tunnels, tanks, unicorns, swine and swimming

There is an event here in Hsinchu, and apparently many other countries in the world called the Hash House Harriers. It is a "run" that happens the last saturday of each month. Someone decides on a course through the jungle, and a bunch of people pay $100NT(about $3US) to go on this run/walk and get a bunch of free drinks on the way(including beer...always good to have on a hike). Bethany and I were told that we have to experience it, so on Saturday we hopped in a car with our new friends and drove out to some parking lot in the mountains to begin the trek. Some people ran, but considering the humidity, intensity of the hike, and beer consumption, we walked. There were definitely some characters, but I won't get into that, I probably will end up saying something mean.

I think the point of the event is to get foreigners out to a part of Taiwan you would never find on your own. First we climbed to the top of a mountain that had a beautiful view of the ocean...this was the first good look I got of it, I was happy! We were told to bring flashlights, and the route took us into a pitch black tunnel that must have been some artillery storage place. After awhile, we hit a clearing that had about 20 army tanks parked, with soldiers training around them. Of course, we did the touristy thing and tried to get a picture, but I think they would have gotten in trouble. Later on in the hike, we walked through some elaborate grave sites, over a highway that was in a tunnel, through a pig farm, and lastly around an olympic size pool. At one point we fully expected to see a unicorn. Its hard to explain what a drastic change in scenery we had about every 20 minutes....maybe one of the most interesting days in Taiwan so far, pictures on that soon.