Taipei Trippin'

Ok, sorry for the hiatus, but I've been out of town with no internet access for the last little while. So I'm going to pound out the last three days of our trip today, and hope that no one realizes that this trip ended almost two months ago...

So after leaving Nanjing we spent the night in Shanghai and first thing in the morning we caught the Maglev, the fastest commercial train in the world, to the airport.

Not even as fast as it goes...

I tried to do as many things as I could think of so I could say I did them on the fastest train in the world ie: mini dance party, jumping jacks, kissing, ect.

Wheeeee!

And then we were off to Taiwan!

Our flight was delayed a few hours, but we were going on the same flight as some of our Flagship friends, so we made the most of our time in the airport until we finally took off.

When we got to Taipei, we picked up our rental van and rushed to the temple.

Sleeping, every time we sat down.

Bah, I melt inside.

Because the temple workers are so kind they waited for us and we barely made it into our scheduled session, phew. I loved being in the temple again. It is such a wonderful place of peace, and I had dearly missed it.

After coming out of the temple we walked around the grounds for a while and took pictures before we took our stuff up to our rooms at the temple patron housing across the street.

Chatting up the missionaries.

We ended the day with dinner with May, a woman that Spencer taught and baptized on him mission, and her sister. After just one bite Spencer's family all agreed that Taiwanese food is much tastier than Chinese food.

Our day in Taipei was simple, but fantastic. And it was only the beginning.

Goodbye Nanjing

So pretty much nothing about our time in Nanjing went according to plan. But all's well that ends well, and we Bowens are nothing if not flexible.

So stop number one was Zhongshan Ling, the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (remember, the George Washington of China? I told you about him here). This was our favorite Flagship field trip, and we knew that Spencer's family would love it too.

Disappointment. Turns out the major stairs and actual mausoleum are closed on Mondays. Boo.

So we turned back around and instead headed to Fuzimiao, the Confucius temple and shopping area. As per usual, we spent a lot of money and enjoyed looking for the perfect souvenirs.

Fun dumplings

The temple

The sales lady pointed to Krystal, then looked at me
and said "Hen hao!" as she waved her hands in front
of her-making a woman's curves. She thought Krystal
was beautiful and had an amazing body. She was right.
But it sure made me laugh.

Hand carved chops (stamps). In China you stamp your
signature instead of hand-signing.

After another session of shop-til-you-drop, we rounded up our new purchases and then headed home. But first we made a quick stop at another one of our favorite restaurants for a late lunch (note for future self: Taiwan Style Rice right next to campus) and picked up sandwiches for dinner at another favorite, Skyways (note for future self: AMAZING chicken salad sandwiches).

Sweet and sour and kung-pao chicken fried rice. So yummy!

We finished packing up, took all the luggage downstairs, and that was it. We were officially moved out. And I was sad. Our apartment was little. It was foreign. It had very few things in it. But it was home. And oh, how much we loved our home.

Spencer and I hung back to say goodbye and to remember how happy we were there. A few tears may have been shed. But we had to leave, and my heart broke a little as we closed the door for the last time.

Our friends from the branch were nice enough to let us borrow their driver to get to the train station so we all piled in for the short drive. We bought our tickets, took one last look at the Nanjing skyline (and maybe shed another tear or two), and we were off to Shanghai.

Goodbye Nanjing

Stingy with the cheez-its

Birthday Fireworks

So remember that big roll of fireworks that we got for Krystal?

She was just a little excited about it.

And even more excited to light them off.

Want to know what it's like to set off 10,000 firecrackers?

You're welcome.

Saying Goodbye

Our second day in Nanjing was the hardest. I hate goodbyes.

We loved our friends in China. We loved our church branch. I loved my Primary kids. And we hated leaving them.

My rambunctious 7 year old

Oh how I miss this kid...

 Our last Sunday, and our last dinner group. Bah, I'm tearing up just looking at these pictures.

Sadness

Yay for British friends!

It wasn't all serious, though. We really enjoyed showing the family how we got to and from church and introducing them to the people who had become family. And we had to finish packing up our apartment and things got a little silly.

But really, you never realize how much you have come to love people until you have to say goodbye to them. Even now, when I think about our time in China the first thing to come to mind is people. I see faces, and that is what I miss the most.

Alrighty, there must be something in the air, my eyes are all watery. Sheesh.