After a long break....

So after an absence from the blog scene, I've decided to return. The last time I made an entry was when I was still teaching in Taiwan. Since then, I backpacked for three months throughout Asia (from Hong Kong to Beijing, through China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, Brunei, Malysia (KL) and then back to Taiwan). Afterwards, I returned back to Pittsburgh where I spent five months looking for a job. During that time, I did some more traveling: Florida, Ohio, Boston, Virginia, and New Hampshire. I also took a class at the University of Pittsburgh to kill some time and brush up on my language skills. Then in March I found a job in DC with the American Society for Engineering Education. Since then, I've crashed my bike, been hit by a car, had a bike stolen, hung out with Somalians at the National Geographic studio, lived with some interesting people in Virginia, moved to DC where I live with some awesome people. I also traveled with my family to Costa Rica, did some side trips throughout the summer to Ohio, Denver, Michigan, Charlotte, Louisville and Boston. Life is going well, however, I'm really thinking hard about what it is in life I want to do. This is what I've come up with: adventure travel guide, engineer, diplomat, or a linguist.
This is all I have for now, don't feel like writing any more....maybe next time I'll do a post in Russian or French.

Fulong Beach April

On the last weekend of April, my friends, Jennifer and I travelled to Fulong in Northern Taiwan, because we were invited to a party, but also it seemed like a good idea to leave Taipei for the weekend.  It was a lot of fun!  The party in itself wasn't necessarily the best part; Sunday was the highlight because not only was it the most fun but it was also the most rewarding.  After waking up to the sound of rain and dreary skies, some of us decided to call it quits.  However, a select few decided to wait it out, and it was well worth it.  The sun came out and was shinning and we headed to the beach to hang out all day.  We played volleyball with some highschoolers from around the world who were studying abroad in Taiwan for the year.  It was fun and relaxing, we all slept on the beach.

Updates

It's been over a month since my last post and for that I apologize.  I have been both busy and lazy.  Lazy in the mornings and busy in the afternoons.  I realize now, why I have been so lazy.  As a result of my diet, being cheap = not buying meat, except for eggs.  I have been consuming a lot of carbs and it is finally catching up with me.  That means, I am often tired and I don't feel like doing anything.  In order to fix this, I have bought MEAT!  So far it is working.  I am also doing this sweet workout from crossfit.com .  It doesn't look like much sometimes, but the way to do it is to go through the workout as fast as possible (within reason) and take as few breaks as possible.  The first time I did it, I was sore for a couple days.

In other news, I purchased a new camera.  Well, Jennifer's father bought it for me in the USA and then took it over to Taiwan to give to me.  I paid him for it.  I really like this camera, it is a brand new Canon PowerShot A1100 IS.  When I say brand new, I mean the camera came out onto the market last month.  It is 12.1 Megapixels with a 4x Optical Zoom.  The lens is 6.2-24.8mm 1:2.7-5.6 .  It also comes with a tripod.  When I heard that, I thought that it was going to be one of those tripods that professional photographers use.  Not to worry, it isn't.  It is only about 3-4 inches tall.  I haven't fiddled with it a whole lot, but I plan to this weekend, when I go to the beach.

As for my big trip that I'm planning on taking in August through Asia.  I'm still undecided about where to go in China.  Obviously, I want to hit Beijing and Xi'an.  But where else should I go if I want to end up in Vietnam.  I thought about Lhasa, but that might be a little out of the way.  The Stone Forest might be cool.  Lucky for me, I still have over 3 months.  However, the only troublesome thing about the trip so far, is the fact that I can't get a visa to China in Taiwan.  So I can do one of two things, add South Korea to my list and get my visa there.  Or, go to Hong Kong and get it.  Personally, I think South Korea would be a better option, not only have I not been there, but it is right next to China and I can take a ferry there.

Name Change

I figured I should change the name of this blog because, it'll probably last well after Taiwan, when who knows where I'll be.

Sick on an Island

A side-effect of being a teacher is constantly being bombarded by germs from little kids.  Unless you have a strong immune system, you will get sick.  I, unfortunately, became a victim to the constant bombardment of sickness and coughing from small little asian munchkins.  Just as the Conquistadors gave smallpox to the indigenous people of The New World, the Taiwanese students are giving the foreigners an "Asian sickness."

Who knows what it really is, I don't think the doctors really know.  But, in the past month I've been constantly sick.  Suffering from things I've never had before, such as allergies in my eyes.  Once I conquered that, I started suffering from what I think is either tonsillitis or an acute sore throat.  But since Jennifer had tonsillitis last week, I'm going to bet, she gave it to me.  To cure this, I will have to see the doctor, which is no easy task.

