鐵母雞和另一位台灣Servas會員Naomi帶他們吃阿宗麵線。

Tuesday March 20,2007: day hosts are Mr and Mrs Robert Lee; night host is Naomi Chen in Chaiyi

The following morning we again had a delightful Chinese breakfast. Robert took time off work and kindly made arrangements for us to have an English speaking guide to show us around a special show of the award winning crafts at the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute in Nantou. Vincent was our excellent English speaking guide and we were honoured to have the Director of the Research Center accompany us. The show was fantastic as we saw metal, ceramic, wood made into many small and large decorative items. The building was interesting itself because it was not destroyed in the great earthquake of 1999 that had leveled so much of the area. After a quick visit to the gift shop we returned home to discover that the Director had chosen several impressive gifts for us as a tribute of our visit. We received a framed wood sculpture of the Island of Taiwan and several beautiful books that were partly in English. We were overwhelmed by the generosity of people we did not know but who were so proud of their country and our visit that they gave us substantial gifts. When we were ready to leave for our next host we were delighted that Robert's wife packed a lunch for us to eat on the train from Taichung to Chaiyi further south.  She also presented us with two ceremonial straw daggers that she had crafted herself. We were very touched by her gifts and the goodbye notes from her daughters. The ride to the train station gave us a chance to see the mountains in the distance and how crops were grown. We said thank you and goodbye to Robert at the train station and off we went to our next SERVAS host Naomi Chen. The train was fast and very clean and we arrived on time in Chaiyi.

At the train station in Chaiyi we were met by Naomi Chen who had lived in the USA for a number of years. Whereas Robert was a factory owner involved in sales, Naomi was a teacher of English as Second Language. More accurately she teaches English as EFL, foreign language, because English is not that commonly spoken in Taiwan. After loading our luggage into her car, Naomi drove us to see a gigantic outdoor statue of Buddah is close to  Donghai University. There were hundreds of motorcycles parked on campus. We took many photos with my new camera. We returned to the area where Naomi lived with her parents in her parents' home which is above the photography store her father owned. We met her parents who were very gracious to us. Then we were shown into our own suite with private bath. In the summer time Naomi's brother and his family visit Chaiyi from the USA and the suite was for him and his family. We were really lucky to have such a large area for ourselves including the private bathroom. This time etiquette was a little different about shoes.  We took them off at the apartment door and wore house slippers in the hallways. We went barefoot in the bedroom but had special bathroom slippers for the bathroom.

We discussed with Naomi what we should see while we in the Chaiyi area. Naomi thought that John and I might like to take the scenic small guage railway into the high mountains to see Mount Alishan and the cherry blossoms. We agreed. Alishan is in a forested park with several hotels, well marked trails and beautiful views. The railway was built during the Japanese occupation to exploit logging the giant cypress trees.  After the occupation the railway was used to transport tourists. Naomi tried over the internet to book us a room. Because it was high season the hotels were all booked so we settled for a farm. To make sure we had a seat on the Alishan Forest Railway train we went to the colonial style station to purchase our train tickets in advance.  Before we reached the ticket window a travel agent in the station selling hotel rooms in Alishan, came running up to Naomi. She suggested we choose a very nice room at the Alishan Gou Hotel at a reasonable price through her.The lady and Naomi talked very rapidly and in no time she and Naomi came to an agreement. Before I knew it, I was handing over money to this lady and getting little pink slips of paper proving we had paid for our hotel room. It was decided we would take the train up, stay in the Alishan Gou Hotel and take the van back to Chaiyi.  We were all set for the trip in no time with pink paper receipts for train, hotel and van. Naomi said she would bring us to the train the next morning and fetch us at the bus station upon our return the following day. Plus we were invited to spend a second night at her parents. John and I were delighted at our good fortune. Since we had a bit of time before Naomi had to teach her evening English classes, I said that I would really like to shop for a dress to wear to the July wedding. Naomi knew of a very classy department store IDEE and she dropped John and I there. John explored the maze of small streets around the store while I explored IDEE. I had a great time. I went on each floor and checked out all the ladies dresses. I found the designs and quality to be exceptionally high. I had a hard time choosing a dress but in fact I bought a terrific dress at a reduced price within my budget. I also bought a skirt in a store that John noticed just outside the store. Everything outside was on sale at affordable prices and so I enjoyed looking. Sizes were hard to guess but I had my tape-measure handy which was a great help in measuring waist sizes and lengths, By the time we met Naomi two hours later I had made two major purchases and I was very pleased with myself. Imagine this: I was going to go to a wedding in Edmonton Alberta, Canada in July wearing a beautiful tourquoise print silk dress I bought in Chaiyi while on my trip to Taiwan. For sure no other lady at the wedding would have the same dress I did!

