Trip 1

Monday was the start of my districts first culture tour. It's a three day tour to the south of the island. We woke up at five thirty to get to the tour bus at six thirty. Once everyone arrived we left Taoyuan at seven to head towards Tainan in the south. It was a good bus ride watching movies and listening to music, as well as trying to sleep. We stopped in Tainan and went to an old temple and went on a boat ride down a little river. The river had many little crabs and oysters. It was a short boat ride but it was cute and entertaining. At the temple 爸爸 bought me a lucky charm. Its a fabric envelope with a jade pendant hanging from it, we prayed and charmed it by circling it around the incense three times clockwise. I am to keep it with me at all times for good luck and fortune. After this we were off to salt mountain, a hill made of actual salt. We climbed to the top and took photos. The amount of time we were to have there seemed like way too long. A couple friends and I explored a bit and took photos of other things, like a bridge, a giant owl and my favourite, a giant lucky cat. Everyone loved the lucky cat, it was huge and very cute. There was a girl there taking her graduation photos and that confused me because I know there are so many more beautiful places to take pictures in Taiwan. I wonder why she was taking them there. At some point during the day we went and ate lunch at a famous restaurant and had many of Tainans' dishes. Later in the night we were going to a big night market to try more foods and were given three hundred Taiwan dollars each for our meals. I had fried dumplings, as usual, and a very good Turkish wrap from a man who had lived in Taiwan for fifteen years and had a child with a Taiwanese woman. Half way through making a bunch of our wraps she had taken over because their son was very hungry and kept begging him for a sandwich. I said hello to the boy but he just stared at me blankly, said Hi then walked away. I spent a little more time with 爸爸 because he was leaving right after the night market. We all went back to the bus, said goodbye to 爸爸 and were on our way for another boat ride on a larger river. It was a gorgeous river during the night, the city lights were very pretty. We got descriptions of our surroundings and enjoyed the view very much. There were musicians on the side of the river playing music the whole time. We saw birds hiding in the bridges, probably where they sleep at night. After the boat ride we were off to the hotel to stay the night. Curfew is at eleven and the rooms are checked then also. I was in a room with Bia and Laetitia so my room was very fun to be in.
Tuesday being the second day of the trip, we had a six thirty wake up call. We were to have breakfast at seven and pack and leave the hotel for eight. We then drove two hours to an aquarium/museum and saw many interesting sea creatures. I even saw penguins and seals. Which I love. I bought myself a seal stuffy which in my opinion was expensive but almost everything is expensive to me. A few friends, our chairmans' daughter Mickey and I all ran around the aquarium exploring and looking at gift shops. Mickey even got a matching seal stuffy with me. I made her host brother, my friend Erik, buy it for her. We went to lunch at Mcdonalds, even though its my last choice while I'm in a country with such good food. Then headed to the beach. For me it was a hot day and warm water, the most beautiful beach I have been to in my life. The water was blue and clear and very nice to swim in, the waves were giant and powerful. I was amazed by the beach but a few hours later and any beach can get a little boring. I've never been a beach person but if there were more like that in Canada, maybe I'd go more often. As I said, for me it was hot but for others, like my friends from Brazil, Mexico and Australia, it was a cold beach day. They kept saying I would die if I go to their countries but I will find out eventually. Especially Brazil where I will hopefully be heading in January of 2019. After many photos and a lot of swimming we were off to our hotel. It was very old on the outside and seemed as though it wouldn't be so modern inside the rooms. Then walking into our room and seeing it so new and comfortable I was very pleased. The outside had just nice old architecture and the inside was so nice. Our room was a little larger than most with more space in the main room and the washroom. The bathroom had seperate doors for both the toilet and the shower as well as the door to enter the washroom. All the doors for the bathroom were glass but not able ti be seen through so you could shower when someone else was getting ready at the mirror. We were lucky because there were also only three of us, where as every other room had four. In the evening we went to another famous night market like street. We all bought more food and small things because it was a tourist attraction and they are always more expensive. Except my friend Ghabriel doesn't seem to realize that and went on a full our shopping spree. He doesn't really think before spending money but that's a problem for him to realize I guess. I had the biggest corn dog ever and bought a small handmade bag in the shape of a common food here in Taiwan. In Taiwan people eat rice with roasted peanuts and meat wrapped in seaweed in the shape of a pyramid. So I bought a little bag in the exact same shape of those rice things. I've only had those a couple times but I like them when they are sticky rice, not just white rice. We had to be back at the hotel for ten thirty and Keyle, Bia and I made it just on time with out pizza. We ate and A few other friends and I went to a beach that one of them found behind the hotel while exploring. It was gorgeous. We even went back the next morning. The view was just as amazing as it was at night. I found many beautiful shells. Then off to breakfast and after, to the most southern spot on the island. While I was there I was thinking where the closest piece of land was from that spot. We drove for about ten more minutes and went to a little look out as a surprise to celebrate my amazing friend Bias' birthday and all the others in November but mostly Bias'. We had cake, balloons and gave Bia her birthday gifts. Driving for two more hours and then lunch. Ten minutes away from the restaurant we went to a Buddhist museum/temple. There I learn very much about Buddha and the beliefs that follow him. Saw the largest statue of Buddha in the world and it was beautiful. The side buildings of the museum were Chinese style. The main temple where the statue lay on top was Indian style because that is where it originates. I asked the tour guide if there were any books in English and how much they would cost. There were and they were free "a gift from the founder" they said. I am only just in the beginning of this book but I already enjoy it very much. I have always had an interest in Buddhism and now that my Ama is Buddhist and I have the right resources I will read more into it and see what it is really about. I bought a bracelet at the museum, a pin and some incense scented soap. Again we were on the road for a couple more hours until we were to stop and have dinner. I bought lasagna and mashed potatoes. I sure did miss mashed potatoes. I ate them so fast. I got subway cookies and then we headed home to Taoyuan. I slept a lot last night because the nights before I only got an hour or two each. 
Today I was with rotary practicing my Chinese and greeting Rotarians to Taiwan for a big convention at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. I had lasagna again for lunch. I am now relaxing reading "Humanistic Buddhism" and listening to music.

