How long will it rain?

This is going to be quick because I need to go to sleep.

Meghan got here Saturday night and we've been having tons of fun.

Saturday we went to the Taoyuan Night Market and then bowling. Then we proceeded to stay up until 7 a.m. talking and talking and talking.

I hadn't seen the girl in four months and we used to be roommates. We went from 60mph to 0mph real fast.

When we finally woke up Sunday it was a little late but we made it work.

We booked it to Beitou and took a dip in the hot springs.

Hot springs are a big thing in Taiwan. They're everywhere. It has something to do with the crazy geological activity in the region.

At the hot springs there was this funny little Taiwanese man. He immediately latched on to us ("Sit here! Sit here!") and we talked to him most of the time we were there. He told us about how he used to live in California for about a year and he asked about why I decided to teach in Taiwan and how long I plan to stay.

After the hot springs we headed over to the Shilin Night Market. If you'll remember I was there last week with the roomies so it was nice to know where I was going. That and this time the entire market was open because it was actually night time.

I think we ended up just walking around and eating. I bought a pair of black shoes that are rubber-ish (so they're great for rain) but they're actually really cute.

After a couple of hours at the night market we came home exhausted. But somehow we still ended up staying up until 3 a.m. Poor Meghan and all the jetlag.

Today we woke up late again. We both set our alarms but forgot to actually turn them on.

We still managed to go to WuFen Pu and shopped for almost three hours.

I bought a couple of shirts. Meghan bought a ton of stuff but she still didn't spend very much money. That's the great thing about shopping in Taiwan.

Then we headed to Sashi Miya. I've been dreaming of going to this place ever since I found it on this girl's blog. It was so good to have real sushi again.

Also, they were super nice. The guy was concerned about us not having umbrella's (we had been walking around the the rain all day with our hoodies on and just trying to stay under the awnings). He offered to give us umbrellas.

"You don't have to bring them back," he said.

He got distracted but it was for the best because I would have felt bad just taking these umbrellas.

Then we headed over to Longshan Temple. It was beautiful.

Honestly, I see temples all of the time, but I haven't actually gone inside one. I'm always nervous and I kind of felt like it's disrespectful. But we were welcomed in (via umbrella) and we just walked around and took pictures of everything.

I wish I had thought to take video of the people in the temple but all I could think about was wanting to take a picture and how that would definitely be disruptive with the flash and all.

It was absolutely gorgeous though. I love temples because despite the fact that many of them are super old, they still look shiny and new because they're so well taken care of.

After Longshan, we took a walk over to Snake Alley. It was anti-climactic though.

It was pretty empty because of the rain (actually one guy who gave us directions said that it would be because of the typhong, or typhoon) and so there weren't any snake handlers out. We hoping it will be clear out when we get back from The Philippines so we can go back.

Meghan will have one more night and a morning in Taiwan when we get back, so hopefully we can do Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum then. 

Until then, we will be in The Philippines starting tomorrow until Sunday. I'm not sure how the Internet connection will be there. Hopefully we will have access so I can update now and then.

I'm considering doing an individual post about each place we went during this vacation so I can put up pictures and give historical background and suggestions on visiting. We will see how that works out.

Cross your fingers that we actually get some sun in The Philippines and stupid Tropical Storm Parma leave Bohol alone. My skin could definitely use some sun!