Kuala Lumpur

I took a two day trip from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. It was just a city. I love East Malaysia. Borneo is the best. KL was just full of fancy stores and dirty streets. The transportation was the most confusing I have encountered so far. I went to the Petronus Towers and walked around some of the markets. My favorite thing about Malaysia is shopping in the markets. They have the best knock offs and bargaining is so much fun. I have not had a more enjoyable experience haggling anywhere other than Malaysia. It rained one day so I popped into a massage parlor, for $30 I got an hour of reflexology, an hour full body, and 20 min of Dr. Fish. It was great.



I saw this girl in gold heels from the airport bus.




The road my hostel was on had about 50 stamp shops. They all make stamps in less than 30 minutes. I didn't know there was such a rush for stamps...


The Petronus Towers.




Some graffiti, but I couldn't figure out how to get down there. Everyone I asked said you couldn't and I wasn't about to jump.


Joy Juice. Not good.




This man was friendly. He sold noodles in a bag.

Here are the noodles.



Even drinks come in a bag. You can't drink from cans or bottles on the streets in Malaysia, but you can drink them in a bag. These are juices and milks teas.


This man was grinding up some green veggies in an alleyway. I am sure they will be tasty later.





Do not caarry drugs anywhere in Southeast Asia.


Mosque

Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong has been one of the places I have been longing to see for quite some time. Victoria Harbor always looked beautiful and the food always sounds amazing. Well, the food always sounded interesting. Some of the food eaten in Hong Kong includes bird's nest soup. The birds nests are actually made from spit. The nests come from caves in Borneo. It used to be very dangerous to harvest, but now they keep birds in barn-like structures to make nest harvesting more easy. There is a food called thousand year old eggs. The eggs are fermented for like a year and turn black and smell terrible.


The buildings in the harbor front have a light show every night. Apparently is costs a million HKD to keep the buildings lit up every night. That seems like a lot. The power they used is traditional coal, a fact the city seems pretty proud of.



The scaffolding used in construction is bamboo.


The is the Mirador Mansion where I stayed. It was an interesting and scary place at times. It was filled with so many people and different things.


A view of Victoria Harbor on a clear night. The China Bank building is the one with the triangle designs. Apparently it causes bad energy to the buildings around it.



I'm not sure if this is just because pollution is very bad in Hong Kong, or if there was a bit of Yellow Dust. The was the same weekend that Taiwan, China, and Korea were all hit with really bad Yellow Dust storms. I saw photos of Beijing and it looked horrible. People were wearing gogles and everything looked orange. Anyways, it was difficult just looking across the harbor that night.


Again, very smoggy and dirty.



A view from the Peak. The Peak is on Hong Kong Island. This is where all of the naking takes places. When you walk the streets in Central, you feel like you are in London. It was just white people with British accents and European stores. There is a lot of money on this side of Hong Kong. The peak is covered with mansions. This green area is actually someones yard. I snuck the photo through a fence.


This the the ferry that connects Hong Kong Island to the Kowloon peninsula. It only takes 7 minutes to cross.


There are some tram lines that run east and west across Hong Kong Island.


I rode the tram to Causeway Bay where I was watching some films for the Hong Kong International Film Festival.


This is one of the films I saw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XnQndw478U

There was a really funny short film about a rice cooker being lonely because his owner never used him, just cooked things in the microwave.

I also watched Echoes of a Rainbow. It was sad. It was called a Hong Kong weepy. When a film is described as weepy, expect to cry.

There are many films I missed that I want to see, Crossing Hennessy and Love in a Puff. Those two are also Hong Kong films.

Of course while I was in Hong Kong I ate lots of dim sum. It was Delicious.

Macau is one of those places that feels very in between. The was a distinctively Portuguese feel and many people spoke Portuguese and there were delicious little bakeries everywhere. I can't even describe how amazing the peanut cookies tasted. It was also Asian in a way. There was also an American feel with all of the Vegas type casinos. It was a beautiful city. I made the mistake of going on a Sunday, so it was extremely crowded.

Macau is very easy to reach from Hong Kong. The ferry is about $20 and takes an hour. Ferries leave about ever 15 minutes 24 hours a day.






It almost felt like I was in Europe. I feel horrible making observations like that sometimes. Especially at a restaurant and the food is really good. Then saying how it's almost like eating in France or the U.S. Why in a country like Macau that is such a mixture of cultures is it necessary to assume the western influence is the better part. I guess it's something I need to keep in mind. Those ethnocentric thoughts will sneak up on even people with the broadest minds.



I had the chance to see a dragon dance. There were two dancers in the costume.




The main Plaza.



I loved the patterns on the sidewalks.



The old St. Sebastian Church. Macau is the Catholic diocese that overseas pretty much all other Asian countries except maybe the Philippines. I remember that Korea is under the Macao diocese.



