When I lived in Taichung I didn't live in a remote area. During my four years there I lived within walking distance of Tunghai University. Even back when what is now Taichung City was Taichung County, I was well within the city limits. 在台中的時候，我住的地方離市區不遠， 住在那裡的四年都在東海大學附近 。 當時住的地方屬於台中縣，現在已經成為台中市了，說起來算在市區內。
I never had any friends or family visit me during those four years, but after my first year I got to show a few new foreign teachers around the city. I can remember showing people around Tiger City, the Sogo on Chungkang Road (now Taiwan Boulevard), some of my favorite bars, and the Metropolitan Park. I enjoyed seeing these places through someone else's eyes. 那四年我的家人或朋友都沒來找過我， 可是工作了一年後，我就有機會帶新來的外師參觀認識那座城市了。 我帶他們去老虎城、中港路上的太平洋百貨 、我喜歡的酒吧和都會公園 ， 經由他們的眼睛看這些地方是一件好玩的事情 。
I only lived in Hsinchu for a year, and I wasn't there long enough to show anyone around. I recall taking the bus or train to places like Neiwan and Guanxi. The rivers in the mountains were pretty, though there wasn't much along the coast. 我在新竹只住了一年的時間 ，沒機會當任何人的導遊 。 我記得我們那時候喜歡坐公車或是火車到內灣和關西那些地方 ， 山區裡的河川很美，可是海邊的景點不多 。
The 13 years I spent in Taitung, however, provided ample opportunities to play tour guide. Taitung is a big tourist destination now, and over the course of my 13 years there I had the opportunity to watch it go from sleepy backwater to one of Taiwan's biggest attractions. The Taitung County Government has put a lot of effort into bolstering tourism, and this quest for tourist dollars has been both bad and good for the area. 我在台東那13年的時間有很多機會扮演導遊 。 現在的台東很紅 ， 我住在那裏的13年裡見證了台東從後山鄉下到現在成為重要的旅遊景點。 台東縣政府努力推廣觀光業 ，這對當地造成了好與壞的影響。
Many friends and family members visited us in Taitung. We enjoyed taking them to places in the East Rift Valley or along the coast. In 2006, when I first moved to Taitung, it was easy to drive around the area, but by 2019, the last year I lived there, weekend traffic forced us to be a lot more selective about where we took people. 我們的家人和朋友會到台東拜訪我們， 我們喜歡帶他們開車走花東縱谷或是東海岸線。我們2006年剛搬到台東時，開車在路上很悠閒， 到了2019年我們離開前， 觀光客變多了， 假日的交通擁擠， 我們帶客人去任何景點前都要考慮交通與人潮。
In 2020 I moved to Fangliao. We didn't get many visitors in Fangliao, partly because we spent most weekends in Kaohsiung, Taitung, or somewhere else. Towards the end of my time there some friends from Taitung stayed at the house we were renting near Shuidiliao. I can remember seeing them in our living room and thinking: "It's weird that they're here." 2020年的時候我們搬家到枋寮 ， 來枋寮找我們的客人不多 ， 因為大部分的週末我們在高雄 、 台東或是其他地方 。 我們快要搬家前有幾個台東的朋友來玩，我們住的房子在水底寮附近， 我記得看著他們坐在我的客廳裡的感覺很奇怪 , 心想 : "哇!他們居然在這裡!"
Fangliao, by the way, was more of a challenge when it came to playing tour guide. We took our guests to a Paiwan restaurant, the Fangliao Fishing Port, and up the Mountainside Highway. I think our guests were a bit unimpressed by these places, but then again time was a factor and they were already tired from a recent trip to Kenting. 在枋寮當導遊是比較大的挑戰 ， 我們帶客人去一家排灣族餐廳 、枋寮漁港跟沿山公路。 他們好像不是很喜歡這些地方， 可能是時間比較趕 ， 他們也已經在墾丁玩得很累才到的。
I now live in Hengchun, in the middle of Kenting National Park. My brother and sister-in-law recently visited, but we didn't have many opportunities to take them around. Of course I had ideas for where they could go, but they'd been here many times already. A chance to play tour guide in this part of Taiwan will have to wait for another day. 我現在住在墾丁國家公園中的恆春 。我的小舅子跟我弟妹剛來過 ， 可是我們可以帶他們去玩的時間很短 ， 我當然也建議了幾個景點 ， 可是他們已經來過這個地區好幾次 了，所以我只能等之後有機會再扮演恆春導遊了。
If you're reading this and you know me personally, take it as an invitation. If you're reading this and you don't know me personally, I can only hope you'll take it as a source of inspiration. We all get jaded about the places where we live, we fail to see what's special about them, but given the right guest, and sufficient time, you can remind yourself what's good about the area you live in, and why you chose to live there in the first place. 歡迎認識我的朋友看到這篇文章後來恆春玩 ； 不認識我的人 , 這篇文章可以當你的靈感 ，我們通常對自己居住的地區感到麻木，忘了它特別之處， 可是只要有對的人來 ， 有夠長的時間 ，帶著他們認識自己居住的城鎮會讓自己想起它的好， 也會讓自己想起當初選擇哪裡的初衷。
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