Naomi took us to a night market where we saw all kinds of goods for sale. It was noisy and busy and definitely fun. We even had an outdoor stir-fry dinner of who knows what that was excellent.  We were pleased to sleep in her brother's suite. Naomi explained that the toilet had several buttons on it. I tried to memorize what each button was for but of course all the words were in Chinese. I got quite a surprise when I pushed the button that I thought was for "flush" and instead I got "total bottom wash", like a bidet. It was funny except I did not know how to turn it off. I had visions of water all over everywhere including the floor but John calmly pushed the stop button and..... all was fine. He obviously knew the Chinese labels better than I did. We were able to do our laundry at Naomi's. We washed our clothes in the washing machine and then hung them on long lines outside on the spacious balconey to dry overnight. Bliss to have clean clothes to wear the next day.

We realized that we were rapidly running out of time in Taiwan and would not be able to see it all.  Because of the extraordinary hospitality of everyone we met John and I decided that we had to do something special for the SERVAS hosts of Taiwan. John and I spoke to Mei Wang in Taipei, who had been instrumental in organizing our whole trip and whom we had not yet met. John and I asked her to plan a Thank You Dinner at a Taipei restaurant to which all our nice hosts would be invited. We asked her to choose the restaurant, menu and send out the invitations. Graciously Mei said she would be happy to do it. We just knew it would be a memorable evening on Saturday, the day most people would be able to come.


Wednesday March 21, 2007: Alishan Gou Hotel, Alishan Forest Recreation Area

The next morning was a lovely day and after a breakfast of freshly bought buns and other delicacies, Naomi drove us to the train station to catch our small-gauge train up to picturesque Mount Alishan, the highest mountain in South East Asia. The ride up was fantastic, full of switchbacks and lovely views. We started out at 30metres above sea level went through 77 bridges and through 50 tunnels.. About half way up the mountain a lady came on the train carrying little rectangular wooden boxes which she sold to many eager passengers. By the time we realized that the boxes contained a lunch, the seller had moved on to the next railway car. Another passenger however realized that I was hungry, and through hand gestures, understood that I would like a boxed lunch. She ran off to find the lady selling the boxed lunches. To my delight this lady returned to the car to sell me my lunch. I thought my lunch was delicious even though I did not know what I was eating. It was another culinary adventure in exotic Taiwan.

After several hours we arrived at the station in Mount Alishan National Recreational Park at 2 274 metres above sea level. The lady who sold us the tickets was there at the station greeting tourists. We located our hotel and we were happy that our little slip of pink paper really was a receipt for our room.  I was struck by the beautiful arrangements of orchids in the foyer. Our room looked out over the narrow-gage railway tracks only a few feet from our hotel. I knew that I would photograph the train as it passed by the hotel. We got a map of the trails through the park, and then we then went for a very long leisurely walk in the forest past ancient trees, temples and ponds. The forest is justly famous with broad stone walkways designed to handle the throngs of people who come each day. For you see, John and I arrived at the peak of the high season: sakura or cherry blossom time. There were hundreds and hundreds of eager visitors everywhere we looked. I took dozens of photos of flowers, ancient trees and of the people who were happy and polite. We soon learned that if a group of people were closely gathered at one location there must be an especially lovely view. If a photographer had an impressive tripod and enormous camera then for sure we had to capture the same images. The waiting was always rewarded. Professional photographers have a special eye for composition and colour. There were trees that were large and trees that were small but all were breathtakingly beautiful. Since we do not have cherry trees in Montreal as it is too cold, we were entranced by the views of mist and valley, of the tree shapes and the blossoms in all shades of pink. It was truly a magical time to be there.

