In Taipei again

I was so happy today that I got to see my host family in Taipei again. My host sister Vanessa has grown so much!! My Chinese has gotten good enough that I can half way understand what she is say. She is super cute.

Today we went off up in the mountains to let of lanterns with out wishing hopping they come true. Here I found Herbie's long lost Taiwanese uncle.

Here people write there wishes on the fence.

It was a rainy day today so not a lot of people were out and about. Taipei is alot warmer then it is in Taoyuan.

I though these little drawings on the wall were very cute.

Here Sylvia and me set off the lantern we have made up into the sky.

The classic picture everyone did when I was in high school.

We ignored the warning sign haha.

I love beef noodles!! But I still think the best ones are next to my apartment made by a old lady.

It felt good to be in my old room again. It made me think when I first came to Taiwan and felt super scared. It feels like it was a million years ago.

The view outside my room.

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.

Chinese New Year's Dinner

Today we went to another city (I forgot what it was called : ( ) to eat dinner with my host mother's mother. It was about a 30 minute drive with a lot of traffic on the way like everyday. This city was much smaller then the other places I have been to. This looked A LOT like Colombia. It was weird the similarities in both countries. Here are some pictures of the city.

My mother told me that was a temple and since Chinese New Years is coming everyone is going to temple to pray and make offering to the Gods. I love the trees in the background.












We finally found a parking space!! There is very little space in these narrow roads and it is dangerous to walk because there are no sidewalks and cars and scooters come flying down the road.











This is the way up to my mother's mothers house. It is still dangerous because scooters drive though this narrow walk way. You have to use your ears to know when a scooter is coming behind you. If not the scooters are nice enough to beep at you and then yell "XIN XIAN KUAI LE"!!

I am not use what this is but it looked pretty.













Those two cars almost crashed into each other. It was sorta scary to watch.









When we got to to my mother's moms house I got to meet my moms younger brother and his wife. Everyone was so nice to me. They spoke some English but like most people in Taiwan do have a lot of trouble understanding when English is spoken. So if I wanted to talk I had to use all Chinese. I liked hearing my (host grandmother?) speaking Taiwanese. It sounds like the language they spoke in the movie "Code talkers".

Here is a picture of the temple in my host grandmothers house. It looked very pretty. We put the food under the temple before we eat it to give food to the Gods.

In this picture we give money to the Gods. We have paper money and throw it into the fire to give up as an offering. Everyone in this city was doing the same thing. It was so cool I have never heard of this before.














This is the lottery ticket cover. It is very pretty.















I bough two lottery tickets. I think the jackpot is 4 billion Taiwanese dollars : D. Everyone is buying lottery tickets so that is why the jackpot is so big! There are lines to buy these things. Each ticket cost about 50 NTD. I hope I win XD!!







My host sister playing the scratch off game. She wins just 100 NTD. She was so happy to win.













I bought this snack from the store. It is seaweed and it taste so good. I loved it so much I ate two packs! NOM NOM!!










I watched a lot of T.V here while everyone was cooking and getting ready. I think Taiwanese news is pretty cool. But Taiwanese commercials are so cute and funny. They make me laugh a lot! Soon it was time to eat!


 There was so much food!! Most of it I have no idea what it was. I just ate and ate and drank and drank till I was so full!! My host  grandmother could not speak Mandarin but she keep telling me to eat more and kept filling my bowl and glass with more food.








The chicken still has the head on it. It was so funny to watch my host uncle making it talk. The chicken tasted so GOOD! Nothing like you can find in America.









Taiwanese wine. But it was so strong I think it is liquor!













I had a lot of fun today! I really enjoyed trying all these different foods even if I don't know their English names or even if they have an English name. I was so sleepy when I got home I went straight to sleep. I could hear fireworks going off in the city all night long. But I slept so well!