Seeing Bangkok's fancy things

Good news and bad news. Good news is that last night I found out there was a wireless network I could leech off of so I was able to upload some pictures for yesterday. Bad news is that I couldn't leech off of it today, so I can't put up any pictures of today yet.

Anyways, pretty much all I did today was go on a bus ride to the various sights of Bangkok. I went to three temples that housed Buddha statues and the National Palace, which also housed a Buddha. (They like the guy quite a bit here.) I took 100 or so pictures so I'll go through those soon and post some of the good ones.

In Thailand! Whoa!

So after last post, I fell asleep for about 2 hours, got woken up by a call from Cynthia, got a ride from her friend, checked in at the airport, said goodbye to Cynthia, waited for my plane (at the Hello Kitty gate, which was ridiculous) and headed to Thailand.


Ridiculous.

The flight went quickly; I was asleep for the first half of it and they had built-in TVs on all the seats so I caught various movies for the remainder of the flight.

After customs and all that jazz, I took a bus to Bangkok. I knew which Skyrail (light rail) stop my hostel was closest to, so I took the bus there and figured I'd be able to ask for directions since I'd written down the address and all. Unfortunately, everyone was pretty clueless to its location. After wandering around fruitlessly for 1/2 hour or so I asked a tuktuk driver (basically a three-wheeled scooter that's a cab) and he seemed to know. So I loaded all my luggage in and went for the ride. The scooter died twice on the way and it took him 5 minutes each time to get it started. The cabbie (tuktukie?) is chatting with me in Thai the entire time. It sucks not knowing the language. After driving for about 20 minutes, we come to a clothing store. They help me with the directions and say I have to come in and look at some suit styles. I do for 5 minutes or so when I realize I left my passport in the tuktuk that was waiting for me, so I made an excuse and went back to the tuktuk. The tuktuk takes me to the aforementioned Skyrail station.

Back where I started.

I try to talk to a guy who looks like a security guard and he tries to call the hostel. No answer. I go into a hotel and luckily there's a clerk who can speak Chinese (I'm having a hard time finding people good with English here). She points me in the right direction and I find the Hostel. I get my room ready, convert some money, and take a nap.

After my nap, I start planning out the rest of my stay in Thailand. They have a bus trip to Phuket, an island area with a lot of beaches, but after signing up for it I find out it's only one way. I decide to search online for a plane trip and I find one that costs about twice as much as the bus but takes about one tenth of the travel time (and I'll end up at the Bangkok airport Tuesday evening which is where I'll need to be anyway to catch my plane to Dubai). I also signed up for an organized tour tomorrow to the various sights around Bangkok.

After the logistics-type stuff I started wandering around the city. I grabbed a meal at a fancy-type looking restaurant. Paad Thai. Delicious. Afterwards I hopped on the Skytrain near my place. The light rail system here is pretty convenient, but when you switch lines (from above ground to underground) you have to pay twice. First I went to Chinatown. They have a lot of sharkfin soup and bird's nest restaurants. Not really piquing my interest.


I leave Taiwan and the first place I think of going in Bangkok is Chinatown.

I then headed over to the Lumphini night bazaar. I looked around, realized I didn't want to buy anything, and a guy offered beer at his little outdoor patio food stand, so I had a beer and some more paad thai. He gave me a big bottle and I wasn't able to finish it before the paad thai, so I also ordered some chicken tom yam soup, which is hot, sour, and delicious. Then it started raining. Hard. Luckily I had a canopy over my head. I finished my beer soon after it started raining, and if that isn't the perfect excuse to have another one, I don't know what is.


The beer they have in Thailand is pretty strong.


I like Paad Thai.


Chicken Tom Yam Soup. Very, very good.


I had some companionship for dinner.


Glad I wasn't out in that.


Quite the feast!

After the rain died down I went and wandered around some more. They had a lot of people offering for massages. I kept refusing, but then I realized that it was about $3 US for 15 minutes, so...why not? It felt goood.

