With good weather forecast for the weekend and no hot water at home, we decided now was the time to go on our first overnight bike trip here in Taiwan. There’s something really satisfying about travelling away from home under your own power. We chose to head over to the relatively nearby mountain town of […]
Category: Asia
Buying a Bike in Taiwan
One of the things we wanted to do in Taiwan was explore it by bicycle. We decided, being in the land of Giant and Merida, that we would buy some bikes to ride for the year (and potentially take back to Canada). We always like to pop into local bike stores when we travel, and […]
Happy New Year!
新年快樂 (Xīn Nián Kuài Lè)! Happy New Year! I had gotten myself into quite a bind about how to spend New Year’s Eve here in Taiwan. Part of me wanted to go to Taipei to see the fireworks at Taipei101. The pictures and videos I have seen in years past have been amazing, and to […]
2012: A Retrospective
With just a few hours left, it is time to look back at the year that was!
Games for EFL Classes
My awesome co-teacher Erica shared a new game with me. Games are a great way to reinforce learning in a fun way. The new addition to the arsenal is The Pizza Game. Draw a big circle and then another just around the outside (to mark the crust). Divide the pizza into wedges, one for each […]
A Weekend in Hong Kong
Mike and I spent a long weekend in Hong Kong with our friends Mike and Angelina from Toronto. Then they came back to Taiwan with us, for two weeks of fun!
Friday Night in Downtown Hsinchu City
Outside of the train station in Hsinchu there is a great public area, where there are often performances going on. Two weekends ago we drove past a very professional looking choir in tuxedos and evening gowns. This past weekend we decided to drop by, grab baked potatoes with all the fixings (cheese sauce, broccoli, bacon, […]
China – Changshu, Shanghai and a day trip to Suzhou
Tuesday July 24 Today was a day to relax. We had most of the day to ourselves, while Wladyka was at work. We slept in, and took advantage of the fact we could do our laundry at his apartment! After two weeks of washing the bare minimum in the sink, that was a welcome change. […]
China – Chengdu
Tuesday July 17 We grabbed an airport shuttle bus from the Xi’an railway station to the airport, and then took a flight to Chengdu from Xi’an. They loaded the plane, and then due to an “air traffic jam” we had to wait on the tarmac for about an hour before we were cleared for take-off, […]
China – Beijing and Xi’an
We spent our first week in China in Beijing and Xi’an, and saw many world-famous sites! Monday July 9 We arrived in Beijing and took the airport railway into town (another city with airport rail!). We dropped off our stuff in the hutong hostel, and then after a quick nap decided to walk around to […]