Touring with the Tutors

Matthew has a set of five children he tutors on Wendesday nights. The two families just love Matthew and wanted to meet me, so they invited us out on a Sunday afternoon for a visit to a "paper church" and then cycling around Sun Moon Lake.

On the way to Sun Moon Lake we stopped at a "paper church". I'm not sure if that's what it's actually called or if it's the closest translation. "Church" is probably the wrong word. It really looked more like a greehouse but instead of glass windows there were paper-like walls (or so we were told they are made from some kind of paper material). The building was being used more like a community centre of sorts. There was some kind of educational program about the wildife in that area being held while we were there. I can't imagine it ever actually being used as a church, and considering that they charge admission to even go near the area to look at the building I'm not sure that "church" is the right word. I apparently didn't take a single picture of this building either, sorry guys.

After that, we continued on the drive to Sun Moon Lake. We stopped at the Visitor's Centre and rented some bicycles to cycle along the path that circles around the lake. I love going on bike rides and I had been missing the rides Matthew and I used to take through Erlin since our bicycle was stolen over the Moon Festival weekend. This was the bike I got; cute, girly and it even had a basket - bonus!I suppose the only thing I was missing was the small designer dog.

In Taiwan most people work six days a week and everyone has Sundays off. As you can imagine traffic on Sundays is insane.  Any activity that is remotely touristy is dreadful to do on a Sunday but since Matthew's employers only have Sundays off, that was the day we travelled to Sun Moon Lake. I will say that cycling around the lake is pretty fun, however, there were so many people that it was actually pretty difficult to always cycle along the pathway. At some points most people just got off and walked their bicycles because there wasn't enough room to actually cycle it; people travel in both directions and it gets crowded. 

We stopped at the side of the bicycle path to take a break on the grass by the lake shore (you can see a pagoda on the small mountain top in the distance).

The path is pretty long as it goes all the way around the lake but I don't think most people ride the whole distance. There were sections of the path that wasn't busy at all and no other cyclists were in sight. The path is very nice with brick sidewalks and wooden railings along the edge of the water.

Our group also did not complete the path all the way around the lake, we only cycled for a bit and then we turned around to go back; it's more difficult to do things when five children are participating. One of the children was also very terrible at riding a bicycle and had numerous accidents crashing into the railings, stationary objects (like picnic tables, light posts, etc) and even other cyclist. I was a little fascinated with how bad of a rider she was because she was the second oldest child of the five. I understand that maybe she wasn't taught to ride or hasn't practiced, but her sister who is only 1 or 2 years older was a very competent rider, as were both her parents. I did feel pretty bad for her though, because anytime she seemed to even remotely lose her balance her dad would yell at her and at one point he freaked out when she, very slowly, hit the wheel of an oncoming cyclist - no one was hurt. It was strange to see a public outburst like that - I had only met them for the first time earlier that day as well.

We were heading back to our starting point when the group decided to pull over to wait for the girl and her mother who had been left behind. While waiting, two men on Segways drove past us. Apparently, you can rent a Segway to take along the bicycle path around the lake. I was definitely jealous as I have never tried one before and I have always been curious what it's like. Perhaps next time I'll look for the place in which I can rent one of those instead.

Back at the visitor's center, there was a group of people who were dancing on the lawn. I think there was an instructor there teaching people how to dance. I'm not sure what kind of dancing they were doing but it looked fun and they were having a good time.

There were a couple of hot-air balloons there that day which were available for a quick "ride". You could pay a sum of money to stand in the basket and take-off but the balloon is never un-tied, so you don't really travel very high nor far.







There was a man-made pond at the visitor's center and Matthew and the kids decided to play in the water. They then realized that there were some things in the water, it turned out to be tadpoles so they tried to catch some. The children really love Matthew, and the youngest girl, Joy, always wants to sit next to him and hold his hand when walking or crossing the street.

