Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Yehliu last weekend.
We had Paul for a whole weekend. I went to a yoga workshop for 2.5 hours, Jessi put her bike upright and stopped and started - no training wheels. Paul says she went 30 feet on her own, but we aren't sure she wants to know that yet! Sam HAULED around the track on his fancy shmancy new bike, and oh... Paul and I went to Abba fever! It was fun. The expat women were dancing to the right of the stage and some man we don't know was dancing to the stage left. Best part: Louise and I opted not to dance but to giggle from the sidelines and hang out with the crowd. The woman next to me was a hoot, as she just kept giggling and dancing and then checking herself like she shouldn't be having that much fun. ANYWAY... the band asked for volunteers to sing on stage. One of the expat gang volunteered her group. So, before the masses of taiwanese, our friends got on stage with the solid-gold-dancers (not really, but it brought back memories - and I DID miss Lenore horribly through the whole show) and they sang. And it really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don't know if I'm glad I wasn't up there, or if I wish I were. They were great, and I'm really excited for them.
ANYWAY, on Sunday we got up and drove to the Northeast coast with the goal of reaching Yehliu. (Yea-lee-o). We've been told it is otherworldly. The shot to the left is elephant rock. Oh, and it is really cool. Sam just wanted to jump everwhere. It was sandstone, I think. And the wind was blowing, the waves were crashing, and the crowds were small. We saw the princesses slipper and queen Nefertiti. Can you see her in the center below? 
Waves crashed through holes that didn't 
seem to be there. Sam loved the nasty sea foam, and Jessi just enjoyed being out.
And then we ate. We've been told that the seafood is great. A woman told us that her restaurant (tsanting) had Yingwen men-u. It is amazing how many people everywhere we go speak some english! We didn't feel like sitting down and picking out the fish to be killed. Can't get our heads around that yet. So, we had pretzels and told them we could go to the market. So we had the juice from this fruit...(don't know what it isbut the fruit holding it is Paul :-).
And Jessi picked out a squid to be barbqued - 
see the tentacled things on the lower trays to the right - they barbque and add sesame and a bit o'some sauce! Sam sampled every dried whatsit in the market (including the deep fried seaweed), and only Paul felt a little queezy at the end of the trip.
We drove back over Yangmingshan (YangMing Mountain). It was SO lush and green. Calla Lily festival has begun, so we will try to get up there this weekend.
It was a GREAT weekend, whic made school difficult for all of us on Monday!
Love, Steph
We had Paul for a whole weekend. I went to a yoga workshop for 2.5 hours, Jessi put her bike upright and stopped and started - no training wheels. Paul says she went 30 feet on her own, but we aren't sure she wants to know that yet! Sam HAULED around the track on his fancy shmancy new bike, and oh... Paul and I went to Abba fever! It was fun. The expat women were dancing to the right of the stage and some man we don't know was dancing to the stage left. Best part: Louise and I opted not to dance but to giggle from the sidelines and hang out with the crowd. The woman next to me was a hoot, as she just kept giggling and dancing and then checking herself like she shouldn't be having that much fun. ANYWAY... the band asked for volunteers to sing on stage. One of the expat gang volunteered her group. So, before the masses of taiwanese, our friends got on stage with the solid-gold-dancers (not really, but it brought back memories - and I DID miss Lenore horribly through the whole show) and they sang. And it really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don't know if I'm glad I wasn't up there, or if I wish I were. They were great, and I'm really excited for them.
ANYWAY, on Sunday we got up and drove to the Northeast coast with the goal of reaching Yehliu. (Yea-lee-o). We've been told it is otherworldly. The shot to the left is elephant rock. Oh, and it is really cool. Sam just wanted to jump everwhere. It was sandstone, I think. And the wind was blowing, the waves were crashing, and the crowds were small. We saw the princesses slipper and queen Nefertiti. Can you see her in the center below? 
Waves crashed through holes that didn't 
seem to be there. Sam loved the nasty sea foam, and Jessi just enjoyed being out.And then we ate. We've been told that the seafood is great. A woman told us that her restaurant (tsanting) had Yingwen men-u. It is amazing how many people everywhere we go speak some english! We didn't feel like sitting down and picking out the fish to be killed. Can't get our heads around that yet. So, we had pretzels and told them we could go to the market. So we had the juice from this fruit...(don't know what it isbut the fruit holding it is Paul :-).
And Jessi picked out a squid to be barbqued - 
see the tentacled things on the lower trays to the right - they barbque and add sesame and a bit o'some sauce! Sam sampled every dried whatsit in the market (including the deep fried seaweed), and only Paul felt a little queezy at the end of the trip.We drove back over Yangmingshan (YangMing Mountain). It was SO lush and green. Calla Lily festival has begun, so we will try to get up there this weekend.
It was a GREAT weekend, whic made school difficult for all of us on Monday!
Love, Steph
# posted by 4intaipei @ 9:18 AM 
