johansvennung(臺灣)

Hash run in Fulong

I went to fulong today...

I took the train...passed by a 7-11 where i met a local who dont know what lining up means...she just sneaked ahead so interesting...

THe ticket machines at the trainstation only took coins...

"extra cool tshirts"...maybe I need those...

Oskar was prepared, for the "freedom hash run", since it was USA´s national day some days ago..this hash run was a Freedom run", oskar was thus wearing swedish cloloures shirt and brittish sox, to show the americans that history comes from europe...

He also studies chinese...

And played some saxophone...

Finally at fulong...

Sunny day...

Many people met up at the meeting point...

It was a temple near the beach...

Signing up...it cost 200nt...

Many foreigners....

Oskar was preparing the run...

Many old men were also there...

This is Anders from Sweden...he use to come here once in a while...

The beer truck arrived...

And the people creating the track left...

And then we took of...some girls started earlier as well...

Oskar told me to run slow in the beginning, and faser in the end...

We went in the forest...on pathes many times ppl were lost trying to find the right path...

On mudd etc..

And some creek...

And a river....

And on a wall...

Finally after some hour, I saw this sign, i was told that this was the end...think it was about 10km...

Then it was beer time...

Many people discussing the day...

And they played some american songs...

I had some snacks,,, they were good...

Some dogs were also playing in the area...

More drinking and mingeling...

And more snacks...

And then people were heading to the beach...

Oskar thought the americans were interesting...with their mindset...

Clouds in the horizon...

Some were talking about a ceremony...

But most ppl were heading to the water...

Firsti didnt want to swim...

But everyone else went there...

Even oskar...so i joined to...

The rain never reached us...

It was a nice evening...

They had somestage on th other side of the beach, for next weeks beach party here...

More music...

And beer...

And american flag...

They were interesting...

And some ceremony...

With firecrackers...

For freedom...they said...

Omg, someone hadaFjällrävenbag...

Oskar was mingeling...

A guy Chris joined us back to taipei, he has only beenintaiwan for 4 month, and works as an english teacher in Miaoli...

We later on headed to 1885 burger...oskars favorite place...

Nicewith koppargerbs cider...

Oskar showed me his favorite...

It was nice...

But the frenchfrieswere fake...

Not totallyfulll...thats a minus...

Tomorrow is monday...hao3

quarter ironman

I did an quarter ironman yesterday...it was ok, i burned my skin...on my right hand, i missed a spot when putting sunblock all over my body, several layers...
I took it rather easy...might have been the last one up from my starting group after the swimming part...

We swam in a river...

Slow Johan, enjoying the stream...

but I catched up on bike and by foot...as usual...

No running in the transit area...

It was warm..and sunny, I drank 2 liters of beer the night before...so i had plenty of carbs in my body...

After some 3 hours...I finished...

I also passed by a steak house/burger bar...it was ok, they said they had a "big burger"

however, the big part with it was the bread..the meat was like a BK whopper size. (Cowboy station)

I also lost my camera...somewhere...hmm...

But managed to take this pic, I was treated some snails ata local resturant in taipei...

I ended the day with some beers, with my friend Joel...he just fixed so that Pripps Blå, a famous swedish beer will be sold in 7-11 this summer...what a man...here he got 1000nt from me...

 

Last years swedish beer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=romxzHyGufQ

Another burgerbar in Taipei...

I passed near TaiDa, and ShiDa nightmarket today...

Same street as I ate burger at last weekend...they seemed to have many european stores...

Some german place..

Goethe...

Pita...reminded me of when I was in Sarajevo...

This place I visted some week ago..also a burger bar...

But now I went to this place...

Wooden tables...

And alot of wine...

Many books...some swedish...

I read this some years ago...

I got mashed potatoes

And the "biggest "burger they had, called Double double...but only 1 meat...for over 300nt...hmm, maybe a little bit overprice...

They have many interesting hang out places at this area...

Saturdays events...

I saw the last episode of a beer documentary on sweden televisision...early saturday...

It was nice...I miss europe....

On saturday afternoon I headed to a burgerbar...

At Gongguan in central taipei...

I met up some old classmate there...

They had cool paintings there...

They asked me to order the biggest "monster burger" that they have...

I later on saw a fun sign on a store...

Later in the night I met some other swedish classmates who are on a visit in taiwan...

I waited at an MRT exit...and a lady asked people to not stand there...

Some girl was performning near by...

Omg, another guy who was asked to leave...

And another guy (its nice to wait at the mrt entrance, since cold AC air is comming up, and you can see all short people who you are suppose to meet)...

I met my dear friends later anyway...

We went to my favorite burgerbar...

Since i already had a "monster burger" earlier that day I only had 1 patty now...

I wodner who all the bars on the second floor at ximen red building survives, no customers seems to go there...

We also went to another bar, to have some drinks...I had pinacolada...

And later we went to "le ble d´or" my favorite beer bar...

We met up some friends from taizhong...

Honeybeer...

And the magician was there as well. I asked him to perform something...

My friends also had an interesting charger....which he was showing up...

I was asked to sign a card, I made a 11th of spades...

Then, before we left, we met some drunk americans who wanted to join us to the next party...Saamet and Vlad was going somewhere...I think they met up later that night...

Wednesdays events...

Started out with a grapefruit juice...

I really like the flavour...and its good, since i didnt sleep much recently...vitamines are needed...

Then, by coincidende...I dropped by KGB burger...

First time I had a "normal" burger...omg, so small...I should atleat go for a double next time...

