Day 1
Every summer this Sacred Heart School plays host to Sacred Heart girls from around the world. As part of the exchange, the school takes them on a three day tour of the island. Luckily for us, they asked us to go as well; free of charge! We set out early Thursday morning and drove until noon. We had lunch in a facility well used to bus tours, I think. They had the tables already laid out for us and brought us about ten dishes to graze from. Sadly for Jen, most of it was seafood. I had lots to pick from and I even tried jellyfish!
From lunch we went to a two year old INCREDIBLY luxurious looking museum called CHIMEI Museum. The entire museum is made of pieces collected by one man. He made his fortunate producing plastic. He then donated his collections to the government and they were displayed for free for years but now I think he gets a small cut of the profits of the facility (if I understood the guide correctly). The museum is so popular that bus tours need to book three weeks in advance! The grounds and building themselves are incredible. The whole place reeks of Europe from the vast green space to the dozens of white statues to the large white domed main hall to the fountain spouting water from a chariot-drawn God.
The collections inside include stuffed animals from around the world, a plethora of statues, hundreds of paintings, old furniture and clocks from around the world and an impressive collection of musical instruments. Most interesting to me was his collection of violins (I cannot imagine how much money was in that room) and the first mechanical music players.
Every summer this Sacred Heart School plays host to Sacred Heart girls from around the world. As part of the exchange, the school takes them on a three day tour of the island. Luckily for us, they asked us to go as well; free of charge! We set out early Thursday morning and drove until noon. We had lunch in a facility well used to bus tours, I think. They had the tables already laid out for us and brought us about ten dishes to graze from. Sadly for Jen, most of it was seafood. I had lots to pick from and I even tried jellyfish!
From lunch we went to a two year old INCREDIBLY luxurious looking museum called CHIMEI Museum. The entire museum is made of pieces collected by one man. He made his fortunate producing plastic. He then donated his collections to the government and they were displayed for free for years but now I think he gets a small cut of the profits of the facility (if I understood the guide correctly). The museum is so popular that bus tours need to book three weeks in advance! The grounds and building themselves are incredible. The whole place reeks of Europe from the vast green space to the dozens of white statues to the large white domed main hall to the fountain spouting water from a chariot-drawn God.
The collections inside include stuffed animals from around the world, a plethora of statues, hundreds of paintings, old furniture and clocks from around the world and an impressive collection of musical instruments. Most interesting to me was his collection of violins (I cannot imagine how much money was in that room) and the first mechanical music players.
From CHIMEI we went to Anping Tree House which was a building originally used as a warehouse during World War II but was abandoned when the Japanese went home. Since then, roots and branches of banyan trees wrapped themselves around the building. It was pretty neat! My favourite part, though, was the breeze that cut through the heat.
Afterwards, we went to Taiwan’s first street (ever) to “shop” but we really were only given 20 minutes so it was hard to get much done. It was neat to see the area though.
Afterwards, we went to Taiwan’s first street (ever) to “shop” but we really were only given 20 minutes so it was hard to get much done. It was neat to see the area though.
We then were taken to Mos Burger for supper, a Japanese chain fast food restaurant. Luckily, it’s not nearly as unhealthy and I had a ginger pork burger that had two rice paddy buns instead of bread. It was a neat novelty but not especially good.
From dinner, we headed to the hotel (COZZI) which was gloooorious! Jen and I shared a room and, while the pillows were awful, the amenities were nice to have. The toilet (that started filling with water as soon as you sat down) had three different bum-cleaning settings! Breakfast was the highlight, however, and had the biggest selection of buffet foods I had ever seen at breakfast – western and Asian foods alike! I was amused when the waitresses came over right away to give us forks and take our chopsticks from us.
Before we went to bed, there was some scheduled shopping time. A “department store” was attached to our hotel and we ventured in to find all of the world’s most expensive stores (Tiffany’s, Rolex, etc.) so we didn’t peruse for long! Instead, Jen and I decided to check out a “foot spa” we saw across the road. A man greeted us on the sidewalk and ushered us in. We ended up getting a back and shoulder massage and foot soak for approx. $6 Canadian! Every worker there was male and the guy that I had wasn’t going easy! He had my arms flying around looking for pressure points and he even had his knee in my back for a bit! I had a hard time not losing it laughing when he started slapping my back! It was definitely $6 well spent!