Everyone it seems who visits Mount Alishan comes to see the sun rise by taking the train higher up into the mountains at an ungodly hour of the morning. John and I had no intention of joining everyone else. We wanted to sleep in. Amo told us she had only seen clouds when she was here so we chose a long night's rest. We made sure to tell the hotel staff we did not wish to have the 4:40 am wake up call to go see the sunrise, as they automatically wake up everyone. Once we were certain we would be able to sleep in we walked around the nearby marketplace. There were traditional crafts and souvenirs available as well as Taiwanese fast food. Everyone seemed to want us to buy their goods. All the vendors were smiling and in good humour. It was fun looking at what was for sale and to buy a few gifts. After all the walking we were quite happy to have dinner in our hotel. In the dining room there was a Chinese buffet and we enjoyed ourselves. I managed to call home for the first time and regale my mother with the details of our trip so far. We slept well if not as long as we thought.

Thursday March 22, 2007: night host is Naomi Chen in Chaiyi

Even though we did not get up for the sunrise train ride we did hear the train returning around 6am so I took photos as it slowly went by only fifteen metres from our room. After a buffet breakfast there was time for a short walk and then we took the van for the very exciting ride down the mountain to Chaiyi. It was hair-raising at times. The ride was exhilarating because John and I got the two front seats across from the driver who seemed determined to pass everything on the road around hairpin turns over double yellow lines at high speed. He was having a great time. I think he was showing off.  We just said our prayers and enjoyed the changing view. In a famous village part way down we stopped at an open-air restaurant for lunch that came in a wood box like the one I purchased on the way up. While I was eating, I spied a fellow passenger with a shopping bag. Did this mean there was shopping near the restaurant? Yes there was. I indicated I was interested in shopping so she showed me where she had been. A shopping stop as well as a lunch stop: I was thrilled. I walked up a winding narrow street higher up the mountainside village to a shopping alley full of busy shoppers. There were all sorts of vendors, but the one that got my business, was the made-to-fit-your foot sandal man. I chose the colour of wood base as well as the colour and pattern of the leather topping. The shoe maker fitted the wood base to the sole of my foot, carefully placed the leather on the top of my foot, cut the leather to fit, glued it, nailed it and finished the sandals up in no time. I chose a dark brown wood base with lime green and gold leather. It took about fifteen minutes to assemble from start to finish: my first made-to-measure sandals! They are comfy and pretty and were made just for my feet. What could be better than that!  On our way down we had one more short stop at a temple beside a narrow rope foot bridge over a river. Naturally we walked over the swaying bridge for the experience of it. As the van approached Chaiyi the landscaped flattened out and palm trees and bamboo reappeared.

When Naomi met us at the station in Chaiyi she noticed that I was coughing a lot. John thought that I was coughing too much and that I should see a doctor. I was not thrilled by that prospect. But Naomi said she knew an English-speaking doctor whose office was just across the street from her home. How could I say no? The next thing I knew I was standing in a doctor's small office area with several sick children and their parents speaking to a receptionist. Naomi explained the sitiuation and I answered the questions on the form and sat down looking at several ill children. In Montreal a person who arrives at a doctor's office or clinic without an appointment can expect to wait a long time before seeing the doctor. You can imagine my astonishment when after only a few minutes my name was called. The sick children and their parents never said a word that my name was called next. I jumped to my feet. The doctor sat on a stool in a tiny area and examined my lungs and my throat, etc and told me I had bronchitis. He prescribed five different pills I needed to take for ten days. He told me the receptionist would have the pills ready for me in a few minutes. He wrote my prescriptions for me in English. Naomi used her health care card so I did not pay for the visit to the doctor. That was totally astonishing to me because at home a visit to a doctor would result in a hefty bill. My pills were given to me in a long plastic strip of 20 individually wrapped doses. As you may have guessed by now, my doctor was a pediatrician. My pills were enclosed in very distinctive plastic wrap covered with colourful cartoon characters and cost me very little. I knew I was on the mend after seeing the doctor. For the next ten days I smiled every time I took my medication out of its wrapping.

