Made in Taiwan...

This was at a beach in Taitung, a county located in eastern Taiwan. The journey from Taipei to Taitung took about 5 hours by train. Cooling off in the ocean was much needed. We biked through almost all of the county. The cool breeze on the bikes were welcomed with open arms! We also ate some delicious Indian food and Seafood while we were there...

We cruised around  Orchid (LANYU) Island on scooters. I even drove for a little while, needless to say I almost killed both myself & Emily, a travel buddy I met on my trip there. It was quite funny actually the more I wanted to brake, the more I accelerated! haha..After that Emily said all she could think was "not down cliff please"

We swam quite a lot while we were there, despite the water being the most beautiful I have ever seen, it is fierce! The currents were strong and it would sometimes take us decades to get back to the shore. There was one day when a huge wave hit me from the back, I literally tumbled over and the water slammed (as there is no other word) me to the ROCKY shore!

We went snorkeling, it was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my short lived life!

 Due to the unruly current in the waters, we could only go snorkeling for one day, but boys and girls let me tell you it was truly AMAZING! Shamin, the owner of the guesthouse and Dan's friend took us out snorkeling... When i first stuck my head under the water...there were schools of fish swimming around me, bright colored fish, all the beautiful ones that I have seen in the movie Nemo! Stunning! All the fish were surrounded by the most beautiful untouched coral I have yet to see. Now I have gone snorkeling in Thailand before, but I couldn't even compare it! It was like being in an underwater aquarium. Shamin only told us after that, that the locals don't really take tourists there to snorkel, as they try to preserve what I would call their treasure! It's indescribable! Though the houses there are not very glamorous as they're trying to preserve the origin of it, nature is just breathtaking! I mean how many times have you walked along the beach to find mostly broken shells, well not in Lanyu, the shells are pretty much alive....One night Eason  (Dan's boyfriend) realized that one of the shells he brought home still had a little crab in it, and insisted that we take it back to the ocean....He did :)

Just look at the beautiful aqua blue ocean behind me, isn't it AMAZING? and no I did not enhance the color of this pic! Next to me is dragon rock! Can you see it? :P

 After we went snorkeling, Shamin took us to what I would like to call a little taste of Paradise! Well we got out of the van and hiked for a bout a kilometer and then had to clamber down volcanic rocks, which are quite sharp I will let you know....Nevertheless after clambering down,  I turned around and stared beauty right in it's face! The water was clearer than water coming from a faucet!Evian water if you will!The water rose up to my hips and I could still see my feet! How do them like em Lanyu waters?! The water was also luke warm and sooooo relaxing!

Leather clutch bag woven by the aboriginal women of Taiwan. This lady is aboriginal and lives on the Island. She works at a convenient store that we stopped at while scootering around the Island.

I didn't shop much, in fact for me I would say I didn't shop at all! I bough a polka dot dress, a long blue skirt, sunglasses and then the cute little clutch, and ofcourse some perfume at duty free. Shopping in Taiwan is beyond dirt cheap...you can easily pick up a dress for less than $5... Now this lady that you see in the picture, well when we got to the store where she is working at she started chatting to us, and then showed us this letter...well now this letter comes from a bottle that she picked up at the beach, yes that's right, a message in a bottle! she even showed us the newspaper article. It was a message in a bottle tossed into the sea by a U.S sailor...In the letter he basically wished the finder named Hsiao, health and happiness. She said that he told her that he would come see her one day, and he has yet to do so. She would really like to meet him, she said. Maybe I should look him up and tell him to get his hiney over there! F.Y.I his name is Oliver.

Just got home from a workout at Curves and realized I haven't blogged since going off to Taiwan! I had a fantastic trip! I saw Taipei, Taitung, Lanyu Island and Yilan while I was there. I pretty much used every form of transportation while I was there too,plane,bus,taxi,subway,train,boat,scooter,bicycles,walking, you name the whole happy lot!It was quite adventurous, although sometimes out of my comfort zone!I got to see my GBF and TBF (Thai Best Friend) whom I haven't seen in years, again! It was great catching up! We had a fabulous time! Between food that sometimes reeked of amoniac (sp), stinky tofu, long hikes and a boat full of sick locals I still had a great time! There's still so much more to tell!But right now my butt really hurts and I am kinda tired! Have a fabulous week darlings!!! xoxo

Leather woven clutch: 300 Taiwan Dollars