The Beauty of Taipei

I met an American guy on the bus when I was in Taipei last month. I was going back to my mom's apartment in Xi-Zhi from downtown Taipei. He sat next to me with a hand drawn map in his hand and he looked puzzled.

As a friendly Taiwanese, I asked him if he needed some help. He was glad that I offered the help because he was totally lost.

He told me he's an English teacher and that he's going to Xi-Zhi elementary school which is near by my mom's home. I told him not to worry, we get off the bus at the same stop.

Then we had a short conversation.

He's from California and has lived in Taiwan for a few years. He doesn't really like Taipei too much because its "too city".

I'm just the opposite. I love the city. Even though I like the country I think cities are more interesting--especially a city like Taipei where is always something exciting going on.

When the bus was going over a bridge we caught view of the mountains and he said "look, that's the best part of Taiwan".

"What?" I asked.

"Those beautiful mountains".

I fell into silence.

He's right.

I thought about when I first arrived in Florida. I was so bored by the flat coastal plain and the muddy swamp, and I missed Yang-Ming Shan in Taipei, the beautiful mountain on which cuckoopints grow, capped with hot springs on top.

The next week, after that conversation on the bus, I took the MRT from downtown up to Guan Du. I saw Yang Ming Mountain and Da Tun Mountain, a spectacular scene. I was amazed, as if I had never see them before.

Taipei is a big city in a basin, surrounded by mountains. It rains a lot, no matter whether its spring, summer or winter. It's humid in summer and there are a lot of earthquakes and typhoons. But if you want to get out of city to hike or swim, it takes only few minutes to get into the mountains or the beach.

That's why Taipei is so wonderful, and you're never bored if you live there.

Sometimes we forgot how beautiful it is, because we have lived there too long and are too used to it.

Only when we look at it as strangers, like that American guy, or when we're away too long, like me, that’s when we see its beauty again.

Comments

[Kelly]

Dear Anais
you are the one who lead me into blog's world
I am so happy that I know it from you
maybe you don't remember me tho, hehe
I love this articles
我一直到了大學才真正越來越發現台灣的美
雖然我一直是個愛好大自然的人
但是卻沒有發現台灣真的什麼都有
所以到了大學擁有自己的相機才開始拍下屬於台灣的美
一直想要建個網站寫有關台灣的事
想讓更多外國人認識台灣,當然也希望能讓更多台灣人珍惜我們所擁有的
不過卻遲遲都還沒開始動作... :P
等我有一天做好了一定告訴你^^

[青]

我也是來了佛州後, 才知道台灣真是個小而美的寶島!
"愛", 真是在離開以後, 才能懂得!

[kwei]

cannot agree more!
those lush green mountains, covered in veil of the afternoon rain
take a peek and i know i'm home

[KFC]

NO MSN Messenger

[Anais]

Mass Rapid Transit

[KFC]

MRT?