A new burgerbar visit...

I went to a burgerbar that was said to be famous...

Rabbit Rabbit inTaipei downtown...

Nice paintings...

And people were posinc with rabbit masks....

And they had many kinds of burgers...

And some old painting with a rabbit...(but no rabbit burger)...

Feels like i have seen this image before...

Here is the mask, that cusomters could try on and take a pic with...

I had the biggest burger they had...as usual.....

It was expensive 440nt...lika an "all you can eat"...and since i was fasting recently, my stomach was pretty small...not ifs back to normal again...

And then, back in the taipei night...millionsof scooters...Taiwan touch your heart, isla formosa...

Taipei hangout...on a saturday night...

I went to many places yesterday night...

Transporting by scooter...ina dense city...

I fear i might get lung cancer, sharing city with millions of otherscooter drivers...

The first destination was a burger bar near taipei 101...

I see that my friend Joel has been here selling swwedish stuff...

Both kopparbergs and Rekorderlig Cider...

They did not have any big burgers at this place...

I had a rekorderilig (it was as expensive as the burger)...

And a pineapple burger...

There was a sign on Taipei 101 say ing something about the lantern festival that is right now...

The next stop was El Cielo near S.Y.S memorial hall...

I found many nice all you can eat resturants near by there...

At El Cielo I met Robin who has a farewell party...

I met many swedes that I havnt met for a long itme there...

I use to hang out with Kristoffer...though...

I had a chocolate drink...it was ok...

We also got some snax if we bought drinks for more than 1000nt...

After this place a visit to Barhi was made again...

Its the Yilan beer bar in Beitou that also has pilsner...

Vincent the owner is a very nice guy...

They didnt have the pilsner yesterday, so I had a liter of wheat beer...

And if you "check in" on facebook at this place u get free french fries...

I also had a hawaii pizza, but it more looked like a pie...

I also passed by shilin night market where they had many lanterns...

And finally I dropped by Ximen, where I took an "all you can drink" offer for 500nt...but the drinks were not that good...

The bars here are very tight...and each of them plays their own music...on this pic  speakers are shown (one to the left and one to the right) playing different music...

I planned to "do the list"...but the drinks were not that good...so I skipped some drinks...

Later on I went to carrefour to buy some things to do milkshake...february 2013 continues...

Tuesday evening...

I tried a new burger bar today...

The staff were a little rude in the beginning...

I had their 3 patty burger...

They had hockey on the TV...

And nice candies at the desk...

Alot of chocolate... 

LAter a visit to coldstone was made...

 I bought peanut butter ice cream...as usual...

 And after that I went to Brass monkey...

This night there was some salsa activity...

I had a San miguel...

More and more people joined the salsa activity...

 They also have a rugby team...

Taiwan attracts latino countries...no wonder there were many people dancing...(after a while)...

And the white guys sat and drank beer...watching Madrid- Mancheser United...

A visit to Cosbys Taipei

I went to see a friend at Ximen last night...

We met at Cosbys Taipei...my favorite burger bar...

Maybe first time I had a single burger...

Millers is a nice beer...

 We also headed to the Bear Bar...

Later on I passed by Carrefour, and I saw Ruishui milk, the farm i visited on the east coast...not sure if the milk is from that farm though...

Omg, Kiwis are 89nt for 10 peices...thats more expensive than in Taidong...strange since Taidong is much further away...and more isolated...(i assume the kiwis are not local)...

In taidong

The following night was spent at Johnnys house...in taidong...

He had Ikea things in the room...

And he insisted of driving the car...omg...

And we went downtown...to some stores...

And played at an arcade...

The games ended pretty soon...

This fighting game was fun...

Wow...a famous place...it must b good...(tai logic)...

A tree house in central taidong...

And some art...

This house is super central...I was told that the restaurant is not that good...

"An introduction to logic..."

Nice interior design in the house...

This is interesting, the closest Mcdonalds is to the right, but they promote a more remote one...for some reason...

We also headed a bit up on the hill that we skipped last time...

Just some temples...

And old people playing karaoke...

We continued to eat lunch...and parked tha car near this nice house...

Sams burger, the resturant thats open in theory 11-22 but in reality at lunch, and after 17-18...

Some blackboard paintings...

"sams f**kin hungry now"...seems bug...i will have that...

It was pretty big..

Later on we went to johnnys again and ate some local fruit...(the one i bought last time)...

Its a very local fruit...

There after we went to a hot spring...

We could cook our eggs there...

It was not that big...and not that structures in the sense of temperatures...(200nt)...

Rain was approaching, so the trip continued north...

A police controling the traffic lights...

Omg, a bike kit at 7-11 so professional...

Road 9 seems nicer thatn road 11 on the east coast...both has plenty of 7-11 stores...

I saw some fireworks later on that night...

Ath this elementary school, where I slept...

They had english translations of almost everything there...

In guanxi they hace a famous bike way...

Omg, road 20, I was very close to climg jiaming moutain, to go to jiaming lake...but ppl said it might be hard, due to the weather...(i planned to do it over the day, since I know some people who has done that)...

It goes cross the island, to road 3 where I went yesterday...

I went a while on road 20...and passed a Bunun museum...to bad that it was closed...

I wanna learn more about aboriginal culture...

This is as far as it gets...almost...

There were many statues like this, here at the road 9 valley...

A sign saying that the raod is closed after some 500k or something...

These "hand in hand" paintingis are very common in taiwan, it seems to be a symbol of aboriginals (as well as the diamond shaped pattern)...

