Taiwan Part 2

The flowers were blooming all over Taiwan.

Most of the taxi driver's in Taiwan had some maedeup (Chinese knotting) hanging from their rear view mirror. I didn't notice until putting this picture into the blog that the driver was watching me as I took the picture.

We went out to dinner with some of Curt's (hubby) co-workers. We ate at a Thai restaurant that came with a cute puppy that made his home in our booth while we were eating.

He also spent some time watching us from the counter after we had finished eating.

This is a famous statue and she is there to protect the fishermen of Taiwan.

This is a dessert we had. The creamy part of it had not taste but the little brown things and the juice was very sweet.

Street vendor.

Lots of scooters.

The caption on this t-shirt cracked me up: When did you first discover you needed glasses. At least, it did make sense.

Squid drying in the sun.

A couple of dogs relaxing out in the middle of a street.

The roof of a temple.

This temple was really popular so I decided to venture in.

You lit some incense and brought placed it into a huge dish of sand across from these statues. Then you went and picked up a wooden thing and held it over the incense to capture some of the smoke. Then you brought it in front of the statues and waved it around and then bowed. There was a huge glass box in front where you then placed money. An older couple showed me how to do everything.

Another section of the temple.

Closeup of part of the roof.

Everyone drives scooters and they must start really young. Actually, her dad was in a local restaurant at the time picking up some take out food.

The last day I spent in Tainen, I took a taxi to a more remote section of town. After walking around for a while, I noticed that I had not seen any taxis. I waited and looked for a while and came across this police station. I walked inside and the two officers were instantly concerned that something was wrong.

I was able to tell then that I couldn't get a taxi and so they called one for me. They told me it would take six minutes. Then they sat me down in a waiting area where a bunch of old men were hanging out watching television and drinking tea. They made me some tea and had me sit with them until the taxi arrived.

I had given one of the officers the business card for the hotel and he came over to me when the taxi arrived. The two officers escorted me to the taxi, one patting my back as we walked. The other officer told the taxi where to take me. They opened the taxi door, closed it for me and waved goodbye. They were wonderful.

We went into a restaurant near the hotel but we left after looking at the menu. I kinda lost my appetite.

Funny sign I saw in a store.

Kimchi in Taiwan!

Seaweed potato chips. I wasn't brave enough to try them.

These turtles are made out of shells.

Our hotel was missing a few floors.

This sign is in front of the high speed train station.

The first sign we saw from these protesters caught our attention. This was in Taipei. It looked like they were protesting China's wish to rule Taiwan. We had to walk through them to get where we wanted to go and usually in Korea that is not a good idea. But they smiled at us as we walked by.

Lots of scooters.

This is the place to go if you want to by Taiwanese crafts. It is four levels and has everything. They didn't allow pictures once you entered the building.

I had also heard about the jade market in Taipei. I was not ready for how huge it was.

Tables everywhere and you have to bargain. Another good hint is to actually walk away and they will meet your price. It's not as cheap as I've heard jade is in China but I bought a few items.

More pictures from the jade market.

I found this box while waiting at the departure gate at the airport.

This is what I bought at the jade market.

These are some of the things I bought while in Tainen. It was a wonderful week. The weather was perfect and the food incredible. The next chapter of our life has already been implemented. I'll tell you in my next blog entry.