River Climbing

We stayed in a beautiful 'home stay' in Hualien with our room being the VIP room on the 4th floor of the home. I really appreciated all of the steps we had to climb as it was a great workout! We had barbeque for dinner and then pretty much headed to our rooms to crash. Before dinner the kids watched Mama Mia in our room while I took a decadent bath in the slipper clawfoot tub.

The next morning we woke up to prepare for our river climbing adventure! Everyday brought new activities with details not being very clear until the actual moment for the activity to begin. As I'm unable to speak Chinese, I was pretty much forced to just go with the flow the entire vacation which is a challenge for me as I like to be prepared! Fortunately, I was able to find this groove early on...might be a new side of me.

We loaded into a van and headed to Mysterious Gorge where we donned helmets, socks, gloves, life vests, and wet suits. The wet suits were comparable in thickness to what Anna and I wore scuba diving Lake Superior in November...THICK! The adventure was basically climbing a river filled with many waterfalls, ledges, and deep pockets. It was an amazing way to experience the scenery of this beautiful area. In our particular group, Gary at 52, was probably the oldest in the bunch with Connie and I not far behind. It is definitely not an activity for the faint of heart!

We were led by aboriginal men who we all agreed (the girls anyways) were the cutest guys we had seen so far. They were all taller than average Taiwanese with high foreheads and proud, straight noses and angular cheekbones. They were born to the water as they lithely stepped up and down and around our group.

This is Anna after battling one of the fast-flowing waterfalls!

Some synchronized swimming.

Going head first down some rapids!

At this point in our trek we were heading back down the river. The guide is explaining to us (with Jess loosely translating as Anna and I were the only English speaking members) that this is the point where we curl up in the fetal position and just let ourselves pinball down the waterfall. Up to this point we had jumped off of two cliffs that were higher than I was comfortable with, battled raging currents, and was held under violent waterfalls. This unnerved me...I was speechless...until the guide said 'Just kidding!'

Practicing our head first techniques.

Cliff jumping!

Me, Jess, Anna, Connie, Gary, Amingo

Science Park and Lake Placid

This is a view of Lake Placid from an area where free yoga and tai chi classes are held. The Science Park is a beautiful park with man-made Lake Placid located in the middle. There are many meandering footpaths, meditating pagodas, out buildings and such located throughout the park. There is a peninsula with a stone walkway out to a gazebo in the middle of the lake where people would go to meditate.

Anna and Jess doing their best pose!

Water garden with surrounding buildings in Science Park.

These flowers and lily pads are HUGE! We saw a snake one day in the water here.

My morning walks were in Science Park located about five minutes from the Huang's house. Even in the early mornings, there were quite a few people out walking or taking yoga or tai chi classes. One morning a tai chi class included a fat bassett hound dog.

Live in the Moment

It is early Sunday morning and I've already been out for a walk around Lake Placid. It is hot and without even exerting myself, I am sweating which makes it hard to exert myself but I'm trying my best.

I find myself thinking of home more often during down times here. I think it's getting close to time for us to be going home which fills me with mixed emotions. Once we leave here, I'm not sure when I will see Jess again, but I am missing my boys at home. On the other hand, going home means one step closer to Anna leaving.

This is the point in the vacation where it's a bit challenging to just live in the moment without projecting to the future. I am to live in the moment.

Technical difficulties

I'm taking pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. I bought a memory card while on vacation in Kenting because I had filled up my original card. I've been taking a lot of pictures - have I mentioned that?

While trying to upload/download (what's the correct terminology here?) from my new memory card something happened. I don't think that my camera understands chinese. I may have lost all of my photos - not real sure. I'm not going to mess with it anymore until I get home.

Of course if I did lose all of my photos I still have Anna's as back up. I also have all of my memories, which can't be downloaded (or uploaded) but they are still there. And what amazing memories they are.

