CNY 2016 - Taipei Taiwan - Day 6 Saturday

Saturday morning we headed out for a new adventure.  We decided to go to a foot spa and then to a hot springs. 

Finding the foot spa turned out to be an adventure but it was worth the search.  We had watched a couple of people do a similar spa in Thailand and were excited to try it for ourselves.  It was so fun to stick our feet in the water and let the fish nibble away.  There were a few other people that were at the same bath (plus a worker) and all were politely laughing at us as we shrieked and squealed at the new sensation.  We were quite the entertainment.  Paige would have nothing to do with putting her feet in that water.  She watched from the sidelines.   She loves animals as long as there is space between her and them. 























We quickly learned that the adult feet attracted more fish than the kid feet.  Before long they were wanting us to keep our feet out of the water so they could have more fish.  This location also had hairdryers to dry your feet.  For us, this came in handy trying to dry pants. 














Next we headed to a hot spring.  This turned out to be a bad idea from the beginning.  It wasn't warm outside.  And the hot spring was a hike.  When we arrived people were like sardines in the water.  It was so crowded.  I took Zach next door to a "museum" which was actually an old mansion that used to have the hot spring as part of the back yard.  There was no heat but at least it was protected from the wind and I could nurse the baby.  The entire time I was wondering why we brought our family (fighting colds all week) to this crazy place. I was able to watch a video that was constantly playing and learned some interesting facts about the mansion.  A political figure had used it as an escape when he needed to get away and regroup.  It was on a hill (hence the aforementioned hike) and hidden from others.  It really was a cool house considering the time period it was from.   As soon as I was done I went back to see how the rest of the family was doing.

They were ready to go and Paige was crying.  They were all cold.  People didn't want the kids splashing AT ALL in the water (for a kid that is pretty much saying, "don't move").  The water was also stinging their skin so they wanted out the minute they got in.  Because something was aggravating their skin, they really needed to shower off but Paige hates showers so the girls had to shower her while she screamed.  Then they brought her to me to dress.  We were shaking our heads for attempting this one at all.  It was the worst part of the trip. 

The big highlight of the day (other than the really cool fish foot bath) was meeting Orris Lin for dinner.  Orris is in our branch and is from Taiwan.  She was home for the holiday.  She met us with her daughter and we went to the amazing dumpling restaurant again (I was thrilled because I missed it the first time around and the others were thrilled because they loved it the first time.)



It was a delicious meal and so great to have a meal with Orris and her daughter.  I am continually impressed with those I meet and get to know.  Orris and her daughter are no exception.  They are strong women. 

After dinner Reagan was still wanting to go shoe shopping and Orris and her daughter said they knew a great place so her daughter (her name has slipped my mind) took Marcus and Reagan and Ainsley shoe shopping and Orris helped Will, Paige, Zach and I catch the correct train home.  It was a little ironic because Marcus and I would have traded places in a heartbeat but... I have to feed the baby.  I really appreciate how willing he is to do things like this with little complaint. 

They got some fun pictures but it ended up that the shoe shopping was a bust.  Reagan is at the point where she can fit into adult styles but she is still too young to be wearing most of them (in our opinion - she disagrees).  She also has great taste and often times the shoes she wants are so stinking cute but cost a fortune for feet that are still growing.  Oh the pains of pre teen life. Luckily, it is short lived.