Weekend in Taipei

Last weekend was good.  We met up with my friend from college who is in town from Malaysia.  We had originally planned to have a crazy busy weekend, going down to Taroko Gorge early Saturday morning through Sunday evening.  It required Rachel and I to get on a train leaving Hsinchu at 4:30am Saturday morning.  Well, my buddy had been mountain climbing with his girlfriend on Thursday / Friday and arrived back to Taipei at 8pm Friday night.  We spoke on the phone and jointly decided to cancel our crazy plans for Saturday and Sunday.  He had been up since 1am summiting a mountain and Rachel and I felt whooped from another week of emotionally draining children.  So we decided to just meet up in Taipei around noon on Saturday and go for a chill hike in the tea country on the south side.  I think that was the best decision.

We met in Taipei Main Station and took the MRT down to Maokong.  Rachel and I went here back during our training week in Taipei and were able to ride the gondola but not able to do any of the hikes.  So it was nice to get back here again.  When we all arrived to Maokong, we were informed the gondola was closed due to potential bad weather headed our way.  Rats.  Luckily there was a bus that took us to the top where all the tea houses and trails were, so we were still able to get where we wanted to go.  We identified one hike in particular that went back to a waterfall and a temple.  At the trailhead, there was a stray dog that was just lying in the trail.  As soon as we passed her, she got up and came with us.  She stayed with us for the next 2-3 hours of the hike - pretty cool.  I think she was just waiting for someone to go down the trail with.  We named here Wonton.  Won for short.  She actually showed us the way a few times.  There were 6 or so intersections where we had to decide which direction to take.  She knew the way well.  

Wonton

the crew 

We arrived at the waterfall and it was pretty nice.  The water was not super-flowing, but the temple was built in to the rock behind the waterfall.  You could walk up the stairs in to the temple and look out from behind the waterfall.  Pretty cool!

walking up to the backside of the fall 

Wonton worshiping 

behind the falls 

view from the temple

After we finished our loop and got back to the main tea house area, we walked around for a bit and grabbed a few snacks.  By this time any potential bad weather had passed through so the gondola was back up and running.  Perfect timing for us!  We were even lucky enough to get one of the 'glass bottom' gondolas (the line wasn't too long) and rode down the mountain during the sunset.

me.  falling.

it was pretty wild looking down

We grabbed some dinner with our friends then said our goodbyes because Rachel and I were heading back to Hsinchu.  We had to walk by the train station to get to the bus station so we ducked in to use the restroom.  Crazy enough, we run in to a man and his son who we had met a few months prior during a visit to Taipei.  Now Taipei is not a small place.  With a metro population of 7 million people, the odds of Rachel and I seeing one of the very few people we actually know are rather slim.  So pretty wild to run in to someone.  Even CRAZIER is that, when we got to the bus station, we ran in to ANOTHER person we know that is from Hsinchu.  She was in Taipei for the day and was taking a bus back to Hsinchu.  EVEN CRAZIER is that a man we met in Chinese class was ON OUR BUS going back to Hsinchu.  What the heck is going on?!?!?!?  We know like 6 people in all of Taiwan and have just seen 4 of them in Taipei.  Ha!  I don't quite know how to interpret that situation, looking for the meaning in it, but it makes for a good story anyways.  **

Sunday was packed full per usual.  We got up and hit the ground running, doing chores, errands, etc before we rode the scooter out to a trail we hiked a few weeks back.  It was the Five Finger Mountain trail (you may remember the 'finger' pictures) and we decided to speed hike / run as much as we could to make for a good workout.  We completed the trail in 1:59 so now have a time standard to try and beat next time.  When we finished there were some cute puppies in the parking lot.  They were difficult to film because they move so fast - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUG-6ZQH7dA&feature=youtu.be  On the ride back home we stopped off at some cold springs to cool and rinse off.  A nice finish to our sweat-fest trail run ;-)  We made it back home just in time to de-funk and re-rag before 5:00 church.  Another action packed weekend in Taiwan is in the books!

Now...back to work for the week.  My birthday is this coming Saturday when I will be turning 32 years old.  And I get to work for my birthday!!!  Frown.  I have to give a demonstration lesson to prospective students / parents on Saturday morning.  But I am sure Rachel and I will find a way to pack every moment of the rest of the weekend full with some kind of adventure.  Will write more soon!

** Rachel's editing note: So, on Monday we were going for a run and our buddy from New Zealand drove by on a scooter and stopped to talk to us.  Make that #4 for seeing the few people we know.  Then, we ate lunch with him at our college dining hall spot and we ran into the Polish family from our church that introduced us to the dining hall.  That makes #5.  My mom always said I have a talent for running into people I know.  I did not think this was going to prove true in a country where I barely know anyone!!!!!!