johansvennung(臺灣)

Sunday nights adventures...

I met my swedish friend Joel at taipei downtown...I got a good price of some wine from him that I had to try...

I also got some rose cider...that I have to try off...

I also passed by E- sun bank...to make my credit/debit card valid...

Nice label on the wine...I will enjoy it next week...

Sundays event...

I started off by visit Costco...

They often give away samples...I tried some red wine...and bought 2 bottles...and some parmesan cheese...

So interesting...you need a membercard at costco to buy things...but if that was not enough...they have staff at the entrance checking cards...(even though I never show any) and at the exti, checking the receipts...I always wonder what the purpose for this is...since they never read the receipt totaly anyway...and no one without membership card can buy any item anyway (except food in the restaurant)...

I later on went to the giant store to pick up my bike...

I also bought a mudguard...

And later on did some presentation...that has been bugging me the whole weekend...while eating pizza and drinking wine...

Beer safari in Taizhong

Taiwan has many cities...today im visiting Taizhong...almost 3 million people live there...even if its just 150-200km from taipei, the cutlre is totaly different regarding consumer behaviour...I also think the maffia is stronger here...

From taipei I took train...and found a paper plane compeitoin at Taipei main station...

I also had some korean food there...

Before taking of...to Taizhong...

In taipei main station they sell alot of tourist things...as well as alot of snacks from all over taiwan and near by countries like japan and korea...

It took some hour by train to get to taizhong...

From the train station it is about 3-4km to the first beer bar (walking distance)...however bus number 5 takes you there too...

I got some traffic card that I could use in the bus...

The first visit was paid at Deluxe Brewhouse...

It was pretty big and reminder me of Beerworks in Jhubei...

They had 3 different kinds of beer plus many flavours...and some 50% off, on the second glass offer...

Weissbeer, pilsner and some dark draft...

They had service charge, and as usual, when they have service charge the service is a little worse...

They also used the german theme....with many flags...

Second round was Weissbeer vs Strawberry beer

They have some factory in Tucheng, taipei it said, but i saw alot of brewing equipment in the resturant too...

They even had their own toothpick paper...

Pretty big...

And coffee grains in the toilet...i guess for people to smoke here, even if it is illegal...maybe a requirement from the maffia...

Many couches were blue and white...like the colours of Gothenburgs football team IFK Göteborg...

The trip continued2km north east...to the next destination...

We passed many resturants (famous ones)...it was about 2km to the next brewery...

Wow, this pace if famous from Lonely planet...(A random resturant in taizhong downtown)...

Interesting architecture...the elevators are seen as two lights going up and down on the dark wall of the building...

Omg, I use to have a friend in the swedish marines called Bellini...maybe his family owns this pasta place...

Here is the next place...(a little dark)...

Their toilet door was fun...you locked it in an old fashined way...

They had 4 kind beer, and since they ahd anniversary, 500ml beer were only 100nt...

else this are the original prices...

They had many pictures from germany as well...

And just as the other place, this showed baseball...

We got the beer in plastic glasses...the green on is some algea beer...

these are  dark beer, weissbeer, and the one in the middle is just a mix of the dark and light one...(so in theory they had 3 kinds of beer)

This was the name...

I bought a pizza...the other place "deluxe" also offered hamburger...but i didnt try it...

The green one left...

I took it with me for the third brewery...

Taizhong nights...

RuiDeBao...is the third place name...

A little bit smaller that the two first....

Also with german inspiration...

And some instruction about how they brew...just like the Barshi place in Beitou has...

Omg, they serve "dolphin" or something...or many just a wierd translation...

They had 2 types of beer here...one weisbeer and one with more hops...

The dark one tasted like the beer i make...thus a very standard flavour...

All places i visited offers the plastic cylinger tap...

It is easier when you are many people...to buy that one...

Reichburg is the name of this resturant...

German sausages....and sauer kraut...

And some kebab without kebab sauce...

Seems like they got some award...

I also got a voucher...on which I could collect stamps...

The last train back to taipei leaves around 21...the last High speed rail train as 23 something...

And the last busleaves at 23.30 and 23.40...

So bus was the best choice...

The bus leaves nearby the Taizhong train station...

A maffia guy or something...he let me take a picture of his face...he had tatoes all over it...

The bus had toilets...so i could save a beer for that...no need to waste it...

Omg..."Please dont hand on your leg"..."dont sit for children below 145 cm"...its always interesting to travel in taiwan...i wonder what they really mean....

