Taipei 101

I went to Taipei this weekend and had a great time.  It felt like I was in America with the fancy shops: Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, etc.  It was another rainy weekend but we had a great time.  Thanks again Molly for coming with me!

Two Reminders of why I love big cities:

1. Wall made out of plants.  How do they water this?

2. Street Performers.  This reminds me: my dad promised to buy me an accordian after I learned to play my guitar that was collecting dust.  Resolution for 2010: play the guitar 

Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial: this place is HUGE with several buildings/memorials for Chiang Kai Shek, a political and military leader of 20th century China.  I'm still trying to decide if I like the guy. 

This door is TiiiiGHT!  Does it remind you of the door on the Wizard of Oz?  A miniature person probably pops out of that little opening when you knock..

Building #1

Inside Building #1

On the wall behind CKS are three sections: Science, Democracy and Ethics, the 'Three Principals of the People'.  My 'Lonely Planet' book states: Many are the voices of Taiwan's government calling for this memorial to be renamed and the statue removed.'  Taiwan(which is still the Republic of China) and China have such a sensitive relationship.

Guards for the CKS Memorial Hall

This Hall opened in 1980, five years after Chiang's death.

Video of the changing of the guards:

Structure #2

Building #3 and #4 look identical so I'll post one.

Taipei 101 is/was the tallest building in the world.  Dubai has a building that's supposed to be taller, not sure if it's been completed yet.

It looks like a bunch of chinese take-out boxes stacked on each other...or a bamboo stick.

A few random shots around Taipei 101.  Gotta post at least one photo with our charming $1 raincoats!  The other two shots are of sculptures outside of the 101.

Quick story:  Molly (left side of photo) is a good Taiwanese friend of mine.  She always teases me that I'm a Taiwanese child and likewise she is an American child (grammar, language, culturally, etc).  Well near the end of the day we were sitting on a bench and I said, 'Molly, I'm tired.  I don't want to walk anymore.'  She quickly replied, 'Make Joseph give you..uh..Monkey-back..?.'  Took me a second, then it registered: 'Piggyback?! hahahaha'.  Oh Molly, thanks for that and yes, Monkeyback DOES make more sense.

Kaohsiung, Home of the 2009 World Games

We planned on going to Kaohsiung( Gow-shuhng) to watch Sumo wrestling but the tickets were sold out. 

This is a Kiwi Band Stand outside of the World Games Stadium

Our Taiwanese friends Julia and Charles toured us around the city..

This lady was on our hike...quiet she's trying to focus.

This lady came over while we were taking pictures and gave us her baby...not sure why.  The baby quietly started to cry and so we passed her back to her mom.  This sad face makes me shed a tear..

This giant WORLD GAMES can is so funny.  It was such a windy day, check out our hair blowin about.

Overlooking Kaohsiung.

Taking a ferry to the small island off of Kaohsiung.

Some street vendors on the cute little island.  Snail anyone?

I wonder how long this fish has been sitting out?  

These little chariot-bikes remind me of the ones in NYC

Our charming host and hostess playing dress-up.

Most of our group in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.  We started out with a group of 7 and by the end of the day, we were a group of 12.  

Outside of a buddhist temple on the little island.

We stopped to take a photo with our new friend Mike (top left) that we found on our hike.  Its not everyday we see Americans!

The sunset over the ocean (or china sea...not quite sure) at the end of our hike.  Overall, it was a beautiful day (minus the Typhoon-like weather) and we had a great time (minus the absence of the sumo match).

Taiwanese videos

I don't know how to rotate videos, my bad.   (sorry about the annoying laugh in all of these...)

This is a video of the CRRAZY typhoon season wind in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  A group of us went there this weekend to see the World Games.  The weather was disgusting but we had fun.

My friend, Molly, speed talking in Chinese about our crazy day getting lost in Taichung.  Actually, I have no idea what she's saying...could be anything.

This is one of our students, he is so adorable!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kami!!

Since I posted after midnight I thought it would show July 20th on this post.  I do know when Kami's bday is, I'm just too lazy to fix it.  

Kami- Today you are officially old, welcome to the club!  I hope I've included a few pictures you haven't seen before.  I offer you this birthday challenge(to check out Kami's resonse, click here): name where each of these pictures took place AND... (to make things interesting..) when they were taken.

haha..I still wonder why this guys girlfriend didn't stop the crack show.

My Second Home..

I've been uploading hundreds, no probably thousands of pictures onto my new macbook. I've had so much fun the last few weeks editing with iphoto.


I am enjoying Taiwan but in the back of my mind, I'm always thinking about D.C. I sure miss this place...

...more photos..

Posting on my blog in Taiwan is the biggest pain.  After uploading a few pics it shuts down.  After attempting to create this post 4 times, I'm completely fed up.   I'm not patient, so this choppy information will have to do for now.

Cute house in Er Shuei

Temple in Er Shuei

These pictures were all taken on my walk to/from school in Changhua, Taiwan:

Do you think this guy is Asian or American?  This guy is outside the gym a block from my place, makes me smile every morning!

I love pictures of doors.  Someday I will make a post of all the cool doors I've discovered in DC, NYC, Boston, SLC, Asia and beyond!

This is how most of the houses look like from behind.  This particular house intrigued me because of the wire outbreak below the balcony.  Most of the houses are made of painted metal and cement with the occasional brick.

This is the Statue David that I walk past on my way to/from school.  In an effort to keep this blog PG, I blurred out his man-business (I love iphoto editing!)

Because Taiwan doesn't yield to oncoming traffic, they don't need rear view mirrors.  Sure...stick that mirror where it's out of the way!

A lot of houses have mops chilling on the porch...easy access for those 'hard to clean' messes!