We are back!  The Phillips Clan took a weeklong trip to Taitung and then a bit in Hualien before heading back to Taipei.  Kaye had one of her classmates come with her in addition to Gareth Cheng (and father) and one of his friends.  For the most part, we had a very nice time.  On the way there, I got hit big time with car sickness and coming back was the first time in my life that I have taken motion sickness drugs . . . darned if the things didn’t help tremendously . . . albeit, they did seem to affect my processing so we won’t make a habit of those.  The drive was looooooooong but the ocean view was spectacular and well worth it.  There were a few "incidents" with the kids but for the most part things went well.  I suspect we have a couple more years before we leave the realm of "boys vs. girls" completely and they start having a more active interest in mixing things up . . . of course, at that time we’ll have a whole new slew of problems to deal with . . . but I’ve already picked out which baseball bat I will be using as my "hold menacingly and glare at boys" tool.

The water and the sky were so clear and blue and spectacularly beautiful!  Wow!  I did not take the trip to Green Island for the snorkeling with the rest of our party (stayed at home and worked on setup gag and sound and music cues for my hypnosis show TONIGHT!) but everyone said the water and the experience was amazing with very clear water and extremely beautiful coral and fish.  However, it’s not a place you want to go unless you are there for the snorkeling as otherwise it is very non-develeped.

We stopped by the Toroko Gorge in Hualien on the way back . . . I’ve lived in Taiwan for seventeen years and hadn’t been there before . . . now I have . . . some wonderful images.

Wonderful experience.

– Brian