Kenting National Park with Chris, Neot and Maya:Pt I of Two



Three days of frolicking in the sun, enjoying Maya as she dashed from one pool to the next, or from the playroom to the Kids Theatre, or from the staff/kid dance to the arcade room, and then, being the water rat she is, back to another pool!







We just returned from a very fun three day "vacation" at a resort hotel for kids in Kenting National Park located in the southernmost tip of Taiwan. Basically, we swam a lot, ate a lot, and,most of all,delighted in watching Maya swim, do arts and crafts, dance with kids and staff, participate in Kids Theatre and overall, have a blast! Chris, Neot and Maya leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow (sob), so we spent our last evening here at the villa, packing and ordering in their last Taiwanese meal (fried rice with chicken and omelette; fried rice with shrimp; spare ribs, and chicken with cheese).

Some More Fun Days with Our Son, Daughter-in-law, and Granddaughter!

I think the pictures will speak for themselves! They include delicious mocha chocolate coffee at the nearby restaurant, fun at the beach itself , fun at the Children's Museum of Art, fun at some different playgrounds (there are oodles of them in Kaohsiung; it is a place that loves kids!) and fun slurping up Taiwanese noodles with chop sticks! Way to go, Neot!





Whew! Now we are exhausted, as we wait for the subway to take us home! Cynthia, Moowah and WanWan came over for a fun spaghetti dinner to end the day!

Chris, Neot and Maya: The Beach and the Park!

A Day at the Beach and the Playground!

Getting ready!!!





Today was another fun day! This morning, Chris, Neot and Maya actually awoke before we did and went outside for a early morning stroll and to see the monkeys (which usually congregate in the wee dawn hours!). Sure enough, they were there, cavorting in the hammocks and the trees just outside our villa! Maya loved that!

Then, after breakfast, we walked down the hill, through the tunnel and down the road that takes us to the ferry boat, where we hopped aboard for a short (one-minute or so) ride to Cijiin Island.




Cijiin is known for its expanse of beach! As we headed towards the beach, we stopped along the way to appreciate an intricately ornamental Chinese temple. One section had a neat huge fish tank, and Maya liked watching the gold fish swim.
Once at the beach, we all played with Maya, who happily spent a good two hours getting wet and dirty at the beach's shore. No swimming is supposedly allowed yet,,due to the strong currents. But though we did not venture far into the water, a couple of surf boarders did and were fun to watch; they caught some waves! Also, we watched one lone young man who was WAY OUT in the ocean, who swam back in, a process that took quite a bit of time and A LOT of strength! He was definitely physically fit! As Ted said, WE would not have even made it back; but if we had, we would have flopped like a beached whale on the sand. He, on the other hand, popped up and strode easily to leave the sands to wherever he was going! We also are impressed with how clean everything we see is: the university grounds, the subways, the beaches. You can see why, as you see the people employed whose job it is to clean up litter!!

We next went to the colorful and fun small playground. While Chris stayed there with Maya for a few minutes, Neot, Ted and I searched for a place from which to buy something we could have as a picnic lunch for the four adults (We brought, per usual, macaroni and cheese and a hot dog for our severely allergic granddaughter). We found a stall and did some pointing, a process which ended up with our getting, in a take-out box, some steamed pork dumplings with soy sauce and rice vinegar . We brought the boxes back to the playground and had a fun picnic, except for the bee that persisted in staying with and around us as we ate with our chopsticks! Neot almost freaked out when the critter kept flying near here!!! But we managed to avoid getting stung; all was well!

Then we walked further to the beautiful Lotus Lake Amusement Park, which has gorgeous, colorful and intricately carved Chinese architecture in temples along the roadside and amusement park Chinese dragons and tigers and Buddhas into which kids can run, sit on different toys to rock, and in general, enjoy bopping all over and listening also to the live karaoke singers at the different little spots for playing!

Leegend has it that, at this park, if you go into the dragon's mouth and exit, after following a "tunnel" inside the dragon's body and the connecting tiger's body, the tiger's mouth, that you have left you "bad luck" behind in the dragon and come out with "good luck!" of course, we did just that!

