A Girl Lost in Taipei: Johnny, May and the others

From the peak of the ZhongZheng Mountain

ZhongZeng mountains and surroundings looked gorgeous from the peak that Sunday morning. Cool, crisp breeze carrying scent of the mountain dew was refreshing after our little hiking adventure. Now, Taiwan Government has done a fantastic job by making covered wooden decks and benches for people to rest and enjoy the views at many such popular outdoor spots. So we sat there on a bench, gulping our waters, dabbing our sweat and watching a big group of giggling septuagenarians in heavily clad hiking gears with a marvellous mountain backdrop.

It may be Sunday morning for the rest of the world but it was definitely a peak hour for camera shutters. Frequent "Yi Er San.. tien" ( 1, 2, 3 ... smile) sound was followed by the evident mechanical click sounds. In one corner, I even spotted a young couple celebrating some occasion with a bottle of wine and clicking zillion pictures. After several photos and loud conversations, the oldies left and carried on with the next phase of their hiking trip. We were finally left alone with our friends, young lovers in the corner and the beautiful views. We sat there eating some crackers to load up on carbs, we even took some pictures ourselves and got engrossed talking about our next plan of action for the day. Just about that time, few more people made it to the peak. One of them was Johnny.

Young couple was celebrating with some wine and champagne up in the mountains

Johnny was dressed in white Tshirt, grey shorts, a hat, a good pair of hiking shoes, a walking stick and a Nike back pack. He stood out from the rest of the group that climbed up the deck with him like some spicy hot oil in an Indian curry. He was definitely pouring more sweat and not carrying a camera like the rest. He stood by the fence of the deck, stretched out, soaked the view, closed his eyes and took a deep puff of the crisp air. Then he took out his towel, water bottle and settled near our benches where there were open spots. His handsome glowing face was very clear now as he had moved his towel from his face. I noticed a little grey on the sides of his hat and I said to myself, he is definitely forty five plus and a pretty healthy one. We exchanged a visual greeting while he was drinking his water and instantly after that we broke into a conversation. We discovered that he has been hiking up this particular mountain from the base ( few miles before the spot where we started our hike) every weekend for last 6 years. And he was Fifty Eight years old only and not forty five. He said that, for him and many of the oldies in Taiwan, a healthy lifestyle is a priority over everything else. His passion for hiking and a happy healthy life was very evident. He passionately gave us tips about nearby trails and a big encouragement about trying to stay fit. He was not happy that we were so young and opting for such small trails.

While we were talking to dear Johnny, another small group of retired friends came by and settled near the adjoining benches. They had brought several bags of fresh cut fruits with them. As usual, we exchanged a gentle visual "nihao" with them and the very next minute they placed two bags of fruits in our hands. Wow! I mean seriously, wow! They gave us disposable forks and napkins too! I have to say that these were the most amazing watermelon, guava and dragon fruit that I have had on top of the mountain after a hike. Fruits and the company that we were gifted was super delicious. Johnny and we enjoyed these gifted fruits, we took pictures with the group so we can remember how nice Taiwanese people are and continued chatting while cleaning our mouths constantly from the juicy fruits.

Nicest strangers in the world are in Taiwan.

More people were pouring in and they looked genuinely tired from the hike. We offered our seats to them, bid good byes to our stranger friends and we started to walk towards the young bamboo dotted trail. Johnny was with us. We chatted more with Johnny on our way down and we noticed that he was genuinely a happy person who constantly advised us to live up every single day and enjoy every moment in life. He was not preachy like some Masters here in Taiwan but a super friendly person. He finally told us that he is a cancer survivor and after his recovery he has not looked back. Life only gets better he said. His spirits and enthusiasm were high but definitely carried a patronizing attitude. I was quiet for rest of the hike, I even slowed down a little and let them pass ahead of me. I could not tell if I was spell bound by his beauty or his story that made him so beautiful.

Johnny leading the way

Once we reached the base of the mountain he said now I want you to meet the most beautiful person in my life, my wife. He shouted towards the rest pavilion, "Hello May, please come here" and then he winked at us and said "now you are about to meet a movie star". And indeed, a very beautiful woman with a glowing skin like butter with a big hat, stylish sun glasses, comfortable tshirt, shorts and sports shoes walked towards us. She was simply gorgeous! Johnny and May looked at each other passionately which was no less love than what I had witnessed on the mountain top with that young couple in midst of a celebration. May looked at us and politely said "Hello" in a very American like accent. She later told us that she was actually Korean by birth ( May be studies in US? who knows? ). We took pictures with this gorgeous young couple as well and bid our farewells as our stomachs were now calling aloud for some food. Johnny nagged us again to live it up as we walked towards our cars, my heart filled up and I just smiled without looking back.

With Johnny and May

As we drove down the winding roads, my mind was in a constant debate of whether it was the mountains, the dew filled breeze, the sweet fruits, their political and cultural history or some other unknown factor that made people in Taiwan so beautiful at heart? Just about then I saw a Taiwan tourism's sign board that said ' TAiWAN: Touch your heart!', I smiled and I said "I just did".