Girls Weekend Trip to Smangus (Part 2)

     We woke up to beautiful clear skies!  It was nice and cool as we started the morning of which was such a different feeling from walking up in Hsinchu and just wanting to walk around in short sleeves all the time.  Got our water and started our hike.  The hike to the beautiful & old trees is 5 k (approximately 3.107 miles) and it's very up and down! Also such a variety of scenery -- you see the mountains, a bamboo forest, different trees other than bamboo, & waterfalls.  It was just such a fun and interesting hike.  So many people go on in this hike.  We met up with a bunch of retirees who happened to be taking a break and having lots of fun on their hike.  On the way there we talked, sang songs and just enjoyed the view as we walked along.  At the 4 k mark there thankfully is a bathroom area to go to the bathroom and rest.  I was very, very tempted to just wait here while the rest of the girls walked to see the giant trees.  Thankfully I pushed myself and got to see the beautiful and huge trees.  There were like 9 trees and most of them were huge.  Most likely we wouldn't have been able to have all seven us circle the tree and hold hands.
    The way back which was of course 5 k was more of a rush.  Which looking back probably wasn't the best choice in the world.  Especially for a 12 week pregnant woman.  By the end of the trip when we were almost back to Smangus and the restaurant I was exhausted.  I was thankful that the girls looked after me and made sure that I was doing okay.  I probably should have spoken up and asked to stop for a little bit but I didn't.   
    The thing that I was most impressed was that whoever takes care of the hiking trail has done a great job.  What we have notice is that when we have gone different places is that there is a lot of garbage and trash that people just leave and don't seem to care about.  On both hiking trails there was very little trash on the path and then in Smangus itself is remarkable clean.  Which I was very happy about!
      Back at Smangus we went straight to the restaurant to eat our meal.  Which I was just dying of thirst so I drank a lot of the soup and ate alot of the veggies.  I wasn't really interested in eat the heavy meats.  The day before our driver had bought a watermelon which we ate some of it on Saturday night and then again for lunch on Sunday.  We packed up our stuff and then walked around waiting for the driver to be ready to go back to Hsinchu.   Right before we left all us got an ice cream bar....yummy!! 
   The drive back down the mountain was just as terrifying go down as it was going up.  What made it even more nerve wrecking was that it started pouring almost as soon as we got into the car.  We met up with several buses and cars coming up the mountain.  We ended up needing to back up (only once) so that the buses and cars could get by.  We were chilly all the way back to Hsinchu and were kind of excited to be back in Hsinchu and it to be chilly.....the driver stopped the car and we opened the door and we were in for a hot humid surprise.  All of us quickly took off our Jackets and got ready for the driver to drop us off close to our homes.
Click here to enjoy the pictures and Part 1 of our girls trip to Smangus.

    So thankful for the wonderful hike but afterwards I couldn't walk.  Well I could but I hobbled and was very sore.  I basically laid low for the next two day.  Which meant no Monday adventure for us!  Guess I learned early on in my pregnancy that I can't do too much otherwise I will regret it later on.