Taipei was raining...super slippery with my flipflops...since the pavements have very slippery stones...and my flipflops is made of a weird material...

Fridays adventure...

The food picture...I met some spanish friends from madrid today...they gave me some gifts, super nice...

I also got a lunchbox in the afternoon from a food lady i know...(perhaps a little bit old...but it included peanuts and dried fish)

I also handed in my bike at a nearby giant store...so I had to take the mrt to my chinese class...

My chinese teacher...always so funny...

Some guy was hanging outsidy the school...I think it could be the founder of the institute...

But after asking around, it turned out to be a teacher...

Later I headed to ximen...not sure what to eat...

But we ended up at a local burger bar...

I also bought some cold stone ie cream...

And I also signed up for a chinse test later on this spring...its very complicated....ineed to pay at the post office (its not ok to pay at a bank), then I need to fax the receipt to the organisation that deals with the test...i dont understand why they cant see who paid on their account like in europe...so weird...

Venezuela is apparently a chaotic country...

My gear wire broke...

My gear wire broke for my bike today...

I passed by a local Giant store...they might fix it onfriday...

Todays food pic...more cheap corn and nice pizza...

Pictures of food and funny chinese class

Due to my huge amount of yeast that i have in the fridge...i have a reason to bake pizza every day...

Alot of effort is put on the sauce...

Like the italian chief i met here in taipei, im also drinking wine and eating cheese while baking my pizza...

It was ok...for beeing made in taiwan...

My chinese class teacher is so funny, she offered us a microphone in class, so that we could save energy...I asked if the consuption of handing over the mic to the next student wont waste more energy, i got no answer...

Next person to read...

I made more pizza when I came back home...

And boiled cornsticks...15nt for 4 sticks 3-4SEK...Im buying alot of fruit nowadays, since I found where to buy cheap old fruit...

And more pizza in the night...this one was really good...maybe I should start selling pizza again, as i did at school last year...

Slowest bank ever...

Just paid a visit to E.sun bank in taiwan, it took me an hour to open an account...omg, must be the slowest bank ever...

No english for a queue number...I took a number from each queue, and hoped for the best...

Atelast the name is Yushan in chiense...i like mountain climbing...that make this bank interesting...

aiyo...rush to the airplane

Last day in hongkong

Second day in hongkong...

I got my deposit back in the morning from the greedy hostel...

And headed to a macauo restruant...

It seemed to be a macao block here inhongkong city...

I had a macanese crispy bun...

And some oyster noodles...

25 HKD, its like 20 SEK or 100NT,...

Wow, a nice Rotary monument...

It was some event in the central park...

Many guards lining up...

Maybe they expected many people later on tonight...

I also went to a Comic statue show...

or "comic stars" as they called it...

And continued to an old street with more traditional Hongkong resturants...

Wow...H&M...nice...

I went to the airport a little bit early, my flight left at 21, but i came there at 14 trying to find an earlier flight back to taiwan...the staff asked me to wait until 16.50 and then try to get a stand by ticket...

...the transportation from taipei airport is not that clever...the last bus leaves at midnight something...but the airplanes keep on arrive later than that...

Omg, they adivce you not to bring these items...who carries there usually?

I got a ticket for the flight at 17...i had to run to the gate...since i got the ticket at 16.50...

But when i came there they told me that the flight was delayed...but they did not know for how long...

Many people were waiting...

Emersin..."its never been done before", i have to send this to my classmate emerson...

I had 71 Hongkong dollar left that I wanted to use...but since they did not knwo when the flight would leave, I could not leave the gate...

Suddenlt people started to line up...

Pretty long queue...

After a ahile i joined the line...omg, these old ladies just sneaked ahead...

In the airplace i got earphones to watch movie...it seems like i always get new earphones...but still they ask to get them back later...weird...

Their instruction movie about safety was held by animated characters...whos eyes, were looking at the same place all the time, it looked wierd...

even when the lady helped her child or put on hermask, she looked to her left...

In the north of taiwan there is a city called Jilong...its often spelled Keelung...or on this map Chilung...so confusing for foreingers with the 5 or 6 spelling ways...

Welcome to asia...(or taiwan) where this seatbelt sign more is a recommendation, or in this case decoration...instead of legislation (as home)...

People started to stand up as soon as the airplace touhed the ground...so funny...

I also got a fortune cookie...(actually I got two, and swallowed the message from one of them by accident, before i realized that it was a fortune cookie)...

No luggate this time (only hand luggage) it must been the fastest checkout ever for me...and i took the bus to taipei 10 minutes after i left tha plane...wow...

