Violet Flower in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. 

We’re bundled up in hats and scarves in our apartment tonight. Winter weather is sketchy here. It was glorious just the other day and we wished we could have hopped on the bike for a long ride. Unfortunately, the bike is in the shop right now. John has been down at the shop for the last few days playing ‘grease monkey’ with the guys. He swears it’s because he doesn’t trust them, but I think he’s actually enjoying himself. In any case, we’ve been out of the loop lately without wheels, so we’ve stayed in and battened down against the new cold snap coming in.

No matter. We’ve got lots to think about right now.  Our year is coming to an end here in Shu-lin. Our last day at work is coming up quickly and we are really starting to think about what we are going to do next year. We’re in the midst of planning two upcoming trips. The first of which occurs next month. We have some time off for Chinese New Year and we’ve decided to travel by motorbike around Taiwan for five days.

We’ve spent the better part of this week searching for available hotels or hostels in or around Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan, which is about seven hours away in Nantou. Our search has taken ages because apparently we aren’t the only ones venturing out over the holidays. Scores of people will be traveling to see their families or vacationing with their families during the biggest Asian holiday of the year. We’re about to join the ranks. Every hotel and hostel we’ve called has been booked and just today, our reservations were confirmed with a somewhat ‘questionable’ hostel in Puli. I don’t care really. We’ve stayed in some pretty scary places.  To be honest, I’m going to give John the credit, because I had given up hope of finding a place.  It won’t matter where we stay because it’s only for a few nights and we want to make the most of our time off.

We plan on spending two nights in the area before heading to Toroko Gorge on the east coast. Toroko Gorge is one of Taiwan’s biggest attractions with towering cliffs, a whitewater river and numerous hiking trails within a marble canyon. Then we’re traveling up the coastline to Ilan, to Honeymoon Bay, where we’ll enjoy a black sand beach and some relaxing hot springs in Chiaosi. I have to say, I’m pretty excited.

In the midst of all this planning for next month, we are still trying to sort out the details of our three month trip at the beginning of April. We have just recieved word that John’s mom will be meeting us in Bangkok, Thailand. She’s going to join us on our travels through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We’re quite thrilled to have her join us and it will be a first for us. We’re anxious to show her our part of the world and share some traveling experiences with her. Following six weeks in Asia, we are heading home to North America for a long overdue visit home. It’s been 18 months since the last time I saw my family and I really miss them. I can’t wait to see them again and find out first-hand how everyone is doing.

We’re still negotiating with our bosses and are uncertain about our return to Gram. We are definitely coming back to Taiwan but we’re thinking of taking on new jobs and finding a new place to live that’s closer to Taipei. Baby steps though. We take each day one at a time.