Latest Escapades and Classes Start

It's been awhile hasn't it. Well I have been a little busy actually doing real school work. You all should be proud of me. Well before I get to that there are a few more trips to talk about before we get into classes.

The trip to Dadaocheng was one of the toughest trips for me. I wasn't sure whether it was progressive fatigue or four hours of walking, but this was tough. It was a walking tour and I should have read that part of the description more carefully because walking isn't my specialty. Anyway through this tour we got to see many different kinds of architecture from European to Japanese in this area. Of course the area was littered with tons of little shops with odds and ends, but the the function of a main trade center had shifted away from this area. It could be clearly seen that it wasn't the busiest of areas, but the historical significance could not be understated with many styles and cultures being represented along a single street. We ended the tour at a famous temple known for creating creating many couples. All you had to do was go in and ask, being as specific as possible about what kind of partner that you wanted. Its safe to say I went into this temple.

After this long walking tour I had a chance to go back to the underground mall. It was a lot larger than I thought it was and spans three stations. An entire section was dedicated to books, books and more books. I thought I was in heaven. Of course you are probably thinking that he goes all the way to Taiwan to admire books. Well yes that's true. Just kidding. Anyway it was nice to see, but a lot more walking to make it to the food section of the mall.

The last ICLP trip was to the Shifen waterfall. The waterfall was very nice and very refreshing as the spray feel very cool against the Taiwan heat and humidity. There were paths leading up to a picnic area, but before then I ran into 18 immortal.s I am not familiar with them, but I do have a picture of each immortal for you to see. After visiting the waterfall we headed to the next part of the trip: sky lanterns. This was one of my favorite parts of all the trips. We were able to write all our wishes and so much more on the lantern before sending off into the night sky and watching them disappear among the clouds. Hopefully I can at least get one of my wishes on the lantern to come true. And if you are thinking that I put world peace on the lantern then you are sadly mistaken: 1st because I can't write that in Chinese and 2nd because I am extremely selfish. I mean why would I ask for world peace when I can ask for Yoon Eun-Hye as my girlfriend. I mean really, so its safe to say I let someone else wish for that. Maybe that will be one of their wishes that comes true.

Sorry that this post is so long, but I haven't been able to post in a while because I have been out making sure that I am busy all the time. Anyway I made a Taiwanese friend and this past weekend he took myself and another friend of his to the Lin Family Garden. Of course since my Chinese is so bad and his English is so good I didn't get to use my Chinese that much but it was a lot of fun. The Lin Family Garden was the playground of the rich and affluent and the display of the creative and imaginative.

So, yeah I have finally started classes and I have realised the drawbacks of appearing smarter than I actually am. Yeah, I can speak a little Chinese, but so often I speak the introductions of Chinese so well I feel like I get mistaken for an advanced speaker. Insomuch I am currently working like crazy to keep myself seeming smarter than I actually am. LOL. I still plan to have fun though I will only propably be posting on weekends from now on.

As always thank you guys for reading!

I haven't got any questions, but don't think that if you have something you want to ask that I will be too busy pretending to be smart to answer it. I will definitely pretend to know the answer to your question or actually find someone who does LOL :P

Jiufen and Dansui

I'm Back! Did you guys miss me. Well I can say for sure that I haven't any of you for even a moment. I am so joking! Of course I miss all of my faithful readers.

Anyway I have two great experiences to share with all of you. The first is I had the opportunity to head up into some more mountains. I don't know if many of you know this, but there are mountain everywhere here so if you hear a lot about them, that is why. Anyway, up near the coast there is an old gold town and you know about the fates of those towns. Well this town has been made immortal by the Miyazaki Spirited Away. I took pictures from one of the main places in the movie and I wonder if any of my readers will recognize it.

The town is very quaint, I think that is the appropriate word. It has a very heavy Japanese influence with small winding streets and very neat style buildings. The setup is much like a night market, but mainly centered around one street. There are lots of interesting things though to be found off of the main street as well so it is has been a great idea to get off the main path here in Taiwan for discovery. The sight of the the shore from the area is really nice as well along with more mountain views. This combined for a wonderful experience.

The next place to visit was Danshui. This is a very historical place that experienced a decline as a port city after it silted up. However tourism and the determination by the local population has saved much of the history and tradition. We started off at the bottom of this area and took in some sights from the river. Next we moved on through the market to view old movie theaters and even a temple. I got lost will waiting for some squid to cook. They march us around like shoulders and I have to eat constantly if they are going to have me moving all the time. We visited a little white house which served as the customs house during the Qing reign over Taiwan. We capped off that part of the trip to the former British consulate on the island and the Fort of Santo Domingo established by the Spanish.

