Day Trip With Our Landlord's

Herman and Wendy Xuang, our Landlord's took us on a day trip

to see the place where Herman grew up in Yuanli, Taiwan.

Herman owns the house and maintains it, but no one lives there.

This is the family farm, which was their main source

 of income.  It looked like it was about 5 acres.

Then they took us to lunch at this beautiful Botanical Gardens, which was built and developed by a childhood friend over a 30 year period. Each of the river rocks were cut and placed by hand to create the stairs and a patio. 

 Loved the large wood table and chairs located just right
 for the family to enjoy the spectacular view to the Ocean.

The gardens were impressive to say the least. We had no idea that they were taking us to such a beautiful place for lunch.

Their friend planted every single plant. Nothing was on this land before he and his wife started with a dream.

This is the man who developed the gardens.  He gives tours for the children, and teaches them about the plants.  He is now 78 years old.  His wife has passed away, but he still works everyday.  He had pruning shears, and clippers sticking out of his back pocket.

White orchids that have been grafted onto a tree.  We were told that the orchid with a little dirt is wired to the tree for one year.  After the years time they take the wire off and the orchid continues to grow on the tree.. The trees with white orchids lined the road up the hill to the Gardens. There were about 30 trees.

Our lunch was traditional Chinese food served buffet style in large containers.

The eating area surrounded by a beautiful large patio.

Then we traveled to Sanyi to see the local woodcarvings.
This is the Sanyi Wood Carving Museum.

At the end of the day we drove back to Taipei (2 1/2 Hrs), and met up with the Xuang's children for dinner.