Scooters for sale!

So we were 2 months away from leaving Taiwan, and it came time for us to start advertising our scooters for sale.

I was very saddened by the prospect of having to part with Excalibur and the Juggernaut. They had both served Amanda and I well. We’d had a mix of great adventures and terrifying near misses on both scooters. Nevertheless, Amanda and I would both miss the freedom, independence and convenience that they provided us while we were in Taiwan.

When we first arrived, friends advised us to “get a scooter as soon as you can, it opens up the city and makes life so much more enjoyable.” They were absolutely right, and I would absolutely pass on the same advice to anyone new to the Island.

As it happened, we ended up selling the Juggernaut to an ESL teacher that had been in Taiwan for a while and was looking to upgrade. I hope he’s still enjoying it!

Excalibur met a less fortunate ending. I did find an ESL teacher that was new to Taiwan and wanted to buy the bike, but unfortunately when I went to the motor vehicle bureau to get the bike transferred into her name, it did not pass some kind of inspection. The inspector tried to communicate with me through a series of hand gestures, grunts and repeating the words “light, no good, must change”. I tried exchanging hand gestures, grunts and showing him that the headlight was in perfect working order, but didn’t seem to have any success getting my point across, or understanding the point he was trying to make. I think maybe it was the wrong type of headlight for that bike. Transfer of title unsuccessful, I ended up having to give the scooter back to the shop from which I bought it and I pretty much just got scrap value for it. More than likely the whole issue of it not passing the inspection as well it only getting scrap value from the bike shop had to do with us having been in an accident where a taxi t-boned us by doing a u-turn in the middle of the road and quite badly damaging the scooter. Given that we came out of that incident unscathed, I’m not too bitter that the only consequence was us losing out a few thousand NTD when it came time to get rid of the bike.

Excalibur: Rest in peace. She might not have had a very high top speed, but swift and nimble, she could get going off the stop line with one heck of a kick! 

The Juggernaut: Strong and sturdy. Many an adventure had we t'gether. May ye serve well your new master and carry them safe t'wherever tis they go.

Gaomei (高美) Wetlands and a Driving Lesson at the Port

On Saturday, after a hearty brunch, we headed towards the Taichung Port for part 2 of my scooter driving lessons. (My first attempt was too embarrassing to blog about - mostly a lot of screaming while I drove in straight lines back and forth across a cemetery parking lot).

It was quite a long drive to the Port, and when we were almost there we noticed a family on a scooter in our vicinity who had some beach toys with them. We decided to follow them and see what sort of beaches might be in our area! We weren’t disappointed. We found ourselves on some vast, deserted stretches of highway surrounded by rows of enormous, white wind turbines. The ocean breeze and the smell of the sea made the hot day so much more bearable! Eventually, we came to the Gaomei (高美) Island wetlands; a flat, sandy intertidal zone home to tons of crabs and sea birds. We hung out near a small snack street where vendors were selling fresh seafood, sweet grilled sausages, and lots of sandals and water toys! We also saw a temple surrounded by pristine rice paddies. The temple seemed to have been in the midst of renovations when the construction site was abandoned. We weren’t really sure what the circumstances were of its construction/renovations, but it had some spectacular stonework.

After we’d taken a look around Gaomei, we drove back past the windmills to Taichung Port for my driving lesson! Brett had already shown me the basics the previous weekend, and after a little more instruction this time, things went really smoothly! It felt pretty natural! Brett was a very patient teacher even after I insisted I needed to drive in circles around the parking lot about fifteen times before I was ready to go home. If you ever need someone to teach you to drive a scooter, Brett comes very highly recommended!

This weekend was bittersweet, however - we had to say goodbye to a couple of friends we’ve grown close to as they began their return trip home. It was sad to see them go, and I hope we’ll see them again in the near future!

Gaomei (高美) Wetlands and wind turbines

Gaomei (高美) Wetlands

Amanda at Gaomei (高美) Wetlands

Unfinished Temple at Gaomei (高美)

Amanda's Scooter Lesson

Zoom zoom!

Lean!

Beep beep!

Scooter Milestone!

Today Boje took on his first scooter passenger - me! He picked me up from work (grumble Saturday mornings grumble) and scooted me to lunch all under the watchful eye of our more experienced scooter-driving friend. I do love planning for contingencies. Riding with Boje has opened a whole new world of dinner possibilities, and when Boje’s more comfortable we’ll be able to head out of town at our leisure! Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll capture and post pictures soon.

In other news, for those of you we haven’t caught up with lately, teaching is going really well! We’re both a lot more comfortable with our curriculums and we’ve been getting to know some of our students and coworkers really well. It’s Saturday night, we have nowhere to be in the morning, and our bellies are full of pasta and a familiar wine we’d been missing from back home. All is well in Taichung.