The Typhoon has come and gone. I suppose I should be lucky that we weren't hit by it very hard, but I secretly wanted their to be a few trees flying around - it would have been a good story to tell. As it was, all that affected me was that my umbrella got broken. Fortunately here in Taiwan, the demand for umbrellas has created an economy of scale, such that I can get a decent umbrella for under $3 US. Additionally, I wasn't really planning on bringing an umbrella home with me, so again, no great loss.
As I mentioned to a couple of you, I had my last final on Friday. I still have class until Wednesday, but I don't think that we will be doing much. I'm also taking some time out of classes on Monday and Tuesday so that I can tour Taichung on my own - the National Science Museum is nearby, so I think I might check that out.
Some people have been asking what life is like here. To be honest, it's not that much different than what you might imagine life at college in the states being like, except that the food is cheaper, and you find yourself illiterate when looking at menus with options fancier than beef fried rice. We've also had some great trips on the weekends, but during the week, we have four hours of classes each day, and then we're on our own for food, homework and sleeping - and some nights bars. The drinking age is 18 here, so it's been nice to be able to go down to the local expat pub every so often.
One of the next videos I'm taking will show the local street market - and the best place to get cold noodles!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The calm before the storm?
Well, as some of you might know, I have my finals coming up in 13 hours, so I'm not going to make a long post. I am however very excited that we have a class 5 hurricane arriving here in about 36 hours. As I'm on a hill and somewhat inland, I won't be experiencing the full effects or really be in any danger at all. Anyways, you can have fun following the progress here - http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/ click on "SEPAT" on the right.
Best of all - The official term for a class 5 hurricane here is "Super Typhoon" - I'm so pumped!
Best of all - The official term for a class 5 hurricane here is "Super Typhoon" - I'm so pumped!
Friday, August 3, 2007
New Video Goodness!
I know it has been a while since I last posted, sorry about that.
A much longer blog entry to let everyone know what's going on will be posted in not too long, but for everyone who has been waiting eagerly, here is a new video!
A much longer blog entry to let everyone know what's going on will be posted in not too long, but for everyone who has been waiting eagerly, here is a new video!
Monday, July 16, 2007
LOTS more videos
I love my camera, and I've gotten lots of compliments about it. Not only that, but it's light, fast, and takes great videos! However, EDITING those video's is a pain in the arse. I think I might do a process piece next on actually making the videos.
That will have to wait however, because in the mean time I have FIVE new videos for you all.
We start out this video expedition near Xitou, where we conducted a little chemistry experiment. The rocks in the tube let off an unstable gas when sprayed with water. Let's see what happens when that gas is bunched up in a tube, and then introduced to fire by Lynn:
For best effect, turn the volume WAAAY up for the last 5 seconds.
Next, back in Taichung, we visit some fish at a teahouse we are eating at. I was particularly amused with the gaping mouthes of these fish. Kim had some other choice acronyms to describe them >:-)
This weekend, we took a trip to Sun Moon Lake. To be honest, the lake wasn't at all impressive. It was hazy, not particularly scenic, and surrounded by small vendors selling wooden penises (I kid you not - here's just one example, thanks Liz).
However, after the somewhat dull park, and a 10 minute stop at a temple, we got to go to an amusement park! Just as the Native American's have started running casinos, it seems that the aboriginals here have taken up running amusment parks, this one being a CLEAR knockoff of Disneyland. The rides included Space Mountain, "Gold mine adventure" - which is a log ride, and my personal favorite "Space tours" which is a rip-off of Star Tours, although they forgot to include the horizontal tilt axis, making the ride more akin to whiplash. I was able to record the opening of the ride before the dirty looks I was getting compelled me to turn my camera off:
For those of you not familiar with the Disneyland ride, here's a video of it:
Another thing this park didn't have was lines! I was so happy to be able to ride the twisty, turny, upside down and everything roller coaster, and then be able to run around and do it again! granted, they didn't have 2 hours worth of scenery to watch as you approached the ride, but I think thats a good trade-off.
Once thing this park had more of was...er...skin. Here's a video of the dance from the Brasil Festival:
Finally, it was time to call it a day, so we hopped on our bus to return home. To keep us entertained on our 2 hour ride, we had karaoke! Here's Dan and Rachel getting down to "Let it Be" performed by Jacob S.
That about wraps up the videos for today. If you can't already tell, I am having a great time here! Hope everyone back at home is going well too.
That will have to wait however, because in the mean time I have FIVE new videos for you all.
