We only sunbathe when it's raining.

Three weeks in a hospital in Taiwan, and it was finally time for a vacation!  

Or at least I would have thought that had I not been so completely in love with the hospital to begin with. Regardless, we set out on Thursday morning - myself being still completely emotionally high from our little KTV experience the night before - to get some R&R down by the beach!  So, backpacks in hand and swimsuits at the ready, we headed off to Kenting.  

About half an hour after the start of the journey, the hitherto beautiful, warm, sunny weather we had become used to in Tainan changed.  To this... 

Hopefully you can see through the windows, but just in case 

you can't, let me sum  up:  It was wet.  Very wet.  It actually

looked a whole lot like Michigan!

Now, normally this wouldn't be much of a problem.  I've never been too picky about weather, and a little water never killed anyone, right?  Really, whoever came up with that line had never been in a van with 6 other individuals and a Taiwanese driver with mild road-rage during a thunderstorm.  In addition to the massive amounts of rain pelting our windshield, our driver's reassurance that, "I don't know how to drive.", didn't exactly help calm our fears - and we had several very, very close calls, let me assure you.  But if there's one thing you learn in Taiwan, it's never to doubt a Taiwanese taxi driver!  We made it safe and sound - and mostly unscathed - to Kenting! 

Kenting has some very different looking beach fronts than the ones I had seen in America.  It's more like a  mountain that turns into water than an actual beach, but it was absolutely stunning to see!  Enjoy the view!  

Jane was kind enough to model the beachfront for me. :)

Excuse the hair... It was SUPER windy on that ledge! 

This is a rock.  A rather famous rock, if you've ever looked at 

pictures of Taiwanese scenery. 

Really, though, it's a pretty cool looking rock! 

Hayley and I. :)

This trip was also the first time we saw Mormon missionaries (outside of church) in Taiwan!  We would have said hi, but we were riding mopeds and trying not to die, so we just sent them silent well wishes instead. 

I don't know if you can tell by these pictures, but the beach wasn't exactly the most populated place on the island during the sunny days.  We found out why the day we left:  As we were driving away from Kenting, it began to pour again.  The funny thing about rainstorms is that they tend to block out the sun, which to an American generally negates the point of going to the beach.  Not so, if you're Taiwanese.  The second the sky became dark enough to prevent even the slightest hope of getting a tan,  we witnessed a mass exodus of Asians to the water!  Seriously, I've never seen so many individuals packed into such a tiny space as I did that day in Kenting during a torrential downpour.  Turns out the Taiwanese favor pale skin just as much as Americans favor a tan.  That was quite a cultural experience!  

Finally, soaked to the bone and pretty dang tired, we were on our way back to Tainan.  We had survived moped driving (which is a feat in and of itself), becoming hopelessly lost in the mountains and separated from our group, an insanely dangerous Taxi ride with, "Crazy woody", and lots and lots of water.  

And we had a great time doing it! :)

The KTV

One of the best memories I have of Taiwan (the second best, to be exact) was our night at KTV.  If you're anything like I was, you're now blankly staring at the computer screen trying to make sense of this odd acronym.  KTV is like Karaoke on crack.  You basically rent a huge room with a big TV screen and sing songs for a few hours!  It's a ton of fun, especially when you go to KTV with individuals of a Taiwanese nationality.  You would never know from their calm and stoic exteriors, but they can party like no other!  It. Was. Awesome.  And, I had some very special guests attend that helped me cross some things off my need-to-do-in-Taiwan list :)

First off, shout out to Jessica for helping with my hair. 

I've never liked my hair more!

This is Cody, Ivy's cute son!  Okay, Cody isn't actually

his name, but I have no hope of trying to spell or pronounce 

his real name (although it's super cute!), so I just decided 

to call him Cody. :)  This picture was actually taken right 

after Cody kissed me on the cheek, making him the first Asian 

boy to do so.  I was proud to give him that title.  

Get kissed by an Asian boy, check!

Cody was camera shy.  Props to Marian for 

getting the pics that she could! :)

Jasmine and Marian were nice enough to come sing with us too! 

Marian is quite the trickster.  Thanks to her I crossed several things off 

of my need-to-do-in-Taiwan list... But I'll keep those to myself. ;)

And we're back to Dr. Chen again.  Not does he know Hotel California by the 

Eagles, he also knows his Aerosmith pretty well too!  And he can sing. 

Like, really sing.  Super well.  So, after having microphones thrust at our 

faces by some watchful classmates (Thanks guys), we sang 

Don't Wanna Miss A Thing by Aerosmith together.  

