Note that it says "in" not "of" in the title. It's still in the mid to upper 90s this week (106 today with Heat Index) but I managed to catch a cold. I think the worst of it was on Thursday but I'm back in the office today (wearing my mask as is the polite thing to do when you are sick). Luckily I have very little plans for the weekend which should allow me to continue healing and avoiding the heat/humidity.
Another month closes. The next time we role over to a new month, I'll be on my way home! ETA to arrive in Rochester is Sept 2, just in time for bowling season to start! Also in time to watch a successful football season from my beloved Cyclones. Bring on a National Championship!!!
The World Games completed earlier this week without any troubles. Taiwan also has the Deaflympics starting in September, so they're doing what they can to remain on the world stage! No, Taiwan could not handle the full Olympics at this point (or ever in my opinion). It's good for tourism though and of course for bringing in revenue to the country. The government is doing a lot lately to try to increase world awareness and bring an interest in traveling to Taiwan. I encourage anyone who wants to "see Asia" but is afraid of the 3rd World concept of squattie potties (if you've used one, you know what I mean) and unhealthy food - come to Taiwan. You can still use squatties, but it is much more comfortable for the first time Westerner traveler.
I'm working on uploading some videos from this past weekend for your enjoyment. Stay tuned.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
More From Hualien
I guess I am losing my power from midnight till 6am tonight. That means no air-conditioning.... not sure I can make it so I'm working on a back up plan. I have 4 hours to go;) There's been a message in the elevator for the past week, but I can't read Chinese. Finally figured out the date referred to tomorrow so I scanned it and sent it to Kirsten to be translated. Could be a long 6 hours without my AC!
More pictures have been uploaded for this past Saturday's trip up the river in Hualien as well as the Whale/Dolphin watching trip. As I said before, we didn't see any whales and only a couple of dolphins. Definitely better dolphin viewing in Naples Florida!!
As for Saturday - you'll see our group in our suits (I took my own as my size is not normally stocked in Taiwan) and safety helmets (I got a "special" one in larger size) and also life vests (again, I get the special one that only gets used every 5 years probably). But all was well as we headed out early in order to beat the other groups that were following us. It paid off to go early (we were on the water by 8am) as we got to do everything and made it to the top where other groups didn't make it up there.
It was quite the adventure. We did a lot of climbing, some floating in the river, jumping off the falls, swimming behind waterfalls, climbing water falls, rope climbing some of the higher rocks, some cliff jumping (one at 2 meters and one at about 5 meters), and of course just swimming. My favorite part was the swimming since the water was as pure and clean as any water I've ever been in. Fresh water and at some points the water was very deep (thus the cliff jumping) which is amazing. It was so cool in the water, and so peaceful up in the mountains. We did see a poisonous snake (one of the last pictures) which was stuck in the water at the top on a branch. The snake can't swim and it looked like he'd been there a while on a branch that fell but there wasn't enough current to move him down river to escape. Our instructor let some folks take pictures, but he ultimately freed the critter to go back to being a poisonous snake in the forest. He really was an ugly thing.
As for Sunday - everyone was taking some anti-sickness medicine, but I think it made everyone overly tired. We were up early again, but the rest of the gang hung out on the top of the boat. I went to the front in hopes of seeing some dolphins following the bow of the boat which is one of their favorite things to do at times. The dolphins we saw though were feeding, meaning they were more interested in following the fish (which we were scarring away I'm sure) than they were in entertaining the people on the boat. It was still beautiful water and wonderful to be out on the Pacific Ocean!!
Then we had the only bad part of the trip - the return to Taipei which had us hitting traffic. Just like in Chicago, the worst part is the fact that they split everyone for a toll booth, then there's a huge bottleneck getting everyone back into 2 lanes. That seems to be a poor design around the world!!!
We did get to go through the new tunnel which is now Taiwan's longest. It was 14.9 km long (about 9 miles) which is actually pretty amazingly long! There were a couple of long tunnels, but 9 miles is a little rediculous! They even rebroadcast the radio inside the tunnel (as well as having cell phone towers), BUT it gets a little freaky when they interrupt the radio to announce an accident and at what mile marker. A little too science fiction like for me!
Anyway - hope you enjoy the pictures! Have a good Tuesday!!
