What a long, long  journey this has been… we’ve been in the air for a day and a half already.  But we’re on the last leg and almost home!!!

After the meeting, we took a short scooter ride over to the Love river for the last day of the Chinese Lantern festival.  If we thought the driving was crazy before, man were we in for a surprise!!!  There were more scooters on that one night than we had seen the entire trip! HAHA.  There were booths set up along both sides of the river, some displaying the lanterns that school children had made and other for food or gifts.  We commented on how neat the lanterns were and asked how old the students were who made them.  We were thinking maybe college students, but Jing Ru said it was elementary students.  Wow!  What talent!  We sat down beside the river to take a short rest and were able to hear May Day playing live music further down the river.  We were hoping to make our way to the stage to see them but it was too crowded so we settled for listening.  At 9:00 they had a nice fireworks show across the river.  For those of you in Cincy, this is very similar to the WEBN fireworks…. but on a smaller scale.  It was nice to be reminded of home all the way here in Taiwan!  We all had fun hearing the reactions of those around us… “ooh ahh piaoliang”!  It was a nice ending to the day.

Monday proved to be a day of “shop till you drop”.  We started out at some local shops that offered crafts and other small treasures.  We came back home for lunch around noon and were delighted to meet more of Jing Ru’s family.  And of course, there was food galore!  Jing Ru’s dad gave us more pijiu and kept joking about getting us drunk! HAHA.  In the afternoon, we went to the Dream Mall, a huge mall with 12 floors!  We browsed several of the stores and purchased yet more souvenirs.  We also found out that because we are foreigners we qualified to receive a refund of all the sales tax that we had paid.  Nice perk!  We made a brief stop back home to drop off our purchases, then headed out again for dinner.  Two of Jing Ru’s closest friends wanted to treat us so we went to an authentic “hot pot” restaurant.  It was great and as usual. we stuffed ourselves.  Afterwards, we went next door to the $100 store (akin to America’s $1 store) where we all made several purchases.  Finally, we made our way to the night market yet once again!  We made sure to stay clear of the snake stand although Jing Ru wanted us to try some.  No thanks!  We stayed much later than we expected but it was our last night on the town so we made it a good one.

Tuesday we will pack our things and get ready for our long trip home.  If we are able, we will make one last post along with the other pictures we have taken.

We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

After lunch, we got back in the car and headed towards a local park that has a nice waterfall that is open for swimming.  Unfortunately when we arrived, it was all dried up due to lack of rain.  Oh well…  We decided to go to Pingtung University of Science and Technology instead.  This offered a nice walk, and Jing Ru’s uncle purchased some organic basil plants from the students. 

Next, we headed off to the Tsing Tao Beer Factory!  Free beer!  Need we say more?  Too bad we missed the deadline for the last tour.  But did we mention there was free beer?  So it’s all good.  We made a quick stop at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant for dinner.  Jing Ru’s dad plays mahjong with the owner.  We ate noodle soup (there was no secret ingredient to this one) while talking over the great day we’d enjoyed.  On the way back home, we visited a few more of Jing Ru’s relatives to drop off some dates.  By now it was dark and we were all very tired.  So we drove back to Kaohsiung and retired early.  Tomorrow promises a full day of “spiritual” fun, so we’re resting up for that.

Learn Chinese: 
Xiāngxià = country (as in “rural”)
Nóngchang = farm

Next we headed over to Eluanbi, which is home to one of the only fortified lighthouses in the world.  Although we were not allowed inside the lighthouse, we were able to walk the grounds and see displays of its history.  Afterwards, we made our way back to Kaohsiung.

