Below the Tropic of Cancer

Below the Tropic of Cancer

John and I arrived in Taiwan yesterday. Life is good where there’s plenty of sunshine. Winter, schwinter no longer. Today, temps were in the high 70s, and I was running around in a tank top. Yes, my poor friends in SH and DC… they’re really missing out.

Besides basking in the rays, we’ve also been stuffing our faces nonstop with savory Taiwanese dishes and sweet, superfresh fruit. Ahh, the bell fruit never tasted so good.

The relatives are all well. I met up with most of them these last two days, including gramps, three aunts, three uncles, seven cousins, two nephews, and one niece. Gramps is 84 y/o but still very active. A few weeks ago, he went to the doctor for a visit. Thinking gramps was like any other 84-y/o, the office called him in advance advising that he prep some clothes just in case he needed to stay overnight for tests. Nope. He was in and out in an hour. The only doctor’s orders? Don’t ride the motorcycle. Getting too old for that. Little did doc know, gramps took himself to the appointment– by riding his motorscooter! Hey man, his hair is still jet black (no artificial coloring). The dude is probably healthier than John and I are. Every morning, he does his exercise sequence and then greens his thumb (am I coining a new phrase here?) planting rose bushes, corn, potatoes, what have you. Active man. And here I am vegging in front of my lappie. Yes, I feel blubby and lazy.

We went to Cheng Qing Lake the other day. It’s a sizeable park on the outskirts of Kaohsuing. It reminded me of one of the parks in downtown Hong Kong. Had that new, urban planning feel to it. We had quite the city caravan going too– four cars darting from one scenic spot to the other. Taiwan seems nicer than I remember from my trip here two years ago. Maybe living in China has lowered our expectations regarding quality of life. I’m not really sure. It could just be the warm weather. At this point, that’s key in winning me over.

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