A Man & His Stick Walking The 9 (Part Two)

By Joshua Dent

Screw Air B&B Tonight!

I left the windows open, and the keys in the ignition.

My left hand swung the driver side door open.

I planted my two feet on the ground.

I didn’t have the same ring of sweat in the middle of my back as I did last year

I did not stop because I wanted to take in the sunset. I did not stop because I wanted to look at the mountains behind me.

I did not stop because I wanted to go swimming.

I stopped because I needed to retrace my steps from the previous year.

I needed to retrace my steps just as quickly as I abandoned my Air B&B destination of Fangliao for the night.

Have You Heard?  Last Year Sucked (for me), This Year Rules (for me)

I was at this same beach, in Fengshan, in one of the most desperate times of my life last year.

At 4 p.m., on a 34 degree day (34 Celsius, 34 Celsius= 94 Fareneheit), I came here the previous year.

Last year, I jumped off my scooter. I headed right for the dead center of the beach.

I hadn’t prayed for at least 15 years.

Last year, I kneeled down and just asked for somebody to stop my pain.

Last year, the constant fighting with my ex, and being stranded 13,000 miles away from home, without a caring soul in reach, became unbearable for me.

On this Friday afternoon, I raced towards the center of the beach.

On this Friday afternoon, no need to pray existed.

The Need to Be Different

Before racing to the dead center of the beach, my notebook rested against the roof of my car. The ocean breeze kept me from sweating like a whore in church.

The words jumped in a straight line from my head, to the page.

Families in the outdoor coffee shop just to my right gazed onward at me.

I kept writing.

I wrote mostly about my two day plan to walk 100km from Fenggang to Taitung.

I kept writing about why I wanted to do it.

It was a bit dangerous with the extreme heat I was going to face.

I kept writing about if I was just doing it for attention.

I wrote about why I couldn’t just ride my bike across the highway.

Why did I always have this need to do everything different?

The need to be different annoyed me.

The need to be different excited me more than it annoyed me.

Stop The Writing, Stop The Selfies, Be A Wild Man

I finally put my pen down long enough to race dead center on the beach as I keep talking about.

It’s not a beautiful beach. I swiftly walked instead of raced.

The beach still holds special memories for me.

Last year, I tried the bravest thing I ever did at the time, and failed miserably

I learned that doesn’t make me a failure.

It just means things didn’t work out. Maybe, the writing solidified my belief.

As I headed for the center of the beach, I was looking for the same log I prayed behind last year. I don’t know why I thought the log would stay.

I suppose I just really wanted it to still be there.

Suddenly, the sunset captivated me.

For some reason, I started taking a bunch of selfies. I fucking hate selfies too.  It is a bit of a self-conscious thing.

I am proud of my body , especially for my age.  However, I still don’t like what I look like on a selfie.

The years of coffee, booze, and disappointment, make me look like I took one too many trips down Broken Dreams Boulevard.

In Taiwan, we call Broken Dreams Boulevard any street that has a lot of foreigners that married Taiwanese women and got chewed up for breakfast in miserable divorces, or just have shitty buxiban (after school teacher) jobs.

It is the Western equivalent of having your hopes and dreams shattered by Corporate America, or a bad marriage.

Finally, I just sat on the beach. I locked my arms around my knees and looked around. I knew it was a special moment.

I kept going back and forth into the water.

The water here only goes up to your knees. I am still always happy to dunk my head in salt water.

Full underwater submersion makes me feel like a Wild Man.

Fenggang Check-In

After frolicking on the beach like a nut case, I moved on to Fenggang.  

It only took 10 minutes by car to get there.

Last year, I lived in Fenggang last year with my ex.

Fenggang was the same place that I told you I tried my bravest move ever.

The move was to move to the middle of nowhere Taiwan with no job, with no money saved, in a house that needed massive repairs.

The plan was to also learn how to make repairs on a house at the same time.

I did this all while living with my girlfriend at the time. 

She was working 19 hours a day as a translator. This made the relationship difficult.

Anyway, I knew of one bicycle hostel in Fenggang.

I hoped they had a room. I didn’t want to return to Fangliao. 

That would have added an extra 35-40 minute cab ride to where I was starting the walk.

The hostel had room for me. Thank God!

After dinner, I set my alarm for 4 a.m.

I was a bit scared that this whole trip would work out. The previous night,

I even dreamed that I was on a plane that got taken away by terrorists.

I finally fell asleep at 10 p.m.

Good night

To Be Continued…

Tomorrow, the 100km highway walk begins.

Thanks for listening...