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.
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