Day Trip to Yangmingshan

This was a lovely family day out. Seven people piled into Craig's Grandad's big Volvo SUV and headed off up the hill that the locals call a mountain. After dealing with some horrendous traffic while still in the suburbs the little group was very pleasantly surprised to find relative peace and quiet at a "cafe" beside a bubbling stream.

However, Westerners living in Asia will tell you that life is always full of little surprises and the first real highlight of the day was the hundreds and thousands that had been sprinkled on Craig's Dad's toast. Breakfast of champions, indeed.

Craig seemed to enjoy the outdoors and his Aunty Bess was first to entertain him while the other adults had brunch in some watery sunshine.

When we were eating Craig's Taiwanese Grandma took the opportunity to hold him for a while.

When the food was almost finished, Craig's two aunts, Aunty Bess and Aunty Suprana, began playing with their mobile phones.

The smile on Aunty Suprana's face probably means that she saw the two photos below that were done using the special effects available on Aunty Bess's phone.

Meanwhile, Craig's grandparents concentrated on finishing the food.

Then, some photos were taken for posterity.

You probably can't make them out in this picture but there were tiny fish swimming in the creek that was right next to the "cafe". It was quite a nice spot.
But all the other tables had filled up and it was decided that a walk was in order. Craig accompanied his father.

The path we took led us up a hill and over the creek so we could look down on the seats we had recently occupied. The people standing around a table are about to occupy our former seats.


After our walk it was time to head down the mountain but by this time it was late in the afternoon and thousands of other people were doing the same thing. The traffic was a nightmare.

Craig's Mum wasn't the only person asleep in the car, she was just the only one that Craig's Dad could get a picture of.
When we finally arrived at the bottom of the mountain we went for dinner at a Sri Lankan restaurant owned by a friend of Craig's Mum called Flora.


The co-owner is her husband Amila.


Dinner was great.


After arriving home Craig was so comfortable in his car seat that his parents didn't take him out straight away. He stayed there happily for at least half an hour. It was a very quiet ending to a very long but happy day.