 

After a day of cycling and tadpole hunting, the gang decided we should head out and grab some dinner. We eneded up going to a restaurant that is paper themed. It's called Carton King. It's a chain restaurant where everything is made from paper. The tables, chairs, dishes are all made from paper and cardboard. It was a little neat but it seemed to be very wasteful considering none of the dishes are re-useable. They serve hot-pot meals, so you cook your own selection of items in a bowl of broth. The bowl itself is also made of a paper-material and gets all black and burned at the bottom from the gas stove. Like I said, it was interesting but I felt rather guilty knowing that all the dishes from everything I ordered would be thrown out. Even the drinks are served in cardboard juiceboxes and cups.

We headed home after dinner and hit the usual Sunday night traffic the whole way. Despite that, it was a fun day at Sun Moon Lake and I would definitely recommend cycling the path, just try to go on a weekday when it isn't so busy.

My Brother's Visit

My younger brother, Cory, lives in Malaysia; he just moved there this year but had been living in Singapore for the last three years. He had never been to Taiwan so he thought he'd check it out during a visit to see his lovely sister. He arrived the night of the same day that Matthew headed out to the Philippines. I drove to the airport with Matthew in the early morning and spent the whole day at the airport waiting around for my brother. After finally arriving home at about 1am, I needed my sleep.

Cory was kind of left to his own devices as he arrived just prior to my work week beginning. Since Matthew was out of town my brother was free to borrow our car but he hates driving and hasn't driven since leaving Canada, so he was stuck taking buses to get around during the weekdays.

He decided to check out things like the big Buddha in Changhua city. He was surprised at how odd he thought this country was. He found that Taiwan is just a little behind. He based his opinion on language. Even though English is not an official language in Malaysia, you can get by very easily with knowing only English. He was pretty shocked at how different it is in Taiwan. So few people know any English at all, and the ones who have studied English in school aren't that great at it. It's a little sad but true. I have done a lot of travelling and even within Asia I found it surprising that I country like Taiwan, which most people think are quite developped, especially in the technology sectors, aren't really with it in terms of English ability.

While Matthew was away, Cory and I substituted for one of his classes. I think they were quite fascinated with my brother as he's 6'6" (200cm) tall. The class was much smaller than normal but also a little more out of control than usual, but I had only seen them once before. I'm not sure how Matthew enjoys substituting all the time, I felt like it was just a mess. I had gone to the school with Matthew the week before to be introduced and shown around, he notified pretty much everyone with the program that I would be substituting for him. But when I got there the following week with my brother, the first question is, "Where's Matthew? Will he be here later?" It seemed like they didn't understand English at all but whenever they see a white man they're in so much awe they can't help but smile and nod which makes Matthew think they understood him. Ugh! I was so glad it was a one time thing and only two hours long. It's just a frustrating process. I was supposed to get there, go in the classroom and teach the first hour, which was essentially just a q uestion and asnwer period. In the second hour, I was supposed to show them a video and have a discussion. They had assured us the projector and computer would be working and then I get there and it wasn't. They gave me a laptop to show the video on and everyone had to huddle around it. I finally understood why some days Matthew would come home venting about how little point our jobs have here and how we should just get on a plane and go home.

His first evening here, Cory saw the garbage trucks and thought they were neat but didn't quite understand how it worked. They come every night around 6pm and play music, while people hand their bags of garbage to the garbage man at the back of the truck and he tosses them in. The garbage separation is confusing. I still don't get. I also have never seen a recycling truck but everyone separates garbage, from tissue papers, and from recycling. But I have never seen anything other than one garbage truck. Matthew and I have walked past some dumps, they're only a few blocks away from my workplace. It looked like they have people go through the bags of garbage at the dumpsite and then separate garbage from recycling, but I'm not sure.

While I was at work my brother would just walk around town and buy all kinds of food and just eat, and eat, and eat. I had bought him a bus ticket to the city and all of a sudden he was so sick he couldn't go. He thought it was a good idea to stuff his face with greasy pastries. My brother isn't as adventurous as I thought. After feeling better, he never left Erlin during my workdays. I think this place is boring so I have no idea what he did while I was a t work. Saturday night came around and Matthew was back in town, so we took Cory to the night market. My brother is pretty adventurous when it comes to food and he wanted to try some traditional Taiwanese dishes. Everyone here is crazy about what they call "stinky tofu". I've had it and it's not that bad; it tastes a lot better than it smells, but in absolutely no way would I describe it as delicious. Matthew has never had it. He can't stand the smell of it and he pretty much gags everytime we're nearby a place that sells it. My brother bought some and we sat down to eat it. He took one bite and tried to swallow but it just wouldn't stay down. Never in his life has that ever happened. I'm not sure if he'll try it again.

