Sight Seeing in Northern Taiwan - Part 6

The highlight of the day for me was going to Shifen to launch a sky lantern. There are a lot of lantern vendors on either side of the train tracks. You can pick a lantern and decorate it. The area smells like whatever combustible substance they are using. Once the lantern is decorated, you take it to the tracks under the guidance of a worker. He or she poses you with the lantern and takes photos with your camera if you like. The the lantern is lit and more photos are taken. A countdown is called, and you release your lantern. It soars into the sky quite quickly.

 As soon as we got to the tracks I was wondering if they we're live. Sure enough, we had to move at one point during the decoration to make way for a train. After launching our lantern, we took a train right through the same area. The station was only about 75 yards away.

We saw a frog on a tree just outside of the train station.

Sightseeing in Northern Taiwan - Part 5

We also stopped at the cat village. It's a town famous for its many cats. We saw quite a few posing for photos. I got separated from the group, but eventually found Kevin. He called the others and found that they were across the tracks looking at cats.

This cat almost caused a frenzy, but it died down fairly quickly.
 

This is the bridge from the train station to the town.

Sight Seeing in Northern Taiwan - Part 4

Fifth stop, Jiufen is a town that has a famous shopping area that seems to be basically a long alley full of shops.

Square watermelons.

 

Joy got some Chinese Calligraphy brushes engraved with her Chinese name.

 

Sight Seeing in Northern Taiwan - Part 3

At Gold Ecological Park we toured an old style Japanese house that was restored. It's original use would have been for a high ranking member of the management of the local gold mining industry. This was during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Even though Japan eventually gave up Taiwan, some people lived there until the 1980s.

Sight Seeing in Northern Taiwan - Part 2

Next we started driving up into the mountains. We stopped first at an overlook, and then at Gold Waterfall.

Awesome Home Made Food by my Brother-in-Law's Wife

This was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

Sight Seeing in Northern Taiwan - Part 1

Today was a very busy day. After breakfast in hotel restaurant, Joy and I went outside and took a few photos of the stream, the hotel, and a dragonfly. We heard a loud frog in a man made pond in front of hotel. It sounded like barking.

A driver picked us up for a sightseeing trip. We had a small van to ourselves. Joy was telling jokes to Kevin in English, which was very frustrating for him.

Our first stop was Yehliu Geopark on the North East coast. I had heard about it but didn't really know what to expect. The sights were fantastic. It was really hot so we used umbrellas for shade.

Remember to click on the photos if you want to see them larger.

Queens's Head

Another view of the Queen's Head, showing how it must be viewed from the correct angle.

I don't know what this is, but I saw a bunch of them running around. the body looked to be around and inch or two long.

Trip to the North

Wednesday was a travel day. We exchanged money at a jewelry store, then drove to the train station.

We bought some food to go and took a train to Taipei. In Taipei we transferred to a train to Beitou, which is famous for its hot springs. We walked to a hot springs hotel.


Our view from the hotel room.

 

Supper was a short walk away in a tiny restaurant.

The back entrance to the hotel.

Dream Mall

Tuesday, July 1 we went to the Dream Mall. 

We did a little shopping, then we rode the Ferris wheel on the roof.