I took a few pictures, but right now I'm at a public computer and I don't think it has a SD card slot, so...you guys can wait. I think I'll go to my room, listen to the song "One Night In Bangkok" by Falco, and fall asleep. Yesss.

...And that's a wrap

My plane out of Taipei leaves in 6 hours and change. 5 things I won't miss about Taiwan:

5. Excessive amounts of rain and the horrible quality umbrellas to ward you from it
4. Beer's too expensive
3. The White Guy Treatment (People assume that I don't know any Chinese which can cause frustration and derision)
2. Annoying noises (Family Mart doorbell, garbage trucks, and RT Marts, in particular...I guess fireworks fall in this category too, don't they?)
1. Stinky Tofu! EWWWW!!!

5 things I'll miss really bad:

5. The ability to practice Chinese every day with pretty much anyone
4. A public transportation system that is convenient and works
3. The White Guy Treatment (People find a white guy who speaks Chinese fascinating so I get a rock-star treatment occaisionally)
2. All the assorted foodstuffs: onion pancakes, hot pot, pork dumplings, various seafood snacks...YUM
1. All the ridiculously awesome people I've met along the way. Kickboxers, volleyballers, classmates, friends of classmates, language exchange buddies, random run-ins on the MRT, and anywhere else.

Alright, now for a couple of hours of sleep before a day of traveling...

OH MY GOODNESS TAIWAN IS ALMOST OVER

So it finally set in tonight that I'm going to be off this island in...well, five days now. I got a text message from the guy who is moving into my room (Jordan) saying that he wants to move in on Sunday. That's at the end of this weekend. I haven't packed at all yet. Crap.

Anyways, I've been having a fantastic last month here in Taiwan. The rest of my time with Will was a lot of fun; we got to see a lot of stuff around Taipei and had some good times. After Will left I got back into the rhythm with school and my friends around the school and such. Cynthia, my language exchange partner for the past two months or so, has been a lot of fun hanging out with. I've been getting to know a lot of different people around Shida, which is kinda a downer since I'll be leaving them so soon.

I probably mentioned here a while ago that I'm taking a Guzheng class (Chinese classical instrument). On Wednesday we gave a performance where I was acting as host. Here are some pictures of the performance.

Even though Taiwan's almost done, my adventures aren't over yet.

I've finalized my plans for my trip home. Next Wednesday I leave Taiwan (at 8:00 in the morning...too early) for Thailand, where I will be spending a week. As for my time in Thailand, I haven't decided much, but I do have a list of a few things I want to do (get a suit, Muay Thai class, go see a beach). Then, the following Wednesday I take a plane to Bahrain, where I will meet my uncle and cousins, and then stay with them in Saudi Arabia for a bit. The following Wednesday I take another flight, this time through London, Chicago, and finally ending up in good ol' MSP.

Oh, and I bit the bullet and bought a digital camera. The grainy little images I get from my cellphone are pretty lame and since I'll be getting rid of the phone when I leave Taiwan most likely and will be touring for part of it by myself, I figured a camera of my own was in order. The camera is a Canon Powershot SD750 for you technophiles out there. Here are a few of the pictures I've taken so far.

Anyways, sorry about the long time between updates. Probably once I'm on the road I'll try to drop updates frequently since everything will be new and different. Toodles!

Will and Ted's Excellent Adventure part 1

My good friend from high school, Will Cottrell, is visiting me right now in Taipei. I've been having a great time showing him around and I think he's having a good time as well.

On Thursday I picked him up at the airport in the late evening. Since he got in pretty late, we didn't do much that night (other than a brief crash course on how Taipei works) and just caught up on our respective lives. Friday I took the day off of school and showed Will the area around my school and where I usually hang out. We ate some lunch (soup noodles, very Taiwanese) and played some volleyball with my classmates in the afternoon. Afterwards we headed back home and got ready for a night out. We went to Taiwan Beer Factory (a place I have mentioned a few times) for my friend Alex's going away party. Will got to meet a lot of my friends and we gave Alex a pretty good send-off.

