"Yup, we did 'em all!"

Yesterday we administered the Michigan English test to Elders and Sisters in both Taichung and Kaosiung. That made for a very busy day! In the morning, we had six test takers in our own Wuchung chapel. No problem. But, then, we were off to Kaosiung, which is 200 km (125 miles) to the south. We already had our tickets, so all we had to do was head to the train station 4 but stops down the road and hop on, right? We took our time, doing a a couple of small tasks in the office after the first test, then made our way to the train station. The first bus went roaring by because he couldn't see us behind another bus that was pulling into our stop. That made us nervous, but we were able to catch another bus shortly thereafter. It didn't drop us as close to the station as we thought, and we were running the last couple of blocks! Finally, we were in the station, and headed to the gate. "You are in the wrong train station," the helpful attendant told us in Chinese. "You are supposed to be at the high-speed train station." Oh, no! She told us to go ahead and get on the train, and it would take us to the other station in just a few stops. With no other choice (a taxi at this point would have taken even longer), we got on board. Sure enough, we were able to change to the Kaosiung-bound high speed train a short time later. Of course, we missed our (non-stop) train, and had to sit in an open seating car. Upon arriving in Kaosiung, we accepted the offer of the first cab driver we encountered and went to a church. Not our church, actually, since the driver mis-heard Sister Wellses directions. But, happily, it was very nearby our church, and we finally arrived, only a little late.

After administering the test to four wonderful missionaries, we headed out to see a bit of Kaosiung. Sister Wells noticed a colorful building nearby, and we decided to check it out. It turned out to be the Jade Palace (Takaichi-day) temple. It was a big day at the temple; apparently a fund-raiser for a planned expansion. There were a number of people burning huge piles of "spirit-money," which is a component of ancestral worship. The temple is very ornate and beautiful.

After our visit to the temple, we went for a short walk along the "Love River," a large river that flows through the city. A few blocks into our walk, we realized that we had left a cell phone in the chapel, so we trooped back. Luckily, the Elders were still there, playing "Monopoly" to finish out their P-Day. Back on our walk, we enjoyed the beautiful river and the flowers and trees along the way. We stopped at the large Carrefour store and bought some food for the trip home. We continued our walk, headed in the direction of the nearby historical museum. Upon arriving, we found it closed. (It was after 5:00, but we would have been disappointed in any case, since the museum was closed on Mondays.)

I hailed a cab and we headed to the train station. After eating our dinner, we boarded the non-stop train and headed home. I'm not sure how long it took, since I was sleeping most of the way. Back in Taichung, we hopped on the local bus and returned to the mission office, then onto our bikes for the last leg home. As we stopped at a traffic light, I commented that we'd "done 'em all - walking (and running!), bike, bus, slow train, fast train, and taxi." The only thing we missed was rickshaw, and they don't have any of those anymore. Whew! Here's a short clip of Sister Wells riding near our apartment. The neighborhood streets are quiet by this time of night.