Visitors from another continent.

Well, my blogs have lagged due to a visit form my parents, I am sad that my sister couldn't make it. They havee been here since the 6th of October.
I had negotiated the two weeks off work and this hit some bumps but, with some effort, balance was restored and a major catastrophy was averted.

My parents wanted a rexaling vacation and they insisted that they came to Taiwan to see me and not Taiwan, so we have done alot of "hanging out" at my place. It's been really nice, we've been playing cards and watching movies. We have also done some of the sightseeing.

We went to Meinong and Maolin to the unbrella factory of traditional handicrafts, we also went to my favorite place in Taiwan, a waterfall close to Maolin. This waterfall is 4 stories high and maybe 50 feet wide on three tiers high with a pool on each tier. Anyways... it's gone. Last month, the excessive rain from the typhoon caused a huge rockslide and the whole side of the mountain came down. The rocks covered 80% of the waterfall, took out most of the vegetation around, burried the stairs and all of the pools are gone. So, now it's a 45 degree angle climb upon shifty rocks and debree only to reach a small waterfall, falling into the rubble never to be seen again. It stinks form the mould forming on the fallen, wet mouldy trees that lie within the rubble. So, I am now seeking a new adventurer to help me discover a new and fantastic waterfall. Jennifer rode all through the Taiwan mountainsides getting lost for hours and chased by dogs while driving over mudslides in the rain to help me find this magical place, now it's gone.

We also went to Green Island off the east coast of Taiwan. We took a train to the east coast and then a high speed ferry to the island. The island is 16.2 square kms. It felt very small but it was a coral/volcanic island and had a very old prison on it that we toured. They used to house political prisoners as well as those who were too dangerous for the mainland. The cool think about Taiwan's touristy places is that they prettymuch just unlock the doors and let people do whatever they want. So, we had full access to the cells, guard posts, and anything else and never saw anyone except at the main gate at the front. It was cool. We couldn't go snorkelling the first day because we were warned about jellyfish that infest the water, hurt alot and tend not to come off. So, we decided to go out the next morning and rent some wetsuits for protection ($4CAN each). We went diving and it was fantastic but we looked everywhere and after 2 hours, we still hadn't found one single jellyfish. We got some cool underwater pictures though and saw tons of tropical fish.

We didn't go to Hualien where Toroko Gorge is located because we would be spending 95% of our time on walking trails that are on the side of a cliff and going from one side of the gorge to the other, along swaying suspension bridges. Somehow, this is not a very enjoyable trip for someone who doesn't admire heights.

We went to some places around Kaohsiung. We went to Monkey mountain and ate lunch among "wild" monkeys, dogs and chickens. They are wild, but they also know that humans sometimes have food, so we humans also carried a big stick. We went down to ChiJiu island to do some shopping for my sister and we went to Chengching lake for the day. Wow, true colors came out there... It's pretty much a park around a lake, nothing spectacular but fresh air and trees. My mom was taking pictures of EVERYTHING and my dad prettymuch waited on the scooter with his head resting on the handlebars, I was kind of in the middle of the two.

We have also eaten at a different restaraunt every meal except for an encore of the "Red Door" because it was soo good the first time. The name isn't actually the red door, but the front doors are big red doors... as foreigners usually can't read the Chinese name, some other name usually gets tagged on.

Today, my dad and I went to check on a Thai restaraunt to see what the buffet was going to be for tonight and they were closed. They close between 2:00PM and 5:30PM for rest time. This could not happen in Canada because no one would want a job with a 3.5 hour break every day, that's not really time to go home or do anything. Well, I looked in the window and saw about 10 workers passed out on the dining room chairs having a sleep and the lights were off. Kind of a different cultural thing. Also, I can walk into a small family run store at 8:00AM and see the owner sleeping behind the till, I can go back anytime before he closes at 11PM and see the SAME guy sleeping behind the till. They just work eternal hours and have break time all day unless it is busy. My old bike mechanic has a kitchen and living room in his shop at the back so I always see his family cooking, wastching TV or playing in the back while he is fixing motorbikes. If no one's bike is broken, then he is having quality family time until my bike decides to break.

Anyways, they leave Saturday, I will spend Saturday night and all day Sunday on the beach with my cousin and her friend and then I will be forced back to work on Monday, back to the kids I love to tease.

I'll write more after they are gone.