Word: sand
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...York Chinese, looks around us at the beaming, red faces of drunken Australians and observes that there is nothing in the whole goddamn place that's written in Chinese. We decide we have to do something very Taiwanese the next day. We take a bus to White Sand Bay, one of two sandy beaches on the island...
When we arrive at White Sand Bay, we are overwhelmed by the beauty of the place. Rice paddies and farm land extend to within a few hundred yards of the shore; from there, rolling hills slope gently down to the beach. We are disappointed that we cannot take pictures--the presence of pillboxes and military installations along the shore prevents it. Originally built by the Japanese during, the occupation period, such installations are common along the whole shore of Taiwan. Many have been abandoned but none destroyed; once in a while an enterprising farmer will use one to house...
...White Sand Bay public beach looks like a Bedouin encampment. The "bathers" huddle under white sheets held up on posts driven into the sand. In Taiwan, tanned skin is frowned upon; the ideal beauty is pale. If your skin is tan it means you have to work outdoors, farming or building. Even on the hottest days, workers stay covered from head to toe. Some car washers in Taipei wear detachable sleeves to keep their arms out of the sun; they remove them when they rest in the shade. So Alex and I are not surprised that many of the "bathers...
...large man, some 6 ft. tall and 200 lbs., with "the wild-hawk look foreigners associated with Americans." He had great enthusiasm for Free Thinkers, the militant feminism of Margaret Fuller and George Sand, and such fads of his day as magnetism, sexology and phrenology. According to the bumps on his own head, Whitman had "a certain reckless swing of animal will, too unmindful, probably, of the conviction of others...
...hand, eager to record for posterity the "place where it all began." What they see is nothing much. The original 400-yd., 25-ft.-deep crater has long since been filled in to prevent further radiation. The "pearls of Trinity" - ceramic-like green glass, or Trinitite, formed from the sand by the enormous blast of heat - have been mostly buried or stolen by souvenir hunters. A few relics remain, though, sparkling in the pale sun, and visitors still filch them, cramming the radioactive rocks into their pockets...