Ghost month just ended. Everyone set their last barrel on fire and the ghosts went back to their realm with their money and sweets. Two weeks ago during the weekend of the full moon everyone celebrated "Pai-Pai," the height of ghosts (good, bad, relatives) roaming on Earth. Families appeased and honored their Hungry Ghost relatives by giving them presents ("Here's a 2-liter Coke, now don't haunt me."). I got to see the business end because my friend's family owns this temple where a lot of people come to buy the foods and ghost moneys. I just helped set up tables and [View Full Entry]

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Kaohsiung is Taiwan's 2nd biggest city. It's way more modern than Tainan, and even moreso than Taipei in some respects. I like the feeling I get being there. It's nothing too original, just well executed. My visits have been very quick ones. On this most recent one I met some strangers who took me shopping with them and we went into one of those fun Japanese photo booths. Then I slept with a guy I met on the internet (sorry no pics). Looking forward: They have an Auntie Ann's Pretzel shop. [View Full Entry]

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Here are a few photos taken in the middle of the first night during the storm. It's all from inside the apartment, nothing too great, but just gives a taste of the experience. Also 3 videos from the afternoon that add up to less than a minute - just some rain, a little tree flapping, and a few howls. [View Full Entry]

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Hear r sum pics ov kids i teach english to. they learn really good! Edinburgh Montessori School. [View Full Entry]

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Singapore is an island and a city and a country in South East Asia, just off the southern coast of Malaysia. It's tropical, hot and humid, but I managed to wear jeans in the midday more than once, so it's not impossibly hot. Once per day it tends to rain quick and hard, sometimes you see it sometimes you don't notice. My friends Chen Zichao and Ching Hei picked me up from Changi Airport around midnight and took me out for my first of many delicious meals. We ate Roti Prata - an Indian derived Singaporean stuffed pancake (I had [View Full Entry]

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Sokcho is on the east coast of Korea. It's a pretty awesome town. They've got a few international ferries, including one for Russians. It'd be a lot cooler if it went more places. Anyway, the town has that to keep its backbone strong. Plus lots of seafood restaurants. I imagine the town's been there for a while, but it's weird 'cause so much of it looks like it's just getting built. I even saw some streets having their bricks laid. Perhaps it is in transition from hidden gem to discovered. There are 7 lighthouses, for the lighthouse enthusiast. Some beach areas. [View Full Entry]

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Seoul. I met up with some Russian friends for a few days. I got a water park fix for the summer (Caribbean Bay) as well as an amusement park visit (Everland). I walked Dongdaemun, Itaewon, Hongik University, Yongsam, Euljiro, Myeong-Dong, and Gangnam. Four Encounters Of Niceness: 1. On my first night I stood on a sidewalk near a metro station and asked the passersby if they knew ny english. I wanted help with directions. After a few attempts I got a kid who spoke pretty well, he was a college freshman. Not only did he call the hotel for me but [View Full Entry]

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Hong Kong is huge. I wore myself out because I decided to walk everywhere and also skipped too many meals. My hips were sore and my stomach ached at times. It's easy to shop and I spent too much money, but I figured it was the only shopping I'd be doing for sometime, certainly the only H&M I'll encounter for a while. I had been aiming for Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island, but after hours of walking, I was too tired by the time I crossed over on the Star Ferry. So I stopped in Lan Kwai Fong, a watering [View Full Entry]

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A quick trip to Anping on the west side of Tainan. It was ruled by the Dutch for just 38 years but they are the ones who got the town started and established it as an important place for trade back in the 1600s. At that time Anping was an island, but since then there has been a build up of silt and it is now connected to Tainan. In 1661, some bastard named Koxinga was running away from enemies in mainland China, and ended up attacking Fort Zeelandia in Anping. The Dutch guy in charge of Anping at the time [View Full Entry]

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I went to the east coast side of the island this weekend. The Pacific Ocean looked so blue and clear. I drove a manual transmission car around tight curves that thinly separated the Pacific and the mountains formed at the edge of the Phillippine Sea Plate. The day turned into night while I drove and the bright full moon came out. Driving is great. There was a cow farm out there. I drank some pretty good chocolate milk. The milk is free if you just slaughter the cow yourself and clean up all the blood, but I didn't do that cause [View Full Entry]

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