Goodbye, Sun Moon Lake

With the weekend approaching and another busy week coming to a close, you can guess what Luke and I were thinking about...where to go this weekend, of course!

Recently, we have been reflecting back on our time here in Taiwan as it will be coming to a close shortly and have realized that Taiwan has really taught us how to live in a place. That is, to make the most of it, get out and see as much as we can. Too often, we have lived in places or we see people living in places and not taking advantage of all the options and things to do around them.

With that in mind, we decided that we had had a few too many weekends in a row (that would be, like, 2) without going anywhere. At first, we were thinking about Alishan, a famous national park in the mountains of Taiwan, but decided on an easier trip to Sun Moon Lake. Although the news was forecasting a tropical storm, possibly developing into a typhoon, we decided to go for it anyways just to get out and have a relaxing weekend, even if it was spent in the rain.

Pretty much our very first trip within Taiwan was to Sun Moon Lake waaay back in September. We had a nice time, but were both still adjusting to life in Taiwan, teaching and everything else. Consequently, we were feeling very sick and tired. While we enjoyed that trip, after acclimating and feeling settled and comfortable, this trip was much more relaxing. Plus, the scenery was so much better this time around...you'll see what I mean.

We've said this before, but once you get out of the cities, Taiwan has some stunningly beautiful scenery and Sun Moon Lake is no exception. Here is a picture from the first time we went:
Pretty, no doubt. But, we had no idea what the place actually looked like until we came back this time. Here is a picture, taken from almost exactly the same spot:
Barring a couple of heavy downpours, the tropical storm mostly neglected to make its appearance and we had a great time, relaxing and taking in the beautiful scenery. Here are a few more pictures from our exploring around the lake.
It was a nice getaway for us and driving away, we couldn't help but feel a little bit sad as we realized that this was probably the last time we would be seeing Sun Moon Lake. We realized that we will be saying goodbye to a lot of unique and beautiful places in the next couple of months as we get ready to close the book on this year in Taiwan. Sigh...time to start processing our time and experience here. Soon, it will be on to the next big thing, whatever that may be!

So, here is something to leave you with, something from Taiwan for us to process as well...

Taiwan Tour Guides, At Your Service

As usual, Luke and I were eagerly looking forward to our next string of days off. End-of-the-year performances were now in full swing and every lunch time and some Saturdays were devoted to building props, finalizing scripts, choreographing dances (what?! me?) and just generally stressing out. So, all this to say, we were looking forward to the Dragon Boat Festival four-day weekend with anticipation and even more so because our good friends, Ben and Leigh, would be visiting from Seattle.

They arrived the Wednesday evening before after a rainy trip to Hong Kong, ready to see and experience all that Taiwan has to offer. Honestly, we didn't have much of a plan but had decided to head out for the long weekend and see where it took us.

The first day, we decided to do some more local things. Thankfully, some friends of ours let us borrow a scooter for the weekend so the morning was devoted to Leigh being very entertained by a trip to the Carrefore and Luke educating Ben in all things scooter.

Mmmm...Almond Fish! A product of California? I doubt it...
Tea eggs!! Yes, I had to eat one of these once. Blech.
We're pretty sure that's Luke. How he got there, no one knows.
Ahhh...the "Insides" section at Carrefore.
After this, we headed out to Neiwan to show Ben and Leigh the market and also take them to a hot springs spot we had discovered the weekend before. The drive to the hot springs area is beautiful -- you are surrounded by mountains and jungle and it's easy to forget that you are in a country with the second highest population density in the world. The hot springs were peaceful and very well-done. There were multiple pools, with differing temperatures, all set into the side of a canyon, overlooking a river. We were really happy to find this place, so close to home. We spent almost four hours here, just relaxing and taking in the misty mountain surroundings.
Of course, what market would be complete without robots climbing a utility pole and Been's!
On the drive to the hot springs...
Here is one from the hot springs place. We will be going back there and will post more later.
The next day we decided to strike out for Juifen, a town in the north that we had been to a couple of times. This plan was quickly discarded when we saw the line for the taxi. Thus begins the Taiwan holiday travel experience for Ben and Leigh.
Holiday train travel in Taiwan = Fun, fun, fun!
Luckily, we were able to get seats on a train south to a hot springs town called Jiosi that we had been to a few weeks before.

Ben and Leigh loved the hot springs in Neiwan so we decided to try another brand in Jiosi -- the resort-hotel brand. After we paid our money and put on our suits, we stepped out into the facilities and were greeted by multiple pools of varying colors and scents. There was a suspiciously-colored mountain dew pool, a creamy white pool, a purple pool smelling of lavendar and a green herby-smelling pool just to name a few. Ahhh...Taiwan. All cheesiness aside though, it was really awesome to experience. Ben and Luke tested their toughness (or stupidity, depending on who you ask) by alternating between the 9 degree (Celcius) pool and the 44 degree pool. There were also jets that would give you a pretty hefty back-beating and leave you with red marks (although none of the asians seemed to have this problem...our lily white skin is just too sensitive). In case this wasn't enough, we also got our feet nibbled on by fish. Apparently, it's a trendy new beauty treatment...no joke!
We stayed the night in town and the next day rented scooters and decided to drive up the coast. Along the way, we stopped at various places: an abandoned campground, a black sand beach complete with construction equipment, some cool rock formations, a fish market, a temple and finally another beach town. Here are some pictures from that drive.

Hmmm...good to know. Thanks!
Originally, we had thought that we would head back home that night, but were having such a good time that we decided to stay another night and head back in the morning. We woke up and, alas, there were no trains. So, instead we took a taxi back to Taipei. Can you guess how much it cost for an hour plus ride? Oh, just about $30 total. That's one of the things we love about Taiwan...so cheap and easy to travel around.

We made it back to Taipei and caught a train back home. That afternoon and evening we took Ben and Leigh to a traditional tea house and also to our very own Jubei night market.
The next day it was back to work for us and Ben and Leigh relaxed and were on a plane back home the next day. As always, it was great to see people from home and bittersweet to see them go, knowing we will be back in just a couple short months!

Also, thanks to Ben and Leigh for all of the pictures on this blog!