One of the cars for the wedding - just outside our hotel!
Another wedding car!
Empty subway Sunday morning - usually it's much more crowded!
Paul and Alana's church -- (Presbyterian)
Another view of the church
Lunch after church with Veronica Mashek - a high school classmate of Paul's who is also teaching English in Taipei. She's headed to Santiago, Chile in August after a month at home.
Lunch with Veronica!! Her Dad taught math at AHS with Tim.
Taipei Main train station - where we caught the train to Hualien.
Just like in London, the Taipei Train station has a platform 9 3/4 for the Hogwarts Express, so I gave it a try driving my luggage cart through the wall. (For all you non-Harry Potter fans, you need to read the books!!)
On the train to Hualien - very nice train system here!!!
Many beautiful views from the train.
From the train window....
Paul and Alana on the train!!
Many gardens, taking up all free space on the land.
More produce gardens.
And rice fields ---- this area is famous for rice of very high quality.
A shrine up in the hills
The head rest cover on the seat in front of me...... :-)
Another shrine in the countryside.
Storm clouds off in the distance on the mountains.
Really interesting low clouds on the mountains.
Sunshine on the rice fields, but clouds in the hills.
The Hualien area is famous for their marble and granite - there were many sculptures, benches, and statues of marble all over the streets. This is Paul playing a piano bench near the train station right after we arrived!!
On the way from the train station to our hotel close by. I just had to take this picture because it's so typical of all our jaunts. We are always in single file with Paul out front, and Paul walks quickly!! In the subways when it's really crowded, it's easy to just follow the tall blonde kid because his hair and height stand out so much in the Asian crowds!!
Arrival at the Charming City Hotel in Hualien - such a beautiful hotel!!
The basement of the hotel had a huge recreation area, and the "kids", Paul and Tim, just had to give the teeter-totter a try!! There were also those basketball shooting games, fooseball, pool, a little climbing wall for kids, and 4 computers. Nice!!
Our "charming" hotel room.
Tim in our room, outside the shower window.
Tim inside our shower, looking out into the room ---- unique arrangement!!! ;-)
Paul and Alan in the hotel.
The beautiful private garden outside the hotel.
Another view of the garden.
The walkway out to the garden had this rock wall with a waterfall going into a koi (goldfish) pond. So pretty!!
Paul and Alana looking at the guidebook in the garden.
The side of the hotel overlooking the garden.
This was a tiny little flower growing in a sidewalk crack - no more than 3 inches tall. So pretty!
Flowers in the hotel garden
The view right outside the front door of the hotel --- palm trees and mountains.
My paper slippers for the hotel room - I'm enjoying this Asian custom!! :-)
Our breakfast area was beautiful too. This is in the basement, but the whole wall was windows, with this marble pool, waterfall, and plants outside, all dug out of the ground.
We only have 5 minutes before we're meeting Paul and Alana's bus to go to church this morning, so this will be quick again. Today is our 29th anniversary!! What a wonderful place to celebrate together!! :-)
Yesterday we traveled into Taipei City and went to the top of Taipei 101, which until a taller structure was built in Dubai in 2010, was the tallest building in the world. It does still have the fastest elevator in the world - crazy fast to get to the top!! The views were magnificent!! We lunched in the food court in the shopping mall underneath the tower, and we had Taiwanese pork dumplings, some soup, and cabbage rolls filled with fish. There were some delicious dipping sauces too. Then we went to the eastern outskirts of Taipei to the zoo area, where we went on a gondola ride high up into the tea growing area on the mountains. Again, very beautiful views, across to Taipei 101, the city, and the surrounding area. Amazing!! We had some delicious iced tea in a tea house high on the mountain, overlooking the valley below.
Today we head out to the east coast on a train ride, and we'll stay until Tues. night. We may not have computer access there - so don't worry if you don't hear anything until later this week!! Our adventure continues!!! Loving it!!
Love,
-M & T-
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