TAIWAN. Fish and Scooters.

We are at Hong Kong airport again, about to fly to Istanbul via Frankfurt.

We arrived in Taiwan on Monday and I feel like we haven't stopped eating all week. We stayed with Byrdie's friend Judy and family in Tainan. The first night we went to an amazing buffet restaurant - with all different types of seafood cooked in all different styles. I had salmon, mussels, roasted squid, other whole little fish, scallops... and more. The desserts looked and tasted devine. What a great start to Taiwan.

The second day we did a long drive to Taipei, stopping to have fresh coconut juice, funny looking nut/fruit things and soaked eggs, and stopping to buy ice for Judy's leg rash, which she applys 5 different creams too (one that she found in an un-named pottle. We spent a little too long at a large aquarium. Judy was recording bits and pieces on her new video camera. That night we went to the night markets and had whole spicy BBQ squid, toffee strawberries and a boil up of various bits and pieces... (it's all about the food I'm telling ya!)... Byrdie bought a hat with a very large peak. She won a cute soft toy pig on one of the games and said she'd give it to Judy. But she got attached to it and 'accidently forgot' to leave it behind. so now we have a pig as well as duckie (and this is Byrdie who is absolutely pandantic about weight of luggage/no extras etc). Stayed at a very cheap, but nice hostel. Judy and her mum went to emergency doctors at 2am as she was very itchy with rash. and then they slept in the car cos she was worried it was the sheets causing it...

We got dropped off at Keating Park. Judy was worried about nastly leg rash and didn't want to expose it to too much UV, so they went shopping/ice applying/sleeping. We were told that it was the wrong season for butterflys, but still saw many different varieties.

That afternoon we went snorkeling. Judy didn't cos she thought the salt water would be bad for her rash. It was a guided trip which pretty much means the guide holds your hand and pulls you along. Unfortunately I got a fit of giggles to start with which meant I kept getting water in my mouth piece and fogging up my mask.... The snorkeling was amazing... so many tropical fish... tested out Byrdies camera underwater too.

We went banana boating too. was fun.

We did drive back to Tainan that afternoon, with plenty of stops for ice, mangoes (beautiful mangoes here) and other foods...

We went to the Taiwan International Orchid Show on Friday... The orchids were pretty. The food tent was cool.... lots of free samples of weird foods.

steamed/smoked chicken were cooked in these.

We stopped at a hotpool on the way home (Judy didn't cos of rash, but occupied herself by buying swimsuits). we even did a mud treatment - although apparently you are supposed to wait for it to dry to get the benefits. too impatient.

Yesterday we did general wandering of the busy streets of Tainan. There are scooters everywhere... the most on one was 2 adults and 2 children. The pedestrian crossings and lights don't mean all that much as cars still don't give way necessarily.

We ate out for every meal except a few breakfasts of porridge (Judy's dad is on a diet...) . Apparently because food is so cheap most people eat out all the time... lots of noodles, tons of tofu. So many Taro dishes. lots of sweet milk tea...