The Life of Rachel: Chinese New Year Part Dos

Monday!

On my bike. Dangerous. I know.

The Great Wall of Hungchuen

Eric looking down off the wall

People climb these robes to touch the top during a holiday

Monday was amazing. We woke up a little late and rode our bikes down into town. We dropped them off at the bike shop and took off walking around town. Late Sunday night, Kendall, a guy in our ward, met up with us after he dropped his wife off at the airport to go home to America for the week. It was great having him around. He speaks Chinese, so he could help us do so much more than we could do on our own. First we went an had breakfast, I had a bagel sandwich. It had ham, egg, cucumber, tomato, and some mayo. It was delicious. Then we walked through the old "Ancient" town. They say it is ancient, I asked how old, they said like 200 years. That's not really ancient to me. I thought maybe 2000 years.... anyways there is a wall that surrounds the whole old city with gates marking entrance points. We climbed up the wall and walked around it. It was like the great wall of Hungchuen.. But little lol. We walked around little shops and morning marketish type things. I bought a backpack which I needed, its cute and made in Taiwan. After a few hours, Tiffany picked us up and we went to the National Aquarium. I felt like I was at Disneyland. I was so excited to walk around and look at things and be around people. Even people I couldn't talk to. Most of the stuff was in Chinese and English so we could read everything. We saw penguins, pufferfish, baluga wales, blue sharks, it was amazing! And the aquarium was decked out. One exhibit made you feel like you were in a ship wreck and the ship had been sitting down their rotting for a while. So much to see and do. Tiffany actually volunteers there so she was able to tell us a lot about everything, but it was still not enough time to really see everything. The aquarium was right on the coast so inside the gates but outside the buildings you could see the ocean and it was beautiful. After the aquarium, we ate at a nice restaurant owned by a lady in the local branch. It was delicious. I tried some interesting stuff. It was family style, we had rice with ground pork on top, a mushroom dish, onions with cilantro and lime-i felt like I was eating Mexican. We also tried pufferfish, jellyfish and some other delicious fish that came whole with the head and i tasted it and it wasn't too fishy. I can't believe I tried and liked fish. It was good to a point, after a while I couldn't eat it anymore. We chilled after dinner at the restaurant and went to the parking lot and let out some fireworks. Then Tiffany took us to a place where natural gas comes out of the ground. It was burning with no wood or anything, on the rocks and dirt! It was crazy! We burned popcorn on the fires, even though we weren't supposed to go over the ropes. Everyone was over there to get closer, and it was really cool to see. Then we rode back to the hostel. It was nice to walk and change it up a bit.

Welcome to the aquarium

Cool wall in the aquarium

We were very close to the ocean

Giant Fish tank

Felt like we were in the north pole! It was cold too!

Penguins!

Puffer Penguin

I'm coming out of a turtle egg!

A little girl that was looking at me and pointing out fish for me.

Zebra Fish!

Looking like we were in a ship wreck

Fish, Jelly Fish, Pufferfish, before and after. Fish filled day!

Popping popcorn

Standing in the fire

Ooops, broke the rules

This sign reads something like, the place where fire comes out of the ground

Good Night from the Hostel

Tuesday-

Beach Day!

Beautiful Beaches

We woke up early and got ready and Tiffany picked us up and took us to Kenting so we wouldn't have to take the bus. We dropped our luggage off at the police station since we left the hostel on the mountain for good and didn't wanna carry it around all day. We went to McDonalds for breakfast. McDonalds should have been our first sign of the day. There were 3 order lines, all went out the door. It took an hour to order our food and sit down to eat. But we didn't have much else to do so it was relaxing enough after our many physically hard days in a row. Then, we walked and found a beach to chill at. We rented an umbrella for about $10 for 6 hours sicne we were already pretty burnt from being outside all weekend. Honestly, I don't think I have loved being outside so much. Even though i am outside on my bike to school, being free to roam and have open country air was amazing. We even saw stars out here. Something you don't see in Chunghua. We stayed at the beach until about 4. I guess the water we were in is the Taiwan straight. The waved were not big at all, not many surfing places on this side of the island, although there were plenty of surf shops. They have the same beach town spirit and feel. The water was cold but not as numbing cold like California ocean water in February. I hate getting in cold water. It took a little bit, but by day 3 at the beach I was able to go in waist deep. It was refreshing. After the beach we ate at a place called Smokey Joes. It was an overpriced wanna be American tex mex and rib place. It had an interesting vibe and even more interesting decorations and music. I had some nachos. They were ok. They had a lot of lettuce on them and for some reason the lettuce tortilla chip combo was so good. I guess I hadn't had either for a while. The restaurant also had candy to take after. Mango and Rose flavored candies. Rose is something I do not need to ever try again. If I'm ever dying and need sugar I suppose it will be just fine. After dinner we walked up and down main street which was now a night market. We ate deep fried oreos. The batter was different than any we would have in America, but it wasn't too bad. The night market is always fun and interesting. Since it was Chinese New Year, everyone was on vacation. The streets were ridiculously crazy busy. I took a few pictures but it sis it now justice. We turned around once because we missed the bus station, and we were salmon swimming upstream. We walked so slow in either direction. We then went to a "bus stop" a hotel that sold bus tickets inside it and waited for our bus which was 45 minutes late, probably because of the mad traffic in that city. So we took a bus to Donggong I think? On the bus ride we watched bad Taiwanese music videos with Chinese sub titles, and smelled strange market food. After the bis we waited at 7-11 for Thomas to pick us up. He took us to the hostel we stayed at for the night. Rochelle and I shared a room. After dropping off our stuff, we walked down to where the ferry comes to take us to the island we were planning on going to the next day. Then we walked past the end of the daily fish market and got snacks at a convenience store. We were all so tired from the long day that we went back to the hostel and passed out.

