So the hostel we stayed at was a little Taiwanese house in the aboriginal fishing village of Fugang right on the harbor. It was disgustingly dirty and probably the only low point of our vacation. I got really cranky with the kids because the floors were so dirty, we couldn't let anything touch the ground--which of course they did incessantly. Kids really are disgusting creatures. But, we survived it with the beautiful help of ambien to sleep at night. We also had access to an old, clunker Toyota (the model of which I had never heard of) to drive up and down the coast. We loaded all of the kids into that old beat up wreck of a car and headed up the coast and it was amazing. The first stop (in the picture above) was Water that Runs Uphill. There wasn't a ton of stuff to see, except a small stream that did appear to run up the mountain. It was pretty trippy and I can't explain it better than to say, things floated up the mountain when put in the stream. 
The next place we went was one of my favorites of the whole trip called Sanshintai. The water was aqua blue and was framed by tropical mountainsides. Then there was a scalloped bridge that crossed the water to a small island. It was a lot of walking and stairs, but the rewards on that little island were well worth it--the view was unbelievable. 
My little mountain goat children climbed the cliff walls and scaled their way around the rocks to the other side of the mountain. There was even a sea cave that was pitch black that we climbed through. I love having such fearless, adventurous children! 
These pictures made us giggle. If you blow this picture up, it says on the bottom warning, "No burning of sacrificial money." And the picture below shows that obviously someone didn't listen and burnt through a bunch of cash. I find that this picture is symbolic of all my burned sacrificial money--only mine gets burned feeding and clothing seven kids! 
In Korea, we have been exposed to what we like to call the Asian paparazzi, but here it was so much worse to the point that I was starting to get really frustrated. They think that Giselle and Sophia are cute with their blonde hair, but they are mesmerized by Diamond and Florence's black hair and skin--to the point that its creepy. We can't actually get anywhere without being hounded by people trying to sneak in pictures of Diamond and Florence like they are some sort of aliens from outerspace. Diamond and Florence handle it better than I do. Mostly, they like the attention. I think its me that finds it too weird and I want to yell, "Haven't you ever seen a black kid before?" And then I think, "No, probably not--or only on the Discovery Channel." They can't seem to keep their hands off them either. It's like they think their skin is made of chocolate or something. We really have been the minority--we've only seen maybe five other caucasions on this trip and NO black people. I guess that their world really is that narrow here. I don't mind introducing them to the wonders of Africans, if didn't take so much stinking time out of my sightseeing! 
We went further up the coast to some caves that we thought sounded cool. It was nine caves up the side of the mountain. When we got there, we saw our first white people--who just happened to be the Mormon missionaries. They were pretty excited to see us, too. The ironic thing was that as we all embarked on our cave exploration, we realized that all nine of the caves had been turned into shrines for Buddha. Don't get me wrong, Buddha's a good guy and all, but really? Nine caves dedicated to his glory when he's got a temple on every corner? Okay, I don't mean to be sacrilege, but we only got through three caves and turned around. 
And no day on the coast is complete without a trip to the beach--at least not for my kids. They were so excited to be chasing and riding waves. Only, I wasn't excited. All the beaches had severe rip tides, so the waves would suck the children back out and the incoming waves were massive. I was a nervous wreck. It's worrisome enough to keep track of seven kids on the beach, but add a volatile rip tide and I thought I was going to drop from a heart attack right there. But, despite my overprotective motherness, we managed to have a great time and return with all seven children. 
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