A picture is worth a thousand words...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I believe that some pictures need the words that go along with them. Here is the story: Our branch took a temple trip to Taipei and decided to take a trip to the Jade and Flower markets. While meandering through the flower market, I was taking dozens of pictures- esp. the orchids, which are my new favorite flower. I came upon one vendor that had some particularly beautiful orchids that cascaded down in a line. I took out my trusty camera and began to take a picture of said beautiful orchids when I was descended upon by a cute old Taiwanese man- the apparent owner of the flowers. He started to point at the orchid and said beautiful- then he pointed at me and said beautiful- then noticed that Lindsay and Wendy had walked up- and pointed at them and said beautiful. He then pointed at his cheek repeatedly while saying friends father, friends father. He then grabbed my arm and pulled all three of us over, took my camera from me, and took a picture of us. He then pulled Lindsay and Wendy out and took a picture of me- and proceeded to do individual shots of them as well. Then he grabbed some random Taiwanese person watching all of this and told him to take a picture of the four of us. He also grabbed his camera out of his bag and had the man take another of the four of us. While all of this was happening, he continued to repeat what may have been the only English words- and I also noted that we had gathered a small crowd that was watching and laughing a bit. Once the photo shoot was over, he grabbed Lindsay by the face and kissed her on the cheek. He then proceeded to kiss Wendy and myself on the cheek. It was one of the most random and funny things that has happened to me so far, and I enjoyed every bewildering minute of it. I was laughing out loud by the end, as were those who had stopped to watch. I love cute little Taiwanese men!


Flowers from the flower market! Loved it

I thought this picture was pretty sweet! The flowers are reflected in the plastic they are wrapped in.

I LOVE orchids!


Craziness of the Jade market!

Hair Wonderland

Yesterday I decided that enough was enough and my hair really needed a trim. I had Fenny write down what I wanted done in Chinese and took off to find her hair salon. (I didn't want to end up with a stylized mullet!) I get there- and the girl is so sweet and imediately begins to work on my hair. As you sit in the seat- you have your own personal TV and many channels to chose from- I watched part of Operation Dumbo Drop! Then- when they are FINISHED cutting your hair- they take you back to wash it. The chair you sit in is not like the uncomfortable ones back home- but a nice reclining chair that you are practically laying straight on- and then she laid a full length towel over my body- which was lovely because it was rather cold. She then proceeded to wash my hair twice- and this was accompanied by a 10 minute scalp massage. When she was done with that- which was heavenly- she then put a hot towel over my head- followed later by a cold towel- and then she styled my hair. This cost about 8 US dollars. Overall- a fantastic experience! Good one Taiwan hair salons- I salute you!

Taipei Zoo

On Saturday a group of 9 teachers went to the Taipei Zoo for Wendy's birthday. I have been to quite a few zoos in my day- and I do believe that the Taipei Zoo takes the cake for the most beautiful I have ever been to. It is nestled back in a little valley of Taipei- and it is so green and lush that you almost feel as if you are in the jungle, seeing the animals in their natural habitats. I really enjoyed my time there and intend to visit once more before I leave. We also went to a huge ferris wheel to see the view of Taipei. Here are a few pictures that captured the experience!

This is a picture of all the girls at this huge sign we found by the ferris wheel. We all crammed ourselves inside the holes- not the most comfortable pose- but funny!


Here is the ferris wheel we went up in to see Taipei at night!

Shannon and I inside the ferris wheel!

Sweet sculpture in front of the Zoo. We had just finished and I think I felt my cat like instincts kicking in! Rrrrrr baby!

All of us gals gettin our native on!

This gorilla means business!

There were at least 10 Hippos that I could count in these two pens- and they were really active and play-fighting. It was the COOLEST thing I have ever seen. They kept making loud grunting noises- but of course stopped as soon as I had my video going!

I just really liked all the big leaves- and this one was small compared to some we found! I guess I know how Adam and Eve did it now!

Ahhh...my favorite animal- the mighty elephant! Here I come my babies in Thailand!


This is a great example of what is surrounding the zoo. It felt like a jungle! Really beautiful landscape all around the zoo.

There were orchids hanging everywhere all over the zoo!



We came around the corner and this is one side of the zoo! Just BREATHTAKING! haha.

Of course it wouldn't be Taiwan without some reference to poop- so here you go- poop art!


The inside of this Ginormous poo is smaller than it looks! Pretty amazing that we all got in there! Side note: I don't think I have had a Taiwan post yet that doesn't reference poo in some way. I guess they really find it amusing over here. But who doesn't love a good poop joke- Lets be honest!

Embracing our animal instincts!