Real time post!

This is a quick, real time update from HONG KONG! We still have a lot to write and post about Taiwan and HK, but just wanted to drop in a quick note. We have been getting settled in for the last few days - buying our sheets, shampoo, fruit, Metro pass etc to make our living here more comfortable, less cold and more awesome! School is finally (I must say finally because it is so late into the year) starting tomorrow, which is exciting but also scary! We met lots of people these past few days; there are many MANY exchange students from all over the world. We have probably met people from at least 15 different countries. Most of them are enrolled in the Business program here, but we have also met some Engineers and Science peeps.
Anyways, we'll post once things slow down a bit...if they ever do. Even if they don't, we'll be posting anyways :P

Taiwan Adventure Journal - Day 4!

January 20th is another packed and fun-filled day! Both my uncle and my dad were busy in the morning/afternoon, so it was Jordan's and my first adventure out into the BUSY STREETS OF TAIPEI BY OURSELVES! Dun dun dun. My brother told me of this awesome area where they sell a lot of stuff for crafts, beading and DIY (Do it yourself) stuff, so we decided to set that as one of our destination points. We did a bit of researching on how to get there, and set off explore the city!
Fortunately (and amazingly perhaps?), we did not get lost and we ended up in the middle of many DIY and beading stores. We shopped around for a couple hours, got a few awesome crafts stuff (Jordan got some too!) and starting heading back to the MTR (subway) station. BUt we realized how hungry we were, so we followed our hungry stomachs to the smell of yummy street food. It was the first time we looked for street food without my dad or uncle's help! We ended up eating some awesome fish cakes, dried stewed beef noodles and also so dumpling-like pancakes. Our next stop was the Long Shan Temple (龍山寺), because Jordan really likes looking at the different temples. It is right beside an MTR station, which is really convenient. I love the Taipei MTR! There is just so much to do at many of the MTR stations, and the MTR is so fast, efficient and cheap.

 Food stand 1!

Taiwan Adventure Journal - Day 3!

Day 3, Jan 19th, was probably one of our sunniest and warmest days. We chose this lovely sunny day to go to the Taiwan Exhibition buildings and see area that was setup to showcase Taiwan to the international community. It's a nice open area that has some gardens for walking around and has plenty of families with children and tourists. The whole setup is a park with these different green areas and some cafes and the exhibition buildings are grouped in one area. The admission into the expo buildings is quite reasonable (about 60-150 TWD depending on the show) and showcase some pretty nifty technology as well. Each of the buildings has some neat and different architecture and the combination of that and the green space makes for some lovely photography. The three expos we watched were the Taipei Pavilion, Future Pavilion, and the Pavilion of Dreams.

Taiwan Adventure Journal - Day 2!

Day 2 - January 18th, 2012.


We woke up bright and early the next day to start on another days adventure in TAIWAN! My dad met up with us, and he took us on our first trip on the Taipei Metro! It is such a great system. You buy a card, put money on it, swipe it when you go into the subway station, and when you go out. The further you go, the more you pay. The average amount that we pay per subway ride is about $1 and that gets us pretty far already. There are 6 different subway lines, most of them extending to either the north/south or east/west point of the city, therefore making it so easy to transit around. The subways are clean, fast and nicely air-conditioned. So it's pretty fantastic, and definitely beats the TTC by a billion times. See here for a picture of the Taipei subway transit.

Our next adventure was the Mao Kong Gondola (貓空纜車). One thing that amazed us, first and foremost, was the price of the Gondola. It costs a person, regularly, about 2 dollars CAD to go up the gondola. I am not sure how much the Grouse Gondola is, but I can bet it's at least 5 time the price. So we got our tickets and waiting to go on the special Gondolas, which are called the Crystal Eye Gondolas, because the floor is glass and clear, meaning you can stare straight down and scare the hell out of yourself. It was pretty scary at first for me, but I got used to it. The movement of the gondolas was actually more frightening that the actual height. But I wasn't that scared, and my dad and Jordan were definitely not scared at all. In the gondola, we got to see the beautiful view of Taipei City, nice green trees on the mountains and birds eye view of a man whacking weeds. Woo woo! (PS, I just checked the price for the Grouse Gondola. $39.95. Holy wow, seriously??). 

 View on our way up!

Taiwan Adventure Journal - Day 1!

Hello everyone!

Today is Jordan and my third day in Taiwan...it has been absolutely amazing!!

The first stage of our adventure was the plane ride to Asia! I must say that I was really nervous for it, because I get motion sickness easily and the more I fly, the more I dislike it :S But it was overall a pretty good flight! We stayed up, watched a few documentaries (well, I watched while Jordan snoozed hehe), ate lots of food, and watched more stuff. The plane ride was definitely more comfortable than my regular flights on Air Canada from Toronto to Vancouver and back.

