Chinese New Year

Wednesday 2nd February
For Chinese New Year we were given 6 days break.
I had wanted to go to Toroko Gorge but I had left it a bit late to book a place to stay and it was still a bit cold for camping.
Angel's family had invited me to a big feast on the day after we broke up. I had been trying to find out what I should bring for everyone for some time, but Angel hadn't been very specific.
I was told not to arrive until 6pm, so that gave me the morning to shop around. Pascal was in the same boat so he offered to take me to some shops with traditional New-Year-type gifts.
I got a pack of pineapple cakes for her Grandmother, some cookies and drink for her mother; a bottle of whisky for the brother who had given up his day off to help sort out my second crash; and some beer for the younger brother. I hoped this would be enough.
That afternoon I went for a hike with Pascal and his friend Hugh up a different part of the mountain. I thought it would be a good idea to work up an appetite. The hike was very steep up and down these 3 peaks. The worst part was a steep staircase at the top of the valley going up a cliff face... I'd never gripped a railing so hard... except maybe the up the wall of death on Mt Elgon in Uganda...
The walk was steep but not as long as we had expected, so we got back to the van before 4pm. Plenty of time to get back and shower!

At Angels, I gave out the gifts straight away. I think everyone was happy with them, except that Jaram wasn't old enough to drink yet, he was still 17. Whoops! I'm sure the beer will keep until his birthday! Jarhu (the older brother) wasted no time in opening his. There was a hot pot in the middle of the table with the usual pieces of tofu, sausage, egg, fish balls, octopus and shrimp. Around the edge of the table were things that are traditionally eaten at new year. Fish is eaten because the word sounds like 'renew' or 'recycle' or something. Yaram Cake is also eaten, which is very tasty, goes really well with soy sauce.
Angel's uncle and aunt live next door with her grandmother. They came over during the evening to bid us happy new year.

Thursday 3rd February.

We had thought about going to a cycle place near Taichung but after a nice lie in, Angel's mother didn't think we had enough time to get the most out of it. So instead, we scootered (well Angel scootered, I clung to the back) to a place with lots of flowers. The traffic was terrible today. It didn't take an hour to get there. I was expecting a big garden with lots of flowers but it was actually a long road with gardens on either side where you could buy flowers, shrubs and trees. In front of the gardens, and possibly just because it was a national holiday, there was a typical Taiwanese-style row of food stalls selling anything from icecreams and hot dogs to octopus wraps. The place was heaving. There were a few places where you could hire bicycles or peddle cars (The Flintstones style). We ran into Gail while we were looking round; A friend from Yuanlin. She was out with her cousin.
We passed on this idea as it made it difficult to see the flowers when you are on a bike. When we had spent a good hour looking round all of the displays we bought some food and found a park to sit down in and enjoy the beautiful weather.
We headed home at about 5. When we got back to Yuanlin, we drove to the bookshop. Angel needed to pick up a card making materials and I wanted to buy some Chinese New Year Cards to send to people back home.
When we got back to the Shen Household, her mother was cooking again, using up the leftovers of the hotpot from last night. I was surprised how much i could eat after yesterday's feast. That night we had an early night so that we could get to this cycle place nice and early tomorrow.

Friday 4th February.

The next morning we drove down to the station to catch a train to beyond Taichung. We grabbed a 7/11 breakfast, a steamed bun and a drink. The train was late and slow and had many people on board, all heading somewhere exciting in the hols.
We found a space and clung to the rail until we reached the large town of Fongyuen. We got off and headed towards the bus station and found a bus heading to the cycle place. The last time Angel came here she was in the a car so she asked the driver if he knew when to get off, but he didn't. We jumped off when Angel saw part of the track, but it turned out the hire shops were quite a walk further on up the hill.
I was expecting a big park in which you could cycle, but this was actually a long cycle track, just like we have in Europe. There were a lot of people on it too. From the very young kids to the very old. There were regular bicycles, tandems, and electric bicycles for the less active. After the Sun Moon Lake Marathon I didn't complain too much when Angel announced she was going to hire an electric bike.

We set out south along the track through beautiful orchards and flower filled fields with the mountains in the distance to the left.
The bike I hired was OK, except the seat was a bit low so I had to keep standing up to get any speed up. The pedal pace kept changing, as the path went from straight, to up, to down, to an almost halt whenever someone joined the path from a side path or road. Before long we reached a the small town of Dongshi. It had a Hakka tourist near the path and a line of stalls selling snacks and drinks. There was a white horse pulling visitors in a posh black cart. I didn't notice it, until I turned round from buying a drink. It most knocked me over.

We had a quick walk round to stretch our legs. Then got back on the bikes. Angel thought the path went further on, but Dongshi was the end of the line. So we turned round and headed back the way we came.
Now far behind where we had started was an old railtrack still in tact with a carriage upon it. We thought this would be a good place to have lunch. There was another line of stalls selling food so we grabbed a giant dunmpling thing and sat aboard the train. This was a photo oportunity not to be missed.

From the train, we cycled further down hill. Up until now there had been no incidents. One boy who was coming up the hill veered across onto my side. I stopped but he kept coming, so either his brakes weren't working or he had forgotten how to use them. Wack! He was fine OK, but I saw he was a little shaken so I stopped shouting at him and gave him a smile and a thumbs up. Soon after that we reached a point where two paths joined. We took a sharp right and headed towards the mountains. The path went over a huge bridge and on the other side it went into the mountain.
The tunnel was dimly lit and it was freezing inside. It was difficult to see what was coming on the other side, so everyone went at the speed of the slowest, which was pretty slow. After what seemed like an age, we came out the other side. It was an easy drop to the horse show place. It was difficult to tell what went on inside, either a zoo with just horses, or circus/showground venue with just horses.

I wasn't that fussed about seeing it, it was getting later and it cost $200 to get in, so we decided to give it a miss. We headed back up the hill to the mountain... We could see people outside the mountain putting on coats before entering to keep warm. We pressed on. Angel had mentioned there being a very good icecream parlour, on the other side of the bridge, so we went to check. Sadly they only sell them in the summer time. Ridiculous! It was a shame because the garden was perfect for relaxing and eating icecream. With a heavy heart I carried on. It was after 4:30 and I remembered the long uphill we yet had to do. But then the voice of an Angel, well Angel noticed an cafe selling icecream. Happy Days! We sat down and ordered a chocolate sundae and a cup of tea. It was the strangest icecream I had ever eaten. It was like eating snowflakes. Delicious icecream snowflakes with chocolate!
When the sundae had settled, we set off on the last leg of the journey. My legs were beginning to ache. I was glad Angel had the electric bike to carry my bag.

At last we arrived back at the bicycle hire place and returned the bikes.
My plan was to take Angel to a nice western restaurant in Taichung that evening. It is the 2nd biggest city. How hard could it be to find a restaurant?
Well after walking down 6 blocks for 20 minutes the only places I could find were Mc Donald's KFC and Subway. So I had to admit that the place I remembered must have been further out of town and we settled on eating at a very long night market.