tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14416194705923820312024-03-21T14:21:56.510-07:00Taiwan TripsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-61250008785621307752016-02-22T17:50:00.002-08:002016-12-03T17:04:54.789-08:00We arrived in Hualien on the sunday afternoon and checked into our hotel. Not the best of hotels but there was an American guy who was married to one of the receptionists, he was pretty helpful and friendly and recommended some restaurants. We went to the Salt Lick an American restaurant the first night, it was my second visit and i definetely recommend it if you are visiting Hualien. The next morning we went down to the railway station to see if we could get some transport to Taroko, with it being CNY the buses were proving very expensive, NT250 per person one way, so we hired 2 scooters for a day NT800 (usually NT400). This turned out to be a great idea, it was a pleasant sunny day and by far a much better way to get to Taroko and ride through the gorge. In the evening back in Hualien we visited the Dos Tacos Mexican restaurant, You could get truly authentic Mexican cuisine, i enjoyed it as much as the Salt Lick the night before, my son was also impressed. The restaurant is run by an American who seemed a decent guy to talk too.<br />
From Hualien it was next stop Keelung.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-2242571339807938482016-02-22T06:38:00.001-08:002016-02-22T06:42:48.398-08:00<span class="">My eldest son flew in on Feb 4 I hadn't seen him for 3 and a half years, to say i was a bit choked was an understatement. After picking him and his girlfriend from the airport, we got a bus to Taipei main station so we could get a train down to Taidong. We had decided to start off out tour of Taiwan down there and booked a place for 3 nights which turned out to be a nice place, a kind of homestay/hotel run by a guy who spoke good English who also picked us up from Taidong Station. We took it easy on the first couple of days so Gaz could get aclimatised, hired a couple of scooters to get around, took a journey up the coast just past Chenggong. It was a bit cool that day but i think he enjoyed driving for the first time in Taiwan. We introduced them to 7-11 life and how easy it is to survive if you havent got the confidence to walk into a noodle shop with no knowledge of the language. Gaz was a bit worried about the food before he got here but once he'd seen a Pizza Hut, Macdonalds, and tried a jipai in the night market, i think he knew he would be ok. On the sunday we were off to Hualien for the second stage and a trip to Taroko (my first time back there for 7 years).</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-36620540103521242222016-02-01T00:44:00.001-08:002016-02-01T00:44:20.760-08:00Look out for an update soon, my eldest son will be visiting this thursday, so im looking forward to that. Plus news of everything else thats been happening.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-42659520509844124262015-03-11T20:51:00.001-07:002015-03-11T20:51:37.849-07:00Ok well i thought it was about time i updated this, so anyway i am now living in Puzi in Chiayi County. Ive got a small place about 5 minutes from the school where i have been working since July last year. It took me 2 years to get properly settled but what a difference it makes when you get a regular job with reasonable money coming in. I signed a contract for a year and it looks as though i will be here for a second one as there has been some talk of a new class in September. Basically the long term plan is to buy a place maybe in around 18 months but im not sure whereabouts yet. I havent decided exactly where i want to be though somewhere in the south will be the most likely. I like the weather in the south, the winters are drier and warmer. <br />
The wife is still with her parents in Chiayi about 30 mins from here for now but i think she will be heading for Keelung for a while where her daughter lives in the not too distant future. Looks like she will be doing a spot of babysitting. As things stand i wont be following her but i will look forward to the frequent trips to the north east.<br />
Recently we spent some time in Hualien and Taidong and hired a scooter and explored a few areas in the east. I was very impressed with Taidong County and i quite liked the city too, i thought it might be a nice area to retire, however the wife thinks its a little too far out the way. We will see theres a lot more water to pass under the bridge before then.<br />
Im thinking about doing more scooter trips around Taiwan this year and some walking, i want to make as much use of my free time as possible now im working. Anyway fingers crossed lets hope things continue in a positive mode.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-76699977161543232582014-01-09T19:25:00.001-08:002014-01-09T19:25:30.195-08:00UpdateIm spending more and more time now in the south, my wife Selina is having to take care of her parents in Chiayi, so at the moment im commuting between Zhongli and Chiayi every week.At the moment ive got 2 teaching jobs in the north so for the time being we will have to keep our apartment up there. Ive also got a job teaching online which gives me the flexibility of doing the job from anywhere. It is looking increasingly likely that this is the first step to a permanent move down to Chiayi. I quite like Chiayi its a sprawling place but seems pretty quiet, the traffic is definetely not as hectic here. If i do move i will miss Zhongli in some respects. The weather down in the south is alot warmer in the winter ive noticed, the sun seems to shine most days that for me is definetely an attraction. The other day we went to Tainan to meet Selina.s eldest sister. It was my first visit and i was impressed with the City. Theres alot more history about it compared to other cities in Taiwan. I particularly liked the Anping District and the old fort. I was made very welcome by her sister and i think i made a particular impression on her 2 daughters, i noticed the confidence growing in them to speak more English and i made every effort to talk to them in Chinese and some Taiwanese which im learning as it seems to be the most common language spoken in the south. I hope we get the chance to visit again soon.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-19398612565411726422013-09-15T23:26:00.001-07:002013-09-15T23:26:16.735-07:00We decided to take a trip to Keelung this weekend and then travelled up to Fulong Beach on the sunday. Fortunately the weather was on our side this time it rained the whole 2 days we were last in Keelung City. We stayed at the E-coast star hotel its about a 10 minute walk from the railway station. The hotel looked new in fact it was quite smart it cost us £54 for the night including breakfast, the hotel is a 10 minute walk from the temple night market as it was a nice night the market was packed, we also had the added attraction of a giant cruise liner berthed in the harbour. This was the biggest cruise liner I had ever seen apparently it has 15 decks , it looked like a floating hotel, all the outside cabins had balconies, the ship left around 8pm the promenade around the harbour front was absolutely packed with people taking photos, it did look pretty spectacular as it manoevered its way out the port. On the sunday after breakfast which wasn't too bad incidentally we went to Fulong by bus it costs NT75 each and takes about an hour up the coast road. In places along the route the scenery was really spectacular I thought it would be great taking a scooter or a bike ride this way, the road seemed pretty flat almost the whole time hugging the coast on the rocks you could see loads of people fishing. We got to Fulong around noon and went on the beach we had to pay NT100 dollars each first though, the beach was ok quite sandy and the water wasn't particularly deep, nice and warm though. I guess it would be a good place to go surfing, amenities on the beach were a bit sparse a few rows of sun umbrellas and what I think was a small bar, I never really investigated it. We were only there for 2 hours but I really caught the sun when it was out at one point we got a squally shower, after wards I thought had we spent the whole day there I really would have got severely burned, if you ever visit there take plenty of sun cream. We then got the bus to Juifen on the way back towards Keelung. Once the bus turns off the coast road be prepared for a winding trip up the hill, the driver as usual was a bit of a lunatic but to be fair to him it probably was the best way to drive fairly quickly up that hill, the fare was NT30 from outside the visitor centre in Fulong.