Here goes road 20, I hope to be back soon, and climb some moutains here...

Most roads in the mountains follows a river...

Some aboriginal photos...

More paintings...

Bad weather...

I had breakfast in Yuli...some toast...

And "brownish" milk...

It was said to be 100%...

Omg...seeing this at home, one would think it was something bad...here in asia this (most often inverted) symbol has a positive meaning...

A new railroad is beeing built...

Omg..."warning for birds" thats rare...I never seen that at home...

I also passed by a coffee plantage...

A japanese guy cane here some centory ago and made these plantages...

They had many products...

And equipment...

ALot of coffee trees...

Like this one...

With the red coffee bean...we were told that we could eat them (the visitors were guided)...

Hmm...I brought some beans home...to plant...

Some beans were brown and dry...

They also had facilities to camp...

We also got some tea and coffe wjhile there...

They had many products...

The coffee I liked...

I bought this...it was pretty expensive 1000nt for a small package...they had one for 600nt, with another bean....but i prefer arabica...and i like to support locally produced items...

Omg, the tropical of cancer...

They had many sites to visit on the east reef valley...

And the road I wanted to go on...

Next stop was Ruishui milk farm...

SImilar to the one I visited when I did my ironman in taidong 2 years ago...but this was bigger, since they sell their milk at 7-11...

I bought some pudding, ice cream and milk...

Local produced they said...but they only had 300 cows here, I doubt that this is their only faciility, since they are selling their milk at the 6000 7-11 that exists in taiwan...

They also had ostrich...

And a few cows for visitors to feed...

Many kids were here...

"land of milk, tea and ot springs"...

And places to camp...

Nice houst...looks empty but the roof is the same as home...

Aboriginal pattern...

I was taking road 193 to an aboriginal museum that was open (i was told)...

This place...

Cool pattern...

It was the Amis tribe...

I want to know more about the smaller tribes...Amis and Paiwan seems so big...

They had colourful clothes...

And nice necklace...

And totam pole...

The eat rift vally, super nice...

Sttep hills...

A meeting point for aboriginals...

Next stop was a real lake near hualien...

I seen pictures of this lake on internet but I did know it was here...

I was told it was famous, but hard to get to , sincethe east coast is kind of isolated...

Liyu lake...

Many people were renting out swan boats...

They also had some wetlands...

Some people were also fishing...

And some hotels...ofcourse...

In hualien I went to an "allyoucaneat" buffet at pizza hut...

It was lantern festival as well so there were alot of lights...

In Jiaoxi, I went to my favorite yilan beer bar...they also have a free piblic hotspring...

Yilan beer...

And the dance floor...where old people dance...

once barley and one wheat beer...

More people at the hotspring...they sit and dip ther feet into the water...

Later road 9 was taken towards taipei...it was nice, a view of yilan by night...

Last day in Taidong for this time...

Last day in taidong for this time...

Time to go for a ride with a bike...

Since i was the same weight as my two friends togetter, they had the bike with the best carrier...

We were suppose to cycle along this route. taking us around taidong along the old railway...

It was all restored as a bike path...a very nice one...

With blockades that only small bikes and wheelchairs could pass by...

Sometimes it was asfalt and wooden boards...

Malan station...now there are nice houses here...I wanna buy a house here...seems like the swedish "österlen"...

With art everywhere...and some aboriginal stories...

Many old fary tales...

There is the taidong theater...

And some more art...

And flower garden...

Now we are more in the city...

So we stopped at thie breakfast place...

Nice cats...

Jolly roger...I wish I had a shirt like that...

I had a "burger"...ha, u under know what u get...

And green milk tea...

Breakfast over...lets continue...

Many sites on the way (all in chinese)...

Some alligator reminding me of a cafe in ximen/taipei...

This hill in the middle is in taidong city...I have to climb that next time i come here...

Here is the hill IRL...

The old taidong station...

The japanese built some bunkers here...I went here last time i visited taidong as well...

Bojun was carrying his brother...

But it was ok...even after some hours cycling...

This is as central as u can come in taidong i think...

An old locomotive...to bad they dont have that still... (like in alishan)...

"Taiwanse most beautiful bike path"...omg, thecompetition is high, in hsinchu they say the same about "the most beautifl coastline" which also had a bike path...

When i arrived to Taidong yesterday they didnt say "taidong station", it was only in text, they said something else, no wonder, since that is the "new station"...and this is the old one...

Omg, after cycling around taidong university again, I found a rotary place...

Omg, "tai4", three "da1" chachters in one, so rare they must use bopomofo to tell people...I same another time in taipei main station they also chosed a rare character..."𡘙"...

Source: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%8F%A0%E5%AD%97

On road 11, where I cycled last year, I found a pizzeria, i think a foreingers owns this one...but it was closed...

It was really sunny today...

Only bikes...omg, thats rare in taiwan...I like it...

"hualien" East coast" "East rift valley"...all very special places...

A big temple at the mountains, i will visit that next time...

I realized that this is the road where I ran my marathon last time, in taidong...9 times back and forth...

Seeing the mountains in the horizon...

This place looks like Nantou, an other city in taiwan...I also had feeling of Yilan, at some other places...

It was narrow when cars passed by...

And risky, since we might end up in the rice field...

Back at Bojuns house I saw many post office sculptures..both his parents works there...

We check on internet to see if there were any burgerbars open (or any burgerbars at all in taidong)...