After my visit to the doctor, we went with Naomi to a lovely modern restaurant that had gigantic oysters and wonderful seafood. It was a western-style eatery with fine cuisine. Although we wanted to travel more around the island of Taiwan with Michael we also wanted to see more of the city of Taipei. We had to choose what to do and so we chose to return on a high speed train to Taipei the following morning. Naomi took us to the ultramodern train station to purchase our tickets  John as a senior citizen was entitled to a hefty discount on his ticket ticket but he did not have his passport with him. The kind clerk sold John the ticket anyway at the reduced price and told him to show his passport the next morning to verify his age. It was so easy for John because the clerk had been so understanding. We realized another good day had come to an end.  Once again we had a restful sleep

Friday march 23,2007: day host is Glen Tan; night hosts are Amo and David Chiang in Taipei

The next morning as we were about to leave Chaiyi, Naomi's parents gave us gifts and we gave them small gifts too. John received a marvelous CD of photos of  beautiful Alishan from Naomi's photographer father and I received a lovely beige pleated silk evening purse from her mother.  We were again touched by their generosity and warm hospitality. We even had a lunch to take with us on the train. Naomi drove John and me to a memorial park with a Japanese style house that was converted into a museum which we visited. The park was a leafy place with interesting birds and pretty flowers. We said thank you and goodbye to Naomi and after our wonderful time in Chaiyi we were on the go again.The high speed train from Chaiyi back to Taipei allowed us to see the countryside in great comfort.

We were returning to Amo's for the last few remaining days of our visit. Another SERVAS day host Glen Tan met us upon our arrival and accompanied us to the MRT station near Amo's house so we would not get lost. He showed us how to refill our smart card for the subway which we appreciated.  When we entered Amo's apartment we felt like we were home. Amo thought we would like to go out for dinner. We did indeed. The five of us went by bus to a very popular restaurant in a night market where many chefs presided over horseshoe-shaped tables wrapped around horseshoe-shaped hot grills. As we waited for a table I couldn't help but notice John and I were the only western people there. We watched as our chef chopped vegetables, meat and fish like magic. Our meals were delicious and we walked off our meal along a street filled with vendors selling everything. My eye was caught by a lady selling Chinese style jackets and in the end I bought two as souvenirs. I hoped I wouldn't have too many problems packing. Another eventful day was over and again we slept very well in Brian's bedroom.

Saturday March 24, 2007: day hosts are Wen Lin Chen and Mei Wang; night hosts are Amo and David Chiang in Taipei

After breakfast we looked foreward to meeting day host Wen Lin Chen and seeing the Chinese Postal Museum with her. We used the MRT which I believe is considered the best in South East Asia. Wen-Lin met us at the MRT station closest to the Chinese Postal Museum. As we walked toward the museum we had to go through a bustling shopping district. I could not rush by without looking at the many small shops. In one store I saw a beautiful white dress with black trim. I tried it on and it was a perfect fit. I bought it and a sweater for my mother and I was very pleased with myself. The three of us ate in a small fast food restaurant and I couldn't help but smile at a little dog that walked past the restaurant wearing a miniature coat of the New York Yankees baseball team. He looked very proud of himself going for his walk all dressed up. I took his photo.

John and I were very impressed by the Chinese Postal Museum. In the foyer there were large displays highlighting stamp exhibitors who had recently won awards in international stamp exhibitions. The people had full-length photos on display in addition to their medals and other awards. John thought it was a great idea that each winner's complete exhibit was on display for the public to enjoy. These stamp exhibitors were treated like celebrities. John and I had been in Malaga, Spain the previous September and so it was particularly interesting for us to see that a Taiwanese exhibitor whose exhibit had done very well in Malaga was one of the people celebrated in the foyer of the museum.

I wanted to see the beautiful Botanical Gardens on the grounds of the nearby National Museum of History.  Wen-Lin and I left John to further enjoy the Postal Museum and  we walked to the Botanical Gardens nearby. We saw and enjoyed a special indoor exhibit of sculptures and flowers. Lots of people were inside the sculpture show as well as touring the gardens. John left the postal museum and was attempting to call Amo on the cell phone to find out how to meet up with Wen-Lin and me when a funny thing happened to him. He pushed the button on Joanna's cellphone that he thought was for "Mommy Amo" but he called someone else in a far away city instead. No problem! The person recognized John as the Canadian visitor and she knew that Amo would know where John should be. This person told John to stay where he was and Amo would call John right back. Within minutes Amo called John back.  John, Wen-Lin and I met up on a walkway in the Botanical Gardens just in time to return to Amo's to prepare for our Thank You dinner.

