Big Yellow Duck

So this is another one of my adventures that happened quite some time ago. Again sorry for the delay. 

You might not be aware but one of the huge trends here are yellow rubber ducks. This is because of the giant yellow duck that has been on tour here in Taiwan. So when it came to my area I had to go and see it.

I went and saw it with a Taiwanese girl that I had met. We met up in Zhongli at the train station. I got there super early but that gave me time to go buy some sunglasses( notice the picture) and have breakfast. From the train station we walked over to the bus stop where we got on the bus that was to go to the yellow duck. The bus ride was way longer than either of us thought that it would be.

When we finally got there it was warm and breezy.Since it was close to the water it honestly reminded me of the Jersey shore and made me miss my best friend from home a little bit.  There was also tons of people there. We waited in line for like half hour before we were able to even see the duck. 

First sight of the duck

Soon...

After we saw the duck we went and looked at the different stalls. There was all sorts of Yellow Duck merchandise that you could think of. There were also lots of food stalls. We decided to get some squid balls and my friend got some warm soy milk. The squid balls were awesome although a little dangerous to eat while walking since they were on very sharp sticks. We also got something that looked like a corn dog but the batter was closer to that of pancake batter than cornbread. I also bought a yellow duck stuffed animal that quacks really awkwardly so I named it after my favorite awkward angel from the show Supernatural, Castiel. After that we made the long way back home. 

Sorry for being away

Sorry for being a way for so long. I've had a really busy two months because of work and then I got sick. Sorry again

Yingge and the Ceramic Museum

A while ago my roommate and I went to Yingge. For those of you who don't know Yingge is in between Taipei and Taoyuan on the train line.We were originally going to meet a friend their but she unfortunately got sick and couldn't make it. 

Anyway Yingge is famous for ceramics. It has a very large population of ceramic studious and is home to the Ceramic Museum. When we first arrived in Yingge we started walking in the direction of the Old Street and the Museum. Along the way the Community Center was having a family event. The most ammusing thing though was the song that they decided to blast outside. It was "Shots" by LMAFO feat. Little Wayne. Yep, another great example of how they will play music here in English and have no idea how inappropriate the song is.

The first thing that we hit up was the Museum. It was really nice. All of the signs had English along with them so we could actually know that things were about. I was super exited because when we got there, there were several scout troops having an event. This made me happy because back in America a I involved with them and grew up scouting. 

The museum 

The musuem took you through the history of ceramics from ancient and into the hopes for the future. It also highlighted some famous ceramicist that were born in Yinggee. I think that I would have enjoyed the museum more though if I was with my sister. My sister is an art major and has studied ceramics and art history before. I feel that she would have been able to give me more insight and enjoy the museum. 

Iron Man?

Yeah there was a weird art piece made out of toilets.

The first section of the museum was about traditional art work and had some really old pieces. 

I feel like this pillow would not be very comfy.

After the traditional section they focused on several different famous ceramicist from Yingge and their work. 

This artist made lots of ceramic clocks.

I don't know what these are.

This one is so light wight that it is being held by a spider's web.

I really like how this artist took a traditional piece and drew chibi's on it. 

The statue in the back is suppose to be a whale... I don't get it.

I really like these fairy type cities.

After we finished with the museum my roommate and I tried to the Yingge old street. The Old street is supposed to be filled with tons of different ceramic workshops and really cool shops that have been open and family run for a long time. Unfortunately we couldn't find it. We kept on following the signs which lead us in circles. After that we decided that it looked like it was going to rain and was a good time to head back to the train station and head home. 

All in all I would totally suggest visiting Yingge and will totally bring my family here when they visit. I also plan on going back on my own again. There are a lot of hiking trails that we didn't get to see because of the weather.