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-77665076211036985632013-06-19T06:08:00.002-07:002013-06-19T06:08:51.073-07:00One year on......Ive now been in Taiwan for a year all in all things have gone ok, the biggest disappointment being our breakfast shop business which never really got off the ground, sometimes I wish I could turn the clock back, pick a different area to open a business in etc but instead of dwelling on negatives ill take the experience and lessons ive learned and try to be positive about the future. One thing for certain im not opening up another food business here for a while if at all, tradition is strong in Taiwan, money not in abundant supply and reluctance to change prominent, theres plenty that's willing to try once or twice but im afraid that's not enough in the long run. Its been a good experience though, ive learned a few things, the mentality really is different here some of it blows your mind and some when you think about it is actually very logical and clever. I do like Taiwan though and ive no intention to go back because of one relative failure, I like the life here its much more relaxed than back home, I love the easily dismissive attitude towards rules and regulations, if you have a bit of money you can really enjoy Taiwan, theres loads to see and ive only managed to get as far south as Chaiyi as yet and until ive been everywhere over the island I wont feel satisfied . Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-10299717325613159232012-07-01T17:54:00.001-07:002012-07-01T17:54:23.286-07:00Yangming Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Selina had the weekend off so we decided to take a trip to Yangming Park situated in the hills above Taipei, in fact its only a 45 minute bus ride from Taipei main Station, you can get the 260 bus from the civic boulevard right outside the station for 30 dollars which is about 65p. Public transport in Taiwan is so cheap and is not profit driven like in the UK, it always amazes me how little it costs to get about, we have just travelled about 30 miles for £2.50 including the train ticket from Zhongli, it says alot for a government run system dont you think? Anyway back to Yangming Park which is FREE to enter which basically consists of a number of trails through wooded glades and ornamental gardens, i was struggling a bit because i had strained some tendons in my knee whilst jogging earlier in the week, apparently the best time to visit the park is in the spring thats when all the flowers are out in full bloom. If you dont fancy walking all the way round there are little mini buses to catch to take take you to various points of interest. I preferred to linp around you get the feeling that this is a place to come and relax, have a sit down in the shade, listen to the crickets singing, i saw chinese families sat playing Mahjong and picnicing on the benches, there were these tame parrot like birds that seemed to enjoy the attention of being photographed. It was really hot and Selina had dampened a towel in one of the freshwater streams and put it on my head, it was just bliss to feel cool for a few minutes, in all my trips to Taiwan this had to be the hottest day.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-62346432810490771342012-06-17T17:50:00.002-07:002012-06-17T17:50:55.123-07:00A New BeginningI arrived at Taoyuan International Airport at 830pm on saturday june 16, i breezed through immigration and baggsge reclaim, met Selina and got a taxi back to Zhongli, we were in her apartment around 930pm. This trip to Taiwan would be my last from the UK for a while, this time i was staying and not going back, so a new chapter of my life begins from here. Our first task is too find a new apartment, this one is just too small now everytime i come here Selina has added more and more things, her daughter stays over 4 nights a week and with me here we wont be able to swing a cat, so the hunt is on to find somewhere big enough and cheap enough and near to where we want to be, we will have to consider visitors staying over from the UK so we might need 3 bedrooms, we definetely need a kitchen thats well equipped as this will be the hub of our future business and i like the idea of a balcony where we can sit out providing we dont get plagued by mosquitos, so thats our first job one thing by one thing, hopefully this week we can find something.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-75426101755808361402012-04-10T14:23:00.001-07:002012-04-10T14:23:54.347-07:00Not coming back this time........ive just booked my flight for my latest trip to Taiwan, ive changed my mind about 10 times as to when i actually go and finally i decided today, june 15 at 1725pm i leave and this time im not coming back. Selina and i have a busy time ahead inbetween getting married in Hong Kong in july we are moving apartments then setting up a night market stand which is a prelude to opening up a western style breakfast shop somewhere around Taichung City in 2014. Each time ive been there in the past it has been getting harder and harder to leave so this time after long discussions, many changed plans, many ideas weve decided to go for it and get married, live together, set up a business together, we dont want to be apart any longer than we need to be so basically ive got 9 weeks to go before i leave Britain and i cant say im too sorry to leave. I feel im ready for a change and you cant get anything bigger than this so why not were not getting any younger and chances like this are few and far between, ive been single for the last 13 years and feel ready again to take the plunge, the time just seems right.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-78773479308383072792012-02-02T20:19:00.000-08:002012-02-03T06:33:58.592-08:00Sanxia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWkxp6yKEkJdpGipR8TgfiJeGjFeG3nl3qSV-MFUjZbFYx-KJyp0jYUdSAkGyrKrepndD5vg2CL0UBj6Ax8u7SFB6xR7OV6-JlQX274-vAeIIhI88c1R2vGSeGdoYaegJQ0-tmBrM6Hg/s1600/Snapshot+1+(03-02-2012+04-31).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWkxp6yKEkJdpGipR8TgfiJeGjFeG3nl3qSV-MFUjZbFYx-KJyp0jYUdSAkGyrKrepndD5vg2CL0UBj6Ax8u7SFB6xR7OV6-JlQX274-vAeIIhI88c1R2vGSeGdoYaegJQ0-tmBrM6Hg/s320/Snapshot+1+(03-02-2012+04-31).png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf4bNfiFg1vOax_RWlLpq1YTKeqMiOXQkiSNv1jnJEG4raI11lxJRkTKg6s2YYsBCkBdGDPku91GQjAb4tHwMI7quNipSC30ptMxeMutewvWAEFQ7Nh0eaE-rdCUCEMmOW1l682DFev_Q/s1600/28012012135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf4bNfiFg1vOax_RWlLpq1YTKeqMiOXQkiSNv1jnJEG4raI11lxJRkTKg6s2YYsBCkBdGDPku91GQjAb4tHwMI7quNipSC30ptMxeMutewvWAEFQ7Nh0eaE-rdCUCEMmOW1l682DFev_Q/s320/28012012135.