Yesterday I had the first opportunity to get out with some fellow ICLP classmates and go on an adventure. Hmmm I guess adventure might be a bit of an exaggeration and more of a get to know people might be better. We did a lot of standing around during parts of the trip so it was good to get to know a lot of people by name.
Anyway the first place that we visited was the house of Lin Yutang. I mentioned him in the previous post as a famous character because one label doesn't quite fit him. He was a translator of Western works to Chinese, an ambassador to the Western world on educating in matters of Chinese culture, he was an inventor author and so much more. His house contained so much diversity from classical Chinese texts to the Caesar's Commentaries on the Gaul Campaign. Housed were pictures of his Chinese type writer, which is too complicated for me to explain. His house was small by most standards but still very nice. Lunch here consisted of a delicious curry chicken and rice.
Next we headed to the Yangming Mountain. This is a beautiful and very popular spot to come out and have picnics for many native Taiwanese people. A group of us hiked to the highest point on one of the mountains. I have video and pictures of this spot. Then we were headed to see the waterfall, but only made it about halfway. If you know me making it to the top of the mountain was a feat for me! Anyway I got a few pictures there as well. This was a really tough journey in which my group braved perils such as wild cattle, aggressive worms and sound wave attacks from cicadas or something, so I hope you appreciate the pictures.
Next I had the chance to visit another night market, the Shilin Night Market. This night market was much larger than the one that I had previously visited so that mean a lot more opportunities to spend money and eat. I got to try shaved ice for my first time here and I have to say it was extremely delicious. Needless to say there are also some very weird things here and I did see the stall for a procreative organ served as ice cream. Weird! Also in the middle of the market was a temple that I wasn't sure if it was a part of the market as decor or actually real. I found out soon enough that a temple is a temple no matter where it is located. So please enjoy the pictures and I plan to have so much more this coming week as well.
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