Busy, Busy, Busy
It’s been a while since I’ve written in our blog. We’ve been so busy doing stuff. Liz is better, thank goodness! When I took her back the following Monday, the doctor said it was all clear. She’s doing fine now and Ashley didn’t end up getting sick, so that was a blessing. I still have a slight cough – is getting better every week. I also am all stuffed up, that’s been going on for a while now, couple of weeks, so I’m starting to think I may have some sort of allergy going on right now. Who knows though?!
We had a wonderful time in Hualien, Taiwan. Last Thursday morning, we caught an early morning train to Hualien (got up at 5am!!!). We went with another couple and their 2 kids (both around the same age as our kids). They had the whole trip arranged, which was very nice in that we didn’t have to make any travel arrangements or try and figure out what to do or where to go or how to get there. We arrived in Hualien and had a van driver take us to Taroko Gorge, which is an ABSOLUTELY beautiful place to visit. If you are ever in Taiwan, this should definitely be one of your stops. It’s a mountainous region, with marble rock all over the place. There are gorgeous colors of marble – green, white, black, gray, blue, pink – it really is neat. There are waterfalls and caves and spring ponds and hiking trails and roads cut through the mountain. We stopped at one place, I believe an Aboriginal Park, where they have cabins set up in the mountains that you can stay at, that would be pretty incredible. After having our fill of walking, hiking and playing in the rocks and water, we headed back to the Hualien to check into our hotel, the Bellavista, a very nice hotel, with beautiful grounds and nice restaurants. On Friday, we headed over to Ocean Park, which is a mini Sea World. They have a dolphin show, a sea lion show, a mermaid show, kiddie rides, a ferris wheel, lots of little shops and food. We saw it all, stayed all day. The highlight of the day for the adults (Anthony and I) was swimming with the dolphins. For ½ an hour, we were in a tank with three dolphins. We had put on wetsuits and been shown a dolphin whom we fed and touched and got to know first. Then we got in the tank and the trainer showed us how to grab on to the dolphins fin and swim with her – it was amazing! I’ve always wanted to swim with a dolphin, so this experience was just incredible. I rubbed her belly and fins and head, fed her fish, had her follow me around the pool and let her pull me around and around. The park took some digital pictures they are supposed to send us by email, but we are still waiting. I hope we get them soon so I can post them.
That night, we had a hotel babysitter come watch the girls and we went out to dinner with the other couple. Liz screamed and screamed when we left – saying mama over and over again. It was heartbreaking and I stood outside the room listening for a long time. Now that she’s getting older, she’s becoming quite attached to me and doesn’t like it when I leave. She did eventually calm down, thank goodness. We had Japanese food, which was interesting – lots of sushi and tempura food. Then went to sit in one of the hotel bars, where a band was playing. Not a very good band, that’s for sure, and the drinks were awful. Don’t know if it was a bad night or if that’s a regular occurrence there. You’d think for a 5 star hotel, they’d have a 5 star bartender and band, but guess not.
Next morning, we headed out to a “farm” near Hualien. We can find no English name for the place, so I can’t tell you what the name is. They have a bird area with tons of bird cages and different birds from all over – peacocks, toucans, ducks, flamingos, etc. They also have camels, rabbits, ostriches, deer, horses and the main attraction – COWS. It’s a dairy farm, so they have lots of cows. There are certain times that you can feed the baby cows, but we never got a chance to. They also have many different flower gardens, ponds, butterfly gardens, playground and small water park. We rented a golf cart to drive through the park, it would have been too much to go by foot. Everyone had fun running around and we are glad we went there. That evening was the train ride back. Ashley fell asleep and Liz was pretty cranky. It’s a 3 hour ride and of course, Liz feel asleep 10 minutes before we arrived at our destination!
On Sunday, we went to the Taipei Flower Market near DaAn park. We picked up some rose plants and a big plant for our balcony. I have no idea what the plant is, I need to do some research, but it smells absolutely wonderful. It has little white and purple flowers that almost smell like lilac, but they are small flowers, not the large bunches like lilac. It’s nice to have some plants though. Ashley also picked up three tiny plants to take care of.
Yesterday, Angie and I went to the Neihu Flower Market and she got a whole bunch of indoor plants and some outdoor ones. I picked up one large indoor plant and some fresh flowers. Supposedly this market is the one where all the shops get there flowers and plants, so they are all pretty fresh and nicely priced. I got some roses, tulips and daffodils. A very nice bouquet. Angie has our big plant, the pot is too heavy to move (it was delivered to her place), so it may be a while before one of the guys can take care of it.
Before we left on our trip, we visited a fairly new store at the Far Eastern Hotel, called Super City. It has 2 sections, a home store and a grocery store. They have lots of imported food items, similar to Jason’s supermarket, so that is very nice. I picked up a few baking items since I haven’t really made anything here. I ended up making some blueberry muffins from scratch, which were ok, a little dry, so I’ll have to work on that.
They’ve started recycling in our building now. They sent us a sheet – all in Chinese, of course. So we had to have it translated. Apparently, they are sorting the garbage into compost, what pigs will eat, recyclable and regular trash. Interesting, now. So we have three different garbage bins, plus the recycling. I’m glad they are doing it, but it will take some getting used to, especially trying to figure out the difference between compost and what pigs will eat.
