Our moms tour Taiwan!

Whew folks, summer is flying by and we have been busy busy busy.  Since leaving Portland we have been showing our mom's around Taiwan.  It's been a mixture of taking them to our regular hang-outs, being tourists and a whole lot of trying new foods.  It's been so nice to be able to show people from home what our new home is like.  Here's a little of what we've been up to:

Bubble tea!

Went to the top of Taipei 101

Eating hot pot

Big buddha in Taichung

Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei

White Beach, Kenting

Feeding the birds in Leofoo Village Theme Park

Stuck in Leofoo

Our new friends we met while sampling green tea in Yingge

Watching a movie in style

Tomorrow the moms have to head home, and we are on our way to India!  When we get back Jeremiah will give you a full account of our latest stinky tofu adventure (yes, the moms had stinky tofu with us) and I'm sure we will have plenty of India stories to keep you all entertained.

LeoFoo Village Theme Park

When we were on our trip to Yingge we saw signs for LeoFoo Village so we googled it and discovered it's an amusement park!  What could be a better way to start the Chinese New Year break?  Plus, Leslie and B are here visiting!  Hopes were high it would live up to the promises of the website, but we were also braced for it to end up like Enchanted Forest (pretty bare-bones kiddy park in Oregon and their website makes it looks way cooler than it is).

Picture in left bottom corner shows the variety of LeoFoo - Arabian palace, dinosaur and tropical log ride

Turns out LeoFoo is Leo-Fab.  Many similarities to Disneyland, including Mickey and Minnie look-alikes and different themed "lands" (Wild West, South Pacific, Arabian Kingdom and African Safari).  We thoroughly enjoyed all the rides we went on - Screaming Condor (shot forward and backwards into the air super fast), Little Rattler, Old Oil Well (flipped upside down), Pagoda's Revenge (dropped from the sky), Mighty Mountain Flume Adventure (like Splash Mountain, we got wet) and Sultan's Adventure (like Indiana Jones).

Little Rattler ride

We went in determined to have a good time regardless of how lame the park ended up being, but I think even debbie-downers would have fun here.  It's no Disneyland, but it's still pretty impressive.  We spent a full 4 hours there and could have stayed longer (alas, it was closing).

Fake crocodile, real monkey behind us

Fake horse, real flamingos

Ultimate verdict: we'll go back.

Our new friends