The next morning we headed to Taichung to catch the High Speed Rail train (HSR) to Taipei for the weekend. We left Matthew behind, he had some catching up for work to do. We checked into my usual hostel and went for a walk. My brother really only wanted to see Taipei 101 and buy some souvenirs.

We later ate some good food, drank some beer, and had some sugary desserts. We later hit up the Shillin night Market. It was pretty busy, as per usual. Cory got quite a number of looks because he looks like a gaint monster walking through the crowds of people who are around my height. When I'm out with Matthew, he seems like a giant, and he's only about 6'1", nowhere near my brother's height. It eventually started to rain so the market was dwindling. I took my brother for a foot massage, my second and his very first. For a big guy like he is, he's a big baby. He was almost in tears at certain times and even had to ask the guy to stop for a break because he couldn't handle the massage anymore. It was hilarious!

On our way home we got heckled by a fruit selling lady. I like fruit, so I decided we should get some. But then she tells my brother to try this and try that, "You like? Here." When we left I had spent $30CAD on freaking fruit! As you can imagine, most of that went to waste. Some of it was awful because some of those fruits weren't even in season.

We headed back to the hostel and I packed up my bags. I had to work the next day and Cory would just be heading out early in the morning to catch a plane. So I gave him a map and had him set up, then we headed to the train station for some last minute shopping and eating before my train arrived. My brother toured some nearby places on his own before heading back to the hostel himself. Keeping family visits short and sweet is key to ending it on a good note and he even wants to come back one day.

Siblings for Lyfe!!!

Taroko National Park

Since I wasn't able to check out Taroko National Park during the Moon Festival long weekend because of a typhoon, I decided that I would take some days off. It was a holiday here on double ten day which is October 10th (Taiwan's National Day). We don't really get any days off for a Christmas holiday, so I decided to take the next working days off atfer the double 10th day (as it fell on a Thursday), this way it gave Matthew and I a full four days to drive to the park and explore it.

I'll be honest, since coming to Taiwan and learning of things to see and do, visiting Taroko Gorge and the East coast was really all I have cared about, and now I can cross at least one of them off of my list. There are two ways to get to the park from where we live, we can either take the highway all the way through Taipei and down the East coast to get to the main entrance of the park, which is about a 6 hour drive, or we can drive eastwards and cut through some mountainous roads to get to the end portion of the park which takes about 6 hours as well. We chose the second option.

While driving through the mountains, we came across an old English town. That's not the most appropriate description of it, because it's not really old and it was not established by English people. There is a section of this small mountain town that decided to build some buildings based off of the old English buildings in England. They even called this portion of the town "Old England" but it was established in 2006. It was neat I guess. It was mostly a big hotel with a clock tower and I believe there were some restaurants there as well.

After that we continued on our journey. We decided to stop at the side of the road to take a picture of a transport truck in a ditch. The roads are tight and narrow and on either sides there are small ditches so water can run down the mountain when the snow melts. While stopped at this accident, two large transport trucks carrying tree trunks drove past us, and when we continued on our way, one of those trucks had been in an accident. It ended up in the middle of the road and an SUV driving in the other direction was in the ditch and had also scraped the right side of their car before crashing it into the mountain side. No one was hurt, but we realized that this route was going to be a dangerous one. It was just before nightfall when we reached the top on the mountain and we were above clouds. It was a pretty scene but I was freezing! Our GPS read that we were at 10,758ft (3,279m). After that, the road was downhill for a while before coming to twists and turns.

We got into Taroko park while it was dark and we drove for a little while before looking for a place to set up our tent. We found some campground areas but couldn't figure out how to pay as we couldn't find an office near any of the campgrounds. We eventually drove a little further up the road, parked our car at the side, squeezed up by the railing and slept in it. It was so dark we couldn't see anything but I could hear rushing water so I knew we were near a river. This was my morning view when I woke up: a waterfall nearby.

