The Fulong Debacle

The Spicy Side of Life From Chicken to Chocrotes

The Fulong Debacle

“We have to go, now!” I shouted as the wind whipped up the sand around our tents. The sky was darker than I had ever seen before, and the wind above us was howling like a wolf.

My friends: Drew, Lindsey, JD and I had been camping on a beach on the eastern coast of Taiwan, when at 3 in the morning the wind started rattling our tents. A storm was coming… or so we thought. Too early to make rational decisions, we crawled out of our tents and decided to quickly wrap up our gear and make for the bridge leading back to the town of Fulong.

“Why are we doing this?” My friend Lindsey asked in an annoyed and tired voice, “It’s just a little wind. It will pass in an hour or two, just go back to sleep.”

The sky though was getting darker and darker, the night air thick with humidity and the threat of a downpour. My two other friends, JD and Drew, also didn’t want to take the chance of getting caught in a thunderstorm on a wide open beach. After we quickly packed up our tents and belongings, with Lindsey mocking us the whole time for being wimps, we ran for the bridge that would lead us back to town. It wasn’t an easy task though, as the bridge was a good half a mile across the deserted beach.

I was ahead of the pack when we started to panic. The wind was intensifying and the sky darkening even more than before; it felt like an epic tropical storm was rapidly approaching. After a good fifteen minutes of hustling across the barren beach, with the sand whipping our legs, we made it to the bridge that would take us over the river and back to civilization.

Technically the bridge was under construction to fix the worn down banisters, but we had no alternative. Up onto the bridge we ran, quickly crossing it to the other side, under the construction tape and off into the parking lot.

“Was that really necessary?” Lindsey asked, “It probably would have passed.”

“What if it doesn’t? What if we were stuck out there in the middle of a terrible thunderstorm?” Lindsey’s husband Drew questioned, “Better safe than sorry.”

“I’m with Drew,” JD responded, “If it had started pouring we would have been much worse off.”

“Oh you guys are a bunch of babies,” Lindsey shot back in a tired and frustrated voice.

As she said this, the rain started. First came a drizzle, then harder and harder, until we were in the middle of a tropical downpour. We ran as soon as the drizzling began, across the parking lot and up the road to the train station. When we finally arrived we were happy to see an attendant dozing off behind the ticket window.

“Hi,” I softly spoke in Chinese, “We were wondering if there was a train coming anytime soon?”

Confused and groggy from his slumber, the man looked at me like I was crazy, “Where would you like to go at this hour?”

“Taipei,” I responded.

“The next train will be passing in an hour, but there is only standing room available.” He told me, “Will that work for you?”

“Yes, that will have to do,” I answered, “Four tickets please.”

After getting the tickets we walked out onto the platform and sat around, finishing off the rest of our beer. By that time the rain and wind had stopped, and it seemed as if Lindsey was correct.

“Bwah, bwah, bwaaaah,” I mocked myself with a smile, “Whoopsies, looks like I may have over-reacted a bit back there.”

“You suck,” Lindsey taunted with a laugh, “Well at least it will make for a funny story later in life.”

“That it will,” I answered, “That it will.”

None of us were truly upset that we hurried off the beach. Drew, JD and I really thought there might have been a storm coming, and we didn’t want to be stuck on the dunes if it had arrived. Lindsey was right though; there never was an epic thunderstorm that night, just a passing downpour.

My friends and I sat on the platform finishing off the brews until the early morning train arrived at the station. We boarded to find it packed with sleeping people. Locating a little nook in between cars, we settled in for the two hour ride back to Taipei.

I don’t regret running off the beach that morning, nor do I regret the other multitudes of dumb things I have done in life. Life is too short and precious to worry about the times when you could have done something differently. That night on the beach in Taiwan remains a lasting memory that I will never forget.