Day 8

Day 8 finds us still out in the mountains and enjoying the view.  After a relaxing breakfast featuring a watermelon guava, we set off for a new adventure!

First stop was a trip up into the Lala Mountain Reserve to see the sacred trees.  These cyprus trees grow to gigantic sizes, and it was really cool to see.  The hike up into the forest and around the paths took us about an hour and a half, and was really refreshing.  We even got to stop and eat our little picnic lunch under the trees.  The view was amazing no matter which way you turned.

After hiding under trees and hiking up stairs, our awesome guide took us further up into the mountains to a great little coffee shop.  There we ate the largest waffle dessert I think I have ever seen!  It was delicious, and we got to look at the cute dogs that lived there when we weren't admiring the scenery.

With our energy renewed thanks to the waffles we went to visit a peach farm and a fish farm.  At the peach farm we got to see the peach trees and the methods for keeping the fruit fresh and clean as it develops.  We also got to eat fresh loquats and peaches straight off the tree.  Yum!  The fish farm did not have delicious food we could eat right away, haha.  There we got to see how the fish are raised in different pools, and watched a lady pick out and kill the trout we would eat that night.  A little grizzly, but interesting to see where the food we eat actually comes from.

Of course this all lead up to another spectacular meal, where we got to eat fish so fresh we had just seen it swimming around earlier.  It will be a shame to leave our little mountain home tomorrow!

Day 7 pt 2

Day 7 took us out of Taipei and into the mountainous area to the south.  We're staying in a great little B&B in Lala Mountain, and the view is definitely worth the bumpy mountain roads it takes to get here!  The room is really cute too~

Our guide Brian picked us up in Taipei in the morning and took us to a few sights on the way to the B&B.

First up was the Cihu memorial, resting place of Jiang Kai Shek.  Since he can't be buried in his hometown on mainland China yet, they have a resting place set up by this lake that he visited often as a vacation spot.  We got to see another changing of the guard ceremony, then go in and see the black marble tomb.  The road up to the masoleum goes past a wonderful lake filled with black swans bred by the military.

Next we walked over to the Jiang Kai Shek statue park.  Over the years they have collected around 175 statues of him from all over the country.  So now there's just a big park with as many statues of Jiang Kai Shek as you could ever want to see!

With our Jiang Kai Shek trip finished, we drove further to see another nature spot, Xiao Wulai.  There's a little waterfall with a glass bridge over it that you can stand on and look down.  They also have a few rope bridges you can walk across and then hike around a little path in the forest.  It was a lot of fun, but also really tiring in the heat!

(the view from behind our B&B)

But all our exercise paid off at night, when we got to the B&B and our hosts served us dinner.  The meal was in traditional Hakka style.  The Hakka are an ethnic group that comes from China and have a large population in Taiwan.  There was too much delicious food to pick from!  We also tried a vinegar drink, and a type of clear shot alcohol that really packs a punch haha.  We definitely slept well after all that great food and hiking.

Day 7

We traveled south of Taipei to LaLa Mountain. It's beautiful here. We've got a slow connection, so we'll catch up with you from Taipei when we can.

Day 6

Day 6 we ventured out into Taipei with our friend Sharon, and her friend, Cindy. We had a lot of stops planned, so it was a long but amazing day!  The heat was pretty intense, but we didn't let that stop us :)

First up was the Dihua old street district.  The shops and houses here were gorgeous, with old brickwork and arched halls.  Some of the older areas have been renovated to preserve the old style, with new houses cropping up around them.  Some of the highlights were an old hospital and a Christian church built over a 100 years ago.

Next was the Sun Yatsen Memorial Hall, where we got to see the changing of the guard.  It went on for a long time, but it was really fun to see!  Loved the precise marching and the gun twirling.

Then we saw another, larger Chiang Kai Shek memorial, right next to the Taipei Opera House and Concert Hall.  Just as we got there, the doors to the mausoleum shut and Chiang Kai Shek went to bed, haha.

Then our lovely hosts bought us a dinner of dumplings before we said goodbye.  They were delicious!  A great way to wrap up the day~

Day 5

Day 5 was our first real day in Taiwan, and we spent it exploring one of the most famous places: the National Palace Museum.  This museum has a huge collection of historical and cultural artifacts from the many years of Chinese history.  It was a great visit for me as a history nerd, but I think everyone could enjoy this museum.  There were certainly enough tourists there, it was the busiest museum I've ever been to!

No pictures inside the museum, or this post would be a mile long!  After that, we met up with our friends who live in Taipei for a lovely meal and a bit more sightseeing at night.

Longshan temple at night was beautiful!

Day 4: Taiwan begins!

Day 4 was our day to switch from Japan to Taiwan!  We didn't get a chance to travel too much yet, since we mostly spent our day in the subway and the airport in Tokyo.

Airport selfie!

And then we spent the evening with our friend from Taipei, exploring the city.  It's certainly busy!  Going into the Shilin night market was an adventure in itself, and we didn't even eat anything lol.

Day 3

Day 3 was spent mainly having fun with our friends from Tokyo!  We spent the morning wandering around Tokyo on our own, and revisiting Akihabara briefly.  We also did not feel the big earthquake that hit Japan that day!  We got lucky, or we're just really blind to earthquakes lol.

That night we got to spend time with our Tokyo friends eating dinner.  They provided us with a HUGE feast, which we weren't able to fight our way all the way through it was so much.  But it was all so delicious, it was hard to stop eating!  We tried really good sushi, sashimi, tempura, and other yummy stuff!

After stuffing ourselves silly we were ready to have some fun.  So our hosts suggested we go sing karaoke!  Singing together was a blast, even if I have a bunch of oldies stuck in my head now.  After we were done singing karaoke late into the night, we finally went back to the room to prepare for our Taiwan trip.

Day 2

Day 2 of our trip was a wild ride!  After taking it easy yesterday we met up with our friend who lives in Tokyo and went with him through Akihabara and Ueno.  Akihabara was exactly how we expected it to be: a huge collection of electronics stores, anime merchandise, and people everywhere!

Akihabara got a lot of our money.....  But I got to try the gatchapon machines, which I'd always wanted to do.  You put 200 Yen into the machine, and a little capsule with a toy pops out!

After our big adventure in Akihabara, we took a break and went to Ueno Park.  Walking around in the trees and around the lake was amazing.  We also found a few neat sculptures.

Last but not least, we had some delicious food with our friends!  Sashimi and a whole fish were some of the highlights.

And right before we got too tired we managed to make it to Shibuya to see the world's biggest crossing and the statue of Hachiko.