The next day we spent the afternoon seeing Taipei 101 and Sun Yat Sen memorial hall. Afterwards we met two of my friends Cynthia and Rui and we took the high speed rail to Kaohsiung. In Kaohsiung we met one of Cynthia's friends who took us the rest of the way to Kenting. In Kenting we tried finding a hotel room but most of the places there were booked so we ended up renting a tent and camping out. After setting that up we took a midnight trip to Frog Rock. We were looking for a beach party that we heard about but ended up getting lost and on a rocky area of shore. We decided, "This is alright" and hung out there for the evening.

The next morning we rented scooters and went to Baishawan. Baishawan is a beach about 20 minutes away by scooter from the main city and is much quieter than the beaches near the city. The beach was beautiful and there were some good-sized waves. We had a great time swimming around and relaxing on the beach. That evening Rui had to head back to Taipei (she had a test on Tuesday) so Cynthia, Will, and I rented a hotel room for the night and hung out around Kenting for a while before going to bed rather early.

The next day we woke up early to catch a bus to Liaocheng, where we caught a train to Taidong then transferred to Hualien. In Hualien we were able to rent a car (Cynthia has a driver's license) and we drove to Taroko Gorge. We spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday morning checking out the various hiking trails around the Gorge. Taroko is amazingly gorgeous, and we got to see some great sights, including waterfalls, various insects, and giant marble rocks. Tuesday afternoon we headed back to Taipei.

Right now I'm showing Will around Taipei. There's a lot to see and we've barely tipped the iceberg so far. We're going to see Shilin night market tonight and probably going on a hike this weekend. More fun times ahead!

Lax on the updates

I figure a quick update is better than no update whatsoever. I have some time right now. I'm waiting until 7 when I'm going to start my journey to the airport to meet my friend Will, who's coming from Minnesota for almost two weeks.

My last semester at Shida is reminding me a lot of my senior year of high school. I'm making a lot of friendships with my classmates and making more of an effort to enjoy the time I have here.

I've done a few pretty fun things in the past few weeks. One was a volleyball tournament for the Mandarin Training Center students. I cobbled together a team with a couple of people I knew and we practiced pretty hard. I think all in all we had about ten practices. We improved a lot; our lesson for our first practice was "Don't catch the ball" and by the time the competition rolled around we were able to set up spikes and keep some long volleys in play. In the end, we got third place (the only team we lost to ended up winning the tournament). That came with a 2000 NT (about $60 US) which we brought to the bars. Quite the fun time.

This past Sunday Shida organized a trip to Turtle Island. Turtle Island is a small island not far offest coast of Taiwan. Up until 2000 it was exclusively a military base, so there are still bunkers and tunnels on the island. It was a gloomier day and we didn't see too much wildlife, but it was fun getting out on the ocean. Afterwards we went to Longdongwan (stop giggling, it means "Dragon Cave Bay") and saw some of the impressive geological formations of Taiwan. Not too crazy or off the wall, but a fun little trip nonetheless.

I recently had to make a really tough decision. A week ago Friday I got news that my grandmother had passed away. I was asked whether or not I was coming home, but in the end I decided that it wouldn't be possible. There were many factors that went into my decision, but in the end I decided that it would have created some complicated issues with my visa and my scholarship that would have possibly resulted in me losing a lot of money. Being in a society in Taiwan that places a high emphasis on family and respect for your elders put a lot of weight on my perspective, and I've had many friends over here able to offer me support. I'm going to miss my Grandma and I'm really anxious to see my friends and family again when I return home.

I'll probably be back in Xindian with Will sometime before midnight tonight. Depending on how his jet lag I might show him a little bit around my area or we might just have a relaxing night here. Tomorrow I'll show him some of my familiar haunts and how life in Taipei usually is for me. Saturday we're headed on a trip to Kenting (the beach town I went to earlier in the month) and Taroko Gorge (from what I've heard one of the most beautiful spots to visit in Taiwan). We should have a fun time!

