Catch Up and Home

This blog post is not going to be very good. I think I've put a bit too much effort into doing them, so it feels like a bit of a chore and therefore I haven't kept up with it. After Bali, I went back to the UK to visit friends and family for the first time! I got all grumpy because nobody in the UK (apart from my Mum) seemed to know what a big deal it was to me. I couldn't wait to see everyone and had everything planned months in advance, but of course to others, it was just part of their normal lives. I wasn't sure how it would be to see everyone, but as soon as I saw them, it was as if no time had passed. I guess with true friendship, you never really lose touch. I went to a friend's wedding and it was beautiful. Don't want to put up any photos on here to share though because that is his thing to share not mine. After having a lovely time with friends and family, we came back to Malaysia. I had been given a promotion (Primary Maths Leader) and had loads of work to do to get things ready. I really enjoy the role, but did not realise how much time it would take. It has been a tough first term, but a very rewarding one! After working so hard for a the first 7 week half term, we had a week off. Hannah and I had booked, along with a couple of sporty friends of ours, to go and cycle along the East coast of Taiwan, from Taipei to Taitung. I was a little worried we hadn't really trained for it, but then we went for a day out to Putrajaya. We rented battered old bikes and rode them around a tiny park for an hour, so I could see we were well prepared. We got Team Taiwan cycle shirts made and off we went. When we arrived, our hotel looked very nice. The room was tiny, but as we were only staying a night, it was ok. We explored the local area and found some delicious chocolate treats. We also thought it would be a good idea to scout out where the bike shop was, so we could make an early start the next day. We looked up the address on the map and set off through the very clean underground. After an hour or so of walking, we were a bit lost and asked a security guard for help. Evidently the road google maps had pointed to, turned out to be a massive ringroad and we were at least 2 hours away from the shop. We started walking it though, asking directions as we went. Most people could not believe we were trying to walk it. One guy we met on his way from work very kindly offered us a lift. After the courteous "oh no we couldn't", we decided that yes, we could, so all piled into his car. We felt a bit bad when his boy rung him to ask where he was and when he'd be home. But he did take us right where we needed to go which was a plus. After many thanks, we left him and had some dinner near the shop. Turns out it was actually really simple to get to from our hotel. Oh well you live and learn! The next morning we woke up early and got to the bike shop as it opened. We set off pretty quickly and had fun as we were leaving Taipei. We were using my GPS which was sketchy at best, but managed to navigate our way out of the city and on to the main road. The road we were on actually turned into 2 roads. My sat nav said we could go either way so we turned left, but later on in the trip, we found that although we could have gone right, it involves about 20km with no road, so we would have to have trekked our bikes across a hillside! Pretty lucky... The route we took was brutal. It just seemed to be one massive, winding uphill. We spent ages getting up a massive hill and had lunch at the top - a pancake with fruit, chocolate sauce and extra sugar on it. Not the most nutritious, but it was something. After that it was a lot more uphills. Towards the end of the day, I began to get a bit worried. It would be getting dark soon and the road we were on had no lighting. We had lights but not huge ones and it wasn't ideal. We all powered our way to the top of the hill and finally saw the city we were meant to be staying in. The view was beautiful and made even nicer by the fact we'd just cycled 50 or so km to be there. The light was going, so I bombed it down a hill to the city. The hill was possibly one of the most fun parts of the trip, it was a beautiful, winding road and went on for absolutely ages. I was going far too fast, but was having the best time. When we got to the city, we realised that we still had another hour or two of cycling to do before we got to our hotel! With low spirits, we stopped off at a convenience store for a drink and trudged our way to the hotel. When we got there, there was nobody there. We rung them up and someone came and unlocked the door for us. There wasn't any food there and didn't look like there was much food around, so Dave and I volunteered to go to a 7/11 we had seen around 3km back. Then Dave looked pretty worried. He'd lost his bag. In his bag was his wallet, passport and everything else important. We came to the conclusion that he had left it in the shop we'd been at around an hour and a half ago. We couldn't cycle there at that time, so decided to get a taxi. Having no idea about how to call a taxi, Dave and I asked the people in a house nearby, who were just chilling out drinking some wine. They didn't speak any English, but had a girl on the phone who spoke a little. Through various translators and google translate, it transpired that there would be no taxis around at that time (it was now pretty late and in a deserted area). We saw a scooter and asked if we could borrow it. Unsurprisingly, they refused, but one guy did offer to give us a lift to the shop. Looking at it from his point of view, it's pretty funny. We were 2 people who didn't speak the language, asking to be taken to a shop we couldn't name, or pinpoint on the map to pick up a bag. It seemed like a mental wild goose chase, but to this guy's credit, he gave us a lift. Amazingly, we found the shop and as we were going back to our hotel, he asked