Days 3 and 4

Day 3:

Haha, I feel like such a tourist…

We woke up at 6 this morning. SO EARLY O__O. Today, we went to many different tourist attractions, but gotta admit, it wasn’t really fun. I feel really bad for our tour guides because no one listens to them. Lol.

First Destination: Taiwan Glass Gallery. We got to see many things made out of glass, kind of cool I guess.

A path of sand that has glass over it. 

Glass Taipei 101

Second Destination: Lugang Mazu Temple. It was so hot today. Super humid. And what made it worse was that we had to walk to the temple and walk around. Luckily though, I was saved from walking….more on that later though. At the temple we watched a Neon Techno Gods Dance…it was so weird O__O. Ladies dressed up in these big costumes danced to this happy techno song. Only in Taiwan….After the performance we were supposed to walk around the temple and then walk to lunch.

However, the bug bites I got the day before swelled up to the size of a baseball. My bug bite next to my knee looked like a second knee. LOL. So I got sent to the doctors and he just gave me pills and this special cream. After the doctor’s the people didn’t send me back to the temple but instead brought me to the restaurant to wait an hour and a half, by myself. Haha. It was so awkward. But when my group came I was glad I wasn’t send back. They had to walk in the blistering sun for two hours and to the restaurant. Everyone looked like they were about to pass out and were sweating balls.

look at the size of that!

Third Destination: Shueili Snake Kiln. The bus ride was very long since we were driving up the mountain. Unfortunately, it was raining when we went. Actually, raining is an understatement,. It was POURING. We had to wear these yellow ponchos and walk in the rain to the pottery place. My shoes got soaked…whenever I walked, my shoes would squeak. Haha. The one day I decide to wear sneakers, it had to pour rain….it was definitely very uncomfortable. At the kiln, we got to make our own pottery and stuff. It’s not as easy as it looks…I was making a mug but it got too hard, so I just made a plate. LOL. Not very ambitious. *no pictures because it was raining too hard to take the camera out. Plus, I had to wear a poncho and couldn't even get the camera out of my bag.*

Today wasn’t a very eventful day. Most of the time we just sat on the bus and drove to our next destination. However, my group had a very good bonding time on the bus rides. We overtook the back of the bus and just left one seat open in between people. We would then call up our counselors and question them about their love lives. Haha. It was a very fun time.

Day 4:

Yet again, we woke up super early again. It’s good that I’m jetlagged, but I will soon be dying of sleep.
Currently, we are in Xitou, a place within the mountains of Taiwan. It’s much cooler than the rest of Taiwan, since we are on a mountain, but still very warm. I guess I can’t escape this heat!

After breakfast, we were taught how to make a bamboo basket. I have realized, I don’t have much patience for DIY crafts, especially if I’m not good at it. Haha. My basket was so messed up though that the instructor had to fix it for me, but then she couldn’t even fix it. Haha. I only have pictures of it because I just threw it away. Haha. I “accidently” left it somewhere. :D

finished product before it fell apart. haha

I gotta say, the last couple of days weren’t as eventful as the previous days. But it’s also because we’re all so tired.

After lunch, we got to tour a oolong tea factory, one of Taiwan’s famous teas, Dongpo Tea, and taste tea and learn how to make tea. Never knew it took a long time to made tea. Always just though it was just dried leaves, but there is so much to it. Props to tea makers. Then we headed to the National Fonghuanggu Bird Park, but it wasn’t that interesting because the birds we saw, were all birds I have seen at the San Diego Zoo. So many people were like “OMG a parrot!” haha but I’ve seen plenty of those to not even take a second look at them. Haha. It started raining again, but luckily, we were going back to the hotel for dinner.

look I'm a tea picker!

I'm making tea!

UGH, the dinners they provide for us all so…unpleasant…haha. We’ve eaten pig blood or pig feet at almost every meal. Only breakfast is the best meal. I should’ve gone to the vegetarian table since I only eat vegetables at my table anyway.  After dinner, and still hungry, I went to Hi-Life downstairs and bought a tea egg. SO MUCH BETTER THAN DINNER. Later though, 300 were put into a room, and we were forced to have a random rave. LOL. We played these Asian games and then randomly they pulled out glow sticks and turned off the lights. People were going crazy….it was really strange. I mean, I’m all up for fun, but this was plain weird. Haha. Thankfully, it was only an hour and then we just headed back to our rooms afterwards.

Hehe. As a group, we stole our counselor’s shirt and wrote little notes on the back and then hide it back in his room. It was good idea, but his short was wet when we stole it. Haha. We had to blowdry his shirt, but it was unsuccessful. Most of the notes we wrote bleed so it was just black blobs on his shirt. Oh well…haha

**I'm still in the process of writing the other days. I've just been so busy I haven't had time to sit down and write stuff out. Hopefully I remember stuff still! lol. Pictures will be updated soon as well!**