Seeing the rest of Taiwan!

One of the only things I have been lacking since arriving in Taiwan is seeing the island outside of the confines of Taipei and its surrounding area. These past two weekends I have made some strides in correcting that.

The weekend before this one I went with my kickboxing friends to Fulong Beach. It's not too far from Taipei (about 1.5 hours on train) on the northeastern coast of Taiwan. We hung out at the beach and camped at a campground not too far away. The weather on Saturday was just about perfect for a day at the beach (the sun went away during part of it).



Us at the beach, having a relaxing time. Technically we couldn't go swimming (I guess by Taiwanese standards the waves were too big), but we'd go swim in ten minute stints while the guy with the whistle wasn't around.



That night after setting up the tents and eating dinner we walked down to the beach to have a campfire. On the way there was a wedding party. They invited us to come along and dance. They played "It's my life" so I started singing along to it.



Us at the campfire. I am talking to someone behind Anders. Note that Anders, yet again, has a guitar in his hands.

The next morning it started raining. We were originally planning on going to the beach to hang out for a little bit but those plans got scratched and we just went back to Taipei.

The next week was pretty busy for me, but luckily it was only a three-day week (I got Thursday and Friday off for Tomb Sweeping Day). On Thursday I headed down to Kaohsiung with Kyle, Jennie, and Stephan (all students at Shida with me). On Thursday night we stayed at Kyle's aunt's extra place (her aunt bought a place for her mother but she hasn't wanted to move in, so that's where we stayed). That night we met some British classmates of ours at the Love River, one of the main tourist attractions of Kaohsiung.



That's the bar we drank at. I approve of the colors, but I disapprove of the lack of Packers-related memorabilia.

The next day Kyle and I went to see what touristy stuff Kaohsiung had to offer. We went to the British consulate and Kyle snapped some photos.



More proof that I am not Asian-sized.



Coast near Sun Yat-Sen University.

Afterwards we hopped a bus to Kenting. It was an especially busy weekend in Kenting because there were at least three separate music festivals going on. We hung out a lot by the beach and ended up meeting up with a lot of friends in the city. It would be nice to go down to Kenting for a little bit more relaxing weekend when it isn't as crowded, but I still had a great time. Most of the hotels there were booked, but there was a small campground that we stayed at when we were there (about 15 minute walk from Kenting called Stonybrook farm (石牛溪農場)), which ended up working out really well.



The second day we were there (Saturday) we spent 5-6 hours at the beach. Kyle and I rented a jetski and got to hit some of the waves. We met up with some more friends, threw around the frisbee, went swimming, and all in all had a great time. I only got a little sunburned.



That night a group of us went to one of the music festivals in Kenting, Spring Scream. Although it had a wide variety of music, it was more rock-based (other festivals were more hip-hop or more electronic). There were a lot of Taiwanese bands and a few bands composed of foreigners from Taiwan or Hong Kong. The music was good and we had a fun time.

After the concert I hung out with some other friends who went to a different concert (apparently, Fat Joe was supposed to be at the hip-hop concert they went to but he canceled at the last minute). My friends had all left the campsite already, so I finished packing up and took the overnight bus from Kenting to Kaohsiung then the morning bus from Kaohsiung to Taipei.

I did get the opportunity to catch some shut-eye on the bus, but it apparently wasn't enough: I ended up falling asleep at 7 PM and waking up at 2 AM the next morning (hence the odd time for the journal post). I think I'll use this time I have right now to do my laundry for the weekend and do all the homework I was supposed to do.

As for comings-up, I do foresee some more traveling in my future. While I recently lost the tent I've been using (a hole got burnt in it), I have a trip to Yilan (surfing) in the planning and some more trips (probably Kenting again and Hualien/Taroko Gorge) when Will comes at the end of April. Stay tuned!