Sams burger said it was open, what a disapointment, they dint open until 17, the 11-22 was only decoration :S

We went by a pizzeria...that seemed to be closed as well...

And Gary Bee was also closed...

Hmm...being hungry in taidong is not good if u want burgers, after 2pm...

We went to a taiwanese restaurant...

I and lamb and some Sen miguel...

They promoted Budweiser as everywhere else here in taidong...

We also got some additional dishes...

The chelsea brunch place looks international...

We ended the day by visiting RT-mart...so interesting...

Taidong has an RT-mart...

Before leaving we tried some Aladdin...peak of happines and peak of melancholy at the same time...

I also bought some fruit that taidong is famous for...

neutral and pineapple flavour...

and also managed to find many tourist spots, before leaving...more reasons to return...

gers, paragliding...

Second highest lake in taiwan...snowy mountains...

I might go there next week...

Many scenic sights near the coast too...

Baibai taidong...

Back in taipei...same country, but here the police carried asault rifle, and they actuallt stop vehicles to check licenes. ofceourse they do it on the same place, so that the maffia dont need to go there, and no disturbance apears, same same but different...Taidong-Taipei 2-0

I finally saw some 3000 year old thing in taiwan (In Taidong)...

I went to Taidong yesterday. Here im exporing the culture of the taiwan country side again, and meet some aboriginals...
I met a Paiwan...
But here there are most Amis...
The east coast are most populated with chinese ppl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_aborigines

omg, Thao had only 281 ppl left year 2000, i wanna go there and see who/whats left...

Yesterday I passed by ikea in taipei to buy some swedish things for the faimly where I stayed at...

EAting Mcdonalds food in the train...

Omg, 1 person working, and three observing...thats efficient...

Hualien...

Yuli...such an isolated place...I better return here some day... 

Wow, finally Taidong...

Here people leave their bags for a while unsupervised...thats taidong...

 And no helmet...just as the east coast I remember...

My friends place looks like I remember it...

Traffic lights are more like a recommendation...

One of the two giant stores...I passed by lat year when I cycled around taiwan...

Later we went to a burger bar...with interesting arts...

Only chinese menus in this part of taiwan...

 All you can eat for 249NT...including pizza...however the whole talbe must take the same offer...so I couldnt  buy it...

Lizzards on the wall...

"La casa mia", popular among the locals...and visitors...

 I had a 7inch hawaii pizza...

 And a burger...

Omg, we passed by "Obama cake" later on that day..they have 2 of these in taidong...

We also went ot the coastline, where we also went last time...now the "globe" was finnaly done...nice lights...

Switching...red...blue...green...etc...it was where they use to have an ancient aboriginal hut, but a typhoon last year destroyed it...

They also had many maps here...and information about the pacific ocean...

 Distans to vietnam...not that far only 1620km...

Omg, Xiaoluiqui and orchid island has the same distance from Taidong...orchid island is really far away...

Guan, an "american island" where the nearest skydiving is...about 2671km away...

 Fiji 7185km away (I think most of these places has related aboriginals as taiwan)...

Looks like a ufo or something...in the dark...I wonder how many typhoons it will stand...(its right at the ocean)...

Here is the place for the aboriginal house...

It says "welcome" or something in some language...

Omg, a chirstmas tree near the county office...

Wow, Carrefour in Taidong...thats exclusive...

 And Taigonds highest buirlgin (i think), abandoned...

And a night market nearby...

Wow, cheaper than Taipei...how can that be...the kiwis is not ever from here...

An aboriginal guard...

I bought some Calpis juice...

A guard is guarding the abandoned building...

We passed by "a plce caleld "red house" , maybe inspiried from the place with similar name in taipei...

We also went back to my rineds grandmas house...where they make famous food...

 A baozi without anything inside..(Mantou)....

I also got noodles...

 They had an intersting map (only 2 years old), showing some roads to cross the island...maybe I will go there next week...

Road 20 and 23...

Many scooters at aour next stop...

It was an awesome place from where we could see the whole city...

No mosquitos, and not warm...it was perfect...

And a pig walking around in the grass...

Its a good way to get rid of left overs...to fed it...

no english menu...

We also bought a deck of cards...and played taiwanese games...

The paraffin lamps reminded me of my summer house at the swedish west coast...

We played 3-4 different games...while sipping hot chocolate...

The pig eventuallt got tired...

Next stop: the red house...

 We had a special offer for budweiser...not sure why, but this seems to be a popular beer here in taidong...

The waiter was funny...

It was an adventure...

Putting effort in finishing the beer...

 My friend were a little slower...

An intersting flower store...open 3am on a wednesday...

Back to the house...tomorrow is another day...

...that starts with playing computer games...thats what taidong teens lie the most (i guess) since they talk about it alot...

"leauge of legends"...a kind of fun game...

And the first stop of the day: The prehistoric museum of taiwan (one of the goals of thie taidong trip)...

Discounts for taigond people...

 English information...so professional...

I had my student ID (taiwanese and swedish)...

Wow...same ticekt system as the railway...

The first exhibition was about german people and their connection to some aboriginals...

 And the classical aboriginal dance I saw in sunmoon lake and ona painting on road 9 between fenggang and taidong some year ago...

Kivala, some word on one of the many aboriginal languages...

 Cool dresses, I wonder why they dont sell more of these in taiwan...like in suth america every tourist store is full of these colourfull patterns...maybe the non aboriginals dont wanna expose aboriginal things...

This city is the "sister town" in germany, near frankfurt I think...