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUPi_8Kt6oic9oKquRQVcTcLG9loxymMlCg8sHUyGEjgnA2Oy6YZyiJRWyMmlL9FUN4rL_Fmia4F7V2yBADlA2_Tx5csea0hujqltW1C3zVS8lIw5My3N3chTOW6tWZM83TGxuqb_widA/s1600/28012012138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUPi_8Kt6oic9oKquRQVcTcLG9loxymMlCg8sHUyGEjgnA2Oy6YZyiJRWyMmlL9FUN4rL_Fmia4F7V2yBADlA2_Tx5csea0hujqltW1C3zVS8lIw5My3N3chTOW6tWZM83TGxuqb_widA/s320/28012012138.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>On saturday Selina took me to Sanxia district on the back of her scooter which was an experience in itself, im not the best pillion passenger as i prefer to be in control but im getting better at just letting her do the driving and the scooter is one of the best ways to get around many places in Taiwan, when we got to Sanxia the traffic was already building up as everyone was heading for the Old street and the main temple for the CNY celebrations, the road was closed off to traffic part of the way down so we parked up the bike and headed for the old street, there were thousands of people already there and there was no way to get to the temple as the police were doing there best to marshall the ever growing crowd, so we decided to walk up the old street first then nipped down an alleyway towards the river bank where there was another pathway heading toward the temple. A precession had already started down this walkway as part of the celebrations but there were that many people it was slow progress getting to the temple, we decided basically to walk with the precession as far as we could go but we ended getting caught in this massive crush of people all trying to go different ways it was crazy. All the time this loud wailing music was being played and fireworks were going off all over the place. We were being pushed by the crush past these large looking boxes which had these enormously fat pigs inside, which apparently had been fattened up for 3 or 4 years for this ceremony, the pigs looked like they had been blown up with compressed air they were that fat, on top of the boxes the locals were setting off the fireworks and the music was just getting louder and louder. Despite the massive throng of people in such a small space everybody seemed to be in good spirits i couldnt help thinking though that this ceremony would never be allowed in England there would be uproar with the treatment of the pigs, no health and safety regard for letting off the fireworks and there were far too many people in that small courtyard if anybody had fallen over they would have been crushed by the stampede. After unsuccessfully trying to make for a small pathway through to the temple we gave up and made our way back to the old street, glad to be out of the crush we walked up the old street and then around back toward the river bank and over the bridge taking in all the side shows and the stalls that were set up everywhere.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-12329796221816525692012-01-29T18:34:00.000-08:002012-01-29T18:34:23.000-08:00Chinese New year In Taiwan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTc8MGWRoY5iNSM_1IaRBE4hOyZmwQvvkOMt2SKW5aQYMliNphs5lT1oZe2HdSYJc5Qv3rWwl6mIH9zfVpUoCCO1tNA3Ux9hKLZspeVD5QT2DPdXum3L7_KeX5IKAOQF0k4fWDsAwF28/s1600/23012012110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTc8MGWRoY5iNSM_1IaRBE4hOyZmwQvvkOMt2SKW5aQYMliNphs5lT1oZe2HdSYJc5Qv3rWwl6mIH9zfVpUoCCO1tNA3Ux9hKLZspeVD5QT2DPdXum3L7_KeX5IKAOQF0k4fWDsAwF28/s320/23012012110.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJlLgFQXSA_VgHROmwijL8ybE3cfW6XOqknqJjigQSeABDJuAiuF2b9URtZssQeEwfdd8lsrCGGScq_WAS9XLh_Xjw-Yhk3eCKl1KuQYkGrPDEgbIDDYcI9A6GtuOlq3q-_uX-P5ApOA/s1600/23012012114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcJlLgFQXSA_VgHROmwijL8ybE3cfW6XOqknqJjigQSeABDJuAiuF2b9URtZssQeEwfdd8lsrCGGScq_WAS9XLh_Xjw-Yhk3eCKl1KuQYkGrPDEgbIDDYcI9A6GtuOlq3q-_uX-P5ApOA/s320/23012012114.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RDIUZVfnIxOGW8QCWEdytuFl1MUd1_JOTkpeOwadWnD4bcpWCLPe_ugIlgsdBNXtG5JChRXPqS_yEnij-DMEbj7Rp42CDMY6Fn6gHiNheuCS_EdUZV9IpcIeqxWe0gaH-REZELG3Igc/s1600/23012012115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RDIUZVfnIxOGW8QCWEdytuFl1MUd1_JOTkpeOwadWnD4bcpWCLPe_ugIlgsdBNXtG5JChRXPqS_yEnij-DMEbj7Rp42CDMY6Fn6gHiNheuCS_EdUZV9IpcIeqxWe0gaH-REZELG3Igc/s320/23012012115.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghsyJNrRLZ2kQnIYy7Y6Nu2QDR0knpCwE-6GIIXKRqL4WRH3XHeFsiNjbM5G4prU20doGDBR8t9Sw_iWjJ5VFZeqU00PZWaFjowcxZEwDjWAPfedYV3Bzq8R_Wg_0qosGdxdN8V4cPDw4/s1600/24012012118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghsyJNrRLZ2kQnIYy7Y6Nu2QDR0knpCwE-6GIIXKRqL4WRH3XHeFsiNjbM5G4prU20doGDBR8t9Sw_iWjJ5VFZeqU00PZWaFjowcxZEwDjWAPfedYV3Bzq8R_Wg_0qosGdxdN8V4cPDw4/s320/24012012118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Just 9 weeks later and im back in Taiwan this time for the Chinese New year, i just wanted to see what it was all about, Selina had 9 days vacation so it was a perfect chance to come back to my second home, i was also glad to get away from the English winter, although the weather here has been a bit dull at times and a little cool it beats getting up to cold frosty mornings, biting winds and whatever else is thrown at us. I arrived on the wednesday night Jan 18 five days before New Years Day, Selina still had to work on the thursday and friday but that was no problem to me im used to that gives me time to write some blogs etc, we had been invited to her second sisters house in Taichung on the sunday, her younger sister would be there also. I was happy for the chance to enjoy the New year with some of her family maybe also a little nervous, but there was no reason to feel like that because they were absolutely wonderful, i was made so welcome, Selina's brother in law is a Malaysian and although he had forgotten alot he had a reasonable knowledge of English so we sat and had a few beers and enjoyed a few cigarettes on his balcony, he talked more and more as he got drunk and got a little homesick for his country he left 28 years ago, but he was a really nice man and he made every effort to make me feel at ease. The next day Selina's younger sister arrived with her son she was a lovely person always laughing and happy i got on with her pretty well she didnt speak alot of english but you could have a laugh with her, after a coffee i went to the temple with the 3 sisters to bring in the New Year and make a wish for good luck, the younger sister gave me some insense sticks which we had to light and in various places around the temple, introduce yourself to the god make a wish and then place one the sticks into the receptacle, we did this about 8 times before leaving the temple, then we burned a paper parcel in the incinerator i guess as an offering to the god and then enjoyed a bowl of free soup in front of the temple. After that we went to this rather posh country club home of Taichung Golf Club as they were having like an open day had a bit of lunch took a few pics and a walk around, then it was back home for a lovely dinner a few more drinks and a game of Mahjong which i have absolutely no idea of playing, but my hosts were up to 1:30am playing for a few dollars as they do every New year.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-58239015994882040692011-11-09T20:12:00.000-08:002011-11-09T20:12:54.880-08:00Jinguashi and Juifen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHFwYQWkxBlTn0y_a-7o4PZiExkE7cuS9xgCF5Vq9WGv1chAyMkOop9NUVEaPNzLvYJI3SWI63hUZCtPTQksdTLBMvfqJ0ZtavvRstHX4pSDh27NgdzCqwa1sHxt0EQA2zY2DV2mMh7A/s1600/07112011265.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHFwYQWkxBlTn0y_a-7o4PZiExkE7cuS9xgCF5Vq9WGv1chAyMkOop9NUVEaPNzLvYJI3SWI63hUZCtPTQksdTLBMvfqJ0ZtavvRstHX4pSDh27NgdzCqwa1sHxt0EQA2zY2DV2mMh7A/s320/07112011265.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>dont worry that not all mine<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX690PZcbaQIwwR-mmD70oWQCUQIHxhdFjwdwzMOhXkFBP51UXp13T6Dwu97JeYxYPSEaUBSPz3M8le_D0SIvAS2HKQR1UfL7Y4eF2Thc_DceUDxV1J6B1RGe0_A6G0xt-JD_rZyGPDU/s1600/07112011268.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX690PZcbaQIwwR-mmD70oWQCUQIHxhdFjwdwzMOhXkFBP51UXp13T6Dwu97JeYxYPSEaUBSPz3M8le_D0SIvAS2HKQR1UfL7Y4eF2Thc_DceUDxV1J6B1RGe0_A6G0xt-JD_rZyGPDU/s320/07112011268.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> filling my face in Keelung night market<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSkhp-Tuu49ChXbS8xZ-gNCybZ6QF0r4KBH7rcIGKPrj6P1PDbXQVjA7UB_usl8ellYfHCPumAaZb-CCY-P0TuSdg9GOhxdSRBCPajtCcWQD7rYs2pv6sg4_9tBn2rhTxgLDztsCFv7M/s1600/07112011280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSkhp-Tuu49ChXbS8xZ-gNCybZ6QF0r4KBH7rcIGKPrj6P1PDbXQVjA7UB_usl8ellYfHCPumAaZb-CCY-P0TuSdg9GOhxdSRBCPajtCcWQD7rYs2pv6sg4_9tBn2rhTxgLDztsCFv7M/s320/07112011280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7A1JtHJmXKmV2CUzAmZS5V_HOoG49cidIbLNNs8GVabK3qQ2ivmuiUqmHTIMUMmuYAQp1QF8YuI_O3ulwtDG_mJn9GfrY9FwEKfZw5q224rmnea5q6PclvImFwLg2NdoIwZob6uGjjQg/s1600/07112011286.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7A1JtHJmXKmV2CUzAmZS5V_HOoG49cidIbLNNs8GVabK3qQ2ivmuiUqmHTIMUMmuYAQp1QF8YuI_O3ulwtDG_mJn9GfrY9FwEKfZw5q224rmnea5q6PclvImFwLg2NdoIwZob6uGjjQg/s320/07112011286.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7S48fLteWO924nt-gte-tR3Wr2V3itBmvtpY22mN3mVqotyFEnIti97CyMyWptBw3FztqVBbXKR3yHVZUrOJ6kA35LOMCpLGFkeRInI6u5HhtSTMJ2A52-guvl48idkJ0ExpWcKIO3Y0/s1600/08112011289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7S48fLteWO924nt-gte-tR3Wr2V3itBmvtpY22mN3mVqotyFEnIti97CyMyWptBw3FztqVBbXKR3yHVZUrOJ6kA35LOMCpLGFkeRInI6u5HhtSTMJ2A52-guvl48idkJ0ExpWcKIO3Y0/s320/08112011289.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>you are here!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LRET6VBHhDfX9fvkzVXRv3LxNTZZXgQ5z00-lHq8CE7JHkNSm_vAMnyPPilJkHjgZWRpgKcoeAQtd48TArbf-29AXugQxeWiQ1agyXQNYU96nkuIn91VSTgEJVFXFVFFNU2cScl_hKA/s1600/08112011290.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LRET6VBHhDfX9fvkzVXRv3LxNTZZXgQ5z00-lHq8CE7JHkNSm_vAMnyPPilJkHjgZWRpgKcoeAQtd48TArbf-29AXugQxeWiQ1agyXQNYU96nkuIn91VSTgEJVFXFVFFNU2cScl_hKA/s320/08112011290.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> japanese house entrance<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCllWpu7nVCzHY0Qxcfl75o_2q3Ctd4iTVvtMv2pBzbxpXEpWBj8T58B7R-6FBGJyicHHYwISrD46CgwPWhdXQ4IA8hBfAOSij12MYtWBQwSl3Kk5etRZ2rkXgVli8N46RXHLi6sizxfI/s1600/08112011291.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCllWpu7nVCzHY0Qxcfl75o_2q3Ctd4iTVvtMv2pBzbxpXEpWBj8T58B7R-6FBGJyicHHYwISrD46CgwPWhdXQ4IA8hBfAOSij12MYtWBQwSl3Kk5etRZ2rkXgVli8N46RXHLi6sizxfI/s320/08112011291.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>inside the house<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhevMoX7QyU6yqzVOKdrBDGrhh03nH-haDngxKHDglPdeL_BuyW8_oXdUr4I76Cn7frh4QmReEfvi-LNqjRiU_t2BbGyoilKwh3XkjWNYVVjRjHHQ8xLYJWVKv6Y9LjX4-TTz2aLyMTbJI/s1600/08112011311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhevMoX7QyU6yqzVOKdrBDGrhh03nH-haDngxKHDglPdeL_BuyW8_oXdUr4I76Cn7frh4QmReEfvi-LNqjRiU_t2BbGyoilKwh3XkjWNYVVjRjHHQ8xLYJWVKv6Y9LjX4-TTz2aLyMTbJI/s320/08112011311.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinw7E4XTb-NwJklCBbXPIa7O99hpGVaSSWpM83Qdutru2h2f0TEIiOzwRZdEWBKi4_yscHO9STIoLAyQdBPe_4TiFTgF1H17SDoDF6u-OCpL5Lksak2wac4yMG2THgQ1gzqAobLwGAInI/s1600/08112011333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinw7E4XTb-NwJklCBbXPIa7O99hpGVaSSWpM83Qdutru2h2f0TEIiOzwRZdEWBKi4_yscHO9STIoLAyQdBPe_4TiFTgF1H17SDoDF6u-OCpL5Lksak2wac4yMG2THgQ1gzqAobLwGAInI/s320/08112011333.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha234TCu2PhzI8dU9ZKbZyRfZ0wFO6utdgYkMyl9IidIdWUyPF-AGOEAalX_AyWN4tI1POsDZcGaxohBFob8ebEV8Mfcc18gDkI53g8uus3hDn_UbtcbK5mwZY-yoo6Ck5J9UNf0zLve8/s1600/08112011330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha234TCu2PhzI8dU9ZKbZyRfZ0wFO6utdgYkMyl9IidIdWUyPF-AGOEAalX_AyWN4tI1POsDZcGaxohBFob8ebEV8Mfcc18gDkI53g8uus3hDn_UbtcbK5mwZY-yoo6Ck5J9UNf0zLve8/s320/08112011330.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>view from the restaurant<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIavKlLXndgj1wtfsqqp91iolU6wam6V-kp-w9tZCHJTtsTVJKh9YcfzzgYKPjVIXW-Cbpb2GFBYugXnXcQFO9EOds60IYvsp-7TX2OfVYwabWIvnR8Iu4-nT0td7hSzukwDQxf1M5ckU/s1600/08112011337.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIavKlLXndgj1wtfsqqp91iolU6wam6V-kp-w9tZCHJTtsTVJKh9YcfzzgYKPjVIXW-Cbpb2GFBYugXnXcQFO9EOds60IYvsp-7TX2OfVYwabWIvnR8Iu4-nT0td7hSzukwDQxf1M5ckU/s320/08112011337.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Selina was working on the monday so we couldnt set off to Keelung until later in the afternoon, the weather had changed considerably, it has been sunny and very hot most of the time on this trip but now it was cooler and the rain had arrived when we got to Keelung. We were staying at the Harbour View Hotel for a couple of nights which overlooked the port area of Keelung. The city seemed quite old and scruffy and around the harbour it was really busy for traffic, the main bus and railway stations were situated here which makes it handy for visitors i guess and there were subways and overhead walkways for pedestrians which were essential, there seemed to be more taxis here than other places id been too, being a taxi driver myself it always fascinates me how these guys operate, i dont think id fancy just driving around all day touting at bus stops, pulling over everytime i saw a foreigner, even just standing having a fag on the street i had the taxis pipping at me, stopping in the middle of the road with no concern for any traffic behind them. I think id rather just sit in an office chatting and watching tv until the phone rang. We had a walk around the night market sampled a few local delicasies then back to the hotel as the rain got heavier and heavier. The next day the weather was the same the plan was to take the bus up to Jinguashi to the gold ecological park a museum park telling the story of the gold mining that used to be carried out in the area. The bus journey was over an hour up into the hills, you can get the bus from the harbour front in Keelung and they are pretty frequent, all the buses pass through the town of Juifen and then up to the ecological park, then turn round and come back again. We stopped in Jinguashi for a couple of hours and wandered about in the rain, the Japanese first opened the mine when they colonised Taiwan theres still some evidence of Japanese architecture and design looking at some of the buidings, you can see relics of the old mine and how it used to work, where the gold was refined, you can enter one of the mining tunnels and try and picture life as it was when the mine was open. Theres also a memorial for Allied prisoners of war who were made to work there in unbelievably atrocious conditions, they were sent to the areas where it was least favourable to work in 40c heat with little food and if they didnt work hard enough they were beaten with mining picks. From there we took the bus to Juifen a fascinating little place very poular with tourists. Juifen was once just a small village that thrived in the gold mining hey day, i can imagine this place gets really busy at weekends or holidays, everybody wants to walk up the old street a narrow alley full of shops and stalls that meanders up the side of the hill, the place was full of Japanese, Chinese and tourists from Hong Kong, we walked up to the top i had spied a stall that made peanut brittle and bought a big bag, at the top we stopped for lunch at a restaurant which clung to the side of the cliff, on a clear day the views would have been wonderful, but it was nice to sit there for an hour and relax and watch the buses trying to pass each other on the narrow winding road below.