I had a great weekend that helped me recover from a stressful and frustrating week learning Pro Engineer software at work. I best not speak about that, as all I will do is get angry again! Anyway, Tanja – Michael’s girlfriend – planned a big surprise birthday party for him in the wilds near Wulai (see earlier posting).

Although the game was given away slightly by Michael insisting on riding deep into the national park, Tanja did a great job of keeping the lid on a dozen people arriving on over laden scooters (beer, cakes and two people on each bike meant lots of sparks from the floor hitting the road on every small bump).

Anyway, here are some photos that Tanja took prior to our arrival, just showing the rather beautiful countryside that Taiwan boasts, and the reason why the Portuguese named the island ‘Formosa’ … ‘Beautiful.’

The sun peeps out from behind the clouds:

The Wulai river valey:

The waterfall near our illegal camp ground: