First weekend, Pushin Ranch

First weekend in Taiwan! Didn't do much on Saturday..the same old same old..but on Sunday we finally did something out of the daily routine! =) I was insanely glad to get out of the house! =D

We were all up by 4:30am in the morning cause we were going to send Linda off at the airport and it takes like 2 whole hours to get to the airport. We were all pretty groggy still as we helped load the car with Linda's stuff and climbed into the car..and once we were on the road..us girls all knocked out again..

Poor host dad was the only one up driving..at least I hope he was.. =/ at some point I was awake..I heard him singing to himself to keep himself awake..

We finally reached Taoyuan International Airport..parked the car and found the check-in counter. They do it rather differently over here..they have 3 counters open but you can check-in your bags for 3 different flights..So..all you need is one sleepy person behind the counter and you might as well bid farewell to your baggage =P

You have no idea how long we were at the check-in counter! Linda had one large red suitcase, one small black rollerbag thing, and one sling bag. Host mum insisted on checking-in both suitcases, but that came up to almost 30kg which is 10kg above the max weight they allow. They were going to charge them $800 (RM80) per kg over the limit.

That's RM800 lehh!!

I suggested that Linda hand carry the small black rollerbag onto the plane cause well..

1. it's small

2. it's pretty heavy and if you take that out you don't have to pay so much for certain
but I don't know.

.host mum didn't really take my suggestion well and well we were stalled at the counter for a while..I just kept politely suggesting to whoever was listening and then second host sis, Wendy heared me and suggested it to the mum..and so host mum then decided to FINALLY take the black rollerbag out.

It was still overweight by about 5 kg and the guy at the counter was going to charge them..I was going to suggest that Linda show them her proof of her exchange trip and do what we did =P beg. hey..we got away with 26 kg suitcase checked-in and 10 kg handcarry =P without paying anything extra okay!
But since she didn't take my suggestion about the handcarry well..I was like..hhmm..better keep quiet =P

Anywayssss..in the end had to pay the extra few hundred bucks..

Linda and family..

Since we were already in Taipei, host parents thought of bringing me somewhere..

They brought me to

PUSHIN RANCH

Pushin Ranch is sort of a farm, but it's commercialized and diversified like how we study in Geography with Mrs. Mathew =P So basically it is a farm, but it allows visitors and they have things like 'Buy Milk to Feed the Piglets!' kinda thing..and you can rent bicycles to cycle around the place..it's sort of a big garden as well with scenery and stuff.

Host dad..ahem

They had horse back riding, coaches etc..for a fee
Little kids playing football in the field =)

Youngest host sis, Elaine

2nd host sister, Wendy

The standard Taiwanese pose man =P

I'm not sure why they have this at the ranch, but it looked like quite a nice place to take pictures..so we parked our bicycles at the side and walked for a bit

First host family in Taiwan =)

Host dad was like..yeahh..you know if you stay under the sun too long here in Taiwan..you'll *uses pointer and bends it* die.. lol

So here we are..under the shade..so we wouldn't shrivel up or die of heatstroke

We were a liikkkklllleee bored =P..need I say more?

hahahhahahahahah =P

And they had these obstacle courses thingiieess.. some of them were pretty tiring especially when you're laughing and trying to swing from tyre to tyre =P

But..I made it to the end.. =P with rather bright red shiny palms =P