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-37364111208028904312011-10-30T19:02:00.000-07:002011-10-30T19:02:29.875-07:00Wufenpu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKBG7G-EWqUA98s4lX2GEGdGvljXYOqsr9CuD8U-x36V4fDG-5UC7eKwrr0rJbawcWGZQuRpWhRwv3HTCqbcz2kOvRvCQc3kpfk51lr_MoBdN8oNQE-4C688SBxKTkH-rQvz8HRHZAv4/s1600/30102011227.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKBG7G-EWqUA98s4lX2GEGdGvljXYOqsr9CuD8U-x36V4fDG-5UC7eKwrr0rJbawcWGZQuRpWhRwv3HTCqbcz2kOvRvCQc3kpfk51lr_MoBdN8oNQE-4C688SBxKTkH-rQvz8HRHZAv4/s320/30102011227.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4UykIIUHZ7t7qY6EbvQ-6qUyXjN9ywJWibr62M2rJCi1oi-VRwVrcIMvhHcGTA7S8G6BhVIfW7_PKbKa8Y1QbSGEhJjyH3WduFkxZqKwwJ5RqYgJwibNyWwRM6xYfV8_TLkqSkzzZ3wk/s1600/30102011236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4UykIIUHZ7t7qY6EbvQ-6qUyXjN9ywJWibr62M2rJCi1oi-VRwVrcIMvhHcGTA7S8G6BhVIfW7_PKbKa8Y1QbSGEhJjyH3WduFkxZqKwwJ5RqYgJwibNyWwRM6xYfV8_TLkqSkzzZ3wk/s320/30102011236.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> stuffing my face again<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbficcYFwUvVzbV-UpGA9u75d55ZJ-cB55dBsJ3s65WtI71ki2Ua0OYfB1yqujDxLabaQ3x1U0FC5_DB58-FJRHq-z-_yN1eCW2j5_7aTHmjEndhU651crmG44icv3YGJHlgTCtcw5zM/s1600/30102011234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQbficcYFwUvVzbV-UpGA9u75d55ZJ-cB55dBsJ3s65WtI71ki2Ua0OYfB1yqujDxLabaQ3x1U0FC5_DB58-FJRHq-z-_yN1eCW2j5_7aTHmjEndhU651crmG44icv3YGJHlgTCtcw5zM/s320/30102011234.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Wufenpu is a womans paradise for shopping, its situated in a block across the road from Songshan station,there are entrances all over and once inside the aisles form a criss-cross pattern. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of stores mainly selling womens fashion, handbags, bags of every description, jeans, hoodies, jackets, dresses etc, you weave your way up and down the aisles some of which are numbered, its easy to get lost and trying to find a particular shop is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We spent about 3 hours inside there up and down across and then back across all good fun. My quest was to buy myself a leather jacket and some polo shirts, there were mens and childrens clothes shops dotted about some of the quality was good, id say most of the gear was low to mid range, i kept away from the low when choosing my jacket eventually i bought one for TWD2400 i bargained the assistant down TWD300 in the process so it cost me about £50, i was pretty pleased with my purchase id got about 30% off it was decent quality and will keep me warm if we keep on getting these freezing cold winters in the UK. So if you are in Taipei head for Wufenpu if you want to do a bit of shopping its where all the local market traders go and do theirs you will get a discount if you are prepared to bargain and if you want bulk theres plenty of people you can do a deal with. What i liked was we werent hassled to go inside the shops and once inside the assistants didnt bother you unless you went to them.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-62898087164655939122011-10-29T20:35:00.000-07:002011-10-29T20:35:04.053-07:00Yongan Fish Market<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjony5whY1IApNpI-yKiH1fRyIxfSByBx2enAcZySyACgxQM6A7xQHlyqs7jKzKPzDfPZgB8krSffw1sOjEikeGjq6Wy8PsdbthI9C-A1GMjg1uXDqtrsl8jFoQjDZ8YF5mnQiufVnaPZk/s1600/29102011400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjony5whY1IApNpI-yKiH1fRyIxfSByBx2enAcZySyACgxQM6A7xQHlyqs7jKzKPzDfPZgB8krSffw1sOjEikeGjq6Wy8PsdbthI9C-A1GMjg1uXDqtrsl8jFoQjDZ8YF5mnQiufVnaPZk/s320/29102011400.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-BdSDlq6R9_JpqchuhtMGftVTirWl9pzeIfW9wx03ThkTzvBdlg47dPp6wSm4XcbYOyItbkuXpKXKqDn-0UT_5lzQS94jR9ELtDegQDoeXd1UKBc18I1oi-o9aOni4m3Toed_NmG3lSc/s1600/29102011401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-BdSDlq6R9_JpqchuhtMGftVTirWl9pzeIfW9wx03ThkTzvBdlg47dPp6wSm4XcbYOyItbkuXpKXKqDn-0UT_5lzQS94jR9ELtDegQDoeXd1UKBc18I1oi-o9aOni4m3Toed_NmG3lSc/s320/29102011401.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd2ZhYAlapRkvH64B-642xpkbXLeTBN-8aJekWPL9JCDuBhQbQDOOJineFA_Hiwy_XyMO05nIpvSUw3st1HIR1QtN9ht0ykZuryZY1LDxGe8CxeiBmJ-lahbzfwvSNR6QnonMHGJ8K5PE/s1600/29102011404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd2ZhYAlapRkvH64B-642xpkbXLeTBN-8aJekWPL9JCDuBhQbQDOOJineFA_Hiwy_XyMO05nIpvSUw3st1HIR1QtN9ht0ykZuryZY1LDxGe8CxeiBmJ-lahbzfwvSNR6QnonMHGJ8K5PE/s320/29102011404.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5-_g8V6sosj39iQfv4vmcHHvgF1nmOu2xqK7ntBAhV6QLG6gOhgKLS9HnCsh_QnrsGZ-PPRrUGzwm_GcvnteXK5SjMKjXR2JRUhGORILjySt5d557pnughQyULefisOGGUow8nlFCzk/s1600/29102011406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5-_g8V6sosj39iQfv4vmcHHvgF1nmOu2xqK7ntBAhV6QLG6gOhgKLS9HnCsh_QnrsGZ-PPRrUGzwm_GcvnteXK5SjMKjXR2JRUhGORILjySt5d557pnughQyULefisOGGUow8nlFCzk/s320/29102011406.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUEpyUmUzDd93t4Rxz_lN2A98Iy9AykZIhzR6VUlINRDE8JypurjebpvAG8ze0UC8LMISvHR6DlGMGy_xJzHHezLJqdpb4ZQONQqctYf0AFMsyDawA33ChFhkc97t17gyGYgcYEnCXngE/s1600/29102011405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUEpyUmUzDd93t4Rxz_lN2A98Iy9AykZIhzR6VUlINRDE8JypurjebpvAG8ze0UC8LMISvHR6DlGMGy_xJzHHezLJqdpb4ZQONQqctYf0AFMsyDawA33ChFhkc97t17gyGYgcYEnCXngE/s320/29102011405.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Deep fried squid or octopus tentacles.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hD-woecEbKCEYYnzdC11Ol7In_CrasVA7gP-bJLsM3x1rpIRn_07xAqgHzvGlDD1eANkin0rdZNcg9aynBTfGuK38tBEAfNSOAKox1Uwh1W7ISNx-xYNArkuEqDY9KdhxVTP5E0CV6M/s1600/29102011413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hD-woecEbKCEYYnzdC11Ol7In_CrasVA7gP-bJLsM3x1rpIRn_07xAqgHzvGlDD1eANkin0rdZNcg9aynBTfGuK38tBEAfNSOAKox1Uwh1W7ISNx-xYNArkuEqDY9KdhxVTP5E0CV6M/s320/29102011413.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwyLqKvuzAoieASoe_R6pzuZQAmbT2RaX_UHZCvZjZ8Z3SnakucMCUsD92Fa8XSerf1elYBKMY5WlIF1DtVL95AujhCdFt47fBZK8O4jASWMjbRznZw2zCoHKgv2-656jWP7mmtkNMveo/s1600/29102011414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwyLqKvuzAoieASoe_R6pzuZQAmbT2RaX_UHZCvZjZ8Z3SnakucMCUsD92Fa8XSerf1elYBKMY5WlIF1DtVL95AujhCdFt47fBZK8O4jASWMjbRznZw2zCoHKgv2-656jWP7mmtkNMveo/s320/29102011414.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> Maybe the dog doesnt like fish?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZd_-iKPf8HBQJsLAWBUG2vpcPK393xf3QiXWiOKwKUxPQMtCzZ_UdwC9u5QZZ77vRNlpTt1RkmO5eqJmHMGz4Wpw96MpvNCzqz3Ea07ytQdoyS4i1nUTSlY32dT2hlzzV6EqeJySMtSs/s1600/29102011415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZd_-iKPf8HBQJsLAWBUG2vpcPK393xf3QiXWiOKwKUxPQMtCzZ_UdwC9u5QZZ77vRNlpTt1RkmO5eqJmHMGz4Wpw96MpvNCzqz3Ea07ytQdoyS4i1nUTSlY32dT2hlzzV6EqeJySMtSs/s320/29102011415.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> We bought some giant prawns and baby octopus absolutely delicious.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9jDz9s3unvvjqVVw1NreX9OFHAg5etfyjgwlXQkHHQJmxFREB5FL2Vn6WO6goCBHcV0US0m9-tOoxvYXFKgLW-uHopD_6JJcs90EeIvEDVryMWdJvfvIeJESWwWhUrwrFzs6_JE2IfA/s1600/29102011417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii9jDz9s3unvvjqVVw1NreX9OFHAg5etfyjgwlXQkHHQJmxFREB5FL2Vn6WO6goCBHcV0US0m9-tOoxvYXFKgLW-uHopD_6JJcs90EeIvEDVryMWdJvfvIeJESWwWhUrwrFzs6_JE2IfA/s320/29102011417.