Once back in town, we stopped downtown to walk around for a while.  We were able to see the 85 building, which is the second-tallest building in Taiwan, along with some other interesting buildings.  There was a nice bike trail that we decided to walk for a while.  (Denise we were thinking of you!)  The trail was built on top of the old harbor line railroad tracks… cool!  Now it was getting close to dinner time, so we finally headed back to the house.  We were all pleasantly suprised to see that Jing Ru’s mom had made dumplings for us.  Hen duo hen duo dumplings!  Her dad told us we each had to eat 30!  In addition, there was pumpkin soup and fresh fruit.  They sure know how to throw down a meal!  After dinner, Jing Ru’s dad wanted to take us on a short walk to a nearby market.  We browsed for a while, then walked over to a coffee shop where he treated us to some cups of joe.  As it turns out, Jing Ru’s cousin was also there with her boyfriend.  We were laughing because Jing Ru’s dad kept yelling over to them… Poor things, they were just trying to have a nice date!  So finally we made our way back to the house and turned in for the evening.

Our first stop was Kenting National Park, the third national park that we’ve been to in Taiwan!  While it had the same great ”ahh appeal” as the other national parks, it was completely different in style.  The entire park was very open and had great landscape views.  We were blown away when we realized that the “really blue sky” that we were staring at was actually the ocean!  What a great feeling to be standing on top of a huge mountain while staring at the ocean.  Once again, we were reminded of Jehovah’s great power and his great love for us.  Another highlight of the park was the gorge that we were able to hike through.  Unlike the rest of the park, it was not wide open at all.  In fact, if someone else was coming from the other direction, we had to sort of climb up on the side of the passageway to let them get by.  The hike proved to be a little exerting physically but it was well worth the effort.  What beauty there is in Jehovah’s creation!

After the national park, we made a brief stop at the beach to admire some more great views.  One section was lined with huge rocks that we skipped along one to the next.  There was an extremely large rock jutting out of the ocean.  Check out the photo gallery for some good pictures of this.

After a brief rest back at the hotel, we headed out again for a visit to the local night market.  Jing Ru made sure we tried some new food dishes and of course we shopped around at all the stores and stands.  Kendra was especially pleased that she was able to bargain with one of the shop owners all in Chinese…. so she was able to buy a really cool bracelet at a great price!

We are continuing to enjoy our stay here.  Stay tuned for the ongoing saga…

Thursday, February 5 (Hualian)

We told Dennis that we wanted to take him and his father out to lunch so the day started with that.  Jerry was able to get away from work for a little bit so he joined us as well. We went to a place called The Ark.  They had very good food… we let Dennis order for us since the entire menu was in characters and we had no clue what to order.  After lunch, we went back to the salon with Dennis so he could cut Kendra’s hair.  What fun that was!  It was the first time he had worked with “foreign” hair and kept saying how thick it was… “so much hair, so much hair”.  Yes, Kendra was brave to let him at it, but it turned out really cute.  Dennis calls it a “Japanese style”.  Afterwards, the three of us went exploring through downtown Hualien for a few hours.  We ended up at a Starbucks to upload some photos (so check out the gallery).  The day ended at the Lee’s home.  They live halfway up the mountain and have a wonderful view of the city.  We drove to the top to see the skyline of Hualien before coming back to the house for some dessert and association.  We showed them the group picture of the congregation from the C.O. visit.  They were happy to see brother Woolsten and the Huangs too.  They commented that we have a very nice congregation.  We told them we think so too! J

Friday, February 6 (Taipei)

We were up early packing our things to make the journey back to Taipei.  When the Lee family came to take us to the train station, it felt like we were leaving home all over again.  We were able to experience the love of the brotherhood at such a close, personal level that none of us will ever forget it.  What a wonderful God we serve!  The Lees made sure we knew that we are all family and are welcome at their home anytime.  Of course, we told them that they could come to Meiguo anytime too!  We certainly will miss them.

Back in Taipei, the allergies quickly kicked in for John and Kendra so the rest of the evening was spent resting at the apartment.

Saturday, February 7 (Taipei)

We reserved Saturday for a trip to the National Palace Museum.  We only have a few photos of the outside to show for it, though, because cameras were forbidden inside.  It was very cool to see the many facets of Chinese history…. art, sculpture, calligraphy, furniture, gems, rare documents, etc.  It took most of the day to explore so afterwards we relaxed at home to dinner and a movie.

