Just breathing the air . . .

Hello all.
Today was fun! I took off this morning (missing unfortunately, the final day of the DNC) on a mountain bike. I went North from Taitung up the coast. I passed a bunch of little fishing villages on the way, stopped for a few naps (I'm getting really good at those), had an excellent lunch of something that included an almost-black hardboiled egg), and went for a long swim. The mountains around here are incredible - probably a lot like Northern California, but I've never been there so I can't say. The difference is that the coast is nearly deserted for long stretches. I stopped at a huge abandoned hotel which looked like it was a fancy resort before a typhoon destroyed it. It lay in ruins (although it still looked like a good shell of a hotel), but I was able to benefit from its beach. The water was great and the surf was fun. I was the only person in the water as far as I could see. Many of the people who live on the Eastern edge of Taiwan are aboriginals - descending from ancient peoples who lived in Taiwan, mixed with Han Chinese who came here after the Dutch were booted out by Koxinga (1600s). Taitung is a very multi-cultural city, at least as multi-cultural as it gets here I guess. The people are SUPER nice - willing to help in any way. Most want to speak their few words of English, so I get huge smiles from people when I say "Hello" instead of "Ne-How". Lots of parents will push their kids toward me to get them to talk to me. It's really funny.
So after all that excercise today, I'm sitting in a smoke filled Internet cafe - trading in all those health credits I earned this morning. I can get high just breathing the air.
Since it's Friday, tonight I'm going to force myself to stay out late and go to the night market. I'm really bad at staying awake after being busy all day, but I'm going to do my best tonight. Last night, I broke down and bought a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. I've not been missing western food all that much, but it seemed like the thing to do. I also downed a few Kirins while I was at it and watched Rambo III. That's the one where he's in Afghanistan. It's still an awful movie - even after few beers.
Tomorrow I head out for Huilin and Toroko Gorge. I may finally get into the woods, but I'll see. I understand there's another typhoon coming. It would be just my friggin luck to come half-way around the world to hike and not get out of the city. I would have been better off just taking a three hour trip to the Smokey Mountains! I'll be in Huilin for four days before going to Taipei and preparing to come home.
Later.