To the moon... and beyond!!!
Well, I went to the moon today with Audrey from Taipei. After walking on the moon, I climbed to the top of an active and erupting volcano!
We started by going north, towards the Fo Guang Shan Bhuddist temple, then we got lost a little and the locals gave us opposite directions. But, we found this cool place called "Moon World", it actually looks more like Drumheller dinosaur park.
After that, we drove another 20 minutes to the famous mud volcano. It was very depressing, we got there and someone had dug a small hole in the ground, the size of a kitchen sink, and there was a pool of mud with little tiny bubbles coming up. I took a small video. But then, I heard this big bubbling noise and there were two mounds of mud, one was 20 feet high and the other maybe only 12 feet. The high one was mudded shit, but the smaller one had a huge cauldron of muddy water and huge bubbles would blast out of the surface spraying mud down the sides sometimes.
Did I climb it? Yes.
Were there warning signs? Yes.
Was it considered an active volcano? Yes.
Am I a foreigner in Taiwan? Yes.
Does this give me a license to be stupid? Most locals would argue that it's beyond our control.
So, I climbed to the "summit" of the volcano, up a slippery slope of mud that feels like soap. I wonder if it was a good thing to do, because when the big bubbles came up, I could feel a rumble under my feet first. On the good side, I felt the sides and they were warm, but not hot, and the bubbles had no smell and so I stuck my hand into the bubbling mud. It was nice and warm and when the bubbles came, it felt really weird. Ummm... I will not try to defend my actions, but if I'm going to die, dying in a volcano is pretty damn cool, or hot, I should say.
It was nice to get out of the city, into some fresh air, we left after sunset though the bugs like to come out then and into my face. Next time, Ii will wear my visored helmet.
Down in "Moon World", it was mostly fruit orchards and the poured cement roads were not so great and some had huge chunks missing and large canyons beneath, I was careful where I drove.
P.S. In Chinese, Mountain is "shan". Hill is "Small mountain", volcano is "fire mountain", tunnel is "mountain hole".
We started by going north, towards the Fo Guang Shan Bhuddist temple, then we got lost a little and the locals gave us opposite directions. But, we found this cool place called "Moon World", it actually looks more like Drumheller dinosaur park.
After that, we drove another 20 minutes to the famous mud volcano. It was very depressing, we got there and someone had dug a small hole in the ground, the size of a kitchen sink, and there was a pool of mud with little tiny bubbles coming up. I took a small video. But then, I heard this big bubbling noise and there were two mounds of mud, one was 20 feet high and the other maybe only 12 feet. The high one was mudded shit, but the smaller one had a huge cauldron of muddy water and huge bubbles would blast out of the surface spraying mud down the sides sometimes.
Did I climb it? Yes.
Were there warning signs? Yes.
Was it considered an active volcano? Yes.
Am I a foreigner in Taiwan? Yes.
Does this give me a license to be stupid? Most locals would argue that it's beyond our control.
So, I climbed to the "summit" of the volcano, up a slippery slope of mud that feels like soap. I wonder if it was a good thing to do, because when the big bubbles came up, I could feel a rumble under my feet first. On the good side, I felt the sides and they were warm, but not hot, and the bubbles had no smell and so I stuck my hand into the bubbling mud. It was nice and warm and when the bubbles came, it felt really weird. Ummm... I will not try to defend my actions, but if I'm going to die, dying in a volcano is pretty damn cool, or hot, I should say.
It was nice to get out of the city, into some fresh air, we left after sunset though the bugs like to come out then and into my face. Next time, Ii will wear my visored helmet.
Down in "Moon World", it was mostly fruit orchards and the poured cement roads were not so great and some had huge chunks missing and large canyons beneath, I was careful where I drove.
P.S. In Chinese, Mountain is "shan". Hill is "Small mountain", volcano is "fire mountain", tunnel is "mountain hole".
posted by Colin at 1:32 AM
2 Comments:
That sure looks weird! What a different world to climb...Glad you had fun and were "careful".
Breta
Actually, it looked like the closest thing to home. It loks exactly like the hills in Drumheller, not the Hoodoos.
Colin
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