This is our picture that will be my frameable shot from our Taiwan Adventure 2005. Actually, I could probably just call it the Taiwan Adventure, because I'm pretty sure there will only be one. So, although we spent 80% of our time sweaty and gross, this was our one evening of looking pretty and doing the comfortable city things I love to do in Taipei. We wandered around the gardens while the sun set, and then went into the National Concert Hall for a performance of the TMU orchestra. They did all movie overtures, including Star Wars, so it was highly enjoyable. However, jet lag hit Claire half way through, and she had that unpleasant sensation of being so sleepy it is painful to keep your eyes open.
Another view of the Chaing Kai Shek Memorial and the National Concert Hall (echoed in style by the National Theatre on the right hand side). This is my favorite part of Taipei, and I loved that Claire loved it as much as I.
Claire in Taipei! This was taken at the gardens of the Sun Yat Sen Memorial, where there is a great view of Taipei 101. We took pictures list this in preparation for our pen pal exhange program next year. Claire's going to do a slideshow of Taipei, and I'll do a slideshow of INdiana. We're going to focus even more on helping the students grasp the idea that they are writing to someone from an entirely different world.
This is the Sun Yat Sen Memorial, the closest landmark to our apartment. Funny looking, but quite distinctive.
The view of Sun Yat Sen Memorial, from way, way up in the Taipei 101 observatory. Claire and I went up for a little harmless tourist fun. My favorite part was the world's fastest elevator, which goes up however many floors in 3o some seconds (details, details). I was most impressed when we started off, and the lights dimmed, mood music played and stars twinkled overhead.
I finished my twn year contract, with my last class. I was more than excited to say goodbye, it's been a long year with only one week vacation. After I finished at school, Kathleen, Clarie and I went to Apple Cobo for a little girly lunch, then off to explore more of the wonders of Taipei.
We spent one afternoon at the National Palace Musuem. It's the largest collection of Chinese artificats in the world, and it ws smuggled out of China. It's being renovated, so you can't take pictures. Instead, they do this 3D fake photo of you superimposed in front of what the renovated musuem will look like. I had to get one. Anyway, this is Claire playing along with my idea of trying to get one of those silly shots where it looks like someone is interacting with an inanimate object. Never works. But we still tried.
The beginning of the night market - dinner at Ikari. Claire and I had tortillas and chips, and they gave us plastic gloves to use for eating. Isn't that considerate. No messy fingers for us. The night market is something of a must-see in Taipei, althought I didn't think Claire would especially enjoy it. CN
The end of the night market. Yup - time to go home. I don't like the night market, all the people get to me. It was the smells that got to Claire. Who knew stinky tofu was that stinky?!
When Claire told me she was coming to visit me in Taiwan, she mentioned she had another friend here, who lived in Taichung, central Taiwan. So we made plans to go visit Lydia and her two daughters. It was only about a two hour bus ride from Taipei, and the Taiwan city-to-city buses are super comfortable. I finished my last morning at school, and then we hopped on a bus to start our tour around Taiwan.
Lydia surprised us by taking us, and her extended family on a trip up into the mountains to the famous hot spring resort village of Wushe. We had expected to spend three days entertaining ourselves around Taichung, but instead, we had a wonderful itinerary planned out for us. We spent a night at the Fairy Land hot springs hotel in Wushe, this was our room.
This is Claire, admiring what seems to be an Aboriginal inspired sculpture. Oh, and this might be a good time to mention that, yes, we did travel with and meet some wonderful people, but I've tried to keep the pictures on this blog just of us, so I won't invade anyone's privacy or break any laws or something. CN
I told Claire ahead of time that we'd probably eat all Western food in Taipei, and save the 'real Chinese' food for our travels throughout Taiwan. She was not disappointed, our first night travelling in the central mountains, we were treated to a delicious, family style meal. This is the aftermath.
After dinner we wandered around the small villiage of Wushe. Vivian and Lydia encouraged us to try some wine-stewed plums, which they both loved. We tried them, and I have to say they were better than the dried ones I'd tried before, actually quite tasty. The pink swirling things on the top right are to keep the flies away.
One of the entertaining diversions at the hot springs resort was making hard-boiled eggs. They sell little bags of eggs, and have the mesh nets and poles ready for you. The hot springs water smells very sulfuric and is boiling rapidly (ready for Kraft Dinner).
Claire likes to eat only the white part of the eggs. I like the whole thing, but since we were splitting, I was left with just the yellow. We both enjoyed our parts, they were quite a bit more salty than your average hard boiled egg. CN
After our relaxing evening at the hotsprings, the whole family and us set off for ChingChing farm. It's main attraction is: Sheep. Claire is going to show her students this picture to help explain how different Taiwan is from Indiana. People who live in Taipei will travel hours into the mountians to do what Claire is doing right here, touch sheep. It's more fun than it looks. CN
Me, rather gingerly, touching a very dirty sheep. The sun was really, really strong, so I was glad to have my sun umbrella (I've become one of them!) Notice, my nice long sleeve shirt, too. Even though I look like I'm covered enough to protect from the sun, I still put on sunscreen. Yet, I still got a burn on those two inches between the bottom of my pants and my socks. Serves me right for ignoring the basic fashion rule to never wear capris and hiking boots.
There was a great wooden ropes course type playground at the top of the hill. It would probably be deemed unsafe in N. America, I felt some of it was too dangerous for me, let alone an 8 year old. It was fun to scamper around on, though, and it provided a great view of the mountains. CN
After wandering around with the sheep in the hot sun, then trying out the playground equipment, it was time for lunch. There was a little market at the entrance, and we had some more delicious 'real' Chinese food. The colors and smells were very Taiwan.
Yum!! These severed pig feet were for sale in the market, and I couldn't resist taking a picture. Wouldn't you like to come home to those cooking on the stove? CR
Wow, Taichung was hot. We were very intentional in our attempt to stay hydradyated, but we sweat it out as fast as we could drink it in. One morning we both felt so dehydrated from the heat and sun, we decided to go with a sports drink, in this case: Pocari Sweat. Yup, that's the name. Doesn't it even kind of look like sweat? CN
Our Saturday morning activities included an enjoyable trip to the local market by Lydia's house, as well as a trip to the Folklore Park. Claire and I had a great time learning all about traditional Chinese housing, as well as life in Taiwan. This was a lovely Japanese garden we wandered through.
Peek -a-boo! We had such a great time hanging out with Lydia. It was like spending time with a good friend. She was a wonderful hostess.
We stopped by the side of the road to check out a mushroom farm. Who knew? (Well, I suppose we might have figured it out if we had put some thought into it, but really, who thinks about mushrooms?) So mushrooms are grown in these low, dark cavernous sheds, and you can just go and pick them. According to Vivian, it's important to find ones with thick heads. I'll remember that the next time I go to a pick-your-own-mushroom farm.