Chrysanthemum Festival ~ Part Three

Presidential Residence ~ Chrysanthemum Festival Part Two

Mum, Kev & Tills in the herb garden. Tills and Kev were 'playing the piano' in there (sitting on a very high chair and playing amongst the herbs). At one point we lost her and found her back there, telling me - I'm playing the piano mum. Live entertainment in the form of traditional opera singing. That guy on the left could almost pass as Chairman Mao. The residence of the Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek for 26 years.

Spectacular blooms ~~

Chrysanthemum Festival At Presidential Residence

Part One ~

Meeting Daph & Kev at the MRT station. We've been venturing out and about taking a steady pace and today was a great day.

After careful research The Brother Hotel was selected as the place to stay due to it's close proximity to the brown line, which is the line we are on. It turns out to have been a perfect choice and the olds have been zipping up and down on the MRT everyday. You can see D & K there in the distance amidst the throng......

What a special special treat for me to have family show up on my door step

for a cuppa, day trips to go on. Almost like living at home. Though it will all come to an end soon. We could have had D & K the whole time, it really has been great.

Cat's Hollows (Mao Kong)

Went to Mao Kong to have green tea. Wasn't the flashest place we could find. The one we usually go to is a real ring dinger, stepping on rocks over water to get to your individual booths, fish in ponds swimming underneath while you sip your tea on traditional seating. This one was ok, no pretty tea set (or fish for that matter), but the tea was lovely and Steve did a great job performing the tea ceremony. We went early in the morning thus nearly everything was closed. Will visit the nice one another time later in the day. Nice views of the city and 101.

Perfect weather....

Towards the end of our day the sun came out.....

.... and then left just as quickly. But it was cool and lovely.

Then it was lounging around after the day and checking emails.

Boat to Bali, other side of the river.

Poppy trying the local fried squid. Poppy later said he'd probably rather the squid was swimming around in the ocean where it belonged! We had fun at Ba-Li trying the local delicacies including freshly squeezed sugar cane juice and orange juice, squid, mussles, sweet cakes, green mango, popcorn, sea snails (Steve of course), freshly baked sweet potatoes, and playing games. Lovely day for it.

Trip to Dan Shui

Went to Dan Shui, north of Taipei where the river meets the sea. Took a boat across the river to Bali, though stopped at this little shop on the way and purchased some of these beautiful musical instruments/ornaments. The man made them and his wife painted them. He played them beautifully.

Visit

Enjoying mum and dad's visit. Went to Yang Ming Mountain National Park the other day, saw the natural hot springs, then drove around to Jin Shan (Gold Mountain) and Ye Liu on the coast. Popular scenic route.