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>On saturday afternoon Selina took me to the Yongan Fish Market, a busy bustling little place where the days catch is on sale. There are numerous stalls selling the fresh fish and other stalls which sell the Taiwanese equivalent of Fish and Chips. Small fish pieces of squid and octopus deep fried in a spicy batter with chunky Taiwanese chips washed down with a delicious fresh lemon juice.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-46999248576879599112011-10-27T19:16:00.000-07:002011-10-27T19:16:47.471-07:00The Taroko Gorge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLzTg4FOFQ7YkAbUkQD2vdhpLrGwV64vqP3HJCqN81POqxwaadumMPRdj4Qkyygm7mGPhSyyyV-FOpHKPgRysjKeOx6aKRGTLP73ZlzfvkVPLlsT7hrqRpkEsX9CNdNZe3KsiE6yvVtY/s1600/26102011313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLzTg4FOFQ7YkAbUkQD2vdhpLrGwV64vqP3HJCqN81POqxwaadumMPRdj4Qkyygm7mGPhSyyyV-FOpHKPgRysjKeOx6aKRGTLP73ZlzfvkVPLlsT7hrqRpkEsX9CNdNZe3KsiE6yvVtY/s320/26102011313.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqhtj0GkY-lGJiETOLi0HouBx5MVdAgsfUo0BzBWeu1ugni1DppaJ27Rpoo3myMCORkqVoxQrHGaah4bcusaH8CaUqiaSMPLgL0FeSWXTazPnTW70vu2A4MXmWcOZpISoqei480pRekE/s1600/26102011363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqhtj0GkY-lGJiETOLi0HouBx5MVdAgsfUo0BzBWeu1ugni1DppaJ27Rpoo3myMCORkqVoxQrHGaah4bcusaH8CaUqiaSMPLgL0FeSWXTazPnTW70vu2A4MXmWcOZpISoqei480pRekE/s320/26102011363.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis6-17RU1ZDb6Ed5jrwgDsCA1j0bucVoPJsx-RiVymzR9grpYbO4B1b6fTeLhVqvmjTsMgTMATcKmMPaKmhagsjXLaGN1y8ZlEu2zrrjh2FGP8wZV4M5tqXixcqHTF9GI5ll5-zOxXX48/s1600/26102011370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis6-17RU1ZDb6Ed5jrwgDsCA1j0bucVoPJsx-RiVymzR9grpYbO4B1b6fTeLhVqvmjTsMgTMATcKmMPaKmhagsjXLaGN1y8ZlEu2zrrjh2FGP8wZV4M5tqXixcqHTF9GI5ll5-zOxXX48/s320/26102011370.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Taroko Gorge is absolutely stunning and if you do visit Taiwan you must make this part of your trip, like the Sun Moon Lake these two places are my favourites in Taiwan so far. The half hour bus journey from Taroko to Tiansiang gives you a taste of whats to come, the highway meanders through the gorge through many tunnels some a 1000m long over bridges and through some pretty dodgy areas where rockslides are common, i can imagine in bad weather this road would be shut pretty quickly. You can see debris from falling rocks on the roadside, there are 7 or 8 points along the way where the Tour buses stop and everybody is out taking photos. We spent over an hour in Tiansiang taking pics from various vantage points, theres not much there apart from a 5 star hotel a post office and a restaurant where we had an excellent lunch before we walked back along the roadside through the gorge, the plan was to walk for a couple of hours then take the bus the rest of the way, theres only 4 buses all day up and down the gorge and as we found they were doing some work in several places closing down the road for 50 mins in every hour in the afternoon. We must have walked 7 or 8km before getting the bus stopping many times to take photos, i crossed the rope bridge which i didnt feel too comfortable about, it seemed to wobble about a bit and the railings were not very high, i turned around to see Selina shaking the ropes laughing. We got back to the hotel and checked in and rested our weary feet, we decided to have a little bike ride into the gorge the following morning before leaving, the hotel had a few bikes outside which you can borrow.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-91046863049995734922011-10-27T18:22:00.000-07:002011-10-27T18:22:30.593-07:00Hualien and Taroko<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDWDbky-2Kx4WTVDh7xVdUbDiIsDWzRviz58KTON_vA-NhKLZJfEkBmvkVb0wsTVPk4WLdyphWx4Yv07BXsLQ_3lr3tH-WHPniApOdfAZ-12HzbyUmFC8y_eDoq2UG8pD5NTUyQVgC1w/s1600/25102011296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDWDbky-2Kx4WTVDh7xVdUbDiIsDWzRviz58KTON_vA-NhKLZJfEkBmvkVb0wsTVPk4WLdyphWx4Yv07BXsLQ_3lr3tH-WHPniApOdfAZ-12HzbyUmFC8y_eDoq2UG8pD5NTUyQVgC1w/s320/25102011296.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv83EYo-OnPbhxh4cb-8l9i4vCbDl3XuKK8qd7u__QKCgNPbIxTRqtijiOaDxhqxJc147wF3Lz_4cntGgvNpXrch8jkE9P49qMH9whEbkpCrPWLPDKFuRKyuze9k6nmMzWMuVTYqIH0EE/s1600/25102011298.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv83EYo-OnPbhxh4cb-8l9i4vCbDl3XuKK8qd7u__QKCgNPbIxTRqtijiOaDxhqxJc147wF3Lz_4cntGgvNpXrch8jkE9P49qMH9whEbkpCrPWLPDKFuRKyuze9k6nmMzWMuVTYqIH0EE/s320/25102011298.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivdMtf7ns6GG_9PdQKBveXZtsmYoY4hsGKTvBOnfVo7KJHho5U0_ssHF1q9hXxLUbDkKbjI6gn96TezqYfsvbFKp26YWSXlV_EQEKeA0Q_W43bxEQeoYGEm1i9JEc0genpOUl4zlAMurQ/s1600/25102011303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivdMtf7ns6GG_9PdQKBveXZtsmYoY4hsGKTvBOnfVo7KJHho5U0_ssHF1q9hXxLUbDkKbjI6gn96TezqYfsvbFKp26YWSXlV_EQEKeA0Q_W43bxEQeoYGEm1i9JEc0genpOUl4zlAMurQ/s320/25102011303.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I spent the sunday and the monday just chilling out around Zhongli, Selina was working on the monday so around lunchtime i nipped down to her breakfast shop to see her at work, i met the couple who ran the business they seemed very nice and friendly and i got a free lunch, i also met Selina's daughter Peggy for the first time in the evening when we went out for dinner at the local steakhouse. On the tuesday morning we set out for Hualien, we had a booked a night in a homestay in Hualien on the tuesday night before heading up to Taroko on wednesday, after a long train journey nearly 5 hours we arrived mid afternoon, my first impression of Hualien was that it resembled a ghost town especially around the railway station, nobody was about hardly any traffic or scooters. Hualien seemed like a much more laid back city where the pace of life was alot slower, we found the homestay a basic little place near the river bank and had a wander around for an hour or two stopping off for a coffee and a muffin. After a night of being bitten alive by mosquitos even sleeping next to a mosquito zapper we set off early for Taroko catching the 730am bus which took an hour to get to Taroko, we dropped our bag at the hotel and checked in later, i think we were the only guests i couldnt see anybody else around. The hotel was on the main road about 500 yards from the Taroko entrance gate and a 10 minute walk from the visitor centre, it overlooked the Liwu River a pleasant place with pleasant helpful staff, the bus stop was right outside the hotel so an hour after arriving we caught the bus to Tiansiang about 20km up the gorge.