Fun weekend in Taipei

Two weekends ago (Jan. 19-20) was one of my favorite weekends in Taiwan. Saturday, Kristin, Dino and I went to Yangmingshan national park. Dino and I have been there once before, but it was Kristin's first time : ) We all met at the MRT at 11 a.m. and then took the bus to the park. Once we got there, we took a small shuttle bus farther into the park to the trail head of Mt. Datun. The hike up wasn't too bad; we stopped frequently to take pictures and look at the gorgeous views from above. We were all stunned standing on top of Mt. Datun main peak 1092 meters above sea level. It was breathtaking. Dino has been in Taiwan 3 years and he said, it was the most beautiful view he has seen in Taipei. You could see everything including Taipei 101, Danshui and so many areas of New Taipei City. We all sat down for awhile admiring the view and enjoying our snacks that we brought with us. It was getting late, so we didn't finish the 5.4 km trail, but we did part of it. Once we arrived back into the city we met Lisa, Dino's girlfriend for dinner at Chili's restaurant in Shimin, a very trendy area. We all had a good time chatting for a few hours. It was nice to finally have some western food. I had my first beef hamburger since I've been here; It was so delicious : ) It felt weird eating western food after so long. It was a fun day: good company, beautiful view and sunny weather. 

After a 12 hour day with Kristin and Dino. I woke up very early on Sunday to catch the local train to Gonglio at 8 a.m. Alex, designer from Principal school, invited me to his wife's parents home in Gonglio. Alex picked me up from the train station at 10 a.m. and brought me to a famous temple. After, we drove 20 minutes to his in law's home.  After meeting everyone, Alex took me on a scooter up a mountain to see a stunning view in Gonglio. I was speechless yesterday after seeing the view from Mt. Datun and I was speechless again after seeing this. It's crazy. I would never think Taiwan was as beautiful as it is. Every time I go somewhere in Taiwan, I say "This is my favorite place" and then I go somewhere else and say the same thing. Everywhere I go the views just get better and better. We spent almost two hours walking along the coast and looking around. When we got back to his in law's home there was a nice Taiwanese lunch ready for us with fish, vegetables, soup and rice. All the food was so fresh. We relaxed for awhile and then Linda, Alex's wife, showed me around her parent's home. They live far into Gonglio on a farm. They have their own rice field and animals. After she showed me a bit of the area, I walked around by myself for an hour just taking in the beauty. I couldn't believe someone lives in such a surreal location, it was absolutely beautiful.  Around 4 p.m. we all packed into Alex's car and went to meet Linda's friend from university and her family for dinner. Before we ate, we went to Fulong beach, a very popular beach on the east side of Taipei.  Unfortunately, we got there at 4:45 and since it's the winter months it closed early at 4:30. So, instead we drove up linjiu mountain to a large temple. The sun was just setting, which made the view even more beautiful. The restaurant we ate at was very popular seafood place. Alex had a connection with the restaurant, so he was able to get us a private room. We all ate so much with the 15 different dishes of lobster, snails, crab, fish, vegetables, rice, soup and so much more. Alex's family and their family friend (husband, wife and their 12 year old daughter) were all so pleasant to be around. It was another excellent day.