In the ever-so-special year of 2012, a reasonably full schedule had been arranged. The Saturday morning meeting place was in Miaoli County at a former coal mine now turned tourist attraction called Ba Ba Tunnel. (It's website is all Chinese.) The car park is about 300 meters from the entrance meaning the boys had a nice hot walk at 11am.
Despite jumping out of the car just five minutes before the appointed meeting time, surprisingly, they were first to arrive. Craig was very happy to find a jungle gym with slides to play on in the middle of an outdoor restaurant while he waited.
The boys had plenty of time to play together. The more observant reader might be able to lip read the word "Go" on Graham's lips.
The thin man in the next photo lived up to his nickname King of Kids by giving away a host of toys and puzzles to keep little people entertained immediately after his arrival.
Craig got straight to work on this puzzle. The long thin line of small wooden cubes is supposed to end up making one larger cube.
After lunch Craig and Dad went for a look around. They found the tunnel where tourists can "experience" the old coal mine. There are some pictures of the tunnel interior here.
Not long later, everyone was treated to a lecture about the coal mine and a brief walk through the tunnel was made. Some of the kids weren't too interested in the lecture.
Some of the big kids didn't listen much either. Playing on the railway tracks was more fun.
Then, before leaving Ba Ba Tunnel, Craig started getting to know some of the other children a bit better.
The poor girl had trouble getting rid of him..... sigh.
Graham was looked after very well by a large range of people during the weekend.
Everyone piled into their cars for a shortish drive, up into the mountains, to the bed-and-breakfast place that had been booked for the night, Nan Juang Jing Hwa. The group was big enough that the whole place had been booked.
The boys continued getting to know some of the other kids. The three girls here were great at taking care of the two young troublemakers called Craig and Graham.
The sisters in the matching t-shirts took an instant liking to Graham.
Some of the other parents had brought supplies for later.
The kids spent a brief amount of time playing in the room.
Then, it was back outside for a walk to a nearby "cold spring".
Once again the girls were kept busy keeping Craig and Graham out of trouble.
The path to the cold spring was nice and safe but Graham wasn't interested in walking.
The path was only a couple of hundred metres long. The air was so hot and muggy that mist was rising from the cold (18 degrees Celcius) spring.
It was a fabulously quiet spot.
The spring has been stocked with freshwater trout. At one end of the pool they looked like this.....
At the other end, like this.
The water was so still that reflections off the surface interfered with all of Craig and Graham's Dad's pathetic attempts to get a clear photo of all the fish that could be seen very clearly with the naked eye. Some pictures of the cold spring can be found on Nan Juang Jing Hwa's website here.
Down below the spring was a creek that was too tempting for a group of children that wanted to cool off.
Graham was too small to go mucking about on the slippery rocks in the creek bed. At least his Mum found a place to put him down.
On the way back to the B&B this little fella appeared.
One of the organisers said that 45 people participated, including 22 children.
The group then headed back into town to the town of Nanjhuang for an early dinner.
Nanjhuang has an "Old Street" that is promoted vigorously as a tourist attraction. There's a travel video with English commentary of a visit to the place here.
Dinner was unexceptional. After dinner, Craig and Graham had fun in a nearby park with two kids that belong to Mum's friend (and former classmate) Yating.
Back at the B&B the kids continued playing together.
One of the other mums had trouble putting her child down. This little girl had not just wrapped her legs around her mum's leg, the little one also locked her feet together to make sure her mum couldn't put her down.
Just outside the room a party was getting started.
At the same time, the kids were invited downstairs to play with sparklers.
Craig wasn't too sure about what to do with a sparkler.
The man lending his lap for Craig to sit on here was very amusing. His attempted denial of an accusation that 20 years ago he had played practical jokes on his classmates, such as putting his motorcyle lock on someone else's bicycle, had people in tears of laughter.
His honest mistake in saying that the Maori people are from Australia kept people laughing but one has to worry about why a high school teacher would think such a thing. He's a nice guy, though. He gave away a lot of beer to Craig and Graham's Dad. ;)
The next morning, a look out the window from the room Craig and Graham had stayed in showed bright sunshine.
Graham had no trouble finding playmates all weekend, even on the walk back to room after breakfast.
The B&B was an interesting place. It had some very expensive architectural features and interior decoration combined with some extremely tacky art. This representation of East Asian femininity that was hung in the lobby was Craig and Graham's Dad's favourite.
The B&B owner had a lovely placid dog. Graham obviously wanted to join in patting the dog but needed Mum nearby to work up the courage to actually do it. Craig preferred watching from a short distance.
The dog was really very good-natured.
Everyone then piled into their cars once again for a short drive to the Penglai River Fish Protection Trail. (Note: If you click on the link you will need to scroll down a list contained in the page to reach a description of the trail. The description is written in some excellent Chinese-style English. Enjoy.)
The weather was truly very hot and humid. Plus, the water looked very cool and inviting. So, despite signs saying that the general public should not go in the water most people couldn't resist.
As you may have guessed from the name, the trail runs beside a section of the Penglai River that is being used to protect native fish species.
There's plenty of butterflies in the area at this time of year, too.
Most of the trail has nice high guardrails on the sides.
The water is cold and clear, and the fish seem quite happy.
The trail also had stones in the middle with carved pictures of native Taiwanese fish on them. The one pictured below is Candidia barbata. It's a type of tiny carp.
It lives in the still parts of high mountain streams like this.
Some parts of the trail didn't have guardrails which allowed space for a family photo.
No one in the group botthered walking the full 2.4-km length of the trail. Everyone turned back after less than half a kilometre. On the return trip Craig was once again being taken care of by one of the girls.
Craig didn't seem to mind at all.
And Graham was also having fun.
But he couldn't stay awake long enough to get back to the car. Some of the other kids needed carrying, as well.
Then, there was a slightly long drive up a very windy road to Xiangtian Lake. Everyone went for a walk around the lake.
There's an activity centre with a resturant downstairs right beside the water. But, some members of the group headed for home immediately after their walk while others stayed for lunch.
And then, sadly, it was time to say goodbye and begin driving home to Taipei. Mum did a sterling job of keeping Craig and Graham busy. It's the best defense against motion sickness.
The trip home was quite slow on the freeway.
So, a brief stop was made at the Guanxi Service Area. Craig was very happy to be out of the car and even happier to find a slide to play on.
The slide is quite fast.
So when Graham wanted to join in Craig needed to help.
Craig likes being helpful, especially on slides. Plus, there was no need to rush home so the boys were allowed to play as long as they liked.
P.S. One of the other participants has already blogged about his trip here and here. It's all written in Chinese but there's lots of good photos.
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