Renting Bicycles and Hanging with Friends One Last Time

It's the last full weekend before the end of my work contract and departure from Taiwan. So, of course, some co-workers planned a little outing - cycling in Tianwei. We had decided to each get our own bicycle instead of one of these: one bike for four people.

This whole outing was dedicated to eating. Yes, eating. We cycled around and periodically stopped for food. And by periodically, I'm really talking about often - we were stopped more often than riding. It was a nice day - not too hot or cold; a light sweater/jacket kind of day.

We biked from Tianwei to Beidou and back. We stopped at a Family Mart to have some ice cream - I'm not exactly sure what was so special about this ice cream but people were crazy over it, the lineups ran out the door for this soft ice cream. Having worked at a Dairy Queen for seven years, this ice cream is probably best described as frozen yogurt, but I noticed that most ice cream in Taiwan is more like frozen crushed ice with colouring and maybe some flavouring or it's more like frozen yogurt but they just call all of it ice cream - it's a bit deceiving.

After the ice cream we chatted and eventually continued on our ride. We later stopped for a more traditional Taiwanese desert: crushed ice with different toppings.







We cycled through a section of the city that is known for flowers and plant nurseries. I've noticed that in Asia in general, they really like making sections for things. Like this part of town is where almost all plant nurseries are found, one mall might be dedicated to all things electronic while a different mall is for all clothing. It seems silly to me because it makes it convenient for the consumer - go to one place to get all your plants, but stupid on the other hand because the competition amongst the sellers is ludicrous. I personally hate it because it means that there are no plant/flower nurseries near my home and I have to travel all the way to this area just to buy a nice plant, but once I get there, I have hundred of different sellers to buy from. But hey, I'm from North America and I would rather go to one area of the city, or one mall and find everything I'm looking for so I can get out of there as soon as possible. By the sounds of it, you have probably figure out that I do not enjoy shopping.





There was, however, a lovely park with lots of flowers to promote business for the local nurseries.







We cycled and stopped at many of the garden centres even though none of us bought any plants.

                                                                                                             We stopped at a different shop and I saw a cubic watermelon. To be honest, I don't believe this one is real but I know that they do grow them in that area. This one was used for more decorative purposes. 

I was really trying to convince my friend and co-worker, Elaine, to buy a new cactus plat as she had recently knocked hers off of her desk and broke it. I thought one of these might have been cute.

We cycled back to Tianwei to drop off our bicycles, say goodbye and take some last minute photos before hopping back on the bus towards Erlin.

Alice, Fiona, Me, Sophia, Elaine