Taipei update

I've been pretty lazy this week, but have gotten out a bit to check out a few places.

The Taipei Main Library is just east of Da'an park. There's a decent English language portion, study areas, newspapers, magazines, and wires for laptops. I got a library card (at the entrance, next to the checkout line) pretty easily. I'm getting used to people asking me to wait while they find someone who can speak English to deal with me.

Afterwards, I walked to the Linjiang St Night Market. I enjoyed a shaved ice dessert - I got almond jello, red beans, something I couldn't identify that everyone in front of me got, and tapioca balls. I chose my toppings by pointing - which is one reason I chose to get the dessert instead of a bubble tea, since it would be easier for me to order. With temperatures in the 30's, it's nice to have a cooling treat.

On Wednesday I tried to find the Eagles ultimate team, but apparently they're on break for two weeks. Luckily their practice field is near the ShiLin Night Market, so I spent the night walking around there instead. I got a Peppered Bun (Hu-jiao bing) - these are just like normal bao zi, but instead of steaming them, the buns are stuck to the wall of a small oven and baked. This gives them a crunchy texture. Inside is pork, green onions and black pepper.

Something common to night markets, and night shopping in general, is that there is usually someone standing outside the store with a microphone. Their job seems to be to talk non-stop to entice you to come in to the store. My Chinese isn't that great, but the bits I can catch are: "really cheap", "if you don't take a look, ...", "step inside", "50% off", etc. Sometimes you can hear the speaker from a few stores away and it takes a while to figure out which store is doing the advertising.

Thursday, I met old college first-year Pomeroy dorm-mates, Judy and Tina. They are both taking a break from NYC life visiting family and working for a short time. We met on YongKang St and Judy pointed out a dozen good places to eat. Tina met up with us after working at the hospital at one of her favorite Taiwanese restaurants. I already forget the name, but the address of the Da (Big) place is 65 Yongkang St, south of the main area. We went to the Xiao (Small) place which is further north around the bend. We ordered more dishes than we could finish and it was all really tasty. This place has a menu you write on to order - so if you can't read Chinese, you'd be ok just checking off boxes at random - it would still all be delicious and authentic. This place serves Taiwanese and new Taiwanese dishes.

This morning I woke up much later than expected. I think it was the combination of the Taiwanese beer and the late night addiction to Facebook that made me miss my target wake up time. Oh and lack of an alarm clock. I ended up jumping out of bed to run out and catch a cab to Shi Da for Orientation. I made it in time to get a seat in the small auditorium. There were supposedly 300 students there, out of 800 starting this quarter. Most students are from Japan and Korea. Only 17% are Americans and the majority are Asian (do I count as American or Asian? hmmm). I found out I'm in the 2 pm class (my fourth choice time slot) and picked up my book at the bookstore. I took bus 74 home, which is conveniently located just outside the MTC and goes straight up Fuxing N Rd to where I live. About a 20 min ride home. And about 1/10 the cost of a taxi.

Today I tried looking for a cellphone, after I realized that the one Lee Chen left behind isn't working. I went to FarEasTone on BaDe Rd, Sec 3 and talked to one of the 2 women working there. She offered me a Nokia phone for NT$3990 and a SIM card for $600. I wasn't ready to shell out that much money for a crappy looking phone. I was hoping to get a 6 month contract with a free phone, but they weren't offering. (At Orientation, they were offering youth discount cards [luckily with them, I still count as a youth since I'm under 30] - which supposedly get you a free phone to use for 15 days. Maybe I'll look into that. Oh and for anyone considering ShiDa, you'd also get the new student fee waived if you presented the card - so it'd be worth seeking it out before Registration if you have the time.)

Post cell phone hunt, I walked up north and stopped at AsiaWorld - where IKEA is located. There were tons of people shopping, but I didn't see anyone testing out the dining tables with a picnic dinner like Peggy has seen in China. In the mall, I checked out the basement food level, but there wasn't anything worth purchasing - mall food is overpriced, considering the wealth of cheaper food stands all over the city. So I headed back to my local night market on Liaoning St and got a Chinese Hamburger (NT$35). This is basically a freshly made folded mantou filled with meat, pickled veggies, crushed peanuts and cilantro. It was delicious! I also got some freshly rolled mochi products just a few booths down (NT$10-15 each). The peanut kind was my favorite.

