Hospitality

On Saturday afternoon I took a hike up one of the many local mountains and found myself on a trail, densely crowded with leaves of impossible proportions and remarkable colors, that led along the ridge. There was a small sign indicating a temple which pointed towards a barely perceptible path down the western bank of the ridge. I decided to check it out and follow the winding trail through amazonian foliage.

When I reached the end of the trail, it cut off abruptly where a small landslide had cut short the path. The rail road ties that served as a staircase for the last twenty feet reached along to the edge, where the last visible tie hung loosely at a nearly vertical angle over the ten foot drop to the brick forge on the temple grounds. I made my way down the muddle incline and traipsed through mountains of freshly stacked bricks to reach the entrance.

I was greeted by two two women, one about forty years of age and the other in her seventies. The elder of the two immediately called me over and asked if I wanted any tea. I thanked her but told her that I was fine, she then offered water, to which I replied that I had some in my backpack, she then offered coffee and I could see that there really was no refusing this woman and I obliged despite never having finished more than a few sips of coffee in my life.

She sat me down and scurried off to make me, a complete stranger, some coffee and the other woman joined her. I sat at a small fold-out table and stared out into the misty drizzle of the afternoon as they came back with crackers and a pot of hot water. They opened two bags of crackers for me and prepared my coffee. I thanked them profusely and took a tentative sip of the Maxwell-House instant brew. We chatted amiably for a while as I quickly used up every word and phrase of my Chinese and they laughed as I repeated "I don't know" many times to their questions. The older woman explained that she was very happy that I had come all the way from America to live in Sansia and that she was even more impressed that I'd wanted to see the little temple at the base of the mountain. It was, after all, just another temple among the thousands in the Taipei area alone and was not in any way remarkable, by their standards.

I did manage to suck down all the coffee and found that I had actually enjoyed it to a certain degree, though much of that was due to the comfort of friendly conversation. I asked for a photo and the younger woman made it clear that she did not want to be in it, after I explained that it we could set it up to take a photo of all three of us. She snatched the camera herself and squeezed the older woman and I together on one of the chairs. It took four tries but eventually there was photographic evidence of my having been there. I grabbed my bag and started to say some parting words when the old woman told me I needed an umbrella. I explained that I had one in my bag and that it was only drizzling anyway. She wagged her finger at me and scurried back to the house again, imploring me to follow.

I left with both bags of crackers that I'd munched on during my coffee, twelve packs of instant coffee and an umbrella. I pulled out my phrase book and managed to say "Thank you very much for your hospitality" to which they looked at me quizzically then repeated to one another with a smile. I swear their version sounded exactly the same as mine but apparently it didn't make any sense until they'd said it.

I headed back towards the mountain path that had led me into the compound and yet again, the old woman stopped me, telling me that to get to Sansia, I should take the road. I tried to tell her that I had come from the mountain, pointing towards it and then to my muddy shoes and that I wanted to go back up. She wagged her finger again and tugged my arm, leading me to the exit that lead to the road. I could see that, again, there was no stopping her. I took the road as she had instructed and searched for a path, out of sight of the temple, for which to make it back up the mountain, but could not find one. Instead I walked back home to my high rise apartment building with the marble floors and grand entryway with a smile, thinking of the two women back at the temple fussing over the next passerby, maybe even telling them the story of the American boy who showed up for no reason and wanted to climb a mountain.