Roadtrip! (on a train)

A beautiful Buddhist statue in Taiwan

In front of the best, cleanest, nicest hostel ever, in Koahsioung

Going to the best BBQ place in Kaohsioung

well hello! waiting for the mrt

Up in the Ferris wheel in Koahsioung!

Checking out the wicked cool beach in Keelung- the waves were crazy this day.

Me and my love

1,2,3... jump!

This was the view from the top of a cool temple in Hualien

Taroko Gorge is amazing- Hualien, Taiwan. We drove our rented scooter through the gorge for a whole Saturday- there was so much to see.

Our great training friends- Jenna just went back to the US and i miss her! :)

Spending a day in Keelung with our friends from training. This was up in the mountains on the coast of Keelung, near our friend Shoshana's house.
A cool Lantern Festival Event in downtown Taipei city.
Girls night- hanging out with Ashleigh and Jenna, and Jenna's best friend Colleen who was visiting from Korea, where she teaches English. This was during Chinese New Year, so all the beautiful lanterns were still up everywhere.
Well, these are a little out of order but oh well. This is at the Lantern Festival in Pinxi. Every year, the Taiwanese have Lantern Festival, where they cover large paper lanterns with their wishes, hopes, and prayers for the new year. They light paper money on fire inside the lantern, wait for it to fill up with air, then send it up into the sky. It is a very popular event, and it's an amazing sight to see hundreds- maybe thousands- up lighted lamps floating in the air!
There is ours, floating up and away- you can barely see other lamps in the sky above it
Our lantern with our drawings and hopes on it- we drew all over all 4 sides
This was a random afternoon. We were taking a drive up into the mountains on our scooter, when we passed a pavilion with about 30 Taiwanese people dancing, talking, and eating inside. We stopped to watch, and they promptly invited us to dance and eat with them. So we did- they were practicing some kind of cha-cha- which was really hard! We spent about an hour there, eating yummy free Chinese food, taking pics, and talking with these really nice people.

In Taitung- we rented bikes and took a ride around the seaside. This was in a cool seaside park that is famous in Taiwan. Taitung is on the South-Eastern coast of Taiwan.

On our train trip around the entire perimeter of the island, we took a little detour on our rented scooter to the Southern-most point in Taiwan.

We went with our friends Rosa and Mia in March on a little getaway to see our friend Heather (in the pic). We traveled to Koahsioung (in the south of Taiwan) and stayed for the weekend, eating, laying on the beach, shopping, and hanging out!

My Morning Oats

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!

We just had a week off of work for Chinese New Year, and it was so nice! On Valentines Day, we took a scooter ride to the Pinglin area, which is about 2 hours South of our city, Neihu. We explored the city, took a little hike up a hill to see a cool statue, and ended up running into one of the Chinese staff at my school! She invited us to sit with her family at her house (this was the house she grew up in- she has her own apt in Taipei), and to drink some of the tea that her father grows as a living. The tea was great, and we had a good conversation in English with my friend, and a very broken and limited conversation in Chinese with her family. :)

We also took a trip to Yilan, an area on the Northeast coast of Taiwan. Below are some pictures of our trips, and a few old pictures too! Enjoy.

Buuuuuddha

A girls day out with my friends Ashleigh and Jenna

Hiking in the mountains behind our apartment. There's all these random little trails and things to see- it's really cool up there.

Playing on the train on our way to Yilan- we took a little day trip by train. It was supposed to be a 2 hour train ride, but we took the wrong train and it ended up being a 3 hour ride. Still really fun!

Gorgeous Chinese New Year lanterns in Yilan- lanterns like these are everywhere in Taiwan during the lunar holiday

A train stop along the way of our trip

our tickets

Our starting point- the Nangang train station by our house

RIP dear scooter

R.I.P. Kymco Jockey 125

You have taken me to many great places.

And now you have broken my heart, just like you have broken in to two pieces.

Just sick

Cold and stiff, you pull the skin off with your teeth sometimes crunching the bones. Chicken Feet!!!

Everyone stopped class to watch the foreigner eat Taiwan's famous chicken feet.

hello 2010!

Our New Year's Eve party- sparklers on top of a rooftop apartment- Brian is on the far right

We love hot pot, which was the meal for our NY party

Melissa's cool camera

Brian w/ our friends Kate and Katannya. We all went hiking last Sunday in the mountains of Wulai. It was so nice to get away from the pollution and busyness of the city for a day, and it was just gorgeous up there.

Me and my friend Jenna, drinking hot chocolate at our Christmas Eve party. Jenna wore her bright red Hess shirt to be in the Christmas spirit :)

Wulai has some really awesome sculptures and statues. It was foggy that day, and the mist rising off of the mountains was beautiful.

These temples are everywhere in Taiwan- each city has at least one. A little part of Wulai city is below.

Brian on our way to the trail- he looooves to hike in Taiwan

It's been rainy lately, but thank goodness it didn't rain while we hiked

two of the greatest people in Taiwan! :) katie and jenna- at one of Taiwan's few Mexican restaurants after a day of training

Out for some amazing Indian food for a friend's birthday

Exploring.... wicked fist statues

Me driving my own little red scooter- this is how I get to and from work everyday, and anywhere else I need to go in Neihu. Brian's is much faster, so we usually both hop on his for long trips, but I love to drive mine.

We drove by these people in front of a store singing and doing a traditional dance, and stopped to take a pic of them.

Hiking- Katannya's dog came with us again, and she spends the whole time going back and forth and making sure everyone in the group is safe :)