A Few More Pictures...

...then it's off to bed for us!

Meeting Pierson and Maylin

We are (almost) a family of four! We met Pierson Yong-Sheng and Maylin Yu-Fong in Nantou today (Monday), and we will get them tomorrow. Will post more soon, but here's a little teaser...

(By the way, Pierson has a cold right now -- hence the masks. His is so he won't spread it; hers is so she won't catch it. These masks are very common in Taiwan and other Asia countries.)

Can you tell that it was a good day?

Updates to Come

It's 10:00 PM on Sunday, March 21, Taiwan time, and we're about to turn in. We had a nice today and are settled in to our new place, The Howard Plaza, and it is SWANKY! We really enjoyed Dong Wu for a few nights and would do it all over again, but The Howard is just plain sweet and a nice change of pace. We toured the nearby Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101 this afternoon and evening. In the interest of time and because we need our sleep, we'll blog about those adventures later. Tomorrow's a big day!

We leave for Nantou County around 8:00 AM tomorrow morning to meet our children! We estimate it is about a 3-hour bus ride. So say a prayer for us before you go to sleep tomorrow night (er...tonight, Sunday night, since you're probably reading this on Sunday in the USA). We will of course be in touch soon to share our pictures and tales of meeting Pierson Yong-Sheng and Maylin Yu-Fong in person!

Love y'all!

Longshan Temple

Our day at Yangmingshan Temple was very rewarding and very tiring, as evidenced by this picture of us at the top of a bridge (which as far as we could tell, was the highest point in the park). We've been seeing a lot of urban Taipei, so it was nice to have the change of pace to see more of the rural side. Taiwan is a BEAUTIFUL sub-tropical country -- truly a treasure of the Pacific.

We left the park about 4, so we still had some daylight left and pondered where to go. We decided on Longshan Temple (or Dragon Mountain Temple), which is one of Taiwan's oldest and most important temples. Every book and website has said this isone of Taipei's must-see's, so we decided we must see it.

The R5 bus dropped us off near the Shihlin Night Market and MRT Station again, but this time, we noticed a separate set of vendors and carnival-type booths just beside the Night Market which had not been there the night before, unless we just missed it. We are the kind of travelers that, if we see something interesting, we just have to discover what it is, and don't worry so much about whatever plans we had.

Here's just a few samples of this mini-market:

Probably spent an hour or so here, (getting some

souvineer shopping done) then jumped back on the MRT to Longshan Temple. In so doing, we rode the Bannan Line (which runs east-west instead of north-south) for the first time at Taipei

Picture one is us buying umbrellas. The sky looked like it was about to open up on us! It never did though. And I am pretty sure the one we got for Traci is actually a sun sheild (aka not waterproof) Picture two is the shop where we got souvineers. Picture three is a man making little glass figurines. We watched him make a tiger. It was quite impressive and interesting.

Main Station. This station reminded Traci of Grand Central or Times Square in NYC, except that here, there were far more people per square inch. If you haven't figured it out, TAIPEI IS CROWDED! We're getting used to it, though.

By the time we arrived at the temple, it was already dark, and we decided that this is actually a place more gorgeous to see at night. Chinese-style lanterns (there's probably a name for these, but I don't know what it is) lined the outside front entrance, and the smell of incense was already thick. Several monk-vendors were outside the temple selling various things, most noticeably, lotus flowers. People well thronging to the temple in droves, and we soon discovered why.

Inside was a mixture of about 5% sight-seers, and 95% worshippers. It was quite a sight to behold. People praying, lighting incense, lighting candles, laying down offerings (i.e. the lotus flowers, all kinds of food, etc.), reading scriptures, prostrating before idols, and other signs of devotion to their gods and goddesses. We were hypnotized by this scene. In reading our guidebook later, I found that the main hall is dedicated to the Buddhist goddess of mercy, Guanyin, but there are also Taoist influences as evidenced by Mazu, the Taoist goddess of the sea. Apparently, other altars can be set up with "lesser deities" from other religions. The temple is absolutely stunning in its beauty and ornateness. Apparently it's pretty resilient too -- built in 1738, hit by an earthquake and rebuilt in 1815, and damaged by a typhoon in 1867.

