Wan Tai Hotel Chiayi

Two of the foreigners in Chiayi had a large wedding reception. Due to the strange laws restricting the English they got officially married a month later in Hong Kong. Maria would have had to go back to England and bring proof that she was not currently married. Stephane is Canadian and just had to state that he wasn't married before. It was a large party, fantastic food. The Money $hot Horns played. It was a great time! I was really happy to have gone, they are amazing people!

... to appeal; tales of tiny, completely uninhabited atolls scattered amidst the sparklingly clear waters of the South China and Philippine seas sounded like a Robinson Crusoe nightmare but a Chris and Cathy dream. Volcanic islands covered in thick tropical rainforest and sweltering lowland jungles juxtaposed by cool aired market towns nestled amidst shark toothed mountain ranges. Spanish architecture; unspoilt white sand beaches, snorkelling and diving to rival anything else ...

On Halloween Day we took the kids for a little trick or treating down the street. I thought it was pretty nice that some of the vendors were willing to hand out candy. The kids definitely had fun. The first few pictures are of the kids in the court yard, taken from the third floor I believe [where we were finishing setting up the haunted house]. After the parade, [I was completely sweating], the poor little boy in the ...

[Shannon] First few pictures is something Talitha and I saw one day. We were wandering through a parking lot, heard very loud thunder and a cloud basically burst over head. So we ran up the stairs and checked out the colourful building. We go inside, there's lots of people. By the time we get to the front of this very large room someone comes running up to us telling ...

... guage tracks. That means that the train will head down a track that dead ends in which it then goes in the reverse direction to pick up a new track. This makes it possible to go down such a steep incline as the train wouldnt be able to turn normally. The scenery was really green, and impressive, but it would have been nicer if the 3.5 hour ride was cut back by about an hour and a half. We then took the high speed train from Chiaya for about 40 minutes to Tainan.

... only arrive an hour later and we will lose this valuable hour which we wanted to use to beat the heat. The owner from the homestay we had coffee last night comes by with his wife from their morning walk. He stops and says he has the feeling that he knows me - this deja-vu feeling is also on my side, perhaps not as strong. When he asks where I would be working I tell him and he knows. He has been a supplier of printing material to this company for 5 years ...

... Coast and the Inner Rift Valley in the stretch between Hualien and Taitung, then Green Island and Orchid Island. I am not going to walk the Inner Rift Valley as it goes parallel to the coast I have already walked and because it is too wide to cover on foot - I recommend doing this section by bike, that'll be perfect. It's also very beautiful and has its own South-East Asian charm ( palm tree, rice fields ) - you will see photos as I will cross over ...

... or better one loud one and several toned down ones are to be heared. The alcoholic son of our landlady and the husband of his smart and hard working Vietnamese wife is standing on the crossing shouting. At first I hope the whole thing will just go away, but not so. I stand up and have a look from the balcony. Here I see the son running criss-cross over the street shouting something while the two ladies following him and trying to calm him down and get him ...

... two busses at 9:15 and 15:15 go to Taitung and one at 9:30am to Tienchih, the direction of the hotpring in Motien. Decision is quickly made to stay another night and visit the hot spring. On the bus we meet a medicine student who is on his way to the Forest Bureau station we had visited yesterday and walk alone for 5 days ( each stop has a hut built by Yu Shan National Park and water ) past the pond and along the South-North ridge to the link of the ...

... all in blue walks majestically across the street - we later see a picture of it and recognize it as the Mikado pheasant. At km 155 we arrive at the Chiang Yang Forest Bureau Center. We visit the exhibition hall with Bunun tribe and area information. Here we also see the bird picture. We the walk 3 park trails of 650, 850 and 1700m each, mostly interlinked. The center is also the starting point for several trails for which ...