Yilan Trip Pt. 1

This is going to be another doozy of a post. There's a lot to talk about here. On Saturday, Steph and the family of one of the Chinese teachers went to Yilan, near Taipei, for a mini vacation. I love looking for things to do during Saturday. Usually, I just sit around staring at the internet unless it's cool enough to go for a little bike ride and try to find something interesting. It would help if I could read a little more Chinese.

Our train to Yilan left the station at 5:20 AM, so Steph and I had to leave our apartment at 4:30. It's the earliest I've had to wake up in months, so I slept like a rock during the train ride. We were taking our bikes with us since we planned to ride along Zhongshan river from the train station to the festival. There was a Children's Toy Festival going on in the Zhongshan River water park. The bike ride was very pleasant as it was cloudy and still pretty early so the day hadn't had the chance to heat up yet.

This is a freeway bridge connecting to Taipei. Apparently, you have to pay 45 kwai (about 2 US dollars, to cross it every time you use it).

Inside the train station at Yilan, we could hear the electricity buzzing through the wires overhead as well as these cool looking mechanisms. It sounded pretty dangerous, though.

We got to the park just as the doors were opening so we could get a good spot near the water. At that point, there weren't as many people, so we had the chance to try a little bit of everything, including a water slide, tandum bike paddle boats (floating on the water on top of buoyant platforms made out of water bottles), a little row boat, and three giant water beds with water splashing all over them that you had to try and balance on or else you would be trampled by everyone else.

I thought that last one was the most fun because even though more and more people were coming into the park and getting into the pools, the water beds didn't have a line, you could jump on whenever you wanted. It wasn't like the water slide that had gargantuan lines later on in the day, even though it had two lines (one a regular standing line and the other a rope tunnel that you either had to be a kid or be crazy to go through and enjoy). I spent most of my time on the water beds and playing volleyball with giant balloon balls.

At around lunch, we headed to the toy buildings to look at the cool stuff they had. Most of the toys were random stuff, but they also had some exhibitions for older kids and adults that were pretty fun.

Among the games in the toy building was a version of Dance Dance Revolution on Steroids. Rather than the standard four arrows, you had nine going in all directions to keep track of. Adding to that, you had the option of holding a large green mask that you could shake to race your score while your feet moved. It was purely a distraction, but it was still pretty cool. I wonder if it's supposed simulate a tribal dance or something.

Dragon masks on display.
Mind you, these next couple of pictures are of giant kites. The old man stood as tall as me!

This was a unicycle area where you could try your hand at balancing on a unicycle. I didn't try it, but I thought it was neat that you could have your picture taken in front of the murals to make it look like you were actually brave enough to be riding down a bike path in a scenic area.

I have no idea what these are supposed to be. All I know is that some of them lit up and some of them made noises when you kit them. Some didn't do anything at all. Weird.

A pretty blue tunnel. The reason I'm still in my bathing suit is because I didn't have enough time to change into my regular clothes after we got out of the pools, so I wound up traipsing around in my suit most of the time. I wonder what the Taiwanese people looking at me must have thought. They probably think that all Americans dress the same way.
A cork gun that you could use to try and hit tickets off the wall for prizes. Try as I might, I couldn't get my aim right to hit the tissues holding up the tickets. I swear the guns were rigged.
In this area, they were making lollipops for kids. They were pretty elaborate lollipops too! The kids blew through a straw while the sugar was still hot in order to make a bubble that the artists could decorate like fish or plants. In hindsight, I kinda wish I'd got one. :(
Puppets from one exhibit.

Me on the head of a dragon boat, the same kind they ride on rivers for the Dragon Boat Festival. They're the long kind with lots of people rowing to the beat of a drummer, like on Ben Hur. I wouldn't mind being the drummer, personally.

Ummm...it's an ostrich sticking it's head into a bomb? Is it trying to bury the bomb or hide from it? I'm so confused.
Omg! Robots from the future! Actually, I think they are robots from some Chinese kids show.

We attended a performance where several countries were giving folk dances. We were only able to see the Republic of China and Poland before we had to go. I wanted to see the group from Africa perform. :(

While we were leaving, we encountered two giant kitty mascots. I was able to catch one and get a picture.

This was a fog vat that had lights directed downwards. The lights turned red if they located your hand. The trick was to put your hand under the mist so the lights couldn't detect it. Pretty cool!

Part 2 of this trip will come tomorrow.