On the road

Originally posted on October 11th, I think, while we were still in Taiwan. I added some more pictures.

As part of the tour, we are visiting a few cities in the northern Taiwan area. Dad gets to take a break from being our tour guide and relax a bit. First stop was the Yilan area. We toured a small lake that was designated as a wildlife sanctuary. This is unusual because most Taiwanese people tend to think how yummy that duck or goose would be. ;o) Ok, I'm exaggerating a little. We don't eat all water fowls (just the yummy ones). This part of the tour was designed for "foodies," featuring traditional Taiwanese food. So, we've been eating a lot. Besides the regular meals, the guides bring us special snacks like rice cake bowl and treats like taro ice-cream on the tour bus. I have not been hungry since I arrived. And we've been taking pictures of everything we eat. We're like food paparazzi, four cameras get whipped our when a new dish arrives. Our table mates think we are sssooooooo weird. We toured a whiskey brewery, an orchid farm, and wrote good wishes on sky lanterns and set them off into the evening sky. We stayed at a hot springs resort of Jiaoxi, Yilan. The hot spring is piping hot, but colorless and odorless. You could enjoy it in the outdoor big fancy spa or in the privacy of your hotel bathroom.

The next day we toured around the area along the northeastern coast to Jiufen and Keelung, then finally back to Taipei.

I apologize that the photos are all mixed up. I'll have to fix it when I get back.

On the bus, getting ready to start the tour!

This is the bathroom of the spa hotel. Deep bathtub!

The toilet is in a separate room across from the bathtub room. Notice the glass door. Yikes, I thought, ok, it's just my sister that I'm sharing the room with. But thankfully, there were shades you have to pull down. Still, it was rather inconvenient. 

Fishball soup, specialty of Danshui.

The round bun looking things were yummy! Crusty crunchy on the outside and filled with warm sweet taro on the inside.

Whisky brewery

Yummy deserts!

Orchid farm

Writing good wishes on lanterns.

Dad participated too. He feels this one.

He wrote "Sleep well every night" next to "Happy every day."

Here's my wish (written in a hurry)

Fancy dish at the spa hotel

The fountain outside the hotel has hot hot spring water. Notice the steam.

The fish are in cool water though, otherwise they'd be cooked.

Turtle foot-stool that Baba would like. Not for sale, though, sorry.

Waterfall

It was a little bit of a climb to get to the fall.

Taro ice-cream! 

Enjoying taro ice cream. The lady in the orange top to the right is Mrs. Angry Bird.

Northeaster coastline

Two fat boy kitties at one of the shops, named 招財 and 進寶, which both means bring good fortune.

Keelong Temple, big night market right here. Lots to eat.

Our tour guide, Jenny, was not just a tour guide. She also played bus attendant, offering us food, water, napkins, wet wipes, even sauces for the rice cake bowls.

Chiang Kai-Shek's former residence

The souvenir shop also sold snacks. Oh, just your everyday snacks like duck feet, duck wings, tea eggs, etc.

Our two tour guides taking our group picture with everybody's cameras. This took a while. :o) They were great guides!

National Palace Museum

They call this coffin board, a specialty of Tainan. It's a small hollowed out loaf of bread with some creamy sauce with veggies in it, and deep friend. It was ok. Just doesn't feel very "Chinese" to me.

Chungshan Lou, where the old geezer used to meet to decide national affairs.

This is where the former president used to meet foreign dignitaries. Saw this on TV growing up.

Chiang Kai-Shek's office

Deep fried tofu in Shihlin Night Market

Gigantuous sausages!

Yummy clam soup

Waiting for red bean cake

The toilets in our hotel rooms are also bidets. You get to choose the kind of spray you want. Sisters and I giggled over this. None of us dared to try it... as far as I know anyway. ;o)

As we were leaving, a couple was getting married. The bride was coming out of the hotel.