The holidays are here! Many people have asked what we did for Thanksgiving. Well, we celebrated the day by buying some fresh baked sweet potatoes from a street vendor to eat for breakfast. Then, we went to work. Today, Sunday, has been more festive. We Skyped with my family for their delayed Thanksgiving gathering. It was pretty incredible! My brother in Australia and James and I in Taiwan were able to talk to and see family in Georgia! There are some really cute little kids in my family and I loooooved seeing their sweet faces :) Our church had a Thanksgiving potluck this afternoon. There was a great turnout and we enjoyed stuffing ourselves with non-turkey foods with good company.
With the holidays, the colder weather we have been warned about finally graced us with its presence. Wow...60 degrees + riding on the scooter + damp weather = COLD! I remember how cold I would get cycling during the winter but at least I was generating heat at the same time. Now we understand why everyone says it gets cold in Hsinchu. At least we don't have to take two showers a day anymore. Also, I have literally been swollen from the heat for months. As soon as the weather cooled off, all of my clothes became immediately looser/fit better. No joke.
Here's a blog full of fun pictures:
The postman's scooter
Hsinchu Outdoor Club group hike at Five Finger Mountain. I still think a dinosaur is going to pop out from those ferns one of these days. Well, on this hike a snake did slither right in front of me on the path. The snake was a lot more scared than I was though thankfully!
This could be one of the clearest days we have seen yet in Taiwan. The views were even more breathtaking than normal.
A true breakfast of champions! James and I often go run at Eighteen Peaks Park nearby in Hsinchu. At the start of the path, there are several food vendors. We LOVE the fresh baked sweet potatoes (of course) along with a small restaurant called Natural Seeds. They sell vegan wraps and sandwiches so we buy two and split them. One is in a rice tortilla stuffed with fresh sprouts, vegetables, fresh fruit, and raisins. The other one is a wild rice wrap stuffed with a Taiwanese pumpkin squash (similar to a butternut squash), fresh peppers and cucumber slices. Each sandwich costs a little more than $1 USD. A very large sweet potato costs about $1 USD, too. Amazing...
The Natural Seeds restaurant is run by a mother and son. The mother makes fresh baked banana cakes. She gave us a sample and her business card a while ago. James and I decided to order a couple of these fresh baked cakes (although it's more of a bread because it is not too sweet and has fresh hunks of banana and walnuts) to share with our schools for Thanksgiving. You may ask how much these homemade, fresh cakes cost which include these fun boxes? $6.67 USD/cake.
This was as tight as a squeeze as the picture makes it appear. I do not think a large man could fit through here. I was a bit freaked out by this but made it up safe and sound.
The "woods" here are so cool! Just look at how small I look in this magnificent jungle of green!
The monkey statues led us along the trail.
The trail ended at a temple (no surprise here). The stairs were fun to walk up on this temple. Oddly, there were exactly 100 stairs. We don't know if this signifies anything.
A cool picture at the fountain and fish pond next to the temple.
I like this "selfie" picture from the top of the temple. We look really happy. Ohh..by the way...the pigtail braids are back!
Lots of banana trees on the trail but unfortunately no ready-to-eat bananas.
The 10 NT store next to our apartment (like our Dollar Tree store at home) decorated for Christmas. Only 4% of Taiwan follows the Christian faith so I'm not sure who is going to buy all this stuff.
That's a pretty awkward Santa. He looks kind of like a scarecrow Santa to me.
So, what fruit's in season for the winter in Taiwan? Oranges! I did not have an interest in trying the oranges at first because as you can tell in the picture above, the oranges are green and orange. This just seemed to wrong to me. Shouldn't they be a bright orange? Just as all the other fruit here, the oranges are incredible. They are comparable to a large juicy flavorful clementine. They are easy to peel with very few seeds. I found this cute picture online to show what the oranges look like.
These tasty wax apples are in season, too. They are like a crisp and super juicy apple with no seed or core in the middle. Mmm....
That's about it for now. Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends. We miss y'all dearly. We are not thankful that UGA beat GA Tech this year though.
Most of your hikes look like they are straight out of the Jurassic Park movie set, I would definitely be on the lookout for a dinosaur or two hiding in that lush foliage!
ReplyDeleteAll these photos of the fruit and food you post make me want them. This post leaves me wanting to try those wax apples and those wraps from Natural Seeds. They look so delicious.
BTW, I think Scarecrow Santa's clothes are loose because just like you he is no longer swollen from the summer heat!