John and I still had not met Mei Wang as she had been out of town when John and I arrived in Taipei so we were looking foreward to meeting her. Mei had sent emails to each of our SERVAS hosts inviting them to Taipei to join us for dinner. Amo told us that quite a few people were coming and we were really excited to see them again. What was especially interesting was the fact that although the hosts knew us they did not all know each other. At least a hundred phone calls and emails must have gone back and forth concerning our visit and while we were well known by all the hosts this would be a first meeting for most of our hosts as a group. Many were new to SERVAS and John and I had been their first visitors. Because most of the hosts lived in different cities they were looking foreward to the evening.

The weather that night was rainy and windy. I didn't care what the weather was like, I decided to wear my new white dress with the black trim. I figured I could enter the contest of who was wearing the best Taiwanese outfit that Mei organized since I bought my western-style dress in Taipei. Amo's daughter Joanna was wearing a lovely red traditional Chinese outfit because Mei said there would be a prize for the winner. Amo. Joanna, Brian, John and I arrived by taxi because of the weather. The restaurant Mei chose for our reunion dinner had at one time been the home of the Japanese Commandant of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation. So the building held a certain fascination for our hosts. It was wonderful for John and me too. We were touched to see who was already present and who had yet to arrive. While certain Asian people are considered reserved, the Taiwanese are very demonstrative. We received hugs and kisses from everyone as soon as we walked in.

We were astounded when we counted 15 people in attendance. We were delighted to meet Mei Wang at last. She said that the Taiwan SERVAS National Coordinator Serena Tang sent her regrets but planned to see us on Monday evening, when John and I were invited to meet some new SERVAS hosts who wanted to have dinner with us near the Taipei Tower. John and I were so happy to see Robert and Mrs Lee who came with their daughter Candy all the way from Taichung on the train and were going right back on the bus after dinner. Naomi Chen came by train all the way from Chaiyi and was going to stay with Mei in Mei's apartment for two nights until Monday. Rose and her daughter Vivian wearing a colourful traditional Chinese aboriginal hat, had come from Hsinchu and were going to stay at Amo's with John and me.  Amo's "Bed and Breakfast"  was full that night! We were moved that Cindy Lee had left a friend's wedding reception early to join us. Bryan Tsai came too. Amo's daughter Joanna met Rose's daughter Vivian. Being the same age, Vivian and Joanna became fast friends as soon as they met and were inseparable for the rest of the evening. Michael Hung drove an amazing number of hours on his motorcycle through inclement weather and changed from his wet clothes to his party clothes before joining us. All the hosts who had been so hospitable to us were present on matter how far they had to travel. It was a wonderful magical evening. I do not know all the names of the dishes we ate but they came in profusion, were delicious and much appreciated by all. It was truly a pleasure to host the event and in a small way tell our hosts how much we appreciated their hospitality.

When it came time for Mei's contest, each contestant had to say why he or she should be chosen the winner. I stood up and said I did because my dress was bought in Taipei. John said he did because he was wearing a Buddhist scapular medal from Wenwu Temple at Sun Moon Lake. We got only polite applause. Vivian in her colourful hat and Joanna in her dress were in a dead heat for best outfit until the scales tipped in favour of Joanna. Joanna looked so charming with her red brocade ensemble with the fur lined jacket. Mei awarded her the prize. Joanna eyes were shining as she accepted the prize of a purse. When she opened up the purse and found a smaller purse inside she immediately came over to me and gave it to me. How can one not be touched by these generous acts? We received more gifts of cell phone charms and cell phone covers, photos, key chains, an aboriginal purse and hand written notes from the children to treasure.

The dinner was not over before it was discovered that my birthday was in two days. Everyone clapped while they sang Happy Birthday to me first in English, then in Mandarin, then in Taiwanese and lastly in Hakka, the aborigianl language of the native people. How many birthday girls have Happy Birthday sung to them in a Japanese style restaurant by fifteen SERVAS hosts from all over Taiwan in four different languages! It was a moment I treasure and shall never forget! After much hugging and quite a few tears John, myself, Amo, Joanna, Brian, Rose and Vivian left for Amo's and a good night's sleep.


