Music to the Ears

While not a "unique" Taiwan experience both Aileen and Natalie have been working hard with their respective music lessons...Aileen on cello and Natalie on piano.  Aileen had a Christmas concert hosted by her teacher ... a very small affair but a chance for each child to show off for Moms and Dads.  Natalie, not to be outdone, insisted I film her playing her latest lesson  SO for those who are interested...The Towner sisters

                                           Aileen on Cello

                                           Natalie on Piano

Coming soon this year's year in review video and pictures of our upcoming trip to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia

Signs from Above

 The use of English in Taiwan today is much better than it was 20 years ago when I first came here.  I still remember  a young man  pulling up next to me on his motorcycle, revving his engine and driving a way with the words "Sissy Boy" embroidered on the back of his cool leather jacket.  I have a picture too of the"F*#K" pool hall in Taichung City, though I shall refrain from posting it.  Today things are a bit better, but sometimes efforts to put Chinese words into English still go awry
....  Like the "Sin Bin" Police Station in Kaohsiung...2 minutes for hooking!!!

Or even worse the scenic spot of Shi Ti Ling....made the mistake of putting those three characters together into one word.....much to our amusement....kids don't look

Even ads that play on Chinese words can get a bit risque ...

Bird in Chinese is another word for .....well you can figure it out....Even a stroll down the street can be good for a laugh

Be the River

One of the biggest things you have to get used to in Taipei is scooters.    Taiwan is the scooter capital of the world.  20 years ago when I lived in Taiwan scooters outnumbered cars, but now that is no longer the case.  Taipei is filled with millions of cars AND millions of scooters and it makes for a real chaotic mess at times.  Taipei is heavily urbanized, filled with alleys and narrow streets making a scooter a vital piece of machinery if you need to run to the market or zip somewhere on an errand.  What makes it crazy is that  there are no special lanes for scooters and bikes....cars, bikes, buses and scooters all must make there way.

In Taiwan, driving in a car with scooters on four sides, or riding on a scooter with a bus on your right and a car on your left is more art than skill.  Traffic control is there, but in Taiwan it is more guidance than hard and fast rules.  The police do little except direct the flow and that leads to lots of ad hoc maneuvering that can drive one crazy.  Indeed if one got mad at every guy who cut you off or scooter that squeezed in on your side you'd quickly have a stroke.  Instead one must be very zen when you drive, thinking of your lane as a river  sometimes there is a rock blocking the lane....a driver who blocks the lane to run into a store and buy something.....or a leaf that floats across your path....a scooter or a bus turning right from the left lane... and like the water in a river you must just move steadily around the obstacles and take notice of the leaf.  You want to turn right.....don't do it quickly, just turn on your light and gradually flow around the corner.  Of course some jerk will make a sharp turn, but I can deal with it...b/c I am the river.

A Birthday Splash

Natalie turned 6 this week on Nov 1.  I still remember well Kevin McAlevy coming dressed as a doctor on Halloween just before Hsiu-ling was started having contractions!   Fortunately he didn't have to do the delivery!

 This year we played games and ate cake at home, and at school her kindergarten class (or  Year One as the Taipei European school calls it)  had a small party for her.

 Natalie and Aileen's YMCA swim team sang happy birthday to her after practice and, as per tradition, gave her a big birthday splash...clothes and all.    Natalie knew all about it before hand so far from resisting, excitedly kept asking when it was going to happen!

Natalie got a bike for her birthday...now she has to finish learning how to ride it, as there are some very nice riverside bike paths here in Taipei

Stinky But Oh So Comfortable

Nope, not talkin about Taiwan's famous stinky toufu which makes Gorgonzola smell sweet.  Rather I'm talking about the BaYanHsi (Eight Pipes Creek) hot springs which we visited today.    Taipei is a basin surrounded by mountains.  We live at the foot of one of the most famous called YangMing mountain.  While not an active volcano, Yang Ming and the surrounding hills are covered with hot springs, sulpher hot springs...so many a morning  if the wind is coming down the moutnain you wake up and smell....rotten eggs.
 

Sulpher residue on the rocks in the stream....or at least I hope its sulpher

 

Mud makes the skin supple!!!

