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I had free BBQ for three hours on the day I arrived Taitung. I was a random passerby and a bum that evening. Because it was moon festival, most of the restaurants were closed. I wandered around the area for half and hour, and bumped into a group of people. I simply asked for restaurants that were open at the time, and I ended up helping with sticking shrimps to the sticks to get them ready for BBQ. I had fruits, beer, tons of BBQ meet, some veggies and some dessert -- moon cake.
I didn’t know people could be this friendly to a bum. This happened after seven hours of train rides, from Taipei to Taitung. It's common knowledge in Taipei that you should always book train tickets in advance when you plan to travel during the weekend, and especially when you plan to travel on any long, holiday weekend, but nevertheless I had to alter my plan at the very last minute and scramble and settle on an unreasonably-timed ticket. Luckily, the 7 hours of scenery was enjoyable; at least it was better than flying from Toronto to Vancouver, the five hours of clouds view or simply darkness.
Because I altered my plan at the very last minute, I had to book a four person hostel room. However, after understanding my situation, the hostel manager gave me the room for the rate of two people, with a little discount, and coincidentally, he owns a field of organic tea. So ... not only did I have a free meal, I drank plenty of organic tea. Maybe it’s the culture of Taitung, the more “xie xie” (thank you) I say, the more kindness I receive.
