Just How Bad Are the Mosquitos?

I finally gave in and bought one of the most hideous mosquito nets imaginable.

My roommates like to call this my "princess bed." Most of the time the mosquito nets are about $30. But, at the night market in Kaohsiung I found this one for $6!

Here is a close up of the top. A lovely little ruffle.

This is the worst part. These little tiny pink bows with sequins and gold ribbon in the middle are randomly placed all over the net. Everyone thinks I should just take them off, but I don't want to miss out on the full Taiwanese experience!

Green Island Trip First Stop: Kaohsiung

We left Fengyuan at about 3 pm on Saturday to take a 3 hour train ride to Kaohsiung. This was one of the few times I was sitting on the train. Since it was Chinese New Year the trains were packed. So, everytime we stopped we had to shuffle around to a new seat or stand in the aisle.








We finally got to our hotel except that we ended up taking a cab after wandering around for about an hour. Then we realized we had walked right past it twice. It's hard because we have to find the right Chinese characters on the signs. Here is a picture of some Chinglish on the night stand next to our beds. We thought it was pretty funny because the entire room smelled like smoke. So, I guess you can smoke just not in the bed!

After unpacking we hit the night market. You can't see it very well but that is a picture of an octupus. It was HUGE! We were trying to take a picture without being bothered about buying it. Deanna is standing behind me - I love the look on her face. It's exactly what I was thinking, "What the heck is that?!" or "You guys eat this!!"

On Sunday we took a walk before church down the Love River. I have no idea why they called it that, but it was beautiful!

Another Buddhist temple - one of the larger ones.

This is a bridge over the Love River.

Mikaela caught a random picture of our backs. She loves pictures of the back of people. She took a lot on the trip.

I was finally able to get a picture of the bus I took from the airport when we first arrived. Like I said, the Harry Potter night bus.

This was a unique temple. It is hidden behind another building. I loved the steps!

The trees here are incredible. The branches acutally grow down!

I know this is very "senior picture," but it was on the church building grounds and I loved the palm tree. It was too pretty to pass up.

Mikaela and I across the street from the temple. There was a lot of celebration going on. Weird music, fireworks, and people burning incense in the temple.

We walked past this on the way home from church.

We were heading to the bus stop and I spotted this shoe stand. Aren't they lovely?

Now is it any wonder why I will not be buying shoes in Taiwan? They are absolutely hideous!! Most of the shoes look like the result of a craft store explosion.

We headed out to see a place called Monkey Mountain where there were supposed to be wild monkeys. However, we ended up in this weird zoo of some sort. Not quite what we expected, but hey, I'm in Taiwan so who cares!! Afterwards we walked up this mountain trail and this is the view from the top!

By the time we got down we had missed our bus. So we decided to just walk the rest of the way home. It wasn't too bad of a walk.

On our way home we saw a huge night market. Here is a picture of squid on a stick - a Taiwanese favorite. They barbecue them and sell them at every market I've been to. I don't think I will be trying one any time soon.

So I about fell over when I saw this. A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! I couldn't believe it. The best chocolate I've tasted since I got here!

This is a picture of the same temple at night.

I took of picture of me with the flash, but you can see the building better without it.

The Laughing Buddha

On Saturday we went to Chunghua to visit the largest Buddha statue and the other teachers. There are two of these dragon statues in front of the Buddha. It is quite a hike to get up there. You walk about 3-4 miles pretty much straight uphill, but it was well worth it when we got to the top!

Close up of the dragon.

This little statue outlines the entire area along with small palm trees.

I'm still not sure what type of building this is because it was closed off while we were there. But, it is pretty impressive to look at!

Inside the Buddha statue you can climb up different levels. I only know a little bit about Buddha, but apparently each level represents the steps he took in order to achieve Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of being where your passions, appetites and weaknesses become extinct. The Buddha statue is a temple. On each level there were displays like this one with a story. This one is about when Buddha was a child. When he started walking one day all of a sudden five flowers bloomed right under his feet. Then a dragon came out of the sky and poured water on him and then he said something like....I am life and light or something or other.

This story I didn't quite catch the point. It was about how Buddha went on a huge trek on his horse and then had to cut off all his hair with is sword. Apparently he did this so he could, "rid his life of sorrow, pain and adversity."

Just a close up of the dragon shower!

Here a monkey and an elephant came up to Buddha one day while he was meditating under a tree. They talked to him and offered him their fruit. Afterwards they drowned themselves in the river in order to be reincarnated as humans and make better choices. I really don't get what this has to do with anything!

This was one of my favorites. In order to prove himself a truly strong and clean person he ordered 3 different sprits to try and seduce him. After they all had a go at him and failed he had achieved purity. Right....I'm sure that was exactly what he was thinking about....purity....

This level represents when he started gaining followers we know as monks.

Every temple has this initial set up. This one is a bit more elaborate. They all have this big pot where the Taiwanese burn incense and light these little candles. Don't worry I only took pictures of everything after seeing all the natives taking pictures.

Another smallish temple for burning incense to their ancestors. Most Taiwanese believe in reincarnation and pray to their ancestors. Some also believe that if you have a child who is disabled in any way it is punishment for something their ancestors must have done.

Good shot of the Buddha temple.

This is a closer view of the building I took a picture of earlier. There are 3 dragons with fire coming out of their mouths.

This is the Six Dragon Fountain. At night they have water shows and everything is lit up.

This is a little bit lower on the mountain. There are a bunch of water falls that you can walk in. It was so nice to get out and see something green. We live right in the middle of the city so I don't see much of anything green.

These are acupuncture walk ways. I saw so many Taiwanese walking on these without even flinching! You are supposed to take off your shoes and walk on these little rocks sticking out of the pavement. It hurts so bad!! I could barely walk four steps.

We had to walk around the back of the mountain to get to the teachers apartments. It was really steep. We walked down a huge staircase and we came to a bridge where a herd of goats just happened to be crossing!! It was so cool!

More goats! One of the teachers ran off screaming because she "had a bad experience" with goats when she was younger at a petting zoo!