Lost and Lovin it

So orginally we were going to go to this seaside town called WongGong on Saturday..... well our plans changed when one of our good Taiwanese friends couldn't go with us. So, we got to thinking, we got this brochure while we were in Eurshei that talked about this amazing city called Jhoushan. We seriously researched ALL over the internet, literally everywhere. Couldn't find anything, looked in taiwan travel books, nothing. But we had a brochure, and let me tell ya the marketer for that brochure did a real good job because he made us want to go. Bad. So that's exactly what we decided to do, we went. Did we know where we were going? No. Did we have any clue how we were going to get there? No. Do any of us speak enough chinese to actually be of any good use? No. Did we really need any of this to have a great time and still get there? No. But we started our journey, only to be oh so pleasantly surprised by the wonders we would stumble upon!

Oh what have we hear you ask? Oh, no not another random Taiwanese statue. No. Not at all. But needless to say this was the MOST NORMAL for the day. I am still shooting myself in the foot for not taking a picture of some of the others we saw that day. Write around the corner from this puppy was a teapot. Why? I don't know. But get this, the best statue of the day was of..... da da dah A woman breastfeeding a child. Yes I did type that correctly they have a statue, a rather large one at that, of a woman breastfeeding a child. WHAT THE HAIL?!?! Is it my biggest regret of the century that I did not get a picture of this epic thing? Yes!! I think I was suffering from heat stroke and wasn't thinking clearly. Yes, that must have been it, I have to go back to this city for that very reason. To get a picture of that bad boy.

So after finally somehow figuring out how to making it to the lovely Jhoushan and waiting for the bus for an hour or two we made it. After aimlessly wandering around the town fully and completely lost we found the visitors center. (Who knew speaking with your hands and pointing could get you so far? Pshh) But we ran into this temple on our way to another site. Holy Kamoly so it's true there are temples all over the place here but this one, this temple was the coolest yet!(and that picture isn't even of the temple, the temple is behind that, that's just a little entrance gate thing before the temple) It literally was HUGE!! This picture does NOT do it justice, but it was amazing and a great way to start our trip!

This is one of those things that I talked about that they burn the money in to give to their ancestors. It's really interesting to watch them and these people throw HUGE wads of fake money in there.

The walk to the suspension bridge we were going to was BEAUTIFUL!! It was really nice to get out of the city and see some greenery. The whole area was covered in bamboo things, banana orchards, pineapple orchards, good smelling fruit that I don't know what it is, and big old honkin tea fields. It was utterly beautiful.

One of the many tea fields we passed on our long journey to the suspension bridge. They need these puppies big because these people drink about 10 times as much tea as Americans do Coke.

I just thought this woman was the cutest thing in the entire world. I wish you could see her whole getup better but she was a styler. And so cute just out in the middle of the river a fishin away.

We finally made it. Our beloved suspension bridge! So Kayrn has this day called fantasy day, which is August,7th? or whatever day Saturday was and this was on her list. It was super cool this thing was old and rickety and swayed a little while you walked on it! Way cool.

So after we were done at the suspension bridge we started our LONG journey back to the bus station. Well.... look at what we stumbled upon along the way. This was one of the most beautfiful places i've ever seen!! It was a botanical garden that some Taiwanese university put together. It literally felt like I was in a Tarzan movie or something while I was walking through.

So as we were walking out of the most beautifully amazing botanical garden we were greeted by this. Yes this is real life. See those leaves on the side? Ya those are not small leaves ladies and gentlemen, and that puppy is was bigger!! The body of this puppy, no lie, was the size of my palm, and the whole spider was probably about the size of my hand....if I see one of those things in my apartment so help me, I just may pack up and move home.

So that;s just a taste of some of the adventures we have been on lately! Teaching is going really really great! Sometimes I catch myself saying things and I can

t help but laugh, like the other day i said, "Do NOT tie yourself to the chair." Yes, those words came out of my mouth, and a child really did tie himself to him a chair. That's what makes me love teaching. Sometimes they say the funniest things that crack me up! Like one kid loves the backstreet boys and will not stop singing 80's love songs. Where he learned these? I have no clue. Do it make my whole day whenever he breaks out in song? YES!