We had a little kerfluffle after our landing in Hong Kong. It turns out that our flight from HK to Taipei was cancelled (noooo). The service people from Dragonair, the flight company we booked with, didn't explain why, but people told us that it was probably because there weren't enough people on the flight. So we ended up being very frustrated and tired, standing in front of the Dragonair service desk, trying to get a flight. We ended up getting a flight out of HK an hour and a half later than our original flight, which wasn't too too bad, and we got 2 meal vouchers out of it. So that marked our first meal in Asia!

My uncle and dad picked us up from the airport in Taiwan. It was pretty late (around 1 o'clock) by the time we met up with them. We basically checked into our hotel, got some stuff organized and went to bed. Our hotel is called the 'Friends Yo Tong Hotel' (友統大飯店), which is situated on the busiest road in Taipei. One amazing thing is that right beside us is a 24 hour conveyor belt sushi place, called Sushi Express! Om nom nom. That is actually where my dad took us the next day! We had some pretty funky, yummy stuff and each place cost approx $1 Canadian.

Taipei Taiwan - Gondola Rides and Zoo!

Taipei Zoo! :D

Taking the Gondola up the mountain, to Mao Kong area. Some of these gondolas are called 'Crystal Eye' because they have a glass floor so we can look down and see treetops and how far we are from the ground. My dad and Jordan were perfectly fine with it; I was slightly freaked out, but only for a bit :P

Jordan enjoying the view!

After walking around, we went for tea. A lot of tea is harvested in Mao Kong, so it is a must to go drink tea in Mao Kong. I am learning how to set up and serve tea the proper way :P

At another tea place (we didn't end up drinking tea there). The view is pretty awesome though!

First Day in Taipei, Taiwan!

24 hours conveyor belt sushi is amazing.

At Bi Shan Temple on the mountains in Neihou

Many of the beautiful carvings in the temple

Taking in the beautiful view from the top!

At Big Lake Park in Neihou, Taipei. This bridge is apparently very famous in Neihou, although it seems to not have a name...:P It's very beautiful though!

At Shi Ling night market! Jordan and I trying amazing Chinese food, such as crispy fried chicken steak. OM NOM NOM

 In front of Taipei 101!

Ready to Gooooo!

We are nearly ready! We have our money exchanged (from Canadian to Taiwan dollars and Hong Kong dollars), our HK Visa label attached to our passports, our boarding passes printed out...so we are SET TO GO!

Our last night in Vancouver involved having an awesome dinner with my family at East Side Mario's (on the West side! Wooo). And now, there is less than 12 hours before we set in motion our ASIA TRIP!! So exciting! My brother suggested us to not sleep tonight, so we snooze on the plane ride instead. This would help us adjust to our jet lag but I really think I cannot do it. Hopefully the plane ride will be alright...I am slightly nervous because I get motion sickness easily but there are lots of things to keep my preoccupied and also Gravol for when I really cannot stand it. My mom suggested that we play mahjong throughout the night to keep us up but I think she was kidding...or maybe only half kidding hehe :P

Until next post, which will either be from the YVR airport, or from Taiwan!! Woooo!

Capilano Suspension Bridge!

Capilano Suspension Bridge!

White Rock BC

Where Melody grew up :)

Stanley Park in Vancouver

Beautiful view of Lion's Gate bridge on the north end of Stanley Park

The porpoises are quite friendly :)

Kamloops!

First stop in BC was my Aunt and Uncle's place in Kamloops!

Panaorama shot from my aunt and uncles deck in Kamloops :)

Giant Adirondack chairs at Sun Peaks Resort

First Flight!

First flight was a 7am flight from Toronto to Kamloops, with a transfer in Vancouver.

Nice view of the mountains! :) First time seeing the Rockies!

Testing from Mobile Phone

I am posting a post from my mobile phone! Seeing how this works out :) I probably won't posting much from my phone during the Asia trip since I won't have data but this is just an option!

Recently, I have bern preparing for the trip and getting super excited and pumped! :) I got my Visa label a couple days ago, woot! Now I can officially enter HK!

Jordan is coming soon, and I'll be bringing him around to see awesome Vancouver! :D Everything is coming up so soon :0

PS. here is a picture of my dog :P he actually really dislikes the camera and shys away whenever we aim one at him :0 It's random I know, I just wanted to try or the photo attaching function as well :P

Not getting wisdom tooth surgery!

Went to the consultation and the dentist suggested that I just get a prescription for antibiotics in the rare event that an infection occurs. Dodged that bullet! Still got ice cream tho :)

Things are about to get interesting

Things are about to get interesting because I am having my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow and my flight is on Saturday. At least this first flight is just a 5 hour one and a second 1 hr flight and then I'm in Kamloops. The super long flight is another 11 days away. Hard to believe I'll be flying from Vancouver to Hong Kong in 11 days. I don't think it's fully hit me yet.