Mar 10, 2013 - Chapter 2: Taiwan

Hi everyone, So where we last left off I had just arrived at TPE after nearly 24 consecutive hours of travel. When I left Dulles it was 6:35 am local time the morning of March 1. When I landed in Taipei it was a little past 7:00 pm the evening of March 2. Since I did manage to get a few hours of sleep on the flight to Seoul, I was less tired than just a bit disoriented. Luckily there were not many other international flights arriving so customs/immigration went quickly. Because Taiwan has a unique arrangement and operates with a good deal...

Mar 1, 2013 - Keelung (Taipei) Taiwan

Today we docked in Taipei for a two day visit. As we have previously been to Taipei, we decided to visit the outer regions. Our first day we visited Chiufen which is high in the mountains. It was a very small village with only 9 families. The name acutally means 9 portions as when delivers we made it was always for 9! Years later gold was discovered and its population grew. It still has many of the older style architecture and is famous in Chinese film making for this reason. We visited the market as well as a teahouse. The procedure to...

Feb 14, 2013 - Layovers suck

October 26, 2012 is when we booked our first ticket for this trip. It has been a very interesting journey to get here. We have both experienced every emotion possible. Excitement, fear, anxiety, happiness, sadness, and we both have been very overwhelmed. But this is something we both wanted more than anything and we are proof that you can make your dreams come true no matter how big or small they are. No excuses people!! "Do just once what other's say you can't do, and you will never listen to their limitations again" J. Cook DAY 1: So...

Oct 20, 2012 - The End

And so we come to the end of our holiday. We are hosting a dinner for Eva's family Saturday evening, and fly off back to Sydney on Sunday. We've both enjoyed it immensely. Postscript: Tommy, Jei Wei's dog, broke a leg whilst we were in Vietnam. Apparently, he fell about one story whilst out walking. He's now in a cast. It wasn't setting very well, and the cast has had to be redone. PPS: Some time after we get back, I'll post Eva's videos and some more photos. Will send an update notice when that's done.

Oct 18, 2012 - Hualien

Hualien is a port and administrative centre on Taiwan's east coast. After taking the two hour train journey there Wednesday afternoon, we checked into our hotel on the sea front. We were to meet up with another of Eva's university friends, Wendy. Wendy is a great traveller (she's been everywhere, and is now looking at the poles for fresh fields) and couldn't make the reunion because she was returning from another short trip. Whilst waiting for Wendy to finish work, we borrowed some bicycles from the hotel and went riding along the sea...

Oct 16, 2012 - Yilan County

Tuesday we caught a bus for a one hour trip to Toucheng, which is on the north-eastern side of Taiwan. It too is becoming a commuter suburb for Taipei, being about one hour away now a new tunnel through the mountains has been completed. We were met by Yang (Yang was one of those at the reunion on the Sunday) and his wife Vivian; Yang had taken a day off to show us some of the sights of Yilan County. In the morning we went to Lanyang Museum at Wushu, which has displays showing the natural and social history of Yilan County. It was quite...

Oct 14, 2012 - The Reunion

On our return from Vietnam, we were met at Taipei's airport by Wilson and his wife, Tina (and their daughter as well). Both Wilson and Tina were students at Wollongong University when Eva was doing her MBA there. Saturday night we stayed at their place in Taoyuan, which is a semi-rural commuter suburb for Taipei, where both Wilson and Tina work. It's about one hour from Taipei. Wilson had organized a reunion lunch on Sunday at a nearby restaurant for Taiwanese who studied at Wollongong at the same time. There were eleven adults present, and...

Sep 17, 2012 - Last Day in Taiwan

I'm actually making this entry 2 days later in Hanoi, but I thought I would date the entries by the day to which their content relates. Monday was our last day in Taiwan, for now: we'll be back at the end of our trip. Today Jeiwei took a party including Didi, the bride and her mother, some friends and us out for lunch to a restaurant serving Eva's favourite fish course. After lunch, some of us went to Tamsui, originally a port near Taipei dating back to the 16th century when the Spanish and Dutch fought over it and established a fort. The...

Sep 16, 2012 - In Taipei

We're now in Taipei, staying with Eva's brother, Jei Wei. If you look up Taipei 101 (the world's tallest building from 2004 to 2010) on Google Maps, Jei Wei's apartment is southwest of Zhuangjing Road, which in turn is southwest of Taipei 101. Friday we flew to Taipei via Hong Kong, an uneventful flight until the end. Transiting though Hong Kong Airport, I realised I had left my camera on the plane from Sydney. Cathay Pacific provided great service in bending over backwards to retrieve it for me. It is now in Taipei airport and we will...

Sep 16, 2012 - The Wedding

Think BIG. Like 430 guests, a 12 course banquet (groan - that's 2 big meals in 2 days), a multimedia production, both photographer and a videographer, and so on. Kind of like a Greek wedding but with a Chinese twist. The multimedia bit was family photos of the bride and groom - as babies, young children, teenagers, dating - projected onto 3 big screens with accompanying music. The groom was Didi, Jei Wai's son. It seems the Chinese custom is that the father of the groom pays, not the father of the bride. And none of this new-fangled...

Jul 9, 2012 - Amazing Taiwan

When it was time to leave the apartment, luckily the chap that picked us up from the airport said he would drop us off as well so that saved us both time and money. The plan then was that we were going to fly again to KL and then stay in a hotel at the airport before getting up the next day and flying to stay with our friend Ian in Taiwan. We got the plane ok from Langkawi to KL and there was an ace shuttle bus which took us to the hotel door for 20p then we checked in and went down to the bar for a drink before playing cards and Ang...

Oct 28, 2011 - Happy Birthday School

Today was my schools birthday!! And in Taiwan... any birthday is a VERY big deal. The whole day consisted of the students performing, BBQ-ing, and each class made an item (like tea, moon cakes, etc.) that they sold to other classes. Since the other exchange student and I didn't find out about this fantastic day of school till about 2 days before... we didn't perform but instead gave a big speech in front of everyone! A lot of people afterwards told me they recorded it so I could "Show to my mommy!!!" haha. They also set up many games like...