Zai Yan Loador Hotel Taoyuan

After living 1.5 years in Taiwan, I decided that it was time to pack up my bags and leave for yet another previously unexplored location. The preparation for India was...a pain in the ass. Before I moved to Taiwan I had lived 1.5 years in Brazil (I can't seem to stay in one place for less than 1.5 years!) and had a significan amount of stuff that I took to Taiwan with me. I did not get the chance to stop off in Ottawa and drop stuff off with my parents ...

... away that it was a very small, quiet place. Our hotel was literally across the street from the airport and a 5 minute walk to 7-Eleven. We were really excited to have a 7 nearby...just in case we couldn't find anything decent to eat. We rented scooters and did some exploring that first day. People there I guess had never seen a foreigner before...and to see 6 of them at once...was just a bit overwhelming. I felt a bit like the main exhibit at the zoo though ...

... get there using public transportation. It would probably be half the time if we had a car. Due to the late hour we stayed at their place, the window was open and mosquitoes there are here a plenty. We had breakfast the next morning at Debbie's, a restaurant a couple blocks away that has a western diner flare to it. Big dogs are becoming more and more popular as pets here. During our morning ...

... a church charity. So, the 3 suitcases and two bags really WERE all I left Brazil with. I'm still amazed I managed to keep it down to that and didn't get killed on 'heavy bag' fees and what-not at the airport (I didn't pay from Rio to Vancouver...but I paid from Vancouver to Taipei). Anyway, I digress. We had Jerry's help to move the heavier stuff (the suitcases, bedding, etc...) and then just spent the rest of the week making small trips here and there between the new place and the dorm.

... in another town and found a homestay family with a girl 22 years of age (same age as Kimmi). She stayed in Alex's room for about a week and then moved out. During that time we did some things together and hit it off. Meghan and I hung out with her a couple of times. So after Kimmi was all settled in...she invited me and Alex for dinner at her homestay's family. We went and the food was delicious. Edie is the 22 year old and she was a really fun and cool person. She sent us ...

... 2007, I do need to save money for quite a while if Iceland is my next destination. 6. The Caucasus: Moved up to No. 6 from No.8. Definitely not the most stable region to visit. Though there are officially only three main countries in the region (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan), there are several other "breakaway republics" and disputed territories (ever heard of "Nagorno-Karabakh"?). I have only seen this region from high above (a day-flight from Bangkok ...

... that are reputed to have many healing qualities. The only English speaker in the group guided Liz in the routines for swapping between three pools of differing heats. I'll stick with the spa in my hotel room... So tonight is the penultimate packing night in readiness for travel tomorrow to Hong Kong and the rendez-vous with Hilary, Rohan and Grandma. Will they pull off two flights with a connection in Sydney with more success than a Trenitalia trip?

... I will be back soon. In the village a little chat with some locals, one of which speaks some English. I walk No 7 dirction Yilan to a village called Lunpi. I have been in this village before. This village has been the end point of a two days hike from Fushan via Harpen to Lunpi. I visit the Atayal Tribal museum. I am the only visitor and get a personal VIP guided tour by one of the staff, a young lady who speaks some English. So I learn about Farming ...

Well this day i went to the game show. They where relly excited about games and suprisingly enough most of the venders could tell me about their products in english. I also got a tee-shirt from one of the people showing off hellsgate london, unfortunatly he spoke no english, what i didn't realize until ...

... a ton of pictures of it because it fascinated me for some reason, but unfortunately I can't upload any of those pictures right now because of circumstances I will explain later. We spent a lot of time just sitting at the end of pier and talking and looking up at the stars. It's weird to think that when I can see the stars, it really means that I am hanging upside down in space attached to this planet, and that people at home are at that moment on top of the planet and seeing the ...