Sunday March 25, 2007 day hosts are Mei Wang and Naomi Chen; night hosts are Amo and David Chiang in Taipei

John and I got up much earlier than we would have liked but the allure of a trip to see Taipei and the hot springs with Mei and Naomi got us up bright and early. Mei said we could sleep in until 10 am when she and Naomi would pick us up to see the sights of Taipei. Then we would drive up into the hills to visit the famous hot springs north of Taipei in the mountains. The eager foursome went first to see the Grand Hotel, a magnificent five star hotel that is a Taipei landmark. The hotel has the largest classical Chinese-style roof in the world supported by immense columns The hotel was built to entertain visiting dignitaries by Chiang Kai-shek. Consequently it was fabulous inside with delightful gardens outside. The lobby featured gigantic arrangements of magnificant orchids and glass cases with the finest Chinese sculptures and art for sale. One thing we noticed was that all hotels and museums had the most exquisite orchids. They were show stoppers everywhere ever where we went in hotels, museums and temples. We strolled through the manicured gardens filled with flowers, trees and ponds full of shiny goldfish.

Next on our agenda was a visit and lunch at the National Palace Museum. The National Palace Museum holds the world's largest collection of Chinese artifacts.The collection was spirited out of China during periods of oppression and came to be housed in this immense modernized museum. John wanted to see as much as possible. I realized that if I was able to see even a few of the treasures of the collection I would consider myself lucky.  Naomi, Mei and I went upstairs to the ultramodern San Hsi Tang tearoom with its panoramic views of the city where we enjoyed entertainment provided by two ladies playing traditional Chinese instruments. While the meal was nice the service left something to be desired and Mei said she would tell the management about it. Among the national treasures I saw was the large jadite cabbage seen on many postcards. We were there on a Sunday with hundreds and hundreds of other visitors. Naturally I had to fit in a few moments to visit the well stocked gift shop. I bought many little things and even went to the museum post office to mail some quickly written post cards. What a grand place to visit. No time to linger we had other places to see. I put my purchases in the car where they remained forgotten until Mei found them many months later and sent them to me in Montreal.

Our day was young enough that we drove north of Taipei into the mountains to the resort area around Beitou to spend time in a hot spring resort. The hot springs were developed by the Japanese and have been popular ever since.The road into the mountains was filled with incredibly sharp turns but that was not the most worrisome part of our trip.The most anxious part of our trip was yet to come. We saw fabulous views as we went higher and higher. Unfortunately Mei was low on fuel. We were about one third of  the way there when the low fuel light came on. The car stalled. We held our breaths. The car started. It ran well but for how long? Where should we go to fill up Mei's car?  Mei and Naomi knew there was no gas atation for another 16 kilometres and the road was up all the way. Would we make it to the hot springs before we ran out of fuel? Would we be pushing the car before or after we soaked in the hot tub?  We held our breaths as we went higher and higher into the mountains with the little light blinking on and off the whole time. We miraculously arrived at a lovely hillside resort just as the sun was setting among the misty mountains. Mei made all the arrangements for us to rent one of the deluxe private cottages for an hour. Downstairs the cottage had a nicely furnished  living room with a large television. Beside the living room there was a softly lit room with plants and the tiled hot tub and an adjacent bathroom equipped with a shower, toilet, lots of soaps, shampoos, fluffy towels and a hair dryer. There were two bedrooms, one downstairs and another upstairs loft with three beds and private bathroom. John decided to watch sports and news on CNN and the three girls tried out the hot tub. The spring water filled the large sunken tub in a few minutes with hot water and after showering,  first Mei and Naomi went in and then I joined them. There was room for the three of us. I floated and had to concentrate on sitting down on the built in seat. We only wore our birthday suits; a first for me in such an intimate environment. We had plenty of time to share thoughts girl-style before showering again and getting dressed. It was a very relaxing time and I was delighted I had had the experience.  After returning the key we thought once more about getting back to Taipei without running out of  fuel. We still had about 5 kilometers to go after our relaxing soak to get to the service station. We made it there with a great sigh of relief; no one really wanted to push Mei's car now that we were all clean and relaxed. It was amazing how fuel efficient her car was. It seemed to go for many kilometers on no fuel at all!

