Taiwan Trip (Day 4) 10th April 2007, Tuesday

Good Morning.... everyone!!! I just take my morning bath. Now is daddy's turn. Mommy is busy packing up all the stuff while I'm busy playing with the phone. Hehehe......

This is mommy's breakfast. There's sushi for the breakfast today. Yummy.... Better be hurry!! After the breakfast, we need to catch the bus to Fo Guang Shan.

First Destination: Fo Guang Shang (佛光山)

This are the two piggy in front of the souvenir shop. Cute isn't it?

The headquarters of Fo Guang Shan, located in Kaohsiung, is the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. The organisation itself is also one of the largest charity organizations in Taiwan. Fo Guang Shan emphasizes education and service, maintaining public universities, Buddhist colleges, libraries, publishing houses, translation centres, Buddhist art galleries, teahouses, and mobile medical clinics worldwide.The order has also established a children's home, retirement home, high school and television station.

The social and medical programs of Fo Guang Shan include a free medical clinic with mobile units that serve remote villages, an annual winter relief program organized to distribute warm clothing and food supplies to the needy, a children's and seniors' home, wildlife conservation areas to protect living creatures, and a cemetery for the care of the deceased.

The educational programs of Fo Guang Shan include four Buddhist colleges. The Chinese Buddhist research institute is further subdivided into four separate departments; a women's and men's college, and an international and English Buddhist studies department. Tuition fees and lodging are provided by Fo Guang Shan, free of charge.
With the many colleges and universities, Fo Guang Shan also operates Pu-Men High School in Taipei, which provides regular curriculum for high school students. Fo Guang Shan has also built nursery schools, kindergartensb, and Sunday schools for children.

Our next station is Meinon Hakka Village. On the way, we stop by the Fruit Farm. Wow.... there's a lot of apple mangoes. The farm looks so beautiful and the tree full of apple mangoes. We can go and pick the apple mangoes ourself and pay before we get out of the farm. Daddy bought 6 apple mangoes for us to enjoy tonight in the hotel room. Hehehe.... A Wei(Tour Guide) but quite a lot as well. He plans to let us have it as a dessert after our lunch later. He is so nice......

Me getting sleeeppyy.... it's time for me to take a nap now.

Second Destination: Mei Non Hakka Village

Here we are..... Mei Non Hakka Village. We have the chance to see the traditional Hakka Handicrafts, such as hand-make umbrella, bamboo handicraft and beautiful ladies accessories. Also you can pay for taste some Hakka traditional food, such as Ban Tiao, Ice block and Le Tea.

After taking the photo in front of the door, we start to walk into the village to take a look at their handicraft that display along the walk way.

The shop with a lot of latern outside selling the Lei Cha. Everybody just go in there to the tea that A Wei recomended o the bus. Lei Cha or Pounded Tea: A consortment of tea leaves (usually green tea), peanuts, mint leaves, sesame seeds, mung beans and other herbs, which are pounded or ground into a fine powder which is mixed as a drink. Mommy said it taste weird but smell very nice. I only take a sip because mommy said it contain peanuts and I'm not allow to take peanuts yet. Too bad.....

This is the Uncle A Wei that I mention just now. Hehehe.... look very smart isn't it? He's really a good tour guide. Mommy said he look like Tao Zheng Yu, the HongKong movie star.

There's a trick pot at the back. Daddy and mommy try to do the trick but fail. Now this aunty do it for us. Really weird thing???

The little paper umbrella.

This is the things that they use to grind the soya beans.

Hooray..... we are on our way to have lunch now!!

Today, we going to have our lunch at the Fisherman's Wharf which is a very famous restaurant in Kaohsiung. It's located somewhere near the port. Hmmm.... there must be a lot of seafood for our lunch later.

Third Destination: Spring and Autumn Pavilions

This is the famous scenic area on the northern outskirts of Kaohsiung City and it is noted for its profusion of temples, with the Confucius Temple at its northern edge and, in the south, the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas and the Spring and Autumn Pavilions. The lake is most beautiful in the late afternoon, when the setting sun is reflected in the water. Nearby are the ruins of the Fongshan County walls and gates, which have been designated a first-grade historic. Two massive pavilions dedicated to Kuan Kung, the God of War, the Spring and Autumn Pavilions were completed in 1951. In front of the pavilions is a statue of Kuanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, riding a dragon. According to legend, Kuanyin appeared above the clouds riding on a dragon, signifying that believers must erect an image depicting this event between "pavilions of summer and autumn": The present-day structures are a result of this vision. About 700 meters to the south of the Spring and Autumn Pavilions are the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. The dragon's throat is the entrance and the lion's mouth is the exit. Entering a dragon's throat and coming out a lion's mouth symboilizes turning bad luck to good fortune. Inside, paintings depict China's 24 most obedient sons as well as scenes of heaven and hell to inspire people to do good deeds during their lifetime, and to provide threatening examples of retribution for wrong doing.

This friendly auntie helps mommy to take care of me for a while. While mommy find a place to take some pictures of those beautiful sceneries. Wow..... there's two ducks in the lake. A loving couple......

This is the Uncle Driver that driving us around since the first day of our tour. A friendly uncle as well. He teach mommy a lot on how to take care of daddy's health.

Fourth Destination: Xing Jue Jiang Night Market (新崛江夜市)

This market is not very big but full of all kinds of foods and clothes. We don't have much time to spend in this market because we arrive quite late. We are only have about 1 hour and have to gather back in the area about 9pm. So, daddy, mommy and me rush over to the market and walk pass the whole street to look for beautiful clothes and special things. Mommy got a few t shirts from there, daddy got a pair of jean and I got another set of new cloth. Fortunately, I get back to the bus on time. Or else we have to look for our own transport back to the hotel then.