7/3/2010

50. My first night in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was a late night spent with my couchsurf host Cindy and her husband. They picked me up from the airport, we watched the German soccer team dominate Argentina and then we went out for a 2AM dinner where I ate frog for the first and last time. (I accidentally erased our photos together...tear.)

7/2/2010

49. Seriously, Eclipse! Didn't we just barely deal with the hype of New Moon? Well, of course I succumbed to watching it at our local Feng Yuan theatre. (2 of the only movies I haven't seen in 3D in Taiwan featured Robert Pattison and his awkward grimaces.)
I should have snapped a photo today with the new teachers but I just forgot. I've had a great time getting to know and taking them around the last few days. They've got a lot to look forward to just as I am closing off a chapter in my life. Tonight is my last night in Feng Yuan, and boy will it be missed!

7/1/2010

48. Back in Feng Yuan, but still feeling like I'm on vacation. The new teachers are here and us 'oldies' are bunking in the lounge for the next few days and we're eating out for every meal/snack.
It was nice to see a familiar face in the evening but I'm sad to say goodbye to my friend Lily Loo Hu. We're counting on our paths crossing sometime in the future as we both absolutely love travel.

6/30/2010

47. Day # 3 on Green Island. Waking up at 3:30AM to ensure we'd have a great spot, we headed for one out of the three natural saltwater hot springs in the entire world. Upon arrival, we found out the springs didn't open till 5AM. Oh man, we had a while to wait. Brandon and I weren't too hesitant to jump over a fence to lay on the white sand as we had to wait. Come to find out, we had broken into the 'hot spring area' and it was nearly 5AM when we were found by the staff. They decided to let us stay and not make us join the long line, so we ended up being there 1st after all!

6/29/2010

46. Day # 2 on the island. We watched the sunrise, swam in the ocean, snorkeled for about 1.5 hours, and of course, scootered the half-hour trip around the island a few more times. Driving a scooter on these windy, non-busy, scenic roads was one of my favorite things to do here and I had plenty of opportunities to do so!

6/28/2010

45. We're on Green Island! This small island located southeast of Taiwan is absolutely breathtaking.  We arrived on a ferry labeled 'The Barf Barge' and it did it's justice during the 1 hour ride...sorry Megan. We enjoyed scootering around the island twice that day. We used a lot of our time to learn about the old prisons which were used as an isolated spot and place for political prisoners during the Kuomintang single-party rule (especially during the White Terror). Here is a shot from the mountain side looking down on a portion of the historic prisons.

6/27/2010

44. After a six hour, but scenic, train ride to the port city Taitung, we were a little tired and a tiny bit disappointed by how boring the city was. We spent most of the time on the beach and shopped around the dirty shops where betel nut users wanted us to buy their products. At dusk while waiting for a bus to take us to our hostel, Amy and I wandered back to the water and snapped some photos.