Next time im in hongkong i will try to get to macao...

In Hongkong

My plane left 7 something...so i had to go up ver early...

Many fligths to hongkong...

Many people at the airport...I found a counter for "no luggage to chek in" which saved me some 30minutes...

Barely any queues at the immigration either...

About 900km south west...is hongkong from taiwan...

I got a map and a list of hostels at the airport...I should have asked for cheap hotels also, since many hostals try to skam you...resulting in that u save money by taking a civilized hotel offer instead...

I was told that bus 21 goas to the cirty..

Each station has a number...so conveineint, no on needs to remember some station name...

Wow, hongkong asI remember it...mountains in the background...

Left side traffic...

Many boats...

One of the birst bridges with rail aswell i was told...

Stop 5, i was heading for stop 14...

Explanation in both chinese and english...

No scooters...nice air...

And many indian people, just like in kathmandu, trying to sell fake watches or tailor made suits...

There were also read stores...where they were selling expensive items...

More indian people...

I was heading for Kimberley road...or was it kimberley street...

They had many returants here...spanish, turish...etc...

Wow..many different bonus cards at the supermarket...

I was looking for a scandinavian resturant...ad indian guy told me he will help me if i joined him to his store...

He tried to sell cheap tailor made suits for special price just for me...

LAte he showed me to this place...

Somce korean food...

I continued to look for the scandinavian resturant...

Wow...some advertisement about it...imy cousin told me about this place, thats why i wanted to try it...

I asked this chinese lady about where to find the resturant...instead of saying that she did not know, she did it chiense tyle..ignore me and hope that the problem will disapear...i took a pic of her and fulfilled her wish...

Finally i found the resturant...i got some bread and oil and butter to start with...so nice...

I ordered meatballs, i got a very small portion...

I read about the wolrd beer industry...nice...seems like africa is the future for beer business...

The scandinavian resturant had a fancy image...

And won some prize....its name was finds...like in Finland, iceland, norway denmark Sweden...

I went back the the hostel after this...it was in milton mansion...

More indaan people trying to sell specal things to me...

Omg, not only did they rip me of at the hoste, they also charge extra for soap or toilet paper...so greedy...

I bought some beer and planned to head down town...

There were many people near the harbour on the north side opposite of hongkong island...

and alot of street actities...

And performance...

HFC, bank of china, victoria view etc...I remembered it as i was here yesterday (i was here 4 years ago)...

NIce sunset...people were waiting for "the symphoney of lights" that they have here every night...i think...

Omg, a reminder that china will take over hongkong soon...propaganda against falungong...

Saying is a religion...and china doesnt like religions...no freedon here...

Felt wierd...

I guess its the same here as many other chiense places...people believe everything without questionizing...

I guess this will have good effect onthe anit falun gong movement...

No one were there representing the opinion...as in sweden, they should have a stand, and information...incase people have question..."no why" i guess they will tell me, if i ask why no one represents this opinion against falun gong...

omg, "youth care association of hongkong"...nice organisation...

more propaganda...

cruisers taking people south...maybe to singapore...

many tourists walkingaround...

And many signs, making advertisement for mostly electronic brands...

I also passed by the walk of fame...

Jet li...

And the famous statue of bruce lee...

Super many people walked here...back and forth...

The signs became stronger as the sun was setting...

I heard the the symphony of light was canelled tonight due to earth hour...

No soing areas at many places...

This guy sang some taiwanese songs..he was super good...

Crowded, crowded...

Seems like some were disapointed with the cancalation of the light show...

They had a stand with info about the earth hour...

Info about hongkongs enery waste...

And the worlds waste...

Weird...many lights on this satelite picture at the middle west of australia...strange...when i was there this part was the least populated...

Some performace of a group singing PSYs gangnam style, but they changed they lyrics to Hongkong style instead...

Still some lights before 20.30 when the dark hour begins...

You can youtube "symphony of lights" if u wanna c what i did not...

Omg, the revolving tower, my favorite all you can eat in asia is there...

And american group singing...pretty good...but the other group was a little better...

Some boat taking tourists around..pretty cool with the sails...

Darkness begins...

soon...look at all the signs..."samsung" philips" etc etc...

Some buildings went dark a little bit earlier...

Some famous statue...

hongkong movie awards or something...

More performance...

Not 100% dark yet...

Atleast the flashing lights went of...

People started to take pictures of the darkness...

it was interesting...

A cancelled show might have attracted more people than if it was as usual....

Now it was pretty dark...earth hours...