More pictures have been uploaded for this past Saturday's trip up the river in Hualien as well as the Whale/Dolphin watching trip. As I said before, we didn't see any whales and only a couple of dolphins. Definitely better dolphin viewing in Naples Florida!!
As for Saturday - you'll see our group in our suits (I took my own as my size is not normally stocked in Taiwan) and safety helmets (I got a "special" one in larger size) and also life vests (again, I get the special one that only gets used every 5 years probably). But all was well as we headed out early in order to beat the other groups that were following us. It paid off to go early (we were on the water by 8am) as we got to do everything and made it to the top where other groups didn't make it up there.
It was quite the adventure. We did a lot of climbing, some floating in the river, jumping off the falls, swimming behind waterfalls, climbing water falls, rope climbing some of the higher rocks, some cliff jumping (one at 2 meters and one at about 5 meters), and of course just swimming. My favorite part was the swimming since the water was as pure and clean as any water I've ever been in. Fresh water and at some points the water was very deep (thus the cliff jumping) which is amazing. It was so cool in the water, and so peaceful up in the mountains. We did see a poisonous snake (one of the last pictures) which was stuck in the water at the top on a branch. The snake can't swim and it looked like he'd been there a while on a branch that fell but there wasn't enough current to move him down river to escape. Our instructor let some folks take pictures, but he ultimately freed the critter to go back to being a poisonous snake in the forest. He really was an ugly thing.
As for Sunday - everyone was taking some anti-sickness medicine, but I think it made everyone overly tired. We were up early again, but the rest of the gang hung out on the top of the boat. I went to the front in hopes of seeing some dolphins following the bow of the boat which is one of their favorite things to do at times. The dolphins we saw though were feeding, meaning they were more interested in following the fish (which we were scarring away I'm sure) than they were in entertaining the people on the boat. It was still beautiful water and wonderful to be out on the Pacific Ocean!!
Then we had the only bad part of the trip - the return to Taipei which had us hitting traffic. Just like in Chicago, the worst part is the fact that they split everyone for a toll booth, then there's a huge bottleneck getting everyone back into 2 lanes. That seems to be a poor design around the world!!!
We did get to go through the new tunnel which is now Taiwan's longest. It was 14.9 km long (about 9 miles) which is actually pretty amazingly long! There were a couple of long tunnels, but 9 miles is a little rediculous! They even rebroadcast the radio inside the tunnel (as well as having cell phone towers), BUT it gets a little freaky when they interrupt the radio to announce an accident and at what mile marker. A little too science fiction like for me!
Anyway - hope you enjoy the pictures! Have a good Tuesday!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
My "Graduation" Trip to Hualien
In Taiwan schools, they take a "graduation" trip after their senior year where they explore parts of the Island and enjoy the wonderful tourism aspect of Taiwan. So with my return to the US in a month or so, some of my coworkers planned a weekend trip to Hualien for us. A total of 8 of us drove down Highway 9 which is famous due to the scenic view of the mountains, Pacific ocean, windy roads, and ultimately the beauty of Hualien. This was the same place that Pitzen and I visited in May with the amazing mountains running into the ocean.... and this trip again proved the beauty that is in the East of Taiwan.
I uploaded group 1 of my photos. These are the "general" pics that were taken over the weekend. We headed down on Friday that took about 4 hours by 2 cars. There was a stop for shaved ice and we finally arrived at our bed and breakfast that we rented for the weekend. Plenty of room for the 8 of us! Wonderful view of the mountains and countryside. We also hit the night market (the archery pics and the bumper cars) which also allowed me to pay $10 for my own firework. They were amazed how I wanted the biggest firework they have to shoot off from the beach - it fulfilled my pyro tendencies for a while.
Saturday we had a guide to take us up on a river climb along with his camera toting assistant who got around like a spider monkey on the river. It was an amazing adventure climbing rocks, waterfalls and swimming in the clearest mountain water I've ever been in. Sunday we went looking for whales (no sightings but we did see some Dolphins!!).
I'll post Saturday and Sunday photos in the next couple of days, I haven't had a chance to go through them yet. Plus it gives me more things to blog about this week!!