Transformers

Today Jess, Anna, and I took the high-speed rail from Tainan back to Hsinchu. Amingo did not come with us as he had to go to a temple to burn his clothes because this will help him study harder and get better grades.

The girls and I saw The Transformers instead. Much better choice.

Anna the Cookie Goddess

Before we left on vacation from vacation, Jess and her friends had a party for me and Anna. We all headed to the grocery store for supplies, the girls getting everything they needed for BBQ, Anna and Jess getting supplies for chocolate chip cookies, and I contributed strawberry shortcake as the party was on July 4th.

Back at Jess' the girls wasted no time in getting food prepared - some of them setting up the bbq outside while others began chopping and shredding vegetables and meat. They made an amazing meal for all of us to enjoy and were excited to finish because Jess had promised them that Anna would show them how to make chocolate chip cookies!

The ooooh's and ahhhhh's were as prevalent as at a fireworks display as the girls watched Anna measure and add the different ingredients - they were in awe! One friend was given the task of running the electric mixer. Standing as far back from the bowl as she could with her face covered, she tentatively started the small appliance only to be met with shreeks from the rest of the girls. Anna was a cookie goddess as she showed them how to place the raw dough onto the cookie sheet before placing it in the oven. Hesitant fingers dipped into the raw dough to taste with eyes brightening widely once their taste buds became engaged.

Jess has a great bunch of girlfriends who were very excited to meet her American family and celebrate Independence Day with us!

On our way to Hualien

Beginning our vacation from vacation we left Hsinchu and headed north towards Taipei then east to Hualien. The road east took us through a tunnel 13km long that took 8 years to complete. It connects Taipei directly to the east coast without having to travel over mountains or through small villages on poor roads. Fortunately for travelers, this expedites the journey from west coast to east, but the economic impact this new route has made on all of the small villages that are located on the original road is devastating.

Before knowing about this tunnel, Gary had asked me about the road systems in northern Minnesota. I proudly told him about the tunnels on I-35 created to preserve the view of Lake Superior and to aid in the creation of the Rose Garden/Lakewalk area. I also told him about the two beautiful tunnels along the North Shore. Up to this point in our travels, we had gone through a couple of tunnels in Taiwan so at the time I felt that our tunnels measured up quite nicely for their asthetics and design. When Gary mentioned the 13km tunnel, I quickly did conversions in my head and gulped...suddenly I-35 and the North Shore didn't seem quite as impressive!

We stopped in Suao on the east coast for lunch. Suao is a commercial fishing town with many seafood restaurants located on the wharf. We had an amazing lunch that Connie ordered for us right out of the fish tanks and I was quite surprised at how inexpensive our meal was. The restaurant was your basic mom/pop operation with many of them one after another on the wharf. Employees would stand in the small street directing cars to parking spots right outside their restaurants - often the cars would be parked two or three deep!

Seafood in Taiwan is real seafood...with arms, legs, and eyeballs left intact. After biting into a shrimp, some dark liquid could potentially dribble down your chin. This dark liquid is internal stuff that I really didn't care to hear the description of - the shrimp was very tasty without thinking too much about the brown stuff!

This purple squid was pretty tasty with a texture of al dente pasta. The soup - which always follows the main meal - was a clear broth with shredded vegetable greens and white pieces that looked like rice. After closer inspection, we realized that the white pieces were actually tiny, almost microscopic fish!

Hsinchu City and Stinky Tofu

The Huang family live in a first floor house located very near to Science Park. Most of the people in this area work for various companies located in Science park.

Lake Placid is a man-made lake in the middle of Science Park surrounded by beautiful footpaths and outdoor buildings used for community yoga and tai chi. I woke early one morning and headed down to Lake Placid for some early morning exercise. There were surprisingly many people out with the same idea as me.

As I beat a path around the lake which takes about ten minutes to complete, I passed a yoga class with many participants and a tai chi class set to music with a fat bassett hound in attendance.