I had a beer while enjoying...not sure if it was ok to drink there..but it was so dark so no one could see me...

then at 21.30 suddelnt...

Philips started to show up again...

right on time...

And the strong samsung signs...

And other coloured signs...

Hyundai...

Andbank of china...

Show was over...

Just like in london...a reminder for all foreigners...

Back at the hostel only 1 elevator was in service...creating a long queue...hongkong day 1 is over...

Reflexions.:

Hongkong is warm and nice...and many non chinese people...feels wierd...since when im in taiwan its so rare with a foreigner...

Got riped of at the hostel...since i did not book..Hostel room varies between 150HKD, 350HKD, or if i come the same day up to 500HKD (I paid 550HKD). I understand when they speak mandarin, it felt like i was in vietnam ,when i heard the woman at the counter increase the price, when she saw i was white...."500" she said in chinese...

its ok...i will be here of 1 day...

slept 4 hours last night...

When I travel I always compare to Sweden...which makes everything so cheap...

I often forget how cheap taiwan is...

All you can eat BBQ

Even on a friday night the BBQ with free beer at Ximen is 440 nt..

thats ok...

They already prepared some meat before we st down...

and free beer...

And the russian icecream my favorite...I had to start off with that one...

I went all in on prawns as usual...

 

First they gave me like 5-10 of them, but after a while they understood that i wantedmany...

It was very sticky, and dirty after a while...but it was good

Now I am heading to Hongkong...

Afterwork with the Trade council

Many people showed up at the After work today...

Some guy who studies at Linlöpings university...and opened up his own business selling Swedish clothes in Taiwan(and european clothes)...

We went to Fifi...we split some dishes...pretty slow service, i waited 20-30 minuts for my drink...

...it was a kiwi juice...

We got some dishes where we were suppose to leave as well...this one was a pretty good tofu...

My wedish friends recommended mesome restaurants...like this pizzeria...

We had 5 different dishes...I paid 450nt...

A girl ordered this desert, it was cantonese...it was very good...

Some people stayed longer...I wanted to but have to go up early tomorrow...

 

Funny teacher

My Chinese teacher is so funny...

"You have no friends with the love and compassion as I have" my teacher said...I wonder if she knows our friends...its always entertaining to have chinese...

I finished the day with mashed potato brown sauce and beef...it was long time ago I had this...

A trip to the immigration office...

I paid a visit to the immigration office this morning...

For ARC pick up...no information...however, on dont need any number for that...

Pics of food...

Just liketaiwanese people I take alot of pics of food...

At a nearby supermarket they sell cheap fruit before it expires...so i buy alot of fruit every day...

I also started to bake pizza again...

And again...since i have so much yeast...in sweden pizza was my speciality...

Receipt lottery...

Im not buyingso many things anymore...

So I dont get that many receipts anymore...no wins yesterday...

Weird...

A surf trip to Waiao

Me and some classmates went to Waiao to surf...

23 degrees 7am...in taipei...

We took the train to the east coast...

I brought honey beer...super good...

There we rented some boards...

 And shirts...

 

 A guy teaching some of us how to do...

 

 It was 27 degrees (C) in the water...

 

 Emerson was joking around...

 

 Super funny...

 

 So was Pablo...

Emerson taught Kuoping to do theGangnam style dance...

He did it ok...

Also Michel Jackson was imitated...

Time to surf...Turtle island in the background...

Our boards...

 

 After some hour surfing we ordered some food...

 

 We also ahd beer etc...

 

 Many people were far away...where the higher waves were...

 

 I should come here more often...practice makes perfect...

 

 Lunch box included chicken...

 

It is tiring to surf...very salyt water and burning sun...so we took many rests...non of us slept much last night since we had to go up early...

Waiao...I passed by many times...it was 2008 I came ehre the first time...

Emerson...surfer professional...

Running around...he had a wetsuit...I thought that was to warm...

It looked like it would be rain...whenever...

But we were lucky...it was sunny most of the time...

Kuoping in acton...

 

 Emerson...posing... 

Time to surf the third time...

Pablo has been surfing before...in Bali...

He was pretty good...

Now his ready for action...

Last waves for today...

There were many foreigners at the beach, we even met some old classmates fomr NCTU here...

Time to go back...around 2pm...

Big boards...

Wai ao...not sure why they changed the text...on the sign...

It was crowded on the way back...especially when we came closer to taipei...

 We paid a short visit to the maid cafe just to check it out...its a japanese style cafe...

But we ended up at a BBQ allyoucaneat near taipei main station...