Photo Collages

Photos of people (and animals) I met during my world travel from Oct 2006 - May 2007 in
France, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Taiwan, Belgium, and the Netherlands.




Photos of my US travel through California, Washington, Texax, Connecticut, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Minnesota.

Wo yao wan fei pan

Peggy just taught me the title - I want to play frisbee!
[Post edit: with tones, it's wo(3) yao (4) wan(2) fei (1) pan (2)]

But before I could play, I had to pass the time away. I walked down the road in search of my dad's favorite somewhat-nearby dou jiang place. I had looked before, but knowing the pin-yin name of a restaurant isn't really helpful (yong he dou jiang). My mom sent me the Chinese name (and slightly improved directions) and I was able to spot it. Because of the heat, I ended up with a cold tian dou jiang and a tasty bing and then a fan tuan to go. It took about 25 minutes to walk there, which is the time it takes to walk from the Nanjing Dong Lu MRT to the Daan station. There are closer dou jiang places, but this one is supposed to be superior. Since I haven't had the neighborhood one, I can't give a comparison, but I'll tell ya it sure hit the spot! I had the fan tuan for lunch and it was the best fan tuan I've ever had!

Afterwards, I walked down the road to Taipei 101, which I had visited before with Tuyet in March. She had gone up top (the tallest building in the world) and gave me a report on her return. It was still early in the morning, so they hadn't opened yet. I took a left and noticed a parade and drumming in the distance. In front of the Taipei Discovery Center, there were huge crowds of people carrying baskets of food and playing drums and walking into the building. Some were carrying signs (which I couldn't understand) and nearly everyone had a shirt that said "Hakka Speaking".

Inside there was clearly offering tables and a stage set up for something as well as an orchestra playing in the back. Everything was in a foreign language so I stepped out to continue on. I went to Eslite mall which also wasn't open yet, so I turned back. I had the choice of going straight towards Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, another place Tuyet and I had visited in March (and that I had really enjoyed - lots of different exhibition rooms filled with art and history), or back to the Taipei DC, which I hadn't seen before. At this point it felt like I was in a live PC game - a weird combination of King's Quest, Myst and Mario Brothers - where you have the option of exploring different alleys and buildings and interacting with people - and hope you are making the right choice to get a big pay off.

I went back to the Taipei DC and felt like it was the right choice right about when I saw this enormous pig cut down it's underside laying flat on a cart being rolled across the street. It was huge, disgusting, and completely eye grabbing. I followed it in where they put it next to the major offering table and flipped it over. I could see a little tuft of black hair on top, and its mouth held on to an apple. How quaint.




I ended up exploring the Discovery Center and it was well worth it (free). Some of the exhibits had English, and there was a lot of information on the history of Taiwan from the Qing Dynasty, to Japanese rule, to modern day life. They even have a neat-o theatre with a 360 view wall and rotating base - the 10:30 am show was on the Formation of Taipei, starting with the geologic events that created the island. The special exhibit on the 2nd floor was about Education in Taipei. I find museums around the world so interesting - in the U.S. it's often times hands off with No Touch signs. Here, you could touch a piece of one of the old gates that used to wall the city and there was a pile of rollerskates on the floor that kids would try on and roll all over the room - this to be an example of how exercise is a part of education.

Replica of Beimen (North Gate) - the real one was made of bricks - this one is made up of 2000 pineapple cakes!

I'm getting tired, so here's the sped up version:

• went to the Eslite bookstore around the corner and got sucked into reading the Taiwan Living Guide and a really delicious looking magazine called Taiwanese Cuisine
• went to the fields near Ding Xi station to play ultimate with the Taipei team
• accidentally joined the Taichung team and was overwhelmed by the number of Chinese on the team - where were all the expats?
• got pointed to the Wai-guo ren (foreigner) team warming up on another field - ahh, there's all the whiteys
  
• played a scrimmage with the Taipei team against a combo of the Taichung team and another - about 30 of them and 10 of us
• met one of the ulti player's (Tom's) student (Stanley) and his gf (Christina) and joined up with Jon and Rebecca (ulti players) for dinner at a Korean restaurant. Unlike in America where we us an approximation of the Korean names, everything had it's own chinese name. Bi Bim Bop is called something that roughly translates to "hot stone [something something - boy I have a terrible memory]". Tom also shared some of his mua-chi (mochi) and another mysterious item that I didn't try - but looked like jelly wrapped around a prune (mei-zu???)
• explored the basement of the Breeze Center - food galore - gosh I wish someone would pay me to eat here. I might just need to get a job so I can start splurging. I've been limiting myself to $1.50 or less meals.
  

