Fulong Beach is on the East coast about an hour out of Taipei and is famous for it's white sand, it's massive music festival, and it's sandcastle festival!!

The sculptures are on display for a month and the amount of detail in them is amazing!!

But WOW is it hot there!! And crowded! Every man, woman, child, dog and rabbit were there to see the sandcastles! Rabbit? Yes.. rabbit. Why wouldn't you take your pet rabbit to the beach with you?

Oh, and the strangest and most frustrating part of the day? You aren't allowed to swim!! Yep, if you dare to go into the water deeper than your ankles (and don't even think about going outside of the fenced in area so packed full of people you can't even sit down) a "lifeguard" will run over with a red flag demanding you leave the water...

Another fun day out and about with friends, Gypsy and Poppy!

It's not very often that you get a public holiday in Taiwan, but the dragon boat festival is one of those rare days!
For weeks beforehand teams train and practice for the annual festival - a chance to race against other teams in a traditional dragon boat and hopefully win lots of money!!
This year most of our friends were racing in one of the several foreigner boats so we decided to venture out on public transport with Gypsy and Poppy to watch!

Being a public holiday, pretty much most of the population were at Nanliao! There were sooo many food stalls selling everything you can imagine, people flying kites, and just chilling out enjoying the day.

As it turned out, the final race was between 2 of the foreigner boats with some of our friends on each boat!! It was heaps of fun watching them race each other, but after FOUR final races in the searing summer sun, there was finally a winner, and reason to celebrate!

And here are some other photos from the day.

Temples in Taiwan are so colourful and beautiful. They have a wonderful aroma from the incense and are just peaceful places to visit. Although they may all look the same at first glance, they are actually very different and we love getting on our scooter and discovering new hidden temples in the surrounding mountain side.

      

As we live in semi-rural Taiwan, we are lucky to be able to feel the change of seasons through the change of fresh produce being grown in the area around us. 

Roh's school regularly visits different farms each season and teaches the children about the local produce. These are some pictures from a trip to a Persimmon farm.

There is always a good excuse for a festival or a parade in Taiwan. 

Atleast once a month we will hear the beautiful sounds of the traditional drums and music from our window and catch a glimpse of a parade through the streets below us. 

Every parade is slightly different and it's always nice to watch them go past with all their colour, music and energy. 

This is a traditional Leicha (pounded tea) tea house in Beipu.

Beipu is about 10 minutes drive from our house and is one of the most famous old towns in our area. Bus loads of people descend here every weekend for the markets and fresh local produce, aswell as for the famous Leicha tea houses, serving

a concoction of beans, nuts, teas and grains all pounded together to make a thick and (in our opinion) disgusting tea that is reputably meant to help keep you healthy and young. Um.. No thanks..

N.b. This is the old temple in Beipu.

The Taiwanese people LOVE to cycle! You could be driving along the most deserted road in the middle of a mountain hours away from any town, and you will always find a Taiwanese person on a pushbike! Go to the beach, or a harbour, and they will be riding together along specially designed bike trails that stretch sometimes for 30kms!