Sunday, June 15

Hospital where Myah was born

Huwei Town, Yunlin County

Main temple in Huwei

Taiwanese puppets - made in Huwei

This morning we were picked up by our driver, Mr. Yeh and his son, and drove to Myah's home town of Huwei Town, Yunlin County, a little over two and a half hours southwest of Taipei.  We were very fortunate to be able to drive by the hospital where she was born.  We never would have guessed it was a hospital - buildings are set up so differently here than in the US.  After seeing her hospital, we stopped at a baby store across the street called 'Love World'.  We imagine this is where we would have come to buy her something special if we had been here when she was born.  We picked out a soft rattle, a pink stuffed ladybug and a little zipper pull that I will put on her diaper bag when we get home.

After the hospital, we drove around the city and Mr. Yeh took us to see the town's main temple.  We don't believe in ancestor worship, but we still admire and appreciate the intricate work that is on the temples.  It is amazing and mind-boggeling to think of all this being carved and painted by hand.

Huwei Town has a large candy factory and is also well know for it's ice cream (which we gladly tasted - Myah needs to know these important facts when she grows up).  Huwei is also home to Taiwan's puppet factory.  We're not talking about your typical American hand puppets - we're talking about beautifully hand crafted dolls with intricately stitched outfits.  Puppet shows are a huge part of Taiwanese culture and it was really neat to go through the factory/museum where the puppets are made.  It's founder was born in 1901 and lived to be 107 years old.  We were fortunate enough to be able to buy Myah a puppet so she will always have a special piece of her home town's heritage.

On the way back from Yunlin County our driver took us to Taiwan's largest Buddha statue.  It was huge and the temple behind it was beautiful to look at.  The statue overlooked the entire city below.  I can't remember the name of the city, but it went on and on for as far as the eye could see.

Once we got back to Taipei we visited Taipei 101 - the world's 2nd tallest building and ate dinner at Chili's.  I will never complain about the prices of Chili's back in the U.S. - our hamburger cost $10!  Sodas were $4 and tortilla chips w/salsa cost $8.  Needless to say, we split a hamburger and drank the bottled water we had in our backpack.