Chinese version of Of Mice and Men

Life with PoPo

Day 4 and PoPo has just started talking a little less to me. Most times she can talk continuously until I say I'm tired and want to rest. It's good for me to practice my listening skills, but it really does tire me out after too long, or from topics where I have no vocabulary. Sometimes not long after I start my rest, she comes in and starts talking again. This actually works better if I'm lying down - somehow the effort of sitting up straight and doing mental translations is too much of a multitask.

I've enjoyed listening to her tell me about family - both from the past and current. There are certain topics that come up over and over, and others that are unique. Most of the conversation is one way, with some slight interruptions from me saying I don't understand (wo ting bu dong) or to ask for clarification (xx shi shen me?). Occasionally she will stop herself and ask if I understand. Other times she seems happy to have someone to talk to and will continue even though I clearly have no idea.

She sometimes gets frustrated with me for not knowing what she's talking about, but for the most part exhibits incredible patience and will describe things another way until I do understand. She knows the words get stuck in my head and one time she told me to just say it in English. It seemed strange for me to spout out my native language for a good 20 seconds knowing she couldn't understand - but she seemed to realize it would give me some relief to just get it out of me in one go.

One thing I don't understand is her adamancy in staying at home at once in opposition to us going out tonight. Yesterday, I thought we were going to go out together for her to show me a place to get dau jiang (breakfast soy milk) nearby -- and then before I knew it she was saying that she was full and didn't want to eat it. (The dau jiang topic also provides confusion for me since she talks about how good it is and where I can get it, but then says I shouldn't have it because I'll get fat.) I had ended up going out around the corner to pick up some freshly made bao-zi and brought them back. She thoroughly enjoyed one I gave her and today requested that I get more for her. I asked that she join me (truly because I thought a short walk outside would be good for her, but also because the people treated me like I was an incomprehensible alien and she would do a better job of ordering exactly the kind she wanted and I could learn by example), but she insisted on NOT going out. I think she said something about not wanting to talk to the neighbors about her children being in America and then them asking for money to buy houses**. So I ventured out on my own, but being Saturday, just about all of the normal lunch shops were closed (sadly).

Fast forward to 4 pm and she had clearly decided to go out with me. I couldn't be sure for exactly what, but I jumped on the opportunity and grabbed my purse. I thought at first we were going to buy fresh vegetables, but then I realized she wanted to go to a restaurant to buy some cooked food. Anyways, again, it being Saturday, the place was closed. So we walked around some, stopping in a small pharmacy that she insisted used to be a grocery store. At each shelf, she pointed out what they used to sell there. A good memory I think. We continued on and on, with her noting how much had changed. I think she even said it had been 3 years since she'd walked on one section of the street. We then decided to go to the Liaoning St Night Market.



At the first stall, PoPo spotted something that she wanted and could eat. There's a lot of things that she would enjoy, but there are only so many things that she can have given that so many of her teeth have fallen out and the rest are somewhat loose. So she sticks to soft things and soups. I'm not sure what she even bought, but as usual, it was cheap. We continued down the street, stopping in a hardware/knick-knack type store (where she spoke Taiwanese to the shopfolk and ended up with a heavy can of liquid, paintbrush, and a prayer dish). She marvelled at more shops of food, stopping to examine some or even buy some. Then after talking to one shopwoman, we turned around and headed for Da Lu Hua to get some laundry detergent. But every few steps, she would seem to not know where she was going and ask a nearby woman (Xiao Jie) where it was. We ended up following someone with a cart on her way there.

