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.