The Klars Afar Rented a Car

We (I) finally got up the nerve a few weeks ago to drive in Taiwan. Our friends the Dethy family – Mike and Andrea and Kye and Caden – offered to take us on a tour of their favorite spots on the north coast of Taiwan. Of course we couldn’t fit all eight of us in their car, so they suggested we rent a car from a friend of Andrea’s brother. Andrea is a native of Taipei, in  particular of our neighborhood of Tian Mu.  Andrea’s brother’s friend is called Shao Pong, which has something to do with his rotund stature (translated impolitely as “little fatty”). He runs his own private auto rental biz and while he usually has mini-vans and jeeps, the only car left to rent from him on this particular day was a BMW M3 convertible.

Bodhi & Griff try to look cool while Dad tries not to look old, bald and fat.

Bodhi and Griffin pose in the back of the Beamer. “We like this car, Daddy. We should buy it.”

I was a little nervous as I had never driven in this country before. The roads are narrow, the taxi drivers are aggressive and the scooters swarm around you like angry hornets. But what the heck, how often do you get to drive an M3 convertible down the coastline in Taiwan.

We followed the Dethy Family in their larger sedan and made several stops along the way – a beach where Bodhi proved you can have fun in three inches of water when the tide is going out. We were precluded from swimming as there was a typhoon approaching  and the Taiwanese people are very safety conscious.

The wind was picking up and the clouds were swirling on Taiwan’s North Coast.

The TP Motor Club on Taiwan’s North Coast.

We stopped at self-proclaimed “Biker Bar” for lunch. The only bikers there were mannequins but the food was pretty good and the caramel-coffee smoothie was outstanding!

Bodhi posed with the Biker Statues. Surprisingly, he never once mentioned Becky’s father, Chris.

Over the years I have grown accustomed to leather-clad bikers hitting on my wife. This one was extra polite.

Further on we stopped at a famous local landmark – the Shimen Arch. This turned into another great opportunity to educate our kids on the effects of wind, water and erosion. If only they paid any attention to their parents…

This natural arch was carved over time as the inward and outward movement of the tides eroded the bottom of this land mass, leaving behind an archway when the land was subsequently pushed upward.

This view is from the ocean-side of the rock formation.

Griffin took the chance to practice his Parcour skills.

Griffin has not yet been to the emergency room in this country and he seems determined to remedy that situation as soon as possible.

Family on the Rocks: Becky, Griff & Bo take a picturesque opportunity to pose on a bridge to nowhere.

Once we turned back towards Taipei – passing over and through the mountainous Yangmingshan National Park – the most western bands of the Typhoon were hitting the island so besides being pitch black, it was also pouring with rain and howling with wind which made for an interesting descent back into our area.

When we got down from the mountains, we celebrated with our first family visit to an indoor hot spring spa at the SweetMe Hotspring Resort. They brought us refreshing adult beverages while we took turns soaking in naturally sulfurous water from the extinct volcano and freezing cold water from the mountain streams.

The three Klar boys soak up the healing powers of the sulfurous water heated by volcanic activity deep below the surface ( we hope).

All in all it was a great day, thanks to our friends the Dethys who have since departed for employment in Saudi Arabia. They were so helpful in our settling in and we miss them immensely.

Mike and Andrea Dethy with their beautiful sons Kai & Caden pose with Bodhi and Griffin. Everybody clearly has that after-hotsprings glow about them.

Hope you’re all enjoying our adventures, I know we are. We liked the independence and flexibility of driving around so much we decided to purchase our own vehicle – stay tuned for details in a subsequent post.

Don’t forget we love and miss you all…

–The Klars Afar