Nikki’s Little Adventure:  

It all started as we were leaving Hualien.  I needed to exchange more money, but had left my travelers checks in Taipei.  I thought “No problem.  Our train will be in Taipei by 4pm, plenty of time to get to the bank.”  Little did I know the banks in Taipei all close at 3:30pm Monday-Friday.  I had just enough money for any travel we’d be doing (MRT, buses, taxi)  but not enough for meals and souvenirs.  John and Kendra were wonderful in offering to help me out til Monday morning.  But I kept thinking I should just go to the airport and exchange there.  So Saturday after we returned from the Museum, John and Kendra decided to rest and I decided to go on a little journey. 

I took the cell phone in case of emergency and told Kendra I’d be gone at least 2 hours probably more.  The MRT does not go to the airport which is in Taoyuan (almost an hour south of Taipei).  So I headed to the MRT got on the subway and headed to Taipei Main Station.  Once I arrived I had a difficult time finding the bus stop that went to the airport.  After checking with the information booth, I found I had to go about 2 blocks down the street to a bus depot.  I got my ticket to go to the airport and got in what I thought was the correct line.  I asked the person in front of me if this bus was going to the airport and he asked to see my ticket.  It turns out I was in the wrong line.  He pointed me in the direction in which I needed to go and they were loading the bus.  Whew!  I had made it.  I enjoyed the ride to the airport, although I couldn’t see much since it was dark.  My Taiwan book told me that I would need to go to Terminal 2 to exchange money, but I had no idea if the bus stopped at both terminals.  When we got to Terminal 1, not everyone got off the bus, so I figured I’d wait and see what the driver did.  He did indeed go to Terminal 2.  It didn’t take long to find the exchange booth and exchange my checks (probably less than 5 minutes).  By the time I was done, the same bus was still there loading people who had just arrived to go to Taipei.  I had decided I would call Kendra when I got back to Taipei Main Station, because then I knew I’d be home within 30 minutes.  However, I remembered reading in my book that when the buses come back to Taipei they go a different route and drop people off in neighborhoods in and around Taipei Main Station.  We turned a corner and I noticed a hotel that looked very familiar and an Armani store on the same block.  I wondered, could we actually be right around the corner from where we were staying?  The bus driver had already gotten off the bus to help unload the luggage of some of the people that were getting off.  So I decided to take a chance.  I got off and asked the driver if this was Zhong Shan Bei Lu er duan?  He said it was.  It turned out I was right around the corner from the apartment.  I called Kendra to let her know I was coming up to the door and she said she was just getting ready to call and check on me.  So I arrived home safely, excited that I had made my way around Taipei all by myself.     

Sunday, February 8 (Taipei)

Sunday morning Nikki and Kendra went again to the Zhongshan congregation for the meeting.  We met still more friends and were able to join some of them for lunch after the meeting.  Included was a brother from the Philly Chinese… he has been in Taipei for the last year but will return home next month.  His Chinese is so good after only 1 year; it makes us want to stay longer. L After lunch, we went back home to check on John.  He was feeling a little better so he was able to join us for our visit to Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building.  This was very cool!  The 36 second elevator ride took us all the way to the 89^th floor!  (This building also boasts the world’s fastest elevators!)  We ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the tiny buildings and cars below (we couldn’t really even see people) for quite a while and then took the stairs on up to the 91^st floor.  The 91^st floor is the outside observatory so we were able to feel the wind in our face while we looked out across the city.  What a sight!  After that, we walked a few flights of stairs back down to the 88^th floor where we could see the building’s damper (a 5-ton steel pendulum that keeps the building from swaying a whole lot).  Taipei 101 is one of very few tall buildings that actually have the damper on display.  It is quite impressive how it works… and we can say that it did the job well because none of us felt the building move at all!  After making our way back down to civilization, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed home.

