Less Traveled Path

We started a Taiwan Tour the day after arriving in Taipei. The van picked us up and two couples at other hotels before we were on our way. After our third stop, our tour guide tried to figure out which language he should use on our journey. One couple was from mainland China, so Mandarin was their vote. Then there was the couple from Brisbane, Australia who could speak both Cantonese and English, but couldn’t understand Mandarin very well. I was excited at the prospect of using Cantonese (since I can understand it so much more than Mandarin), but since our tour guide didn’t speak Cantonese, Mandarin with some English was the winner.

She was 52 and her husband, a software engineer, was 57 and they had one daughter, though she did not accompany them on the trip. Both had retired and were taking the time to travel. We traveled with them for two days on the tour and I would frequently see them snacking on something; they didn’t let the possibility of water-related sickness affect their gastronomical pursuits.

Time it took for our van to reach our first official stop on the tour: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Time it took for the Australian-Cantonese lady to suggest to my mom to find a son-in-law (husband for me): 3 hours and 50 minutes

Ah, how Chinese.

Have you ever had someone tell you that they know someone who looks just like you? And subsequently, you wanted to meet said person?

This past August, after attending mini-conference on Net Savviness in Boulder, Colorado, I decided to stay a little longer and explore the area. Many of my friends were busy so I went on the exploration by myself. I decided to take the Boulder to Denver Express Bus and from previous travel experiences, thought that it was a nice way to “take in” the area. Slight complication - it was pitch dark outside and I couldn’t see much outside the window on the bus; basically, I was a little too preoccupied with taking photos around the Boulder area that it wasn’t until around 11pm when I took the bus to Denver.

The bus was pretty empty except for about four other parties. I stuck in my white iPod earbuds when I went to sit down in the cushy seats (think charter bus and not yellow school bus) to listen to my soothing mix for the hour and a half ride to the train station in Denver. As I’m settling with my music, a guy walks up to me and gets my attention. I pull out my earbuds thinking it might be important. The guy then says to me, “I saw you there and I just had to come up and introduce myself.” Confused, but appreciating the friendliness, I say, “Hi.” He continues further and says, “I’ve think I’ve seen you around campus and in my class. I’m Mike.”

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Throughout my travels, I’ve had the chance to meet people with interesting backgrounds and fascinating stories. Many times these encounters are very brief, but enriching.

During my Europe backpacking trip in 2003, my friend and I mostly stayed in hostels and not only was it an economical way to travel, the arrangement encouraged meeting all sorts of travelers, especially during breakfast. One morning, we had a meal with two guys who were coincidentally from California. They were taking a break from studying theology in Rome, or rather Vatican City. After finishing their studies, they would then become ordained priests. Since our next stop was Rome, we had planned to meet up with them to get into the Midnight Christmas mass at the Vatican. However, we arrived at our hostel in Rome pretty late and were exhausted by then, so we sent them an email thanking them for their offer, but wished them well.

What I remember the most about my encounter with The Vatican Guys was when one of them busted out the phrase “tiiight” in conversation as in that would be tiiight, aka cool. Studying at the Vatican… cool. Priests using the word tiiight… awesome.