Friday, May 21, 2010

Passports Up

I will be in Seattle from 22nd through the 11th.Drop me note if anythings going on.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Taipei

Most of my trip to Taiwan was visiting Taipei, located on the north end of the island. Below is Taipei 101, it was the tallest building from 2004 through 2010.The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is now the tallest, they kind of crushed this one. Taipei is a really good mix of old and new, some parts of the city are really modern, where other parts seem to be stuck in time. The city has a very nice mass transit system that can take you anywhere in city limits to anywhere in the country. Below is a subway train.And here is Taipei Main Station, this station has trains that travel all over the country as well as the high speed rail.And then not to far from the train station is this old temple.Taipei is also full of good, strange foods, often served of food markets...Here I am enjoying something wrapped in scrambled egg.And here is famous Taipei stinky tofu with cabbage.The shop above is on the south side of Taipei, the tofu does smell really bad. The guy below is making noodles, old-school-style.Below is Sun Yat-Se Memorial Hall. He is the guy who founded Taiwan.Here is Sun Yat-Se, sitting much like Lincoln is his memorial.It's a really amazing building.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Taroko Gorge

This past weekend was a national holiday in Japan, so I made my first trip to Taiwan to visit Taipei, Hualien and the Taroko National Park.Taroko Gorge is located about half way down the island, on the east coast side, this is a beautiful area of Taiwan. Above is about 1 hour into the park at Hsiang-te Temple, the Ksitigarbha statue.Here I am at the top of the temple tower, below is the tower from the outside... I wonder how old this thing is.The park starts at the pacific ocean, at a location called the Ching Shui Cliff, seen below.Then works it's way into the country. Through out the park there area hiking and walking paths, sometimes the stone was carved away to make room for the path.Above illustrates a bad time for a earthquake. The park is full of crystal-clear water rivers.Here is another river running through a valley:One more view of Taroko with the Buddha statue.