1x Swimming in Taiwan

Hi-de-ho!  Hope everyone is having a swell day.  Pros and cons for the day:

- Pro: It was really windy today.  It even rained, making the weather much more bearable.  

- Con: Catherine got mad because everyone's been trying to force feed food down our throats for the past 4 days... and she's sick of it.

- Pro:  We saw fireworks- it's not a holiday, but today is some kind of Buddhist celebration for people who have past away.

- Con: I bit my lip and have water in my ear (hope I don't get an ear infection).

I've decided I'm changing my blog for the better.  Now that I can upload pictures, I don't have to explain as much (it was really difficult trying to get the visual out there at first, but now, you can see what we're doing).  A picture's worth a thousand words, right?

Mom has been really busy making plans for what we should do here.  Today is our second to last day in Taitung/Taimali, and we are gonna cram as much as we can into these two days!

At the famous tourist site.  This was the only way I could remember the name... was by taking a picture of the sign.  :)

Ama and Agong resting under the canopy- we went to the island/bridge/beach in the background

Beautiful scenery, no?  Twas a hot summer, a hot hot summer~

the water was sooo clear!  Yes, this place was pretty amazing.  Thanks mom!

See?  The water was nice and cool, so we stayed here and chatted for a bit.  Ama saw my umbrella out here in the water and got really worried I wanted to go swimming... apparently, everything here is dangerous.

Skipping rocks~ there was a mild wave, so it didn't work very well (plus, the rocks were uber heavy)

See me?  I'm the little pink/red blob in the first crescent :D

The beach we were just at- absolutely gorgeous

Thank you stranger, for taking a picture of us after looking at us like we're some kind of aliens about to attack your children

It was really hot, so we stopped by this area for some famous food of some sort, but didn't get any because the line was way too long.  Our door prize was...

Boba tea!  It actually tasted like tea...

resting under the shade, sipping on tea :D

Nuo-mi-fan!  Pretty much sticky rice/zhong zhi with some sweet and spicy sauce... this place was famous for it

The grandparents took us to the boat docks where you can go to Green Island (a destination we had planned to go to, but was convinced otherwise... thank you).

Yay!  V ^_^

Lotsa boats....

It's sooo hot!  Care for a swim?

The family... hahaha  A-ma said "why do I look so short?  No way, this picture isn't good!  Take another one!"

So, I took another picture.  Why was this different?  1. The angle was from my waist, 2. she wasn't with giants.  The end.

One of the few pictures of Agong smiling!  You should see him when he smiles with his "teeth"... so cute!  ^^

After many hours of driving, the long awaited swimming was in store for us.  It took us many hours to drive there, but we made it and loved every minute of it!

On our way!  Thanks to ama for buying our tix and swim caps

After swimming, we took some pictures.  Hot tub, pool with massages, therapeutic pools.....

Waterfall!  

This area is the hot spring... the one closest to me is the moderately warm one, and the lighter one in the back is the hot one

hahaha They actually cooked hard boiled eggs in here!  I didn't think before sticking my finger in boiling water *smart one, Michelle Lee, OTR/L...)

The pool where we spent most of our time watching fireworks, surfing each other, being stared at, playing Marco-polo, and choreographing a synchronized swimming dance.  If only we had goggles...

We also spent some time burning the crap out of our skin in the steam room (which was absolutely ridiculously hot, if you ask me) and then showering off in the 3 directional shower....

We ate beef noodles, pot stickers, and chicken nuggets for dinner.  We're eating more and more unhealthy food on this trip, but no worries, only one day left.

At least we don't look like nuggets.  <3