From dinner, we headed to the hotel (COZZI) which was gloooorious! Jen and I shared a room and, while the pillows were awful, the amenities were nice to have. The toilet (that started filling with water as soon as you sat down) had three different bum-cleaning settings! Breakfast was the highlight, however, and had the biggest selection of buffet foods I had ever seen at breakfast – western and Asian foods alike! I was amused when the waitresses came over right away to give us forks and take our chopsticks from us.
Before we went to bed, there was some scheduled shopping time. A “department store” was attached to our hotel and we ventured in to find all of the world’s most expensive stores (Tiffany’s, Rolex, etc.) so we didn’t peruse for long! Instead, Jen and I decided to check out a “foot spa” we saw across the road. A man greeted us on the sidewalk and ushered us in. We ended up getting a back and shoulder massage and foot soak for approx. $6 Canadian! Every worker there was male and the guy that I had wasn’t going easy! He had my arms flying around looking for pressure points and he even had his knee in my back for a bit! I had a hard time not losing it laughing when he started slapping my back! It was definitely $6 well spent!
Day 2
After our much-needed, delicious breakfast, we headed to a national park to take a boat tour of the mangroves (area called Sicao). It was neat, but I almost fell asleep a few times (many of the students did)! There was a lot of down transfer time. There was a neat temple by the boat launch, though! At one point, we all were startled by someone launching fireworks from the back of their car in front of the temple. Apparently he had just bought a new truck and this was his way of getting the God’s blessing.
After our much-needed, delicious breakfast, we headed to a national park to take a boat tour of the mangroves (area called Sicao). It was neat, but I almost fell asleep a few times (many of the students did)! There was a lot of down transfer time. There was a neat temple by the boat launch, though! At one point, we all were startled by someone launching fireworks from the back of their car in front of the temple. Apparently he had just bought a new truck and this was his way of getting the God’s blessing.
From the boat trip, we headed to Jingzaijiao salt fields. This is an area where salt is still mined the traditional way (sea water is pumped in to shallow beds and sits in the sun until it evaporates and they scoop up the left over salt). This is when we started to feel what would develop into Typhoon Soudlelor! The winds were picking up like crazy so we snapped some quick pics with Taiwanese straw hats and headed to lunch (which was similar to the previous days but with more seafood I wasn’t completely into…).
Due to the weather, we headed for home, sadly cutting our trip in half. Jen and I were, of course, understanding but disappointed. Hotels meant free meals, good showers and soft beds. We would also miss out on seeing more of the country (I was super looking forward to the bike tour the next morning along the Xiangshan bike route which is ranked as one of the top ten in the world by CNN). The girls were distraught, begging and pleading to continue on. For them, this was this biggest bonding time. The girls from away were billeted with girls from the school who did not come on the trip. They were also partnered with other girls from the school, however, who were considered “host students”. These girls had to pass an English test to be given this position and were on the trip with us. Once back in Bali, they would all need to go back to their individual host families. We felt bad for them, but we knew the decision was for the best.
We landed back in Bali around 7 then Apple, Jen and I had some hot pot down the street before we hunkered in for the night (or what we hoped would be the night; how wrong we would be!)
Due to the weather, we headed for home, sadly cutting our trip in half. Jen and I were, of course, understanding but disappointed. Hotels meant free meals, good showers and soft beds. We would also miss out on seeing more of the country (I was super looking forward to the bike tour the next morning along the Xiangshan bike route which is ranked as one of the top ten in the world by CNN). The girls were distraught, begging and pleading to continue on. For them, this was this biggest bonding time. The girls from away were billeted with girls from the school who did not come on the trip. They were also partnered with other girls from the school, however, who were considered “host students”. These girls had to pass an English test to be given this position and were on the trip with us. Once back in Bali, they would all need to go back to their individual host families. We felt bad for them, but we knew the decision was for the best.
We landed back in Bali around 7 then Apple, Jen and I had some hot pot down the street before we hunkered in for the night (or what we hoped would be the night; how wrong we would be!)