We start out this video expedition near Xitou, where we conducted a little chemistry experiment. The rocks in the tube let off an unstable gas when sprayed with water. Let's see what happens when that gas is bunched up in a tube, and then introduced to fire by Lynn:
For best effect, turn the volume WAAAY up for the last 5 seconds.
Next, back in Taichung, we visit some fish at a teahouse we are eating at. I was particularly amused with the gaping mouthes of these fish. Kim had some other choice acronyms to describe them >:-)
This weekend, we took a trip to Sun Moon Lake. To be honest, the lake wasn't at all impressive. It was hazy, not particularly scenic, and surrounded by small vendors selling wooden penises (I kid you not - here's just one example, thanks Liz).
However, after the somewhat dull park, and a 10 minute stop at a temple, we got to go to an amusement park! Just as the Native American's have started running casinos, it seems that the aboriginals here have taken up running amusment parks, this one being a CLEAR knockoff of Disneyland. The rides included Space Mountain, "Gold mine adventure" - which is a log ride, and my personal favorite "Space tours" which is a rip-off of Star Tours, although they forgot to include the horizontal tilt axis, making the ride more akin to whiplash. I was able to record the opening of the ride before the dirty looks I was getting compelled me to turn my camera off:For those of you not familiar with the Disneyland ride, here's a video of it:
Another thing this park didn't have was lines! I was so happy to be able to ride the twisty, turny, upside down and everything roller coaster, and then be able to run around and do it again! granted, they didn't have 2 hours worth of scenery to watch as you approached the ride, but I think thats a good trade-off.
Once thing this park had more of was...er...skin. Here's a video of the dance from the Brasil Festival:
Finally, it was time to call it a day, so we hopped on our bus to return home. To keep us entertained on our 2 hour ride, we had karaoke! Here's Dan and Rachel getting down to "Let it Be" performed by Jacob S.
That about wraps up the videos for today. If you can't already tell, I am having a great time here! Hope everyone back at home is going well too.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
My adventures thus far...
So thus far I've been in Taipei, Taichung and Xitou (and some surrounding provinces). Thanks to the help of my friend Sean back in Corvallis, video should be coming soon - this time for real - but in the mean time, here are some pictures from around Taiwan!
This is a shot of the Happy Family hostel where I spent my first two nights in Taiwan - behind me is another bed. Although it's not much to look at, it had A/C and was only ~$30 US/night - split three ways that was pretty cheap.
Here's a shot of a big square in Taipei - I counted at least four ads for the new Harry Potter movie there, and the big one in the upper left is for Transformers (which I saw before it came out for all you folks in the US :P) or as it is know in Mandarine "Powerful Robots which change shape"
These two shots are from when I stopped by the Artist Village - a small studio with ten resident artists in Taipei. I was amused when one of the assistants walked up to me and asked me if I was there with the press.
Here's me at the National Palace Museum.
That covers my stint in Taipei - I need to run off to class - Next time I'll post some shots of me since arriving in Taichung.
This is a shot of the Happy Family hostel where I spent my first two nights in Taiwan - behind me is another bed. Although it's not much to look at, it had A/C and was only ~$30 US/night - split three ways that was pretty cheap.
Here's a shot of a big square in Taipei - I counted at least four ads for the new Harry Potter movie there, and the big one in the upper left is for Transformers (which I saw before it came out for all you folks in the US :P) or as it is know in Mandarine "Powerful Robots which change shape"
These two shots are from when I stopped by the Artist Village - a small studio with ten resident artists in Taipei. I was amused when one of the assistants walked up to me and asked me if I was there with the press.
Here's me at the National Palace Museum.
That covers my stint in Taipei - I need to run off to class - Next time I'll post some shots of me since arriving in Taichung.
Monday, July 2, 2007
More coming soon!
For all my dedicated readers (I'm guessing there are about two of you if I'm lucky ;- ), I'm sorry that I haven't been posting this more frequently. I've had amazing trips to Xitou, learned far more than I ever wanted to know about making oolong tea, and even taken a few motor bike rides. I also just moved into a new dorm, and don't have internet access there. That problem should be resolved tomorrow, at which time I will post pictures, more stories, and a long rant.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
If I were to die in Taiwan...
I think it would be the result of a taxi driver.
Oddly enough, I think the odds are about the same whether I'm in a taxi or out of one. This is because the rules for taxis here are different than the rules for, say, any motor vehicle in the states.
