One Taichung

... big here, they call it KTV. They have special places where you can rent out rooms just to KTV all night. Well Bih-Hua had her own KTV set up in her basement so we sat around and sang some songs before calling it a night.

Today about 10 staff members ran our 5K race. It was an early morning. We had to be there at 6:00AM to get ready to start. It was a very big race in Taichung. There was the 5K, 10K, Half-Marathon and a full Marathon. There were so many people. Well ...

... person (about $6). We decided this was be a good option. So we hoped in Andres' cab and we were off! We learned all bout Andres along the way, he was a great guy! He used to be a navagator, then owned a hotel, and had just begun driving a cab 18 days ago! Along the way he had to stop and ask for directions twice, but he got us right where we wanted to be an hour later! Before he left he asked around making sure we had a way to get back. He also gave us his ...

... some different activities. Those are the pictures that you see in the blog.

Friday night marked the return of one of my roommates, Katie! Dawndra, another roommate of mine, and I came up with a "special" welcome home gift for her! Dawdra took care of her room. She decorated the walls with Chinese magazine pages, wrapped her bed with plastic wrap and hid all her clothes except for one dress! I was in charge of her scooter. I had been driving it all month and she has a ...

... sky with oohs and ahhs at times, quite entertaining and it got our blood pumping as well. There were stands with protective glasses that we could put on and look straight into the solar spectacle. We ventured to our local bookstore, Cave Books, and then on to lunch. This is far from a change of routine for us these past couple months. We usually head back to our apartment around this time of the day and see if we can get in a ...

It has been a full week now in Taiwan and I am becoming more settled. I am begining to learn street names and sort of know where I am when people take me places! The last few days have been busy doing thing around town. My "superbuddy", a teacher from the school that showes me around, is leaving for the states for the month of July so she has been trying to show me as much as she can before she leaves.

I was able to go to a night market, which is basically a carnival that is open ...

... Lots of people eating. Ee gads! The Kiwi F&B manager was overseeing everything so Al went over to say hello. Had a great long chat. He has lived in Melbourne since he was a kid. Has three kids himself and has moved to Legend from one of the mega ships so he can be closer to home. Found out that this was the first time they have had a band out on deck and also the first time the new buffet has been used. Said the band needed lights and the structure for the buffet ...

... Nothing new and unusual. Early morning wake up call in Shanghai and caught our plane to Hong Kong though there was an hour's delay. We were met by our hostess in Hong Kong who spoke really good English and her statement was "of course, we were ruled by the British". Makes sense. Huh? Our first night in Hong Kong and we walked. We walked so much, we discovered the Night Market. Yes, more shopping but we were good. All I bought were socks and Tami bought bottle openers ...

... stalls, decked with all types of live fish and seafood. We selected a pile of prawns, which Norah carried wriggling in a plastic bag - No, the prawns, not Norah! - to a nearby restaurant. I say restaurant but it was basically a kitchen, with a few plastic chairs and tables, under a plastic canopy. Harry handed over the prawns and gave some instructions in Chinese to the kitchen staff and we sat down to order the rest of the meal. A drink of tea was served whist we ordered scallops ...

... as an excuse to let go. Being away from home makes different people miss different things. Many travelers we meet really miss the food back home, which is sometimes strange since some of those travelers are Irish... Anyway, we do not belong to that group of travelers, and even if we did, two weeks of hummus and pita bread (as excellent as they were) is a tad too much. To break the cycle and try something ...

... today. This evening I went out and bought myself some Japanese curry rice and chicken, a couple of Corona's, some chocolate and watched the Wimbledon men's tennis final in my room. Certainly a lazy Sunday, but nice for a change. Day 136 - 07/07/08 Mirador Mansions where I'm staying is a pretty diverse place, Africans, Indians, Chinese, the occasional European, ladyboys and probably the odd tryad occupy this building. An interesting and colourful place to ...