Splash Pad in Gaoxiong

After our time in Puli was over, we took a bus back to Taizhong where we then took a train to Gaoxiong, which was our last stop in Taiwan. One thing we did was go to the beach with Jonathan's friend Vic Song. I will write about the beach in another post. This post is dedicated to the splash pad area that was right by the beach. We did the beach first, because then after the beach, we could play in the water and wash off. Also, we thought if we washed Peter this way, he might not be so angry at us. He loves playing in water, but doesn't love washing hair, so this seemed like the best of both worlds. Clean and happy baby.

The water turned on about 5 minutes after we got there. Peter learned very quickly not to look directly into the holes on the ground. He took turns with Jonathan and Beccah, running through and touching the water. There were 2 different circles that shot water out. One was stronger pressured water and the other was a smaller scale with smaller holes for the water.

There were lots of other kids and some adults playing in the water as well. The whole time the water was going, there was music playing with it. It was more of a water show that you could play in than it was a regular splash pad.

Beccah liked running through with Peter. The next 3 pictures catch the progression...

Ready? (They are on the left side of the picture.)

GO! Fast fast fast!

Made it!

It was fun to play in with Peter and a fantastic way to clean off before heading home. I think every beach should have one of these. It was a great way to end our beach day.

Beccah in the water.

Jonathan with Peter touching the water

Clean baby, happy baby.

After we played at the splash pad, we walked along a souvenir shopping street and found some neat things, got dinner at 7-11, and almost put Peter to sleep, but looking around was far more exciting than sleeping. It was a good day, and an excellent decision to spend the day at the beach because Gaoxiong is an incredibly hot place in the summer.

Pandas and Squirrels

Besides Sun Moon Lake, there isn't a ton to do around Puli. There is an aboriginal village you can go to, but it is mostly amusement park and therefore cost lots more money than we wanted to spend. But, before you fear that we had nothing to do and were bored, we did learn that the Paper Pandas were in Puli! 

What are the Paper Pandas you may ask? Well, this man- a French Artist named Paulo Grangeon- made 1,600 paper-mache pandas to represent to number of living pandas left in the wild. These pandas have been touring the world- throughout Europe, to Hong Kong and to Taiwan. Puli is the center of Taiwan, so the pandas were taken there to be on display for a time. Do a Google search for "paper panda exhibition" and then go to images if you want to see more really neat pictures of the pandas in cool places.

We asked our landlord where the pandas were, and we were in luck! They were on display just a 5-10 minute walk from where we were staying. So, we took a walk to see the pandas. The skies were threatening to rain on us, and we were told that it closed at 5pm...it was about 4.45pm when we left, so I was a little on edge because I was worried we wouldn't get to see them. But, the rain held, and we were told wrong about the time, because it was not closing any time soon. There were tons of people and the pandas were on display in a big area that you couldn't really close.

Peter and Jonathan with the pandas

Since the sky wanted to rain, all of the pandas had little rain covers on. Also, some of the pandas are a black bear that lives in Taiwan, that I believe is also endangered.

Peter and the Pandas- that should be the name of a band. Also, the Asian fingers...

Pandas in their rain gear

There were also a couple of big pandas you could stand in line and take a picture with them. Or...you can stand off to the side and angle so nicely and still get a picture without standing in line, and just accept that other people will be in your picture.

They had these pictures up that show the process of making and painting the pandas.

Robin and the pandas. Also, the pole behind me marks the center of Taiwan.

