My parents and I have been counting down the days until their arrival in Taiwan for months. After my parents soaked up the heat and culture for 1 week in Thailand, they flew to Taiwan to visit me. The eight days they were here over New Years went very fast, but then again that usually happens when you're having fun : ) The first three days they were here, I had time off from work for New Years. It also happened to be the coldest days in Taiwan since I've been here.
The first day they were here I showed them the morning market near my house. My parents loved it especially my dad. He still talks about how much he loved it : ) After we picked up some fruit and lunch from the market, we took a bus to Jiaoxi in Yilan county (the first county on the east coast). It was about a two hour + ride there because of the rain. Once we got there it was already very late and extremely chilly. So, we went right to the hot springs. The hot springs we went to were traditional ones, therefore, men and women bathed separately. The women's hot baths including 7 different pools each with different temperatures ranging from very cold to around 43 Celsius! The men's hot baths only included 2 pools one very cold and one very hot. The hot springs were very relaxing; we all really enjoyed it! After listening to some music in the square; we headed back to Taipei.
The next day was New Years eve. We took the MRT to Xindian and grabbed a quick bit to eat. From Xindian you can take a 40 minute bus to Wulai, famous for its hot springs and aboriginal culture. Since we went to the hot springs the day before, we decided to walk around the small town and see a few waterfalls. The area was very beautiful and the old street was filled with people. After walking the old street we took the bus back to Xindian; we decided to stop for dinner before heading to Taipei 101 building to see the fireworks. The restaurant we ate at was located right along the river. My dad and I decided to share the two person 5 course meal. We ate soup, salad, meat/chicken kabobs, vegetables and fish. For dessert we had a ice cream lemon drink served with a delicious chocolate cake. It was all very tasty and filling, it was a fun meal to share : )
Taipei 101 New Years fireworks are very well known worldwide. It attracts around 800,000 people each year. We had planned to take the MRT to Taipei city hall station, but had to get off one stop before due to the event at Taipei 101. We got to Taipei 101 square around 8 p.m. and we had 4 hours until New Years. We walked around for awhile making sure we had the best view of the fireworks. We couldn't get directly in front of Taipei 101 with the huge crowd, so instead we stood near a big screen where we could watch the various performers on the stage. Where we stood, was a nice boy and his dad from Indonesia. The boy was 17, but he seemed much older. He spoke very nicely; he was polite and was very knowledgeable. It was very enjoyable speaking with him as we waited for the fireworks. At 12 midnight, we didn't hear any countdown, instead the 188 seconds of fireworks immediately began. It was impressive fireworks; the fireworks cascaded up and down the Taipei 101 building. It was fun to watch and a great way to bring in the new year. Our way back on the MRT was horrible! There were so many people that we couldn't even get into the MRT station. We had to wait outside with the huge mob of people. There was a lady standing on top of a platform allowing only small amounts of people at a time. Every time she would let the front of the crown enter the doors of the MRT station, people would be pushing each other. It was very dangerous. A few times she would say, if anyone in the crown felt faint or needed to get to the front for any reason we should make a path for them. After two hours, we finally got to the doors and made our way to the train. It was crazy getting back, but we finally made it home. The whole event was an experience, but it was surely memorable as we brought in 2013!
New Years Day - It was raining, so we decided to go to the National palace museum. The museum holds more than 690,000 objects from China, making it the premier holding of Chinese art and culture in the world! Entrance to the museum is free on new years day and four other days throughout the year, so we didn't have to pay anything, which is always nice. We thought since it was a free day we would see a huge crowd, but it wasn't bad because the museum is enormous. Our favorite part of the museum was the top floor, which had the jade and ivory exhibits. After spending a few hours in the museum, we had dinner at the largest night market in Taipei Shilin. My parents were in aw of how mammoth it was. We ate tapinashi, basically food that is prepared right in front of you on a hot fire for supper. It was a fun three days off from work; I was very happy to spend it with my parents : )
Wednesday - I had to go back to work, but my parents spent a fun filled day in Hualien at Taroko National park on the east coast of Taiwan. They had a wonderful time and thought Taroko was beautiful : )
Thursday - My parents came to work with me in the morning. I introduced them to everyone: Uncle Victor (principal), Angela (head of school), co-teachers, Alex, and of course Kristin and Dino. My mom had a ball with the Taiwanese children : ) You could tell she was right in her element. At 9:30, my parents came to watch me teach my first class, which was K3C my favorite ;) I wasn't too nervous, but I could tell my parents were watching me very closely especially my mom. After class my parents wanted to take a picture of me with the students, which I thought was cute. My parents only watched me teach one class as I wanted them to explore Taipei city. They went to Longshan temple, Chiang Kai-Sheik memorial hall, inside Taipei 101, Beitou and met me for dinner in Neihu at Miramar entertainment park where the big ferries wheel is located.
