Life in Taipei since my return from Thailand has been pretty busy. My first weekend back was Dragon Boat Festival. It's a really big deal here. If it hadn't fallen on a Sunday I would have gotten the day off and there are races throughout Taiwan. People attend whether or not they know anyone racing. There are teams of people from different organizations, neighborhoods and city government offices,etc. One of my old co-workers/friend's boyfriend was racing. He has been practicing every week day at 5:30 a.m. for several months with a group of Taiwanese men. So it was cool to see his final race and also to see some of the activities going on for the festival. There are tons of booths set up kind of like a fair. They were selling and showing different products, etc. My favorite part was seeing the egg laying race/game which is a tradition for the little kids on the weekend of the festival.
Two weekends ago I went to a water park north of the city, "Formosa Fun Coast." I didn't know quite what the expect and I'm not really a water park type of person, but it was actually really fun. I'd say it was pretty much equivalent to water parks in the U.S., complete with the "lazy river." We didn't have to wait in any lines because the kids weren't out of school yet. But it's already SO hot and humid here, so it was a good thing to do to be outside but stay cool!
I've been continuing to go to Fulong beach a lot on Sundays with a bunch of friends. When we were getting up to leave this past Sunday this group of Taiwanese photographers with their huge cameras came up to my one friend and I and asked us to be their "models." This is not something I'd probably ever do at home, but for some reason I thought why not, so we did it. I don't think they're actually doing anything with the pictures except for practicing their photography, as they are a photographers association/club. Anyway, they had us do a few different poses and it was pretty fun. They sent us a few pictures and I have posted them on my photo site.
I now have less than two months before I come home. It has really flown by, but I'm really ready to come home. Summer session classes will be starting next week, but I am still not sure what I'm going to be teaching yet. I've been applying for jobs in Richmond like crazy. If I don't have anything by the time I get back I will do some volunteer campaign work while continuing the search. I'm also continuing with yoga class and my language exchange. I'm always putting more photos up under my "Out & About in Taipei- The Second Half. The photos from events in this post start here. Enjoy! I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Adventures in Thailand
We began our trip with two days in Bangkok. Saturday morning we were up bright and early (7:15 am) due to Charlie's cell phone clock not changing times correctly. That day we did the majority of the highlights of BKK. We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us around for a while before the Grand Palace opened. (For those not familiar with the term, a tuk tuk is a little truck-like vehicle where the passengers sit on the back which is covered but open on the sides.) He took us up to the Golden Mount which has amazing views of the city, and also to the nearby Wat Saket . Of course we had to do the obligatory shopping stops along the way (the tuk tuk driver gets a commission from the stuff we buy, plus free gas) so they take the tourists to jewel shops and suit/dress making shops. We didn't buy anything and had some time to kill so the $1.50 US tuk tuk tour was well worth it.
Then we were on the Grand Palace, BKK's most famous tourist attraction and also to some of the most famous temples, Wat Pho (with the large, gold reclining Buddha) and took the ferry across the river to Wat Arun (and climbed the steps to the top--not my favorite!) I don't think people realize BKK is a city on the water and that's still very much a part of life there. One of my favorite things was taking the one hour tour of one area of canal by boat. We had our own private boat and it was a really cool way to see a non-touristy part of the city. It was really interesting to see the people living along the canal. The canal is literally their backyard. Women in small boats go up and down selling fresh fruit, beer, etc, and people shop from their back decks. It's pretty cool!
Sunday we took a day trip to Ayuthaya, a town about an hour north of BKK. It has Angkor style temples, so they are much older than the ones we saw in BKK and very, very similar to the ones I saw at Cambodia's Angkor Wat in 2006. Again, we hired a tuk tuk to take us around to all of them ($5US for 2 hours!) My favorite of the temples there was Wat Chai Wattanaram. It's been well kept and sits right on the river, so the grounds and structure itself are really beautiful. We also visited Wat Phra Ram, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Ratburana, Wat Thammikarat and Wat Wihaan Mongkhon Bophit. It was probably the hottest day we had on the trip, but well worth it!
The next day we were off to the island. Ko Samet is the closest island to mainland Thailand. It's about a 3 hour bus ride south of BKK and a 40 min. ferry. We stayed at a resort on the northern coast of the island which is pretty quiet. But we rented a motorbike, so we could drive around and explore some other parts of the island. One day we drove all the way down the island (it's small, so it didn't take long). That morning we found a beautiful, secluded beach. Definitely the most beautiful beach I've ever been on! We also got massages right on the beach. We ate dinner on the beach, literally in the sand, at the island's main nightlife area every night. It was definitely a relaxing few days. We returned to BKK on Thursday night for one more night of sightseeing and shopping around Siam before we flew out on Friday.
I am so happy that I got to Thailand. I've been wanting to go there since before I ever thought about coming to teach in Taipei. So now I have been to the two places I really wanted to visit while I was living over here. Now I have just about two months left. I don't think I've "announced" this on here yet, but I'll be arriving at Dulles the night of August 24th.
And for the most important part, here are the Thailand pictures and also a link to pictures from a few things we did in Taiwan before heading to Thailand.
Then we were on the Grand Palace, BKK's most famous tourist attraction and also to some of the most famous temples, Wat Pho (with the large, gold reclining Buddha) and took the ferry across the river to Wat Arun (and climbed the steps to the top--not my favorite!) I don't think people realize BKK is a city on the water and that's still very much a part of life there. One of my favorite things was taking the one hour tour of one area of canal by boat. We had our own private boat and it was a really cool way to see a non-touristy part of the city. It was really interesting to see the people living along the canal. The canal is literally their backyard. Women in small boats go up and down selling fresh fruit, beer, etc, and people shop from their back decks. It's pretty cool!
Sunday we took a day trip to Ayuthaya, a town about an hour north of BKK. It has Angkor style temples, so they are much older than the ones we saw in BKK and very, very similar to the ones I saw at Cambodia's Angkor Wat in 2006. Again, we hired a tuk tuk to take us around to all of them ($5US for 2 hours!) My favorite of the temples there was Wat Chai Wattanaram. It's been well kept and sits right on the river, so the grounds and structure itself are really beautiful. We also visited Wat Phra Ram, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Ratburana, Wat Thammikarat and Wat Wihaan Mongkhon Bophit. It was probably the hottest day we had on the trip, but well worth it!
The next day we were off to the island. Ko Samet is the closest island to mainland Thailand. It's about a 3 hour bus ride south of BKK and a 40 min. ferry. We stayed at a resort on the northern coast of the island which is pretty quiet. But we rented a motorbike, so we could drive around and explore some other parts of the island. One day we drove all the way down the island (it's small, so it didn't take long). That morning we found a beautiful, secluded beach. Definitely the most beautiful beach I've ever been on! We also got massages right on the beach. We ate dinner on the beach, literally in the sand, at the island's main nightlife area every night. It was definitely a relaxing few days. We returned to BKK on Thursday night for one more night of sightseeing and shopping around Siam before we flew out on Friday.
I am so happy that I got to Thailand. I've been wanting to go there since before I ever thought about coming to teach in Taipei. So now I have been to the two places I really wanted to visit while I was living over here. Now I have just about two months left. I don't think I've "announced" this on here yet, but I'll be arriving at Dulles the night of August 24th.
And for the most important part, here are the Thailand pictures and also a link to pictures from a few things we did in Taiwan before heading to Thailand.
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