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We drove for 5 hours north and had 2 rest stops at 2 unique places. I spent my bus ride trying to take pictures of all the different and unique chinese temples and architecture I could see...I think I did well...you'll see them in my album.
We spent our Friday evening in a city called Danshieu, which is known for their fishing village and is along a the Danshieu River which opens in to the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from China. They are famous for their 'Bridge of Lovers'. Yes, that is what I said. It truly was beautiful:
The fisherman's warf was quite large. Many colourful ships and boats than from what we see.
We then ate at a local restaurant there...watched tanks of a whole variety of fish...which we couldn't eat. Oh...yes...I said that too...we had to eat vegetarian all weekend too...all the meat and seafood at our fingertips and we couldn't have any! OI!
We drove in to a city called Taoyuan, where we arrived at our hotel, the Yaward Hotel - Spa & Golf Course. However, the rooms truly were made for Asian people...my body was too long for the bed...and I could not see in to the vanity mirror as I was too tall. Fabulous. Plus...the 'spa' part of their title, referred to a car beauty shop...not massages. I'm in a foreign country...what can i say.
That night, we arranged cabs and got a lift to a local bar, called 'Drunks' in Chinese, however, it was not big enough to fit all 30 canadians that went out and they asked us to leave, so we went to another bar and it was in fact a 'saloon' style joint. I got to drink Taiwan beer...which really tasted like Coors Light or something.
There was a live band, they played Britney Spears music, a Taiwanese girl trying to pick up one of the Canadian guys, who had his girlfriend there, popcorn, Taiwanese men sitting beside me and sharing a bizarre bean and leaf concoction which was NOT drugs, no matter what Dave tries to tell everyone and there were many Taiwanese people, having a laugh at us. I wonder why? It was great fun!
On Saturday, we had aLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng day...16 hours of fun, fun, Taiwanese fun!
We went to Yamingshan National Park. It was a fabulous drive up one of these crazy huge mountains, through lush greenery and rainforests, with owl crossing signs and awesome city and ocean and valley views. A stop we made was on a volcano, that did have hot pockets of air coming out. Very cool!
We went to the National Palace Museum. Over 600,000 Asian artifacts which were as old as the B.C. era of time.
A stop at Chian Kai-Shek's Residence, who was one of Taiwan's most established leaders who made one of the greatest impacts in their government, was also made. There were tons of gardens and we couldn't go to the house, as it was all locked up and arrangements had not been made for us to go in to it. So...it was actually 'just' okay. Kind of disappointing, but okay.
We went to a place called the 'Taipei 101'. I don't know how many people know that it is the World's tallest building as of now. Yes...the TALLEST! It was very exciting and fantastic views of Taipei!
Finally, we went to the famous 'Snake Alley' night market. I can't even express to you how many people were there...you'll see from the pictures. I have seen enough market stalls, chicken feet, pig kidney-looking things to last me awhile!
Saturday was then officially over! No Taiwanese bars that night!
On Sunday, we got to chill a bit. We had a late morning, so we enjoyed their outdoor pool! A great refreshing swim in the Taiwan sun! Nothing like it!
Plus, I also got to have EGGS for breakfast! OI! I had not had them since I left Thunder Bay! I love eggs!
We packed and headed on our way to a pottery town called Yingge. We got to shop in a huge pottery market. They had the most beautiful and wonderful pottery selections I have ever seen! I would have bought more...but way to heavy!
We then headed back to Puli to our teacher dorms to start our day the next day!
Great trip!
1 comment:
Why did you have to eat vegetarian all weekend? Is this some local custom?
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