Miaoli

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Miaoli is a county on the west coast of Taiwan that is full of beautiful mountains and parks. I have a good friend here, who, luckily for me, dreams of being a travel guide. So when she asked me if I wanted to go look at the flowers in Miaoli, I had no idea what I was in for. Our small group became four when two other Taiwanese teachers decided to join us and off we went. Up the small roads that wind around the mountain. Our first stop? A park that features an old train bridge with beautiful ruins. The park has some amazing views, and long hikes down to a supposed waterfall. I say supposed because we kept walking downhill, and could never quite get there. After a stop for some black stinky tofu and icecream.... we went to our second stop. We parked at the top of a hill and started walking down. A beautiful path strewn with flowers along surrounded by palm trees and bamboo -- and steeply down hill. After the long hikes among the ruins, I didn't want to think about hiking back up, but we trudged on.As we reach the bottom, we came out onto a road that opened to a beautiful town in the valley that was crawling with people. It was a Hakka Blossom Festival! Totally unexpected, although I had a feeling my guide knew. We enjoyed the show, watched the kids ride the miniature steam train and set off to find some Hakka food for lunch. We went to a restaurant, and they handed us a menu, which was made out of bamboo, and tried to figure out what to eat. The table next to us was grinding their own tea. A process while intriguing looked like a lot of work, so we contented ourselves just to watch. The lunch was good, my pallet not educated enough to detect the difference in the cuisine and hiked back to the car -- and slept all the way home.

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