Mid-Autumn/Moon Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the year, on the night of the full moon between early September and early October.

In Taiwan, people celebrate by eating Mooncakes which are dense pastry-like cakes with different sweet and savoury centres such as egg yolk, red bean, and meat which symbolise the moon.

Mooncake with egg yolk centre

People also eat Pomelos - large, pale green citrus fruits that taste a bit like Grapefruit

Pomelos (decorations not included!)

  

One of our favourite things about Mid-Autumn Festival is that lots of people celebrate by having a barbecue!

Barbecue - Taiwan style! Barbecued squid, anyone?!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Ghost Month

Ghost Month takes place in the seventh lunar month of the year, usually in August/September time. It is said that Ghost Month is a time when ghosts are allowed out of hell to roam freely and visit the living. Many say that it is the ghosts holiday, and they seek food and entertainment.

In order to keep the ghosts happy, the Taiwanese

make offerings (mainly food), burn incense and

paper money

Even big businesses and department stores observe

Ghost Month

Some say that there are various things to avoid during Ghost Month, such as whistling, so as not to attract the unwanted attention of ghosts, and swimming, as it is said that a ghost who was drowned might try to drown someone in order to have a chance at rebirth.

Some say that observing Ghost Month is just a cultural custom or tradition. Some say that it is a superstition. Others say that it is religious.

The centre of the island - Puli

We spent a weekend away with our colleagues in a place called Puli, Nantou County, in the centre of Taiwan

Our accommodation had
some lovely gardens...

...and some amazing views!

We enjoyed a walk in the mountains where we
saw tea growing...

...and tea leaves drying in the sun
 

We walked up to some waterfalls...

...and had a lot of fun
cooling off!

And we walked around this beautiful lake

 

It was a very memorable weekend!

Scooting!

One of the fun (and sometimes scary!) things about living in Taiwan, is getting around by scooter. A kind friend gave me her little 50cc scooter when she left Taiwan, and after a while, I found the courage to take the theory test (a practical test wasn't needed!!) and give it a go!

My scooter: nicknamed 'Queen Mary III' (after the

number plate!)

  

Taichung, here I come...!

More visitors! :)

We were very blessed to have Abbie's younger sister and brother-in-law come to visit for a couple of weeks!

The hardest thing about living in Taiwan is being far away from family, so we really enjoyed our time together :)

Around the island

Over the last few months, we've been visiting various different places around Taiwan to consider where we might work in the future. We've really enjoyed going to some new places and seeing more of the island. One of these places was a fishing port on the south west coast called Donggang.

In many ways, Donggang is a lot like other

Taiwanese towns...

...however, being a fishing port, it has a lot more

boats!

Unsurprisingly, it also has an impressive fish

market! As you can see from the photo below, the

Taiwanese love eating fish - the WHOLE fish!!

Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations 2014

Times of food, fun and friendship :)

Christmas Day - lunch at the home of some fellow

British colleagues:

Boxing Day - we invited some of our Taiwanese

friends over to experience their first traditional

'British' Christmas Dinner...

...though we had a roasted chicken in place of a

turkey - Taiwanese style (head, feet and all!) 

New Year's Eve - the same Taiwanese friends

invited us to one of their homes to have Hotpot

(a bit like a Taiwanese Fondue!) with them:

And of course, there were fireworks!