Travelog for: Nutmeg

*Blinking shyly*

Ooh - hello! I'm Nutmeg. I spent the first part of my life attached to a mechanized plastic ball, forced to chase it around and around. I'm so happy to be free of that!
I'm a very shy, gentle toy. I love to sit and quietly watch what people are doing. I am going to see the world, and I just want to slip in and out without causing any fuss. I'm going to visit Taiwan first, and I'm very happy to go anywhere. Would you like to host me? I'm very light and easy to post, and I love to be cuddled! I can make myself look big when I feel frightened, but I don't really think anything would be afraid of me.
Most of all I love to curl up in a warm place and think about what I have seen, and just keep you company!

I arrived in Taiwan, at last!!

I had an excited journey, because  I arrived in a sealed plastic bag from the Taiwan Post  .



I felt so scared inside my envelope and it was so dark. I waited and waited, but nobody came to rescue me, so I decided to escape. I opened the envelope bit by bit and was finally able to get out of my envelope. I was so happy to see some daylight again.

My timing wasn't very well, because I get out of my envelope at the office of the Taiwan Post and somebody put me back in my envelope and sealed it in another plastic bag.....ARGH!!!

I really felt frustrated and angry, but I have arrived in Andrea's house now and she assured me that life is much better at her place than at the post office.

I'm going to take a rest now and I'll start to explore Taiwan soon 

I have just arrived in Taiwan and I went sightseeing right away.

The people in Taiwan have just celebrated Chinese New Year on February 7th. Chinese New Year is celebrated according to the Chinese lunar calender and the celebrations will last for 14 days. The festival ends on the 15th day of the lunar calender with the Lantern Festival which is on February 22nd this year accoring to the western calender.

I went with Andrea, my host, Amber, her daughter, and Taro to Taipei today to see the lanterns in the area around the Taipei 101. Some of the lanterns are very big.

Unfortunately it was raining today, so we took the risk of ending up wet at the festival.

Here are the "traditional" lanterns



Here is are 2 huge rats. This year will be the ÿear of the rat", IEK!

Here I am in front of the Taipei 101. It's the tallest completed skyscraper in the world with its 508 m. Nowadays they are building a taller skyscraper in Dubai, but that one isn't completed yet.



We went inside the "101", but we didn't go to the top, because it was rainy, so the view was pretty bad. We went to the entrance to the "observatory deck" and saw these two images

We had to wait until the sky became dark to enjoy the colorful lanterns, but all of a sudden the rain was pouring down. We made a couple of pictures and left the area soon after that.

We went to Taipei again today. First we drove around to see something of the area around the  city, because Andrea is looking for a new car.

After that we parked the car and we went to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall.

Sun Yat-Sen was the first president of Taiwan and they have built a memorial Hall to honor him.

This hall is located close to the Taipei 101 and it was one of the locations for the Lantern Festival.



Here is the main lantern. There is always 1 big lantern and this year they have chosen a "modern" one

We also went inside the memorial hall. I saw a huge statue of Sun Yat-Sen himself



Two guards were protecting the statue. They looked so serious and nobody was able to make them laugh.
They have a "changing of the guards" ceremony several time a day, but we've missed that part.



I also saw a painting of Sun Yat-Sen

It was a national holiday in Taiwan today, 2/28, and the weather was very nice, so we drove to Danshui today. Danshui is a city close to Taipei, located along the Danshui River and close to the Taiwan Street. It's a nice place to visit on a sunny day.

Here are some pictures which we have taken on the way to Danshui. I had to say good-bye to Taro this week, but I also welcomed a new ToyVoyager, Theodore and we made this sightseeing trip together.



First of all we drove to the Fishermen's Wharf. It's a place where you can see a beautiful sunset.

Here am I  in the harbour with the famous "Fishermen's Wharf" bridge



These fishermen looked a bit scary to me....



Is this a beautiful sunset, I think so  .



Some more pictures



After that we drove to downtown Danshui. There is a great nightmarket where you can find all kind of traditional snacks and lovely goodies.

This is what we ate tonight:



The left dish is a traditional snack from Danshui. It's tofu, filled with rice noodles. It didn't taste bad at all....

It's Saturday, time to celebrate the weekend  .

The weather was great, so we went to Taipei again to visit the CKS Memorial Hall. This is actually not the name of this place anymore, because lately it has been renamed in Taiwan National Democracy Memorial Hall. Its too complicated to explain why, but it's all part of a political game.



There is a big pond in the park that surrounds the memorial hall and we went there to feed the fish.

It's Saturday, time to celebrate the weekend  .

The weather was great, so we went to Taipei again to visit the CKS Memorial Hall. This is actually not the name of this place anymore, because lately it has been renamed in Taiwan National Democracy Memorial Hall. Its too complicated to explain why, but it's all part of a political game.



There is a big pond in the park that surrounds the memorial hall and we went there to feed the fish.

It's Saturday, time to celebrate the weekend  .

The weather was great, so we went to Taipei again to visit the CKS Memorial Hall. This is actually not the name of this place anymore, because lately it has been renamed in Taiwan National Democracy Memorial Hall. Its too complicated to explain why, but it's all part of a political game.



There is a big pond in the park that surrounds the memorial hall and we went there to feed the fish.

I'm so excited, because I'm going to visit Taipei Zoo  .

Taipei Zoo is located in Mucha, an area in Taipei. The zoo is huge and it's hard to see everything in one day. It's a very nice place to visit on a sunny day and Andrea comes here a lot with her little girl...



The first animals we saw were the koala's. It felt like I was back home in Australia . One of the koala's was awake he was walking around. He was so cute.



This is the entrance to the "rainforest" area.

Today was my host's birthday.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANDREA !!!!

It was her day and she could decide what to do that day, so we went to Yehliou.

Yehliou is a  a peninsula on the north coast of Taiwan, between Taipei and Keelung. It is famous for the curious shapes carved by sea erosion.

One of the most famous scenic spots is the so-called "Queen's head", and the others are, as named by their shapes, "the fairy's sandal", "bee's hives", etc.

We had to drive for a while and Theodore  and I enjoyed the scenery while we drank a cup of coffee



We crossed a tunnel, because there are many mountains in Taiwan and we passed a tollstation. There are many tollstations on the main highways in Taiwan, too.



Finally we saw the ocean and the view was breathtaking



We are almost there...



The entrance gate of the park in Chinese style



Yeah....we've made it to the park. Let's go for a walk, let's explore the area



This was the view from the parkinglot



Wow....it looked like I was walking on the moon. These shapes are really weird.



This is the most famous shape of all, the "Queen's Head"



You never believe what I've seen so far away from my home....I saw my brother. He was locked in a cage, rolling around with a ball. I felt so sorry for him that I couldn't rescue him

The weather was sunny today, so we took the car and drove to Taipei (again). This time we went to a special park.
This park was in the earlier years the residence of Chiang Kai-Shek.

Chiang Kai-Shek was the first president of the Republic of China (=Taiwan) and he died in 1975. Later they have remodeled the residence where he has lived for a long time into a park that can be visited by everybody. The park is actually the original garden of his residence.

There was a big rose garden with all kind of roses



What a great day I had today......good night!!!