On our windy road down we happened upon the world famous Taiwanese author Lin Yutang's home (now a restaurant) and we stopped in and took in the view. It was lovely; the distant lights of Taipei in the hills all around and below us. This famous man was also an inventor and built the first Chinese typewriter. He wrote many books in English. One was on the New York Time's best seller list for fifty two weeks in the 1930's.  After we returned to the city we went to a very busy part of town where the shops were still open. The four of us looked at the shops and ate our way through the Shilin Night Market. One more adventure awaited us. John needed a new pair of eye glasses. We found a small shop that was open and the four of us went into it. We created quite a sensation because Canadians are not often there late on a Sunday night to buy new glasses! John tried on many pairs of frames and received a lot of advice from his fashion advisors Mei and Naomi. Mei also took many pictures one of which is now quite famous: John is wearing bright orange frames and we are laughing. Lots of laughing went on during that sale! John decided on his frames, paid for them and found out that he needed to return the following day to pick them up.
 
Because John and I only had Monday March 26th, my birthday and Tuesday March 27th left before leaving Taiwan for New Zealand late Tuesday night, Mei and Naomi wanted us to see the famous main temple of Taipei: Longsham Temple. When we returned to Amo's it was to meet David, Amo's husband who had just arrived home from his business trip. He was so gracious to us and we were happy to meet him. We enjoyed telling David and Amo all about our day. Mei and Naomi said they would return the following morning.

Monday March 26, 2007 day hosts are Mei Wang, Naomi Chen and Serena Tang, SERVAS National Secretary; night hosts are Amo and David Chiang in Taipei

So bright and early Monday March 26th  Mei, Naomi,  John and I set out by car for the busy richly ornamented Longsham Temple.The lantern festival had just finished but there were still dozens of large paper lanterns of every charming design, bigger-than-life fish and dogs and lots of pigs as it was year of the pig. Some were large and lit from inside and others hung in great numbers from the ceiling rafters. Mei asked me if I wanted to pray and burn incense and because I sensed the spirituality of the temple, I wanted to do it.  I was touched deeply by the piety and devotion of the people. There were lots of people even though it was a Monday morning. People prayed oblivious to the noise and activity around them. Naomi showed me how to pray with the incense sticks so I prayed for all my friends, new and old, and my family in my own way which I hope was heard above. We were very impressed by the number and quality of statues and the carvings and all the altars dedicated to different deities.  And the flowers: they were spectacular. All kinds of flowers were in evidence filling overflowing containers or in huge bunches beside the altars. The air was filled with perfume from the flowers and the burning incense.

After a vegetarian lunch in a Buddhist restaurant and a quick visit to an aboriginal museum we parted company and headed in different directions. I thought I would go to the dapartment store IDEE that I had loved in Chaiyi. John was going back to the Shilin market area to pick up his new glasses and Naomi headed to the train station to go back to Chaiyi to teach English that night. We thanked her for all she had done for us and were especially sad to say goodbye to her. She said she might be coming to Canada in the summer but in the end she changed jobs and was not able to take time off. Mei had other things to do too but she said she would see us at Amo's house after my birthday dinner party with Serena to interview us properly for the newspaper article she was going to write about our trip around Taiwan with SERVAS.

I did indeed go to IDEE and went from floor to floor looking at the stylish clothes but there were no sales this time, none of the salesladies spoke English and without John or a SERVAS host with me, I became lonely very quickly. Outside IDEE was a small cafe and to pass the time I watched the people go by for some time. John arrived wearing his spiffy new glasses and shared an irresistable dessert. Well rested we took the MRT to see the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. It was very modern, so high the top was not visible because of the fog. The area around the tower had an ultramodern hotel and would be at home in any modern city in the world. It was so foggy in fact, that we opted not to go to the top. We were satisfied looking in the exclusive shops, with nary a knock-off in sight.

We then met Serena Tang, the National Secretary for Taiwan SERVAS without any difficulty at the MRT station and from there we walked a short distance to a another modern office tower near Taipei 101 where we met other SERVAS hosts in the food court. Serena had organized a delightful dinner party for my birthday with new and old SERVAS members in attendance. Once again we were in party mode.  Cindy came as did Wen Lin and Bryan. The new hosts were Lora Lee and Penny Liu. There were eight of us around a large circular granite table. There was a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday sung in my honour in English.  Serena had so thoughtfully bought a real birthday cake with candles on it for me and I got to make a wish and blow out the candles.  My wish was to return some day to this enchanted island. I felt unprepared for the presentation of birthday gifts and was once more humbled by the generosity of these kind and charming people. After the festivities thank yous and goodbyes, John and I returned to Amo's to meet Mei and be interviewed for her SERVAS article.