Seeing a doctor, cheap as it may be, is not easy.  In order to go to the doctor, in my case, I need Jennifer as I don't trust any of the doctors' knowledge of English enough for them to make decisions that could make my health suffer even more.  Therefore, I need a Jennifer Wu, which is difficult because we have different work schedules.  Other than that, that is it.

Upon arriving at a doctor's office, I take a number and wait in line as if I'm waiting to be served meat at a grocery store.  Now Serving Number: 35.  While waiting in this room of death and disease whereby everyone has covered themselves with a mask to ward off any disease, I sit and hope that I don't contract some rare Asian illness while waiting.

When it is finally my turn to see the Doctor, I sit on the chair.  He asks some questions to my interpreter and she responds with the correct answers.  I hope that nothing was lost in translation.  While the doctor is trying to figure out what is wrong with me, he has my "try" out some medicine.  However, it isn't offered in the way you'd expect it to.  In addition to, spraying medicine down my throat, the doctor also sprays medicine into my nostrils.  Quite the experience.

After the diagnosis is complete, he throws me out of the room, where I find the receptionist who gives me my medicine.  The medicine, does it come in a bottle with its name on it?  No it doesn't.  It comes in the form of pre-packaged groups of multi-colored pills that are taken throughout the day.  I also have no idea what they are, it could be arsenic for all I know.  And sometimes the side-effects are weird, too.  For example: a friend of mine was sick a couple months ago, he saw the doctor, he was taking his pills and as a result, his urine was different colors.  

This is Taiwan

Thailand in a week

A couple of weeks ago, Jennifer and I ventured off into Thailand. It was amazing!! What they say about Thailand is absolutely true. It is beautiful, it is laid back, it is cheap and yes there are creepy old fat white guys with young Thai girls. With a week to spare w

e decided to hit Bangkok last and island hop for most of the week. We hit the islands of Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao. Each island was different in what it had to offer.

For me, Ko Samui was a good starting point, not too crazy but not too laid back a little of both. While on Ko Samui, we stayed at this amazing place for 1500 baht and it included free breakfast. The beaches where we stayed were okay, the waves were definitely rough. The first day there, they were at least 6 feet high. One day we rode elephants for an hour, it was pretty cool to ride an elephant. Did you know that they are hairy? We stayed there for two days and it wasn't enough because I would like to have seen more of the different beaches that Ko Samui had to offer.

Ko Pha Ngan was really cool. This is definitely the island you go to if you're looking to party. Unfortunately, I didn't party because I fell asleep too early. Again, we stayed at a really nice place, this time for 800 baht and it was right on the water with a hammock as well. We sat out on the main beach where the Full Moon Parties are held. We dined that night at an amazing Mexican restaurant. It was a lot more than we usually spent on meals, but it was totally worth it.

Ko Tao was next on the list. This was really a great island to seclude yourself on. We didn't leave the area of our hostel. It was located on the corner of the island. It was the cheapest place and it showed. For 500 baht, it was bare bones. We had mosquito nets for our beds, which was a first. But we were able to go snorkeling, where we saw lots of cool fish. We even saw some fish eating another fish, which was really cool to see. To get to our hostel, we didn't take a car, we took a boat taxi. It is definitely something that you must ride on if you ever visit Thailand. That night Jennifer and I did a little stargazing and I have never been able to see so many stars before. It was awesome.

