Novotel Taipei Taoyuan Airport

... on the backpacker lifestyle (and subsequent possession quota) for the next 10 years (or so...who knows...we'll see). My last week in Taiwan was rather stressful. I had a scooter that I was selling to a newly arrived teacher. This scooter decided to break down some 2.5 weeks before I left the country and managed to cost me NT$7,500 ($203) when I was going to be selling it for NT$9,500 ($257). I had one more small box that I had to mail home to my ...

... scooters there was well and saw pretty much the entire island in the one day. We found this shop that was selling soldiers' uniforms and so 5 of us bought the cute caps and Josh bought the jacket and pants...so he could use them as a Halloween costume. Dawn and Alex left early on the Monday morning. Megan, Meghan, Josh and I had to wait for 7 PM for our flight. Meghan and I hung out at the beach a bit (it was a wee bit windy though and we got slightly covered ...

... classes with this one Chinese woman named Bo Bo. At first I pictured a 5 year old little girl...with a name like Bo Bo...but was then told she was a married woman with two children. I was like...wow...I wonder how she came up with an English name like that? Anyway...I finally made my way to Bo Bo's house one day and ordered my text book and exercise books from her. Once the books arrived I had my first class. What I quickly noticed was that ...

... in comparison to the train itself. My boys are into trains and I have read countless book and watched many shows on the Discovery Channel about high speed trains, but they cannot do it justice. Riding a HSR is awesome. We went 250 km (about 155 miles) in just a bit over an hour, including 4 stops. The ride is smoother than most electric subways I have been on in the USA. And there is a restroom in each car too ...

... of all time. Anyway...Edie told us that we could make the Costco experience a monthly thing...which makes me extremely happy. I belive that that is all for now. We plan on spending Christmas day in the Grand Hotel in Taipei. You should see this thing...t's huge and just amazing. It's also all done in traditional Chinese architecture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Hote l_(Taipei_City). The rooms are reasonably price and it has a great view of Taipei. Take care...update soon!

... Peninsula next time. Maybe also go to see the ruin of Chernobyl Nuclear Planet (Assuming it is safe from radiation of course). If there is enough time, I would also add Moldova (another European country I haven't been to) together with my Ukraine tour plan 3. The Antarctica and Southern Patagonia: Now the Antarctica is the only continent I haven't been to and the easiest place to get there is from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego in Southern Patagonia. It would be ...

... cooked it on a huge, sizzling hotplate right in front of you with a certain flair and style before placing it back into your bowl. It was an all-you-can-eat type of deal so some obviously made the most of it. A bit worried about MSG content as there was a bit of a reaction later in the night with a bit of Chinese Restaurant syndrome. Night market near snake alley contained a couple of halls of small stalls under a market type of roof with a range of food (including the snakes ...

... No.7 and walk up the mountain on the right side via small, unused roads 46, 30 and 33 ( this is also the forest road which leads back to Taiping Shan ) until I get by chance to the village Guangsing. On my walk I pass by a huge temple/monestary and tea fields and farms. My orientation is a bit vague as my map is not very exact on this scale. From Guangsing I catch a bus to Luodong. The bus driver writes down on a piece of paper the bus information how to get to Wudje.

Just passing thru Taipei. The airport was empty at 6 am.

... but it was worth every penny. Yesterday, a bunch of us went to a beach located about a half hours drive away from here- I think it was more on the north side of the island. The day started out being really sunny and hot, but as we drove the sky got darker and more foreboding. Luckily though it didn't rain on us, but I was a little disappointed that we didn't have a sunny day at the beach. It was still fun though- we basically just picnicked and played volleyball and other ...