The next morning we headed to Taroko town. There's not much there: a hostel, a resort, a convenience store. But not far from the town there's a bridge, Pudu Bridge, that leads to Xiangde Temple. First you must climb a bunch of stairs, but from the top you can get a great view of the Liwu river that runs through the park, as well as the nearby town. Next to the Temple there is the Tianfeng Pagoda (or The Heaven Summit Pagoda). I have a strange obsession with stairs, so of course I had to climb to the very top. The view was really pretty, although the railing around the patio was low and it was very windy up there, I was afraid that if I made too many sudden movements I might fall over. Thankfully, that never happened.

Pudu Bridge                                                          Tianfeng Pagoda (The Heaven Summit Pagoda)

Interior of Tianfeng Pagoda (The Heaven Summit Pagoda), climbing to the top.

View from the top of the Tianfengt Pagoda (The Heaven Summit Pagoda), it was windy but beautiful.





We started to climb back down and about half-way there are some little outdoor restaurants and a woman there sells some herbal tea that she hand picks in the mountains. When we were sitting there a nearby foreign couple, Andy and Rachel, chatted us up. They have lived in Taiwan for quite sometime and go to Taroko as often as they can during the summer months. They showed us around some of the secret spots, like a watering hole where people go swimming and one section of it is a natural hot spring. Matthew and I had done some research and had printed pages about the park, as well as a brochure and the dedicated sections in my travel book, but none of these mentioned this watering hole. Even though it was a more "secret" spot, there was a pathway down from the road to the swimming area, as well as toilets and change rooms, so it wasn't like an illegal thing. Unfortunately, they had closed off the watering hole recently because someone had died while swimming there from  being hit by a rockslide. Rockslides are very common in the park and there are many signs throughout warning people. You can even borrow a hard hat from the visitor's office for the duration of your trip. Our two friends really wanted to go swimming, as did I so they showed us another spot. This one was totally illegal. We walked down part of a walking trail (Baiyang Falls trail), until we got to the river, then we essentially climbed down the rocks to get into the Liwu River and went swimming in it. The water was so cold, but on a sweltering hot day like that is was very refreshing.

Matthew enjoying the small waterfall and refreshingly cool water.

We left our stuff on a rock and ventured up stream for a bit, then we relaxed on some massive rocks and drank beers before heading back. I was wearing glasses, so I had taken them off and left them with our stuff because they're my only pair and I don't want to lose them (I was also hoping no one would steal our stuff while we were gone). However, I am about as blind as a bat without glasses so when we were venturing upstream, it was the hardest thing for me. People would say "Put your left foot on that rock there. See it? Step right there, it's right there!" I couldn't see anything but blue water, everything under the water you can forget about.

Sometimes the other people could see currents under the water, but I couldn't so I accidentally walked right into them and got swept away for a short distance. It was a little bit of a frightening experience, but it was very fun and exhilerating; maybe I like dangerous situations becuase they make me feel alive. On our way back, the most difficult part was getting back onto the rock where our stuff was. In the picture above with Matthew, you can see a small waterfall, the current there is really strong and Rachel fell in. She didn't look panicked and even said she would be able to get out of it. But before she could, Matthew jumps in trying to save her, only to be swept underwater. Then Andy tried to get closer to reach for them but slips and gets taken in as well. Of course, there's me sitting on the rock not wanting to even try to do what any of them have just done and on top of that I can't see anything; I couldn't tell if there were people on the path nearby that I could wave to for help either. The three of them managed to get back to where I was, out of harm's way, and we crossed the river a little further over so the current from the waterfall wouldn't be a bother. When we got to the other side, Matthew's sandals we floating in the water near a rock, he had lost them in the scuffle. He had reached out to them just in time as one had almost escaped. Other than that one minute where everyone was drowning, it was a pretty good time.

After that, we decided to go check out a suspension bridge. It happened to be right near where Matthew and I slept the night before. I thought that the bridge would lead somewhere, like a walking trail, but it didn't. The other side was just the forest, it was intriguing.

