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Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Bi-partisan Halloween!

True Story: so Rick and I thought it would be fun to dedicate our jack-o-lanterns to this years election in a kind bi-partisan way. Thus, the elephant and donkey. Apparently that was not neutrual enough for someone though. The next morning after we put them out, we found someone had taken a knife and stabbed it through the donkey. Haha- welcome to Utah!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Xinzhu- Beipu Hot Springs

We got to go up into the Beipu mountains and play in this awesome hot-cold spring resort. They had a pool and about 8 different springs all at different temperatures so you can hop from a hot to a cold spring. It was beautifully nestled in the lush mountains- you couldn't even see any other buildings or road. It was dreamy.

The pool- it was a straight edge that just looked like it ran into the forest.

Spas in the evening

Last night here :'(
We are really going to miss all the wonderful food, friends, and fun. Here's one of Rick's friends, Thomas, visiting.

Our wonderful hosts- the Wang family

Friday, August 29, 2008

Xinzhu- Sanyi & Sushi

We're here in our last stop- Xinzhu. We went out to a town called Sanyi where the main street is just all stores of hand-carved statues and other woodworks. It was amazing the talent that these people have.

This was a dragon that was about 10 feet long

I just thought this little piggy was soo happy and cute

Rick's hero, Damo, the kung-fu kicking missionary that took Buddhism to China

This one carved piece was as big as a wall in a normal house

The family we're staying with have been wonderful and took us out to sushi- the chefs are crazy busy and just put the sushi on the conver belt and you just chose the one you want when it passes

Much fresher than Utah

They charge per plate- um... let's just say we were impressive

The Wang Family

City center at night- this is the ancient city gate

We spent the rest of the evening doing what I do best- shopping! So many shoes, purses, and clothes, oh my.

This is a drug store here that I had to take a picture of for my grandma watson- she's famous here!

Xinzhu- Neiwan

Neiwan is a beautiful bamboo forrest up in the north-western mountains. We went hiking for the morning there and had a lot of fun. It was in the 90's and like 80% humidity in the mountains. It felt like walking through a pool- I've never sweat so much in my life. Fun though ;)

These are some huge pommelo's growing in the trees on the way up. They were about the size of your head- no exaggerating.

What a view

A little pagoda in the middle of the woods. Apparently most Asian's aren't the "outdoors" type- so we were totally alone on this hike.

Some poorly focused pictures of us pretending to be pandas and hang on the bamboo.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Dali- National Science Museum

We got to go out to the Taiwan National Science Museum- it was huge and had tons of stuff about Chinese technology and science. It was all very interesting to see the different take on some things here in Taiwan.

Rick doing a 3-D tai-chi lesson

They had large replicas of tiny things- here is Rick cowering in the presence of a giant bacteriophage

Rick posing with some life size DNA- oh, his little science heart was so happy

The dinosaur part was so cool with real size animatronic replicas- here's Rick showing little brother

Some crazy kung-fu looking dinosaur bird

Lisa getting back to here roots

Apparently Rick is the next step in evolution- scary thought, huh.

The Shi's were so kind in helping us we offered to take them out to lunch. The kids got to pick where- yea, McDonalds ;) Ironic that the only time Rick and I have ever eaten at McDonalds in our whole marriage is in another country.