After that we were able to descend down to the river mouth where the Love bridge is located. It is a bridge that man couples supposedly cross over, but it has turned into a major tourist attraction full of families, tourists and stampeded of children. Dangerous to say the least. We had a short moment to take on the bridge and pier, but couldn't enjoy the sunset because of CLOUDS. It was sunny for most of the day too.

Don't forget that there are always new pictures being added. I will upload two albums for these trips so that you can enjoy all the images that I have gathered. I am still not sure what is going on with trying to upload videos, but it is still a struggle. But as always I am always working to figure it out for you!

So A Trip to the Zoo...FAIL

Hey there again,

I know many of you are wondering how I have time for all of this traveling around and having a good time when I am supposed to be studying hard in a language intensive program. Well the answer is that classes don't start until next week. I arrived here a week early thinking I would have a week break before going into classes, but now it seems like I will have a three week break before classes. AWESOME!

So yesterday a group of my new ICLP friends went to the zoo, but we only made it through a part of the zoo before it started raining and all the animals and people went scurrying for shelter. It was a nice zoo, but it would have been nice if we could have avoided the downpour and got to see more of the animals. I only was able to take a few pictures of some of the creatures before the torrents, so I didn't create a new album for them and instead put them in the main Taipei album.

We did however head to the underground mall which was pretty cool. It was completely underground and right next to the metro station. It is so convenient here to find places to spend money. It was pretty cool, not really a great mall for doing I guess real shopping, but more of a trinket and souvenir mall. It was nice though and of course I bought a few things to take back home with me. I am not very good at haggling, but I simply use a smile and somehow prices seem to go down. I was told I look like a movie star, and so I probably bought something I didn't need. These people are too much sometimes trying to make my head swell. I know they really don't mean it but still in the back of my mind...

Anyway, I know I mentioned trying to get a little bit of footage up, but unfortunately there is an issue with uploading video directly from my computer so I will have to circumnavigate the issue in order to get the videos up.

Until next time! Thanks for reading!

Lin Yutang House, Yangming Mountain Tour and Shilin Night Market

Hey guys,

Yesterday I had the first opportunity to get out with some fellow ICLP classmates and go on an adventure. Hmmm I guess adventure might be a bit of an exaggeration and more of a get to know people might be better. We did a lot of standing around during parts of the trip so it was good to get to know a lot of people by name.

Anyway the first place that we visited was the house of Lin Yutang. I mentioned him in the previous post as a famous character because one label doesn't quite fit him. He was a translator of Western works to Chinese, an ambassador to the Western world on educating in matters of Chinese culture, he was an inventor author and so much more. His house contained so much diversity from classical Chinese texts to the Caesar's Commentaries on the Gaul Campaign. Housed were pictures of his Chinese type writer, which is too complicated for me to explain. His house was small by most standards but still very nice. Lunch here consisted of a delicious curry chicken and rice.

Next we headed to the Yangming Mountain. This is a beautiful and very popular spot to come out and have picnics for many native Taiwanese people. A group of us hiked to the highest point on one of the mountains. I have video and pictures of this spot. Then we were headed to see the waterfall, but only made it about halfway. If you know me making it to the top of the mountain was a feat for me! Anyway I got a few pictures there as well. This was a really tough journey in which my group braved perils such as wild cattle, aggressive worms and sound wave attacks from cicadas or something, so I hope you appreciate the pictures.



Next I had the chance to visit another night market, the Shilin Night Market. This night market was much larger than the one that I had previously visited so that mean a lot more opportunities to spend money and eat. I got to try shaved ice for my first time here and I have to say it was extremely delicious. Needless to say there are also some very weird things here and I did see the stall for a procreative organ served as ice cream. Weird! Also in the middle of the market was a temple that I wasn't sure if it was a part of the market as decor or actually real. I found out soon enough that a temple is a temple no matter where it is located. So please enjoy the pictures and I plan to have so much more this coming week as well.

Finally Hit by.... BAD FOOD!

Yeah everyone I'm not sure what did it but I think it was the spicy beef dish that I had the other day, but yesterday I was completely knocked out by whatever it was. I closed the blinds, put blankets under the door and a cool water by my bed and slept for most of the day. I guess I should have known that it was going to happen sooner or later, but it something that you really don't think about. However, I carry civilization around with me and after a day of taking some meds for my stomach I am alright.

Today was orientation and a campus tour. I got to meet many people that I will not likely see again according to the program instructor. As soon as classes start I will be going to class and then preparing for class with little time for anything else. Anyway I have a week before that happens and I will be going out to enjoy myself next week before dooms day.

Tomorrow I will be heading out to the mountains for some great scenery shots as well as a visit to the house of a famous multi-talented Chinese character. I will let you know all about it as well as provide you with pictures.

Until tomorrow my friends!