Holy Moly! Da Lu Hua is a HUGE underground store. I'm not sure I would have ever discovered it on my own. It's amazing how much exists underground here (yesterday I happened across the Underground Shopping Mall on Zhongxiao E Rd). This was a Bed, Bath and Beyond combined with Safeway and Circuit City - a sort of super Fred Meyer - but it being underground made it even more impressive. We got some detergent and toilet paper (which wasn't really toilet paper but looks like large travel Kleenex - PoPo didn't want the toilet paper roll because we don't have a roll dispenser) and stopped ourselves from buying more since we didn't have any bags and too many heavy items (I forgot to mention the bag of free dirt we had picked up along the way).

[post edit: Da Lu Hua in English is RT Mart, which is apparently a hypermarket - much like Walmart, but I've never seen a Walmart with its own bakery and fresh produce section. This seemed like a Walmart+]

[post edit2: The real name of "Da Lu Hua" is in a later post.]

**Note: Anything I write that someone has said should not be taken as truth, but only as my interpretation of their Chinese, which is often times wrong. These early posts are bound to be filled with mistakes and naivety as I accustom myself to this new land and language.

Yes that mango is as big as my hand and I'm looking forward to devouring it!

Helpful Taiwan Links

First Steps into Taiwan

• TPE = Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
• wiki info: regular wiki, travel wiki
• Taipei weather

Getting by in Taipei

• Taipei MRT - metro info
• Taipei Bus
• Taiwan Train - high speed and slow speed
• tealit = Teaching and Living In Taiwan
• Where to buy stuff in Taiwan
• Where to Eat in Taipei = excellent resource blog with pictures
• Forumosa.com = forums
• AIT = American Institute in Taiwan = info on doctors, visas, voting abroad, etc
• Taiwan Information for Foreigners = student and work visas, etc
• ** taipeiguide blog = this site has just about all the info!

Learning Chinese

• zhongwen.com = Chinese-English-pinyin resource
• mandarintools.com = Chinese flashcard program, online and download versions
• sinosplice.com = tone drills are excellent
• quizlet.com = flash cards (not chinese specific)
• soziety.com = skype based language learning program with flash card component
• chinesepod.com = podcasts for all levels - great for listening skills
• also see tealit and other forums (above) for finding language exchange partners
• tone combinations = audio explanations of tone combinations (thanks Matt and Peggy)
• tones explained = comparison to English for understanding tones (thanks Matt and Peggy)
• chinese dictionaries = french, spanish, english, chinese, etc (thanks Baba)
  
• Mouse Chinese Input = write a word online to get the definition/pinyin (thanks Baba)
  

Keeping Busy in Taipei

• ShiDa = National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), Mandarin Training Center - learn Chinese
  
• Renegade Province = Ultimate in Taipei
• Taipei Public Library - free wireless, newspapers, magazines, English books
  

Have anything to add? Let me know. Thanks to Matt, Peggy and Rebecca for suggestions so far.

Inglish

I registered at ShiDa this morning. I took the MRT, transferring twice for NT$25. I decided to walk to a different stop to see if it would be any shorter timewise, and ended up walking all the way home. On the way, I passed a "Coffree Shop" and a "Buty Shop".

I'll be in a Beginner class since I can't read or write and can only just barely speak and listen. Orientation is in a week, so until then I just have to get over jet lag and try to figure out how to get food.

I stopped at 8 Quarters for a Bubble Tea. It wasn't very good - the ice wasn't crushed and there were too many pearls. But it sure hit the spot to battle the heat and humidity here. I feel like the weekend in Vegas prepped me for this weather, but I'm still looking forward to it cooling off.

Week in Review

This is for my sister, who likes to read about what I've been doing.

Minnesota
So after Vegas, I parted ways with Christina and flew to Minnesota. My flight was delayed landing due to a big thunderstorm. We circled around the MSP airport for about 45 minutes before we were cleared to land. I slept through the whole thing, but when I got off the plane I heard that people could see lightning all around us while we were flying and that a bolt had hit the tarmac. I didn't think much of it until my friend Kristine found me at baggage claim extremely relieved. The power had gone out, including cutting the phone line, and she didn't know about the delay or if I had been waiting for an hour. The streets were flooded and so her fiance, Jim, had trouble getting to the airport. What should have been a 5 minute drive turned into a much longer ordeal.

