodian Signs

The best things to see and do in Taiwan are only accessible by car, as the trains don’t go into the mountainous interior, and the public bus system is only useful to those who have days and hours to burn. As such, I’ve (foolishly?) decided to work seven days per week for my first few months here, to save up money for a car as quickly as possible. By my calculations, I should be able to purchase a beastly second-hand Ford Fiesta by April.

So until then, I’ll be kept rather busy teaching littluns in the week and biguns on the weekends. I’m only working four hours a day, but throw in the learning curve in the job due to this being my first gig with kids, a nasty cold going into its eleventh day and sub-60 temperatures that keep my Bangkok-adjusted knees a-knockin’, and you have a foolproof recipe for laziness.

So I give to you two simple photos of signs from Cambodia, taken during my Thanksgiving trip to Ankgor Wat with the ‘rents. More on the trip will come soon, I promise.

From a toilet inside the Angkore Wat park. No Smoking. No standing squats on the toilet seat. No feet washing with the bum gun. No showers with the bum gun. For those who have never been to Southeast Asia, I’ll give you one guess what the “bum gun” is for.

 

This little gem of a sign was posted just outside my hotel room in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I really felt secure knowing that my hotel prohibited guns, grenades and drugs.

The Scroggs Blog

I can’t believe it’s actually come to this… I’ve started a blog. I always used to think they were cheesy and pretentious, but I’ve finally jumped on the old blog bandwagon. The last straw was really when the ‘rents got one, or at least sort of got one. And then Micah got one, and well, I just started feeling left out. So after no ado, here it is.

I’m sure anyone reading this will know that I’m currently in Taiwan. I’m staying in a small (when compared to my old home, Bangkok) city called Fengyuan in central Taiwan. The city sits on the edge of the vast chain of mountains that covers the eastern two thirds of the country. I can the see the mountains from my apartment, and hiking trails are just a few miles away.

After three years of the traffic and pollution of bustling Bangkok, I am very happy to be here. The air is clean, the weather is cool and the food is tasty. I’ve taken a job teaching at a language school in the next town over. It’s definitely a new experience for me as I’ve only taught adults previously, but my students now are aged anywhere from 6-13. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the younger students are actually a great laugh to teach. They are overwhelmingly polite and respectful, and laugh at almost everything I say and do. The 10-13s, on the other hand, have entered the phase of disrespecting any form of authority whatsoever, and won’t even answer a question as simple as “What’s your name?” A kid named Bicycle got to spend an hour in the corner yesterday.

I hope to keep this blog up to date with all of my experiences here and wherever else I may roam. I am very excited to be in a new country again and look forward to seeing and experiencing all that this mysterious emerald isle has to offer.