Seatbelt Laws:
While I have observed that most of the taxis here do have a full complement of seatBELTS, have noticed that, particularly in the back seat, buckles seem to be absent. My thought is that while perhaps vehichles are required to be equipped with a belt, the people handing out taxi driver licenses don't check or care about the buckles. No doubt such equipment is then stripped from the car and sold at a flee market.
Painted lines:
While growing up in the States, I learned to consider a painted yellow line as a barrier to generally be avoided, here it seems to be more of a casual suggestion. This is particularly true going through narrow allyways, where the city planners saw fit to draw these lines, but did not see fit to make the lane wide enough for two cars to drive through
Stoplights:
Like in the states, stoplights have a 1-2 second delay between one changing red, and the other changing green. Cab drivers seem to interpret this as a free time, where traffic is allowed to move from anywhere in the intersection, either cruising through at 100kph or burnning out in an effort to make it to the next light before anyone else. Also, while there are left turn lanes, I've noticed that they are often used as alternative lanes to travel straight in, when the other left turn lane and straight lanes simply have too many cars.
Hana told me that the taxis in Serbia are much more frightening, maybe I'm just a wuss.
In less morbid news, I've made it to Taizhong, and I'm having a wonderful time. More on that probably in the next post.
Oddly enough, I think the odds are about the same whether I'm in a taxi or out of one. This is because the rules for taxis here are different than the rules for, say, any motor vehicle in the states.
Seatbelt Laws:
While I have observed that most of the taxis here do have a full complement of seatBELTS, have noticed that, particularly in the back seat, buckles seem to be absent. My thought is that while perhaps vehichles are required to be equipped with a belt, the people handing out taxi driver licenses don't check or care about the buckles. No doubt such equipment is then stripped from the car and sold at a flee market.
Painted lines:
While growing up in the States, I learned to consider a painted yellow line as a barrier to generally be avoided, here it seems to be more of a casual suggestion. This is particularly true going through narrow allyways, where the city planners saw fit to draw these lines, but did not see fit to make the lane wide enough for two cars to drive through
Stoplights:
Like in the states, stoplights have a 1-2 second delay between one changing red, and the other changing green. Cab drivers seem to interpret this as a free time, where traffic is allowed to move from anywhere in the intersection, either cruising through at 100kph or burnning out in an effort to make it to the next light before anyone else. Also, while there are left turn lanes, I've noticed that they are often used as alternative lanes to travel straight in, when the other left turn lane and straight lanes simply have too many cars.
Hana told me that the taxis in Serbia are much more frightening, maybe I'm just a wuss.
In less morbid news, I've made it to Taizhong, and I'm having a wonderful time. More on that probably in the next post.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Lunch in Taiwan
I'm starting to get over my jetlag and function on a semi normal schedule here, although I did wake up around 7 this morning, which for anyone who knows me knows this is entirely out of character.
After waking up, taking a shower and checking emails, we wandered down to the local OK market (which resembles a Circle K from back home, except that all the snacks seem to be some variant of Raman noodles) where we were surprised to run into Kim and John also from are Chinese class. We talked with them and found out that they were actually staying in the same hostel as us (Happy Family) just in a different building. Smalls world!
After meeting with them, we followed through on our plans to meet up with Alex in the vicinity of the paradise hotel. Along the way, we stopped in a bakery where I had the most fantastic bread I had ever tasted - melon bread it was called. Later, as we continued our journey to Alex' hotel my friend Tashi decided to make it his quest to find bubble tea.
To this end we stopped at a tiny coffee vendor, where Tashi decided to order his taro flavored bubble tea. At this point, I think that it should be pointed out that neither Taro, nor Bubble tea appeared on the menu, but this didn't discourage Tashi.
Tashi: Taro tea?
Cashier: stream of fast chinese
Tashi: Taro?
Cashier: *points to Grey Pearl tea on the menu*
Tashi: Which one?
Cashier: *comes out and points again at the Grey Pearl tea*
Tashi: OK
Cashier: *lets Tashi smell the blended tea*
Tashi: huh?
Cashier *sigh*
The Cashier hands Tashi the drink
Tashi: Duo shao qian? (how much?)
At this, the cashier just shakes her head and pushes the money away.
As one might expect, this was not bubble tea, so the search continues, but at least Tashi isn't out a dollar.
(Update: Tashi Found bubble tea at the mall, all is happy!)
