Dearest Claudia and Celso
Days 952 – 960
For the last eight days we have been staying with Claudia and Celso, the lovely couple from Mexico who we met when staying in Toucheng in April and then spent a few days together in Penghu. They, in their typical warm and generous way, invited us to stay with them until our flight back to the UK.
Dearest Claudia and Celso,
What a LOVELY time we have had with you for the past eight days. Our relationship has evolved from clients to friends, and now you are our Mexican Familia.
Our time with you started with us arriving late – A usual 45 minutes bus ride taking 2.5 hours from Taipei. Mind you, it was just before a bank holiday. Celso must have been starving by the time we arrived!
We had booked to go to a Spa and Afternoon Tea on our way to you and then discovered that I'd booked it not in Beitou as I thought, but in totally the wrong place - miles away. Haha – what a wally!
The place was lovely, up in the mountains overlooking a stunning river.
Spending time with you has been fantastic! We have thoroughly enjoyed doing our Tibetan Five Rites exercises each morning that Celso taught us. We learnt the art of cleaning, including how to use the disco-light toilet and that the appliance that looks like a dishwasher only dries the dishes! What's that about? We have only seen these in Taiwan.
The week has been a culinary delight with eating your fantastic tacos, returning to Bread and Butter Cafe, eating an ice cream pancake with nuts and coriander which was surprisingly delicious, going out for the biggest Sushi – E.V.E.R, and at last, visiting the Dancing Noodles - but sadly no dancing.
We are so pleased that you relished in the meal at Loherb. Viktor, who we met in Taipei, recommended the restaurant to us – what a find! The food was amazing, such a work of art, as are your food photos Claudia. A shame that we were the only ones there. How do they survive?
We enjoyed meeting Johnson and tasting his cacao tea and especially loved our time with your dear friend Oksana, celebrating her birthday.
We couldn’t believe it when she shared that she didn't get a job once and later discovered it was because she had an incompatible numerology sign. Well, she is number 9 – “a born leader who brings special energy into the lives of others and is extremely intelligent”. We reckon she was a threat to the manager!
And we did have such a laugh when I looked up and read out the numerology for the rest of us. Oksana had just asked about my coaching, and Tim rightly said that I enjoyed it as I was a problem-solver and had unique ways of working with clients. And what did my numerology number 3 say? "A problem-solver, thinking outside the box and finding unique solutions quickly. Optimistic and a childish side that makes them endearing yet annoying."
Celso, your number 2 is about balance and peace in all things, resolving problems for others and keeping equilibrium. That is so you, Celso. You are always thinking of others and such a generous person.
And no. 5 Claudia, "with your upbeat and optimistic personality, you brighten every gathering." You certainly do that. And it also said that you look great in bright colours and there you were wearing a vibrant yellow t-shirt! Spooky eh!
We mustn't forget Tim (or as he would remind us – "remember Tim"). We roared with laughter when I read his numerology number 7 out. I was going to make something up about him being opinionated for a laugh, as in the morning he was quite dogmatic about something. But when I read the description, I couldn't believe my eyes "Numerology personality number 7s tend to be very opinionated. They seem to know something about everything… and tend to be cynical!" we all found this to be very amusing and in typical Tim style, he took our continued ribbing in good spirits.
What a great time we've had playing pool, throwing basketballs and having fun in the swimming pool. You certainly live in a gorgeous apartment block. We especially enjoyed playing with the enormous Unicorn, Watermelon and Pineapple. It was a shame that Mr Aubergine, or do you call him Mr Eggplant, kept deflating. How amazing that I had some waterproof glue in my bag! Who'd have thought? I hope he is mended now.
And after our days of balancing keeping busy as well as relaxing, our evenings playing the card game "Onze" were a highlight. Mind you, Tim needs to work on his strategy a bit more; he did well to get zero points and win one of the games though. We will definitely take this game back to the UK and enjoy playing this with our family.
Today it was an imposed early start for me, waking up to see a pretty sunrise at last. We packed our bags with Boarding Passes and our UK Government Public Health Passenger Locator Form ready for tomorrow’s flight and two weeks quarantine at Tim's brother's home. We have our masks and gloves at the ready and both had a haircut!
Thank you for driving into Taipei and coming with us to Xiaoxioa Place for lunch. We are glad you liked Sister Liu's culinary delights and it was great to see her again.
But we feel extremely sad to be saying adiós. We are sure we will meet again – and as dear Vera Lynn would have sung – "don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day."
We are so grateful to have met you both and that you opened your arms and your home to us. Your warmth, generosity and kindness have been incredible Celso and Claudia. And a certain person’s raucous laughter will remain in our hearts always.
With much love from your "dos" friends Lindsey and Tim xxx