This chinese characters is the name...

 Wow...indians...

 And here I finally saw it...and archeological exhibition in taiwan...i like...

Its in Peinan, where I stay herein taidong...

Here are the mountian ridges of taiwan...

No wonder there are earthquakes almost every day in taiwan (or several every day, for doubters, please visit: http://www.cwb.gov.tw/eng/index.htm)...

Wow...the eastenr part of taiwan is on adifferent continental plateau, no wonder it shakes alot...

This is how taiwan use to look like...to bad no pandas went here...I saw some bamboo forrest near alishan where I think they could have lived...

And glaciers in Xueshan...that is cool...

 Omg...Air pollution...no real solution, since most taiwanese voters are scooter drivers...they might continue driving forever...

And some exhibition where they used Sherlock Holmes, Im not sure why...since the exhibition had nothing to do with him...

Weird...

Semimusimuk...aboriginal language...

And skeletons...

Wher can I see the old traces of life in taiwan today? At a rice field in Paishgnan...

 or a rice field in Niaosung...

Many pots where made by taiwanese ppl thousands of years ago...same as home...

They had different designs, and sizes...

They even had an iron age here...

And they use "bopomofo", a taiwanese version of pinyin...for kids to read the characters...I wonder how many kids understands bopomofo, that cant read chinese characters (these easy ones)...

Wow, so many sites (The red spots) where archeological findings has been made in taiwan...

Another old site, where there now is a city...

 and this site is not a rice field today...but it is "abandon agriculture field and tombs", maybe I still can go and see it...

Just as sweden has an ice age in the 1300 taiwan has a period of hard times to...why its hard to find findings (even tainan was covered with water during many years)...

Under "Hua-kang-shan stadium" in hualien there were some findings...

 And in fushan (i think north of taidong)..., now agriculutre field...

 And a rice field in tainan...

Omg...the aboriginal languages are spread to many places (the most spread language in the world)...

 ethnic group: Atayal...

Like in the movie "Seediq Bale", reminding me of the aboriginals in new zeeland...

 ethinc group: Paiwan, like my friend Peiche in taidong...

Amis, they are at the east coast between taidong and hualien...

Some aboriginals looks like philippinos and indonesians...no wonder...since they use to travel all over the palce...

Ethic group: Puyuma...

Ethic group: Rukai...

 Ethic group: Saisiat...

EThic group: Tsou...warriors...

Ethic group: Bunun...

The bunun people used wichcraft...unfortunetely christians changed the culture...

And healing was used by Kavalan people...

Same system as in Korea...age matters (the older the better for Sakizaya people)...

They were big beleivers of nature...the Truku people (Gaya (gaia) theory was used)...

 Omg, Seediq...like in Seediq bale...seems like they live near hsinchu...

Thao ppl lived near sunmoon lake...I should check for the warriors next tim I go there...

Austroneasian speaking people: "geographically, they are the most widely distributed language group in the world"...from africa to near south america (but not crossing the atlantic ocean)...

ten primary branches of this language is found in taiwan...

My friends were bored...(I might also be, if i went to a swedish museum)...they just sat and waited for me to inhale aboriginal information...

Some special expos at the museum...next time I might go th the guide rouge resrurant in the area...now we went downtown instead...

To a japanese restaurant...

 Teppanyaki...

 Omg. a 3000nt lunch...

My friend thought I wanted a 800-900nt lunch, i thought it was a little much, after all we are in the chaep country side of taiwan...

Squid...

Green or brown bean...ye, they eat is sweet here in taidong as well...

 Bojun was the last one to finish as usual...

They closed almost when we came, but kept open andohter hour...the cheif knew alot about european food...

Omg, Taidong universoty...so special...

Maybe I shoulds tudy here some time...they dont have that many departments...but I will tkae what they offer...

The main entrance...

 My friends favorite place in taidong...a book store...

 They had an exhibition...reminded me of bosco...

And a nice back yard for reading...

Intersing, this guy has connections to sweden...

Omg, at this park, no dogs, no footbals, no littering, no people in a box, no cars (this was at a parking lot), no strollers, no smelly things..(maybe its BBQ)...

Wow, one of the higest buldings in taipei, the hotel I leved in then i did my first ironman...

Some are place...

 A famous tea store...

 The most expensive thing was 45Nt, thats much cheaper than taipei where i often find 60-80nt drinks...

A hut from the old times...

The next stop was a site where we could see a tomb...

 It was a park...

 And they had orienteering stops...

 And amphitheaters...

My taidong friend enjoyed talking to the guards at the place...

 "blind peoaple only" (i was told)...so funny...if u can see, are u prohibitedto walk near this line then?

A nice view over the city...

 Green island in the horizon...

Orchid island far away...

But I could not see it...

The cliffs here are famous for beeing "dead"...

And here the tomd was...

Finally, after 4 years, I found a site thats older than the spanish fortress in tamsui...

HESS language school...a reason for foreingers to work here...

We went north on road 11, and found an aboriginal village...

I could not take pics inside their expo hall, but they had nice hardcrafts, even using Swedish absolute vodka bottles...

And some nice place to drink...

"amis" the name of the tribe living here...

 And nice bags...I bought some cards...

 And supported their "no nukes" program, they were complaining alot, avbout a new hotel that was build here on the sout east coast, without governmental permission, but since the culture here is that u have to follow the authorities, its hard for the sociaty to act, when some gangsters act "outseide the culture patterns":..the locals (who were super good in english) gave away flyers...