We then headed to a Jiuqudong (Tunnel of Nine Turns). I don't know why it is called that, it has more than nine tunnels and more then nine turns, so the name doesn't really make sense. It used to be the part of the highway that cars would take through the park (Cross-Island highway) but now it is a walking trail. This trail probably has the highest amount of rockslides in any area of the park. It was the reason they built the new road that goes through the mountain, as this one goes around the edge of the mountain. The rockslides were too disrupting and dangerous for vehicles, so they built the new road. There are signs everywhere on this trail telling you to wear a hard hat or to walk quickly between two points. It's not a very long trail but it was getting dark and we were all getting hungry so we walked most of it and turned back for dinner.

The old Cross-Island Highway which is now part of Jiuqudong (the Tunnel of Nine Turns) walking trail.

Walking through one of the tunnels along the trail. Being in a tunnel is probably the safest area of the trail as you aren't exposed to falling rocks as when you are in the open areas.



We decided to stay at the hostel our friends had recommended (which they were also staying at). We were both in need of a hot shower. We spent the evening drinking beers and playing cards with our new friends as the next day they had to head back to the city, Andy was playing in his band. We continued exploring the park. I wanted to hike some trails, and it was probably a good day to do that, as it was not very hot, and it was even drizzling for parts of it. First, we checked out the Baiyang Falls trail. This is the same trail where we all went swimming in the river. There was another suspension bridge on this trail; it looked a bit more modern.

Once you get to the end of the trail, there is a small barricade and a cave. If you want to see the waterfall you will have to walk into the cave, but be forewarned, you will get wet. It's not quite a traditional waterfall; you are in a cave and the water flows from out of the cracks in the rocks, so you're more or less inside the waterfall as opposed to just looking at one.

Here is Matthew and I inside the cave with the Baiyang waterfall. We both had soaked feet and were wearing our dorky raincoats. Despite the wetness, it was totally worth it.

Walking to the end and back of the Baiyang Falls trail takes about 2 hours, but it is an easy trail, mostly flat terrain. After getting soaked we decided to walk back and drive through the rest of the park and hopefully get to Hualien city on the East coast for dinner.




The road through the mountain/park is called the Cross-Island Highway and there are many road bridges. Like this one, called Cimu Bridge.

We drove through Yanzihkou (or Swallow Grotto Trail). This one isn't really a great walking path. You can essentially drive right through as the walkers just walk along the side of the road which runs parallel to the Liwu River. In the rock walls throughout this trail you can see neat little holes. It's a pretty short trail and to be honest, I didn't find it that interesting. The road is also very narrow so parking and making sure you aren't hit by traffic while walking is a bit of an annoyance.

We continued on our way to Hualien. There we got a bite to eat for dinner and afterward we got a foot massage. Believe me, after the hiking from that day, and my plan to hike again the next day, our feet were in need of some care. That was actually the first time I had ever gotten a foot massage. I had only had two full body massages prior to that in my life, one in Thailand and one in Taiwan when we were out celebrating the Moon Festival. But I had never gotten a foot massage; they don't focus on those areas during a full body massage. It was an interesting experience as I am one who is quite ticklish. I was pretty impressed with myself and my level of tolerance.  After that, we crashed in another hostel and had a pretty amazing sleep if I may say so. The next day, we headed down part of the East coast so I could get a good look at the Pacific Ocean. I have this thing with the water; I used to be terrified of it, but now I am in love with it and the sounds of the crashing waves is like a lullaby to my ears. We parked across the street from the Farglory Ocean Park (it's an amusement park of sorts) and spent almost an hour just watching the ocean. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I even spotted some crabs!

After that, we decided to double back through the park as it would be a more interesting drive home than taking the highway all the way up north trough Taipei and home. Also, this way we could stop and check out some spots we had missed or didn't have time for previously.

The park actually has only one official Entrace, which is located on the East side. So, we stopped to check out the Visitor's Centre (this is where you can pick up brochures and borrow hard hats) on our way back through the park. If you wanted to do the trails in order then it would be wise for you to begin at the East end of the park.

