Sonal's Travels: Bike to Danshui

Ni Hao Everyone,

TODAY IS MY COUSIN'S BIRTHDAY !!

I WOULD LIKE TO WISH A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE COUSIN SOHAM. LOTS OF LOVE AND HUGS TO HIM :)

Tomorrow is the "Qingming Festival" and many of my friends and roomates have left the dormitory to back to their homes. The "Qingming Festival" is actually a day to pay respect to the dead people. They would go and sweep and clean the tombs of their beloved and pray for their soul.

The good news is, I have the dorm room to myself :) I can do "whatever" I want. I can put some Bollywood music at full volume without disturbing anyone haha...The most important thing is I don't have to wait to wash my clothes or even care for the hot water to run out :)

Coming back to serious things, today my friends and I decided to go to Danshui. Actually, we went to Danshui by bicycle (around 50 km). It took nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there. We cycled all the way along the Tamsui River. Danshui is the place I went the other day, but at night...This time I enjoyed this marvellous spot in the daylight.

The red trail is the route we used to get to Danshui (50 km)

After having lunch (curry dumplings yummy!!) , we went on taking the "youbike" public bicycle. It is so convenient to go around with a bike. Unfortunately, I was a bit anxious about riding a bicycle because, to be honest with you, I hadn't ridden a bike for 15 years !!!! I was so scared at the beginning...if I hit someone or if I fall stupidly but it was ok...it took me 10 minutes to get used to it and I was set to go to Danshui !!

Then we stopped to visit a temple which was on the way...One of the most beautiful temple I have ever seen :) We visited the Kuantu Temple which is a mix of Buddhism and Taoism religion :) I also performed some praying there :)

As we entered the temple, we went to take 5 incense sticks (5 different gods) and we went to greet each one of them. The protocol is simple :)

All you need is to bow once, present yourself, where you live then meditate on the thing you want to ask to the god. Why do I look so happy..? In this picture, I was praying the God of wealth ;) Now you know why :p (I think most of you know I was a big "pandit pujari" during my childhood)

After making your wish to the God, you must go and deposit the incense stick in a big "bowl" like this :

I was accompanied by Mandy. She is a good friend, but she is also my Chinese teacher at the university..Throughout the visit, she would explain to us about the rituals and share her knowledge about this temple :) I was really attentive, here is the proof :p

Continuing the visit, I was amazed by the architecture of the temple. Just like in Hindu temples, it's bright, it's colourful :)

After visiting the temple, we got ourselves some time to relax before getting back on the road to Danshui :

Then, after 45 minutes riding, we finally arrived to Danshui !!! We rode 50 km, I am so thrilled ^^

DANSHUI!!!!!

After parking our bicycle, we went on eating and drinking so many things...like bamboo juice, red bean dessert, fried squids and so much more :)

This day was a real challenge for me (on the physical level), I had never ridden a bicycle for such a long time and savouring the accomplishment is nothing comparable :) I had a very nice day with my friends, full of fun and memories :)

It doesn't end here, after returning to the dorm...a friend asked to go to swimming with him ^^ and I said yes ..So after nearly 4 hours and 30 minutes of bicycle riding, I decided to go and relax in the pool ^^

I didn't swim much..I couldn't feel my legs after so much biking...but I enjoyed a lot the hammam and sauna after ^^

God I'm gonna sleep well tonight :)