...about the coastline hotel that will destroy the sensite coral rief...maybe its the same attitude as with scooters...that environment is a secondary issue...economical growth is prio 1 (american style)... :P

Some nice cafeteria with aboriginal people (i think)...

More propaganda...

They also had a sugar facotry that was famous at this place... 

Else we continued north...I wanted to cross the mountians...

We tood road 23...

Omg..,"watch out for monkeys"... 

 it was dark. maybe the monkeys were sleeping...

 Some statues but no monkeys...

We didnt see any monkeys...but continued to an aboriginal restaurant...

WIth food from many tribes...

Not sure which dish belonged to which tribe though...

 Some pork...

 It started to rain alot...but we had roof...even if it waws outside...the beauty of taidong is that even the winter is warm...

Back to home...playing some games...

I was taght how to play "leauge of legend"...

 It was fun...

They had interesting pictures of different characters...

And the game was free to download, but if one wanted to upgrade faster than just playing to earn bonuses,. One could buy extra bonus...

Later we continued to a bar...where they had live band...

Many different groups performing...

Some guys were preparing the show...

 "Who´s" was the bars name...minimum charge 300nt...per person...

 Wow, emergency exit...thats modern...

I had a kalhua with milk (even if i ordered a baileys with milk)...it was really small...(250nt)...

The guys playing wer cute...some philippino people...

And they played good songs to...bothenglish and chinese songs...

 Some philippino girls danced (not sure if they were staff)...

 And a girl had her virthday...

The guitar player had a mullet just like me... 

This badn was also there (but they didnt play), i guess they take turns...

We were the only customers there, after 1 am...taidong is not a party place on a thursday....atleast not this thursday...

Tuesdays adventure...

I started the day with a brunch at taipei main station...

A place i seldom go to...since its often full...

MY friends had breadkfast...

 Mostly european style i guess...(or american)...

 I had a hamburger...

 Later I went to Dihua street...a crowded street, before chinese new year...

 The traffic lights created long queues on the street...

 They were selling candies...(asian style)...

 And moste things were in red and gold...

 And many things one can try...

 Slimy stuff...

 The main entrance was not far from the bus station...

 Many strands...

 And wheat or soemthings from different parts of the world...

 And peanuts for girls and boys...

 And the cracker I tried in Xianluiqui outh of kaohsiung with my friend Allen last year...

 Lego candies...

 Dry prawns...and fish and other insects...its hard to know if its sweet or salt, vegetarian or non-vegetarian what u eat from these markets...

 Another stands selling peanuts aimed for boys...

 Alishan tea...

 A temple for single people...

 Many tai ppl praying...

 Slime candies...

 Meat skewers...

 Boy and girl nuts again...

This lady wanted to take pics with us before we left...soe kind of advertisement for some taipei magazine...

 A tram near taipei main station...

And i bought train tickets to taidong...(its hard to get tickets for things nowadays...chinese new year is a week of the year when chinese countries stands still...chaotic...

This store is useful, they sell 300nt phonecards for 250nt...I must buy my card here next time...

The store can be found here...

I went to TLI after this...wow so lucky...cruising downtown, and find the street directly (this is another language school on the same street)...

Taipei Language Institute...

 Later I went to kgb burgers...

The waiter was from the philippine...same as my friend who joined me...he thought her name was Maria, I asked, and it was correct, it was a typical philippino name...

I had a blue cheese burger...

They had beer from many parts of the world...

Visit taipeis largest burgerbar...

I visited Taipei (or taiwanes) largest burgerbar last night...

"Sweet burger" is the name...

They had some interesting posters... 

 Free refill of coke...

 And a pre dish with cheese sause and vegatables, reminded me of my childhood in sweden...(grönsaer och dipp)...

I also by some strange reason got potatoes instead of french fries....

They also showed football etc on a big screen...that was nice...

I had to pay, and found a good opportunity to get rid of my 2,5 kile extra weight...

484NT...its not alot but its something...I hav to go to a more expensive place if i want to lose more weight...

Burgerbar visit in Taipei...

I went to a burgerbar today...

Its near gongguan and called Second Floor café...

They had a motorcycle at the entrance...

And christmas decoration...

Not sure about the name...

The interior design reminded me of the dutch villa in Jakarta...

I got a soups and bread with oil, it was nice...

And wallpaper, which is rare in taiwan...

MY burger was avocado and cheese...it was ok...

Nice burgerbar

I visited a burerbar today...

Theme: Superman...(or super heroes)...

Many probably bought at a DC comic store...

I had my super man hood shirt...

They had a nice lungh offer...and free wifi...a nice place to work at...

Mandatory christmas decoration...

And pickle burger...

 

 

Xinpu marathon...and a day in hsinchu...

up in early morning...

After some hours running (it was raining in the beginning...but later on just cloudy) i was done...

I went to this restaurant in Hsinchu downtown...

I wanted to have extra cheese on my burger...but after 5-10 minutes frustration about what "extra cheese" really means among the staff...I gave up...

After 30 minutes...my friend finised a chew on his burger...

My burger was gone...we are two extremes on each side of speed eating, im fast and he is slow...

After 80 minutes...the last struggle  ...

I also exchanged 270nt, from my friend, to single 1 dollar coins...I didnt mind using them...

It took a while to count when I bought a beer and some nuts...(100nt=23SEK)...

Travelling in northern Taiwan...

I went to travel in northern taiwan...

And visited the steak house, which owner I met at Chubbys burger in Jhubei some weeks ago...

