Botanical Gardens in Taichung

Not Last Saturday
But the one before that

(thats July 30th, just so you know)

The Teachers of Berhan spent the day in the city of Taichung.

Because we all are Adventurous People,

We, of course, had a marvelous time.

Taichung is just a cool city!

Or maybe it's just that I think every city is cool...

I'm not sure...
But anyway,

There are so many neat things to be found!

So first, we went to the Botanical Gardens.

Really the best way to describe this is through pictures,

so I'll let them do the talking -

This is what was in the gift shop area in the lower level of the Gardens -

I wanted my picture with this suave gentleman,
but no one was around...

Don't you love his face?
It's one that is becoming quite familiar to me...
That look of dumb amazement and utter disbelief...

Another fancy frog guy.
These guys were here, I'm assuming because they had a tank of frogs down there.
I did not take pictures of it
because it would have been pointless.
All of the frogs were hiding.
Lame.

Ok, so these things were in the little gift shop they had underneath the Botanical Gardens

and I just HAD to take a picture

because I thought they were the neatest thing!

It's a postcard that you send,

but it has fabric on the front

that the recipient of the postcard can cut out

and make a tiny stuffed animal from!

Adorable.

Aren't they?

This one was definitely one of my favorites -

Also underneath the Gardens,

we were able to see into the ponds that are above.

So cool.

I've kind of decided I love to watch fish.

Weird?

Maybe, but you try it sometime

 and tell me it isn't just a little bit mesmerizing.

Do you SEE that monstrous fish??
Just in case you do not, here are some more pictures -

At one point one of these guys...
I don't know, breathed or something!
But anyway, it's gills opened up
And it's mouth was gaping
And I'm pretty sure I could see it's brain.
It was disgusting.
But really cool, too!
I spent about twenty minutes stalking it with my camera after that,
hoping I could get a picture of it doing that.
But, of course,
there was no repeat performance.

After the Botanical Gardens,
some people went to the Science Museum,
but those of us who felt like our brains couldn't handle the influx of information on that particular day decided instead to take a walk around the city.
First, though, we went and explored what I assume to be the outside portion of the Gardens,
which was filled with a bunch of pathways, waterfalls, streams...
It was like a semi-tamed jungle or something...
Or maybe like some ancient ruins that have begun to be overrun by the jungle...
Either way it was neat!

The largest bit of grass I've seen in Taiwan...

A view of the Botanical Gardens from afar off

We hiked up these steps to find what we assumed was a giant sundial (to be seen in a moment)
I couldn't figure out how it would work though...
So maybe it was just a cool design.

Our friend, the speedster Caterpillar...
This little guy could book it!

See the design/sundial?
Any ideas how it could possibly work as a sundial?

I love just walking around these cities,
because around every corner there are interesting, picture-worthy things to be found.
Like this house, for example!
Stuck between a bunch of dreary apartment/office buildings,
but it's just...
Unique.
Interesting.
Note-worthy.
Hence it's appearance here!

This is in honor of all those who enjoy and appreciate the beauty that is Bollywood.
I'm going there one of these days.
It will happen.

And, of course!
We MUST take a picture of the Chinese McDonalds...
It's just so...
Alien. ;)

 On our way back to the science museum to meet up with the rest of our group,
We were accosted by a guy sitting behind some little stand on the road.
Not that uncommon, actually,
but for some reason this time we decided to chat a bit more than usual.
Possibly because he obviously spoke English fluently
rather than the normal
"Hello!", "How are you?", "Beautiful!"
limitation that many here seem to have.
Anyway
This guy wanted to know how long we had been in Taiwan, if we knew any Chinese, etc.
Normal questions.
Then, he wanted to know if we wanted a drink.
I honestly was thinking,
"Ya know, it's hot out here, why not?"
Even as the other girls were telling him no thanks.
Luckily they spoke before I did,
because his next question was
"Oh, come on! Just one beer?"
Yep.
First alcohol offer in Taiwan!
How exciting!
Luckily, we were able to get away still sober...

After our group was reunited
we headed to our next stop, which happened to be....
Costco!
Oh joy!
Actually, for real.
That place is awesome.
Have you seen the size of the jars of Peanut Butter that they sell there?
AH!-mazing!!
Not in Chinese, so unfortunately not quite as delectable.
But still fantastic.
Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time there.

And then!
It was off to a baptism!
A lovely lady from San Fransisco was baptized into our ward.
Which was actually also a bit crazy,
because there was another baptism going on in the same [small] building at the exact same time.
As you can probably imagine,
this meant there was some bumping into each other going on.

After the baptism,
there were four of us who wanted to stay and go to the Taichung night market
(which is considerably larger -
and therefore better -
than the night market in Feng Yuan)
So we managed to convince the Relief Society President
(Jenny)
to help us with stashing our Costco spoils at the church,
And off we went!
The wonderful Lauren and Cameron Miller came along to show us a around a bit.
We actually couldn't stay very long at all
only because the last bus from Taichung to Feng Yuan leaves at 10:00 p.m.
And we finally left the church at around 8:30, maybe later.
But we were able to have a nice little stroll around,
before we raced back to get our groceries
and then back again to the bus stop.

So our bus came.
And it was completely stuffed full.
The driver let two people get on and then pulled away.
And this was at about 9:55.
So we
(Kylie, Sara, Veronica, Kaylee)
started to get a tad bit anxious, wondering if we would make it home that night or not.
Then!
We remembered that we had:
#1 - Groceries.
#2 - Church attire for the next day.
#3 - A key to the church! (Shelter)
#4 - Entertainment! (The night market)
Those realizations made us decide that it might not be that bad to not catch a bus home...
In fact, it might be kinda fun not to!
But, alas!
A bus did come.
And we did make it home.
Which I wasn't all that upset about, actually!
(Showers are brilliant!)

And look what I came home to find!

What you see above is the Fantastic Postcard

that the lovely Christina Joy Fasick

left for me on my bed.

(She said she guessed about which one to get...

Excellent choice!!)

I am not ashamed to admit that I danced wildy around my room in happiness when I found it

And then I raced to her room and did a similar

(but hopefully less embarrassing)

dance while thanking her for the best postcard I have ever received!

I wanted to start making my little elephant right then,

but luckily I have a wise roommate

(Kendra Kimber)

who was able to remind me of my priorities.

(a talk in church the next day that I hadn't actually started yet)

I hope I have adventures like this every Saturday.

P.S. - My pink elephant is not finished yet,
but you can bet that when it is there will be pictures of it up!