I would be lying if I said it wasn't pretty awesome. :)

Sing a song with incredibly incredible Taiwanese doctor, check!

See my Asian mom party, double check! (You're awesome, Marian!)

So many checks going on in these next few pictures, I can't even 

begin to list them all off. :)

Apparently Marian, Jane and I were the only ones to get the funny 

picture memo.  Jasmine and Dr. Chen look amazing, as usual!

Take a picture during which one person is unaware of said picture and 

is passionately belting Celine Dion, check!  (see if you can find who

I'm talking about.) 

This is the only one we could get before everyone started singing again! 

Have the second best experience of my entire Taiwan trip, check!

It really doesn't get much better than this. :)

Check, check, check. :)

A few of my favorite Taiwanese things...

I have fallen really behind on this whole blogging thing.  So, let me sum up:  The same week we went to the Martyr's Shrine (which I believe was my last post), we toured all around Taipei and down to beautiful Hualien, which was quite a site to see!  A picture is worth a thousand words, so hopefully these guys will help me make up for the blogging time I've lost!  Cheers!


A few of my favorite things;

 Fuzzy green walls 

Hostels with cheetah-pint EVERYTHING

No, really. Everything was cheetah.

Going out to eat and having the thoughtful Taiwanese waiter ask us where we 

were from and then bring us these bad boys! 

Extremely rainy days at Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial hall in our 7-11 ponchos.

JANE! (of course!)

More cheetah...

Taipei 101 (second tallest building in the world, after Dubai)

 The stunning Taroko Gorge!  Taroko is composed of mainly marble, 

which adds the loveliest backdrop for its many shrines and rivers.

 

Sporting some blue hard-hats here. 

 

This is a super famous Buddhist shrine, as manifested 

by the Buddha set on an outcropping.

 During these pictures, I was right in the process of finding out that I 

inherited by dads fear of heights.  I wouldn't be 

surprised if that railing still has dents in it! 

This was the only time I relinquished my hold on that railing. 

I got pretty dizzy at this point, but it was well

 worth the hike to the top!

This is another famous shrine, the Shrine of Eternal Springs. 

 Google it, it's absolutely gorgeous!

And to top off the trip, I found Tony Stark. 

 Iron Man has wonderful taste in locations. :)

One crowded train ride, and we finally made it home to Tainan! 

And those are just a few of my favorite things.  Taipei was wonderful, and Hualien was beautiful, but I can honestly say I was antsy to get back to Tainan the entire time.  I think I had found that my absolute favorite things were in Tainan, but I'll save that for a later post. ;)

Martyr's Shrine

Our weekend in Taipei and Hualien was awesome, but this memory in particular I think deserves its own post.  It was a pretty special experience, and I hope you'll see why soon!


Traveling with a military man (our instructor) gives you some peculiar experiences, especially when it comes to a selection of tourist sites.  When we arrived at The Martyr's Shrine - a shrine dedicated to fallen Taiwanese soldiers - I wasn't surprised that Jim seemed very excited.  I realized why pretty fast!  In part, it's because of these guys, who are essentially the Taiwanese equivalent of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  We had the opportunity to watch their changing of the guard ceremony, which was performed without a single mistake.

 

I'm pretty sure this bro-hah did not blink once. 

This is the inside of this beautiful place! 

As if the sight of this shrine, set just at the base of the stunning Taiwanese mountains and dedicated to war heroes, wasn't enough to get me a little choked up, My lovely friend Jane explained to me the significance of this shrine to our field trip. 

When I initially found out that this room (see picture above) contained plaques dedicated to individuals who died for their country, I assumed that they contained only names of soldiers.  I was wrong.  Somewhere in this midst of Mandarin characters is a plaque dedicated to the Taiwanese Physicians and Nurses who died trying to save their patients during the SARS epidemic in Asia.  Being a nursing student, I got pretty emotional after hearing that.  What an amazing way to memorialize the sacrifice of those healthcare providers; by placing their names in a shrine that honors people who made the ultimate sacrifice for what they believed.


Good side-trip choice, Jim! 


And, it didn't hurt my sense of adopted Taiwanese pride either. :)

Be still my beating heart!

It's BABIES!! 


Taiwan has one thing in excess that I have determined I need desperately.  


Taiwanese. Children.  




I've justified this need with several stereotypes that I will now explain...


First:  Asian children are supposed to be smart, right?  I need a genius child, since they obviously won't be inheriting it from me.    


Second:  Ever heard of Jeremy Lin?  He's Taiwanese.  And heaven knows we need some massive Asian influence on BYU's basketball team.  


Third:  LOOK AT THESE PICTURES! 

Can I have one?  Please?