Highway to Hell. ~

Huang Shui Tou, or Hell Valley is one of Taiwan's most famous hot springs located in Taipei. Located next to an oceanic trench and volcanic system in a tectonic collision zone, Taiwan has evolved a unique environment that produces high-temperature springs with crystal-clear water, usually both clean and safe to drink.

After a long bus ride we reached the hot springs, and omg.. it was beautiful but the sulphur rich water smelt like rotting eggs! Speaking of eggs, the water is so hot that some of the Taiwanese would come here to boil their eggs.

At 100+C, the water is very dangerous and many people have fallen in while cooking their eggs! (Hence the name Hell's Valley) We bought our from someone who has many years of experience boiling eggs. Other then the brown spots on the shell, our egg tasted like any other boiled egg, but apparently it improves your health?

The locals collect down stream from hells valley to soak in the cooling water. It is believed that the sulphur in the water helps with arthritis and revitalizes the skin.

Scary Snake Market.~

This was defiantly the worst part of my trip so far. We visited a night market with all of these horrible snakes! I hate hate hate snakes. This was an albino boa and it was alive!!! I cant believe Joey made me go here!

This appeal ling meal consists of shots of Snake blood, venom and venom antidote and the last one is Chinese medicine. I think the soup has snakes meat in it... mmm?

This cobra was sitting out on display! Joey had to drag me by it I was so scared =(

National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. ~

National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China.
Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese political leader and the major figure of Chinese history from 1927 to 1948. He led the Chinese Republic during World War II (1939–45) and was eventually forced from power by the Chinese Communists. After 1950 he served as president of the Republic of China on Taiwan.

We just happened to make it on time for the switching of the guards. Like the guards at Martyrs' Shrine, they stand still for hours in those very uncomfortable looking shoes.

Despite the rain, the view from the Hall was beautiful. On both sides you can see two buildings, which are the Taipei Opera house (on the left) and the house for performing arts (on the right). Much more extravagant than the Sid Williams theatre, thats for sure!

Flowing up.~

We met up with Joey's uncle again the next day and headed out further south. To get back to the seaside we had to drive through 27km of winding mountain roads. It's so scary to drive here!

We stopped part way at this huge river. Apparently people white water raft down and about 200 people stop here every day! We built a little inucshuck =)

After what felt like forever, we reached the coastline again. Our first stop was at a small bat cave with this gorgeous outlook.

We walked a little ways into the cave and climbed into a little boat. The tour guide said that the water was 2 stories deep and there were eels! Joey was brave enough to look under. The water which drips down from the roof of the cave is drank unfiltered during festivals by the aboriginals of this portion of Taiwan.

This particular section of the cave had about 100-200 bats in it. Apparently if a bat poops on you its good luck.. still I was pleased that I wasn't pooped on. The tour guide said that they have no idea how the bats fly into the cave (they have never seen any go through the main entrance) There were other sections of the cave but you would have to scuba dive under the walls so that just adds to the confusion.

Our next stop along the cost was a major tourist spot. This big rock marks the line of cancer.

After a little while we made it to Lingyan Cave, which I must mention roughly translates to "A woman's vagina" .. this turned out to be extremely exciting and hilarious for Joey and his uncle.

Keeping to the "amusing theme" we must have driven back and forth through country rodes for about 20min to find this. Its true name translates to "Umbrella Rock" but Joey's uncle wanted to show Joey how it looked like a fuzzy testicle. I'm so glad I couldn't understand a word they said!

Believe it or not, the water at this place flows up!!! It was like it was defying the laws of gravity. It took about 10min of stairing at the water to figure out how it worked. Any ideas of how water can flow up a hill?

This Place really made my day. Apparntly one of the most popular tourists sites in the southern part of Taiwan are the "cow farms"! They even had gifts shops! I'm so happy knowing that people pay to go stand at the top of this tower and watch cows.
After spending some time drinking tea (people here are so nice!-- The lady at the tea shop gave me some containers of real tea to bring back to canada) we cought the last 4 hour train back to Taipei.

Down South.~

The other day we woke up at 5 in the morning to catch the train down to Hualien. Before this I had only toured around Taipei (within the purple circle) When we reached Hualian we met up with Joeys uncle.

We drove around Hualien and saw all of the markets. In taipei they have switched to supermarkets, but in Hualien the Taiwanese buy all of their food fresh from the market. Joey's uncle kept jumping out of the car to buy random fruit for us to try. We even had fresh guava juice! yummy.

Joey's uncle had some business to deal with so he let us off at Farglory Ocean Park for a couple hours. Lucky for us it wasn't packed with tourists so we had the whole park to ourselves!

Joey loved the sea cows =) this one was a little baby!

We also went to see the dolphins! I've never seen a dolphin show before and it was amazing! The dolphins could jump like 15-20ft in the air and hit a ball!

After the show we got to meet the dolphins. This one kissed me! =D We were also allowed to feed them fish and pet them; they felt like wet rubber.

By the time we finished we were ex ousted! Thank goodness for over sized stuffed clam shells.

Next we travelled down to Shihtiping to where Joey's uncle lives. This was one of the beautiful lakes we passed by. It felt so nice to get out of the city and away from all the pollution.

We spent the night at this gorgeous hostel.

Can you believe this beautiful room was only 60$ for one night!

There was even a hot spring inside the bathroom! I was off the walls with excitement.