Being Christians ourselves, we were obviously way out of our element at Longshan, and felt a strange combination of appreciation, sadness, joy, commonality, and diversity with the people we saw. I found myself in awe of their intense devotion and desire to connect with the divine, but just as strongly, wanted them each to know the Jesus I've come to know. I also saw such intense displays of worship that would shame many Christians (like me) for not offering as eagerly and intensely praise to our Creator and Lord.

Anyway, I think Longhshan helped us continue to gain an appreciation for what we've set out to do for these first few days -- the homeland of our children, with all its culture, history, religious diversity, etc.

In the pictures you can see people praying to the golden statue of Budha and a woman laying down her offering to the Gods.

Yangmingshan National Park

After eating the trusty Dong Wu breakfast buffet again (including eggs, toast, and wontons), we caught a bus and headed off to Yangmingshan National Park, which is north of Taipei. We read that the park is the site of a dormant volcano... now that I am thinking about it maybe the park itself IS the dormant volcano? Anyway, we got off the bus after a 40 minute standing-room-only bus ride and had NO idea where to go. All the maps and signage we found were in Mandarin, so we decided it was a safe bet to follow the crowds so off we went with everyone else. Along the way we passed this bathroom. I kind of had to go, but... I decided to keep going. :)



Before long, we settled in to what turned out to be a beautiful hike through a massive park. The weather was also a little cooler and breezier at this higher altitude, and we enjoyed being a little more removed from the city's pollution. The walk ranged from leisure strolls to some steeper paths through more mountainous areas, so it was nice to be able to set our own pace. Lots and lots of foilage, mountains, ponds, waterfalls, and vistas -- too many pictures to post here (it would take us all night! Check out the website to see some of what we saw.). In true Taiwanese style, it seems, the park was also pretty crowded, though not unbearably so.

At one point early on, while we were trying to figure out where to go, I sat down and Adam went looking for a map. This group of women below were very proud of themselves and their English which consisted of "Hi!" and "Hello". I smiled and said hi and hello back, and they seemed very proud of themselves. Later on in our hike, we ran into them again, and they asked to take a picture with me. I thought it was kind of funny, but what the heck, so Adam took one with our camera too. They seemed very happy and then they disappeared again.



Later on I decided I did in fact need to go to the little girls room and fortunately for me I got to use the squatty potty. First on this trip (not to bad), so I figured I would share the facilities with you in the Western world who have never experienced it. You aren't missing much. :) None-the-less it serves the purpose. Adam noted that men's facilities seem to be universal -- isn't that just lucky for him!

Situated in the middle of the park is beautiful building housing the gift shop and snack bar. Adam went up to the second floor to check it out while I sat and waited to see if it was worth my while. (I wasn't wearing the best shoes for hiking and my feet were tired!) Below is Adam letting me know not to bother coming to the top.

As we walked and began to discern the various posted maps, we found that the park trails consisted of one huge, main loop around the park with little trails veering off in every direction. One could probably spend days in the park and not explore all the trails it had to offer. Some of the trails were paved, others mere stone steps with little bits of moss growing on them (slippery). Deeper into the park, we saw the first sign for the waterfalls and decided we really wanted to go see them. The rock steps were very steep and slippery but off we went anyway. Down, down, down, and when we arrived, it was all worth it.

The falls were absolutely beautiful and soothing. We sat for a little while taking in the scenery and then up, up, up we went! (For the Coasta Rica team it reminded me of the zip line hike) My legs were burning!

At this point it started to look like the rain clouds were coming in so we headed back to the bus.
The line for the bus was HUGE, though very organized. There were different lines for each bus, each clearly marked with the codes for various buses. Ours was the R5 line. For the ride back, we decided we wanted a seat, so we waited a little longer in the line that assured us a seat and it did not dissapoint. After 4 hours of hiking in slip-on shoes I was ready to sit.