For group 1, you will see a lot of food pictures:) One thing the Taiwanese do well is eat GOOD food - this weekend had no shortage of good food of course. One restaurant was on the Pacific Ocean plus we were the only ones there so we were VIP! The next night we went to dinner in the mountains that would have had a tremendous view of the stars except for the rain clouds:( We did see some stars on Friday night - amazing how much you miss seeing stars when you live in the city and see none of them year round.
More stories and explanations throughout the week. Enjoy the first group!
I uploaded group 1 of my photos. These are the "general" pics that were taken over the weekend. We headed down on Friday that took about 4 hours by 2 cars. There was a stop for shaved ice and we finally arrived at our bed and breakfast that we rented for the weekend. Plenty of room for the 8 of us! Wonderful view of the mountains and countryside. We also hit the night market (the archery pics and the bumper cars) which also allowed me to pay $10 for my own firework. They were amazed how I wanted the biggest firework they have to shoot off from the beach - it fulfilled my pyro tendencies for a while.
Saturday we had a guide to take us up on a river climb along with his camera toting assistant who got around like a spider monkey on the river. It was an amazing adventure climbing rocks, waterfalls and swimming in the clearest mountain water I've ever been in. Sunday we went looking for whales (no sightings but we did see some Dolphins!!).
I'll post Saturday and Sunday photos in the next couple of days, I haven't had a chance to go through them yet. Plus it gives me more things to blog about this week!!
For group 1, you will see a lot of food pictures:) One thing the Taiwanese do well is eat GOOD food - this weekend had no shortage of good food of course. One restaurant was on the Pacific Ocean plus we were the only ones there so we were VIP! The next night we went to dinner in the mountains that would have had a tremendous view of the stars except for the rain clouds:( We did see some stars on Friday night - amazing how much you miss seeing stars when you live in the city and see none of them year round.
More stories and explanations throughout the week. Enjoy the first group!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
PICTURE DAY!!
Lots of photos to share today - don't take them all at one time as you may have an overloading sensation.
First though is the Solar Eclipse that happened in Eastern Asia this morning. The prime location was closer to Beijing in China, but we were still able to experience it rather well. Now most of us have difficulty seeing this afternoon after staring at the sun most of the day. I was reluctant at first since it's pretty cloudy today - BUT actually the clouds help to actually see the eclipse. Here are the 4 photos that actually turned out from earlier today:
It was a pretty cool experience - I'm just glad some of the photos actually turned out!
As for more photos to share from my trip back to the US - there are 5 new photo albums added on the right starting with seeing Eddie and his beautiful new daughter Sophia, some pictures from Storm Lake, and of course wedding photos (not our wedding). I love our new camera as it really takes great low light photos. None of those would have turned out with the standard point-and-click cameras that all of us have. Very life like and lots of personality coming out in some of those shots.
I've been back in Taiwan for a week but I'm still screwed up for sleeping. I was up at 4:30 this morning and I didn't even nap yesterday for a change. It is however the latest I've slept in all week, just need to keep working at staying up later, then trying to sleep in. There is definitely some weird TV at 3am in Taiwan. Wish I could figure out a way to share it with you.
Hope everyone is having a good week!
First though is the Solar Eclipse that happened in Eastern Asia this morning. The prime location was closer to Beijing in China, but we were still able to experience it rather well. Now most of us have difficulty seeing this afternoon after staring at the sun most of the day. I was reluctant at first since it's pretty cloudy today - BUT actually the clouds help to actually see the eclipse. Here are the 4 photos that actually turned out from earlier today:
It was a pretty cool experience - I'm just glad some of the photos actually turned out!
As for more photos to share from my trip back to the US - there are 5 new photo albums added on the right starting with seeing Eddie and his beautiful new daughter Sophia, some pictures from Storm Lake, and of course wedding photos (not our wedding). I love our new camera as it really takes great low light photos. None of those would have turned out with the standard point-and-click cameras that all of us have. Very life like and lots of personality coming out in some of those shots.
I've been back in Taiwan for a week but I'm still screwed up for sleeping. I was up at 4:30 this morning and I didn't even nap yesterday for a change. It is however the latest I've slept in all week, just need to keep working at staying up later, then trying to sleep in. There is definitely some weird TV at 3am in Taiwan. Wish I could figure out a way to share it with you.
Hope everyone is having a good week!