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-85604110544782641432011-10-23T16:32:00.000-07:002011-10-23T16:32:57.508-07:00Back in Taiwan Oct 21-Nov 13I left Hull at 1230pm catching the Hull trains service down to London Kings Cross, i was on my way again for a third time in a year, after 3 months of solid hard work to get the money together to pay for this trip, this was the first time id gone from Heathrow and also the first time i had flown direct. It cost me £642 compared to well over £900 to get decent flights from Humberside, i could have paid around £720 and had 20 hour stopovers in Being Shanghai and Guangzhou but i couldnt be arsed with that, transferring in China is not as simple as it is at Hong Kong or Bangkok if my experience at Xiamen airport is anything to go by in July and my rail ticket was £51 with the return leg first class so i was still under £700 doing it this way. I got to Heathrow about 430pm, i was lucky i was able to check in around 5 which got rid of my case, had something to eat in the departure lounge and then waited, i was watching the news of Gaddaffis death on the tv which passed some of the time. My gate was next door to a Saudi Arabian flight going to Jeddah i spent the last hour watching them all praying before they boarded the plane what a performance that was, i was chatting to a family from Jersey who were on route to Sydney, they had a 5 hour stopover in Taipei before a 10 hour flight to Australia, im glad i was getting of in Taiwan after 14 hours!! I was sat next to a young student from Taipei on the plane, a pleasant young lass who was quite chatty, she spent the whole flight cradling a black action man called "mini man", she said she had bought it from the States for $400 why i dont know each to their own i guess. Anyway we arrived in Taipei around 6pm just over 13 hours later, i quite liked China Airlines there seemed to be a bit more room than KLM and the flight itself was pretty good i guess im getting used to long haul flights so i know what to expect. Selina met me at the airport and we were back in Jhongli half an hour later, this trip is a longer one for 23 nights so ive got a few days now to relax.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-36351861706691810012011-09-17T15:08:00.000-07:002011-09-17T15:08:37.061-07:00Next visit to TaiwanOn thursday Oct 20 i shall be returning to Taiwan, this time im flying from Heathrow with China Airlines direct to Taipei, i got a good price on skyscanner as the flights from Humberside were a bit pricey unless i wanted to change at some airport on mainland China, which i didnt really fancy after taking a connection in Xiamen in july, where transit passengers were not really catered for.The flight is about 14 hours its a long stint but theres no stops so thats a real bonus. We are planning a few days in Hualien and Taroko National Park and a couple of nights in Keelung City so there will be plenty of pics and videos to come. We are also planning to do a few shopping sorties in and around Taipei, ive got some plans to stay over there a bit longer next year, maybe take advantage of the 90 day visa exempt entry which i receive as a UK national. So im really looking forward to what will be my third trip to Taiwan in a year, hopefully it will be a bit drier than my last visit in july.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-54013311225164446372011-09-16T05:35:00.000-07:002011-09-16T05:35:14.107-07:00A rainy day in Zhongli<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwIIfHBVwCuVAN1B-ZAm5hAV5SOCDYgwkWIhmNTnkl6ClKQ_9YX4JMoP68qqH5DUwSs0MnGuOh1_T6w98Phqw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>One of the many rainy days on this trip, the street is just along from Selina's apartment in Zhongli.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-45460188814481121972011-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:002011-09-15T11:12:27.441-07:00Danshui and Shilin 2011The weather did not improve much after the trip to the Sun moon lake everyday was much the same, bright and sunny in the morning then torrential downpours and thunderstorms in the afternoon, most of our plans were spoilt by the weather so we tended not to venture too far. Near to the end of my stay we decided to revisit a couple of places i particularly enjoyed on my first trip namely Danshui and the Shilin night market, it was still raining but not as much as previous days, the MRT was packed full of daytrippers all heading to Danshui or so it seemed taking advantage of a slight break in the weather. Danshui is always a popular destination its a really pleasant walk along the front and so much reminds me of seaside resorts back home. Selina wanted some special cookies she can only buy there from one particular stall it took a while to find but eventually we did and she was happy. After a coffee and ice cream we headed back toward the city stopping off at Shilin for the night narket. I wanted to eat some more of that famous fried chicken and we had arrived there early enough before the long queues had started to form. We wandered around the market for an hour before it got too busy as we still had to get the train back to Zhongli.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-34964776591858797232011-09-12T03:12:00.000-07:002011-09-12T03:12:36.082-07:00More from the Sun Moon Lake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object id="BLOG_video-FAILED-0" class="BLOG_video_class" contentid="FAILED" width="320" height="266" ></object></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxXkGdBTueAP9xnXf28JQYjNo75ri55Am20_IbOHJFoU5QtngNPTsZZsa52Ojn_R7FcqbnxxS75DDnCifpfnQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>If you ever visit Taiwan you must make the Sun Moon Lake part of your itinery its an absolutely beautiful place so peaceful and relaxing its much less humid and the air is cooler. There are many footpaths around the edge of the lake and in the summer the noise from the crickets is defeaning ive never heard a sound like it, i managed to take a snippet of video as we were walking through the trees which i will post. The lake itself is shaped like the sun and a crescent moon hence its name and the water is a blue green colour. We took our free boat ride across to the village of Shuelli where you can take the cable car up the mountain, if you dont like heights dont go on the cable car but i thought it was brilliant ive got lots of footage of the cable car ride but its on Selina's phone in Taiwan when im back over there next month ill post some more photos. On the tuesday evening we walked to the other village called Shuewze and had a meal in the local restaurant where you can eat such delicasies like stewed pork intestine, wild boar steaks and taiwanese wild chicken, i had the chicken and it was absolutely delicious, much better than the night before when we ate in the hotel using up our dinner voucher, the meal was a mixture of chinese and japanese dishes i have to say i didnt particularly enjoy. However the breakfasts were really nice you could choose between a traditional chinese breakfast and western style buffet, plenty of toast bacon hot dog type sausages, boiled eggs, cheese, scrambled egg and even chips one morning. If you are a drinker you may not like this hotel as there was no bar, that didnt bother me as im not a typical beer swilling Brit but if you wanted a drink you could get a beer at the 7-11 in the village. I will certainly be returning to the Sun Moon lake scenic area at some time in the future i felt we should have stayed there longer and if you like fishing you can sit there all day to your hearts content like some locals did we saw day and night.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-13440258258362206612011-09-12T02:05:00.000-07:002011-09-12T02:05:54.786-07:00Sun Moon Lake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZmnYhyfm_-iJTMaZtq_D6L4qdFKp4NNMgWK0pDSdxNNrTsXQIm9Et4T536PjylVp0lYdiEOP2JZnqANl63iTSTY2b-AKH0hRjb2k06wFAVCTHEetEUO2XzJaTIgaX5gp65WDuPGQujU/s1600/11072011229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZmnYhyfm_-iJTMaZtq_D6L4qdFKp4NNMgWK0pDSdxNNrTsXQIm9Et4T536PjylVp0lYdiEOP2JZnqANl63iTSTY2b-AKH0hRjb2k06wFAVCTHEetEUO2XzJaTIgaX5gp65WDuPGQujU/s320/11072011229.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCrLnakFCEQMXJpAGcYGcDOW_cJoSnZt-pVX-UD-F06evBhNKrmmy2MjkzQQN4H6DjbbqUNvkmgypBX_3Xfpk-bFegHPBJf7E6cMtPyyuUXy6Y3zqnAoftNORIC6r4LxeUpU7JeauXr4/s1600/11072011233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCrLnakFCEQMXJpAGcYGcDOW_cJoSnZt-pVX-UD-F06evBhNKrmmy2MjkzQQN4H6DjbbqUNvkmgypBX_3Xfpk-bFegHPBJf7E6cMtPyyuUXy6Y3zqnAoftNORIC6r4LxeUpU7JeauXr4/s320/11072011233.