Double Ten holiday trip

On the road again! Back to the east coast, this time on two wheels. Gareth and Vivian and Fiona and several work friends arranged a fun overnight holiday to one of our favorite Taiwan destinationsRolling on the east coast nightway, enjoying the Pacific Ocean view, the cool breezes and the craggy terrain
One of the day's destinations: Long Dong (the Dragon Hole). Gareth looks north toward Bitoujiao (Nose Head Cape)
Easyriders from left: Liz and Phil, Gareth, Steve, Matt, James, Rachel, Angus (front). Daniel's not in the photograph because he's behind the camera. Thanks for these pics, Daniel :-)
More Long Dong scenes... we hoped to go cliff-jumping here, which I have done before, but the water was too choppy that day. Later on we got our water fix by swimming down at Fulong Beach
Funky geological features here on the east coast
Steve takes a breather on the rocks as the surf continues to pound
On the great wall (sort of): Angus and Gareth wave
After checking out the Gold Waterfall, it's time to saddle up and get on the road again
Looking back on the Bitoujiao lighthouse trail
Vivian and Fiona are here too! They drove along in the car to meet with us later. On the first evening we all stayed in a little B&B in Jinguashi (Gold Melon Stone) mining town
On the drive back home, we took the long route over Yangming Mountain. The sun casts wonderful sheets of twilight over the sleepy hilltops

...and here's a little video of our road trip adventures (part 1)

(part 2)

Fun and mischief

Fiona is cute, though she can also be a handful at times. But sometimes even her naughty moments are cute and funny.
Enjoying a laugh during mealtime
Bleah! I don't like this food!
Cracker bits all over Fiona's fingers
Trying something new and sour-tasting
Reading a book on her changing table
Get me out of here!
Planning an escape
Playing with her plastic corn cob toy
Playing with Mum in front of the bathroom mirror
Making rude faces at that baby on the other side
More mischief in the bedroom... pulling everything off the shelves
Caught! Mum and Dad bundle Fiona in a blanket

Weekend trip to Yilan

Time for another road trip! Gareth joined pals Jialin, Wendy, Angus, Steve, plus Yama and his family on a trip to Yilan last weekend
Cruising through the cool new Snow Mountain Tunnel. This new tunnel is the longest in East Asia, and the fifth longest in the world Without the tunnel, the journey from Taipei to Yilan took 2 hours. Now it takes 40 minutes.
Our destination, the Dongshan church. Yama's friend is the pastor there. We were asked to come down and put on a special music show for the kids who attend
The view from the rooftop dorms where we stayed. The east coast is my favorite part of Taiwan
Wendy and little Buo Chen, Yama's first son
On Saturday the pastor and some church friends took us around the area to enjoy some of the sights
"Wild" water buffaloes grazing by the riverside
The Xinliao Waterfall, a local landmark. Some kids were swimming in the pool at the bottom. We got wet too, because it started pouring rain
Yama and his family pose in front of a gnarly tree stump
Back at the Dongshan Church for our performance on Sunday morning
Before we went home we visited a rustic outdoor hot spring. The water that emerges from the ground here is around 100 degrees C. Can you see it bubbling? Locals placed a big rock on the spring to stop it from spraying occasional blasts of scalding water on bystanders.

A pool around the big rock has developed, which is now used to boil eggs, corn cobs and other edibles, as long as you've got a little net to put them in. Further downstream the hot spring water mixes with cold river water and is pleasant for bathing

Trip to Indonesia

What can you do when you don't have time/money to go abroad for a holiday? Visit an ethnic restaurant for a taste of something new. Recently we visited one of Taipei's oldest Indonesian restaurants, the Pondok Mutiara Restaurant on Fuxing North Road.

Vivian anticipates a tasty meal

For starters, the Gado Gado salad, a traditional beginning dish. Bean sprouts, cucumber, shrimp cakes, nut sauce and more

The beef curry was a hit

The chicken curry was also good, though similar to many of the local curries I thought

But the real winner of the night was the beef satay. We even bought a dried cube of satay to take home to use at our Mid-Autumn Festival BBQ the following weekend

Climbing up! 往上爬

Fiona會扶著東西走一陣子了。現在的她要征服家裡的高山。
Little Fiona is getting crafty... in order to reach the magazines on the bookshelf, she used a diaper box to climb up

就算使盡吃奶的力氣，我也一定要爬上去。，

沒力氣了，先稍微休息一下。

終於爬到山頂，拿到上面的雜誌了！

(這張可以拿去幫寶適應徵模特兒或當幫寶適的廣告。)

「媽，不用叫我吃晚飯了。」真累！想不通為什麼爸爸那麼愛爬山！

It's hard work doing all that climbing!

I can never figure out why dada loves hiking so much!?-V&F

First ridge hike with Fiona

There's a nice little hike that starts right around the corner from our house. You can walk up the mountain, then along the ridge to the Grand Hotel. Now that the cooler fall weather is here, we put Fiona in her special backpack and took her on the hike.


The view from the top, looking northwest to Kuanyin Mountain
What's on the other side of the mountain? Tapiei's famous Shilin Night Market: oyster pancakes, squid soup amd more
A hundred and one different kinds of cold drinks. Nice to enjoy after our little walk
Eel pieces, more squid soup
More street vendors selling chicken gizzards and asses
Vivian orders a monster-sized sausage
Ali Baba's Indian style tandoori chicken wraps. Mmmm, chicken wraps...
Just about time to go home