The first stop after the park's entrance is Changchun Shrine (or the Eternal Spring Shrine). There is a walking trail, mostly upstairs to two separate lookout points, but the trail had been closed when we were there due to recent rockslides. They had even put ropes criss-crossing down the first staircase to stop people from doing the trail. Honestly, Matthew and I waited around because we wanted to sneak in and do the trail.

It's a short trail, but like I said, mostly going upstairs until you get to the top where there is a pagoda and you can climb that as well. I've read that from the top you can get one of the best views in the whole park. We never managed to sneak onto the trail. We waited for like 45 minutes but it seemed like everytime a group of people left, another big group of people were on the way. That's the problem with the "tourist" areas, you get bus loads of people one after the other.

Afterwards, we hopped back in the car and drove past another suspension bridge but this one was really long and it looked awesome. Unfortunately it was only opened to experienced hikers and you needed a permit to cross the bridge. They even had a guard standing at the gate to its entrace checking for proper equipment and the permit.

We then drove back through Yanzihkou (Swallow Grotto) trail as the road re-connects with the West direction of the Cross-Island Highway. We didn't make as many stops or do many hikes on the way home as it was a cooler, rainy day, unfortunately. Matthew did manage to take this panoramic picture of Jiuqudong (Tunnel of Nine Turns). As you can see, they post rockslide warning signs all over the park; there's no way you could miss them.

As we continued our drive out of the park, we stop at this old rackety thing. I'm not sure how long it hasn't been in use but it was interesting. It's also a marker for a less popular hiking trail that takes a total of eight hours to hike! We didn't do it. There was a trail at the East end of the park that I really wanted to do, but because it's a four hour trek Matthew said no. I am planning to do that trail with my mother when she visits in February (except it will be much colder here). I don't think my mother and I will do this eight hour trail though, I think that is a little much; it's also located on the West side and I'm not even sure if it's technically consider to be within the national park anymore.

The drive home was filled with twists and turns going downhil and then some uphill. I'm not going to lie, I felt a bit nauseated and couldn't wait to get to the bottom of the mountain; I had my eye on the GPS the whole time reading our alitutude. We stopped in the city to get some good food and finally headed home. It was a fun filled four days and on our last day off, it was time to do some laundry, write some lesson plans and get a good night's sleep before the new work week began.

Goodbye Taroko National Park

Moon Festival

We were planning on visiting Taroko National Park during the holiday long weekend of the Moon Festival, but a typhoon came in so we had to change our plans. Instead, we headed down south to Kaohsiung (the second largest city in Taiwan). We met up with some Taiwanese friends from Tiachung who have a cottage in that area. We met them in Kaohsiung, at a mall with a giant Ferris wheel on the roof (we didn't go for a ride though). We all went to check out the Love River. It's a popular river in the city and you can take a boat ride on it. It was described as a paddle/row boat, but it was just a boat that they pile on a bunch of people on. There was no rowing involved, it had a fully functioning engine.

The river was pretty busy that night, probably because Florentijn Hofman's giant inflatable rubber duck, a.k.a Duckzilla, was in Taiwan (it died in a 6.3 earthquake we had here recently). The flocks of people over this duck was absurd. We were there during the night, and even while on a boat on the river, you could see all the camera flashes going off from the people taking pictures. Even the Love River tour boat was advertising that you could get a view of it from the boat ride.

This was the view of the actual duck from the boat while touring the river at night.

After touring the Love River, we headed to Kaohsiung's largest night market. It's not much different than any other night market, other than the fact that it is larger and more crowded. You have more vendors selling the same things, but you do have a bit more selection when it comes to your arcade games. We wanted to test our strength so we found a punching machine. This scene reminds me of an episode in Dragonball Z (I had a younger brother so I have actually seen all of this show) where the characters want to enter a fighting tournament and they need to punch a machine to get a number which put them in a particular category. I will admit that according to this machine my strength was puny; I just wouldn't compete at Vegeta's level.

After eating, punching, and more eating, we headed to our friend's cottage for the night. The next morning we all grabbed something for breakfast and headed out to a small town called Meinong where we learned to make tea. We paired up and got a bowl with about 18 different ingredients in it. We were also given a large stick to squish the ingredients together, we did this for about an hour. This helped build strength in my arms.

