Yuanlin
Beautiful rice fields are everywhere in this town!
This is our lovely town of Yuanlin. I really like it here, since every local remembers me when I walk into their store, and I feel that I have bonds with many people even though I've never had a proper conversation with them.
This is our new apartment. It's a good place- a little bit like a ghetto, but very homey.
At the entrance is the trusty bubble tea stand, where the guy speaks english really well.
This is our building, and we live on the third floor. You can see our deck (the second one up).
Here's Mark fixing his permanently broken bike (with some onlookers and helpers) in the courtyard.
One really cool thing about this town is the even mixture of buildings and farmland. Those tall buildings are our apartment complex, you can see how close the rice fields are.
This is our cool room.
We often go out to ride through the scenic farmland on tiny little roads.
Yuanlin is famous for dried fruit. Here's some plums we saw being dried at a farm.
These superhighways are everywhere in Taiwan, this is one that comes through our town.
Mmmmm, this is like our second home. I like to go here as often as possible- the family is nice, and the food is the best I've ever had. I always get their spicy soup and steamed dumplings. Notice the backwards swastica on the sign- that's the symbol for buddhism and it means that all the food is vegetarian. The backwards swastica can be seen everywhere in Taiwan.
The Candy Man!!! Your one stop candy fill up station.
We bought a scooter, and it has created a whole new dimension to living in Taiwan. It's going to be great, though a little nerve-wracking!
This is me taking my first spin on the scooter in the 'Geant' parking lot. It's quite easy.
Random shots around town:
And here's our OLD apartment building:
The Kitchen (with a surprised Mark) & the Can (note how the shower is not separated from the rest of the bathroom and water gets everywhere- I hate this about asia!):
And the living room.