Wow...

"That foreigner can speak Chinese! So amazing!" 

Count 'em!

"Yes ma'am, as you can see. I lost one of my fingers in a bad sheering accident two years ago. Anyone who doesn't like the sight of blood better stand back, because sometimes this gets messy." 

Cutie

What can I say, I love taking pictures of cute girls? I have no idea who this is, but she's quite photogenic, don't you think? And quite fascinated by what's happening to that poor sheep. 

One slip, and...

"Keep watching folks! Ewe ain't seen nothing yet!" 

Bit'o a'mess, eh?

Wool wool, everywhere, but the sheerer seems not to care. 

Mommy, what's that man doing to that sheep?

A child looks on in horror as the sheep goes to pieces, literally. 

Help me!

A experiment in using my camera's digital zoom function, which didn't impress me very much. Still, it caught the look of fear in that poor sheep's eyes. Well, either fear or boredom...you be the judge! 

LIVE NEKKID SHEEP!

And, with a final buzz of the shaver, this sheep is minus his full coat and down to his bare essentials! 

Show's over, Mates!

Our real Australian sheep sheerer wishes the crowd a fond farewell in his best Australian Chinese. The other sheep behind him breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that they have been spared for yet another day! 

Rob of the mountains...

Rob pauses from his adventures in photography to pose majestically before the verdant trees, sublime mountains and rolling grey sky. 

That's all folks!

So after watching Sheep Abuse, we packed up and got ready for the long climb back up to the parking lot and our cars. 

Trio

Narissa believes she can fly, but Monica and Apollo aren't so sure! 

Another Valley Shot.

A final shot from the top of the mountain before we left... 

We're staying with the Adams Family...

After our adventures in Sheep Sheering, we packed up and went to our hotel. This is one of the secondary buildings of the hotel, the main building being behind it. The guys had rooms in this section, and they were quite modern and nice, with an amazing view of the valley. A great place to stay that I would recommend to anyone visiting Chin Jing! 

Hotel Room

A view from the back corner of our room at the hotel, it was just one giant room with a small bathroom stuck around the corner to the right of this shot. It was very comfortable and nice. The inside of the hotel itself was very open, modern and airy. On the first floor was a giant open lobby and a connected dining room where they had buffet-style meals. Unfortunately this means the food had MSG in it, so I wasn't really able to eat much. 

Room II

Connie crashes on our bed at Dream Forest Villa. The room was very nice, with beautiful hardwood floors as you can see. We all took a short nap once we got there. I was staying with Connie, Monica and Narissa, while the other guys shared a room in the other building. Their view was better, but I was with three beautiful women...I think I won! 

The very old-style tub and sink in our bathroom. I felt like I was back in a Canadian farmhouse for a moment there. The pipes you can see running along in the background even looked to be copper, and the floor was an extremely slippery-when-wet tile. The only problem for me was the mirror, which was angled downwards for use by Taiwanese people, and too low for me! 

Connie and Monica...

Connie and Monica looking bright and relaxed after a long night of snoring...I mean sleeping! 

The lonliest farm in the world...

Unfortunately due to the distance you can't see this very clearly, but this is a farm sitting on one of the plateaus on the mountainside. A full green farm with lush green fields growing something besides tea, but stuck way off alone over this huge valley. I can't imagine what life would be like for the people who live here, especially the ones who live their whole lives up in the mountains. Going down to the cities would be so....flat. I would think it would be hard for them to live anyplace else. 

Breakfast at Starbucks

Our intrepid team of adventurers settle down for a nice breakfast at Starbucks to start off their final day before we leave Ching Jing. David is playing with his camera, as usual, he took a lot of shots while we were there, probably far more than me. You can't see outside the windows because it was too bright.

Tea Farm and Hotel

This is a shot of our hotel taken from a nearby parking lot. The furrowed green areas you can see between the camera and the hotel are tea bushes. I couldn't get enough of the beauty of this place, and was sad to be getting ready to leave it. 

Top of the World Fast Food!

I just had to get this shot before we left, the world's highest Starbucks and the world's highest 7-11 side by side. Capitalism knows no limits! Actually I expect this place is in the process of turning into a real theme-park type place due to all the construction going on here, it's a real victim of it's own success. 

A parting shot...

With this picture we left Dream Forest Villa and Ching Jing farm Monday morning, made our way down the mountains and went to PuLi. PuLi was actually the center of the Earthquake in 99 that destroyed the school where I worked in Nantou, which is quite nearby. We went to the PuLi Wine Museum, where I tried many delicacies made from wine, the best being Wine Popiscles which were quite tastey. After that, we snaked our way across the land to Miao Li to drop off Ryan (who had an appointment that evening), and went to a beach to watch the sunset. (I curse my low batteries, it was quite beautiful and I wish I'd gotten pictures of all this!) After the beach, we had dinner at a small Hakka restaurant, and then headed back to Taipei. It was quite a day, and a wonderful end to a great vacation. I had a wonderful time with all of Connie's friends and co-workers, and thank them all for giving me this chance to travel into Taiwan's heartland again and getting some fresh mountain air! Thanks guys!