A Few More Cultural Places

Hi everyone,

Have you missed me. I haven't gotten you a new blog in a while since the last time was probably a bit overwhelming. Anyway I have a few more experiences to share with you such as a few more chinese dishes, some Thai dishes and some more cultural places.

First up, a few days ago I had the opportunity to hang out with one of my flat mates, Cindy. She invited me out to have a specialty of Taiwan, beef noodle soup. I ordered the spicy kind because as you all know everyone needs a little spice in their life. This was one of the mot delicious things that I have ever tasted. I should have know since we had to wait to get in this place, but I was so glad that we waited. The meat was succulent and so savory. This is a must try dish should anyone ever go to Taiwan. I loved this dish so much that it even ended up on my shirt. You are probably wondering like what is he a two year old, but it wasn't my fault because when you get the spicy kind then make sure your napkin covers your shirt so it doesn't splash all over you.

Anyway, lunch was delicious. After that we went to the National Revolutionary Martyrs Shrine because the other Fine Arts Museum was closed on a Monday. Who has ever heard of something being closed on a Monday, anyway we should have checked first before hiking on over in one of the rare very sunny days. The shrine was just that a shrine, but it was very elaborate and ornate. The bright colors and highly decorative architecture contradicts the many drab and dreary looking buildings that many people live in. I'm not saying that everyone should live in brightly colored and very decorative houses, but a little color would be nice. The shrine also features many important figures during the war between the communists and KMT. I don't really know that much about the history, but here they gave very detailed descriptions of the many encounters that took place.

Later that evening with a few more flatmates we made our way to a Thai restaurant. Here you will find restaurants from all across east and south Asia. The food was quite good. I was able to taste a spicy chicken in coconut sauce, a beef dish and octopus. The best thing to me was the octopus dish, which is surprising because I would say that it is as meaty as chicken or beef, but I did really like it. The chicken dish was only a little spicy, but the coconut sauce was a good complement. Even if the food here isn't always in the peak of freshness the seasoning and flavor is unquestionably good.

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Taipei Hakka Cultural Park. I cannot say that I learned a great deal becasue much of what I saw today didn't have the English translation but enough did so I could get a general idea. The Hakka culture is from mainland China and centers around a group of people that have been continually displaced by war and natural disasters. The culture is rich in its own with having there own deities and special holidays. They form mainly an agrarian society with also a focus in exquisite woodwork. I wish I could give you an even better idea, but that is about what I garnered from the park that was in English. I have pictures of the park and the area so be sure to check those out as well. I just had my language placement test today and I can surely say that I know almost no Chinese. But don't be dismayed because that is what I am here to learn!

Friday I will be given a comprehensive tour of National Taiwan University where I will be studying and then Saturday I will be headed to the mountains for an adventure so be sure to stay tuned!

Miniatures Museum of Taiwan

Hello Again,

So I said that is might have multiple posts today so here comes another your way. This is what I actually did today, while the other should have been posted quite some time ago. My apologies there. Today I visited the IKEA store here in Taipei. I know some of my readers are huge fans of this place.The place wasn't quite the same for me but i have only been there once before, but what I noticed was different was the lack of awesome showrooms. The really expensively put together showrooms that graced the one that I had gone to before was one of my highlights. Just a heads up for many people I have not really been into IKEA for the the actual shopping but more for sightseeing. So don't laugh at me. Other than that it seemed to be pretty standard IKEA albeit a mite smaller than the one I visited, but Taipei has limited space.

The main event of of today was the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan, which completely surprised me today. I really had no idea what to expect because the only thing I knew about the museum before I went was that it was near IKEA so I was going to go check it out. I have uploaded a separate slideshow for these photos so you can check out how awesome they are.

I won't go too into detail because I feel that the pictures are worth way more words than I can put down so I will give you a brief summary and then let you see them for yourself. I took photos of just about everything in the museum so you can experience it for yourself. The main theme that I saw was a massive playground for my niece. Everything was just here size to play with. She would have passed out if she had walked into this place. To a child it would seem like there were toys everywhere, but to the more practiced eye it was a masterpiece. Crafting such tiny items with such precision and accuracy. Many of the items are from famous scenes, movies and characters. I hope that you will be able to name some of them. In my fascination I forgot to get the names of the exhibit so it would be great if you could comment to help me out on this.

I spent about an hour and a  half in this museum that was very small, but just so fascinating. I would sit in front of once of the crafted rooms and just marvel at how real it looked as if I could just walk right in and sit down. Since I already posted today I am not going to go any further, so go ahead and take a look for yourself.

There has been a request to put up some video footage, so I just want to let everyone know that I will be working on that as well. I did some trial and error today, and I will be sorting out what worked and how I can improve going forward to give you all something that you don't have to read but rather get a look firsthand at how I live here in Taipei.

Check in with you all later.