Friday - I took a day off from work, only day all semester, so I could have a three day weekend with my parents. We spent the three days in southern Taiwan. Early Friday morning, we got all our stuff together and headed to the car rental shore. The 3 1/2 hour drive to Tainan was easy and beautiful. We had a little difficult time finding our hotel at first, but lucky my mom spotted the road our hotel was on. We put our stuff in our room and decided to take a taxi into the old part of the town. Tainan, regarded as the oldest city in Taiwan, has many famous foods, temples, and historical buildings. The old part of the city was so small that everything close around 5-5:30. Unfortunately, that meant we didn't see as much as we would of liked. The one thing we went into was the Anping Fort, first and oldest fort in Taiwan. Since everything was closed after we saw the fort, we walked around the area. We saw many merchant houses build in the 19th century including one that belonged to Japanese Salt Industry. We also saw the memorial hall for Chu Jiouying, creator of Chinese Calligraphy! It was nice to learn about the trading of salt because on Saturday we went to a salt mountain and saw many salt fields.
Saturday - We drove along the southwest coast scenic area. We saw many temples along the way including one that was ginormous.
Our first touristy spot was the Taiwan's salt museum. Taiwan's only museum solely devoted to its salt prodcution. There we climbed the highest salt mountain in Taiwan and got a view of the extremely flat land.
From there we made our way to Jingzaijiao tile-paved salt fields, oldest salt fields still existing in Taiwan. We learned about the salt production, which we all thought was very interesting. Crystal salt is made by pouring seawater into the salt pans, which is then evaporated by the sun. The tile, almost looks like a mosaic, prevents the dirt from sticking to the salt.
Along the southwest coast lies Taijiang national park. Within the park are many migratory birds including the black-faced spoonbills. Our next stop, we were able to see through a telescope the black faced spoonbills. My mom had said, "this is something someone sees on national geographic" It was very neat to see the spoonbills with our own eyes as they one of the endangered species of the world. As we watched the sun going down, we know we had to leave the park behind and head to our next destination Kaohsiung city, second largest city in Taiwan.
Sunday - After arriving very late last night into Kaohsiung, we did a little exploring in the city on Sunday morning before we made our way north. Right near Kaohsiung zoo lies a mountain in which we drove up. As we were driving along looking at the beautiful coast on our left, we saw moneys! We stopped to snap a few pictures, but didn't get out of our car as we were a bit afraid after our encounter in Japan. (A man almost got bit as he was taking pictures of the monkeys). The monkeys didn't seem bothered by all the tourist gathered around because people casually fed them.
A bit out of the city center was lotus lake. A beautiful lake with many temples and pagodas.
After a few hours of sightseeing in Kaohsiung city, we made our way to Pingtung county and then to Maolin scenic area. The drive was absolutely stunning and Maolin was gorgeous. We were loosing day light and tried to make it to Mt. Yushan (tallest mountain in Taiwan, half the size of Everest), but unfortunately didn't make it there. Instead, we stopped the car as the sunset was setting and ate dinner before making the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Taipei.
It was hard saying goodbye to my parents early Monday morning, but good things always come to an end. We had a fun filled week together, and we will always remember this time together. I'm so glad they were able to visit me and see my life in Taiwan. I know, they had a fabulous time and were blown away with everything I have accomplished in Taiwan and how beautiful the country is.