Anyways, they got me safe and sound and we went home to Richfield, MN. Lucky me, I'd just been camping and had my headlamp handy to see my way around the house. Just their side of the street had power cut. I finally got to see Kristine's house, which really reminded me of childhood and going to her parents' house in South Windsor. It's got a very homey feel, and a similar kitchen counter to hang out and chat at. Besides darker hair, Kristine hasn't changed much, and so it felt like old times. It was hard to believe that 8 years has gone by since I'd seen her last.

I spent the mornings at University of Minnesota, St Paul campus, where Kristine will be pursuing a PhD in Economics this fall. She was taking a brush up math class in the mornings. In the afternoon, we hung out at her future mother-in-laws, who did have power, and running errands around town. We also had a nice lunch with one of her good friends. I can't remember the name of the place - an Irish? place on a corner somewhere that serves the largest sandwiches I've ever seen. We also took a nice walk around one of the 10,000 lakes MN is known for, which reminded me of Green Lake back home. And at the very end we made a quick stop at the Mall of America, which has an amusement park for kids within it and an aquarium. We ran into some students of Kristine (she was a high school teacher for 6 years, before resigning to attend grad school), which was fun to witness.

Washington
I flew into Seattle at an ungodly hour and took the shuttle around 3 am to Emery's. I was happy to crash in his king sized guest bed, but had a little trouble falling asleep as being back always makes the Seattle/Redmond memories do a 5 year instant replay through my head. I went into downtown Seattle in the morning to the TECO office to get my visa (6th and University). $100 fee gets processing done by the next day. Rush processing is same day. The woman at the office was extremely nice and I felt great leaving the office, sure to return the next day, getting things done ahead of schedule.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. My dad called me the next morning to say the TECO office had called him (I had put his phone number down since I'd be canceling my cell service soon). Apparently, I had run out of visa pages in my passport and they couldn't finish processing. Arg! I went in and tried to point out the blank pages, but I'd never realized those back pages are just for endorsements. I blame the US immigration officers who constantly stamp a random page in my book, instead of going in order. Due to 2 migrant stamps, the last 2 visa pages had been taken up unnecessarily.

So I ran to the Passport Agency on 2nd Ave, where you normally need an appointment to even see anyone. The security guard gave me exception for having an upcoming flight, but asked me to prove it. Silly me, I had put my ticket aside in a safe place at home in Redmond so I wouldn't lose it. So instead of fighting traffic and missing the 1 pm return deadline, I then ran/bussed to the International District back to my travel agent's. Lisa, of Asian Pacific Travel, was happy to print me a copy of my itinerary. I ran back to the Passport Agency with all the paperwork.

I stood in line to get a number. The young man at the desk flipped through my passport, noticing all the countries I'd been to recently, commenting on each one saying he'd been there as well. He asked why I needed more pages, and I told him I was going to Taiwan (one place he'd never been). He asked me what I do, and I could only respond after some hesitation, "I travel." I explained how I've funded it so far and he seemed impressed. He then suggested that I consider grad school and working for the national Foreign Service - a degree in International Relations might help get me a job to be placed abroad. He described some of the places he'd been and it sounded really intriguing. He was only sent from DC to Seattle for 2 months to deal with the huge backlog of passport requests.

As I waited I watched families go up and get passports for the first time, and several men who had driven from hours away (Spokane and Portland) making a point that they wanted their issues resolved during their scheduled appointment. After an hour, my number was finally called. The second man I talked to was also from out of town and had a good sense of humor. He got me processed through and said I could give me an appointment Monday or Tuesday. I pointed out that my flight was 4 am on Tuesday and he made the logical conclusions to get me back in on Monday at 11 am.

Fast forward to Monday - I went in to pick up my passport, which was a painless process. I then walked it back over to the TECO office, where for some reason, I thought they had already done the processing and would just stamp the visa in. With my luck, I should have known it wouldn't be that simple. The woman said nothing had been done and that I could come back the next day. I told her I needed it today and had to fork over the expedited fee ($36). She said to come back at 4:30 pm, just before closing and that hopefully the person who processes them would return in time. Oy!

In the end, I got my multi-entry, extendable visitor visa, good for 60 days, and extendable up to 180 days. In my time in Seattle, I also managed to sell my Honda (the sale of which will help fund the rest of my travels), see baby Atticus (who is extremely tiny and cute and has a great "power arm" move that I love), and move out of Emery's garage (big thanks to Angie and Sonja for housing my stuff). I even got to play a tournament: Spawnfest up north in Burlington with some friends from Traffic, and watch incredible games of the Japan teams vs the local elite teams (Riot and Sockeye) - #12 on Buzz Bullets may be my new favorite ulty player. I was also lucky enough to be in town for 2 Troutings -- all of which made me feel like I was missing Seattle before even leaving!



