Westin Hotel Taipei

... was really only going to be able to get to the one, so I chose the closer one, SYS memorial hall.

On the way, an Austrian guy came and asked me for directions to get to the station. I was thinking, of all the people he asks, he had to ask someone who was also a touirst. Sure it was nice that I can speak Englsh and he can communicate, but we had a nice chat and turns out he was just going to the SYS memorial station anyway so we both headed in the same ...

... OLI! Myytävänä oli lisäksi kaikenlaista vessahuumoritavaraa ja pakkohan sitäkin oli vielä ostaa mukaan. :-) Ruokaelämyksenä en mitenkään nauttinut tästä hommasta, mutta elämyksenä meni kyllä! En usko, että kannattaa kuitenkaan mitään samanlaista mestaa Suomeen nyt kenenkään ruveta pusaamaan, koska onhan tämä nyt aivan sekopäinen idea. Siis oikeasti! Suoraan sanottuna aika pas** idea! :-)

... as a dictator and all around not a nice person; not exactly someone worthy of a building of this magnitude. Taiwan produces some of the best tea in the world, so when in Taipei I would strongly recommend a visit to a tea shop. While there, ask for a tea preparation presentation. We attended one and it turns out there is more to making tea than pouring water over a tea bag and letting it steep for three to five minutes. The Taipei ...

... after this summer in Korea to study Mandarin Chinese and had never actually considered Taiwan but after this trip and talking to him, it doesn't seem like too bad of an idea. I made it back to Taipei that night to make it to a party of several of the couchsurfers in the Taipei area. We met at a hamburger place and then went out to a night market afterwards. I wasn't too keen on the idea but they insisted that I ate some Taiwanese soup that has tofu in it and smells like ...

... day I've had so far with (parts of) blue sky in Taipei. So I went to Guandu and visited the oldest temple in Taiwan and went back to Danshui (where I had been before with Ronald but it rained and the Fort San Domingo was closed at that time). Today it was dry and the fort was open. This fort has also Dutch fundaments and was later converted into a British consulate. So, that's it for now. I have to pack (and repack because of my new toy). :-) Greetz, Michel.

After going to Hong Kong we decided that we needed to focus more on seeing the sights in Taiwan. Looked on the map and in travel books. These are the pictures we took at the National Palace Museum, Shilin Night Market and the beach at the Danshui River.

... in Luoshao and Tsai Chin is sitting under a roof with workers of the Park. She later tells me that they wanted to go back to pick me up in this bad weather, but she explained that I am stubborn, which is probably a good description, and want to walk. The village is as dead as the few others we have seen and has only 3 or 4 homes left, including the Taoist temple we are looking for to stay and the Taroko Park Maintenance station. A former Youth ...

... show something of the life in a Taiwanese fishing village and religious customs. The morning weather is a mix of rain, clouds and sun. Tsai Chin and I walk to the beach watching a group of surfers, then go to the fishing harbor. Here it is really busy with tourists from Ylan and Taipei. Fishing boats are unloaded, fish is auctioned and everywhere seefood delicacies are cooked. Later we walk by a mid ...

... No photo. I thank the lady for her VIP tour ( only for me ) and walk back in direction of my homestay. A driver in a van drives past, then reverses, stops and asks where I want to go - I say Jenai, he signals to hop in. He says he works on a constuction site in the harbor and I believe him - you don't need to be a forensic scientist to recognize this from the condition of his car. Later I find out that he wanted to go to the north side, but he makes a detour ...