Thailand part 2

Today we headed to eat Vietnamese food and then go to a temple. We rode a Thai taxi, which was just a small truck where we sit in the back. It was very interesting experience. It was a bumpy ride and the pollution was terrible.

Vietnamese food tasted very good. But I like Taiwanese food better. Vietnamese food is more vegetables and has less meat in it. Also both Vietnamese food and Thai food use peanuts alot for sauces and in the cooking. The taste is very unique and takes some getting use to.

This river flows on the side of the road as we walked towards the main road to get another truck taxi. The water is brown because of the dirt the river picks up as it makes its way down a mountain nearby.

We took a taxi up a big mountain to get to this beautiful mountain. I got a little dizzy from smelling the exhaust from the truck taxi but I guess I will have to get use to the smell. The dragons are very ornate and beautiful.

We climbed all the way to the top. It was a long way up and very tiring. I am getting older ><.

After paying to get inside the temple  by way of a "donation" we can pass through the gate. Here is a sitting place. The actual temple is up the steps but you have to take off your shoes before you enter. Also inside the temple you can not talk loudly or show affection to show respects to the monks and Gods.

This is the central part of the temple. It was very beautiful. The silence was also very peaceful. There were many tourist in the temple but also just as many people praying.

Through out the temple there were many idols where people were praying or showing their respect. I don't know what each one represented, but they were all beautiful and very well made.

My host mother and me are resting we are both very tired and feel dizzy and sick from riding the truck taxi around.

 There were many flowers and this huge tree were scattered around the temple creating a peaceful environment.

 This carving was made out of wood and is very intricate. The craftsmanship that went into this was very high.

 These columns are also made out of wood but have beautiful carvings on them depicting important scenes from their religion.

 Later at night we headed to a night market. I noticed that Thailand's night market focuses more on selling things while Taiwanese night markets forces on selling food. Either way there was alot of cheap things to look at.

 There was a temple near the middle of the night market.

 That is a glowing Statue of Liberty in the night market. It was strange seeing it. It looked like there was some kind of lantern festival going on that night.

After walking around for a few hours the nightmarket started to close down. I saw this sign at the entrance to a temple. I found it pretty funny.

Thailand first night

 The flight was long but not as long as the flight to Taiwan. My host mother Elisa was so scared of the flight there. The hotel was very beautiful and very large. On the taxi ride to the hotel I was amazed how big all the streets were. I guess I was use to the tiny streets of Taiwan.

  The lobby of the hotel was very pretty and had many restaurants. I have never stayed in such a fancy restaurant before.

 We had to find a adapter to be able to charge out phones.

 The view outside of our hotel.

 Elisa and me were very tired but we meet with two of Elisa's friends that invited us to go eat at a night club near to the hotel.

This is me and my new friend. His nickname sounds like "egg". He was super nice to us!

Thai food is extremely spicy!!!

Kenting

After take a rest in the hotel we were off to do many things!! The first thing we did was to go ride these little boats. It was alot of fun and I was surprised by how much power they had for being so little.

This is Sylvia being towed into the dock after she almost beached her boat on the shore driving around to fast ><.

Here is some bubble milk tea it should be the national drink of Taiwan because you can find it almost anywhere. It is very good and you get use to eating the pearls. I like the tiny pearls over the normal size ones. The only bad thing about this drink is that it is super sweet and has alot of calories I need to start drinking it with half sugar.

Looking at this picture I miss the blue skies in Kenting. Right now we just had a typhoon go through Taiwan and it has been raining for, what feels like days. Yet Taiwan's natural beauty is still stunning for me.

We got to this part of the beach riding a jeep. We rode the in the back standing up and drove over sand duns which was very dangerous but very exciting.

Here we got back from our jeep tour and our driver drove very fast through a bunch of water and got everyone very wet.

We went go cart racing also. Some how we picked the best time for all our activity because we never had to wait in line, which is rare in Taiwan!!

It wouldn't be a night in Taiwan without going to a night market to eat something before going to sleep.

This night market was very crowded and it was on the side of the road so there were cars driving very close to where everyone was walking so you had to be careful.

The next morning we woke up to checkout of our little hut and go to eat some breakfast. I was told this use to be a old town surrounded by a wall. This is the south gate.

Typical Taiwanese breakfast : D.

For this activity we got to ride 4-wheelers out in the country. With no training and no helmet we were given the 4-wheelers and had fun riding up mountains and going down.

Our guide wanted to show off to the girls.

Our last activity was to go horse back riding. A very relaxing way to end the day.