The following day, we traveled to Bangkok. First, we took a ferry from Ko Tao to Chumphon. From there we took the overnight train to Bangkok. We arrived very early in the morning and proceeded by taxi to Ko San Road where everything is. We stayed in a hostel for 800 baht a night, which wasn't bad. But the real treat was finding meals on the street for 30-35 baht! Let me mention that Thai food is very good. I could live on Green Curry and Red Curry all of my life. In Bangkok, it is very easy to get scammed. It happened to us, even though I read about it. What happens is someone will tell you that the Palace is closed for the day or in our case that it didn't open until noon. Then they proceed to take you around town, show you some sights and in between them, the driver takes you to shops where you have to spend 10-15 minutes inside. The drivers do this so they can get free gas for the day.
Jennifer and I started walking from our place to the palace, immediately, someone asked where we were going, I told them and they said it was closed. I quickly replied with, "nice try" and kept walking. Then, a couple blocks later with no one else around, another guy tells us the same thing. we ignore him. Finally, after crossing 6-10 lanes of traffic without a crosswalk and nearing our destination. Another guy shows up and tells us that he works for the Dept of Defense, which was conveniently located right next to us. He told us the same thing, but for 40 baht a tuk tuk would take us around the city for two hours and would show you some sights. I had a feeling that it was a scam, but Jennifer jumped at it and we found ourselves in a tuk tuk driving around the city. In hindsight, its not that bad, I didn't lose any money, 40 baht is $1.10. The only thing that it did waste was time. Oh and the stores that he took us to were probably expensive. I don't know because whenever we went into a store, I didn't pay attention to anything. Even when tailors came up to me, I told them I didn't speak English. I actually spoke Hungarian to one of them, even though I don't speak Hungarian. I used the only two phrases I know, "Sorry, I don't speak Hungarian" "Do you speak English?" But I switched the Hungarian and English. It was sweet.
We saw the Palace, but unfortunately, not all of it was open so we didn't buy the tickets to go inside. We went to a museum and we saw the Laying Buddha. We got scammed again on the tuk tuk, but this time we knowingly did it. This time it cost us 20 baht and I got to see the Laying Buddha, it was really big! Afterward, the tuk tuk driver took us to a tailor. I was kind of mean to him, because I was tired of tailors trying to get me to buy a suit. I know its their job, but come on if I walk by a couple times not wanting to buy a suit, stop trying to sell me one. So the tailor asked me, "Can I do anything for you?" I said, "No." He got a little mad and said something like, "This is not a showroom, this is serious work."

The next day, we went to the boat market, which was crazy!! We rode to the market in what our tour guide said was a James Bond boat. The market was awesome, there were so many people selling so many different things. It was unbelievable.

We went to the Tiger Temple, which is where monks took tigers that no one wanted anymore (apparently some Thai people keep tigers as pets but when they get big they don't want them for obvious reasons, I mean you'd have to spend so many hours at the park to get a grown tiger tired). We took pictures with a lot of different tigers, I was petting and touching the tigers. From cubs to enormous males. I was a little scared to touch the male tigers because they were really big and intimidating, even if they were sleeping.

From there, we went to the bridge over the River Kwai. It was cool to look at, but other than that it was just a bridge. The museum was pretty bad, as in a lot of facts were wrong.

After returning we hit up Koh San Road until we left for the airport. You can buy anything on Koh San Road. You can buy driver's licenses, College Degrees, Press passes, English Teaching Credentials. I found out a Singaporean Driver's License costs 1500 baht. Crazy.

This trip was a lot of fun. I highly reccommend going to Thailand. Even in the winter, it was hot. In the 80s everyday, in Bangkok it might've hit the 90s. After venturing to Thailand, I have realized what I want to do after Taiwan. In August when my contract is up, I plan on travelling from Beijing, China to Vietnam, then Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore all the way to Australia and New Zealand. That would be sweet.

Quick Summary

Update on my life.  Here is the link to me on TV: click here

Last couple weeks were pretty cool.  Went to a bar where I had to throw a rock into hole in order to open up the door.  When you walk inside, it feels as if you've stepped into a different world.  The hallways remind you of something from the future, it is very space like.  When you walk to the reception you are a little confused about where you are, this isn't your normal bar this is something quite different.  You sit down and order a beer.  But the beer doesn't come with a standard issue beer glass.  it comes with a test tube like glass that has a stand for your glass that is ice cold.  This is one of those places where you have to go there to experience it.  I went there with Jennifer and Graeme last week to celebrate the start of Chinese New Years before I went off to Thailand.  

Last Saturday before I left, I was going to for a bike ride with Graeme on one of his bikes, he recently won a bike at the HESS annual party.  (Sidenote:  the party was a lot of fun, it was at the international trade expo in Taipei.  It was a lot of fun, instead of watching the boring show, the teachers and I snuck out to a bar to watch cricket and drink until dinner time.  At dinner, I tried jellyfish, not all that bad.  During dinner, they give out prizes, I won $500NT.  I had a lot of fun, but it is too bad that it is only once a year.)  So anyways we were going to go for a bike ride.  We go to find Grame's bike that he hasn't touched in over 7 months and its been hacked.  Someone came in, cut the chain and all the cables.  This person stole the cassette and the handlebars.  We were very puzzled why anyone would come just to steal the cassette and the handlebars and not take the bike.  Graeme said he wouldn't have been mad if they had stolen the bike, but raping it is something different.

Last week I was in Thailand, so I will write an entry with pictures soon.  Until then, tchao!