How many times can I go to Danshui in one month?

So Saturday turned out to be a ridiculously long day.

I went to bed pretty early (relatively) Friday night but I just could not sleep. At one point around 3 a.m. I decided that I would just pull an all-nighter and I spent the next two hours talking to friends back home and looking up information on internships and TEFL.

Around 5 a.m. I decided that maybe a little bit of sleep is better than none at all so I went back at for another attempt.

It failed.

Finally 7:30 a.m. rolled around and I hadn't slept a week.

Long day indeed.

My first class I was a bit groggy and found it a bit difficult to form sentences. This is generally not a great performance for an English teacher. I perked up a bit in my second class. I like the kids in there. They're a bit more enthusiastic than my first class.

During my break I made an appointment to go get my haircut and then I hung out at home. I debated a nap and decided that if I didn't keep going full-steam ahead that I would probably lose all my momentum

It's a good thing I made that decision.

My Saturday afternoon classes are pretty rambunctious and I only barely got through them with enough energy. Luckily, they have pretty good English and they're a pretty entertaining bunch. This put me in a pretty good mood.

After the third class I decided I wasn't going to let myself go to sleep before 9 p.m. because I need to regulate my sleep pattern. So instead of going straight home and passing out after class I went to Carrefour for some dinner and then Starbucks for some passion fruit tea.

I studied Chinese for a whole hour and a half.

But it worked. When I got home I was exhausted (brain and body). I took a super hot shower and passed out in my wonderful air-conditioned bedroom. I woke up quite easily at 9:30 a.m. today. After stretching and taking my time to actually get out of bed I quickly got ready and the roommates and I headed over to the dorm.

I grabbed some good ol' dan bing for breakfast (dan bing is probably my favorite thing ever) and then we and a couple others from the dorm headed to Taipei.

A few weeks ago the plan was that we were going to rent bicycles and ride around the city taking pictures. About 15 people were interested.

Somehow the plan evolved into going somewhere random in the city and breaking up and taking pictures. My camera battery turned out to be dead. (How does one own two camera batteries and BOTH are dead?)

The concept is cool but I personally don't think it worked out as well as we had imagined. I think that might have been because we were all still a little tired and maybe we didn't pick the best location. Research would go a long way in this department, but then I suppose it would also defeat the purpose.

After failing to find anything particularly interesting at Tian Mu (I did talk to a tattoo artist in Chinese) we went over to the Shilin Night Market. It's huge but it was still pretty early so it wasn't very crowded. I found a few things that I liked but I'm such a wuss that I didn't buy any of the dresses.

I did, however, buy two scarves that claim to be 100 percent Pashmina. I sort of doubt this considering I only paid $100NT for it (ahem, $3USD for Pashmina!?!?). They're still quite pretty, though, whether they're Pashmina or not.

After traipsing around Shilin, Katie, Tess and Deena decided they were ready to head back to Taoyuan but Dawn and I weren't quite ready yet so we headed up to Danshui.

I know what you're thinking, how many times can I go to Danshui in one month?

But it is a really nice place and I like it. And we were already halfway there as far as where we were on the MRT line. It only made sense.

Besides, the best Mexican restaurant in all of Taipei is there. How can you NOT go to Danshui?

I promise I will branch out and go somewhere else.

Now, only six days until Meghan arrives in Taiwan. I can't WAIT to see my Meghan again! I also can't wait to be on vacation. Yay!

But, with Meghan here, and only having a few days in Taiwan, I have to take her around and show her as many places as I can. I'm planning a day at the hot springs (probably Beitou, but maybe Xiao Wulai) and a whole Taipei day where we do the usual touristy things (101, Wu Fen Pu, etc).

Then it's off to The Philippines for five whole days! I can't wait.

Did that sign say Little People Country?

Today was an absolutely glorious day. We definitely made the best of our only day off.

I slept in but not too late. Then, after a quick trip to Carrefour and waiting to get everyone together, a huge group of us motor-packed to Xiao Wulai, which means "small beautiful place." There's a larger waterfall just called "Wulai".

It was such a beautiful drive. Hot though.

I had an exciting "Hey, I could read that," moment. As we were turning onto the road that goes up the mountain, I saw a sign in Chinese that said "Xiao Ren Guo," which means "Little People Country." I later found out there is a place up there that is basically a model diagram of Taoyuan, little people and all.


After getting there covered in sweat, we were met with this beautiful view.


We hiked down to the base of the waterfall and went swimming in the little water hole that's formed by all of the rocks.


It was a little cold at first but we adjusted very quickly. Next thing I knew, we had been in the water for almost an hour and a half.


We spent the next hour and a half just laying around on the rocks, listening to the water and chatting. It was so relaxing.

The only bad part about today was the fact that we were on scooters. A long drive on the back of a scooter (I was on Tess') is so exhausting. My legs hurt so much because I just kept clenching all the muscles in my abs and my legs.

Great two-hour workout though.


And especially with a view like this.

After we got back and all cleaned up, Megan, Tess and I went for a foot massage. They actually spend liek 10-15 minutes on your neck and shoulders and then the rest of the time on your feet and legs. It was a shiatsu massage.

It hurt.

The guy doing my massage found this really bad knot in my left shoulder and harped on that for a good five minutes. I don't really think it did much for it. Then while we was massaging my feet he would dig in now and then to see how it felt.

Apparently foreigners have a lower tolerance for pain. After that massage, I believe that's true because all the other people in the massage place weren't even flinching when they dug into their feet with their boney knuckles.

It was also really funny because at the end of the massage they put a towel over your leg, pull up your leg, put it in their lap and then beat on it like a drum. It sounds like this crazy music because they actually do it with a lot of rhythm.

It was a really "That's so Asia" experience, but I feel so much better now.