Monday, February 9 (Taipei)

The long-awaited Bethel trip… we got up early to make our way to Bethel.  There was a little confusion as to which subway stop to take (because it ended up being a train station instead of a subway stop – oops) but we finally made it.  A British sister who has been serving at the branch for over 40 years gave us the tour.  She is a wonderful sister with a great sense of humor.  She has a special fondness for all of the artwork so we stopped to admire many of the paintings along the way.  She would ask us “what time period does this picture take place in?” or “do you remember the name of this girl?” or “who is pictured here witnessing to the Roman soldiers?”  She also spent some time in the Library detailing the history of the Amis people (aboriginals in Taiwan).  Her current job at Bethel involves producing literature in the Amis language (the only printing done at this branch).  Also on the tour, we were able to meet her husband who works as a Branch coordinator.  The entire Bethel family is only 34 persons so she said it truly does feel like a small family.  The branch was beautiful, though, and gives a great witness to the community here is Taiwan.  We enjoyed the tour very much and were so glad that we were able to finally make it here!!!

Back at the apartment, we rested up for a little while before heading back out for some night life.  We travelled to Meilihua which has the 2^nd largest ferris wheel in Asia.  Yes, Cali, we rode it for you!  And boy was it fun!  We got a great view of the surrounding area and laughed at the two girls in the cart next to us because they were taking pictures of themselves the ENTIRE time!  Of course, we took a few ourselves – haha.  (I know, Paul… “bunch of tourists”)  After riding the ferris wheel, we ate dinner at… you guessed it… T.G.I. Friday’s.  It was surprisingly very similar to the ones at home, with many of the same dishes.  We did a little more shopping before returning home.  Time to pack up and leave Taipei… again.

Tuesday, February 10 (Kaohsiung)

Today we took the high-speed train back to Kaohsiung.  It was nice to ride it during the day this time so we could see the various cities as they zoomed by the window.  And again, our speed topped at a little over 180mph.  We ate some great noodle soup for lunch and then rested before going back out for family study at the house of Jing Ru’s best friend.  On the way, some guy on a scooter came riding up beside us.  He asked us “What religion are you guys?” and of course we said “Yehehua Jianzhengren” so then he asked “where do you worship?”  Nikki had an invitation so we were able to give him that and tell him about the meetings.  He thanked us and said he will come on Sunday!  Jing Ru told us later that he probably stopped because he saw Nikki and Kendra (meiguoren) and thought “they must be Christian”.  It was a really great experience… now we will see if he shows up on Sunday!

Family study was fun.  There were 10 people total, including us.  We did the lesson for congregation Bible study and then one of the supplementary articles in the new Watchtower.  The brother conducting was very funny because he kept telling all the Chinese friends to read slowly and pronounce all their words very clearly.  This was for our benefit of course but we thought it was funny to hear him correct them…. Even Jing Ru was corrected a few times! J

After the study, we enjoyed some fellowship for a little while.  They provided tea and cookies and there was a popular Taiwanese drama on the TV.  We left around 10:00pm and made our way back to Jing Ru’s home.

Bro. Li arrived promptly at 9:30 this morning and took us to a 7-11 to stock up on snack stuff.  He told us that once we started going through the canyon, there would be nowhere to get food and suggested we get enough to get us through the day.   After our 7-11 stop, we headed to Taroko National Park – the second largest canyon in Asia.  If we thought the drive up was spectacular, we were in for a big surprise.  The park exceeded any amount of beauty that we could have ever imagined.  I’m sorry to say, that I know our pictures will not do it justice.  We only hope that any of you who travel to Taiwan in the future put this down as a must see.  We spent the day ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the beauty before us and were constantly remarking how wonderful Jehovah is as a creator.  A highlight of the trip was the small suspension bridge that allowed us to venture across the gorge.  Only 8 people at a time were allowed on the bridge and we never saw more than 6 people at a time on it.  The entire gorge was spectacular.  Anytime you thought it couldn’t get any better than this, it did and each time was even more amazing than the last.  We pretty much spent the whole day there and just took our time.  After our tour, we made a quick stop at:  Surprise!!!  McDonalds.  We were really tired, as was Bro Li and we just wanted something quick so we could head in for the evening and relax. 

Learn Chinese:  Pubu = waterfall.