Alot of meat...

And dressing and salad...

We also got some korean shots...

It was ok...but I liked the ximen BBQ better...

 EVentually they also added prawns to the buffet...after the meal we all were pretty tired...we have some sleep to catch up on...

More baking and milk shake making

I have to get ridd of my yeast...

So im still baking every day (or trying to)

After 10 minutes the dough doubled in size...

Doing some milkshake while waiting...

Adding cinnamon is nice...I use to do it when i was young (to chocolate milk shake)...

The dough is raising...

Hao3...done, time to do focaccia...

 

Thursday night...

I went with some friends out running...for a while in the evening...

And there after I met some old friends and classmates...

It was at a newly opened japanese restaurant near taipei 101...with free refill of salad...

We also went to th ebook store...

And to a bar that serves my favorite beer...

They told me that if i return the bottles I get a free beer...thats nicesince i saved the bottles since almost 1 year ago...(swing cap)

Scooter society, millions of scooters everyday...welcome to taiwan...

Days passing by...

Baking frenzy...

I had a lot of fresh yeast in the dough today...

Cus I could only buy it in 500g packages...

While letting it raise...I went to a pizzeria near Shida...

Many foreigners hang out in these blocks...

Wow...a morrocan pizza...

I had a set, starting with salad...

Then a hawaii pizza...

Ending with creme brulet...

I thought about making my own pizza when i came home...

But made a french carlic bread with mediterranean style... 

Nice food at home...

I made some nice food that I enjoyed tonight...

Garlic bread, aged cheddar cheese and olive oil...

With beef in garlic...

And i added chocolate milk to my chocolate milkskae, instead of normal milk...

But the result was almost the same...

I ended the meal with "tropical fruit", i have been eating alot of kiwi lately...however papaya is pretty cheap here in taiwan too...

Improvement at chinese school

I got to changemy chinese class finally...

It made me happy. I also brought some focaccia to class...

The quote of the day:

"me and my husband are chrstian, so we trusteach other"....ha, my teacher said, regarding that she lives separate from him for some while...

I asked why muslims are such a liar then (and not to be trusted)...ofcourse she couldnt answer...so funny...how they look upon them selves...and others...

 

Finding yeast in taiwan...

It seems like yeast is only in powder form in taiwan...

Atleast it cannot be found at the supermarket...the ones i looked at...

So my first batch of foccacia wont be 100% real...

 

 However, I found a store later on...that was specialized on yeast...but only in 500g amounts...

 

 It expires the 20th of march...so I better bake alot this upcomming weeks...

I aso went to a pizzeria in Yonghe...

They had potato pizza...

And Chocolate pizza (like in naples)...

I might try this one next time...

They also ahd a honey beer...from UK...

 

 It was not as much honey flavour as the one I tried in Hsinchu some week ago...but far more hops flavour the Ble d´or...

 

 I had a hawaii pizza as usual...it didnt taste that much...

 

 They also had instructions about "how to eat an italian pizza"...i wonder who will believe this instruction...

 

My dough was almost done when I came back...to bake...

L left it in the fridge, while I went ot refill my phone card at a vietnamese store that is cheaper than the rest of the phone stores...they use to sell the phone card for 250nt, but now i had to pay 275nt...maybe cuz im a white guy (in vietnam vietnamese people often charge foreingers more)...

I also passed by this resturant where the maids call you "master"...

Inspired from japanese style...

Maybe I will go back here some day to see how it works...

I later on finished my focaccia...with basle leaves, oregano and garlic on the top...(with olive oil)...

It was pretty good...its not every day you can eat normal bread here in taiwan...(from european perspective)...

And after all the disapointments with Chinese language center, where I study chinese...its nice to do something that make you think of different things...

A trip to the night market...

I paid a visit to Ximen night market last night...

And tried taiwanese specialities...

Some chicken hotdog or roll...

I came there around 18.30 so there were alot of people there...

Some oyster omelette...with sweet red sauce...

Later I went to ximen for a burger...

Many people here as well...

I ended the night with a cocnut milk tea (yeguo naicha)...

Cheap all you can eat!

I paid a quick visit to a cheap all you can eat in ximen last night...

I have been ehre many times before...its 350nt, for hotpot...

I was kind of irritated with my chinese school last evening...The culture here is wierd..."money, money, money"...

I ended up my miseries in seafood...prawns and crabs and fish...(the crabs here doesnt taste as much as crabs in sweden)...but its ok...

I ended up paying with coins...my bag always becomes so heavy with my coins...

