Guanziling and off to Tainan

After awakening the next morning in stunning Alishan, we still felt warm from the magical surroundings we found ourselves in. Sassy went for an early morning walk with Laoshi to climb through another local tea plantation, while the boys set to exploring around our home stay. It didn't take long for them to discover a new friend. Check out this progression :)

(Bitty's face through all of these is hilarious.)

After the boys' close encounter, and some difficult attempts at obtaining directions, we finally descended out of the high mountain region and towards Guanziling, an area known for its mud hot springs. Though Taiwan is known for many different volcanic hot springs, only two other places in the world are known to have natural "mud" springs like this one, and so we figured we'd better go partake.

Before stopping off at the springs, however, we stopped by to visit the town's famous Fire and Water Cave, where a flame eerily burns off of a natural gas fissure in a rock, burning even on top of water. Imagine being one of the early people in the area to discover this:

Little spooky, huh?

This plaque cracked me up. Not only is it a little graphic, but the Chinglish is awesome!

After our short detour, we finally made it to the hot springs. Unfortunately, as we had found out previous during our weekend to Taipei, apparently the latest "improvement" Taiwan insists on implementing is the use of swim caps--everywhere--and they are. not. optional. (Insert gag reflex here). I mean, I know that the practical reason behind this, (i.e. not wanting to have to clean extra hair out of filters, etc., etc.) is a rational one. But, seriously? When I'm paying a lot of money somewhere, I despise being forced to wear a swim cap! Yuck. . . At least the baby looked cute in one, (even though his lack of hair exonerated him from the official requirement). Maybe bald really is more beautiful. 

In all our bathing beauty glory . . . Oh, man. 

Oh well. At least we had the place to ourselves. 

Plus, after being in the car for so long, the baby was ecstatic to be able to freely crawl wherever he wanted in a place that hosted the largest bathtub he had ever seen. This had to be one of his happiest days he'd had on the island. Period.

It turned out to be a lot more fun that we had thought it would be. 

After showering up and heading out to the car, the kids zonked right out, and we headed to the famous city of Tainan, the cultural and historical heart of the country. Known as the oldest city on the island, Tainan was initially established as an important trading post by the Dutch East India Company. In 1661 the Dutch were defeated and the city became the capital of Taiwan until 1887 when it was moved to Taipei. The city's architecture and historical remains are amazing, and one can hardly see it comprehensively within a couple of days, especially since it boasts more Taoist and Buddhist temples than any other Taiwanese city. 

Thankfully, this happening city also welcomed us with the best (and least expensive) accommodations we enjoyed during our entire tour around the island--the Taiwan-Vietnam Friendship House. This place was awesome, and we literally had the entire home to ourselves!

Here is our host, Hero, and his adorable daughter, Deb Bi (literal translation: "tea leaf"). (I loved seeing a father holding his own child in a sling like this. I would have never seen this in Taiwan 15 years ago.) Hero is actually quite an amazing guy. He was born and raised in Vietnam, but came to Taiwan to study, learned Mandarin, married a Taiwanese woman, and then went on to learn Taiwanese and another local dialect, Hakka. His English is phenomenal, too. 

Sweet little DebBi. She didn't make a peep the whole time.

The babies get acquainted.

After getting settled into our lovely new digs, we had some highly anticipated visitors, about whom I was so excited. In fact, the weekend before when visiting some of the former church members I had served with, I reconnected with a former branch president, who informed me that one of the Taiwanese elders I had served with, (whom he had also worked with and kept in contact with), was now living in Tainan with his wife and three children and was serving as an LDS bishop in that area. Upon hearing this, I was elated not just because we would be visiting Tainan so soon, but also because I had always admired Elder Liu, and often thought of him over the years. 

Of all the missionaries I had served with, he was the most cheerful, most kind, and positive elder I remember. He literally radiated light, and though I couldn't recall the exact details of his story, I remember thinking that he was a reminder to all of us as to why we were serving as missionaries there. Elder Liu exuded a love and appreciation for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and often expressed the difference it had made to him and his family. After serving with him in two of my three areas on the mission, I was always amazed by the comfort and optimism he provided to everyone around him, most often through his bright, ever-present smile.

At dinner with some of the members in Bade, Taoyuan area. Elder Liu is the one on the far right in the back (with the characteristic Taiwanese victory fingers). I am the third one from the left in the front row. The gentleman on the far left in front is the branch president, (also last name Liu) who gave me Elder Liu's contact information.

On preparation day in Daxi. 

Since I served as a missionary before the days of Facebook, keeping in touch with some of these wonderful people was difficult at best, (especially when my reading/writing ability was not as strong as I would have liked), and therefore 15 years had literally gone by since I had seen Elder Liu. Needless to say, it was a joyful reunion to see him again and meet his beautiful, beautiful family. 

After excitedly reacquainting and meeting Elder Liu's wife and three girls, we decided to head off to the local night market. We looked forward to this, especially since Tainan is not only known for its history, but also its amazing food, especially with its close proximity to the ocean. (Yum!)

Dad tries his hand at roasted, curly snails.

These were the most tasty dumplings I think I had the entire time. Tainan style!

Seafood fried noodles. It was actually delicious! The squid and other seafood in it was so fresh. The watermelon shakes were also incredible.
Oh my goodness, I'm drooling as I type this!

After eating, it didn't take long after eating to rediscover just how difficult it is to keep track of one's children in such a crowded place. Considering how tired everyone was, we thought it best to return home and rest for the next day's sightseeing. As if his generosity had not been enough, (he had managed to pay for everything under our noses before we had a chance to), Elder Liu's family offered to come pick us up the next morning and accompany us through all the places we intended to visit. We heartily accepted their offer as we looked forward to enjoying such a lovely place with such wonderful friends.