IslandWood in Taiwan
Monday, July 19, 2010
Going home
Monday, July 12, 2010
Family Camp
Ali took families on a stream exploration where they caught macros and then painted pictures of the critters.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday- Camp Taiwan & Taipei 101
In the afternoon I took the bus back to Taipei city. I went to Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world, to check out the observation deck. The view from the observation decks (89th and 91st floor out of 101) was hazy but beautiful. It was amazing being able to see the vastness of the city from that high up.
In the evening the Islandwood crew reunited to go to a BBQ at Gene’s house. Like always, there was an amazing variety of food. There was BBQ chicken and pork, tempura fish, rice noodles, squash and mushrooms, tofu, okra, bamboo shoots, lotus bulb and seed, watermelon, cheese cake, green bean soup, tea, Taiwan beer, and probably something else. After an epic feasting of food, we ended the evening on his roof top garden.
Yangmingshan National Park
On Friday (our day-off between summer camp and family camp) Zach, Hillary and Ali traveled to Yangmingshan National Park. "Shan" means mountain in Mandarin, and the name of one of the popular mountains in the area is "Yangming", which is pronounced "yummi." So we have been affectionately calling it "Yummi Mountain!"
Vicki and Bill, who had previously taken us to dinner in Taipei and tea in Jioufen, were our hosts for the day. Vicki's parents and Frank, a friend of Vicki, also joined us. Vicki's parents were such incredible hosts. Her mom made us homemade breakfast rolls with fruit and nuts, and supplied as with tea and cookies at every stop.
Vicki's parents also treated us to an amazing lunch-time feast, which helped "Yummi Mountain" live up to it's name! We all got our fill (and then some) of traditional Taiwanese foods, such as ginger potatoes, steamed sugar cane, sweet potato greens and whole shrimp.
After our 12 dish feast we went hiking of course! We first visited the Siaoyoukeng sulfur stream vents, then we hiked up a steep trail abuzz with cicadas and butterflies. At the top view point we could see all of Taipei, our town of Guandu, the Nature Park where we work, and the ocean! Zach, Hillary and Ali were all excited to get a little hiking in, and see a little more of this beautiful area.