Smokey Joes

Night Market Crazieness

Wednesday-
We woke up early on Wednesday to catch the 9 am ferry to the island. by the time we made it down to the dock, there were so many people going to the island we had to wait until 10. With Kendall's help we found a breakfast place. We got strawberry toast, which is not as good as strawberry jam and this Taiwanese breakfast food that I think translates to egg pie or egg roll or cake or something. They were delicious. They are almost like hit cookie home place but on a thin tortilla like outer shell rolled up. We finally got on the ferry. The water was SO blue. It churned up from the boat that is usually white looked baby blue to me. It was beautiful. I stood on the back of the boat for the 20-25 minute ride and stared at the water. When we got to the island (after almost falling off the boat and then watching a lady puke on the deck) we rented scooters. I was super scared about this because scooters freak me out and we didn't have helmets because are no stop lights on the island and the police don't care- is what the rental lady said, who had a lit of white powder on her face to look whiter.

On the boat

Waiting for the ferry

Trying to show how blue the water was.. and failing

Beach on the island

Our first view of the island

Rochelle checking out tad pools

We took off riding around the island, stopping in various places to look at the view or check out the things being sold. It was awesome and actually exhilarating to be on the scooter. It was nice not to be riding a bike or walking, we saw a lot more things this way. We stopped at a few beaches and skipped rocks into the water, and checked out tad pools. There were awesome cliffs and views to see. On the island there is a cave that slaves lived in when they were let free, but the entrance is blocked now so we couldn't go in. There was also an old artillery placement that helped protect the island of Taiwan. There were a ton of Buddhist temples and street food. We grabbed some food and ate lunch. I tried sweet potato chips, which were good and pork jerky which was not so good. We stopped at a famous place in Taiwan called Flower Vase Rock. It is always in pictures of southern Taiwan. It jets out of the ocean and it is amazing. You can walk through tad pools and slimy rocks to it and touch it. So I slipped my shoes off and did it. The water felt amazing and it was just something cool to do. Then we drove around the island again, enjoying the ride. We tried a Taiwanese dessert which is shaved ice with fruit topping and sweet and condensed milk on top, it was really good.

Black Dwarf Cave-the one that is blocked off

Off to work in the fields

Everything was so beautiful!

This island was amazing

Lunch by the docks!

Welcome to Liuchiu-the island

We rode back to shore and found a place to eat some noodles, and then went to McDonalds and got ice cream that was on sale for Chinese New Year. They were 5 NT dollars which is like 15 cents or something. We drove to the small town Thomas' parents live in. We were staying with them that night. We stopped at a beautiful Daoist temple on the way. It was very decorated and ornate inside with offerings to the gods. Thomas's parents had a beautiful, big, nice house. It felt like home. We showered up and visited with his amazing family. His cousin had two little kids who were shy with the white strangers. They were so cute. His family was so nice, like Taiwanese people are. Something interesting in his house, since it was the first house I went into in Taiwan. They had a shrine in their house. And the bathroom we used was a little room outside on the porch. When you step outside the bathroom it was almost like stepping off the porch because the wall was so short. It was awesome to stare up at the stars and the countryside and it was so quiet. I love the town they live in.

Flower Vase Rock

I touched the butt!!

Taiwanese dessert

Scared on a scooter

Random fish hanging.. yum

Thursday-

I love seeing old buildings! I really liked this building
and wanted to remember it.

We woke up at Thomas' parents house and got all packed up. Thomas bought us breakfast. Egg pies and soy and rice milk. I think I like soy milk better. Rice milk tasted like peanuts. I didn't dig it that much. I think soy milk will be a good option since im pretty sure Taiwanese milk is unpasteurized or something and hurting my stomach. So Thomas drove us a couple hours up to his friend's house in Dounan. There house was amazing. Large and beautiful. We ate a terrific lunch. The best food I have had in Taiwan. Beef noodles and beef stew and a pork rice something. They showed us their upstairs which is one big play room for the grand kids with a karaoke room. I was able to log onto their wifi and talk to dad about Bekka who had her babies that day, and by the time I was done, Eric had woken up from a nap really sick. We went to the train station and two hours later we were back in our apartment. It feels like a dream but it was an awesome vacation and week. The rest of our break passed with relaxation before school started up again.