over and we had a lovely Christmas dinner and a good few glasses of wine!! We had a few presents to open which had been sent over from home (Thanks All!!), and there was a little something under the tree as well!! The highlight was definitely getting to speak to pretty much all our friends at home over the internet. It was fantastic to hear some old voices!!!! The time difference made it quite funny though really - especially later in the day when we were well oiled, and it was only mid afternoon at home!!!

So the next day was of course Hel’s Birthday, and as usual we woke up feeling a little delicate!! A good old English Breakfast sorted us out though!! It was the first time I’d seen veggie sausages since home!!! Jerry had a few days off so he’d offered to show us round Taipei and it’s surrounding area, and we started off with a walk around the mountain just North of Taipei, which

was really scenic and a great way to blow off a few cobwebs!! It really was pretty amazing how although Taipei was a really busy, modern city, the surrounding countryside was beautiful, and so close!! Jerry had been doing this walk since he was a little boy, and it was pretty hard keeping up sometimes!! He obviously keeps pretty fit, and we were no match with our mild hangovers!!! After the walk we checked out a volcano crater - it was a very mad place - almost like another planet - lots of steam everywhere and bubbling hot pools, and little steam vents with crystallised sulphur around them. Also the whole are really smelled very strongly of rotten eggs!! Quite unpleasant!!

Later on Jerry treated us to one of Taiwan’s favourite cuisine, hot pot. Basically you get a big plate full of veggies, or fish and veggies, and the table in front of you has a big bowl with boiling water in, and you throw