Exciting Times

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We have started slowing down on our adventures but that doesn't mean things are any less exciting for us. This week there were two big events in our lives. First, we had our most exciting earthquake yet. It was a 6.1 and was centered about 30 miles east of our house. It was very frightening for us because we are not used to the earthquake experience. Also it felt like it was moving up and down instead of side to side. The up and down earthquakes do more damage than the others.

One of the reasons we chose to travel abroad was to experience another culture, to live like they live and do what they do. This was very important to us because when you live in the same town your entire life and have the same routine day after day it is easy to forget how big the world is. We wanted Noah to experience other cultures while he is still young and can enjoy it. Living with earthquakes is something the Taiwanese people do every day. It is so common here that many people don't even feel them unless they are pretty big. This was an experience that we will never forget and we have grown to appreciate the power of nature.

We live around point B on the Taiwan map. The earthquake was centered at point A.

The second exciting event to happen this week was that, we purchased a house! This has been a long process, three full months, and I would never suggest buying a house while out of the country. The banks are hard to work with and the time difference makes it very difficult to contact them by phone. Thankfully for us Justin's father has been super helpful and taken care of so much for us. We have not seen the house in person but we have seen pictures. The house is going to require lots of work but what we really fell in love with was the property. We are anxiously waiting to see our new house. The picture below shoes the property! All wooded and the neighbors are pretty far away.

Taipei Zoo

Last two weekends ago we spent a couple of days in Taipei. To see our first day adventures see last weeks blog post titled "Taipei Trip Day One". For our second day we decided to head to the Taipei zoo. We have heard great things about the zoo so we decided to see it for ourselves. Many of the animals at the zoo were filmed for the movie "Life of Pi".  The zoo is has many unique animals that I haven't seen before. They have Giant Pandas, Red Pandas, Kolas, and my favorite Orangutans.

 The Giant Pandas were beautiful! But they were very uncooperative with me. This was the best picture I could get, lazy panda!

 After the panda house we start walking around the zoo. The hippo was singing for us!

The Orangutans are my favorite!  She looked so sweet trying to stay in the shade for her morning nap. 

I believe this little cutie is a Gibbon. They were very noisy!

 These giant black and white creatures are not Pandas! They are Malayan Tapirs.

 Is he real! He looks like a puppet to me. His way to big hands and feet look unreal.

 The Asian Elephants.

 Of course Justin and Noah found a critter that wasn't in a cage!

 Do you know what the two types of camels shown here are called? I didn't but Justin made sure Noah and I learned. The one above, with two humps, is a Bactrian Camel. The camels below, with one hump, are called Dromedary Camels. I just hope I can remember that in case I ever make an appearance on the game show Million Dollar Money Drop and I get asked that question. 

 It's a unicorn! Oh wait its just a Beisa oryx with one horn.

 These cute little guys were some of Justin's favorite critters. He would like to have one as a pet but they live for 150 years or so!

 Ring-tail lemurs! I like to move it, move it!

 This sleepy little guy is the Red Panda.

 African Elephant

 At the end of the day we take the train back to the city.

 Dinner time!

This is Noah's souvenir from the zoo. It is a Bismuth stone.

Taipei Trip Day One

This past weekend we decided to go to Taipei. We needed to get some papers notarized at the American Institute of Taiwan. We decided that since we were going to spend the money for three bus tickets to Taipei we should make an entire weekend out of it. We were able to visit Taipei 101, the worlds second tallest building, and the Taipei Zoo. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 5:45 in the morning and this was the wonderful view we had while we waited.

 The bus ride is three hours if there are no traffic jams. After arriving we headed to the AIT to have our forms notarized. After a lengthy wait and $100 later we were done and the forms were mailed to the U.S. Now it was time to find some food. Justin and I decided on spicy noodles but Noah decided he just HAD to have Subway. He hasn't had subway since we have been in Taiwan so he was very excited about it.

 He was being silly trying to use chopsticks to eat his sandwich!

After lunch we decided it was time to head to Taipei 101. It is called 101 because of the number of floors above ground, there are also 5 levels of parking below ground. It also has the worlds fastest passenger elevators 1,010 m/min, according to the Guinness world records and the world's largest wind damper, which helps to ensure stability of the tower and prevents movement during a strong wind or earthquake. 

 Noah thought these police scooters were pretty cool.

 There is lots of artwork and statues outside of Taipei 101. We took pictures with a few of them.

This is a photo of the mall inside 101. It is six stories, I believe, but most everything is out of my price range so we didn't do much shopping. There were stores like Armani, Coach, Tiffany & Co. and Prada.

 Here is the view from the observatory.

 

 Time for a little mango ice break! I am going to miss this stuff when we leave.

 There was a beautiful art collection on display in 101. These were created using jade or blood coral. 

They were so detailed and beautiful.

 We stopped for a little afternoon tea and Noah decided that he needed more sugar! Check out that smile, so handsome.

 Later in the evening we walked to a night market and dinner. I did get the cutest little outfit for my special little dog, at the night market. He is going to look so cute in it! 

 And this concludes day one of our Taipei adventure. Stay tuned for day two....The Taipei Zoo.