Trips

Sun Moon Lake

This is a very popular lake with many things surrounding a beautiful lake. This was a full day trip that we took to experience more of the Asian culture.

Chung Tai Chan Monastery

This is a Buddhist monastery that is very large and has its own community inside the monastery itself. Our tour guide was a Monk herself and it was very interesting seeing everything. we could only take pictures on the first floor of the monastery, but upstairs was even more Beautiful and very relaxing for meditation!

 

 

Front Gate to the Monastery

So beautiful-the grounds around the temple was so cool too!

 

 

This is your view before you walk through the 20+ feet tall doors!

The temple took 7 years to build, very fast for the size of the temple!

 

This is your first sight when you walk through the doors, BUDDA!

This God is the god for children and families! Fat and playful!

 

This is another God as you walk towards the back of the temple, a very relaxing position for meditation. This god was also upstairs, and was even more beautiful surrounded by white and gold.

I captured this picture at the perfect second, with nobody in the way! This was in the side wing of the temple, everything about the room just is so beautiful!

I captured this picture as we left the temple, showing the top of the Monastery surrounded by clouds. I really like this picture. They say at night the temple lights up to show people the way to pray to the gods.

 

Hugo Tea Farm

This tea farm was a tea farm where I was able to make my own tea!!!!! We made our own tea and also taste tested some of their teas that they make at there tea farm. The black tea was very good and I loved to be able to 'mush' up the tea leaves as the first step to making the tea.

 

The sign of the building as you enter the tea farm.

 

 

This was the tea tasting area, where we learned the proper way to tea drinking.

 

 

The Bus rides are always fun, chit chatting it up!!!!

These baskets are what we roll our tea leaves in. You have to roll your tea leaves until they turn into vine type things, and then you put them in the oven an dry them out, then you wait for  a couple of weeks and wa-la, you have your tea to drink.

Me-rolling tea leaves....

The Lake Itself

 

So I decided that one vegetable that I love that they do not have in the states is BAMBOO! I love bamboo, it tastes really good and Mom wants a bamboo floor, well I want a bamboo dinner!!!!

This is one of the many fruit stands. OMG I love fruit so much, and they have so much fresh fruit here it is unbelievable!

This is the tour boat that we took to tour the lake. It was a little musty and cold this day.

This is the lake, would probably be more beautiful without the clouds, but I still think it is very romantic!

 

 

Gaomei Wetland

This is a large area of wetlands on the western shore of Taiwan. It goes on what seems like forever. It is really cool, and very romantic, a very good spot to just sit and think or walk in ankle deep water with your significant other.

 

I loved seeing these people almost look like ghosts or statues in the distance. The wetlands were very cool and wet and windy!

 



This was a crab that I saw, there are a lot of crabs and oysters in the wetlands, main animals in the wetlands. 

A couple of cool birds were walking around in the wetlands, very cool looking and probably looking for those crabs to eat!

This is another cool bird that I was able to spot.

I really like this picture, a winding boardwalk into literally nothing!

My feet in the wetlands, never was more than ankle deep water for miles!

Proof I was here!

Jora and Brandy posing for a picture in the water. They are a couple of my friends who also went on this trip.

Many local people go out and dig in the mud like kids for crabs and oysters to eat.

 

These are a couple of trips that I went on and experienced the culture of Taiwan. I loved everyone of these trips and it was cool to see all the different things that they have here that we do not have back in the states. I hope to be showing you more of my adventures soon, but for now....

 

Signing out,

Michael Reed