Long Weekend (for me)

Friday, I went on the first field trip with my Wu-Ling class mates that are all from Taiwan. We went to The National Palace Museum to learn about their Egyptian exhibit. We had a tour guide, only speaking Chinese of course. I actually understood far more than I thought I would. She spoke very fast but I was able to pick up quite a bit of it. I have a few friends from my class that I rode the bus with and talked to during the field trip. Many people in my class kept asking me if I could actually understand and from my response asked me how much I understand when they are speaking. Again, same response, a bit and depends on the topic. I will say I am a lot better at comprehension than I am at speaking at this point but I will continue to improve. After the field trip I went home and stooped at my favourite dumpling shop on the way. I got my favourite curry dumplings and corn soup. As I was eating I skyped my parents even though it was pretty late in Canada. We skyped for a while and talked about many things. I then rested for a long while before finally getting up for dinner. 

The next morning I had an early Rotary road trip with my club. We all met up and took large coach buses to a sea life and technology museum. The museum didn't have all that much English which was kind of disappointing. After everyone finished with the tour guide 妹妹，爸爸 a friend of 妹妹 and I all went around the museum exploring different areas and seeing some cool things. We then went to a restaurant that is owned by a Rotarian from my club. The same restaurant I had Shark Fin Soup at. As always it was very good. 爸爸 and I walked in the rain to the waterfall nearby. We took many photos of others and got many of us. We walked up to the top of the hill and there was a stray PUPPY. Just a baby. But I'll leave that story for my next blog post along with others of stray animals. We spent a while there and finally walked back, By the time we were back, even though I had on a raincoat, I was soaked. I borrowed a shirt from 妹妹 and enjoyed a nice hot chocolate in a Canadian mug with 爸爸。 I played around with my friend 小米 and her little friends also. We played a game of rock paper scissors where we actually ended up in the splits if we lost. Her friend and herself asked me my favourite colour, purple as always, and ran away to the gifts area. A few minutes later they gave me two adorable little lanterns they bought for me, both purple. After we had dinner at the same restaurant, and the rotarians drank their fill, we headed back to 桃園 to go home and rest. When i got home I needed to pack for a two day trip with my friend and her host family. My friend Bia, yet again, I talk about her a lot. She's probably my best friend. One of the only people I'm super close with at this point.

