The super late entry

Two weekends ago now, was a trip that I had been planning since I arrived. Tamsui is one of those places that everyone talks about when Taiwan is mentioned. So it was on my list to go see, especially since it was by the ocean (as a Michigander I love water of any kind). I went with Kaitlyn, Blake and his friend Jiwa. We had a lot of fun despite the cold, and the rain.

The first thing we did was arrive in Tamsui by MRT, it was a long ride and being a saturday we ended up standing most of the ride. It was okay though, I had fun talking with everyone. Then we arrived.  

The first thing we did was walk around and try some different food. Jiwa had us try some buttery bread that he said was "Hong Kong style". I also had strawberries that were dipped in strawberry hard-candy (with two cherry tomatoes at the bottom that kept the strawberries from sliding off while the candy dried). There was a free sample of ginger tea, super spicy (made my nose run), supposed to be good for your health... I wouldn't drink it all the time though. I had a pork and pepper shish-kabob as well.

After the food it was a ferry ride to Bali island. There were lots of fishing boats on the shore and a few men fishing just off of it. We walked around many of the small shops and walked through a park where we came upon a group of swing dancers and watched for a few moments. I ended helping Blake demonstrate (took me back to elementary school and Mrs. Meyers my music teacher). Then we ran into a water conservation building with a statue of a Kappa out front (a mythological Japanese creature that looks like turtle with a beak for a mouth and a bowl of water on its head).

 After that it was to Lover's bridge. We ran into some American students that had been in Taiwan for a year or so from Utah, they were super interested in talking to us and helped us take some pictures. They're Chinese was good too. The beach was nearby after the bridge. The beach was messier than I am used to seeing honestly, especially uphill away from the water there was a bit of trash...

     

 

But near the water was great! I love scenes like this! After being so many places in Taiwan, I have begun to appreciate more of the natural landscape and less of the touristy sights. I did have fun climbing on thr rocks (it was safe I promise!) We saw people looking for crabs and another fisherman. Although messy in some areas I much preferred it to wandering shops full of keychains and Tshirts (though I did find a few more special gifts for at home... its a surprise for who XD).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last was a bus trip back toward the shops and we went to a famous waffle restaurant. It was bit sweet for me for dinner time (more like dessert). I had honey mochi waffles, meaning that the waffles had honey on top and inside was chewy honey flavored mochi (mocha is pounded rice that has a gummy texture, its from Japan) and a super dark chocolate hot chocolate… it was kind of like drinking dust… bleh… but the waffle tasted great and its not every day you can eat your waffles with Mochi inside. It was cloudy so normally you have a great view of the sunset from the restaurant but that was okay.

 

Definitely worth the trip, one of the shops had the CUTEST Three Kingdoms

（三國演義）chess set with a Journey West （西游记）set in the same style.  Maybe if I come back this summer sometime I will pick up two of the sets (I would love all three but we’ll have to see XD).