My last weekend in Taiwan: Friday

Though Taiwan is an island (that is— the entire heat-ridden country is surrounded by water), you can’t swim at most of the beaches there.  “Why?” you may ask.  “That’s torturous,” you may think.  Sure, many beaches are dangerous because of their strong tide and crashing waves, but then, Taiwanese people are superstitious about what could happen if you go into the water, and they’re as scared of the sun as vampires to garlic.  During July— ghost month— yahoo says, “Going near water is … forbidden, because the wandering ghosts may drag you under to replace them, so that they can have another chance at life.”  So with the combining factors, it’s amazing we found one beach where we could swim: Masago.  And lucky for us, there was a free music festival there on a Friday… the perfect excuse to skip hot, sticky, mosquito-infested tai chi.

We get to the beach and there’s these larger-than-life sand sculptures of Greek mythology…

cartoons…

and even the harsh glare of a dragon…

Medusa’s devilish hair squirmed and hissed, and the Incredible Hulk towered over us.

Tammy and I took a photo in front of a literal sand castle.  I’ve never seen such a mansion.  I’d really love to live inside, and attend fancy galas in bare feet.  Instead of owning a dog, I’d own a crab, and take it on walks.  I just wish I had enough sand dollars (ha!) to call a place like this home.

There was even a giant mound dedicated to Ang Lee, the Director of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi, and Brokeback Mountain.  (The Hulk, pictured earlier, was also part of this several-faced sand mountain, as this was also his movie.)

In America, little kids would be climbing all over these pieces of art.  One summer I was at Coney Island in New York, where toddlers were digging their feet into sculptures that I’m sure people spent hours on, maybe days.  Their little hands were destroying the attraction for everyone else.  Isaiah and I were talking about how there would be discarded cups of soda and candy wrappers and popsicle sticks all over the exhibits if this were in the US.  Taiwanese people, in general, just do way fewer stupid things than Americans.  The beach was totally clean, and everyone was watching their children.  Imagine that!

After we took a sufficient amount of pictures with the sand masterpieces, we headed over to the water.  The tide was so strong, every time we let ourselves float, we drifted father away from our things.  I kept having to stand up and take a short walk away from the thick rope that kept us in the swimming area, only to end up there again just a few minutes later.  We wrestled each other in the water and made designs on our legs with the wet sand until the sun started to disappear.  I didn’t want to bring my shower towel to the beach, so I bought one there.  It was white and in blue print it read “Masago,” claiming the tagline “Happy Beach” underneath.  I certainly think that’s accurate.

Then we bought food— my personal purchases were fried sweet potatoes and guava dipped in tea.  As it started to rain, we constructed our own little towel canopy to enjoy our snacks under.  What a perfect Friday.