 Sunday, being the next day, I woke up at five fifty to be on the road at six twenty. I was seen off by 爸爸 and then we were on the road heading to the middle of the island. Both of us slept for most of the drive. We stopped once on the way and went from there directly to our first location for the day. We hiked a bunch through a gorgeous rain forest and fed some big squirrels, got some awesome photos and I was actually scratched my a squirrlel trying to get food. The end of the trail was 大學池 (University Pond.) We went over a super sketchy bridge made of bamboo and took photos with the animals of what year we were born. Bia is the year of the Rabbit and I am the year of the Dragon. We then stopped at the little area with food and had my favourite Taiwanese sausage and potato. We also got ice cream. The best ice cream I've had so far in Taiwan and I've already had damn good ice cream. It was chocolate with bits of chocolate in it and a waffle cone. It was delicious and I really want more. We then hiked even higher up to a sky walk. The sky walk was so tall, we were among the tops of the trees. Taking photos was scary because I was so afraid of dropping my phone. It was a gorgeous view of the trees though. Usually we only see then from the bottom, but the top is even nicer a sight. We continued to hike up to a giant, very old tree that had fallen on its side. We had a snack also there before hiking all the way down the mountain to go to a village near by. We grabbed some sweet corn on the walk to the town. The village was called Monster Village and it was Japanese style. There were many people wearing traditional Japanese dresses and people playing a very interesting instrument for a crowd. We tried many types of bread and had more ice cream, although the first one was better. There were adorable lanterns everywhere. I love lanterns. I will buy a Chinese style lantern for a lamp eventually. After this we drove to a tradition mountain towns market. They were in the middle of a ceremony praying to their local god. We joined in shortly and then saw their 'famous bathroom' which just proves that anything in Taiwan could be extravagant. It was actually a gorgeous bathroom, there were lantern lights, big fountains and paintings. It was also very clean which I appreciate because some tend not to be. Then another car ride which we slept again and ended up at the house we would sleep for the night. A gorgeous, big home. It was around the size of my house in Canada, which is big for Taiwan, but brand new. We then went to a restaurant and struggled to order dinner because no one really knew English and the menu was only in Chinese. We did end up with what we intended though. I got a delicious Japanese style pork chop and of course rice with veggies. We also ordered desert. Chocolate waffle things. They were very pretty and tasted almost as good as they looked. Everyone headed back to the house and Bia and I went to the room we slept in right away because we were so tired and needed to wake up at seven this morning. 

Waking up a little later than intended we rushed but still made it out the door at the right time, heading to another famous, must see spot. 日月潭(Sun Moon Lake.) We rented bikes and biked half way around the lake and back. Bia and I rode a two person bike and had a lot of fun struggling to get up all the hills and around people and corners. The whole group stopped many times for photos, as usual, and it made it much slower. Where we were to turn around there was a stray dog, looking very ill and slim. But again I'll save the stories and feelings about that for my next blog post. Before Bia and I biked all the way back we got mango ice cream. Then the biking began, swerving around people and stopping abruptly because others ahead of us. We had a lot of fun struggling together on the two person bike. I wouldn't mind doing that again actually. The whole group then headed to lunch together. It was a small restaurant in the middle of a tiny valley with gorgeous trees and architecture. The lunch was good but I was more focussed on feeding the stray cats who seemed very hungry. Later on we realized they had a baby with them also. I hope the baby got food too. But that's another story for my other post. There was a cute old street close buy where rich people lived in the past but now it was too old, so it turned into a spot with many small cafes and new construction was soon to come. The housing of the small new places seemed quite inexpensive. Then off to the second last stop on our drive back to 桃園, Bias host parents old friends company. It is a shoe company, very cute but kind of expensive in my opinion, though cheap in theirs. Things were on sale but being broke exchange students we declined the offer of the sale, even when they upped it just for us. The owner came in and spoke to them and we were introduced and talked. Then he, being so generous, offered a free pair for both me and Bia. I chose really nice (and expensive) hiking shoes and she chose very nice (not sure the price) running shoes. This was awesome because we were both in need of the shoes we chose and saved so much money, and got better quality than what we would've bought ourselves. We were so thankful to him, he even brought us all up to his office for snacks and tea before the drive home. We had one of my favourite Taiwanese teas. I drank Bias for her as well because she doesn't like it all that much. We then headed home and only stopped once more, for dinner of course. A good dinner it was. Hsinchu rice noodles, fried noodles and veggies. I love fried noodles. Another hour later and I am home and finally relaxing. Another post about animals and how I feel coming in the next couple days.