Taichung, Taiwan Travel Blogs

In the heat of the night (markets)
Mar 6, 2006 (39 photos)

... I've touched on Taiwanese night markets in a previous post. We've been to several big and small night markets in Taichung, Khaosiung and in Taipei the Huahsi "Snake Alley" night market (I'll discuss this further in a forthcoming Taipei entry.) All ...

Chaotic deliciousness and Superstardom
Mar 3, 2006 (26 photos)

... asked me to speak in English to her class so that they could have some experience speaking with a foreigner. Although Taiwan is ethnically diverse with Japanese, aboriginal and ethnic Chinese minorities, there are still very few Western people here, and ...

Dead skin cell eating fish??
Jul 20, 2009 (17 photos)

Among one of our latest quandaries was the notion to visit a small town outside of Taichung called GuGuan. This town is home to something North America is surprisingly plentiful in, hot springs.  This mysterious mountain village is around 2 hours ...

crazy dreams
Jan 24, 2007

... papers to hand in and tests to write. Also i have no idea how to pay for this trip...meanwhile, i'm hanging out with the expats of taiwan, but in my dream they are, i don't even know who, and we are doing all sorts of activities, one of which is we have to ...

Rain and more rain
Jul 9, 2008 (19 photos)

... on and I'm really starting to enjoy it. Looks like I have to pass on the night market again due to rain, but there should be plenty to do this weekend in Taipei. Random photos of Taichung city and the modern art museum are all that I have for now.

Wartime Emergency
Jul 22, 2009

Tania and I began our day with a glimpse into an event that would not happen for another 120 years, a solar eclipse that in some areas lasts up to 6 minutes. We arranged ourselves near the National Museum of Natural Science for the festivities early ...

contemplation on time
Mar 27, 2007

When i first arrived to Taiwan, time seemed of the utmost importance. Being in Taichung, living in my dingy hotel room, having the hours of the night pass in solitude in a completely foreign place made the time creep so slowly. Then i was whirl-winded into ...

Lazy but happy
Aug 11, 2006 (9 photos)

As Taiwan's third largest city Taichung keeps me well occupied and for the most part out of trouble. The Lee family (Weimar) gave me my own room in their home and it really does feel like home. I'm not kidding I would move in if I could. Usually I occupy ...

Trying to get settled in
Sep 17, 2007

... days since my last entry. Classroom observations and training have taken up a good deal of my time since arriving in Taichung on Wednesday. So...a little about my school. Kojen English Language Schools is a huge organization here in Taiwan. They claim ...

Week Three
Oct 1, 2007 (5 photos)

... if I would like to go out with them after class this Thursday. I readily accepted. I'm really eager to see more of Taichung from the Taiwanese perspective. My apologies for not posting more pictures recently. I've put up a few here today, however. Now ...

My First Trip Outside of the Big City!!
Oct 12, 2007 (15 photos)

... attached photos do most of the speaking for me. It was by far the best day I've had since arriving in Taiwan more than a month ago. Taichung is great, but the areas outside of the city really are what make this trip worthwhile and memorable.  ...

On a professional note...
Feb 17, 2007

... to the bone. One more thing, it appears that as soon as I wrote about the lack of birds on travelpod, the birds began to repopulate Taichung, but as much as I want to give myself credit for this, I think it has to do more with spring. I see sparrows, ...

the year of the dragon
Feb 20, 2000 (27 photos)

... days, but the trail was badly damaged by the [somewhat] recent earthquake. We saw some of the lanterns out for lantern festival in Taichung (there were some Hello Kitty lanterns). We did a tour of the Feng Tay factory - it was in a large, open building so ...

Chinese New Year approaches
Feb 10, 2007

... , was a thick mucky film hanging over the tall, ceramic buildings. it's like when you fly in an airplane, above the clouds, taichung is swarmed in smog, all from the transportation, no factories. i just finished reading a book, and i am so put off by it ...

He packs, I write: Explorations and Expectations
Jul 23, 2009

... same fond memories which these past two months have presented to us. Whenever my mind travels off to the summer in Taichung it will be reminded of the priceless memories of mornings at Starbucks with Face Book and emails, afternoons reading and napping, ...

