http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Nick-and-Kristen/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Nick and Kristen en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:09:11 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:09:11 +0000 Nick and Kristen writeWe are home We have been back in the States for a bit of time now and we are very happy to be home. This will be our last blog until Nick gets sent to some Godforsaken place again which hopefully won't be for awhile. Looking back at our time in Taiwan and Asia there were so many good and bad things we experienced. However we will always be grateful for our time there http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-411461.html A Trip to Beigang Puli and the Mazu FestivalNick and Kristen writeNick's program was closed for a holiday from Wednesday Friday of last week and so we decided to join their trip to central Taiwan for the Mazu parade. Mazu is the goddess of the sea that the Taiwanese worship and this religious festival is one of their big holidays in Taiwan. Thousands of people make a pilgrimage to worship t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Puli/blog-392262.html Nick and Kristen writeWe finally enjoyed a Saturday where there was no rain. We get so few of these so we decided that of course we couldn't waste it. After thumbing through our beaten Rough Guide to Taiwan we decided to make a day trip out of Taipei to nearby Wulai. Wulai is a small hamlet that is about half an hour outside of Taipei city limits. The nice thing about Taiwan is that you are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-389564.html Nick and Kristen writeThanks to the suggestion of some wonderful friends of ours we decided to travel to Thailand. Bangkok Thailand is an amazing place to travel and one that everyone should visit at some point in their lives. Our trip encompassed four days of relaxing in 95degree weather exploring various wats monastery temples throughout Thailand sitting and tanning besides a large po http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-386005.html Nick and Kristen writeHappy Chinese New Year Xinnian Kuaile Itrsquos the year of the ox this year. The Taiwanese close everything down for a week of celebrations and so Nick had a week off of school. Because we love to travel so much we decided to go to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to see more of Asia especially nonChinese Asia which we get so much of here. We ended up spe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-369409.html Nick and Kristen writeWersquore back from our second trip this month and have much nicer things to say this time around. However not to appease our Taiwanese critics who have told us to ldquogo back to Americardquo we couldnrsquot care less what people who wersquove never met say but because we actually had a good time in Kaohsiung and with its people. In all fairness we take back http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Kaohsiung/blog-357900.html Nick and Kristen writeSchool is over for the semester and we have had some time to roam the island. The last few days we have seen some temples museums and night markets that we have been meaning to visit since we first came to Taipei. Think of it as thinks on our to do list that we never got around to doing but finally did. The strangest day last week was when we visited the Taipei Fine Arts http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Hualien/blog-357042.html Nick and Kristen writeHi Family and Friends We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families. We decided to spend Thanksgiving in Hong Kong. We flew out for four days to visit Hong Kong and Macau We left on Wednesday night and had a wonderful time The airport in Taipei is interesting. We actually flew out of the Hello Kitty Lounge per the attached picture. The Asians a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Macau/Macau/blog-350554.html Nick and Kristen writeJust a quick entry this time no pictures It's interesting how different the weather is out here compared to back home. A few days ago it was in the high 70's and 80's with high humidity. Fairly warm by American standards. Today it was in the 60's still a little humid. And the Taiwanese were out in their full winter gear boots winter coats scarves the works We http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-343628.html Kristen and Nick writeHong Kong Itrsquos a wonderful place to visit. Modern cosmopolitan and very much like New York. We were there this past weekend. Hong Kong is everything Taiwan is not What a great place to visit . . . or live The skyline is beautiful. We felt very much at home in Hong Kong. There are actually different kinds of people in Hong Kong white black Chinese Ind http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Kowloon/blog-342193.html Nick and Kristen writeHi everyone We know itrsquos been a while since wersquore written last. Itrsquos been a lot of studying Chinese. Last weekend we didnrsquot do very much. We walked around Taipei and just relaxed. However this past Saturday October 25th we decided to see what itrsquos like to use the train system out here. Their railways are a lot older than their subway http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-339207.html Kristen writesSorry itrsquos been a while since wersquove written you last but itrsquos been busy here since that time. Nick has started school at National Taiwan University and itrsquos been rather routine here since wersquove communicated last. Itrsquos been a lot of homework and study for Nick so hersquos been focusing a lot on that at the moment. I am supporting him as muc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/Danshui/blog-332570.html Kristen and Nick writeHi Everyone We hope everyone is surviving the economic fallout back home. Nick and I watch Bloomberg everyday since it's one of our only English channels with interest as the economy is tanking before our eyes. Keep saving that money and tell your Congressman and Senators to say no to this ridiculous bailout These Wall Street bankers don't need a bailout they need t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-328873.html Nick and Kristen writeMonday September 22nd 2008On Monday Nick had a morning lecture on Chinese Phonetics that he attended and then in the afternoon we went to the National Palace Museum. Many people say that if you only have time to see one thing in Taiwan it's the museum. We were very impressed. Their collection of Chinese treasures was amazing ranging from their bronzes to lacquerware to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/Danshui/blog-327537.html Kristen writesHi everyone It seems like forever since we last wrote you time goes by so quickly out here. I know we keep mentioning the humidity but it's unbelievable and you are covered in sweat before 30 minutes has passed outside. You have to take two showers a day. We can't wait for November to arrive. The locals say it's an unusually warm summer so far due to global warming. On Fr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Yilan-County/blog-325785.html Nick and Kristen write Ni Hao Sorry it's been a few days since we last blogged but we've been busy and the weather has been bad. So we'll try to catch you up on our last few days of sightseeing.Wednesday September 17th Nick had his placement exam for his language program. He freaked out as usual about how badly he did although Kristen knows he does much better than he thinks he does H http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-324970.html Nick and Kristen write No pictures to share this time since the weather has been so crappy We've encountered our first typhoon here in Taiwan. Typhoon Sinlaku came and stayed for three days and dropped at least 50 of rain according to the news. It came Friday night and didn't leave until Sunday night. Saturday night was the worst because the high winds rattled all of the windows in our apa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-323910.html Kristen and Nick write OMIGOD We'd like to introduce you to our new favorite appliance our LG Washer and Dryer. As you can see from the accompanying pictures it has a myriad of settings and features. Unfortunately for us all of them are in Chinese Yesterday we attempted to do laundry for the first time and we spent the first hour translating the different settings on the machine itsel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-323298.html Kristen and Nick write Hey Everyone It's been a very busy two to three days but we have finally settled into our new apartment in the sky. It's a beautiful loftstyle apartment with gorgeous views of the city including Taipei 101 at night and lots of sunshine during the day It's a little small but it's perfect for us. The kind of place that we've always wanted to live in at least once http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-321987.html Nick writes This note is a quick one but we have great news we have an apartment No pictures yet but we sign the lease tomorrow afternoon. It is a loft apartment in a highrise on the 13th floor with city light views and only a few blocks from my school. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-321278.html