Franks texas BBQ...ppl said it is famous...

They had many different things on the menu...

And the staff was wearing some nice cowboy looking shirts...

I got a coffee with free refill...

And I bought a burger ofcourse...it didnt tasts that much...

They also had the texas flag...

After the steak house visit the next stop was Yuhlui Geopark...I wanted to go here many times...but its kind of isolated...

A village is built mainly for this goelogical area...

And some cliff formation...this version is a fake one...

I can see some island out in the ocean...it is not turtle island...but looks almost the same...

There were many people from mainland china here...

And the thin mushroom shaped ston in the background is what makes this place famous...

It is a long queue to take a picture with it...so interesting...

It was very strict that one only can walk on the path in one direction...but if walking off the path, there was no rule...kind os strange...

Some stones looked like this..so interesting...like ths moon, or something...

A guard is chesking so that people are behaving...

People took pictures from both sides of this stone...its talled "the queens head"...

And here are people queuing for taking a picture...

Soo many people...

It kind of looks like a head...

Other stones also looks like things...but they are not announced...so people dont care...

I even saw some stones...looking like the queens head...

It was a path along the coastline...where tourist could walk...

The queue to the queens head became longer and longer...

Here are some other mushrooms...

This one was interesting...like a hole in it...

The next stop was the Makong gondola in Taipei...where one could use the student ID to enter...so convenient...

It was kind of dark outside...

They had many stations until the top...

One was Taipei zoo...

It was anice skyline...even though my camera hd hard time capturing it all...

And the pics became blur due to the lond exposure time...

Taipei 101 could also be seen...from the cable car...

They had alot of tea stores at the top...

Some of them were said to be famous...

I can imagine many tapiei people cominghere during weekends...

This is the view of taipei...

Still Taipei 101 was visible...

It was nice...

The station was a part of the MRT system...

The car on the way back had glass floor, so during daytime, it is possible to see straight down...

Taipei 101 from nearby...

After the gondola...the trip went to Chilis restaurant in Neo19 building at Taipei City hall...

After that some eye contacts was purchased...

Many different eye colours to chose among...

I got some liquids to...and a crash course in how to put them on and take them off...but it was not that good...

I asked some friends later...and they told me a differnt way...that seemed better...

A weekend in Kaohsiung...

I was invited to visit my friend Allens family in Kaohsiung in south of taiwan...I took the cab to MRT...we were still on Daxue road and the taximeter showed 105...it was alot of traffic...

Rush hour everyday, alot of scooters and cars...

Running around, trying to find Allen, we passed by each other, but met up at Taizhong...

I bought some honey cake for Allens family, it is their favorite...

Entertainment at the MRT station in Kaohsiung...

And a nice waterfall...

Near a place called Beer garden they had alot of entertainment, this guy sang Adele s, "fire to the rain", super good...

We continued to check out Barcode...similar to the one in Taipei...

Not that many people though...

And some MC gang showing their vehicles...

This is a nice restaurant place in Kaohsiung, with many fancy names...

We went to this burger bar not far from the city center...

I tried this cider...

They showed the Olympics...

I had a cheese burger with extra cheese...it was good...

We were picked up by Allens mom after the bar visit...

And went to their blocks...in south of kaohsiung...

Were we drak more beer and ate super good cheese...

I got an appartment by myself...it was fun...

With alot of wooden furnitures...

Some things that the old owners didnt want to keep...

This is allen as a kid, super cute...

We watched the olympics....at allens place...

And drank this Czech beer...probabl one of my new favorites...

Allen also showed my some military photos...

And I got some equpiment, which made it feel like i lived in a hotel...

Breakfast...same nice cheese and some tomato...

And ice tea...

This is their car...a Nissan...

Driving in Kaohsiung makes it feel like u are in a tropicla climate (whish it is) with palm trees etc...

Is it green or red? sometimes driving in taiwan can be confusing...

We went south of Kaohsiung to a local fish market...

And to take the ferry...

...to this island...

...called Xiao luiqui...

There was alot of water in the river, due to typhoon...Kaohsiung city can be seen in the horizon...

We saw some "famous" fish stand...with pics from when famous people passed by...

And we god Haomapai...(number cards)...for the ferry...

A small ferry...alot of waves on the ocean...

We could see the swedish female football team meetingthe french team...

French was in the lead...when someone changed channel...

Some statues were taken by boat to the island...

Seems like a symbol of taiwan...I have seen them many times before...

There were many people on the boat...

Some aboriginal was singing on the TV...

They were famous I was told...

This is the first sight of the island...

The ferry leaves about 2 times per hour or something...

Its kind of touristic, even though they dont promot the island so much...I guess most people here are from Kaohsiung...we were recommended to rent a scooter...

We thought about rentingbikes, but it was super warm...so we decided to be lasy...

Just like the east coast, no one wears helmet here...we were not even offered helmet...

Its rare to see cars...mostly scooters...like green island...

They had many siteson the island...that was smaller than green island...it might have taken 0.5-1 hour to drive around...

1 or 2 7-11 were spotted...

And scooters everywhere...

We went to eat local food...which means seafood...

This seemed to be some pork though...

But the rest was Tuna and prawns etc...

It was super good...

And we went to drink...and I had local mango smoothie...

Tourist groups were everywhere...just like on Green island, it is common that one gets a guide and some trips included in the hotel...

This Vase rock is one of the most famous things from this island...

It had a history...and many other cliffs had funny names, just like on green island...

