New Photos on Flickr

I have added new photos on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68191358@N00/

KTV (Karaoke) I need to learn more Chinese songs...

Cat on the wall.

Market in Beitun.

School kids on bikes.

FEB 09 - Ian's Birthday!

A while ago I told my MSN friend Cher that I was trying to think of something to do on my birthday. We came up with the idea of going to Taipei and meeting up with her friend. So yesterday I woke up early, got a taxi to the high speed railway station. Sadly the time it takes to get there and the price of the taxi is really disproportionate to the HSR fare and speed.

So I managed to buy a ticket, instead of using the automated teller things I went to a real person, which took much longer. Later I found that the machines seem to have and English option, I need to try that next time. The train came, it at about 10:16, and I was off to Taipei! They don't call it high speed for nothing, I think the top speed I noticed on the indicator was 286 kmph. When it got to Banciao I thought maybe we were halfway there but it only took about 10 more mis from there. The whole trip takes 2 - 3 hours on a normal train I heard, HSR is about 50 mins.

So I met Cher and her friend Joy at the Taipei station. We went to a big mall, Breeze Center, I think, and ate a good lunch. Then it was off to Danshui, which was even colder and rainier. We took the MRT (Metro) this time. Cher and Joy were both really funny and sweet and getting to know them and making jokes was really great. In Danshui we walked down some night market streets and then up to Fort San Domingo. The signs were a little confusing to me, but it seems the fort was used by the spanish (hence the name) but later was used by the English. There were some other sections discussing the Dutch's occupation as well.

After this we went back down by the water, it was a very dark day but the view was still fun. People were still setting off fireworks over the water, CNY celebrations won't stop until Monday the 11th. We played some little games at the night market and then headed back into Taipei. There we went through another night market, ate some shaved ice dessert, and took some silly photos.

In many Asian countries it is popular to go to these crazy photo-booths. In America I have only seen the old style which quickly takes 4 photos. This kind lets you choose all types of backgrounds, and you can go out and write on them too. Then the machine lets you print them as stickers of all different sizes and even e-mail them to yourself. So then we were pretty exhausted, we had been out playing for almost 12 hours. I got back on the HSR from the MRT, and went back to Taichung, took a Taxi home, and my legs were aching!

Somewhere in there I also bought my favorite Taiwanese artist's (Chang Chen Yue's) CD, an older album called "Useless Guy." I took a good bit of video too so I will edit that together, maybe with one of his songs, so you can see the trip.

So thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and greetings, and thanks to Cher and Joy for a really memorable birthday trip!

Photos of Taiwan.

I've been looking around online and there are some really great photos of Taiwan out there. If you look in a travel book it's likely they will only show you resorts and things that look like Hawaii, but thats not what most of Taiwan looks like. These Flickr users will help you see Taiwan from their perspective:

Paogao
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poagao/

Paogao's photos are are very artistic, well composed, great subjects, wonderful lighting. Even grimy city streets look beautiful through his lens.

Michael Turton
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelturton/

Michael Turton is primarily a blogger, and a good one at that, but his photos are fun to see as well. They are more 'what you see is what you get.' He travels all around Taiwan to many different cities, museums, parks, and beaches and is always documenting as he goes.

Alidarbac
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alidarbac/

Another artistic photographer giving his insight on Taiwan. From photos of people to landscapes, all his work is impressive.

There is a lot to see on those three pages, but keep in mind they travel to other countries too so not EVERY photo there is Taiwan. Here are a few others to check out, just regular users taking photos of their daily life:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandman1/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frostfox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucybabewho/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83102412@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lupillus/

One last thing! On YouTube, and LiveVideo, check out the Motorcyclin' Mordeth13. He basically drives around Taiwan interviewing himself equiped with his trusty Helmet-Cam. Pretty interesting way to see Taiwan and he has some funny storys to tell as well. Here are his pages:

http://livevideo.com/mordeth13
http://youtube.com/user/13mordeth

I hope that when I get to Taiwan I can get a camera and take my own photos of the island! Okay, so take some time to look through those, leave them comments, and leave me comments too, tell me which ones are your favorites!