Ephemeral Country
Jan 13, 2007

This si such a transitory place. everything is constantly in motion, fluit motion, rigid motion, long and short transitions are happenening all the time. the rapid growth of the city is evident in every direction that i turn. I am constatnly fascinated by ...

Venting anxieties before 1st class
Jan 18, 2007

Thursday will be the first day of my teaching classes, this week I teach 2 hours a day, next week, 3 hours, the week after that 4 hours and so on. Of course I have to come early and prepare my lesson plans and such. The strange thing about being around ...

New apt, new pics
Aug 9, 2009 (67 photos)

Hello all! Here are some new pics of our apartment and the views from Taipei 101, the current tallest building in the world. Hope all are well, Ben and Tania

NO longer homeless, nor a vagabond
Jan 23, 2007 (10 photos)

... the live music scene is something to write home about in the positive way, makes me want to write aobut the expatriate music scene in Taichung. These guys that were on stage would never, ever be given the mic even on an open mic night, yet here, they were ...

Getting in the Swing of Things
Sep 21, 2007 (7 photos)

... for two hours. If I can do that, I can do anything. They've recently been celebrating the Moon Festival here In Taiwan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_festival I still haven't been able to get a really good description of the festival, but the ...

the seester has come and gone
Sep 4, 2007

... , drinking, fighting, complaining, exulting, and eating. When she first arrived, the first couple of days we spent in Taichung, passing the time with Liza between Andrew and myself. Thankfully, he and I are on completely different schedules, so this left ...

Testicle and "Racial" Harmony in a Single Bowl
Jun 2, 2009 (4 photos)

... possible without their help! Wednesday they are taking us to the night market. It has been quite the eventful two days in Taichung.  Today we went to the day market which is an indoor space setup this everything from chicken testicles (black and white ...

The comeback
Jun 2, 2007

... ago, or should I refresh my own memory and all yours about the goings on in the last 2 crazy months I have had in Taiwan. Months full of turmoil, self-doubt, disappointment, a job switch, a birthday, a bunch of typically Taiwanese trips and a bunch of me ...

Speaking of Antoince de St. Exupery
Mar 27, 2007

... , to English, to every weapon that queen Imelda uses in dragon pursuit 79 (including which dragon requires which weapon.) So, Taiwan is faced with a problem. If kids cannot memorize words and grammar they are quickly discouraged by English, and on their ...

Photos
Sep 17, 2007 (5 photos)

I neglected to include a new set of photos with the last entry. I'm not sure if it's the blog itself or the wi-fi connection that's presenting problems. Anyway...here they are. I'll try to have some more posted soon.

Valentines in Taiwan
Feb 15, 2007

... grand it is, that we were invited to share this intimate evening with one family. Peggy, our Taiwanese friend and guide to Taiwan, aka Translator galore, told me that her parents invited us to dinner. They want to know why Peggy hangs out with foreigners, ...

The land of no birds and karaoke
Feb 1, 2007

... i keep forgetting to write about, even though i noticed it a whole week ago is that there are no birds in taichung...none whatsoever. you walk through the streets of new york practically kicking pigeons, and cute, chipper little sparrows are all over the ...

Belated Halloween Greetings!
Nov 3, 2007 (8 photos)

Belated Halloween greetings from Taichung! Would you believe that they actually celebrate it here? Trick-or-treating isn't common, but dressing up in costumes is. The school celebrated the holiday for several days in a row, with costume contests for both ...

Consuming What? In Taiwan
Jun 10, 2009 (24 photos)

... Americans back to where they came from. Now that is a mystery meat!   When is rains, it apparently pours in Taiwan.  And when you live in this environment you are always prepared.  Well presuming you have lived here more than three days.& ...

bowling, makeovers, 1 flew over the cuckoo's nest
Jan 31, 2007 (15 photos)

Life in Taichung is becoming something regular. Andrew spends most of his time on the computer, talking to many ppl on various messenger engines, probably people he hasn't spoken to in years, and reading about sports, while I run about town, trying to get ...