I leave for my trip to Hong Kong tomorrow. I am very excited and a bit nervous. Three nights without the girls. I’m sure they’ll be fine, they always are as long as Anthony is around. I will miss them, but I will also have fun doing lots of shopping and eating. I’ve heard it’s a shoppers paradise, so I’m getting ready! After I get back, then the next week, Anthony leaves for Beijing for five days, so that ought to be interesting.
We had a wonderful time in Hualien, Taiwan. Last Thursday morning, we caught an early morning train to Hualien (got up at 5am!!!). We went with another couple and their 2 kids (both around the same age as our kids). They had the whole trip arranged, which was very nice in that we didn’t have to make any travel arrangements or try and figure out what to do or where to go or how to get there. We arrived in Hualien and had a van driver take us to Taroko Gorge, which is an ABSOLUTELY beautiful place to visit. If you are ever in Taiwan, this should definitely be one of your stops. It’s a mountainous region, with marble rock all over the place. There are gorgeous colors of marble – green, white, black, gray, blue, pink – it really is neat. There are waterfalls and caves and spring ponds and hiking trails and roads cut through the mountain. We stopped at one place, I believe an Aboriginal Park, where they have cabins set up in the mountains that you can stay at, that would be pretty incredible. After having our fill of walking, hiking and playing in the rocks and water, we headed back to the Hualien to check into our hotel, the Bellavista, a very nice hotel, with beautiful grounds and nice restaurants. On Friday, we headed over to Ocean Park, which is a mini Sea World. They have a dolphin show, a sea lion show, a mermaid show, kiddie rides, a ferris wheel, lots of little shops and food. We saw it all, stayed all day. The highlight of the day for the adults (Anthony and I) was swimming with the dolphins. For ½ an hour, we were in a tank with three dolphins. We had put on wetsuits and been shown a dolphin whom we fed and touched and got to know first. Then we got in the tank and the trainer showed us how to grab on to the dolphins fin and swim with her – it was amazing! I’ve always wanted to swim with a dolphin, so this experience was just incredible. I rubbed her belly and fins and head, fed her fish, had her follow me around the pool and let her pull me around and around. The park took some digital pictures they are supposed to send us by email, but we are still waiting. I hope we get them soon so I can post them.
That night, we had a hotel babysitter come watch the girls and we went out to dinner with the other couple. Liz screamed and screamed when we left – saying mama over and over again. It was heartbreaking and I stood outside the room listening for a long time. Now that she’s getting older, she’s becoming quite attached to me and doesn’t like it when I leave. She did eventually calm down, thank goodness. We had Japanese food, which was interesting – lots of sushi and tempura food. Then went to sit in one of the hotel bars, where a band was playing. Not a very good band, that’s for sure, and the drinks were awful. Don’t know if it was a bad night or if that’s a regular occurrence there. You’d think for a 5 star hotel, they’d have a 5 star bartender and band, but guess not.
Next morning, we headed out to a “farm” near Hualien. We can find no English name for the place, so I can’t tell you what the name is. They have a bird area with tons of bird cages and different birds from all over – peacocks, toucans, ducks, flamingos, etc. They also have camels, rabbits, ostriches, deer, horses and the main attraction – COWS. It’s a dairy farm, so they have lots of cows. There are certain times that you can feed the baby cows, but we never got a chance to. They also have many different flower gardens, ponds, butterfly gardens, playground and small water park. We rented a golf cart to drive through the park, it would have been too much to go by foot. Everyone had fun running around and we are glad we went there. That evening was the train ride back. Ashley fell asleep and Liz was pretty cranky. It’s a 3 hour ride and of course, Liz feel asleep 10 minutes before we arrived at our destination!
On Sunday, we went to the Taipei Flower Market near DaAn park. We picked up some rose plants and a big plant for our balcony. I have no idea what the plant is, I need to do some research, but it smells absolutely wonderful. It has little white and purple flowers that almost smell like lilac, but they are small flowers, not the large bunches like lilac. It’s nice to have some plants though. Ashley also picked up three tiny plants to take care of.
Yesterday, Angie and I went to the Neihu Flower Market and she got a whole bunch of indoor plants and some outdoor ones. I picked up one large indoor plant and some fresh flowers. Supposedly this market is the one where all the shops get there flowers and plants, so they are all pretty fresh and nicely priced. I got some roses, tulips and daffodils. A very nice bouquet. Angie has our big plant, the pot is too heavy to move (it was delivered to her place), so it may be a while before one of the guys can take care of it.
Before we left on our trip, we visited a fairly new store at the Far Eastern Hotel, called Super City. It has 2 sections, a home store and a grocery store. They have lots of imported food items, similar to Jason’s supermarket, so that is very nice. I picked up a few baking items since I haven’t really made anything here. I ended up making some blueberry muffins from scratch, which were ok, a little dry, so I’ll have to work on that.
They’ve started recycling in our building now. They sent us a sheet – all in Chinese, of course. So we had to have it translated. Apparently, they are sorting the garbage into compost, what pigs will eat, recyclable and regular trash. Interesting, now. So we have three different garbage bins, plus the recycling. I’m glad they are doing it, but it will take some getting used to, especially trying to figure out the difference between compost and what pigs will eat.
I leave for my trip to Hong Kong tomorrow. I am very excited and a bit nervous. Three nights without the girls. I’m sure they’ll be fine, they always are as long as Anthony is around. I will miss them, but I will also have fun doing lots of shopping and eating. I’ve heard it’s a shoppers paradise, so I’m getting ready! After I get back, then the next week, Anthony leaves for Beijing for five days, so that ought to be interesting.
posted by The Armstrongs at
4/13/2005