This is the place...about 5 minutes walk from Ximen MRT station...

Cheap all you can eat!

I paid a quick visit to a cheap all you can eat in ximen last night...

I have been ehre many times before...its 350nt, for hotpot...

I was kind of irritated with my chinese school last evening...The culture here is wierd..."money, money, money"...

I ended up my miseries in seafood...prawns and crabs and fish...(the crabs here doesnt taste as much as crabs in sweden)...but its ok...

I ended up paying with coins...my bag always becomes so heavy with my coins...

This is the place...about 5 minutes walk from Ximen MRT station...

So incompetent...

Burger thursday...

I had s special offer from a "red envelope" that i got from mcdonalds some weeks ago...

Now I got a free bigmac with my double quarter pounder cheese...nice...

I wonder why they never have apple juice here in taiwanese mcdonalds...

Cheap fish...

I wonder why people buy fish in the daytime...

Carrefour always sells the fish for half price in the evening...

I didnt buy and prawns since 10 prawns is about 100nt (20SEK)...but when I go to all you can eat I eat more than 100 of them...using the supermarket prices I break even pretty fast...

A new batch of beer...

Not to bad this time...tasted like Pripps blå...the swedish beer...

I still have to learn have to make weissbeer...and later on with honey flavor...

A quic visit to the immigration office...

I paid a quick visit to the immigration office today...

So many languages...soo conveinient...

Omg, I was watching the news there, and saw my old beer teacher...in the news...poor him, there was some murder at his store...taiwanese media is always fast to judge people, and many taiwanese people are even faster...maybe he has to shut down his business even if he is innocent...

A late night in taipei...

I ended up in Shimen today, as I use to do in the weekdays...

And went to this restaurant...at the corner of techonolgy building MRT station...(i heared they had hawaii pizza)...

They had live band...

I had a pinacolada...(first I ordered a pineapple juide for 150nt, but got a can, that i had to open myself...I can buy that for 40nt in a super market...it felt kind of wierd)...

I also ordered a hawaii...it took 50 minutes for it to be done...wierd...maybe they had to buy the things in the store before they could make it...and I had to pay 600nt for the drink and pizza...omg...i hate service charge...especially when i need to wait almost an hour for the food...

I cut my braid...

I cut my braid...

Started to save from summer 2010...

Cosby visit when Taiwan is watching baseball...

I went to my favorite burger bar today...

I had a double burger...

And cranberry juice...

I also got a chicken burger...

Everyone in taiwan were watching baseball, since Taiwan met Korea today...and baseball is very popular here...

I got a USB...

My friend Winston gave me a USB today...so nice...

Shaped as an alien or something...

A visit to Evans burger...

There start to be lack of new burgerbars in Taipei...

Many chinese students are hanging out in this area, probably due to Shida university...

I had a burger with fried paparika on...not that special...

(the first time I went to evans burger 2 years ago, I bought burger at 1885 at the same time), 1885 moved to a different location, however, I accidentally passed by their new ocataion last sunday...I have to go there soon...1885 is said to be better...

A trip to Wulai...

I made a trip to Wulai...

And met up Kuoping at xindian station...

 Road number 9 goes to Wulai, the same road I took some week ago from the south of taiwan...

 And it was the same road that I ran my ultra marathon on last year... 

 Nice bridges...

 And clear water...in the rivers...

 And many aboriginal statues...

 Wow...a modern (and classic) windmill...

 Really blue water...

 Or green blue...

 And the same square pattern that most aboriginal are using here in taiwan...

 They had, just like in Yilan, free hotspring for foot bath...

 And a night market...

 I also visited the aboriginal muesum...

 Atayal...the same tribe that the ranger I met last week belonged go...

So many tribes...

 In chinese its pronunced "Tai...." I gues the "a-" is not pronunced...

The name Wulai (means dark come) in chinese is originally an aboriginal word for hotspring "Urai"...

 And they had some handcrafts...they look a little bit the same as the other aboriginal tribe´s things...

Just like in Nepal they used millet for cooking...

They were selling many kinds of wine at the night market...

 I bought some from this aboriginal women...

 Then I visited the wild hotspring...

 Cool...its like 10-15 degrees in the air and 30 in the water...this guy is training by swimming upstream...or more or less remain on the same spot...

 Nice with some warm water after going by scooter for half an hour...

 Many people enjoyed the wild hotspring...

Omg, after a toilet visit I realized that someone stood on the toilet seat to pee, its comon here in taiwan...

I later on went to a resturant where they use to have hptspring water for the feet...but not today..what a pity...

