Taiwan with Kids Guest Post by Julie K

My pal Jaylene K, surfing on a spoon in Ying Ge














It has been one of those weeks, traveling alone, without the vagabond kids. So, when that happens and life gets in the way of me posting regularly, I plan to feature friends and fellow travelers on this blog. Today's post is from my dear friend Julie K in Taiwan. Julie is a Canadian who traveled to Taiwan, fell in love with a wonderful man and now is making her life in the suburbs of Taipei with her husband and two cutie kids.

Ying Ge is a great town in the northern part of Taiwan, just a short drive from Taipei. Here is a great post on Ying Ge (the town) and following is Julie's post about taking her children to this great little spot. Definitely a wonderful place to hang with your kids as you travel around Asia while getting a taste of real Asian culture and heritage.

Here is Julie's post on Ying Ge the pottery town in northern Taiwan.

Ying Ge Pottery Town
April 12, 2010

We love to visit Ying Ge, and I wish we could do it more often. We went
there recently to make some bowls and I’ll share a sneak peek of them with
you.

This was Jayden’s first time making pottery and he loved it.

Ying Ge also has a fun park with larger than life teacups, saucers and
spoons.

If you could make something from clay right now what would it
be?

For more about Taiwan, living as a parent in Taiwan and some great creative kids projects visit Julie's blog and check out her Flickr too!

Taiwan Gold Ecological Park

A while back I spent the week in Taiwan and was very surprised with how much I missed parts of it. I missed the good street food, I missed the Pearl Milk Tea and I missed friends that I truley love. What I didn't miss where the streets filled with scooters and the noise. 5 years in any city will do that to you and memories tend to always be more sweet as time passes. On this trip to Taiwan I knew I would be spending some time in work situations and sometime traveling around Taiwan with my co-workers.

When this work trip was planned I agreed to take a day trip to the coast of Taiwan to the Reifang area because I love rugged beauty of the coastline. I love the blue sea and the green mountains. I expected natural beauty of course, but when my co-worker suggested the Gold Museum I was a bit skeptical. But, I am here to say...

The Gold Ecological Park in Reifang was AMAZING!

My only regret, I wish the kids had been with me. At the park, most of the information is listed in both Chinese and English and while most of the people working in the park don't speak English, the signs and park is marked well enough you can get around with out a specific guide. The first site is the "house of four houses" a restored set of Japanese style homes built during the Japanese Colonial times.

From Taiwansept-8

You can also tour a section of the mine a couple of hundred meter tunnel recleared and re-enforced for safety.

From Taiwansept-8

Also is the Prince's home a vacation home for the Prince of Japan, which includes a concrete Mini-Golf course in the back yard (a true luxury at the time)

From Taiwansept-8

and a classic Japanese Garden in front.

From Taiwansept-8

Finally you can visit the museum itself and if you can lift the 220KG gold bar worth 6.5 million dollars with one hand they promise you get to take it home!

While the kids weren't with me on this trip, I plan on bringing them here in the future. It is a great park, a good learning experience and by far one of the best tourist attractions in Taiwan that I have been to!