Evergreen Transit Hotel Taoyuan

... a SCUBA diving trip with a bunch of Taiwanese people I had never met before. I got hooked up with them through a friend and they spoke enough English to get by. My diving experiences in Taiwan had been thus far limited to Fulong and I was anxious to get some more dives under my newly acquired Advanced Open Water certification. Everyone in Taiwan was always talking about Green Island and Orchid Island

In October I went to Matsu. Matsu is a group of islands that are really close to China...but still a part of Taiwan. Taiwan has a lot of off-shore islands. The Kinmen islands are the closest to China...and Matsu isn't far behind. I went with 5 friends Meghan (my roomate), Megan, Dawn, Josh and Alex. We all took a bus to Taipei early on a Friday morning and then flew to Beigan...the second largest island of the Matsu group. We arrived there late afternoon and noticed ...

So I arrived and was basically exhausted, that's why I didn't add an entry for the 30th. The next we went to meet our friends Daniel and Nadia in Taoyuan. We were planning on having a barbecue, but due to the rain we just grabbed snacks at the ever present 7-Eleven and played poker all night. Taoyuan is a larger suburb of Taipei, technically it's own city and county. It takes roughly an hour ...

... of Taiwan do...so we had to use our fingerprints :p). We gave them two month's worth or rent, the security fee and also paid Century 21 their commission. We moved in on March 23rd. I got my personal trainer from the gym: Jerry, to come over and use his truck to ferry our belongings back and forth. Meghan obviously had WAY less stuff than me. I left Brazil with pretty much all of my worldly possessions...and this was AFTER I had thrown a bunch of **** out and donated a ton of clothes ...

... intuition." Most of the times kids are just clowns and their limited English and propensity to mispronounce things adds to the humor factor. Most of the times I am just in stitches. These are the best teaching days...when they feel more like fun and games instead of actual work. Other days...not so fun. Item #5: So there is this guy who lives on the 4th floor called Alex. His friend Kimmi came down to Taiwan to work as a teacher here for a year. She got a job with this ...

... is, it is more difficult to travel from US to Cuba than from Taiwan to China. It is not even technically legal for Americans to go to Cuba... 7. Iceland: Now one of very, very few European countries I haven't been to (together with Belarus, Moldova, Malta, and Faroe Islands). It is actually closer to North America than any other European country but I just kept missing it. Of course, Iceland is an extremely expensive place to visit. And after the grand trip ...

... through the parklands. There were many older Taiwanese enjoying the serenity and playing card games. The second was the nearby hot springs for a one hour dip. I spent that time enjoying a coffee and chatting to our guide as I am not big on public nudity as required for these baths! Apparently, I would have felt trim, taunt and terrific next to the local, mostly older ladies, many of whom come to the springs daily for a bath in the mildly sulphurous ...

... and parents come together in the later afternoon for some activities. In the village I find a grocery store which 'files' all goods in filing cabinetts with glas front - also a first. In the same shop the driver of the garbage truck talks to me in perfect English. In a small local restaurant I eat Won Tong soup, vegetables and rice with meat sauce. Later the evening it becomes very foggy and a few rain drops fall. See you again on my walk tomorrow.

Well the whole trip was incredable. night markets, food markets, shopping for cheap goods and the best part of course the food. well here is a picture of the room we where staying in. our location was prime only 5 min walk to the MRT, close to every tyoe of shop. food stalls and 7-11's a stones throw from the front door. also went to a club that night cover was 15$ but drinks where free the rest of the night. had a blast.

Here are some highlights from the past week: THE SIGHTS A week ago Sunday night, me and a couple other people went down to Fisherman's Wharf, which is a popular tourist spot here in Dan Shui (Dan Shui is the district of Taipei that I'm staying in and is right by a river). It was really pretty- it's a pretty open spot with a long pier and little restaurants along the way and then this really cool looking bridge at the end. The bridge is lit up at night and it looks really neat. I ...