Bamboo Butterfly

a journey.

admin On February - 4 - 2013

After reflecting on the many funny things that happened to me while I lived in Taiwan, I’ve decided to write random posts about my experiences.

Recently The Garbage Incident came to mind.  I laughed out loud as I remembered.

This incident did make me feel slightly guilty though it wasn’t really my fault.

Early one morning when I lived in Hsinchu, I woke up and headed out to my scooter, which was parked on the side of my apartment building.  I think I wanted to go to 7-Eleven or something.  As I approached the scooter, I noticed an enormous bag of stinking garbage leaning against my bike.

My first scooter

My first scooter, in the alleyway

Annoyed, I began to drag the bag away, pulling it down the alley.  Suddenly the whole thing exploded.

In the early morning hours, in the middle of the echoing alley, the breaking open of the garbage bag sounded like a sonic boom.

Trash went everywhere.  I think there may have been maggots too.  Horrified at the mess scattered in the center of the alley (and the commotion I’d made), I ran back into my apartment as fast as I could.

A few moments passed and then I heard a woman screaming.

My neighbor across the alley had opened her door and found the heap of steaming trash.   She began yelling at someone (I assume her husband) in angry Chinese.  It sounded like she was accusing him of breaking it open.  I suspect they were the original culprits of the trash abandonment to begin with.

They argued for a few more moments before the man cleaned it up.  I sat in my apartment laughing and feeling slightly guilty at the same time.

I had on occasion, engaged in a number of trash drive by’s (leaving trash in the garbage area of the shopping center building down the road) myself.  Perhaps Karma was trying to pay me back that day.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to clean up the mess.

Please feel free to share one of your funny travel memories below. :)

Categories: Asia, My Taiwan

2 Responses

  1. reader says:

    i saw a girl wear hight heel to climb mountain.

    • admin says:

      That is funny! I saw that a few times too. Once I saw girls wearing high heels and fancy dresses as they walked around Taroko Gorge.

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