if we wanted food. We were starving and didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, so said yes. He then took us to a noodle shop and then drove us home. What an absolute legend! The next day we set off early, to go along a nice coastal road. Or so we thought... The road was really hilly again which our tired legs did not need and was also full of lorries. We had to keep in and at times the route felt pretty dangerous. There were narrow tunnels to go through and the day was a hard slog. Near the end of the day though, we were near our hotel. The only problem was, we had gone to where google said it should be - and it wasn't there! We went into a police station and asked there, showing them the address. Excruciatingly slowly, an old police officer put on a shirt and got on a scooter and motioned for us to follow. We were all pretty tired, so when he started going up a hill, I was pretty worried about losing him. Han and I powered through the jelly legs to keep up with him and he went down hill and along a long bridge. At the other end of the bridge we asked him to stop as we'd lost our friends Jenny and Dave. I ran across the bridge to find them, but couldn't. Then I went back, left Han with the police officer, and took my bike back along the path we had taken. I found Jenny and Dave off a side street. They had got lost, but stumbled upon the hotel and had checked in. It turns out that the police officer didn't know where we were going and was taking us in the completely wrong direction. I cycled back and told Han this. We awkwardly said thanks and bye to the police officer and went to the hotel. On day 3, there was a bit less drama. We cycled along a beautiful coastal road for a bit, before coming in land. This was the first day we'd been on a more cyclist orientated path. We barely saw any cars, had only minor little hills and saw some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. It was a brilliant day and we stopped off at our hotel at the end of the day. At this point, I should mention that each evening when we were eating out, the places we were going to were getting less and less touristy. Most people did not speak any English. One night we found someone to translate and other times we managed to use a mixture of charades and google translate. Each place we went to though, the people were amazingly friendly and wanted photos of us. It didn't seem weird, just seemed lovely. The people out of the main cities are the nicest I've met. For day 4, we only had a short was to go, but it looked like it would be quite hilly. Before we set out, I found a dumpling shop and we got a breakfast dumpling, as well as another one for lunch. When we set off, we climbed a hill for a while, then had lunch at the top with beautiful scenery. It turned out there was a tunnel through the big bit of the hill and even better - it was downhill all the way!! We blitzed it down and made our way to the coast, where we found a nice place for a coffee. They gave us a complimentary ice cream each (we don't know why) and it was weird but amazing. It seemed like shavings of mango, but when you ate them, it was like ice cream. After this, we found our hotel and had another nice evening of wandering around the local town, meeting some locals and having a nice meal. The final day was only 20-30km, which by now felt like nothing. There wasn't even a major hill to climb! We took it very easy and made our way into Taitung. We made sure to get a photo at the city sign, and then got into town. We found things like Starbucks and McDonalds and although I'm ashamed to admit it, we loved it. In Starbucks, we talked to a guy from Colorado who had set up a hospital in Taitung. There was also some cool art work on the street. We had a nice pizza for dinner, as we had missed western food and got a good nights sleep. The next day we got the train back to Taipei, returned our bikes and enjoyed the sights. We tried to find some bars and ended up in a gay part of town. Some locals were very drunk and one puked all over himself and a table near us. Was a nice night though! After the holiday, the next half term was as brutal as the first in terms of work load and I don't really feel I made the most of life. I tried to carry on the healthiness from the holiday so tried to do running more. The only problem was, I felt I deserved more food, so I'm not sure how much good it did. I did go on a lad's mini holiday with Dave and John to run a 10k. Dave had a spot on the half marathon too, and we thought it would be funny to put a vote up on facebook and the loser has to do the half marathon. I lost (thanks to John and Dave's votes) and ended up doing it. I'd never run more than 10k before and not even run that distance outside. I managed to do it though in a respectable 2:05. My target was to not stop running, which I didn't! The race organisers mucked it up though and the course was actually 28km, not 21km. I stopped and walked the last 7k because I was absolutely dead. Nobody mentioned the mistake and lots of runners were just there looking bewildered. I've just got back from the UK where I had an amazing time seeing everyone. Highlights included badminton with mum, a Cornwall getaway with Han, an awesome night out with Ash and Dex and an entire day of rocket league with the Bristol guys. I took part this year in "The Wellest Man" where I got absolutely annihilated by Lee, Shane and Josh at various different physical challenges. I was so pissed off I didn't even complete the second half and got absolutely rinsed by everyone. I felt better about myself though, when I went to my old school in Slough and all the children I taught 2-3 years ago were really happy to see me! I can't believe how much they actually remember me. I don't remember my Year 1 or 2 teachers at all, maybe I just didn't like them! I'll try and keep up with this a bit more and will add photos of Taiwan soon.