Thursday, June 19

Today we headed out to Youth Park (the park they visited during The Amazing Race) so we could walk on the path of jagged rocks that the teams walked on during a challenge. This has been one of the top things that Rob has wanted to do while we were in Taiwan. We were impressed with how pretty the park was. The picture above was taken on "The Bridge of Nine Turns" that crossed a lake in the middle of the park. The water lilies and other flowers were beautiful and very colorful.

We have re-watched the portion of The Amazing Race where the teams walk down this path and it is so cool to be able to see the bench where we sat with Myah. This was definitely something different to do, and our feet did feel good afterwards, but it really hurt while we were walking. I don't think we expected the rocks to be set in the cement on their side. Needless to say we both went the entire length of the path (which is pretty long) but walked back on the side where the rocks aren't sticking up. By the way - you walk barefoot on the rocks - no shoes allowed.





After we finished visiting the different sites in Youth Park, we hopped in a taxi and went to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. We love to walk whenever we are able to, but today it was way too hot to walk the mile or so to get there. Of course, we picked the perfect day to go to a national landmark made entirely of stone which, in case you forgot, absorbs heat and, because it was painted white, it also reflected the heat back up onto us. This was also a place that they visited on The Amazing Race, but we wanted to go see it even before we saw that show. It is an amazing structure built to honor Taiwan's late President. In a way, it reminded us of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Everything was pristine and extraordinarily detailed and well kept. Words cannot adequately describe the way things are created using such intricate detail here. By the time we got there, Myah was ready for a bottle so we decided to feed her in the park off to the side of the main building. It was beautiful and while Rob fed Myah, I decided to feed the fish. It only cost $10 (about 33 cents US). I love the vending machines that they use to dispense the tubes of fish food. I think the fish were pretty grateful for some food too. Once Myah was done eating (and I made her and Daddy pose for a few pictures in the park) we decided to tackle the main attraction. After climbing to the top of the steps (Rob sang the 'Rocky Theme' for part of it) we looked around the inside of the memorial, traded cameras with some Dutch tourists (they took our picture, we took theirs) then climbed back down.








We tried to find the Taiwanese Handi-craft Market next but, being unable to communicate well and being on a tight schedule, we had to forgo that store and headed to AIT to pick up Myah's visa. We decided to walk since it didn't look that far on the map. By the time we got there, we were very, very happy to have an excuse to sit in the air conditioning for a few minutes. After being handed Myah's passport and visa and a package inside a large yellow envelope (which you must never, ever, ever open before handing it over to customs upon entry into the USA) we hopped on the subway (no more walking today -please) and went back to our room to change for dinner with Kerry and Toby and his family. On the way back to the hotel we saw these guys hanging up this sign - glad I don't have this job.


Dinner was such an incredible treat tonight. We have never felt more honored to share dinner with friends than we did tonight. You have to understand, we had never met Kerry or Toby or his family before June 13th - and we have been spoiled rotten by them ever since we set foot in Taiwan - Toby arranged transportation to and from the airport for us, checked on the hotel for us, gave us one of his own cell phones to use in Taiwan and Kerry spent all day Saturday with us. We have truly been blessed while on this trip and have made friends that we will keep forever. Anyway, back to dinner - we ate at a very nice restaurant with Kerry, Toby, his wife and his three wonderful boys. Toby ordered everything (in Taiwan you don't order separate dishes for each person - several dishes are ordered and are placed on a large lazy-suzanne style device and passed (spun) around the table) and boy did he order a lot! The food just kept coming and coming. Some things I had never tasted before (drunken chicken) and other things I was more familiar with (beef dumplings). It was all fantastic - and then to top it all off, they brought out a Peking Duck (this is a huge deal because the ducks take days to prepare). I was happily eating my food when I looked over at Rob and noticed that he didn't look so good (his stomach had been bothering him all day). He accidentally ate some squid the day before (we didn't know it was squid until after he ate a few pieces - don't ask) and it was doing a number on his stomach. Turns out, he was absolutely sick to his stomach and was feeling horrible because he couldn't eat very much at all. As we understand it (correct me if I'm wrong) not eating something that you are offered is considered extremely rude in Asian cultures so Rob was really worried that Toby would be offended that he couldn't eat much (especially with them having ordered a duck). We asked Kerry to explain the whole squid/upset stomach thing to Toby and his wife, so hopefully it is all okay.

(l-r: Kerry, Evan, Ivan, Toby, Kevin, Heidi)

(l-r: Kevin, Myah, Ivan, Evan)

(This is Rob getting beat at thumb wrestling by an eight year old)

After dinner we sat around and talked for a bit and played some games with the boys. I love those kids! They are the sweetest, kindest little boys and they sure loved showing off and posing for pictures! They are learning English in school and tried out a bit of it on us. They could speak very well and, we are sad to say, even the eight year old knows more English than we know Chinese. :-) After about two and a half hours at the restaurant, we headed back to the hotel - Myah was ready to sleep and the boys had to study for their final school exams the next day. I don't think I've enjoyed dining out as much as I did last night - the food was fantastic but the company was even better.