After that, you add in some green powder and mix that for another while. Once all the ingredients are all mixed together, you take some of your concoction and put it in a small bowl and add hot water and dried rice things (they looked and tasted like rice crispies), and finally, you eat it. I don't think this falls under the category of tea, but that's what everyone kept calling it. You must be sure not to be wasteful, so use a brush to clean the bowl out of any remnants and eat it.

This tea making shop also had costumes you can wear for either pictures or during the tea making process. Here, Matthew is trying to make it look like he's a traditional and serious emperor, but I think he just looks miserable. What do you say?

Once we got Matthew to cheer up a little, we went to a paper making place and we hand painted our own fans. I wated to paint an umbrella, but it would be difficult and a little awkward to bring back to Canada with us, so I painted a fan as well. It was a lot of fun. I would suggest you have a plan of what you are going to paint before starting because mine it just blobs of colour as I had no idea what I wanted to paint. Matthew decided he would tell our story of coming to Taiwan on his fan. I think they will be proudly displayed on our walls when we get back to Canada. It was starting to get close to dinner time so we all decided to head back to Taichung. It was the Moon Festival after all, so it calls for a barbecue. We got to one of our friend's home and they had tables and chairs set out and had these small portable barbecues set out in the streets. It was a lot of fun and we ate so many new items. Some things were way too spicy, other things were just plain weird, but a lot of it was good. Matthew and I also ate a ton a vegetables, but one in particular, I don't know what it's called, but you had to peel it like you would corn, except it was all white; it was really good. We only knew a few people at the barbecue, but there were all kinds of other people we hadn't ever met, and when I asked our friend, she didn't even know who some of the other people were, she just assumed they were firends of someone else at the barbecue. For all we know, they could have been strangers off of the street. We ate and drank until we could do no more and then we went bowling.

After bowling we did some exploring and Matthew wanted to try something exotic, so we went looking for snake. We went to a shop/restaurant where you can buy dishes with snake meat (they have the live snakes right next to the cooking area). While we were there, the shop owners were so amazed with Matthew (because he's a white man) that while we were waiting for our snake meat dishes, they offered him some shots of snake's blood.

The shop owners kept saying that it was really expensive and something about health benefits, but that really only applies if you believe in the whole Chinese medicine stuff. Matthew said that the snake's blood was so diluted in alcohol that you couldn't really taste anything else. But hey, at leat he can say he's had it before.









After getting our take-out snake meat, we headed to an outdoor restaurant with the group. Yes, we were eating again. Everyone order a ton of food, and we all shared, although, no one wanted to try the snake meat dishes. We had it in the form of a stir-fry and a soup. The snake meat itself was so fried that it tasted like any other fried meat. Matthew of course, ordered more snails while I stuck to my sashimi.

The next day we all decided to hit up the batting cages. I was so excited as I had wanted to do this since the summer before leaving Canada and never got the chance. Ottawa doesn't have any batting cages, so I would have had to go all the way to Toronto, but when I do go to Toronto there is always a reason and I never seemed to have the extra time to go for fun. Matthew and I had gone down to Windsor to visit my family and Detroit has some batting cages, but again, between not having enough time and a boy who seems to be afraid to enter Detroit, I missed that opportunity as well. I had to come all the way to Taiwan for my darn batting cage and I'll tell you one thing, it was hard. A lot of the cages were just way too fast, not quite MLB fast, but too fast for even Matthew. However, there were some people there who managed to hit every ball, and I was certainly impressed. For my 25 shots, I missed every single one. I found some much slower cages and tried those ones. It was much better as I managed to actually hit a few, but I really suck at baseball.

Matthew and I also entered a basketball competition (it wasn't really a competition but they called it that - I don't even know if there were any prizes to be won, but they did have a speaker making the announcements). I'm a lot better at throwing basketballs into a net than hitting a ball with a bat. We did some other random things that day and headed home the next morning. Even though it wasn't what we had in mind when starting that weekend, it was a lot of fun; we learned many new things and it was well worth it.