Good Exhaustion

I'm exhausted, and I don't think it has as much to do with the fact that it's 1:30am as it does with our itinerary today. Which is, of course, the best source of exhaustion in existence: the satisfied kind.

Today found us, after a sumptuous Western-and-Taiwanese style breakfast and a stop to buy the legendary sun cakes of Taichung, on the outskirts at the Tong Feng bikeway, renting bikes and riding around to see Shih Gang Reservoir, some very pretty scenery, and scores of tourists who were inappropriately dressed for riding bikes but persevering anyway. (My favorite was a lady wearing high-heeled knee-high boots, personally...though not when she was driving in front of me up a hill.) It made my jeans and tennis shoes look like training gear for the Tour de France.

After biking for a good 8 miles or so (I think? The map was a bit confusing and all in kilometers...), we took our bikes back and enjoyed some sweet green bean soup, which was surprisingly good, and a little peanut candy, which was understandably scrumptious.

Then it was off to the amusement park! At Yamay, we ate lunch as a group of apparently Russian dancers performed dressed as pieces of candy and cowboys on the windy platform outside. I couldn't help but feel for them: I doubt that this is what they had in mind when they said they had been offered a job in Taiwan. But I also couldn't help remembering Brittany, Rachel and Karina's assessment of the Russians they met in mainland China--let's just say snobby--and think there's a nice touch of irony in this group's job.

We then meandered through the park, eventually settling on a white water rafting ride, the slightly cold and quite windy weather notwithstanding, and came out fine, thanks to the wonder that is the poncho. Then it was The Pirate for Emily and I (aka the Viking Ship, for US friends' reference), and then I talked Emily into edging her way towards the big ride--the one highlighted here--by trying out the Energy Storm (aka Octopus/Scrambler/whatever).

That turned out not to be a good idea. See, next we headed for the Gravity Max, which she was hesitant about. When we reached the top of the very, very long waiting area, she told me she would be right back and vanished, leaving me attempting to communicate to the three non-English-speaking employees that I was waiting for my friend but that they should go ahead with the ride (nonexistent line=you wait for people, apparently). About 15 minutes later, she came back to say the Energy Storm ride had done her in--and then we left, undoubtedly leaving the employees scratching their heads about the odd foreign girl who stood at the entrance for 15 minutes and then didn't go on the ride. Oh well.

Then it was time to head back, but not before a stop along the way at Dong Shan service area for a delicious dinner of turkey rice and wonton soup.

When they dropped me off at my front door, this exhaustion settled on me, reminding me of all the wonders of the day.