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKpn-gH5tqyJ8ExcuG2YRHhSKCGqA2-5z29hdxex8nq_KK6Pc8P71Ke2BU-SMc54pDIucWvb4hCM8dcOIVnh371qtd1rAqLfLbMPWNUcT67AiX2T46bDK9rXJ1ZLPIn2zBJdttKTPDZA/s1600/11072011227.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKpn-gH5tqyJ8ExcuG2YRHhSKCGqA2-5z29hdxex8nq_KK6Pc8P71Ke2BU-SMc54pDIucWvb4hCM8dcOIVnh371qtd1rAqLfLbMPWNUcT67AiX2T46bDK9rXJ1ZLPIn2zBJdttKTPDZA/s320/11072011227.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtmTAPlehU3WIwgkwqoznRJDeQMe2_h7wQRhoN26uBo9Lb0Lv9hyphenhyphen9QvmdlDtTMzUjOpNHPPgYDc0J_xAeo8Nyi4FeYdKvbcDyy-AwTGO6Bob97Hot41GrduFonq1zLAnY5firwhnfbjg/s1600/11072011225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtmTAPlehU3WIwgkwqoznRJDeQMe2_h7wQRhoN26uBo9Lb0Lv9hyphenhyphen9QvmdlDtTMzUjOpNHPPgYDc0J_xAeo8Nyi4FeYdKvbcDyy-AwTGO6Bob97Hot41GrduFonq1zLAnY5firwhnfbjg/s320/11072011225.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKrqQ7xEnbFaC3c-4mQzCEzMkqf3cfeP55zC68J7oyJuB-N2UzHGZPzHxcdRrw3Z_xcfxSyk2VtSKKlpiKBrG6tLnLXfxww6tkix_YREpZGW9hAXERmd5TBIUR2wjWb2ycQKa21_0-q4/s1600/11072011222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKrqQ7xEnbFaC3c-4mQzCEzMkqf3cfeP55zC68J7oyJuB-N2UzHGZPzHxcdRrw3Z_xcfxSyk2VtSKKlpiKBrG6tLnLXfxww6tkix_YREpZGW9hAXERmd5TBIUR2wjWb2ycQKa21_0-q4/s320/11072011222.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We didnt do much on the sunday just had a look around Zhongli, Selina's new home,she had moved from Nankan to here after the disaster at Humberside Airport a month earlier. On the monday morning we set out to Taichung City en route to the Sun Moon Lake. The journey by bus took 2 hours to Taichung which apparently is Taiwan's second largest city. The heavens opened as we arrived and we had time for lunch before getting the next bus to the lake. All the buses seemed to stop directly opposite the railway station and the Nantou Tour buses go from the same stop so that made life simpler. The next leg of the journey takes around 90 mins with a stop at Taichung HRT from there we made our way to the mountains through a series of tunnels then onto the lake, the bus stop was directly opposite the hotel but we had to shelter there a few minutes as it was absolutely bucketing it down. We were staying at the Miracolo View Hotel Selina had decided we deserved a couple of nights of luxury and booked us a top class hotel, we were right on the lake edge and the views when it wasnt raining were magnificent. Our room was very spacious with a bar, tea and coffee making facilities,cable tv, wifi, a shower and jacuzzi. The 2 nights cost us 9000TWD which included breakfast a dinner voucher for one night a free boat ride across the lake , free bus travel around the lake, free hire of cycles which never got round to using because the weather was too bad in the afternoons and a free ride on a cable car which i really liked but Selina wasnt too keen on haha. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-257926702129800972011-09-10T10:06:00.000-07:002011-09-10T10:06:38.869-07:00Off to Taiwan againJuly 9 2011 i set off again to Taiwan from my local airport Humberside. I was stood waiting at the check in desk when this guy tapped me on the shoulder and informed me i was the subject of a random security check and wanted to check the contents of my suitcase, absolutely splendid after the disappointment of Selina being sent back a month earlier my first thoughts were "have they been waiting for me", anyway i hoped they were disappointed that they found nothing untoward in my case, i preceeded to the departure lounge to wait. The route this time was Humberside to Amsterdam to Hong Kong to Taipei with KLM and Cathay Pacific last year i did Humberside to Amsterdam to Bangkok to Taipei, all i had to do was pick up my boarding pass at Hong Kong for the last leg of the journey. It was the first time i had travelled with multiple airlines so unless the airlines are linked together you dont get your boarding passes all the way through, i made sure my bag was checked all the way through to Taipei which saved me some unnecessary stress at Hong Kong. I have to say the organisation at Hong Kong was absolutely first class, when i arrived and walked to the concourse i noticed my name up on a board with the check in desk number i had to report to, that took all the sting out of wondering where to go, i collected my boarding pass found my gate and waited. The airport at Hong Kong was superb i certainly would have no hesitation connecting here again. I arrived in Taipei around 1730pm local time whizzed through immigration collected my bag and met Selina who had just arrived, i was back in Taiwan, we were going to get the bus to Zhongli but there was an hour wait so a taxi it was 600TWD about £12 and just over half an hour later we arrived at her new apartment.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441619470592382031.post-3111894127028648972011-09-07T15:42:00.000-07:002011-09-07T15:47:42.607-07:00Wonderful British ImmigrationMy second visit to Taiwan in july this year was an unexpected one, my friend Selina was due to come over to the UK for 3 months in june but due to our ever vigilant immigration service her visit never happened. Taiwan Nationals are allowed to visit the UK for up to 6 months without a visa as they are considered to be a low migration risk so we thought we would take advantage of this. Let me say this now im not a dishonest person i didnt want to break any rules, i didnt want any problems arising for the future, but looking back at what happened at Humberside Airport on june 9 i wished i had lied and told them a load of bull, maybe because Humberside is not a busy airport, maybe because the immigration officers there have nothing better to do i dont know, but they subjected Selina to a 2 hour interrogation without an interpreter. Her english is ok but nowhere near good enough to get through an intense interrogation without getting confused and unsure of what to say. They came through to see me 3 times to ask me various questions, they said she lied twice, they believed she had a job here and they didnt believe she was going back even though she had a return ticket, apparently in their eyes anybody can pay an extra £200 for a return ticket but have no intention to use it, the truth was she had come to visit me and stay at my house and we were going to look around for a job for her but if we didnt find one it was no big deal she had to go back to Taiwan anyway because she would need to apply for a work permit in her own country before she could come back to the UK. It was an idea that went horribly wrong and its cost us both a fair amount of money in the short term. Maybe we were just naive thinking that honesty was the best policy but in hindsight we should have just lied. Theres alot more to it which i wont go into now but it just makes me laugh at our wonderful immigration service who have let countless thousands of illegals into our country they have no record of people leaving the country and for me they target the wrong people, why give the Taiwanese 6 months in the first place??? Selina had already been here once before albeit only for a short time yet they didnt seem to even know that, i just said why dont you look at her bloody passport and see the stamps. Anyway the upshot of all that was i went back to Taiwan on July 9 for 11 nights nowhere long enough but it was a hastily arranged visit and in my next posts ill tell you all about it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00075052752986774105noreply@blogger.com0