Here a a couple of funny pictures for the day. Even dogs wait in line for the toilet... Actually he was patiently waiting for his owner, but he stood there so obietiently we got a good chuckle out of it.

Next is a stange sign... I makes you wonder what had to happen to make you put a "NO BIRDS" sign on your bus. :)

One of the best parts about Yangmingshan -- other than the bus fare, it didn't cost us a dime! (Or 1 TWD)

Shihlin Night Market

Night Market Entrance

On our way back from the National Palace Museum, we asked the cab driver to take us to the MRT station which happened to be next to the largest night market in Taipei. So we decided while we were there we would give it a shot. Though it was about an hour before official opening time (according to what we read), it looked like things were starting to bustle, so we started off down the alley. This picture of Adam (with the backpack) was taken shortly after we entered before it got crowded.

It's hard to explain what a Taipei night market is like unless you've already seen one. Just imagine lots of people, lots of vendors, a carnival-like atmosphere, bright lights, bright colors, diversity of all the senses -- all lining both sides of some very narrow alley ways... and you're beginning to get the picture. Most folks were on foot, though a few cars and mopeds would also make their way through the alley. It's amazing how they can manuever -- the only time we saw anyone come near to bumping into a moving vehicle was when the handle of a moped attacked a woman's sweater almost pulling her over.

In the Shihlin market you could buy clothes, jewelry, shoes, food... just about anything. And the Taiwanese are very creative about their food! Fried this and that, seafood, various beverages, fresh vegetables -- some of it actually smelled and looked pretty good to us, but we still weren't quite brave enough to take the plunge. We didn't buy anything either as there wasn't much that was really on our shopping to-do-list. We did however get an eye/ear/nose full of the sights, sounds and abundant aromas. By the time we left the market, there was barely enough room to squeeze through due to the over abundance of people. Again the personal space buffer was out the window. This was one of the strangest dishes one could buy in the market... needless to say we passed on this one too! :)

Just a funny picture I saw in one of the pets stores. In case your cat is too calm... feed him this! )

There are a few other night markets throughout Taipei which we may try at some point, but we'll see how we are on time. Quite an experience.

Adam reviewing the maps planning out the day

So we got up this morning got ready and went to the breakfast buffet. It was pretty good. We had eggs, something french toast-ish and orange juice. Adam tested a few other things... I didn't have the stomach for trying new things this morning! Maybe tomorrow. Then we came back to the room and devised a plan for the day. We heard the National Palace Museum was fantastic... it was nice.

Hoping that we were going to get on the right train... As it ended up it was the right train, we were just going the wrong direction. :) We had a 15 minute walk to the MRT (subway) a three stop ride on that and a 10 minute bus ride to get to the palace... Only one goof up... Not bad for a couple of Westerners who have never been to Taipei

The entrace to the palace. The Taiwanese flag blowing infront of the palace.

The palace is HUGE and took several hours to go through. there were A LOT of tour groups there. Asians tend to have a different buffer zone for personal space than westerns do... Let's just say we got squeezed out of the way a lot! They were coming at us from all sides. lol

It was, however, a beautiful building with the largest display of Chinese artifacts in the world. They also had a beautiful garden with some crazy large fish. these were the biggest of these I have ever seen. I think the biggest had to have been 4-5 feet in length! It was impressive!

The gardens were quite beautiful and peaceful. They were MUCH less crowed than the museum! We quite enjoyed it and thought the kids would probably like to come here and feed the ducks and the fish. Maybe even this crazy eyed bird! :)

PS this is how I am feeling right now. My eyes are bloodshot and my hair is a mess and we are definitely not the typcial skin tone around here. :)

These are the brooms they were using to keep the sidewalks clean around the palace.

This is just a funny in our elevator at the Hotel. I am not sure what they are trying to warn us

of in the bottom left corner... do people often slip through the cracks?

ok well since I fell asleep sitting here and literally almost fell off this bench while waiting for the last picture to upload maybe I ought to go to bed... and Adam is practicing reading with his eyes closed. :)

Chow for now. HUGS AND KISSES TO EVERYONE. We'll post about the night market in the morning. That was interesting too!