Roach Ruckus

About 2 months ago, Craig found a roach in his room. We were getting ready to watch the Celebrity Apprentice, and I was on my way upstairs. I opened his door and he was all " Bozo, I think there's a roach in my room." I immediately stopped. Saying "roach" is like yelling "Fire!" I'm out. No way was I sticking around.

I started to back out of the room, making my escape. "Stay! Please, stay." Craig shouted. "I don't do roaches, Craig"  He pleaded. He pouted. He cajoled. I stayed. But only right by the very open door so I could make a quick get away.

We tried a bunch of different things to kill this thing.

 A shoe.

A rain boot and box.

 A rain boot with box extender, bug spray and my Glade room spray.

 A broom and dust pan. (WINNER! )

Bludgeoning the roach.

That little black blob hanging off the broom is the aforementioned bludgeoned  roach. Nast. Craig threw it over the balcony.

The pictures make it seem like a fairly quick ordeal, but it was a good 45 mins-1 hour before this business was handled. Ugh, gross.

Rainbow Village

On Saturday, we went to Taichung and visited Rainbow Village. It was beautiful! Info taken from this website, 

Huang Yung-fu, an 86-year-old war veteran, started painting his village 2 years ago. "Huang lives in a village in a corner of the Taiwanese city of Taichung, a community that was created for Nationalist soldiers in the 1940s and 50s"

It's now listed as one of the must see spots in Taichung. It was so cool!

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What's really incredible though, is seeing something on the computer at home, and then actually getting to see that place in person.

When I first decided to come to Taiwan, I looked up Taiwan attractions and saw Rainbow Village on a bunch of lists. I was stoked.

There was literally color everywhere, even the sidewalks were painted. It was incredible.
 We timed in perfectly too, as about 30 minutes after leaving it started to pour rain.

It's always nice to have a travel companion to take pictures of you.

This blue lady reminded me of the Gross sisters from The Proud Family on the Disney Channel. Can you see the resemblance?

This ox was one of my favorite paintings in the village. I feel so privileged to be able to see some truly amazing things.

Trying New Things

 We took the HSR (High Speed Rail) from Taichung yesterday and it was great. If I could choose a train to love forever, this would be the winner.

Come On Barbie, Let's Go Party

The kids love "Barbie Girl" over here. I think my favorite part of this video is the fact that Ian has his sweats pulled up almost to his chin.

Downtown Jhunan

I thought I'd give you guys a photo recap of how we used to get to downtown Jhunan. We've since found a more efficient way to get our bikes under the train tracks rather than drag them up and down stairs as you will soon see.

We live in a fairly rural part of Taiwan. Jhunan doesn't have much going on in the way of night life and shopping etc.  This little backstreet pathway was kind of eerie, but also cool.

I saw a cat on top of this shanty next to the path, and tried to get a picture for Katie, but it ran too quickly. Wild cats aren't as common as the wild dogs around, but I've seen a few.

This tunnel thing goes under the train tracks and lets us off on the other side near downtown Jhunan.

I was a little scared the first time Craig showed me this. We went at night and I was fairly certain we would get beat up and mugged and no one would find us for days. It seemed deserted.

This is on the other side of the tunnel. I HATE stairs. I think I was giving a big sigh in this picture. Stairs are everywhere in Taiwan. They don't build out here, they build up. Every fast food restaurant is like 3 stories high.

 

This is a mural you see right as you hit the top of the stairs.

The tunnel from the corner across the street.

 

Walking towards the main street....

This is a little corner fruit stand right near the main street in downtown Jhunan, It's always so busy.

And voila! Downtown Jhunan. It's much more impressive at night when all the lights are lit up and scooters are zipping in and out of traffic. We come down probably 2-3 times a week to hit our favorite chicken stand that I'll post about soon. Later!