Beyond Taiwan ~ a bend in the road is approaching

 Taiwan is famous for Earthquakes as I found out when I visited the museum,  They have kept this collapsed school building along with many other real life examples so we can learn about the devastating power of the Earth.  This happened in 1999.  It is shocking and sobering. Don't take anything for granted in life; we are not on solid ground.  In contrast, the burger remains me that Taiwanese can create the food of any culture and improve on it.  It would be impossible to spend 5 months on this island and remain unmoved.  On the right are some of the people that will draw me back here at some point, no matter what happens.  No visit to Taichung would be complete without a few rides on a motor scooter. On the right is Alice, my wonderful Chinese daughter.  We have shared some good times and more to come.  If I devoted the whole blog to Alice I could not do justice to who she is and the debt (in my mind; although she would disagree) that I owe to her already.  When I arrive in Xi'an next week I'll have the privilege of meeting Alice's Mom.  In this way the next chapter is starting to take shape.

That brings me at last to the strange coils of Pu'er tea (far left).  My Chinese adventures have been punctuated with the appearance of various kinds of tea.  I remain fascinated by the tea drinking traditions that span the vast breadth, both in time and space, of Chinese culture.  Like fine whiskey a good tea can significantly improve with age.  This can only hope to emulate.