Kingdom Kaohsiung

... t be eating any more breakfast food.<br><br>-------------------------- ------------------------------------<br ><br>So, I'll take this time to write about the retreat. Essentially, the first two weeks have been training and preparation for this week, starting tomorrow (Monday). Meditation retreat is spent in complete silence (we're given badges so no one will talk to us) and no eye contact nor physical contact is permitted. Here's what a typical day will look like:<br ...

... to identify it. After some struggle with the language barrier, we finally discovered that it was a "DiTuGong" temple, a.k.a. local, popular Chinese religion. Very strange, had to offer incense, was shown to several shrines by the old folks inside. We continued, taking many pictures of the countryside, crops, living areas, but it started to rain so we headed back. Stopped at a tiny local store on the way back just to browse, bought a few ...

... lärvi. Paikalliseen hintatasoon nähden varmaan hirmu kallista, mutta verrattuna Japanin hintoihin, niin todella halpaa. Sen takia vertaan Japaniin, koska nämä junat on aivan samoja kuin Japanissa ja perustuen samaan Shinkansen teknologiaan. Palvelu ei kylläkään ole samaa ja mitään konduktöörien kumarteluja on ihan turha odottaa. Matka-aika Taipeista Kaohsiungiin, muutaman pysädyksen kera oli noin 90 minuuttia (kilometrejä 335) ja kovaa kyytiä mentiin ...

... looks can be deceiving. As in taste test #2, pig&#8217;s joint. The pig&#8217;s joint looks really really good. It&#8217;s like a bacon lollipop with two sticks. So, I bite into it and it is cold!!! No freaking way. It would be so much better hot. Irene and her mom totally disagree and say "if it was meant to be hot, it would be served hot." We are going to agree to disagree on this one. We also try duck&#8217;s wing ...

... roe, the male testicles, everything is for sale. All of it is food for someone. There is also &#8211; beef, chicken, and duck. The market closes by 1pm &#8211; so the housewives purchase the food for the day by then. This entire experience is really cool. This is much different than the experience in Merida. We leave to go to kafe jojo&#8217;s house to then go to lunch. Nothing makes you hungrier than seeing the entire animal butchered for sale ...

... oder ich habe unsere Kinderspiele, wie Brennball oder Eierlauf eingefuehrt. Oefters habe ich auch Bilder ueber alles moegliche rund um Deutschland gezeigt, wie zum Beispiel unsere Gebaeude (Fachwerk, Kathedralen und Burgen - alles sehr exotischJ) oder einfach einen Rundumschlag mit Essen und Trinken, Kultur und Brauchtuemern, Bildern von mir in jungen Jahren, etc. Am meisten beeindruckt waren die Kleinen immer, wenn sie Schnee gesehen haben ...

... must be 85F already. The drive to the Eternal Fortress did not take long, 10 or 15 mins in the car. Once there we paid the $50NT entrance fee and crossed a bridge over a wide moat to the tunnel entrance to the fort. It was built in the typical 4 corner style familiar to me from viewing revolutionary war forts in the US. This fort was built by the Qing Dynasty in the late 1800s and it sits on the Taiwan Strait. Once through the front entrance you walk on to a very large parade ground ...

... essen, weil meine Gastmutter immer spaet nach Hause gekommen ist. D.h. ich habe mir auf dem Weg was geholt und bin in der Regel spaet heim gekommen. Es war schon etwas schade, dass ich dadurch kaum Zeit mit ihr verbringen konnte und habe ich meistens irgendetwas ausserhalb gemacht. Jetzt bin ich aber jeden Tag herzlich willkommen, mit der ganzen Familie zusammen Grossmutters Dinner zu essen und es ist eine richtig nette ...

... sogar jede Woche. Ich denke, die Taiwanesen sind auf der einen Seite stolz auf ihre Koestlichkeiten, auf der anderen Seite essen sie selbs sehr gerne, so dass das Einladen fuer sie eine ganz besondere Geste ist. Vor allem wenn man sagt, dass man ein Gericht oder eine Frucht oder Getraenk noch nicht kennt, wird es in der Regel sofort gekauft oder bei naechster Gelegenheit mitgebracht, so dass ich oft in den Genuss von ...

... which it was pitch black and some weird noises came out of there but we where never able to get back into that floor. So either it was an electrical malfunction or somebody had pushed the elevator button from the inside... scary! 19.7.07 Remember the name 'Bill Maker'. He is incredible! I've just seen him on TV and every word that comes out of his mouth is so true. He speaks right out of my soul. 25.7.07 Trying to get a valid passport by extending it for even ...