Taiwan
Theresa and Chewy kept me calm and on schedule in my last hours in Seattle, driving me around after I'd sold my car, helping me pack and doing the hundred last minute items I hadn't had time to take care of since most of it was spent unexpectedly fighting for a Taiwan visa. I went to the South terminal at SEAtac, which I'd never been to. Must be the Asian wing, as everything was written in Chinese. My EVA flight went smoothly in the Deluxe cabin, as did my immigration and baggage pick up. I took the Evergreen Express bus for NT$135 into Taipei to the Nanjing E Rd MRT station. The men who sold me the ticket assumed I could speak Chinese, and the man who announced the bus' arrival did as well. Things were straightened out and they were sure to pass the message on to the driver to make sure I'd get off at the right stop.

I arrived at my PoPo's place only to forget which buzzer to use! I ended up hitting all the buttons before someone let me in. I really haven't done much except unpack my 2 bags, listen to PoPo and use up all my brain power to try to understand what she's talking about (I'm guessing I only understand 30% of what she's saying), and as a result slept a lot (an evening nap, and sleep for the night). I'm only slightly jet lagged, having woken up at 4 am.

I still haven't met my cousin, who got in from work while I was taking my nap, and who returned home from dinner after I'd gone to bed. Hopefully I'll get to chat with him some time today.

That's the summary of the last 7 days!

I can't wait to be Leaving Las Vegas

Christina and I got to Las Vegas, NV yesterday. I've been here once before with Rice Bowl (my all Asian ultimate team) and really hated it (except for the part of playing ultimate). But we decided that we were done with the Grand Canyon - having seen the lovely north rim and the overcrowded, over developed south rim. So we kept on driving, stopping at the Hoover Dam and jumping in Lake Mead to cool off in the 110 degree weather.

We got to the strip and it only cooled down a couple degrees at best. We drove past and visited Red Rock Canyon for a scenic drive. Our attempt at walking a trail had me running back to the car to get in some shade. The sun is brutal out here!


About a mile on Calico II, 10 on the Grand Circle - where did we go? The choice was clear - about 50 feet back to the car and some sweet air conditioning.

I also finally realized that I never bought my ticket out of here! I had only reserved it a month ago. I guess I'm not used to the nwa site - I assumed my last button click was a 'purchase'. Ugh. It was also the day that I was doing a million things (packing for the long road trip, wilderness trip, searching for flights to Taiwan, finding out visa information, etc), so I can see now why the lack of a confirmation email from nwa would have gone unnoticed.

So I just bought a new ticket out of here, leaving a bit earlier and arriving in Seattle about a day earlier than originally planned. This should give me the time to organize my life a little better to prepare for the unknown future.

Gods, Hitchhikers and dirt roads

Spent yesterday driving through Valley of the Gods on our way back north. Even more amazing up close. On our way to Capitol Reef we stopped to see the Natural Bridges, including some speed hiking. In Capitol Reef we enjoyed some fresh baked bread, homemade pie and a few short hikes to boot. Beautiful - but after so many days, some of the features of each national site are starting to blur. Capitol Reef had bridges, striped sandstone, and threatening flash floods - much like other places we've been. We even met an old hitchhiker who had taken the bus into the area and walked to the campsite. He wanted a ride to the U-Pick Peaches place. We gave him a lift and saw him multiple times throughout our stay. We ended the visit with dessert at Sunset Point until it started to rain.




We camped in the Dixie National Forest for $9. This morning while heading towards Escalante we passed 4 frantic backcountry campers. They were on a 28 day training course for survival and one of their friends was suffering from kidney failure and needed immediate help. We gave two of them, Ben and Robert, a lift to their training site in Boulder, UT.

