Stone, Wind and Water on the North Coast

 As Spring Festival 春節 (Lunar New Year) approached we were left without a "family home" to return to so we made plans to visit the beautiful natural earth that is our planetary home.  One spot that stands out on the island of Taiwan is its sandstone northern coast with calcium carbonate formations that look like a moonscape, or to an Iowa forager, giant morels.  Here's a sample as you enter the park, enough to feed 500, I'd say.  

and here they are in their more natural context.  

This "geopark", recognized as a unique and protected world heritage site by UNESCO (UN Education Science and Cultural Organization), is actually a peninsula jutting out on the northern most coast of Taiwan, an hour ride by bus from the center of Taipei, the capital city.

  

The piece de resistance is the Queen's Head which not only appears on every promotion for the park (and nearby village) has it's very own boardwalk approach and photo shoot queue!

But, on this visit the Princess won Miss Photogenic. 

Many of you are familiar with the term Fengshui (風水) which refers to a balance of design in art and architecture rooted in natural shapes and structures.  In this place formed by wind (風) and salt water (水) the emergence of unimaginable stone forms gave us a feeling of wonder and awe as we walked among these sculptures, alien and extraterrestrial, and yet a place we still find ourselves.

Hiking the Hills of New Bamboo

While most of the Taiwan we see on a daily basis is city, we do manage to get out into nearby rice / vegetable fields on our bikes regularly and enjoy the feeling of our typical rural lives in the US.  This winter holiday however afforded us time and energy to venture further afield into the nearby hills to the east.  We had to take a bus to the trailhead / visitor center and then enjoyed a rigorous walk along a mostly paved path up one of the sacred mountains of the island, Lion's Head Mountain.

 

Hamming it up as Hakka farmers at the LHM visitor center.

 Jenny peering out from a shallow cave called the "lion's tail" which had greenery hanging over the edge like hair.

 

Soleil and Jenny reach the height of land after a steep climb and enjoy an "us"ie at a tall stand of bamboo.

Soleil had her eye on blooming plants throughout the hike and we kept reminding ourselves that it was February!

We took a shorter circle hike on a Friday afternoon but noticed that the trail map offered longer hikes up and over the top to a temple village.  So on Monday morning we returned for the full trip up and over.  We were delighted by the sights from the other side looking down into the next county south of Hsinchu (New Bamboo) called Miaoli (Chestnut Sprouts).

The temple pillars are carved from a seeming singular stone.

  Life sized cranes bathed in a waterfall surrounded by trees, both real and sculpted.

The views alone were worth the 3 mile walk, but of course there was much more to be enjoyed.  As you may have read in a previous post, kumquats from our friend Joyce have been our winter food challenge. Here was the final kumquat bite and we are converts.  Try one!

Finally the Huangs were over the mountain and celebrating with the lions at the gate.  A bus from a tiny village at the foot of the mountain took us back to a station where we caught the local train back to Hsinchu and our neighborhood where our bikes were waiting to take us home again.

 

Jenny spun the prayer wheels for good luck and we headed home.

Kumquats

Soleil and I are half way through a Ten-day Kumquat Challenge. We were recently gifted a generous supply of these cute little orange fruits. I'd tried them before but never enjoyed them. They are bitter, sour, and sweet all at once. Day one, according to Soleil, "Weird. It's weird eating the peel. The inside has too much fiber. Sometimes they taste like lemons."

So as I wondered what to do with our new piles of kumquat gold I searched the web for ideas and read that they are an acquired taste and that if you eat one a day for ten days you'll end up loving them. Apparently they are good for your health with vitamin C and antioxidants and all. Some days I have two in a day, so I can call myself an overachiever. 

I'm not addicted yet but Soleil is already worrying about how she'll survive when we run out.

I made some muffins with kumquats, yogurt and tiny chocolate chips. Eater one said, "Sensational!" Another eater said, "You could sell these at a café." The third eater said, "I'll have to make these again." There was no fourth eater. The muffins were all gone in a flash. 

So the muffins were a grand success. But the best I can say for the fruit itself (without added sugar and chocolate) is, "I don't hate them anymore." Five days to go.

Jenny

Kumquat Update

We ran out of kumquats around day eight. Blame that second batch of muffins, with ginger instead of chocolate. So we didn't get in the full ten days. But after a week without a single kumquat we bought some at the fruit store and are back on track. It's also pineapple season and we've consumed at least three of those recently. Tonight we had homemade carrot pineapple cake to celebrate Greg's birthday. Taiwan is a great place if you like fruit.

寒假! Winter Break!

 A little over a week ago we started winter break. This break is almost a month long, so it makes up for Christmas and February break that we don't have in Taiwan. So far it's been pretty relaxing with not a ton on our plates, which is very different from the many rehearsals and appointments that we usually have during vacation. 

One of our tasks is to find a violin and/or cello to rent for the next semester. Both me and my mom have missed playing our instruments, so we have visited a couple of music shops and tried out some instruments. We also recently got a piano! We are borrowing it from our church pianist's friend. It's an old short little four octave synthesizer that doesn't sound like a piano, but I shouldn't be too picky. It was FREE! 

Violins we tried at a string instrument shop.

I've been spending my days slowly chipping away at my homework. My assignment for P.E. class is to keep track of when I exercise. Bob and I have gone to the park to play basketball a couple times this week, and I sometimes go for a walk around the baseball field near our house. For my science homework I have to memorize the periodic table in Chinese, and the elements' scientific symbols.

A few days ago we went to Big City, a mall in Hsinchu city, with the hope of going ice skating, but unfortunately the rink turned out to be very small and for children on a team. 😭 So instead I ate a lemon custard thing and mom and Bob ate one that looked like quiche. Because it was a Friday (and we get boba every Friday) later we got boba from a place we hadn't tried before called "Cha Time". Mine was yummy!

Lemon custard and quiche thingys.

Mango QQ Pearl Boba. (QQ means chewy in Taiwan)

Plastic food at Big City.

Last weekend we invited some friends over for lunch. Mom made lasagna for the main course, Bob made garlic bread, and I made homemade bubble tea! Our guests brought bubble tea and cheesecake too, so there was plenty of food to go around. After lunch there was a scavenger hunt that Bob set up and along the way we found chocolates. The final prize was a 紅包 red envelope with money inside! It is a tradition for Chinese new year that adults people give money to children. I like that tradition, although I probably won't as much when I get older.

Mom's homemade lasagna.

As for the rest of vacation, we might go stay in Hualien for a couple days of getaway, and/or go explore Taipei. Happy Chinese New Year, the year of the Ox! 新年快樂！恭喜發財！

~Soleil Huang-Dale

Happy Holidays!

Here are some highlights from our recent (non) Holidays. We did not get any days off school for Christmas. We did get a welcome New Years Day off which made a 3-day weekend. But we were very fortunate to have some celebratory events for the season to keep us in a holiday mood. Here are some of the highlights.  More video footage on a post to follow.

Christmas consumerism!  Alive and well at the Big City Mall.

A spirit filled tale of birth and wonder from our church pastor.

Another tree blooming in season - the Camelia (tea flower) bush!

The 8th graders decorated our courtyard tree with poinsettias and streamers.  They got the shape right.

If we can't enjoy the Maine words we can recreate it at home!

Students gather in the athletic center for a Christmas morning celebration!

The principal greeted the school in his wizard cape and hat

 while visions of Santas danced all around him.

The sun was shining, students gathered for games and prizes.  

And the entire staff were gifted a special Christmas mask!