Better Late Than Never

It has now been 2 weeks since this happened. Yikes. Sorry I was so slow in updating you!

My Saturday with Emily

It was a great day! Even though I woke up tired and became more so as the day progressed. Even though I was sweating like a pig at times. And even though I was neglecting important work for school.

She had me at the school at 7:30 am ready for an adventure. She even had the gall to call at 7:15 and say “hurry up.” Huh! It took some time but we got breakfast, got the students on a public bus, re-grouped at the KMRT station, and truly began our journey.

It was a bit crowded. Opening week = free. Weekend = no work. I can’t think of any fun events during this time. We got off at the transfer station (connects the orange and red lines). They have an awesome dome of light in the middle of the . . . terminal (?) I really enjoyed it and took lots of pictures. I think I could have stayed there half the day then gone home satisfied.

But it was not to be. We added 1 more person to our party and got back on the train. Only 3 more stops! Here we come.

The final stop of the orange line is where we got off: Sizihwan. Here’s a somewhat phonetic spelling: shi-tz-uoh-wahn. (Man, it’s hard to make notes to remind myself of the Chinese sounds!)

We went on a nice walk (bordering on long) and ended up at a university. The person who joined our party was our “leader”. We did walk through a cool tunnel to get to the university. Emily was teaching me Chinese words (of course) and practicing her English. All day she kept trying to throw in the local language; even though I adamantly refuse to learn it. Little stinker.

We got to a mountain behind the university and began our hike. It was good but tiring, long (relatively), and HOT. Phew-ee. Near the end I got into the mode of walk-faster-so-it-can-end. He he.

We were on monkey mountain but I later found out we were in the wrong area. Monkey mountain apparently has TONS of monkeys. I was one of the few people in our group to see one. It was big but gone in a flash. Almost thought I hadn’t really seen it. The scenery was lovely. Did I mention I was hot? :D

We eventually ended our hike and stopped for lunch. More interesting things. I don’t exactly remember what they had me try. I know I was amazingly happy to see a plate of fried rice. Yum! And they had this super cool dessert. A potato-like vegetable dipped in honey. It’s stinking hot so you pick it up then dip it in cold water and the honey hardens while the inside stays soft and burning hot. It was tasty!

I was so happy to hear that we planned to ride the bus back to the KMRT station. THANK YOU! That was one concern nagging at me the whole time – “do we have to do all this again?” Emily read the bus schedule wrong so we sat there for about 20 minutes and then she discovered we still had another 15 minutes to wait. Ugh. We did find a scooter parking area and just sat on other people’s scooters (a bit strange to me).

The bus came and we made it back without any problems (at least I can’t think of any). I had to give a teacher a ride home on the back of my scooter. It was a bit scary but I’m getting better and better.

So now it is around 3 pm. I had a little bit of time to “take a nap” as Emily said. Ha ha! Neither of us got a nap in. She had to help a friend and I had errands to run. *sigh* I did get a shower in – that was important.

I met Emily again at the MRT station at 6:30. It was time for our night adventure (it was better than the morning)! There were SO many scooters parked at the station. Not nearly enough parking. Well maybe there is for normal use. But a Saturday night when it’s free? Totally inadequate.

Emily had told me to meet her at the MRT then I called her during our “break” and she said see you at the 7-eleven. I thought she just made a mistake. So I went to the MRT station. It was no mistake! She wanted to introduce me to her family. We eventually met up at the MRT station (she was waiting for me at sev.) and we were walking to the platform. But she told me her 2 cute nephews were at her house. That did it for me! I said let’s go there. She was concerned that I was hungry. What’s hunger to 2 little boys?? Hello!

So we rode back on her scooter and I met her family. But not her parents. They must have been in the kitchen. The nephews were very cute and were just staring at me. Children are so great! It made me happy just to see them.

Back to the MRT station. Gee, I feel a sense of déjà-vu right now. Ha ha. I think the train was pretty crowded (don’t remember well). FYI: Daliao (my current hometown) is the last stop on the West side.

We got off at the awesome Dome of Light station and went to the Liohu Night Market. It is a well-known market in downtown Kaohsiung. My dad and I actually went there when he had a little meeting with work friends.

It was very fun. I did more shopping! My spoils – a pair of jeans (that they put darts into, jeans are “made to fit” here, pretty sweet); 2 pairs of shoes; 2 shirts. I think that’s all. Yeah. I’ve already worn all of it. One pair of shoes I totally love. I want to go back and get them in 2 or 3 more colors. But I won’t. Time to buckle down and be responsible with my money.

I can’t give you a play-by-play but I can say Emily and I had a great time. It was like we had been friends for years. Our personalities are pretty well-suited. We were laughing and joking. I jumped over a light post (it was at my waist) and I got her to jump over one too. Haha!

She kept pointing out foods and saying they were her favorite. Honestly! I’ll have to go back 10 time just to try it all. We had some noodles at the beginning of the market (we were hungry). Then I tried some things that looked like treats. They were the potato-type things I tried on the way to Kenting dipped in batter and fried. I was really excited for some sweetness – no such luck. But the fried batter was fabulous. Ah! They could have left out the inside and I would have been happy. Ha ha.

We also tried a, um, scone-type treat with a special milk. I put chapstick on right before the first taste and thought that was making it taste so strange. Nope! It was the milk. I was not a fan. Barely touched the cup they gave me. And no sweetness in the treat we dipped into the milk. Argh! I just want scones and sonk-ay-ow (treat in Thailand).

Oh dear, almost forgot another hilarious part. We were pushing it close on getting back home on the MRT. Last train left around 11:15. I had to pay to ride the red line for one stop (we had walked to a different market to purchase the clothing items) and then we transferred to the orange line. It was hilarious to see people full-out running to make it on the last train. I was laughing really hard as I ran. The dome of light flashes above me as I race down the corridor. Can’t miss that train! Ha ha. I don’t know if anyone was walking - seems we were all running. Then we got onto the platform and had to wait for the train. Go figure.

I think that’s about it. Here are a few pictures.