At the Escalante Visitor Center, we got some good info from the friendly ranger there. Most roads are inaccessible to us, due to their being closed or only open for 4WD vehicles. There's been lots of rain, and therefore flooding. I was a bit disappointed to hear it, but we made the best of it and went down Hole in the Rock Road to get to Peek-a-Boo and Spooky canyons. We also stopped for a quick tour of Devil's Garden (very different from the one at Arches). We also took the scenic drive on Hell's Backbone, but it was mostly just a drive through forest. The bridge and Christina's speedy driving around tight curves made it pretty exciting though.



We went to the local market to restock some food - and some the same ranger from the Visitor Center there (nice to know we are going where the locals go - not that there's much choice in this town). We are checked in at a fancy campsite with wireless...hence the update.

That's my update for now. I'm off to bed (i.e. sleeping pad in a tent under a tree).

Hot in Utah and a Dip in Arizona

Christina and I freed ourselves from free internet at the Peace Tree cafe in Moab, and returned to Arches for some more hiking. We viewed Delicate Arch from the Lower and Upper viewpoints. I gotta say I wasn't that impressed or psyched for the 1.5 mile trip to get up close to it. But the hike was pretty easy and up close it was a lot cooler. There's a cool bowl near it and a few other interesting formations. I think Devil's Garden was still my favorite, except for the exhausting heat on the way back.

We did some more driving around the park, seeing Balanced Rock and some of the Windows before heading back into town to the Lazy Lizard hostel, just south of the main area of Moab. Plenty of space left. We opted for the nearly empty coed dorms instead of the single occupied female dorm with an older woman who seemed to be examining her coin collection on the floor and talking to herself. A quick dinner at the Slickrock Cafe in town (corner of Main and Center) with a delicious salad (except for the really dry grilled chicken, that I tried moistening with some ketchup from a bottle that wouldn't aim straight) and then we were off back to the hostel for a much needed shower (I could rub the dirt off my legs -- it was disgusting) and sleep. I finally got a good night sleep and slept through past 7 am. Lately, because of outdoor camping, the sun wakes me up around 6:15.

Today we drove to the north entrance of the Canyonlands National Park. Had we known better, we would have gone to the south eastern entrance at the Needles. Instead we ended up at Island in the Sky, did a quick 1 mile rim trail to Grand View, took a quick peak at Green River and then left to return to Moab. We refilled groceries and ice and then continued south on 191 and then 163 to go to Monument Valley. The drive was beautiful. We took a side trip to Newspaper Rock (on the way to the Needles entrance), saw a half dozen deer (and cute spotted babies) grazing on the side of the road, and down further passed Valley of the Gods which was really impressive and continued to the MV visitor center. Unfortunately, they pretty much just had a 17 mile scenic drive on an unpaved road for a $5/person entry fee - which didn't seem worth it in our rented PT Cruiser.



So we turned back round and kept heading south on 163 til we got to Kayenta, AZ. We enjoyed the views of lightning striking behind the distant mountains and even a full arched rainbow during a brief rain. All the rooms at Holiday Inn and Hampton were booked...and the one room at Best Western was out of our price range ($109). The Anasazi Inn 12 miles west was also too much for lack of internet ($88), so we headed back north back to UT. The views during sunset were just amazing. We stopped in Mexican Hat, UT and found a decently priced motel with free wifi (Canyonlands Motel).

Colorado Done, Utah Begun

Again behind on the blogging. We sped through the rest of CO in 4 days - stopping at Maroon Bells near Aspen, driving over Independence Pass to Buena Vista, staying at a campsite in Gunnison, before spending a full day at Black Canyon - both north rim and south rim. We got caught in a fun rain storm while in the south rim, that cut our sightseeing short. We then continued to Ouray, stopping for the night again at a KOA. We enjoyed a chat with the pancake cook - who has spent most of his life traveling, including 11 years around South America once he bought a sailboat. He was quite supportive of our travels.


We then went to Mesa Verde, seeing lots of deer throughout the park and even a gray fox. We drove late into the night during a lightning storm that was fun to watch from a safe distance, to make it into UT in the dark.

We woke up this morning seeing it for the first time and it was clearly a different landscape. We drove 10 more miles to get to Moab, where we stopped at the Visitor Center to get info on our next couple days. We went into Arches - and it was amazing! We did a 5 hour hike through Devil's Garden and are now resting after finishing a couple smoothies in a cafe in town. We're hoping to check in to the Lazy Lizard hostel (highly recommended to us) and doing another hike through Arches.