Pingxi

No fear, not a repeat blog. Just a repeat visit. 

I joined a jovial group of friends for Angela's birthday. Angela is a Taiwanese teacher at Gloria and she has become a pretty good friend. She's been in the last couple posts as well, so not too new. But her birthday came and went and she invited me to be a part of it. 

She wanted to go to Pingxi to light off some sky lanterns because she had never done it before. I was actually the only one in the group who had - Bonnie the Veteran. Ohhhh yeah. 

So we took of for Pingxi. It was a pretty good group. I'll spare you the names and you can just look at the pictures. But it was really fun. The rain sprinkled for a bit and we were all worried that we couldn't light the lanterns. But it held off and our day wasn't ruined. 

Instead of only going to Pingxi, we went to all the little towns on the railroad. It was cool. Each stop had its own old town. The area is really big on wishes and dreams too. My kinda place. 

One of the places is known for its chicken rolls and strangely enough, no chicken is involved. Haha. It's vegetarian but apparently the name in Chinese is very similiar to the Taiwanese word for chicken. Weird, but they were DELICIOUS. Sara and I wanted about six. But we only had one.

At the same place, they had these bamboo shoots that people write their wishes on and then hang anywhere they want. Literally anywhere - from trees, fences, railroad posts, mailboxes, signs. It's cool to see them everywhere. There was a big pile of them that had fallen off and were going to be burned or thrown away so Sara and I decided to 'rescue' a couple. Everyone said I stole someones dreams but really I saved it. And I didn't let anyone translate it either, because it's not my wish. But it looks cool. And I bought a blank one to write my own on, so I have a nice pair of them. 

Next we set off the lanterns. None of them went up in flames so it was a huge success. And it was so pretty, as always, to see them ascend. I like them!! 

Sara's and my lantern

May the force be with you

the wishing tree

wishes

josh racing the crazy man

karen, chad, brandon, angie, debbie, josh i, sara

our lantern

the ascension 

wishes

the valley

suspension bridge

more wishes

make your own

After our trip, we headed off as a smaller group, to a dinner in Taipei. Brandon has two friends that recently bought a restaurant. It is French/Italian food and super delicious. I ate so much. And it was after closing because they stayed open just for us. So we got to talk to Zach and Lynn (the owners) and got to hear about the good and bad of opening a restaurant. Mostly good though, it sounds like. And I'll definitely be going back. It was so good. 

Next post will be soon! I've started my Chinese lessons. But I don't want to tack it on at the end of this! So come back soon!