Family picture with the big panda

We decided to get some dinner on the way home. Jonathan found a place and investigated- which means he reads the menu and tries to guess if there are things on it we would like. One of the tricky things about reading a menu is that it doesn't always give a description of the food and sometimes they use really flowery language to make it sound beautiful. It says something like "Soup of Tranquility" or "The Emperor's Chicken" which doesn't help a lot, or they will use some spice/food name that Jonathan hasn't learned in Chinese. So then Jonathan will ask, "what do you want to eat? And I'll ask them if they have something like that." But I usually don't know what I want to eat (or I know exactly what I want, but I also know it won't be on that menu), which causes some frustration for Jonathan to try to find food for everyone. So, after some "discussion" on foods, we finally picked a couple of things to eat. In the meantime, Peter made friends with the little girl who's parents work at the restaurant. She was a little resistant at first, but then was okay with him as long as she was still in charge of the toy.

She let him play with this little toy dog that plays music and moves when you push the button.

We got our food, which was a lot of food, and all pretty tasty. I remember I got something with cabbage and chicken, and we had some fried rice and I think some spicy beef and green beans dish. Peter ate a bit of food, but then wanted to be free, and the lady who was working the front followed him throughout the restaurant and back kitchen while we ate. At one point, the little girl came out of the back, carrying a little animal cage that contained this:

Little baby sugar gliders. What?! They were the cutest little guys ever. I wanted so badly to hold or pet them, but Jonathan, in his wisdom, told me I was not allowed. They were fed some apple, and sometimes the little girl would run really fast when she was carrying their cage. I was a little worried until I saw them at one point jump and hold on to the top of the cage. They could hold on tight, so, hopefully when she runs, they hold on so they don't slide around. 

Then, she took one out and let it hang on to her and she held it and pet it. I want one.

We made the kids pose for a picture. Asian fingers from the little girl.

It ended up being a really great day. The pandas were fun to see, we had good food for dinner and we got to see a really cool animal that I'd never seen in real life (and add to my list of super adorable animals I would love to have some day as pets).

I love these guys.

Peter Loves Music

One of my favorite moments at Sun Moon Lake was when we came across a group who had set up a tent with some of their instruments. When we walked up, they were just playing music from a CD over speakers, taking a break from playing their music. It looked like a family, with a couple of younger guys and ladies, a middle aged woman and man, and an older lady. Peter stopped walking when he heard the music playing and watched them. Then, one of the guys came forward and put a little flowered wreath on Peter's head and picked him up. Peter sat with him happily.

Peter with his new music friend

Then, the guy grabbed a tambourine and handed it to Peter. Peter wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first, but he caught on. It was cool to see the people of the music group. They all had really cool clothes and the women had neat headbands. 

Peter and the tambourine

Then, Peter passed the tambourine along to someone else and danced to the music for a bit. Then, the guy put a little stool in front of the drums and brought Peter over and helped him to play the drums. Peter was a huge fan of this. They were adorable. We could have left Peter with this family, and I think that he would have been happy. Except other people in the group would try to hold him or pick him up and he wouldn't let anyone else hold him. That one guy was the only lucky on.

Peter learning the drums

Little drummer boy

Here's a little video of Peter by the music people's tent.

After we saw these guys, we did some shopping in which I found a great pair of sandals which I'd been on the lookout for. Peter got gifted a little slinky from a shop lady who thought he was adorable. She played with it with him while we were looking in her shop, then when we left, she gave it to him and said, "Don't tell anyone else." Haha, secret free toys!

Then, we went to another little area where they had a aboriginal group doing a couple of dance performances. In between the dances, Peter found a little friend. They poked each other and danced to the music together.

Also, at one point, the other little boy came and sat with Jonathan and snuggled him and Peter.

Then the dancers came back out. They were fun to watch. It reminded me of Polynesians with the flower wreaths and the type of clothes they wore. One of the dancers was an older guy with grey hair. He was my favorite to watch because he seemed so happy while he was dancing.

They would use the sticks and pound different rhythms as they danced in different formations. Then, for their last dance, they got volunteers from the audience and taught them a simple dance and had the volunteers dance the last dance with them. Peter was on stage for a couple of minutes, but then remembered he wanted Dad, so he didn't last the whole dance.

These last 2 videos are of the dancers and a little bit of the little ones dancing to the music.