Blogs from Taiwan, Asia - page 8

I’m naked and high. Naked, because I’m at the pool changing my clothes in the men’s locker room and high because exercise endorphins make my head feel funny. In the reflection of a sink mirror I’m inspecting my nude for unwanted hair, flab, chiggers, and the like. It isn’t until I stoop down to dry between my toes that I sense another presence nearby. Cautiously, I peer behind my backside and into the eyes of a watchful creature. The endorphins clear from my head and my heartbeat begins to quicken. Now, I‘ll share that I have an illogical fear of snakes and that lots of poisonous snakes live in Taiwan, but this not a snake encounter.* A coiled pit viper, my phobia and crouched nudity notwithstanding, would be less alarming than what I see in this ... read more

I'm an American living in Taiwan. I've been here since 1989. Yeah, wow. Summer vacation for me means the month of August off, and every year I plan a good long trip ( and then start planning another good long trip for Chinese New Years). Last year it was a return to Italy, which I hadn't visited since I was ten. Almost no matter where I go, there's a planned stopover in Thailand. Gotta hit Bangkok a few times a year. Years past have seen Sabah, Borneo, north and south Thailand, of course Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Macau, Singapore, Penang, and Boracay, to name a few. Hey, what's the point of living in Asia if you don't travel around? This year it's India. Ouch. Everyone keeps asking me, "Why?" It will be rainy season. I ... read more

Sunday, 15th May 2011 After a delicious 烧饼 breakfast at 台中美 this morning, we headed straight to the High Speed Rail Station to purchase our combo tickets to Sun Moon Lake. For NT599 (SGD25.70), the bundle came with a return bus ticket to Taichung, 1 boat ride to Itasho, 1 round-trip pass on the cable car system and unlimited rides on the round-the-lake shuttle buses. There were other ticket combinations on sale at the tour desk. We just wanted a no-frills package that covered the bare essentials of the lake. My last visit to Sun Moon Lake was some 6 years back. I recalled having to board a bus to Puli from the chaotic Taichung Railway Station and transfered to another bus to bring me to the lake. There were no combo tickets available. And of ... read more

9 Days Central & Southern Taiwan (14th - 22nd May 2011) Arriving at Taoyuan International Airport this afternoon, HQ was already patiently expecting us at the Arrivals. She was early today, in fact a full 1 hour ahead of our flight schedule as the traffic and bus timings from her house to the airport was erratic. "It's better to be early than risks being late!" What a nice pal. For the 3 of us flying in from Singapore, this Taiwan trip was a relatively long wait having booked our air tickets way back on 7th February 2011. After SS got her Taiwan 大哥大 calling card, we headed straight to Taichung via U Bus, 统联客运 for the 2-hour journey to her house. Home was a 2-bedroom apartment at downtown Taichung. It was a small yet cosy place ... read more

Tongue My Ass. I read the words a quarter-second before a fountain of Taiwan Beer viscerally spritzed from my nose and mouth, pfff, fizz, what? In cursive, these three words were decaled across the rear window of a sassy little Volkswagen convertible parked near Shida University campus. In my experience, Taiwanese people have been reserved and socially conservative, so the command (or invitation) for tongue-to-ass came as a surprise. Now, if the window sticker had read, “Kiss My Ass” I could imagine it belonging to a recent divorcee - one, who’s just taken her former husband - the scoundrel - to the legal cleaners, and she, after thirty years underappreciated in a shitty marriage, has a cheeky new lease on life and the title to the cute little car he’d always wanted - but, it does ... read more