Sun Moon Lake

This past Saturday, October 13th, was my birthday. On Saturday Justin had to work most of the day so that night we went out to see a traditional Chinese dance. One of the girls in the dances is from Noah's class at YingPei. I was very impressed with the entire show. I couldn't take pictures because it was dark and they asked for no flash to be used. You will just have to take my word on how pretty it was :)

On Sunday we went to Sun Moon Lake. We went with a pretty large group only one other American but most of the Taiwanese could speak some English. We had a great time. Sun Moon Lake is a very famous lake in Nantou. Many Taiwanese vacation at Sun Moon Lake. It is a lake in the Mountains! Yes the lake is up in the clouds! The only bad thing about doing these kind of activities in Taiwan is the crowds. I don't do well with lots of people everywhere.  But I did have a good time. We went very early in the morning , rented bicycles and rode a portion of the way around the lake. On the way back it was about noon so the number of people had more than doubled... It was hard to even ride the bicycle on the way back because there were so many people that we had to keep stopping and wait for them to move off the trail so we could pass. Maybe a weekday wouldn't have been so busy. Why weren't these people in church! Just kidding :)

 The group ahead of us! it is huge!

 Our group getting the rules for the bike ride.

  

 What a good looking family!

Silly Girls

 Such a beautiful view. A lake in the clouds.

Our group minus the dad. Not sure of his name because he didn't have an English name. He is the librarian at Justin's school. His wife is in the orange. The woman in the pink striped shirt also works at Justin's school as well as Corrie the other American. The lady in the blue shirt is a friend to the lady in the pink shirt, her English name is Pink.

 Some real motorcycles. There aren't many around here...mostly scooters.

 Next time I might stay overnight. Sun Moon Lake Hotel

 This was a cool tree.

 Sun Moon Lake and the floating gardens.

 Just taking a break

 Taking a break to have a tea egg.

 Tea eggs. These are special because they are tea and mushroom eggs.

 This is a wall of flowers.

 Entrance to a temple

 Taking a rest before we go up the mountain. Love the tea field in the background.

 Olive trees line the trail

 Enjoying the view from an olive tree

 See the Tea field in front of the lake. It was so pretty up here.

 Sun Moon Lake behind us.

 What ?!?!? Gummy Bears on the mountain. Yes, Someone had gummy bears in there backpack. Noah was very excited. He loves those things and hasn't had any in several months now.

 Hiking up the mountain that just won't end. It was very steep but lots of fun. Of course I had to wear pants and long sleeve shirt because of the mosquitoes I would rather sweat and be hot than itch for a week after a trip into the woods.

 Overlooking Sun Moon Lake

 Finally a rest area. I am beat!

 Who wants to have a tea party?

  Making tea.

 We had a tea party in the forest about 1/2 way up the mountain. My back pack has essentials of tissue, water and a camera. There backpack had an entire tea party set, hot water included. This was lots of fun.

 This was a swampy area. You walked around on boards that rested on top of the water. We did get wet feet but nobody from our group fell in, thank goodness.

 This boy can do it! Can Noah?

  
 Noah wants to try! At least if he falls of the deck he will land in the swampy water so it shouldn't hurt.

 Noah won't give up!

This boy is 13 years old (same as Noah) He is going to be huge for a Taiwanese man. He is at least 5 or 6 inches taller than Noah already.

 

 Say cheese

 Are they toddlers or are they teenagers? I don't know for sure.

  Silly Kids!

 This was a very old Temple. It used to be brightly colored like the others I have taken pictures of. Check out the forest of Palm Trees behind the temple. I have never seen a forest of Palm Trees before.

the doors to the temple.

 Silly Monkeys!

 This is an old laundry washing station. It is still used today by many of the people in this little town. I wouldn't want to do my laundry like this.

 He looks like he is ready to do some laundry.

  This is the father to the children that Noah hung out with all day. 

 I found a toad but I wasn't about to pick it up so Noah did for me.

 He didn't want to let go of Noah. 

 This is the outside wall of a house. In this town many of the houses were painted with murals. Maybe I will do this on my next house :)

 These kids love to pose for the camera ;)

  Beautiful flowers 

 Owls are everywhere. The Taiwanese culture love owls which make me very happy.

 Strange plants everywhere.