Holiday Inn Asiaworld Taipei

... I leave Australia). So I went to the National Library and just sat there using the free internet for half an hour. It's amazing to see people of all ages just sitting there researching disserations and theses and using the internet. I think the culture is very different indeed where I dont recall seeing as many people in the State Library of Victoria doing similar things, but I could be wrong.

It was at that time when I had cooled down ...

... päivää ennen lähtöä ja tulee sitten kentälle pyörimään ilman varauslappuja tai tietoa mihin aikaan lento lähtee. :-) Tämä nyt kuitenkin on nykypäivää ja parasta olisi alkaa laittamaan niitä tulostuspisteitä ja tarvittavia systeemejä kentille! Koska ulkona oli aivan järkyttävä ilma, niin päätettiin painella suoraan turvatarkastuksista läpi, eikä lähteä minnekään Naritan kaupunkiin sekoilemaan tällä kertaa. Sain lahjaksi Japanin kavereilta sellaisen avaimenperän, joka ...

... several replies and finally decided that I would stay at one couple's house in Taipei. From the international airport, I took a bus and then subway to the station where the couple lived. I was greeted by Samantha (Sam) an English speaking Taiwanese lady who works as a financial consultant for ING in Taipei. She took me to her apartment where I met her husband David, an American guy who has been living in Taiwan for the last 17 years and works as a translator, and their 3 cats ...

... way of parking a bike is by riding it down the pavement. The Taiwanese also have a nasty habit of using zebra crossings as a short cut round traffic lights, so if you do come here make sure you watch your back. Taiwanese television was something else - 75% game shows, with 10 minutes worth of advertisements about every 15 minutes. To add to the fun each channel is broadcast at a different volume, so if you turn a channel up because you can't ...

... intermixing, culturally if not otherwise. This is the role of America, both north and south, a test tube for societies and environments in turbulence. Europe doesn't know the half of it. When's the last time Chinese New Year and Carnaval fell in the same week? It should have been a riot. It wasn't. It was quiet. The parties were elsewhere. Where would be a good place to experience both Chinese New Year and Carnaval? I'd vote for San Francisco.

... s definitely a lot of places to do both that. The plane trip itself was a nonevent, except with my non characteristic decline of the airplane food. Really didn't feel well enough to consume that, so instead I had an apple I had left from a shopping trip to the supermarket in Shinjuku. And for the first time, I bought some duty free on the plane! Hopefully the prices I paid was worth the goods... lol. After ...

... busy. Later I read that during Ghost Month (which we are in) people do not want to buy jade. Who knows what spirit out wandering during this month will attach to the jade that you buy. Hopefully, the braclets I bought caught only healthy, loving spirits.

On the flight, I was hoping to finish the 007 movie that I saw half way on the way to China. But but but, for some reason, the pilot and the air crew just had so much to say over that short 2-hour flight such that every 5 to 10 minutes, there was a PA. How annoying... and I ended up not being able to finish that movie. Err. At about 8:30pm, we arrived at the airport. As we were ...

... on a minute.... 883... I'm a winner!!! Whoo! Stop the press I've won the lottery!! Hooray!! How many numbers match? Can I afford to buy i private jet, or an island or two? Alas, only three numbers. $200!!! Wow, 3 pounds fifty... I'm off to the pub, it's just enough for a pint! To see a bit more about this magical money for free game, take a look here: http://www.tealit.com/lotto.htm

... for now. Oh and I forgot to mention that next Saturday (not Thursday) we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving, and I'm excited because it'll be for the entire base here. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so I'm sad I'll miss it with my family, but I think it'll still be good. Plus, it'll just make me all the more thankful next Thanksgiving, right??? Ok, now I am going to go watch 'Braveheart' with Ange... FREEDOM!!!... sorry, just had to get that out. such a good movie. and that's all folks.