With the kids off at their homestays for the weekend, the 5 of us adults went out for dinner and drinks. We gave a toast to our newfound freedom. 干杯!
After breakfast the next morning Mallette and I hiked up Jiantan mountain, located above the Grand Hotel (the fanciest hotel in Taiwan). It’s still a little cloudy today but it had nice views of the city.
After lunch, Nancy and Robert joined in and we all headed to Dahu Park to do some more hiking. It took about an hour to get there, transferring among three different subway lines. The park had a trail that followed a meandering Dagou Creek up into the mountains, with a few waterfalls along the way.
The trail continued up above the river, to a Buddhist temple. At the temple a calming chant was being continuously broadcast on loudspeakers that echoed across the hills.
We stood there a while enjoying the sounds and the view. Mallette remarked that she’d like to shave her hair and live as a monk among the trees 😉
Continuing further up the trail we discovered a neighborhood of strawberry farmers selling all kinds of strawberry products (jams, candy, berries, etc). We learned that they’re just at the start of strawberry season. I don’t think I’ve had any fruit since we landed, so to stave off the scurvy we each picked a basket. The farmers insisted that we had to cut the stems with scissors, rather than just yank the berries free.
The fruit was tasty but I have to say that I think we’re spoiled living close to Hood Strawberries. These just weren’t as crisp as the ones in their prime back home. It was still a fun excursion. One vendor had this vanilla custard with berry compote on top. It was tastiest thing I’ve had here. I tried to buy more and they wouldn’t sell me more than two hehe.
I got 25,000 steps today. Legs are pretty tired. Tomorrow will be a more relaxing day. Just over 24 hours before we rejoin the students.
What’s on tv today?
This one is complicated. A white guy who is bilingual (top right) gives clues to a Chinese phrase using only English words. He gives the clues to a mandarin speaker who doesn’t know English (bottom right). They then relay these words the best they can to a bilingual couple (left) who tries to make sense of the butchered English in order to guess the Mandarin phrase. whew!