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!

Taoyan Internation Airport and Dong Wu Hotel

And finally, here we are happy and tired at Taiwan Taoyan International Airport.



































You betta declare yo' stuff, or the beagles will get ya! Never saw them, though. I bet they come out of nowhere.






























The FIRST thing that came down baggage claim (below). I guess it's time we got used to sticking out like a sore thumb.

The cab ride from the airport to Dong Wu was about 30-40 minutes and entertaining. Not so much by what we saw (it was dark and hard to see much), but because of the traffic going on over the driv'ers radio. Fun to imagine what was being shouted in Mandarin, but they sure were excitable.

We arrived at Dong Wu with a similar feeling as when were first transported to our hotel in Belize for our honeymoon -- where the heck are we and what are we doing?! But we really do like what we have seen of the hotel so far, and our room is quite comfortable and quaint. The room we had originally booked was occupied, so we actually received an upgrade! Bonus. This where we will be for our first three nights, and then we will relocate to The Howard Plaza before meeting Pierson and Maylin.

Well, we're off to the breakfast buffet. Talk to y'all later!

More Pics from Day 1

These are little out-of-order, but here is a shot of Taipei at night from the plane...

















...this our plane from Tokyo to Taipei (take before the night shot above)...

Pictures from Day 1

It's about 7:45 AM on Friday here in Taiwan, and I think I've done about the sleeping I can do, considering the jet lag. Not too bad, though -- we finally got to bed around 1:00 AM, so I'll take it. Traci is still asleep, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to post some pictures

Oh, by the way, Traci back is doing much better than a few days ago, and the journey over here was very tolerable for her. Prayer does work! Not to mention thermapads and a trip to the chiropractor before we left. Thanks to everyone for keeping her in your prayers, and please continue to do so. She's still a bit stiff, but much, much improved.

Now onto some pictures. We don't have a whole lot to show from the journey so far, but here you go. First up are some shots from our layover at Narita International Airport in Tokyo. This was when we were really the fatigue...

Hello from Taipei!

After 30 hours -- from the time we woke up at our home in Charlotte on Wednesday, March 17 to the time we set foot in our hotel room on Thusday, March 18 -- we have finally arrived here in Taiwan! It has been a fairly uneventful day, in a good way. Travel included a drive from our house to CLT airport, three flights (Charlotte to Chicago, Chicago to Tokyo, Toyko to Taipei), and a cab ride from the airport to our hotel, Dong Wu. Traci and I agreed that our longest stretch, 12 hours from Chicago to Tokyo, was not that bad at all. Luckily, we were entertained by a few fairly decent movies (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Everybody's Fine) and at least one really awful one (Whip It!, Drew Barrymore's directoral debut. What did you expect?).

Our layover in Tokyo was when the fatigue really caught up with us. Though we were there around 3:00 PM in the afternoon, our bodies were telling it us it was about 3:00 AM. I try not to think too hard about the time difference anymore because one time I actually almost convinced myself that if you fly in just the right flight path over the north pole, that time travel is actually possible. Anyway, we got some good sleep in Narita, as well as the final flight.

Had no problems whatsover in any of our various checkpoints, and so far, everyone we have dealt with has been quite friendly to us gringos. Especially the cute, sassy old lady on our Tokyo-Taipei flight -- she was a vegetarian, so I traded my salad for her chicken. The Taiwanese have been incredibly friendly to us, as we were told they would be.

I'm so glad we had the opportunity to travel with Kristi and Ian a few years ago when they adopted Kylie from China because I think it prepared us for the jet lag and culture shock of being in an Asian country. It's still a bit of a shock, but I think being in China lessened the blow a bit. It STILL feels like you're on a completely different planet, what with all the Chinese characters, different styles of dress, different sights and smells, etc.

The bad news right now is we can't upload pictures just yet -- sorry, world! We are still unpacking, and I'm not sure which pile of clothing and beef jerky our camera adapter is hidden in. Once we locate that, we promise to get some pictures up.

Stay tuned! And thanks to everyone who is/has been supporting us back home through your prayers, financial aid, love, and friendship. You all are in our hearts as we embark in this journey, and we can't thank you enough.

Zai jian!