After a few more blocks, we made it to Alex's hotel. Shortly thereafter, the six of us made our way to the first restaurant we could find. The double lucky restaurant served that end, and we were able to get a meal for six for $2100NT with tip and drink - or about $12 per person. The meal was big, with all sort of foods including tiny roasted whole fish, shrimp that had been cooked but not at all shelled, wonderful pork spare ribs, soup and some other culinary delights. most of the food was great, although I don't think I will be trying jellyfish again any time soon.
We wandered back down to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit - the Taiwanese subway) and took the train back and parted ways with Alex. Later I got online with him (our hostel has wireless!) and we played a game of warcraft 3 - I am still a geek :)
All in all, it was a great afternoon.
At the Double Lucky
From left to right: Lily, Alex, Kim, John, Tashi Jacob.
After waking up, taking a shower and checking emails, we wandered down to the local OK market (which resembles a Circle K from back home, except that all the snacks seem to be some variant of Raman noodles) where we were surprised to run into Kim and John also from are Chinese class. We talked with them and found out that they were actually staying in the same hostel as us (Happy Family) just in a different building. Smalls world!
After meeting with them, we followed through on our plans to meet up with Alex in the vicinity of the paradise hotel. Along the way, we stopped in a bakery where I had the most fantastic bread I had ever tasted - melon bread it was called. Later, as we continued our journey to Alex' hotel my friend Tashi decided to make it his quest to find bubble tea.
To this end we stopped at a tiny coffee vendor, where Tashi decided to order his taro flavored bubble tea. At this point, I think that it should be pointed out that neither Taro, nor Bubble tea appeared on the menu, but this didn't discourage Tashi.
Tashi: Taro tea?
Cashier: stream of fast chinese
Tashi: Taro?
Cashier: *points to Grey Pearl tea on the menu*
Tashi: Which one?
Cashier: *comes out and points again at the Grey Pearl tea*
Tashi: OK
Cashier: *lets Tashi smell the blended tea*
Tashi: huh?
Cashier *sigh*
The Cashier hands Tashi the drink
Tashi: Duo shao qian? (how much?)
At this, the cashier just shakes her head and pushes the money away.
As one might expect, this was not bubble tea, so the search continues, but at least Tashi isn't out a dollar.
(Update: Tashi Found bubble tea at the mall, all is happy!)
After a few more blocks, we made it to Alex's hotel. Shortly thereafter, the six of us made our way to the first restaurant we could find. The double lucky restaurant served that end, and we were able to get a meal for six for $2100NT with tip and drink - or about $12 per person. The meal was big, with all sort of foods including tiny roasted whole fish, shrimp that had been cooked but not at all shelled, wonderful pork spare ribs, soup and some other culinary delights. most of the food was great, although I don't think I will be trying jellyfish again any time soon.
We wandered back down to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit - the Taiwanese subway) and took the train back and parted ways with Alex. Later I got online with him (our hostel has wireless!) and we played a game of warcraft 3 - I am still a geek :)
All in all, it was a great afternoon.
At the Double Lucky
From left to right: Lily, Alex, Kim, John, Tashi Jacob.Wednesday, June 20, 2007
I'm on an island!
I got into Taiwan about 3 hours ago. Here are a few of my impressions:
1. It's hot.
People weren't lying when they said that Taiwan was really ridiculously hot. I normally expect the temperature at 7AM to be pleasantly chilled, but climbing up the stairs to my room in the hostel I was sweating more than I can really ever recall.
2. The trees!
Riding the bus from the airport to Taipei, I was struck by how dense the forests lining the side of the highway were.
3. The cops are nice :)
I was stumbling around about a block from my hostel, not quite sure where I was supposed to be going. A police man walked up and in perfect english asked "Can I help you?" I said I was looking for the happy family hostel, and he lead me down an allyway to the door of the hostel.
Anyways, I will have some more pictures and videos for everyone who reads this when I get on my laptop.
1. It's hot.
People weren't lying when they said that Taiwan was really ridiculously hot. I normally expect the temperature at 7AM to be pleasantly chilled, but climbing up the stairs to my room in the hostel I was sweating more than I can really ever recall.
2. The trees!
Riding the bus from the airport to Taipei, I was struck by how dense the forests lining the side of the highway were.
3. The cops are nice :)
I was stumbling around about a block from my hostel, not quite sure where I was supposed to be going. A police man walked up and in perfect english asked "Can I help you?" I said I was looking for the happy family hostel, and he lead me down an allyway to the door of the hostel.
Anyways, I will have some more pictures and videos for everyone who reads this when I get on my laptop.
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