We were back at Amo's place only for a few minutes before Mei came with her reporter's notebook in hand. She asked us many questions individually and together and then took pictures of us with all our treasured gifts.  The interviewing took quite a while and I realized that Mei is an excellent reporter and writer. We we were aware she wrote travel books but now we found out how she got all her information. She asked thought provoking questions and she took lots of detailed notes. We said our thanks  to Mei but it was hard to say goodbye because we had done so much with her and knew we would miss her.  Because she travels so much we hoped she would visit us soon. As the hour drew late Brian and Joanna gave us  fridge magnets and touching notes saying how much they enjoyed our visit and hoping we would return one day. With all our memories alive and fresh we nevertheless slept like tops.

Tuesday March 27, 2007: day hosts Amo and David Chiang in Taipei

On Tuesday, our last day in Taiwan we packed carefully all morning and then we dodged raindrops as we walked around Amo's area and had a lovely little lunch in a small modern cafe close by. Our trip to the post office to buy some stamps for postcards proved to be an adventure worth retelling. It once again showed how kind all the Taiwanese were. We went into the small local post office and found a clerk who smiled who spoke no English. She found us another clerk who was happy to speak a few words of English. After we bought our stamps John asked the gentleman where we could make photocopies of a document. He indicated there was no place nearby. He then paused and asked John to give him the document and he would make us the copies.The clerk took the paper, made three copies as requested and gave them to John for free. John bowed and said he would be happy to pay but the man insisted it was free. I removed my Canadian maple leaf flag lapel pin and gave it to him. He was delighted to accept it.  We both bowed. John presented his lapel pin to the first clerk who was very shy about accepting it. She smiled as she accepted it. Both she and John bowed to one another. Just as we were about to leave the post office the gentleman asked us to wait a moment while he disappeared into the back of the post office. A moment later he returned and proudly presented us with both hands as is local custom an official Taiwanesen Postal Service lapel pin with a beautiful dragon on it. The dragon's tail goes up indicating that all will come out well in life. No matter what we did to be nice to people they found ways of saying thank you back to us in extraordinarily nice ways. When walking back to Amo and David's apartment along Roosevelt Street I came across a business ladies clothing boutique with a sale going on, at which I managed to purchase a few items as gifts. Where would everything go in my suitcase?

We packed very sadly and said many goodbyes to Amo, David and the two children. Before I left David gave me some bright yellow Japanese pills that he assured me would finish up any lingering bronchitis symptoms. Amo had a cousin, a taxi driver who would drive us to the airport later that night. The ride took almost an hour and we saw lights come and go as we drove past the towns along the road to the airport. Her cousin drove us at break neck speed (the norm) to the airport and we arrived in plenty of time to check in and go through the formalities of international travel. Even Amo's cousin treated us very kindly, he gave us a discount on the taxi fare to the airport. 

What can be said in conclusion. John and I had the trip of a lifetime in Taiwan. We owe our wonderful experiences and special memories to all our SERVAS hosts and to Mei Wang for organizing our twelve days in collaboration with all the hosts who made us part of their lives. We got a glimpse into the lives of many people throughout Taiwan and we would never have had that without our SERVAS connections. From a few emails sent from Montreal in February 2007 to twelve days of fun and friendship we can only say thank you to the astonishing SERVAS hosts in Taiwan from the bottom of our hearts. We expect to have lots of visitors over the next few years. We hope many Taiwanese young and old, do come to visit us in Montreal for we were touched by their friendship and enerosity and we would appreciate the chance to reciprocate.

In September four ladies from Taiwan did come to visit me in Montreal and we had a nice visit. I prepared a typical English dinner our first evening and a typical French Canadian dinner the second. We had time for a bit of sightseeing too. But top of their list of things to do in Montreal was to shop. I guess ladies like to shop no matter where they travel in the world. It is fun to bring home clothes from another country!

We treasure our memories and we treasure the time we spent in Taiwan. We sincerely hope to see our friends from Taiwan here in Montreal and again in Taiwan.

Sincerely Yours in Peace,

Alexandra

在士林夜市，印度甩餅老闆讓Alexandra小試身手