Monday, July 20, 2009
World Games 2009!!
The World Games 2009 started last week - never heard of them? Well you don't live in Taiwan then. They're being held in Taiwan (Kaohsiung which is in the far southwest of Taiwan) and are highlighting a very "Eco-Friendly" games. Call it the "Secondary Olympics" if you must, but it actually has some of the original Olympic sports such as tug of war and fistball. There are also sports such as Parachuting, Billiards, Bowling, as well as lots of Martial Art sports. It is a big deal since this is the first international competition to be held in Taiwan. The Chinese are participating, but they boycotted the opening ceremony last Thursday which of course dominated the news. The tension continues!! Go check it out on Wikipedia for all the sports that are being held. No, the US aren't participating, but many other countries are.
What's cool about the games though is that they are using the stadium that has almost 9000 solar panels that generate 1.14 million kwatt hours of electricity per year! That's a LOT! They sell it back to the country and it gets dispersed around the island. Taiwan is trying to do more and more with the solar panel revolution since it gets SO HOT and so much sun here. So far I've seen a lot of roller blading racing (very similar to watching speed skating at the winter Olympics), and even watched the Taiwan Women's Tug of War team bring home the gold medal! It's actually cooler than you'd think watching Tug of War would be.
I'm still screwed up from Jetlag - taking 3 hour naps in the afternoon doesn't help, but it has allowed me to watch a lot of this past weekend's British Open (aka Watson's final chance at age 59). What a great Open to watch! Too bad he didn't win but was still good for the sport of golf!
I know it feels like Fall in the US, but it's damned hot here in Taiwan. And very humid.... I'll probably complain about it every day till I come home. Which is now 42 days away.
What's cool about the games though is that they are using the stadium that has almost 9000 solar panels that generate 1.14 million kwatt hours of electricity per year! That's a LOT! They sell it back to the country and it gets dispersed around the island. Taiwan is trying to do more and more with the solar panel revolution since it gets SO HOT and so much sun here. So far I've seen a lot of roller blading racing (very similar to watching speed skating at the winter Olympics), and even watched the Taiwan Women's Tug of War team bring home the gold medal! It's actually cooler than you'd think watching Tug of War would be.
I'm still screwed up from Jetlag - taking 3 hour naps in the afternoon doesn't help, but it has allowed me to watch a lot of this past weekend's British Open (aka Watson's final chance at age 59). What a great Open to watch! Too bad he didn't win but was still good for the sport of golf!
I know it feels like Fall in the US, but it's damned hot here in Taiwan. And very humid.... I'll probably complain about it every day till I come home. Which is now 42 days away.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Back in Earthquake Land
I'm back in Taipei after a busy yet fun trip to the US! It's my last time to go back and forth via plane - and a good thing, I forgot how much I don't fit into coach class on most planes. Thankfully I was bumped up to business class for flying to the US, just wish I was as lucky coming back. It was also nice experiencing temperatures under 80 degrees for one last time till September. I miss the Minnesota summer, especially when it's a "cool" one like this year!
Sarah and I had fun visiting friends and at the wedding (no, not our wedding) - just a lot of driving around the mid-west. I'm working on the pictures now, gives me something to do with the jetlag.
There were some major earthquakes this week in Taipei, a couple causing buildings to sway and requiring some emergency vehicles to be deployed. I was still in Iowa at that time of the "big" one, but there was another tremor this afternoon that had some slight swaying here at my apartment.
As you can see, this is my last leg of my assignment in Taiwan. Only 46 days left till I head home. The time will go quickly, but still lots to cram into these last 7 weeks! Then a new facelift is in order for my blog page:)
Have a good Thursday!
Sarah and I had fun visiting friends and at the wedding (no, not our wedding) - just a lot of driving around the mid-west. I'm working on the pictures now, gives me something to do with the jetlag.
There were some major earthquakes this week in Taipei, a couple causing buildings to sway and requiring some emergency vehicles to be deployed. I was still in Iowa at that time of the "big" one, but there was another tremor this afternoon that had some slight swaying here at my apartment.
As you can see, this is my last leg of my assignment in Taiwan. Only 46 days left till I head home. The time will go quickly, but still lots to cram into these last 7 weeks! Then a new facelift is in order for my blog page:)
Have a good Thursday!
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