Now one could walk to the rock..but some times if is surrounded by water...

Alot of people were diving around it...

We also went to some caves...where it said that we could drink the water...

Given that people never washed their feet in it...etc...it looked kind of dirty...

Most cliffs here were corals...

And they had alot of cliffs...

And also miltary bunkers...

And many places called "ecological zones"...due to its unique fauna...

And over 80 temples...(maybe 84)...which makes it the most temple dense place in taiwan, or on earth...they pray alot for good weather...

We saw even more mushroom shaped cliffs...

I had my new flipflops, so I could easily walk in the water...

Allen walked barefeet....

...and made a jump...

...while I was climbing the cliffs...

We saw this interesting fella, with its house...

And cool pattern in the rocks...

Then we continied with the scooter...feeling like we were on a medeterainian island...

And we bought this ticket, to see the sites on the island...

The sunset is said to be super nice from here...

One of the 2 light houses on the island...but hard to see the view from the mountain where it was situated...due to the forrest...

And we also saw a puppet show...

And one of the most famous beaches on the island...

Many divers were here...

They are promoting electrical scooters...that makes me happy...

At the ferry they were selling puke from swallows...kind of wierd...they mix it with sugar and water and drink it...

I bought this crackers...it was with seaweed...

On the way back, we saw Korea vs Denmark on badminton...

And the fish market had expanded...to the street...

Alot of big fishes...so nice...

Later we went to Kaohsiung downtown...I saw this ferriswheel...near ikea...

We went to a sky skraper which had many restaruatns, it was the one I saw the night before...

45 floors...and we were heading to the top...

To this nice steak house...

And a fantastic view...

and a super nice salad buffet...

This is a blur image of kaohsiund downtown...

I had a filet mignon...

And alot of desserts...

This is Allens mother...super nice lady...and his Aunt to the right...also a favorite...

Here is the view from Allens house...towards the Kaohsung international airport...

The day after we were heading north...

This old building use to be the highest building in Kaohsung...

Fumes from a car...people say that if i had in this picture to the police I can get money ( I assume i need the registration sign as well...atleast this workds for scooters...)

Still feeling like driving in a jungle...

This was the destination of the day...

Some munk from Shanghai, starte a fund to raise money...

...to build this...

A high budha ona stutue...some one said its the highest in asia...jsut like the thai ppl said in bangkok, and the buthan people in Thimphu...

Alot of cars were here...it was hard to find somewhere to park...

They finaly removedsome cones so that we could leave the car...

This are listsof donators...super many...and this place has alot of money I was told due to the donators...

Chen...something...same name as allens mother...but its not her...

Here is some swedish funding...

Here is the chnese munk...who raised the fund...

With different people, posing...

This is the whole area...super big...reminded me of an american cementary in europe...

They also had nice stores...

And the compulsory starbucks and 7-11...

EAch building has some kind of activity inside...as including the pyramid at the end...

I donated 1 NT, maybe my name will be listed some time, on those stone walls...

They had alot of rooms and places for the munk who started to build this place...

A lego miniature of the temple...

It was super hot to walk here...it was good that they had AC inside...

In here they had a white jade stature of Buddha, and Buddhas tooth...there are only 3 in theworld, one tooth is in china, one on Sri lanka, and one here...we asked how they could guarantee that it really was budhas...they jsut said, that some people recorded its position...since it wa taken from tibet to here...

I also bought  a fortune cookie...more like a "kinder surprise", with this message from the Shanghai munk...

And we went to some kind of museum inside the pyramid...

My flipflop made alot of noise, when walking...

It said that LUmbini was in india...but its in Nepal..atleast according to the map I saw in Kathmandu last year..and what they nepalese people told me...

This is how the buddhism spread around in asia...

This is some necklace...I also got from asia...

And here are places that was supported by the fund...mostly earthquake...but also the 9-11 attack in use...by some reason...I wonder why they didnt support africa more than USA...that atleast are in bigger need for money..maybe it is due to political reasons...

Here is the nice view of the temple...reminded me of Shen kai shek memorial hall in taipei...

It seems like on ecan go up in the Buddha statue...but im not sure...

Some last pose before heading back...

So cool..Wu Bai cellphone case...(a famous Taiwanese singer...)

Many tourist groups were walking around here...

Her one can see the 85 floor building, that use to be the highest in taiwan...

When we came back, we were served Taiwanese food...super nice...

They had a watch that always went to fast...it was an old wedding gift...

Allens mom in the kitchen...

We took HSR back again...it took about 90 minutes...

Then i took the light rail back to campus...

The same system as the local trains in taiwan...

Kind of new...i think about 6 month old train system...

The green line is the light rail...

I should bo by this train more often...it was fun...

A dinner in Jhubei...

I went to eat with my taiwanese friends some days ago...

Taiwan, full of traffic, with poluting scooters...I heard that u can take a picture of fumes form a scooter and get money from the police...for "telling", but the worst gases are not visible...I wonder what this rule is for...

 

We went to chubbys...

Sweet friends...I had to rpmis to join them to Kaohsiung next weekend, they wanna host me around...

I also mingeled with this guy who has lived in taiwan for 30 years, owns a steak house in taipei (Franks texas BBQ), and invited me to visit him, and now gonna be a citizen of taiwan...he tld me, he came here to help some local girls to set upa business...

For once, i did not order their biggest burger...

They insisted to pay...

There after we went to Beerworks...

And ordered some snax to...I insited to pay...

Im looking forward to the Kaohsiung visit...