We pondered what to do with our four day weekend. We did not want to waste it sitting in our apartment watching the rain so on Thursday morning we headed up to Taipei. The weather was decent so we continued our journey and headed north to Yangmingshan National Park for the third time since being in Taiwan. We were literally walking in a cloud the entire time but the exercise and change of scenery was nice. We even hiked in ponchos for a while. We looked pretty cute - my poncho is pink and James' poncho is blue :)
We were able to somewhat see and definitely smell some sulfur pits! This was a new trail in the park for us. There were several other people out there hiking too so we felt ok about our decision... At the bus stop in Yangmingshan, we met a couple from Canada that teach in South Korea. They were vacationing in Taipei for the weekend.
The pink poncho from 7-11 does a great job to as a waterproof bag cover!
Sulfur pits smell nasty!
The next morning we ran from our hostel to Elephant Mountain. Taipei has the "Four Beast" mountains literally next door to Taipei 101. Elephant Mountain is a popular spot to hike (it's literally a 15 minute hike to the top) and watch the sunset over Taipei 101. Well, we had a pleasant surprise at the top of Elephant Mountain. The trail continued. In fact we were hiking trails on the four beasts for over an hour and the run to Elephant Mountain from our hostel was already 40 minutes long. The good news was it did not rain. The bad news was we were quite hungry! We took the first set of stairs we found that went down the mountain. We ended up at a Family Mart eating sweet potatoes and bananas, then walking to the closest MRT station.
Wow. Taipei is awesome! How many cities have miles of trails on mountains near a MRT station?! We were wondering why everyone else hiking on the mountains had large backpacks. They were spending all day hiking there. We will definitely go back to complete the trails and bring some food with us.
We did walk into the lobby of Taipei 101 on our way to the MRT station. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of this adventure since we left our phones at the hostel in fear of rain. Umm...so on the MRT ride back to the hostel you'll never believe who was on our train. The Canadian couple from South Korea!
We enjoyed the afternoon. We shopped at a few outdoor clothing shops. Then, we visited Peace Park. From there, we walked to the Memorial Hall. I decided I wanted to grab a snack at the 7-11 in the National Library before seeing the main attraction of the Memorial Hall. As soon as we entered the library, the sky opened up! We ended up resting our feet at the library. We read a couple of the English newspapers in the newspaper reading room for about an hour. By the time we left, the Memorial Hall was closed and it was dark. We'll be making another visit to the Memorial Hall along with the Four Beast Mountains at some point in our Taiwan future!
Please note a typical street in Taipei - there is a 7-11 across the street from another 7-11 and a Starbuck's on the corner.
The grand entrance to the Memorial Hall!
The concert hall
The Memorial Hall will visit next time
We pondered whether to spend the afternoon at the National Palace Museum (filled with Chinese art work, statues, etc) or the Children's Science Museum. The two museums were located near the same MRT station. We decided to go to the vegetarian restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet before heading to one of the museums. We ended up meeting and eating with an English professor from South Korea who is from Canada. When we parted ways with him, James told him we would be running into him again at some point in the future. We keep running in to people we know / have met before in Taiwan!
James and I picked the Children's Science Museum/National Taiwan Science Education Center (www.ntsec.gov.tw) for the pure entertainment factor. We LOVED it!!!!!!! It was eight floors of awesomeness all for $3USD. We were at the museum for over four hours. We only left because they were closing :) We even paid an extra $3USD to do the Turbo-Ride 3D Theater. Everyone sat in chairs and wore a seat belt. The film was 5 minutes long. We virtually "rode" the Great Wall of China on a cart. The chairs moved with the screen. It was tons of fun. I am glad it was only 5 minutes long because I was starting to feel a bit nauseated by the end. It truly felt like a roller coaster!
The walk-through digestive system was pretty amusing especially at the end - http://youtu.be/bJyATIFpPog
I don't know what the sign says but it has my birthday on it!
You could pay $3USD to ride the sky bike. It looked too intense for me!
Water creates power.
Blowing bubbles.
The things we will post on facebook to receive a free gift bag from the museum... The sign says something about "The Story of Water" exhibit we were in...or at least that is what they told us!
A special picture for my brother who moves to the Australian outback next month! I don't know why the picture is in French though.
James and I will be visiting my brother there at some point :)
The puzzle section was so frustrating!
Yes!!!!! I finally got it with a little help from my sweet husband.
How is he standing there?
Cycling the scenic Hsinchu 17km coastline while staying dry during the typhoon.
The theater
Serious and ready for the ride!
Did I mention how cool this museum is?
How do you ride a bike with square tires? You ride it on round bumps! Please note this bicycle is quite hard to pedal!
After that we headed home for Hsinchu and enjoyed a laid back Sunday. Our feet were worn out from the weekend. Who would have thought we would have gotten so much exercise during a typhoon! Overall we were pleasantly surprised by the weather. We were definitely at the driest and safest part of the island for the typhoon. The east coast and southern part of Taiwan were hammered with high winds and rain. We made the right decision for our Moon Festival weekend!
We should have taken a picture of our receipts from Taipei. It was a pile of about 15 receipts from 7-11, Family Mart and Hi Life convenient stores. We were living large in Taipei :) Actually a lot of restaurants were closed for the holiday weekend so we did not have as many restaurant choices as normal. I really think I could survive from only buying things (including all food) from 7-11 for months. The place sells salads, fresh fruit, pre-paid minutes for my cell phone, laundry detergent and even disposable underwear (not sure why though)! I am highly considering contacting 7-11 and offering to do a documentary film on "How I Survived in Taiwan for 60 days with only 7-11." Do you think I could become a movie star?!
Every time we go to Taipei we like the city more and more. It's a magical place. We did find one thing we do not like about the city. There are not fruit stands on every corner and people independently selling fruit at every park like there is in Hsinchu. We think there must be regulations in Taipei that do not allow the sale of fruit in open air or something like that. It is disappointing to buy the overpriced and not so delicious fruit at the grocery store.
So, the Moon Festival is a big deal holiday in Taiwan. Most people give gifts and visit family. Both of our schools gave us a box of moon cakes. Our Taiwanese mother gave us a box of vegan moon cakes. Our favorite vegan restaurant gave us a few moon cakes. We certainly felt well-loved. James is eating so many moon cakes that he is going to look like a round moon cake ;) He is celebrating like the Taiwanese!!!!
The lid of one of our boxes of moon cakes reads, "May all the happiness and joy be tightly by your side."
***James says his pants are fitting more 'tightly by his side' since eating all the mooncakes***
MOON CAKES!!!!
I had my first dentist appointment last week. The Taiwanese National Insurance covers two cleanings per year. Well, I know why Americans have more pearly white teeth than the Taiwanese. My whole cleaning was only a water spray method. I was waiting for him to floss my teeth, use a pick to scrape off plaque, use the fun spinning toothbrush with some intense toothpaste, etc. After a few minutes of the water cleaning, the dentist told me I had no tooth decay and my teeth looked healthy. I was wondering when he was going to do the rest of the cleaning!!!! It was an awkward moment when I did not get up to leave and he had to tell me the cleaning was finished.
Happy Moon Festival to everyone! Hopefully the Moon Festival will bring some cooler weather here in Taiwan :) I am looking forward to the fall and not dripping sweat on my walk to work everyday.
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