Later on I joined a hotspring...

 Many people come here for hotspong...

 They had many pools...25, 27  anf 42 degrees C....

I nevrer tried the 42...it was warm enough in the 37C...

Later, back in taipei I visited an italian restaurant...

 They seemed to have many italian restuarants in this area...

Even if the chief was italian...the menu was onlyh in chinese...

 I ordered a "secret" pizza...the chief wont tell whats on...

 I also go bread with olive oil...so good...

 They had alot of wine atthe bar, which the chief enjoyed while baking...

They had wifi...so nice...

The pizzas were 12 inch...

 The staff never understood that I wanted a pizza for myself...the kept serving the food in the middle of the table...

 "magiare"...means "eat" in italian...

I finished the night at ximens, Bear bar...it was nice...

Visiting Le Rouge

I met a foreigner at costco some week ago and asked him where his favorite resturant was...

Yesterday I vistied the retaurant he recommended...an italian and french restaurant near banqiao...

With nice paintings...

It looked really professional...

They even served snacks while waiting...

And i got Focaccia woth olive oil, just like the one i use to make, but with less salt...(as most things here in taiwan...)

It was many small dishes...like asparagus in garlic...

Pasta...

PIzza, A hawaii that they called Aloha...

And dessert...a little dry but still ok...

Later I also drank my last beer that I bought from hsinchu some week ago...tasted like the one i brewed n bali (taipei), flower character...

Another night in ximen...

I went for my 3rd burger at ximen...

They didnt have millers today, but they still had "buy 1 get 1 free" for LEO beer...

And the best burger in Taiwan...even my picky friend thought it was very good, I wonder why not that many people like it here...they prefere "famous" places more than tasty...

My friend continued eating more food, so I also bought some nachos with cheese and jalapenos...super nice...

I went to Taipei language institute today

I was told that my chinee studies starts next week, but got a phone call today that they start today...

So I had to rush to class...where i was askedto wait at the entrance...!?!?!...after waiting for 10 mins, I asked why I needed to what...not sure why, but then I went to class (a little bit late)...

Many foreingers study at this institute...

A quick visit in Hsinchu

I had alot of food and things left from Daba jianshan that i did not use...

Like a chinese redbull, risedumpling and more than 1 kg M&M´s...

This guy is interesting, his english name is "persistent"

This guy is funny, and very entertaining...

I went to NCTU, food court 2, where they staff knows me, they treated me some sweet red bean thing...not sure what it was...

And I had hamburger and Pasta with meat sauce, probably the best meat sauce in taiwan...

My friend has an interesting app for his smartphone, taiwan is blur, but when u visit a place, it becomes more clear, so he wants to go everywhere in taiwan, i wonder, if i had this app, how many percent of the area i wouldhave covered by now...

Omg, I had alof of coins on my trip...(just a part of my plasticbag-wallet)...

Later on in Taipei, we went ot Burger king...

Fixing some apps...

This is the secong burger for the day...I was in a rush, since I had to go to chinese class after this, i was told...

A 1 day trip to Dabajianshan

I did a 1 day trip to one of my favorite mountains in taiwan...

Cory was nice to lend me his old bag...

Wow, the sign I have seen so many times...(112km to Dabajianshan)...not sure why they have that sign here...it might be just a funny thing...

Visiting the last conveinient store before the mountain road...

And I also dropped by the police station, to tell that Im here...(its some kind of thing u have to do when going to national parks and mountain climbing in taiwan)...

They had 5-6 police stations on this road...

And many small villages up in the mountians with signs of the tribes that lives there...

It was very foggy on the mountain...

And when road 122 ended, there were no signs how to continue...so i was a little bit lost...but luckily my friend called me and told me how to go...(it was just taking left when the road ended and the forrest park started, (taiwan has many forrest parks))...

Wow, they have many big facilites high up in the mountains, so troublesome to bring all the things up here...

I finally reached the national park entrance and visited the last police station...

And got a stamp on my permit, they told me different things, some ppl say I can enter whenever I want, some say between 5 am to 11 am...which makes no sense...

I started to walk at 7am...

They had some boom blocking the road...

Many people were preparing to walk...

Here it the ranger station where I had to leave my permit...

And some notice about the park...

The rangers can drive the first 17km...but others cant...I guess they dont want millions of scooters and cars to drive here...its hard to repair the road...

Nice mountains...

A famous waterfall I was told...

The japanese seemed to go there...

I met many people who started earlier than me...

Omg, a car that went over the edge...

