More than a basket

Inside one building at Window on China you can see large bins for people to leave their bags and jackets before they go on a ride. This one is relatively empty, but it's not uncommon to see people leave their goods unattended.

A large meal

Yesterday after our field trip we had a staff dinner at Tasty.




Wall of smiles. Who has the best smile?

Window on China

School field trip to a model/amusement park in Hsinchu.

Mini-Taiwan


I've visited the buildings with the orange and blue roofs.


Mini-China

(Prelude to) The Great Wall of China:




Mini-Europe

L'Opera:



Mini-USA


Mini-Asia


Indoor & outdoor rides.

Night heron

I've been spotting these birds at night by the water near where I live. It's never light enough for me to take a picture of them, however. On the weekend I bought a book that lists some local birds and where to look for them. I've seen two types of night herons. Wooh!

Got high today

Went to Taipei 101. Built to resemble a bamboo stalk, 508 metres high, 101 above-ground stories and five underground, and holds the record for the world's tallest building. It's one and a half Eiffel Towers. There's a building in Dubai being built that will surpass Taipei 101's height, but until it is completed, Taipei 101 holds the title.

The building contains the world's two fastest elevators. To get to the 89th floor it takes 37 seconds. My ears popped several times on the way up.

We arrived at the indoor observatory on the 89th floor. Taipei 101 has state of the art technologies throughout the building. I felt so safe up there. It didn't seem like I was really that high up.


Today was rainy and a bit cloudy. The main draw of visiting on a day like this is that it wasn't very busy.

I made use of an audio tour remote which pointed out many of the surrounding landmarks and attractions.


I heard all kinds of languages being spoken by the visitors in the observatory. The elevator hostess greeted and informed us in Mandarin, English, and Japanese.

Wind damper:


The outdoor observatory:

Looking toward the top of the building:


A walkway:

New York New York: a mall complex.


Ate dinner here. I didn't opt for "Chinese Caterpillar Fungus Tea," but chose "Longan Pulp and Red Jujube Tea" instead.


Theatre at NY NY. Watched My Blueberry Nights. Loved the movie.


Night lights of Taipei 101:

Take a trip to Hawaii

Aloha! In class today we made hula skirts. Some of the younger kids were willing to do a little dance, but the older kids were too cool for that.


Aloha.

Korean wrap

Another day, another Magic Kitchen.

The meat station:


The fake meat station:


Take meat and kimchi, bundle up in a lettuce leaf, and there you go. OJ to wash it down.

Magic Kitchen

First class in its series. Yellow tea, chopped apples, and orange juice.

Winter Camp

And so Winter Camp begins. Different courses this time: Grammar, Spelling/Phonics, Comic Writing, Magic Kitchen, Fun Fun Fun, Globe Trotters, and French. Two weeks of camp, then vacation time for me.

The Warlords

Muchly enjoyed.

Let there be cleaning

A man above the 7-11 hoses down the outside of the building:

Alien Words

I thought of a funny way to have my newer learners practice reading: I have individual students tell me a letter, and once I've written enough of them on the board we blend the sounds together and eventually pronounce the word. Of course, the letters they chose never form English words, but alien words. This activity really held their attention and was a lot of fun.

Chin Song Farm

A brief school field trip to Chin Song today.




The kids fed the pigeons, ducks, geese, and goats pellets.



We ordered a drink listed on the menu as "mocha." Oh how it wasn't a mocha at all.

Report cards

The semester is almost over, so it's report card time.

Tomorrow I'm going on a small field trip to a farm with one of my classes. Must bundle up since it'll probably be cold and rainy.

Caves bookstore

Went to Caves at Chung Yuan University today to check out the space where I'll be telling a story one day during Winter Camp. Must resist urge to go back during free time.

I'm weak though.

Where's dinner?

Changhua

Train to Changhua City, heading south along the west coast.

The first site is a fan-shaped train depot. It is "the only remaining fan-shaped depot in Taiwan, the others having fallen into disuse with electrification of the national train system."

I almost couldn't find it. It doesn't seem to be a tourist hot spot if today is any indicator.

Upon entering the grounds I noticed a sign that said that only authorized personnel were permitted. It was odd. I ended up signing a guest book and looking inside the warehouse.



Very cool.



Off to the Confucius Temple. It was built in 1726. Within the walls there is the temple (below), several classrooms, and other buildings.





So I wonder where the famous Buddha stat -- oh.


Great Buddha Path of Philology.


Many more steps.

Mount Baguashan - a past and present lookout point. A bunker:


Atop the path:



Breezy lookout.


Side-step several hundred paces, and you've reached the Great Buddha. This is some of what Buddha sees:


Hot day, hot people.


22 metres high, the "statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha, [is] the largest in Asia."



Shrine inside the Buddha statue:


There are several levels inside. Each level has displays and write-ups depicting parts of Buddha's life. At the top level you can look out from Buddha's eyes and ears, but the floor has been closed off. Maybe too many people were reaching enlightenment too easily.


Pagodas galore.




With all those balconies, don't you feel like living here?




Going up there was like walking into a dream. The air was fresh, music was playing from speaker phones, and the atmosphere was something that my pictures couldn't capture.



There are three shrines on the different levels of one of the pagodas.





Nine Dragon's Pond isn't near as spectacular as its name suggests.


There was another place I wanted to visit, the Red-hair well. It's 300 years old and is "the last of the original Dutch-built wells in central Taiwan." It was getting late and I was growing tired, so I didn't spend much time lingering when I thought I couldn't find it. Actually, it was right in front of me. It's in such an odd place that I thought I had the wrong place. There are no signs and the launderers' presence made me feel like I was intruding. *sigh* Guess I'll have to go back if I really want to see it.