Catholic Churches & Sand Sculptures

The monsoon season is not slowing us down.  We have learned in our one year in Taiwan to ignore the weather forecasts and do what you want.  Well, except if there is a typhoon.  One must take those seriously. The forecast for last weekend called for rain but we kept our outdoor plans anyway.

We caught a train in Hsinchu at 6am on Saturday morning.  To our surprise, the friend we invited for our day hike arrived at the train station promptly at 5:50am with another friend of his.  We met this friend, Joel, at church.  He is from Honduras.  He is a student at Chaio Tung University.  His friend is an exchange student from the Czech Republic.  I could never pronounce his name, so I just called him Yeti Spaghetti.

We arrived to a town on the northeast coast of Taiwan at 9am called Jiaoxi.  Thankfully, Joel speaks fluent Chinese so he became our tour guide for the day.  On our bus ride to the hike, a young Taiwanese man named Sam seemed to enjoy our company.  He hiked with us for most of the day and took a lot of pictures. Sam is between jobs and decided to use his time off to travel around Taiwan.  He has a large facebook following for his trip and is actually being "sponsored" by a couple of companies.  He was wearing a red shirt with his picture on the front and the company sponsors on the back.  I think James and I need to find a company sponsor for our travels, too!

Our first hike (of course from our trusty hiking book) included a hike up a mountain to a Catholic Church! We did not see a single temple on this hike.  A group of hikers climbed this mountain many years ago.  On their descent, bad weather came quickly.  They prayed to the Virgin Mary for safety.  They believed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a tree while descending.  They all made it back safely so they decided to build a Catholic Church on the mountain.  They named the trail "Saint Mary."

The Catholic Church

A small Nativity Scene

The recent rains made the waterfalls awesome!

The most bizarre worm I have ever seen.  Ugh!

A statue of the Virgin Mary and a Catholic missionary in Taiwan. 

Stations of the Cross plaques lead up to the peak. 

We had a good view of the mountains to the west of the peak.  However, a large cloud covered the view of the ocean to the east. 

A cross marks the peak. 

We had time to do an additional trail next to the trail-head of the Saint Mary hike.  Part 1 of this hike involved a lot of large waterfalls and stairs.  Random thought...James' mother asked us if the lush jungles smell fresh.  Yes, they do.  They smell deliciously clean and green!

I had to make sure James the photographer was in at least one picture.

Our hiking group

Part 2 of the waterfall hike was wild and not manicured.  We had to take off our shoes and embrace river tracing.  I was thankful to have my flip-flops with me.  My feet are too soft and sensitive to handle stepping on the rocks without shoes.  After wading through water and climbing over rocks, we arrived at a HUGE waterfall.  The wind was so powerful coming off this waterfall that it could blow your hat off!  It was a really neat and unique experience.  

River tracing to the wild waterfall

James and I getting soaked from the powerful wind coming off the waterfall.  It was exhilarating!

Although the rain started again by the end of our hike, James and I stuck to our original plans to stay the night at Fulong Beach (about a one hour train ride north of the hikes in Jiaoxi).  Our handwritten list of "Things to do in Taiwan" that hangs on our refrigerator includes the "Sand Sculpture Festival" on Fulong Beach.  Every summer, sand sculpture artists from around the world come to Fulong Beach.  They build large detailed sand sculptures.  The festival started last weekend.  The longer the sand sculptures are exposed the more they wear out, so we wanted to go to the festival asap.

We awoke on Sunday morning to blue skies and sunshine!!!!  We literally had not seen the sunshine in over a week and we are solar powered people.  We smeared on some sunscreen and headed to the festival before they opened the doors at 8:30am.  I was so excited to cross the bridge over to the beach.  I felt like I was going to Disney World.  Entrance to the festival only cost $3USD. 

The sand sculptures were even more impressive than I imagined.  The details were incredible!!!!  Each sculpture told a story or represented something.  Luckily for us, the descriptions for the sculptures were also in English.  I believe there were thirty sculptures total.  I think my Aunt Theresa would be a great sand sculptor - she is an amazing artist who loves the beach and sunshine!

Fulong Beach Sand Sculpture Festival

The 12 Zodiac Sign Sculptures - I am a Gemini. 

Neil Armstrong 

A tale about a man who dreamed he explored many lands by riding a bird (this was one of my favorites). 

Marco Polo

The Silk Road used for trade in ancient times going from Greece to China. 

The Taiwanese love pandas!

A representation that money can not buy the most valuable things in life like love and happiness. 

The day was just too perfect to sit on a train ride home quite so early.  The area is popular for its 30k bike path loop along the coast. Since we mostly run and hike, we decided to change up the pace and rent some bikes. One of the many reasons Taiwan is awesome is because usually prices of food, etc are not higher in tourist areas.  We rented nice Giant brand bikes for $3USD for a full day right next to the train station.  How do they make any money?!

The bike path begins with a tunnel that goes through a mountain.  The tunnel is over 2k long.  The remainder of the bike path circles back around the coastline.  

Looking back at the tunnel

Beautiful mountain coastline

A bicycle parking lot at a scenic spot

James practicing his yoga poses. 

A little cyclist in training.  This little guy is speedy! He was trying to race James and I.  He left his parents in the dust. 

What a perfect day!!!!!!!

We hope to have a college update by the next blog.  We are patiently waiting to hear back about scholarships and admissions from the colleges.  No matter what, we should know all of the details by the end of May.  

Happy Mother's Day! I have a whole new respect for mothers after teaching for a year :)