At the start of the month, I originally had hoped to fly to Christchurch to complete my citizenship process. Personally, I was not much in favour of doing this but the Doctor was keen and managed to complete his just after we left New Zealand. I figured that if he had his, I should at least keep the same as him just in case relations between New Zealand and Australia deteriorate. Anyway, I had confirmed with the citizenship office when the next ceremony was and as it was an invite only affair, I presumed that I was on it. However, as I hadn't received the invite a week before it was due, I emailed them to find out what was going on. This was went New Zealand's brilliance started to shine. I was told that I was taken off their list for one reason or another without being notified (plus they had my old address despite being advised otherwise) and that their email in January was not meant to mean I still was on their list. Anyway to cut a rather long (and really annoying) story I just travelled to Melbourne to visit Mother Blog and the Scot.
This week long trip at the start of March had put me behind in my Chinese studies as well as the Masters that I was suppose to start. Therefore, much of my home time had been reading and studying trying to catch up. For my Masters, it was also difficult because this was the first time at the new University in Melbourne (I am studying on line) and trying to find my way around the online campus and library as well as ordering my necessary books. Well this weekend, I have managed to finish two of my three assignments due in a couple of weeks so I am feeling a lot better now.
Just on a side note, and one that you may find interesting. For my assignments, after I have written them up and given them a once over, I send them to the Doctor for a final proof read. His written English is so much better than mine, and plus he has the benefit of writing a doctoral thesis. So if worst comes to worst, I know that my assignments are grammatically correct. But Mother Blog has told me on several occasion that I should be embarrassed that someone who learnt English as his third language corrects my writing.
Anyway, onto something more exciting. Last Friday, the Doctor and I finally got around to using a discount hotel coupon we bought last last year. Through numerous unexpected events, we had postponed this numerous times. Finally last Friday we got around to going.
The place that we visited was called BaoLai and you can see the distance by the two yellow highlighted squares. BaoLai is right in the mountains of Kaohsiung county and took two bus trips and about four hours to get there.The transfer station was also in the mountains in a town called Liu Guei (六龜). Literally means six turtles. I suspect the name may have something to do with Feng Shui as a mountain may represent a turtle's supportive back (shell).
After arriving at the small town called BaoLai, we made our way up to the hotel that we had been eagerly anticipating since last year. The attraction of this hotel, according to the Doctor was that it was a hot spring/spa hotel. And when we arrived we were not disappointed.
After checking in and finding out all the relevant information such as dinner time, breakfast time, did they have vegetarian meals for us, opening and closing times of the spa, we headed to the spa to soak and relax. As you can see from this photo to the left, the Doctor has the whole pool to himself.The water jets that you can see above the Doctor are very powerful. I stood under one on Friday evening and the next morning when I tried the same one, I felt like I was a bit of tenderised meat.
After having a soak for a hour or so, we headed over to the restaurant for our dinner. I think the restaurant manager felt a bit over worked as we were told to come back later because she was too busy. Hmm, stressed out people at a hot spring/spa hotel. Something seems a bit at odds here???Anyway after waiting for a bit, we finally got our seats and settle down to enjoying our meal.
This type of meal is called a Hot Pot. The idea is that you are given a bowl of broth (or in our case water) along with all the ingredients such as cabbage, mushrooms, pumpkin, yam, and numerous other things. Under the metal bowl is a small container filled with flammable liquid and it is set alight. The fire heats the bowl above it and you put your food in to cook it. Not a bad idea.
In the restaurant, they had this really unusually looking item on their counter. What I found out (and I did try to use my Chinese Language skills) was this is an Ice Coffee maker. How it works is that you put ice cubes in the top container and as they melt the cold water drips down to the middle container. In the middle container it has coffee beans. The cold water that has melted from the ice runs over the coffee beans and drips to the bottom container. Apparently the ice coffee is really delicious when made this way, but unfortunately it takes more than six hours to get a cup out of it.The restaurant manager mentioned that coffee made this way keeps the aromas locked into the water whereas with hot coffee, particularly with boiling hot water, the aromas are fused with the steam and escape from the drink. I have heard that putting boiling hot water with coffee is a no-no as it burns the coffee. But as I am not a coffee drinker I can't confirm that one.
After filling our bellies and soaking in the hot spas, we headed back to our room for a good night's sleep. The following morning, the Doctor and I had another soak in the hot spa, after all this was the point of the trip, eat breakfast and made our way back home. On the way back to the bus stop, I managed to get a reasonable photo of the BaoLai township. It really is nested in amongst the mountains. However, this also was very close to the epicentre of an earthquake that struck a month earlier. Also when the devastating typhoons hit in August last year, all round this area was hit pretty bad.
This is one house that was almost sweep away with the typhoons, how it is still standing I don't know. The cliff top that was under the house has been washed away along with half of the road. Mother Nature must have been really furious over something...Anyway I think that is all for now. Til next time, haveagoodone...
