Merry Christmas from Taiwan

Merry Christmas!

It doesn't really feel like Christmas here, I rarely see a Christmas tree or Christmas lights.  I sometimes hear Christmas music coming from Starbucks or the mall, though.  It just kind of feels like another day.  But, I know that we celebrate Christmas not for the feelings and gifts, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Just because it doesn't feel the same, does not mean it doesn't have the same meaning. 

In Taiwan, they don't recognize Christmas as being a holiday, this is understandable though.  Only about 1% of the Taiwanese population are Christian, I actually would rather them not celebrate Christmas over celebrating Christmas for commercial reasons only.

I hope you all have a wonderful time with family, friends and whoever you run into this Christmas season.  I hope your Christmas is filled with warm, tasty food.  If you don't have a lot of family around, I hope that you will still find joy in the true celebration of Christmas whereever you are at.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Phil

Shihlin Market 1

Had to get a picture of this...don't worry, I didn't try it...I didn't want Mad Swine Disease.

These were really good. It looks like an ordinary roll, but it has meat inside.

These were like round seafood pancakes, they were pretty good, but I stuck mine into my mouth too quickly and it was incredibly hot (microwave hot) and burned my tounge.

Luke did the same thing I did, you can probably tell that his mouth is being burned. We met Luke in Taiwan, he is here with YWAM and is going to to the SBS (School of Biblical Studies) in March. We ended up saying with him for our second of two weeks (so far) in Danshui.

Shihlin Market 2

These are pigeon eggs, they are so tasty, we tried them in Thailand also...one of my favorite treats.

This is some kind of dessert, we didnt try it, but something like a cherry with berries in the middle.

This was a little crazy...so normally people will just purchase sausages...at this stand, you have the option to gamble to get a lower price by rolling dice. The goal of the game is to either get a lower score or higher score than the owner, you need to choose which. If you win, you get a discount on your sausage, if you loose, you have to pay the difference of the bet...you do have the option of just buying the sausage, but it's not as fun. I never thought I would see the day where people gamble for a sausage.

There is the owner, nice stache.

Shihlin Market 3

This is Lawerance, one of out Taiwanese friends we met at a conversational English class.

This is an Oyster omlete and pork stew of some sort...good for the soul. If you're sick, pork soup is great, so we hear.

Luke and Stanely

Jonathan, Lawerance and Nolan

Shihlin Market 4

Jonathan took his share of the pigs blood rice cake dipped in nuts and green onions, sick!

Here is a closer look, after we all tried it.

Stanely took us around the market. He is holding up some kind of Japanese salad. It was very interesting. It was some sort of doughy-sprout salad with corn, dried pork, tuna, seaweed, mayo and other stuff on top.

I'm still not sure what most of this is, but in the back right is rice sausage...it was pretty good, nothing like I have ever tasted before...it was literally a sausage made of rice.

Beitou Museum | Danshui, Taiwan

Sunset in Danshui



One of our amazing view in Danshui

This is a picture of one of the old hot spring pools, I believe it was a Japanese spa at one point in time many years ago.

Hot springs continued

Some guy enjoying the free hot spring area.

I believe this is close to where the water comes out of the earth.

More steam.

Hello Taiwan | Beitou Hot Springs

We have been staying in Danshui with friends and at the YWAM base. Danshui is northwest of Taipei, about 45 minutes from downtown taipei.


This is just some random picture...thought it was kind of funny.

We visited Beitou Hot Springs on our third day in Taiwan.

Beitou Hot Springs. They clear the place out and clean it every few hours. The pools start out very hot, on the top right, and progressivly get cooler and the water flows down. I seriously felt like my skin was melting when I sat in the hottest pool.

A closer look.

Making room

Danny needed to make room because he is expanding the recording studio for his music ministry.  We turned four rooms into one large room.  They will also expand one of the apartments across from the studio.  These are the rooms that Nolan and I lived in for 2.5 months.  So sad...my room...gone!

Dtan working hard.

What a mess, we started with 4 rooms and ended with 1!

The remains of the room in the corner.

Nolan and my new room, for about a week before leaving to Taiwan.

Last days in Thailand

Nolan doing some damage.

This was a massive Christmas tree in a mall, Thailand. I think it was something like 5 stories tall.

The national prayer conference.