Jade Market

Taipei has the largest Jade Market in East Asia!  It goes for more than a city block under one of the MRT stations!  So much fun!  Jade, antiques, tea pots and more!  Spent the day wandering up and down the isles!

Making a purchase! 

The people continue to amaze me with their generous spirits and easy kindness!

Mario (my "baby" nephew) and Pei arrive from Thailand!

Visitors from nearby!  Nephew Mario and girlfriend arrive from Thailand!  Mario teaches english there and is on year 2!  His girlfriend Pei (not sure how to spell her name!) teaches PE and Health!

On our way to Keelung to visit the shrine for goddess Guandi.

Yes, it was raining that hard.  I am obviously soaked!  We paid for two roof tiles for the temple and were permitted to write our names and those of our kids for added blessings!

Undaunted by the rain, I still wander aimlessly!

Ringing the bell!

Local wildlife!

Kicking it in Hong Kong!

What a vibrant city!  Thanks to my friend Janus Hinson who's daughter gave us some awesome tips, we had a great time!

Cathy Pease, Olivia Carr (her daughter) and I get a walking tour of the neighbor hood provided by our hotel.  "Mike" spoke good english, but never quite opened his mouth all the way, so we were straining to hear!  Our hotel was right in the middle of the shopping district (well played Janus, well played!)

This is the "Ladies Market"! Our cab driver advised Steve to "smile like Happy Buddha and give your money to the ladies! He did real well:-)

We are admiring the bamboo scoffolding!  It was amazing, all the way up really tall structures!  OK, Cathy and I are looking at the scoffolding, Olivia is looking for a shoe store!

Steve and Olivia on the ferry to Hong Kong from Kowloon!

This is the view from Victoria's Peak!  We rode a cable car to the top!

These last two pictures were taken from the pool deck on the top floor of our hotel.  Steve took these through tinted glass at night.  I think they look really cool!

Naked on the beach!

Not really!  Got you to look though!  After a trip to Fulong Beach, I discovered that the natives were far more dressed than we were!  It means that I need to buy some board shorts and tshirt to wear before I even think about heading for the beach again!

I paid $20. for toilet paper!

Actually, it's not as bad as it sounds.  $20. NT is about $.50 U.S.  Toilet paper is normally provided, but in some cases, you need to provide your own.  $20. NT bought me 2 pocket kleenex size packets:-)  WORTH IT!!!

Changing of the guard at the Sun Yat-Sen memorial:

Used my camera, so they are not terribly clear, but this was really an awesome sight!

Here I am with my post-toilet paper glow!!

Dumplings and monsoons!

Cathy and Olivia arrive to rain, but cooler weather (for one day anyway)!

We went to the famous Xiao Long Bao restaurant to enjoy their wonderful dumplings!

What makes the whole trip worthwhile to Olivia?

Shoes!!!

Exploring

The Taiwan Museum of History

Fun outing on my own, but got completely lost!  A nice lady came to my rescue and told me I had walked 5 blocks the wrong way!  I wasn't lost as much as I was trying to explore the area.  Yeah, that's it.  Explore the area:-)

More shots of the area I explored ON PURPOSE!

Ok, I was a little lost.