Amazing view

Yesterday we went hiking on a Yuanzei Shiaolai Siaosyue Mountain i think is the name... Forgot the camera... and im not carrying my mobile phone so... i missed taking some lovely pictures...  The mountain is quite high and you could see the clouds /mist within the mountains..  an amazing view.. hard to describe

Driving.... and road design

As a transport planner i have to say... i just don't get their road design or their driving behaviour... It would be impossible to model it with VISSIM (transport planners will know what this is).

Driving on the motorway... another thing that makes no sense to me... they all drive the way they want to and mostly in the middle lane... no matter if lane 1 is free or not... so you have overtaking from both sides and swerving all over the place.. According to them .. it is safer to drive in the middle lane.. oh well...

Motorcycles are everywhere... with the flow of traffic and against the flow.. it just doesnt really matter...

School

It seems that the pupils here go to school for the whole day.... i still find it difficult to comprehend. Apparently they finish school around noon but then they stay at school for after school classes. I noticed this because i see often many of them around 9pm trying to get the train home...

Somehow it is a good thing for them as it seems that most parents are working until that time. Most of the shops and restaurants are open until 10pm so how can the parents be with their children?!

At the same time i see many young kids teenagers running shops and businesses in the afternoons...school dropouts maybe or kids that don't attend the after school classes?!

Another interesting thing is that they all have their student number embroidered on their clothes.

Taichung Night Market

Stalls and food at one of the many night markets in Taichung

Kai Hsiang and Min Fang Engagement

                     

Some of the food given to the bride

Fangchi's brother got engaged on Saturday... It was my second time attending an engagement in Taiwan so i knew what to expect more or less.

Apparently in Taiwan is tradition for the grooms family to take lots of food to the brides family and which then half is given back to them.

Introduction

As promised to many people I decided this time to keep a Blog about my time in Taiwan. I should be in Taiwan for 3 months and I am hoping to learn the language. 

I will try to write about anything that i believe would be interesting to read, it will include things I found interesting, rants, pictures and more...

I am already one week behind.. Lets just blame the jet lag.

Start of Trip

I have to say i had better trip starts. I took a coach from Birmingham to London Victoria which was 25min late, partly due to the fact that the driver stopped on the hard shoulder to close the door and we ended up in traffic as well as behind a marching band outside Buckingham Palace. I missed my connection by one minute and then i had to wait for 1 hr for the next coach. Which was again stuck in traffic... I managed to check in about 1 hr before my flight. My hand luggage was overweight so i had to through away some of the Muesli i had.... but anyway...

Flight arrived in Hong Kong  about 20min late so i was rushing to get my connection and i managed ok.. Little i knew that my suitcase didn't make it and only found out when arrived in Taiwan.  Suitcase was meant to be delivered same day but wasn't... However they did bring it the day after at 8am. Actually it was sent by taxi at 3am and the driver was waiting outside until 8! I was equally impressed and felt sorry for the driver.