Charming City Hotel

         There was a wedding reception at our hotel Sunday -- we got to see the groom arrive in this car, and a cute little flower girl was in the lobby.

        More car decorations for the wedding party.

   On the subway ride to church --- the MRT is usually much more crowded than this!!

    Paul and Alana's church

       Another view of the church

 Lunch with Veronica Mashek, teaching English in Taipei!!   She has also taught in Japan, and she's headed for Santiago, Chile in August to teach business English to adults.  (AHS classmate of Paul's)

 With Veronica after lunch.  By the way, ALL the Taiwanese/Chinese make the peace sign in photos here, and they do not seem to be offended that Americans do it too!!!

   Taipei Main Train Station, where we caught our train to the south --- to Hualien.

 In Taipei Main Station, there is a wall just like in London, where the students going to Hogwarts push their luggage cart through the brick wall to catch the train at the 9 3/4 platform!!  I gave it a try too!!   :-)

 On the train to Hualien.  P/A learned through experience that you must actually purchase SEATS, not just train tickets, or you end up standing in the aisles the whole way!!  We were happy to be sitting down for the ride.

   Views from the train window.......

     Paul and Alana on the train.......we had a fun trip!!

 It rained a little on the way - no problem when we were dry inside the train!!

 Many beautiful gardens along the way

 Rice fields too....

 A shrine up in the hillside

 The back of the seat in front of us -----Tour Taiwan!!

 Another shrine in the countryside

 Clouds on the mountains - lush greenery all along the way.

 Spectacular scenery from the train window.

 Hualien is known for its marble and granite ---- many statues, benches, and sculptures were all over town made from these beautiful stones.

 This is typical of our journeys - single file along the road or sidewalk, with Paul leading the way.  It works especially well in the crowded subways as we all just keep an eye on the tall blonde guy out ahead!!  :-)

 Our arrival at the Charming City Hotel - such an awesome place!!!

 In the Olympic Play area in the hotel basement.  No other kids were around, so Paul and Tim had some fun on the teeter-totter!!   :-)  

 Our Charming City Hotel room.....

 Tim outside the shower.....

 And inside the shower......    having a curved glass wall into the bedroom area was a novelty!!  

 Paul and Alana at the hotel

 There was a beautiful enclosed private garden off the hotel lobby.

 More of the garden area...

 The sidewalk leading out to the garden had a stone wall waterfall with a koi (goldfish) pond.

 P/A in the garden looking at the Taiwan guidebook.

 The Charming City hotel - view from inside the garden.

 This tiny plant was growing in a sidewalk crack - very delicate and pretty!!

 Flowers in the garden

 Directly out in front of our hotel was this view through palm trees to the mountains!!

 The hotels provide these little paper slippers, so you don't wear your shoes into the room, just like they do in houses as Asian custom.

This is our table at the buffet breakfast - with a glassed in wall out to a waterfall/pool with flowers, all cut into the ground - the restaurant is in the basement.  So nice!!


That's really the name of our hotel here in Hualein (sp??), and it is indeed very charming.  We have hired a taxi driver to take us sight-seeing in this mountainous area on the east coast of Taiwan.  We plan to hike and see more natural beauty first-hand. 
Yesterday, Sunday, was our 29th anniversary, and we had a wonderful day celebrating it here in Taiwan with Paul and Alana!!  We met them at the bus stop and traveled about an hour into Taipei City to their church, a large Presbyterian church with a small English ministry.  Everyone else there was Taiwanese, and they were incredibly warm and welcoming.  They all love Paul and Alana and are thankful they are there.  After church, we met Veronica Mashek, a classmate of Paul's from high school, for lunch.  She also teaches English in Taipei.  So fun to see her!!!  Then we got on the train for our scenic 2 1/2 hour ride to the middle of the east coast of the island. 
Sorry - have to go meet the driver now!!
Love to all!!
-M & T-