A windy day ... The northeasterly seasonal winds started blowing today, the winds were cold gusty.
Yongkang Trail (永康步道) has about 400~500 stairs. Chin Be Village, where we are staying, is next to the Yongkang Trail. My friend and I started climbing the trail after breakfast. It took us a while to climb to the top. The view was beautiful.
On the way back, we saw my friend's artist group, they were working very hard to capture the beauty of Chin-Be on their paintings.
Rain, Rain, Rain ...
It was a raining and windy day. I went out early in the morning, but ran back when it started rain. It was hard to walk around due to the road and stairs were slippery, so we stayed indoor.
After dinner, we decided to go karaoke for fun.
We, a group of 17 people, gathered together to head Chin Be, Matsu early in the morning. With about 45 minutes flight time, we arrived in Matsu.
Matsu was a Taiwan's military post. In a clear day, we can see China clearly without using a telescope.
Now Matsu is a reputation as a tourist destination that offers serenity, excellent scenery and glimpses into Taiwan's past.
Beikan (North Island) is Matsu's second largest island and a half-hour boat ride from Nankan. Beikan is more preserved than Nankan. Its highlight is Chin Be Village, a place that is being preserved to give a sense of living conditions in Matsu in the years from 1949 through 1987.
Chin Be has many stone-block buildings with their red-tile roofs, as well as the rugged coast, fishing boat, and Turtle Island.
Nothing was planned before 5:00 pm today. I was bored, so I took a bus to Taipei train station just for fun.
I take bus to work all the time. I always wonder why buses are not required to have seat belts, including school buses.
I saw something different today. Buses in Taipei have seat belts. Check it out!!
High School Classmates little gathering day
Let go to get our hair washed! Morning, a high school classmate called me and asked me whether I wanted to get my hair washed. It is very common in Taiwan to go to a hair spa to get hair washed and head/shoulder massaged. Minutes later, we went to a hair spa to experience it.
Before the girl wash my hair, she gave me head and shoulder massage service. The girl is very young and skinning, but boy, she got the strength!! She used two different essential oils to massage my head, then used other essential oil to massage my shoulder. Finally, she did
a popular treatment for sunstroke (刮痧) by scraping the my neck and shoulder.
Very interesting experience.
Let me wash your hair by using two different shampoo. What??? Never use two shampoo to wash my hair, I use all-in-one to wash my hair all the time.
45 minutes later, my hair was clean. ( My hair was Not dirty to start with!!!)
After the hair spa, my friend took me to continue experience Taipei ladies' life. We went to a little "French" style restaurant to have a "simple and quick" lunch. We ended up to have a 5 course meal. I could not finish it. A "simple and quick" took us almost two hours.
Now we were officially late to meet another classmate for afternoon tea! We rushed to get there by bus and taxi!
The afternoon place was in Breeze Center (微風百貨), one of Taipei's swankiest malls. The mall is nine stories and includes most of the high fashion name brands ubiquitous in Taipei.
Three hours later, we rushed again to meet couple more classmates for dinner. Now I know, Taipei ladies' life is rush, sit, eat/drink/shop, rush, sit, eat/drink/shop ...
By the way, the dinner place is next a famous landmark- leaning mailboxes (歪歪郵桶). Typhoon Soudelor caused falling billboards, falling trees, and leaning mailboxes in August 2015.
It was a very busy day! :)
Family visit day!
I went to Lo-Tung in the morning to visit my aunty and my uncle who passed away more than a year ago.
We prepared some fruits and cookies for my uncle. On the way to see my uncle, we stopped by a store to purchase some paper money and a package of things to send to my uncle. In the package, there were paper clothes, and other necessary things that my uncle can use up there. In order to send the things to my uncle, we wrote name and address on the package, and sealed with my thumb prints around the package. It just like we sent a certified mail package to my uncle in heaven. The way to send the package and the paper money is to burn them.
Hello Taiwan!!
EVA air BR25 took off from Seattle at 1:50 am, after 12 hours and 30 minutes of flying, we landed at Taoyuan Airport at 5:40 am. Hello Taiwan!!
In the airport, I went and got sim card from Chungwa Telecom. 30 day unlimited data and some airtime, it costs around $33. However, when I was waiting to get my sim card, I noticed one interesting thing. According to its rate, it is cheaper to call U.S. then to call Taiwan Local.
Next, I got a smart card in Taiwan called EasyCard. EasyCard allows me to conveniently ride the Taipei MRT or Bus systems without the need to constantly grab change out of my pocket. 7-11, Family Mart, and other convenience stores and supermarkets also accept the Easycard for payment. EasyCard also allows me to rent YouBike in Taipei.
I went out in the afternoon to explore around the area. Took bus to YuanShan MRT station. There were many people and exhibits.
Hot spring is tradition my first day have to visit place. In the evening, I went with my friend to Jiaoxi Hot Spring to end of my first day in Taiwan.
