Taiwan

My blog has been MIA since I returned to Beijing because of China’s firewall blocks on sites like Facebook and WordPress, but luckily I’ve found a some new proxy software.  So here is my long awaited post:

Taiwan Notes:

• I snorkeled on Taiwan’s northeast coast – saw colorful fishies.
• Two earthquakes, both about 6.5, hit while I was there.  I slept through one of them, which apparently was quite a feat since things were really shifting around, and the other one woke me up at 8 am.  No major damage I think.
• To my surprise, I did not gain weight in Taiwan or Beijing.  In fact, I weighed myself at a gym and found that I’ve actually lost weight since coming from the US.  I attribute this to lots of walking and riding my bike in Beijing.
• Participated in an outdoor sport I have never heard of before: River trekking (I think that’s the best translation from Chinese).  It essentially means hiking upstream a shallow river and climbing up waterfalls (see pictures below).
• I visited Hua Lian on Taiwan’s east coast.  Drive down coastal highway was beautiful.  Family member serves in the Taiwan air force so our living accomodations ended up being at the Hua Lian air force base.  Saw some cool F-16′s.  At night, had tea on a mountaintop resort overlooking a night view of Hua Lian.
• Typhoon Morakot – very very sad.  Many parts of southern Taiwan devastated.  The eye of the storm crossed over Taipei so I didn’t feel much while I was there – just some more rain and a little wind.
• I visited 8 or 9 different night markets and enjoyed every snack I had.
• I had a special shaved ice – almond shaved ice.  Instead of using a regular ice block, they shave an almond milk block – oh baby, baby.
• Went to Taiwan mainly to see my Dad, who was there for a high school reunion.  My two cousins and uncle from Seattle also were there and we lived in Aunt’s house in Xinzhuang.
• Enjoyed the fresh warm spring waters in NE Taiwan.  Felt so much freedom felt while standing naked on a mountainside.
• Disappointed by the rate of expansion of Taipei’s subway system.  Barely changed since I was there in 2002.  Apparently they’re going to finish a new line every year for the next 5 years, but there’s always delays, delays…
• For the second half of my stay in Taiwan, I was on my own in my family’s apartment – the owners live back in Seattle and my cousins, uncle, and dad had already returned home.  It was ok because a friend named Ashley took me out a lot to different places around Taipei.  Got to ride her scooter too!
• I might have gotten minor heatstroke.  I visited the hospital twice in two weeks.
• During my last night in Taipei, Ashley got tickets to see Blue Man Group.  Pretty fun, especially when Chinese people get involved with blue men.

Tony, those were the elevator stalls where you fainted.

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