I saw many of these...maybe stones for future construction...

They had distance signs every 100 meter...

Wow, a nice waterfall...

Its always interesting with waterfalls in taiwan...not sure why...in sweden i couldnt care less...

And nettles...wow reminds me of sweden...

There was a shortcut, very steep that I took before the trail started the route looked like this:

road 122 from hsinchu, then 25 km park road, then walk 17 km to the trail, then 11 km to the mountain (and after 4 km on this trail there was a hut, with water and electricity (i think), where people could sleep at, if they applied for a cabin space)...

At this bridge the trail starts...

And some concrete wall in the river...

Here it says "11 km to dabajianshan"...

And the path was partly stones, parly stairs...

nice forrest...

And some rest area...I always wonder how they brought the stuff here...maybe helicopter as at yushan...

Wow...looks like some houses far away...on the mountain top...

2k done...

Pine trees, just like home...

And nice path...

99-hut...

I met the ranger there..he did not speak english...

He said that if i wanted to stay i could take cabin "number 6"...

They had solar panels...it was a very nice place...

Many houses...

His name was "Wandan"...he was aboriginal from the Taiyazhu tribe...so cool...

I continued to the top...and saw some nice flowers on the path...

Pretty steep...

And some small puddles...(or lakes as they say here)...

Wow...after 6km on the trail I could finally see the mountain...

Covered with clouds...

It was a nice landscape up here...

A place for the helicopter to land...

Im getting closer even if there is still 5 km to go...

I can see the trail going on the other side of the valley...

Far away is hsinchu somewhere...

It was very sunny weather...

I had to drink alot...and I also started eating my M&M´s...

Another "lake"...

Wow...a hut...I guess its for people who cant make it down before it gets dark...to stay over the night...

Now im getting closer...

Still alot of clouds...

Same ribbons as they used the mountain lake in nantou (shuiyangsenling)...(some mountain climbing club put them there, since the path was a little bit tricky to find here)...

Now it was 1 km left or something...from here many people take picture...

And there is Xiaobajian shan ("da" means big, and "xiao" mean small)

Steep cliffs at many places...

And alot of small stones...

Looks a little like monument valley in USA:..

with interesing patterns...

Its illegal to climg up to the top. think its a fine of 150000NT if they catch you...

10.9km...almost there...

At the last distance they had some fence...

It was pretty steep on both sides...

11k...I guess im at the "top"...

The path was not easy to see from here...but continues around the cliff and to xiaobajian shan and further to Xueshan, a mountain i climbed last year, but the i came from the Yilan trail entrance...I think there are 3 or 4 entrances to the national park...1 from hsinchu, 1 or 2 from yilan and 1 from taizhong...

Touching dabajianshan...

Clouds covering xiaobajianshan...

Down there I could see many stones from daba...

The path was full of stones that dropped down from the cliffs...

And somestones almost fell on me...

I decided, since I went here alone (i wanted to go with a friend but didnt have his personal data (u need passport number etc to enter)...so I had to be extra careful...

I arrived at about 3pm...

Maybe next time I will walk across taiwan...it would b fun...

JS as dabajianshan...(trying to look like a news reporter)...

Nice view, I think it might be xueshan in the backgorund, most peaks here are over 3000m...

And it was also pretty cold...i really liked it here...

Last view of dabajianshan...

I decided to head back, so that I atleast finished the trail before it became dark...

I had my friends voice in my head: "Dude, you cannot make dabajianshan in 1 day, its impossible"...sometimes im allergic to that kind of attitude...

Wow, another lake...

On the way down I met all the people I saw at the police station...they were just entering the trail...

Wow, I made it to the road around 6pm...now its just like a walk in the park back to the police station...

Some one made an arrow to show the shortcut to the trail entrance...

17km...I was told that there are many monkeys running around in the dark on this road...and that it would be creepy...I saw some monkeys (i think)...it was an interesting walk...

Well at the police station I had to ask if they though I had enouth fuel to get back to hsinchu...they said they thought so...(it was 75km to NCTU (the same road taking me there all the way, more or less)...

They were kind enough to give me an extra liter just in case...however, it turned out that I did make it all the way...and went to Mcdonalds...

Dabajianshan: Check!

Project: Kebabpizza at CITO

I always wanted to bring a kebabpizza to the chalmers office at NCTU...

They didnt have micro wave oven, so I had to use a normal oven for my pizza (that I bought in Alingsås, Sweden)...

The students had a meeting...

I enjoyed my pizza...

Omg, the office smelled kebab pizza...such a rare event...