Third Weekend in Taiwan

Friday

Train to Taroko

From Taipei we took a train along the East Coast to get to Taroko park. Nick had bought Mochi and we were joking with him that he had white lipstick on because of the powder from the Mochi.

Saturday

Sunrise

We were staying right near the beach and wanted to see the sunrise over the ocean. However, it ended up being a little bit cloudy that morning so we did not see the sun (the moon is behind us on the rock) but we did see some beautiful colors in the sky.

Taroko National Park

Later on Saturday morning, we went to Taroko National Park. It is famous for the gorge that is within the grounds.

The area was really awesome.  Some of the tunnels were created through just digging out the rock.

So many beautiful sceneries.  We also climbed to the top of a pagoda and got an awesome view around us (Dwhited and I at the top of the pagoda).

 

We also had a driver that drove us around for the weekend. It was equal to using buses since there was 6 of us but way more convenient because the guy left when we wanted to and we did not have to wait for public transportation. The guy was also super nice and after seeing taroko park he just brought us to other areas along the east coast that he thought we might like. We had not done any other research.

Butterfly Garden

 

 

One place he brought us was a butterfly garden. It was a really pretty area among the mountains and there were so many butterflies. It is definitely the most butterflies I have ever seen that were not caged in an area.

Lunch

Delicious dumplings for lunch!

Wood Carvings

He also brought us to a museum that was filled with wood carvings. There is a competition each year where artists are  limited to how much time and wood they can carve out of.  The designs were amazingly detailed and so different then anything I have seen. 

We see something......or we are just having fun....

Bamboo

This place was so cool! We learned about a type of bamboo that when baked to certain temperature could conduct electricity (aka light up the lightbulb) and then could also filter water!!! I think this stuff is super interesting. Our driver knew us so well. I was so excited when he brought us here and showed us this stuff.

 

The area also had a glass blowing gallery that he wanted to show us but was already closed by the time we got there. He felt really bad, but we had a lot of fun just looking at the plants, fish, and frogs.  We do not need a lot to be entertained and happy.

Emily will go all out to get a good photo.

Random Night adventures

The driver dropped us off at the nightmarket but we did not spend much time there. We found rocks to play on that was near the water and then we decided to walk down random streets. I did get corn before we left the market. I love corn from night markets.

  

Afterwards we went to see a free aboriginal dance show and learned some about the aboriginal culture. Finally we made our way back to where we had been for lunch to get these Sex hats. Nick and Kyle would not stop talking about these hats and basically did not care what else we did as long as they could go buy these hats as well as t-shirts that have incorrect English.

Sunday

 Morning Walk

 

There is a path along the beach  that we walked along in the morning.  It lead us to the cliffs that were above the beach so we were able to get a great view of the surrounding area. Even at 8am it was already getting too hot.

The place we stayed.

What we saw as we drove

 

On Sunday we just drove along the coast and made like three stops but otherwise we just saw tons of beautiful beaches.  The east coast of Taiwan is beautifull

Now that the boys had their Sex hats, it was all about taking pictures with them wherever they went. We saw water buffalo along the way.

  

The views were gorgeous.

This rock was my favorite. When the waves crashed up against the rock, the waves would be huge and completely cover the rock (second photo...rock is under the wave).  

Me with the coast behind me. Also, I am wearing t-shirts constantly because my back is still very burnt from the previous weekend when I went surfing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome rocks at a beach

We spent a while at this place.  There were awesome rocks to climb, gorgeous views and an awesome breeze so you don't get too hot. It was really beautiful.

 

Some kids testing to see if the waves would cover them as they crash against the rocks and then there is nick hiding amongst the rocks to avoid getting in a picture.

We also made a stop at the point of tropic of cancer.

Bridge Connected to an Island

The bridge was awesome. We had fun walking across and did a jumping shot. We got the jumping shot on our first jump. That never happens.

Once we got to the island there was a path to follow and it was so green and beautiful!

 

I also found a little place to veer off the path and go climb into a rock and feel like I was in a cave.

 

After this, our driver knew a great place for dinner that was known for serving sticky rice filled with meat. So good. Afterwards grace was able to get her favorite popsicles that they used to have all over Taiwan when she was younger.  She ended up buying a whole box of them to bring back to Taipei with her since she can no longer find them around her.  After this our driver brought us back toe train station and we got back to Taipei at midnight and back to Yuen Ze University at 1am.