cultured

I love it so much when people have friends or family come to visit here! For one, we are able to be caught back up on pop culture in North America since it seems like things take far to long to get here. Annnd that we get to do all the fun touristy things that we don't normally do!

This week my roommate's brother is in town. So, before school one day we took him to the art park and martyr's shrine. Both great things that I hadn't even been to yet!

Its also a great reminder about just how beautiful it is here. With the routine of teaching I forget that I even live in Asia. Then I leave our area and am quickly reminded how wonderful this experience and place is. I'm so thankful for this opportunity....AND sooo thankful that in one week the LORI LYN will be here with me. I've got some great adventures planned and can't wait to show her around...from the back of my scooter of course!

Here's to a quick week and Taiwan beating Australia in the big baseball game this weekend!

The woes...

There aren't too many woes of living in Asia. However, the biggest one that comes to mind today is this.....

I have missed National Margarita Day!!!!! This is a crisis. I can't find a good marg here....actually what am I talking about? I cant even find one! Annddd no Mexican food either. Why did I ever think Asia was a good plan hahahahha

So have one for me!!!

And Happy Belated Margarita Day!

CNY-13

Our mini vaca up the east coast of Taiwan was more beautiful than I ever imagined it could be. The west coast is packed with cities and giant buildings. The other side is quite different. Scattered with mountains, Taiwan's east coast drops off in to the ocean creating quite the scenery for your viewing pleasure.

Our first night we stayed in a small town with hot springs at every hotel. The beds were hard but the hot spring water was delightfully warm. We stopped for dinner at this wonderful man's restaurant who just loves our friend Jeff. He almost jumped out of his skin when we walked up. We settled on some of our favorites, fried rice, kung pao chicken and this odd leafy-stemy deliciousness. We then of course added, what Danielle and I thought to be, Frog DayLily soup. Full of actual lilies the soup was fantastic. I was even adventurous enough to try the "frog" chunks. As we polished off our meal Jeff finally realized that we actually thought it was frog in the soup. He was insistent on it being something else but we made him ask just to be sure. The owner gave us a quick laugh and said, "Oh no! This is pork. Frog is must softer!" Good to know...? Come to find out it was FOG DayLily soup. But you can see in the sign....the cursive is deceiving.

The next day we headed further up the east coast with a few stops along the way. I insisted we stop to pick strawberries of course!

 Rice Fields along the way!

That night we stayed at a lovely camp sight and got up nice and early for a hike up to a beautiful waterfall!

The rest of that day and the next were used making our way up the east coast and enjoying all of the oddities that accompany living in Taiwan!

Who knew good ole TW could just be breathtaking! It was a wonderful drive sit in the back seat and look out the window. Thanks to the wonderful Jeff for driving us all around the island!
As we headed out on Thursday from our creepy camping spot we took a nice wandering road up through the Northern tea fields. I had been hoping to see them and we just happened upon them. I was quite thrilled!

Thursday was spent in the cities surrounding Pingxi. Every chinese new year they have a giant lantern festival. In one of the towns on certain nights they let of anywhere between 500 and 2000 lit paper lanterns. It is a scene straight out of a movie (Tangled to be exact) Early on in the day we bought a lantern, painted it with our well wishes and sent it high in to the sky. We spent the day exploring the towns and watching people let off their own lanterns. Only to find a few caught on fire in the trees...OOPS! The best part was that everyone was letting them go on the railroad tracks. About every 45 minutes people would blow whistles and everyone would scream and scamper off the tracks. Always with one confused woman who was pulled off by her friends. It was something that wouldn't occur at home...thats for sure!
As dusk fell upon us we found a perfect spot for watching the large lantern show. There were still tons of people on the tracks letting them go around us as well. Seeing hundreds in the sky was so fantastic. A definite must if you ever plan on touring Taiwan.

The next morning we woke up and headed to the coast to see these odd rock formations in one certain area. I couldn't quite understand the geology behind their formation because all the signs were in Chinese but it looked like we were on another planet none the less!

We took the rest of the day to drive to Sun Moon lake located near the center of Taiwan. It is a beautiful lake with one large oddity...they simply wont let you swim in it. With no reasoning that I could deduce either! It was a clear day when we woke up for our last day of the roadie. Apparently its always quite foggy there so I guess I got first timer's luck!

We finished our time in SML on a deck...one of my favorite locations. The food was sub par but the drinks and company were fantastic!

It was a FANTASTIC trip and I can't thank Jeff and Danielle enough for the laughs, putting up with my questions, my lack of music knowledge and their willingness to let me just tag along! It was the perfect way to see Taiwan!