Hsinchu is a tidily packed city with residential and commercial fitting together like pieces of a puzzle. Streets seem to have no rhyme or reason to me as they twist and turn with seemingly no real direction.

There does seem to be a lot of pollution - it can be seen on the buildings and felt in the throat.

Because of limited space, it seems the Taiwanese have developed quite a knack for expanding vertically. Cars are stacked three high by mechanical means in parking garages. Homes are apartment buildings four to 30 stories high.

Dinner one night was at a restaurant found down dark and twisting alleys - Anna felt it reminded her of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter - filled with a variety of smells ranging from sweet almond that is ground into a powder to rotting pig poop which Jess has informed me is the smell of stinky tofu. Stinky tofu is considered quite a delicassy...I have yet to try it, but I did promise Jess that I would before the end of our trip. I promised her this BEFORE I actually smelled it. Maybe she will forget about it.

BBQ

Gary suggested BBQ for dinner one night. I emphatically said yes! with visions of thick slabs of ribs dripping with tangy sauce dancing before my eyes. Instead reality was a brazier in the middle of our table for cooking our own pork, beef, and fish. And rather than thick slabs of meat, we were presented with trays of paper thin meat and veggies, that when consumed made me think I had arrived in heaven.

Wonderful accommodations!

Our journey was to take us all across Taiwan with 'our footprints touching all of this beautiful country.' North to Taipei, along the east coast to the city of Hualien, over the mountains across the exact center of the country to the west coast city of Kenting, to the southern tip, then north to Gary's home city of Tainan. All of this in less than a week!

Connie did an incredible job arranging our accommodations. We stayed in Taiwan's version of bed and breakfasts called 'home stays'. Each night found us in a different home stay in a different city all of them with uniquely breathtaking views.

One night our room was the 4th floor VIP room with a large canopied bed, a patio overlooking the city, and a clawfoot slipper tub. I felt very decadent taking a bath before dinner for no other reason than that I could.

The next night we stayed at an aboriginal village located in a valley surrounded by mountains. The guest houses were fashioned Japanese style with low platform beds, a large stone-floored walk in shower, and our outdoor living room had the most breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains.







We stayed one night in the city of Nantou otherwise known as Little Swiss. Before even knowing the nickname of the city, my thought was it felt very much like one would imagine Switzerland. This is the only place we stayed that had fireplaces in the rooms as this area is high enough in the mountains to actually get snow. Our room had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the valley below.

My favorite location of Kenting is located on the west coast and is a tropical vacation paradise. We stayed in a 'home stay' with gorgeous gardens and koi ponds owned by a British man who originally moved to Taiwan to build boats. Twenty years later, he's married with a couple of kids and owns a 'home stay' and two somewhat westernized restaurants. It was interesting talking with him - he's really living life.

After Kenting, we spent a night in Tainan at Gary's brother's house before taking the high-speed train back to Hsinchu.

Vacation from vacation

We are heading out for a vacation...while we're on vacation. I find this humorous. The next week we will be spending time at the beach, in the mountains, and in southern Taiwan. I'm just along for the ride so I'm not sure what computer access I will have. So much exciting stuff everyday!

Dogs and Porcupines

Jess has two pets. One is a dog named Show Ming. She is a happy dog that likes to go on long walks and has joined me on my morning walks around the lake. Lenny the white porcupine is named for South Dakota Lenny and escaped from his pen our first night here. He hid under the piano for most of the day until near evening he decided to search for food. Last night he was quite active in his cage as I think he was doing his part to prepare for today's party.

There are a lot of dogs in Taiwan both strays and pets and as there seems to be no leash law in effect here, it's hard to tell who's who sometimes. I've seen many people with their dogs in stores and restaurants and also riding on scooters!

Tourist traps are the same everywhere!