Earlier in the day, we also had been invited to dine with Dr I-Heng Chen for dinner; he remembered Chris from his (I-Heng's) NYU days and wanted to see him. So we decided to head home and let everyone have a good nap We all went home by 3pm and took long naps. Unfortunately, Maya woke up only temporarily at about 5:30 coughing badly and fell back asleep. So I am babysitting now while Chris, Neot and Ted join the Chens for dinner. I just hope Maya is not getting sick; she has been so fun to be with; she truly is a trooper, for she just LOVES doing everything. She is curious about all she sees and a very good sport!
So I have an epipen nearby, just in case. But I surely don't want to have to use it!! Hopefully, she will remain asleep!

Assuming Maya is okay by tomorrow (fingers crossed), today was great fun! (PS: she was fine the next day!)

A Wonderful Day! Chris, Neot and Maya's First Day with Us in Kaohsiung!

Chris, Neot and Maya arrived LATE (back at villa and to bed by 1:30 to 2 am) last night (delayed plane; you know the story; and they were the LAST to get through customs because ,of course, they accidentally chose the line with a new guy in training!!) but they are here at last!

Maya was delighted with the panda stuffed bear from Nanaby and Granddad! Inside it is another head of the 2009 Kaohsiung World Games mascot!

Today, the idea was twofold: to see as much as they could given their short stay here; and to stay awake as long as they could, so as to adjust to the twelve-hour time difference!

In keeping with that spirit, we jauntily headed out, with Maya skipping along, for the twenty plus minute walk from our villa, down the hill, through the tunnel, along the streets on this end of the city and to the nearest subway for a 25 minute ride to the site of the old Sugar Factory! There, we found our way through a sugar cane stalk maze (Maya did great!) Then we headed to a one-room Museum on the history of sugar cane production in Taiwan, from over 300 years ago through the Japanese occupation during WWII years and to the end of its use in modern times.

Next we had a Taiwanese lunch of unnamed things that were, typically, a bit bland, a bit rubbery, a bit weird smelling (maybe fried squid balls again, a sweet sort of hot dog thing (not too bad), fried tofu (aided greatly by drowning it in ketchup) and some sweet but rubberized corn on the cob. We had wisely brought mac n cheese for Maya; (she had the best part of the deal!)

Then we went to the ice cream store there, but basically bought just some of their little kid toys, because we were not so in the mood to eat more nor did we want to take any chances on ice cream with egg in it!



After that, we took the little train ride they have there that wound through the sugar cane and corn fields. But, too late, we discovered it was only ONE WAY!!! So, we ended up having to walk a mile to the nearest subway entrance, instead of no walk if we had punted the train ride. Oh well, as you have heard us "say" before, what do we know???! Then we were thinking we would head home. It was about 2pm.

BUT, Maya got a second wind, and we all decided to try going to the Dream Mall as a fun place for kids (arcades, ferris wheel ride, bumper boat rides (totally cool!) bouncy castles for little ones to jump in, a carousel,etc).









Maya was delighted and had a ball, as we adults watched her with smiles on our faces at her happiness, and drooping eyes at our exhaustion!!

By the time we got home, Maya had zonked out (we hope for the night) and we had a nice scallops supper!

A Very Brief Blog to Show You Our Latest Athletic Endeavors!

Today and yesterday, Ted and I decided to don our "athletic" hats! First, Ted braved the ocean surf right below our villa (the beach is at the bottom of the 209 steps (Yes, we counted them at last!). He caught two waves before the lifeguard called him closer to shore, much to Ted's annoyance!


Then today, we finally signed up and played some tennis. I lost the first set 6 to 2, the second, 6 to 3. Of course, Ted was being kind:no slams at me. But I still got in a couple of decent shots!
Of course, by the end of two sets, we were really thirsty, having totally forgotten to bring water with us. So, naturally, we headed for the little cafeteria near our villa. Why?Because there, they have the
absolutely most delicious pineapple drink. It is cool and so refreshing, sort of tasting like a non-alcoholic pina
colada! The price: 30 NT (less than one US dollar).

The young man who works the juice bar knows us now and almost without our asking, starts to whip up the pineapple drink. Fresh pineapple here in Taiwan is outstanding!

And lastly, this strange-looking
food in these pictures is called caltrops, evidently a crop that used to be grown a lot in Taiwan.