Loooking down from the Church.



The Lisbona Hotel and Casino.



The ferry to Macau. There is also a slow ferry that takes about 2 hours.

Neptune and Jupiter Classes

Here are some photos of my students...

Thomas from the Jupiter Class.


Showing off their kicks.


The Jupiter Class is full of super heros!


Jenna and I making a heart.


Jenna and Jason.



Ellen wanted to take a photo of Jenna, Jason, and I but she had the camera turned around...



Jenna.


Jason has a powerful fist. I think that's his super power.


Hugs.


The Jupiter class can be sweet. They are making a heart.



Edward with my sunglasses.


Raphael with his sunglasses.


The Neptune Class could be goofy.


Lilly at graduation.


Peeking over the seats.


The Neptune Class.



Raphael and I after graduation. He is the silliest students. He says that he is "R" because he is Raphael. That was how he signed his name on papers.

Solo Trip: The Beginning- Taiwan

Hello! I have finished 14 gruelling months of teaching English in South Korea. Free and last, free at last! I have decided to do some solo travelling before heading back to the states. I will be in Southeast Asia for about 3 months. It has taken a little getting used to, but now things seem to be going pretty smoothly.

The first stop I made was in Taipei, Taiwan.

I was didn't really know what to expect in Taipei. The weather forecast was not looking too great either. When I got to the airport I was all turned around. I was supposed to take a bus to my hostel. The woman selling tickets kept telling me to change to the free shuttle and pointing out the door. I didn't know what she was talking about, but I went the direction she was pointing. The bus driver asked my hotel name and everything was fine. He told me where to get off, showed me the transfer bus, and told the next driver where I was going. When we got to the backpackers hostel the driver got off the bus and showed me to the door. I have never encountered such friendly bus drivers! Taipei was off to a great start.

Once I got settled into my hostel, a very nice place indeed, I decided to have a walk around the area. I was in the cultural center of Taipei so there was a lot to see. I went to the film park, got a massage with some reflexology, and ate at the toilet restaurant. It was all fun and then it started raining. This was no ordinary rain. This was torrential down pour stuff. Luckily I was on the bookshop street by then and had a look around some shops. I came across the most boring bookstore ever. It was two floors of nothing but computer books. It was absolutely dreadful. I moved on quickly.

The people in the hostel were all really friendly. There was a model UN conference in town so there were students from all over the world. It was interesting to hear about it.

One of the hostel mates (Eric) and I went to the Shilan night market together. It was like a carnival. There were games and treats galore. We got some bubble tea, had a look around, and ate some delicious fruit. Taiwan has an amazing assortment of fruit that I have not encountered elsewhere. I wish I would have taken photos of some of it. Even the street vendors had fairly healthy food. There were lots of fruit and veggies fresh or grilled.

I met up with a fellow La Crosse graduate named Kristen who is teaching in Taiwan. We went to an area with hot springs south of Taipei. It was a beautiful area. There was a waterfalls and mountain river. It was really foggy that day, so it added to the mystic of the area. It was also interesting to hear how different teaching in Taiwan is compared with Korea.

There was a lot to see outside of Taipei. I would like to go back and see Sun Moon Lake.

Yes, I went to a toilet themed restaurant. Apparently they are also popular in Japan.


The seats are toilets and the tables are bathtubs.


Even the food is served in a toilet and made to look like it should be in a toilet. It actually tasted pretty good.


Dessert.



It rained. A lot.


This was a huge square. At one end was a memorial for the first president of Taiwan. The other buildings were for preforming arts.


A view from the president's memorial.


I don't know why everyone was sitting just looking at the statue. I don't know if anyone does that at Lincoln Memorial...


It really was huge.





This was in the city park near the memorial. It was kind of creepy, even during the day.



A chicken for sale in snake alley. There was no way I could eat here. Many of the restaurants had cages full of little snakes to eat.


These were the biggest snakes.


This was the floor in front of the big snakes. I don't know if there was a ceremony or what that was preformed.



Some of the smaller snakes with cages of rabbits and mice.



An alley way near snake alley. Notice how everyone is on a moped.




I found this thrown over some bags of cement near a construction site.



No need to play your video inside on nice days.


EVERYONE here drives a moped.



The is a picture of where our sky car landed us on the mountain top. It was like we were in the clouds.


A lake in the park on top the mountain.



Eric at the buddle tea stand. Yum!



This a food stall at the night market. Everything is cooked in front of you. Taiwan is very veggie friendly, but there is some scary meat products thrown in... Pigs blood is made into a jelly that is very popular to eat.



Love outside of Taipei 101.


A view ot Taipei 101 from the bottom.



I do miss Cadott. Good bye, Taiwan.