Typhoon Sunday ...

With not much to do on this typhoon Sunday, I decided to try out a new program (for me) called iMovie HD. I filmed the cats throughout the day. As one will notice, Levi is always active and Datsun is not. I have a lot of things to figure out, but I can see it's going to be a fun program.

The day has been gloomy and the wind has been strong. My plastic patio table has been blowing around like crazy. I was afraid it was going to fly off the balcony at one point.

Another typhoon day awaits tomorrow. I'm happy to have the day off. Enjoy ...

Oh no ... Not Another One ...

We are about to be covered ... once again. Time to hit the shop ... fill up my fridge. Monday may very well be a typhoon day!

Tuesday September 23rd, 2008

The typhoon cruised past Southern Taiwan in an awful hurry. The clock reads noon and the computer shows 35°. It's too windy to keep the windows open ... the sun is out in full force. Clouds are rushing by at a quick pace.

I'd like to go back to the pool, but it's just too hot. It is calling for cooler weather come the weekend, 10° cooler. That will be nice and should make for some comfortable pool time ...

Typhoon 哈格比

Taiwan is covered ... once again. The wind is picking up and the rain has been sporadic since early morning. No typhoon day for Northern Taiwan. Fingers crossed that it isn't going to be too wet ...

Thursday September 18th, 2008

Friday is upon us again, with the end of September coming up too quickly. It's been three weeks of getting back into the swing of things. Back to regular afternoon hours. Back into the gym. Back to studying with a new Chinese teacher. My camera is off in the distance, collecting a layer of dust.

The typhoon left, leaving us with hot, sunny days and cool, breezy nights. I suppose there's only another month or so left of summer. After summer comes winter. Fall always seems to take a miss around here. Fall then brings early spring which is when I hope to find myself on vacation. It's been long awaited and my fingers are crossed ...

The past five years keep presenting the same pattern. Work my tail off (kind of) until the next trip ... work my tail off (kind of) until the next trip ...

I sometimes wonder if this lifestyle will ever become tiresome ... I guess I'll make that decision after my next holiday!

Another Typhoon Day ...

As one can see ... the typhoon hasn't moved although it seems to be breaking up. The winds have died down but the rain remains full on. The papers stated that Taipei county received 506mm of rain on Saturday. I imagine the number is much the same for today.

Monday will not be a typhoon day. I hope the rain lets up before then ...

Typhoon Day ...

10:00am ...


10:00pm ...


The typhoon hasn't moved much in the past twelve hours. Looks like we might be in for another typhoon day tomorrow ...

Friday September 12th, 2008

The typhoon hasn't even reached Taiwan yet. It should arrive tomorrow which means a wet weekend is ahead. I plan to spend the afternoon in the city tomorrow and scooting around in typhoons is never a safe bet.

I imagine it will have come and gone by Monday ... a three day weekend is out. My pocketbook will be happy about that. My couch and my cats ... not so much.

Thursday September 11th, 2008

Typhoon 辛樂克 is heading straight towards Taipei ...


A typhoon day tomorrow would allow one a three day weekend ...


Although my fridge is nearing on empty, it would still be nice ...

My New Phone ...

Yesterday, I dropped my mobile for the last time. I never really was happy with it ... perhaps that's why it kept landing on my tiled floor.

Last night, it went out with a bang ... in pieces. I put an elastic band around it at work today which kept the screen working ... it was showing no service.

Looking around online brought me to this phone. I like the looks of it. I purchased my old phone for the same reason and it didn't work out so well.

I guess in the life of a Taiwan cell phone ... one and a half years isn't bad.

My new mobile ... Nokia5310 ... is pretty cool. The ability of this small device fascinates me. I had to download an English manual as mine came in Chinese. Got some reading to do ...

阿里山 - Last Day

The hotel gave us another 3:30am wake up call ... one had not been requested. The place was full of life for such an early hour.

Pete and I were packed and out of the room by 8am. The first thing we did was book a bus back to 嘉義. We hit the Starbucks for a muffin instead of the hotel breakfast.


The bus was scheduled to leave at 1:10pm. We headed out to find the 塔山 trail ... this was the hike we had missed the previous afternoon due to rain and beer.

About a half hour into the hike, we came across a sign. It clearly mapped out the trail, stating it was four hours round trip from that point. The time was 9:40am.

We followed the train tracks parallel to the forest path which saved a lot of time. After the tracks turned off, our only choice was to head up the mountain. And when I say up, I mean up. There were stairs after stairs after stairs after stairs.

The top offers one a panoramic view. There wasn't much else. There was no shelter from the hot sun and there were a ton of flying ants ... hate those things! Needless to say, we didn't stay too long. Nor did we have long to stay ... time was ticking.

Photo of 塔山 from the village - The platform sits on those rocks.

We trekked down the stairs and made it back to the village with almost one hour to spare. We grabbed a quick lunch and some beer.

The bus ride down was beautiful ... it took an hour and a half hour to get out of the mountain roads. It wasn't long before we arrived at the bus station. From there, we hopped a taxi back to the 高鐵. The next train to 台北 was less than a half hour wait. I was home by 6:30pm. Not bad considering where I was at 1:00pm. The 高鐵 makes traveling south so convenient.

I'm glad I made the trip. It was very touristy and commercialized, but I suppose that was to be expected. Rumor has it, it is Taiwan's number one tourist destination.