At the jade market...

The jade market was not at all as I had imagined it. First, it was covered so that was nice because rain was no longer an issue. Second, it was HUGE. You can't imagine all the tables and all the people. Beautiful stuff everywhere. Coral carvings and pendants, amber sculptures, jade in every color, beads, necklace cording, those brown clay tea pots that I love... amazing doesn't begin to cover it. I wish I would have ventured to try to take pictures of everything we saw, but I was chicken and a little embarrassed since we were the only tourists in the joint, so I took these general pictures to give you a feel for it.

If you are traveling here, you this market is a must!! It's only open weekends, though. We were able to pick up some gifts and also bought a hand carved stone shaped like the head of a dog (it's sooo cute!) for one of Colby's adoption day anniversary gifts since that's his zodiac sign. It's been weighing on our mind that it's harder to find things to give a boy and this worked out great! The man who carved the stone was right there and I wanted to get his picture, but it became very clear that he was chewing Betel nuts and his teeth (those that he had anyway) were COVERED in red paste and seeds and I had to try hard not to loose my (expensive) lunch! Steve found a jade dog to add to his necklace with his and the Kailin's zodiac symbols. We also got Colby and Steve each a Qing dynasty antique coin to put on a leather cord as a necklace. They were really cool and really cheap ($3 for the pair). Kailin got a small bracelet with jade beads that we think she'll love. I got another ornament for me cell phone and....something else that is presently escaping me. Everyone was anxious to tell us that their stuff was all natural and not from China. Not that Taiwanese people are natural experts at jade, but it bolstered my confidence that this is a "local market" and not a tourist trap. We were some of the only white folks in there. I'm sure we probably paid higher prices for stuff than we needed to (speaking for ourselves - Eric is a master bargainer), but we had fun and really enjoyed ourselves. We've actually decided to go back next Sunday after we see what other stuff we find this week. I could've spent a week in there and about a million bucks!!