This week was a little funny since the kids are going through final exams & we didn't have to actually be present!! So Hong & I decided to hop on a plane for 4 days in Taiwan :) What a beautiful place. Transit is amazing, the train goes absolutely everywhere & their websites, brochures, etc all provide you with detailed information on what to see & how to get to these places.
We arrived in the afternoon on Monday & found our hostel 'Camel's oasis'. It was a cute place, much like an apartment with a few rooms, a bathroom, a couple of common areas, and a kitchen. The guy who owns it, Shawn was amazing! He kept the place absolutely spotless & gave us advice on all of the touristy spots we wanted to visit. That first night we went to the Shilin market which is the largest of the night markets in Taipei. HUGE! Neither of us bought anything.. it's the usual clothing, shoes, hats, nicknacks, etc.. but it was great to see. We did however sample lots of the local treats, such as sausage wrapped in glutinous rice, stinky tofu, crispy almost pretzel-like doughnut, and some milk tea.
Tuesday we slept in (actually we slept in most mornings.. our room was very dark & the hostel was really quiet so we just kept on sleeping!!). We went to see the Taipei 101 - the tallest building in Taipei & used to (I believe...) hold the record for the tallest building. I need to google this stat ASAP. :) The building encompasses so many things that are important to the Taiwanese i.e. growth & strength as is represented by the bamboo design, the antique coins depicted on the outside of the building (wealth?? maybe), & the name 101 - 'to represent its more than perfect aura...' I can't quite remember this description but I do remember chuckling slightly.. it was pretty cute! The coolest part were seeing one of the passive dampers, which dissipate & stabilize the building during earthquakes. After 101 we went over to Maokong to enjoy the serene atmosphere of the tea plantations & tea shops. We took the MRT to the Taipei zoo station (sadly... I did not visit my friends at the zoo.. maybe another time. I blame Hong) & then took a bus up to Maokong (the Gondola that used to run up there is out of service for some reason.. there weren't really any tourists up there, so I'm wondering if they shut it down because they weren't making any money on it anymore?). Our bus driver was very sweet, she could obviously tell that we had no clue where the heck we were going... so she kept slowing down in front of various secluded looking tea houses asking us if we wanted to get off the bus yet. We ended up stopping at this really cute tea house, enjoying some food & a glass of iced green tea, hanging out reading our books, chatting, and enjoying the mountainous view! It was a wonderful afternoon, definitely one of the highlights! That night we went to Ximending trendy area where all the cool kids hang out. Literally.. it was packed with teens hanging out. We didn't do any shopping, but found a korean/hot pot restaurant to have some dinner. It was all you can eat for a few bucks CDN but was absolutely AWFUL! All the food kept sticking to the grill & then spontaneously heating up, burning absolutely everything. We looked like the biggest newbs in the place.
Wednesday we went to Danshui (which is a little town inside of Taipei county) to take a ferry ride over to Bali where we rented some bikes for an hour & strolled around the area. Both of these towns are on a river, so it was a beautiful day filled with sunshine & scenery! After Danshui we went to the Beitou for some tea & an evening dip in the hot springs. We went to a public bath for about $1 CDN, but only lasted for about 1/2 an hour b/c it was so hot!! Very hot & humid weather + hot hot springs = sweaty, lethargic Kate. :) I was excited for bed that evening b/c I thought after biking earlier in the day & relaxing in the hot springs that I would sleep like a baby... turns out the opposite happened & Hong & I were awake until about 2am trying to fall asleep. We tried playing Jenga, Hong made up my fortune with playing cards & we even tried to solve rubics cubes!!! Luckily we didn't really have anything to do the next morning.
On the way home we flew over Hong Kong on the descent & it was so neat because I could pick out all of the buildings & other spots (i.e. IFC, Bank of China, the sea turtle opera house one, Victoria peak & I even saw the giant seated buddha!)
Great holiday this week, but back to reality tomorrow :( We're going to a brunch for the P6 grads tomorrow & then on Saturday we're having our students come in for a rehearsal. They are performing two songs at the P6 Graduation ceremony in a week. Our teachers are very nervous that they are going to be silly, so they want them to come in on a Saturday & every day next week. Oh gosh, this should be interesting.
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