Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, I was lucky enough to be invited to a friend's (XZ) Church Christmas function. As usual, I didn't know what to expect, but I think that adds to the enjoyment of it (without having expectations). As it happened, it was a night of acting, singing and dancing.

One of the performances that XZ was in, I actually understood what was going on (big surprise). She was dressed in white and was dancing around the stage with another man also dressed in white. The only other prop on stage was a tree with a single apple. Can you guess what this is? Anyway, XZ ate the apple and afterwards both of them went looking for the fig leaves.

Below are some of the photos of the different performances:

A choir singing Christmas carols








A bit of modern pop music








Children participation; by the way, there were adorable...









XZ doing the dance that lead her to eating the apple. The other person dancing with XZ, I think, was temptation.










I think this may have been Noah's arc but I didn't see any animals...









More dancing (yes with XZ).











And there were a few more performances but I sat and enjoyed them rather than get too many more photos - sorry.

After all that performing, there was a feast for all the hungry performers and their friends.

Oh, also during the performance, the audience was given a heart shaped card to write a Christmas message on it. Here is what I wrote, in my bad Chinese grammar:

It says, all Taiwan people, may you receive everything that you heart desires.

It is the only thing I could remember from my text books...







At the end of the evening, XZ and her friends that she bought had a group photo.


Some Christmas this year was pretty good.

Till next time, have a good one...

Trip to NanRen Lake

Last weekend, the Doctor and I travelled to NanRen Lake. You can see where it is by the red marker in the picture to the right. This is the southern area of Taiwan.

The p

ark is special because it is one of the last areas in Taiwan that hasn't been overly damaged by human occupation. In fact, the Taiwan have become so protective of it that entry permits must be issued.

The picture below gives you a bit of information about this area.

The tour guide told the bus group that the lake has grass growing around and into it. In about four years from now, they guide said that the lake would probably be gone forever.

In order to get to the lake, we had to walk about four and half kms. The return walking trip would take at least a couple of hours. We were also told that there are no toilets along the w

ay so it is important to go before starting the walk.

On the way to the lake, part of the bus tour price was lunch and a drink. The Doctor didn't want to drink his drink so I had it. Unfortunately about one and half kms

into the track, I had to turn back and return to the starting point because I think I drank too much. When I caught up with the group, the Doctor told me that the local Taiwanese girls started to giggle

when I initially turned back thinking that a foreigner cannot handle the walk. But there were a little surprised when I caught up with th

e group. The tour guide also noticed that I was gone for a while and wondered where I had gone. When I t

old him that I needed to head back for the toilet, he laughed and said I should have found a tree. So I think next time, when the tour guide says no toilets; I will presume that it means that trees are the exception.

Anyway, after walk all the extra distance, we finally arrived at the lake.

I have a few more photos, but Google Chrome and Windows is giving me a few problems. I need to switch back to Ubuntu, so I'll leave this adventure here for now.

Till next time, have a good one...