Farewell Taiwan!

And here we are, on the night before we leave Taiwan, all packed and ready to go! We came with an empty extra duffel bag, which is now full (full of gifts for y'all, get ready!), and the duffel bag of our experiences has been similarly filled over the last three weeks (or something equally sappy). After my last post, we spent the night in a ridiculously cold hotel room in the Ali mountains, then woke up nice and early the next morning to go see the sights in those parts. The mountains really are stunning, and I got to see some gorgeous forests, lakes, and the stumps of the massive Taiwan red cyprus that the Japanese logged and carted away during their occupation. Some of the trees are still standing, the oldest over 2,000 years old, a very humbling organism to stand under. We then went on to Jiali, where Roger's mother's family lives, and I'm sorry to say that Jiali is a pretty unmemorable city, save for the wonderful people we got to spend time with. Then it was back to Taipei for a few days before we fly out tomorrow. Highlights of these last few days have included an excursion to a shopping mall with a giant futuristic ball-shaped section hovering in the middle, and a massive and extremely productive (and painless!) shopping excursion today to get last-minute gifts. All in all, this has been a wonderful trip, and I feel very lucky to have spent it with the wonderful people who live here, getting their take on life in Taiwan, seeing its most beautiful sights with those who know them best. I'm very glad to be going back home to our lovely cat and all the fabulous Austin folks, and I'm starting to miss cheese at a pretty alarming level, but I'm extremely glad we came to visit, and these were overall a wonderful three weeks that I will never forget!