We finished off the evening eating lychee on the deck. If you ever get to try this fruit its worth the high price tag. =)

Lions and Tigers and Pandas, Oh my! ~

Welcome to the Taipei city zoo! Joey felt instantly right at home. We woke up early and spent the entire morning at the zoo today. Although we walked around for 4 hours we didn't even manage to see it all!

We had to walk about 3 hours before I saw my favorite animal. I had been waiting the whole time to see them so when we finally reached them I was ecstatic.
I've decided to make a quiz on animal facts! =D
so question #1: How many lbs of food does a giraffe eat a day?
A)60 lbs
b)100 lbs
c)120 lbs

If you look really close you can see this giraffes tongue sticking out. I wish you could hug giraffes =D.
Question 2: How much sleep does a Giraffe need a day?
a) 20min- 2hours a day
b) 45min- 3hours a day
c) 90min- 5hours a day

The Moon bear (or white chested bear as joey keeps pestering me to mention) was one of the most entertaining animals at the zoo. He wouldn't stand still for any pictures and kept jumping into his pool of water and playing.
Question 3: How many moon bears are estimated to left in the wild, worldwide?
a)10,000
b)15,000
c)25,000

No matter how often you seem them flamingos are always one of my favorite animals to watch. The “knee” of the flamingo is actually an ankle joint and the lower leg bends forward.
Question 4: What colour are flamingos when they are born?
a)soft pink
b)pale yellow
c)grey

This was my first time seeing a koala bear and omg! they are so cute. I wish I could have taken a better picture but the air is so murky in Taiwan. The fingerprints of Koalas are amazingly like those of human beings - enough to be confused with our own!
Question 5: At birth, how big are koalas?
a)1/2 to 3/4 of an inch
b)2 inches
c)3 inches

The Siamangs were so loud! We couldn't hear each other when we were walking by because the territorial siamangs were performing their daily singing rituals to warn off other families.
Question 6: On average, how long do adult siamangs groom each day?
a)15min
b)1 hour
b)1 and a half hours

I had no idea how big pandas were! Averaging at 275 lbs, these cute creatures are massive!

Question 7: What is a group of pandas called?
a)A gang
b)A sloth
c)A crib

Yes I know its alot of pictures but I spent 1/5 of the day there!

This .. um, lovely creature is called a Malayan Tapir. Honestly I have no idea about this! other then they are probably from Malaysia.

* Apparantly it is an endangered giant ant eatter!
Question 8: How long is the Tapir's gestation period?
a)4-5 months
b)24-28 weeks
c)390-400 days

Here's a leopard! I wasn't able to get a very good shot because he was rubbing his head against the log for the entire time!
Question 9: What is the average lifespan of a leopard?
a)20 years
b)45 years
3)50 years

Here of course is the rare amphibian called a "joeseph." We were lucky enough to catch him giving birth!
Question 10: How long did it take this Joseph to pop the egg out?
a)Enough time for the egg to start hatching
b)Long enough to block off the toilet for an irritating amount of time.. as usual.
c)Who cares! He just gave birth to a pink turtle!

Sadly we didn't get to see any live dragonflies but there were all these dead/preserved ones. If it wernt dead it would be able to beat its wings about 30 times per second. This particular one was about 4 inches from head to tip!
Question 11: Dragonfly eyes contain up to ____ individual lenses.
a)25,000
b)30,000
c)50,000

I never realised how much taller joey is than me. =(

Oh no! I cant remember the names of these cute little monkeys!
Question 12: What is the name of these sleepy little monkeys?

This moth was HUGE!

Here of course is the Orangutan! Orangutans are actually omnivores since they may sometimes eat birds and small mammals but they are mostly herbivores.
Question 13: What does Orangutan mean?
a)Deaf old Man
b)Harry man
c)Man of the Forrest

Joey showed me that if you lick the tip of your finger and put it infront of a butterfly it will crawl onto your finger. It tickled! =)

Although you cant see him very well this is a red panda. I wish he hadnt been sleeping but I guess you can only expect so much. They have an extended bone which is like a “thumb.”
Question 14: How much does a red panda weigh?
a)a medium sized bowling ball
b)the average 2 year old boy
c)4 gallons of water

Tiger! Rawr! The roar of a tiger can be heard from over a mile away!
Question 15: An adult male tiger in the wild requires around ___ of meat a month
a)150kg
b)200kg
c)250kg

We also saw some hippos, but none of my pictures of them were as good as this one. Hippos have glands that secrete a pink liquid on their skin that acts like sun screen in the African heat and as well as an anti-septic against cuts and scrapes.

Penguins! I cant believe they are actually allowed to keep these in Taiwan. The building they were kept in was freezing! I loved these cute little things, too bad we had to go and I didnt have a long time to look at them.

Two antelope started fighting! It was so cool! their horns made this huge cracking noice. It didnt last very long though because the smaller one was too scared =(

Ive never seen an elephant before! We watched a pair of them for awhile and they were swaying back and forth at the same time. It was like they were dancing. Tusks grow for most of an elephant's lifetime and are an indicator of age.

This butterfly was amazing! The outside of his wings makes him look like he would blend into anything, but when he opened his wings it was the most beautiful indigo colour.

Although I was exousted by the end, the Taipei zoo was deffiantly one of my favorite places we have visted so far. Bye Bye Moon bear!

answers:
1.c
2.a
3.c
4.c
5.b
6.a
7.b
8.c
9.a
10.a/b/c
11.b
12.??? You tell me!
13.c
14.a
15.a