The upside is the hot springs which are usually captured by resorts for people to enjoy.  But if you are willing to hike a bit there are still a few places where the hot springs flow into natural streams and have been pooled up by the locals so you can take a relaxing soak.....BaYanHsi is just one of those places.  It's about an hour from our place over very windy and VERY foggy mountain roads, but worth the trip.  A 20 minute hike is all you require.  Going on Sunday has its downside as you lose a bit of the tranquility one usually seeks in such locales, so while not crowded there were plenty of folks there.  Still the pools are great,varying from warm to very hot depending on how much  of the stream blends in.  If the heat gets to be too much of course you can jump in the stream for a shock that makes the hot pool all the more comfy.

Tranquilty ...with 30 friends off screen

All is well otherwise with  Halloween tomorrow ....a bit more limited as it is just amongst the AIT/American community. Natalie turns the big 6 Tuesday....She is becoming a reading and piano monster....taking every opportunity she can find to read to us or play a song she has learned on Nana's piano, which made the trip here with us.

Fall Break in the Taiwan Mountains

While leaves are no doubt falling back home, here in Taiwan the switch to fall...if there ever is one...and then to the gray drizzle of winter is still a ways off.  Nonetheless, at the Taipei European school individual country holidays are set aside and students  have one week long break in the fall to get them to Christmas or winter break.   

For our part we took 5 days to visit family in Chiayi (3 hours south of us in Taipei), to visit a college friend of Hsiu-ling's  up in the mountains in central Taiwan, and to visit one of the most famous scenic spots in Taiwan, Sun Moon Lake.

Chiayi was still surprisingly warm with temps in the upper 80s.  We took Hsiu-ling's Mom and Dad to a fishing town named Puzi on the Taiwan Strait (opposite China) to buy some fresh seafood...of which my vegetarian family did not partake...But if it swims, wriggles or floats in the ocean...you can see it in Puzi.

Mr. Ray

                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mmmmm....Octopus

Then we hopped back in the car to visit the small mountain village  of Guguan.  This village was almost wiped off the map in 2004 when a landslide came surging down the steep mountain slopes during a typhoon.  Today the semitropical jungle has won back the slopes, and the townspeople have rebuilt the town along with some flood channels.  We didn't stay that long but had enough time to soak for a few hours in a local hot spring and go for a hike along a long forgotten railroad bed built for logging during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945).  Nearby we saw one heck of a giant caterpillar

The mother of all caterpillars

Our Lucy on the prowl

Guguan

Lastly, we wound our way through the central mountains of Taiwan to the town of Puli which is close to Sun Moon lake.  We stayed in a traditional Taiwan minsu (a Taiwan B&B) which while cool looking on the outside was a bit of a dump on the inside and overrun by ANTS!!...  We took a cable car where Hsiu-ling overcame her fear of heights...NOT, and the highlight of the trip was  a visit to a small paper making factory  which we toured and then got to hand make paper.  The kids made clocks which now hang proudly in their rooms.

 Talk with you soon

The Modern Toilet.....um.... Restaurant

On September 18th we were visiting the city of Taichung about 2 hours south of Taipei.  Hsiu-ling's niece Mimi took us to the Modern Toilet Restaurant.  It's a crazy bathroom themed restaurant...All the seats are...well ...seats,  and the tables are bathtubs with glass tabletops..  Even the food comes in mini johns and urinals.....  The food was only fair but it was worth the marginal  food for the pictures.  Take a look

 

The Eagle Has Landed

We've been here a whole month and a half and only now do we have the time to start things like this blog.  Indeed our car is not even here yet...hopefully tomorrow!!  There are lots of new routines for all of us.  The most challenging has been getting up at 0530 to walk Lucy and walking her 3-4 times a day....Boy do I miss my yard and my dog door.!!!  We have a nice fairly large 3 bedroom apartment which is now filled with our own possessions, giving it a more homey feel.  I think everyone is having a bit of trouble adjusting.  Aileen says her school is not as fun as the Villa and she definitely misses her Villa pals.   She brought home a question the other day asking about F381-F243...I thought darn are they teaching Algebra in the 5th Grade....Turns out it was the British Pound sign!! Just shows adjusting to new European schools and the like will take time.  Hsiu sure misses her Tzu-Chi school pals with whom she can hala until all ours.  Still day by day we're getting things squared away and developing new routines....new friends will come ...Will share our adventure at the Modern Toilet Restaurant in our next edition

The View West Towards Down Town

The View North Towards Yang Ming Mountain