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We've been cruising the west coast of Taiwan the last couple of weeks (almost), and the first stop was Taipei. Paula had made a full schedule for us, but we didn't have time for everything. What we did do was to visit Taipei 101, the worlds second highest building (508 m), then we met Sara who took us to a Japanese restaurant and to visit the night market. The day after we went to the Flora Expo and looked at some nice flowers, before going to a hot spring. As norwegians we immediately picture a hot spring as the one we've seen on pictures from Iceland, so you might imagine we were i bit surprised when we saw a bath tub! After a "refreshing" bath, (eg. we almost died from the heat, and couldn't stay longer than 10-15min), we went to eat some delisious food with Sara.
The next day we got on a train to go and visit Kaohsiung, Vernas home town (another german-friend of Kine). On Saturday after meeting up with Paula, Verna and Vernas boyfriend, (and findig our favourite breakfast place) we rented some bikes and took a ferry to an island. Then we biked for the whole day and visited a beach, a fort, the light house, sea food restaurant where we ate baby octupus for the first time, and took loads of photos. When the day was over we were exhausted and more red than a overcooked lobster! (sun screen? Never heard of..). The day after we went to some beautiful Taiwanese temples, ate great food at a japanese market, and hit the night market (once again). Lone and Ingebjoerg stayed the longest, and Lone came back with several pairs of shoes. (at the end of our stay in Taiwan she had 10 pairs in her back pack, and one on her feet!;)
After being left alone again (our taiwanese friends had to go back to work), we went to the dentist. Tina had to remove her last two wisdom teeth. When that was over and done with we got on a bus and went to the south coast, and a beach town called Kenting. There we checked in to a luxury hotel (ok, so most places would probably be luxury compared to the places we've stayed in so far, but this was NICE), and hit the market (yes, again). Tina stayed at our swee-eet hotel cus she wasn't feeling too good after the tooth surgery, but the three other amigas brought McFlurry when they came back, and enjoyed the rest of the night!
Finally we were going to relax on the beach, but first we needed sun screen, but since the Taiwanese, unlike(!) us, don't want to get tanned they only had spf 30 and more. So we asked a guy there if he had spf 20: "yes." We looked (a little confused) at the different kinds, and then asked where it was: "yes." he said. And we laughed, and thanked him for his help. (Then we found 25)
After being attacked by sand, we had to escape from the beach after just a little while under the sun. Therefore we went to another beach the day after, and stayed for a few hours. Finally some sun on our white bodies (even with a quite high spf).
Because Tina got an infection around where she had operated her teeth, we (Tina and Kine) went to the next town to check it out. After the first dentist office being close we got to a hospital where a nurse helped us arrange an appointment. But while waiting for Tinas turn another doctor came and yelled at us saying that this wasn't a dentist and that we should go somewhere else! And so we did: all the way back to Kaohsioung (picked up Lone and Inka at the hotel). So we left Kenting one day earlier, but Tinas infection got better and we also got to eat some typical taiwanese ice cream again (went back to a place where Verna and Paula had taken us) so we were all very happy :)
On Friday we went to Taichung, where Paula works and nearby Saras hometown. So we met them both there. After eating we and Paula and a friend of Paula went bowling! Which was a lot of fun, especially when Tina threw the bowling ball the wrong way and almost sent the rest of her team to the hospital! (ok, not that bad, but after being with Ingebjoerg Lund a while we have learned how you should tell a story). Anyways.. Tina got her revenge when playing basketball where she beat all the other girls.
When Sara arrived (late in the evening) she informed us that we had to get up really early (6AM!!) the next day.. but it was past 8 before we rolled out of the hotel in our rental car and headed for the mountain. A beautiful day, a little foggy though (but that just made the pictures even better), where we walked a lot and had some fun on the playground. In the evening Sara picked up another friend and we all went to a Japanese restaurant and ate Sukiaky, and we could eat as much as we wanted: we ate more! Almost a week later and we're still stuffed!! It was "mmmmmmmmm" (which is the chinese word for tasty).
On Sunday we went back to Paulas hometown, and her family. They received us with a delicious home cooked meal (ok, we got hungry again). In the evening four Norwegian girls went back to school: Written Chinese class. We wrote some different kinds of chinese signs with a typical writing-brush(?), and then the exam was on a red parchment. It actually turned out quite good! After the lessen Mom- and Dad Hsu gave us a some traditional Taiwanese tea that we could bring back to Norway. Really sweet of them. We gave them a picture frame with us and some of the Hsu family that where at Grandma' Hsu's place on Tomb Day.
Then it was time to say goodbye. Really sad to leave Taiwan. We really had a great time and it was so great to get to know Paulas family and to see Paula, Sara and Verna again (or for the first time..!). Thank you for showing us around and making our stay so great. When you come to Norway we'll return the favor :)
Best wishes!
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Kine En annen side av historien: http://blogs.kilroy.no/iblo/blog/taiwan/hsinchu