Yesterday was a day of more discovering as we took the train to Neiwan south of Taipei. The town used to be the sight of a coal mining town. It is a tourist location now filled with many shops and restaurants. There is a river that runs through the town with a swinging foot bridge and a car bridge available for crossing to the other side. There are also hot springs in Neiwan which we chose not to go to...it's hot enough as it is. Now if we could find cold springs somewhere, I'd be in!

The kids and I walked around the town visiting the different shops. It is your typical tourist town with shops filled with cheap trinkets and t-shirts that say 'grandma and grandpa visited Neiwan and all I got was this lousy t-shirt'. Okay, I didn't see any t-shirts but the cheap trinkets were in abundance.

For lunch we ate at a quiet little restaurant with great food and quick service. Jess and Amingo ordered spicy beef, mapo tofu, and bird's nest fern. The spicy beef is pretty self explanatory. The mapo tofu was a spicy yet sweet dish of tofu and peppers which was my favorite dish to date. The bird's nest fern is a vegetable like spinach that is steamed. Our lunch was served family style with each of us receiving a bowl of rice.

The land of Taiwan is lush and surprisingly mountainous. It reminds me a lot of Jamaica with the flora and fauna and temperature. Every morning I have woken to the sound of birds chattering.

Do you pray?

It was a busy first day with hiking around Lake Placid, attending a three hour rotary meeting, and grocery shopping for dinner. I'm hoping that jet lag is a thing of the past as both Anna and I had a hard time keeping our eyes open at dinner last night. Connie made a wonderful traditional meal of seafood and pork, but we were too tired to really participate.

One interesting conversation that happened last night over dinner was when Gary asked me if I pray...I stumbled my way through this as I am better at listening when it comes to religious conversations than I am at discussing. I told him that our family's tradition was to go around the dinner table and each say what we are thankful for that day. Through my stuttering and stammering I noticed that Jess was trying her hardest to keep from laughing. I wondered what she found to be so funny - maybe my struggle with trying to explain in a way that her father would understand, or maybe the struggle her dad had with following what I was saying. Actually, what she found funny was the fact that her dad had asked if I PLAY. As in play badminton.

What day is it?

Good morning!

Today is Thursday and the only reason I know this is because I asked Amingo. Anna and I left at 4:00am Tuesday morning and arrived in Taipei 10:30pm Wednesday night. You do the math, but I think we travelled for over 30 hours real time.

We flew from Minneapolis to Dallas and had a one hour layover before boarding the plane to Tokyo. The plane was nine seats wide with five seats together in the middle, and our seats were right in the middle of the middle. I was relieved to see two things when getting on the plane. Firstly, each seat had it's own tv monitor for viewing movies, tv shows, flight path and information, etc. Secondly, Anna was sitting next two two nuns. I took this as a good sign!

Thirteen hours later, we landed in Tokyo for a layover before boarding Japan Airlines to Taipei. The plane was a double decker and our seats were on the second level. (A note to Neal...I did not find the pool, but I am positive it was somewhere!)

The only time I was really concerned about our travels was when we landed in Taipei. I wondered if we would be able to find Jess and her family amongst the masses of people waiting for friends and loved ones to arrive. Fortunately, they saw us first! Jess, Amingo, and Gary were there to greet us!

When Jess came to the U.S. she had commented that everyone looked alike to her when she got off the plane in Minneapolis. I laughed as that is what most Americans think of Asian people. Jess tried to explain the differences between the nationalities, and as I scanned the passengers on our flights and in the airports, I tried to notice the slight differences between the dark haired, lightly golden individuals.

Driving about an hour south from Taipei, we finally arrived at our final destination of Hsinchu City. Pandora - now calling herself Connie - greeted us with a large, bright smile. It felt good.

It is hot and humid, but not overly stuffy - comparable to August in Two Harbors. We have walked to the Science Park (more later about this beautiful place) and Connie is out getting breakfast. She asked if we wanted Starbucks or traditional Taiwanese breakfast...hello?!

Anna and Jess are playing the piano and singing from Rent right now. There's so many differences, yet so much the same.