Guam

Cool Santa.

Ocean view from Two Lover's Point.

View from my hotel's beach. The cliff in the back is Two Lover's Point, and you can visit it.

Here are some pictures from Guam. It was a nice place to visit for a few days. I would say it is generally like a beach vacation spot in the USA for the most part. I got to go snorkeling, which was cool. I saw some cool fish, and a little school of fish would swim in a circle around me. The snorkeling guy gave me some food to feed the fish, so it was pretty cool. Overall Guam was a nice place. Enjoy the pictures. See you guys soon.

Going to Guam

Hey guys. Tomorrow I will go to Guam for a few days. It seems like a nice place, so I am excited to go. I just hope it doesn't rain! Guam seems like my type of place because it has the nice beaches, restaurants, mountains, and some sight seeing. There are a few places I plan to go. One is a famous view called Two Lover's Point. It is a view of the ocean on top of a mountain. Another place is a local market I heard about. Something I want to do is I want to try snorkeling. I heard the hotel I will stay at, Hilton, has that available. I heard Hilton has its own secluded beach, so let's just see if this is true. Some other things you can do there are scuba diving, parasailing, surfing, and fishing. I just want to try snorkeling the most. Guam is a small place, so that is nice because I won't feel overwhelmed by a bigger country. It seems like all the attractions are in the main tourist area of Guam. Tourist attractions like shopping and that kind of stuff. There are lots of other places to visit, but you would have to rent a car. Lots of people rent a car here too, but I don't know how much that would cost. I will just buy an unlimited bus pass for only $15 that lasts a week. One of the main attractions in Guam is a huge KMart. It is kind of weird I guess since we all know KMart, but Guam has a lot of tourists from other countries and they might have never seen this place before. I am kind of glad there is a KMart though because I can pick up some stuff I need that I can't find in Taiwan.

Ok I will talk to you guys later. I hope it doesn't rain. Bye bye.

Hey

Hows it going? Not too much going on here lately. I am going to be going to Guam in about a week for a few days. It seems like a nice place to visit. Its a small island that is popular for the beaches and WWII sites. It is a popular place to visit for people from South East Asia. The hotel I will stay at is the Hilton, and from what I heard, it has its own beach and stuff. I can go snorkeling, and visit some scenery places. I hope it turns ok ok and it doesn't rain.

I will talk to you guys later on. I'll let you know before I leave before Guam. See ya.

Hello

I wanted to post earlier, so I'm sorry I didn't. I just wanted to tell you guys about a badminton match I watched at the Taiwan National Games. It was a good match, and I kind of know the rules more because I joined a gym class at a university. In the gym class, I get to play sports with the students, and one of the sports was badminton which is fun. Anyways, the badminton match was interesting to watch because one of the players was a real intense guy. He always screamed at the other guy when he scored, and he would scream really really loud. The other guy started to get mad and would just keep looking at him when he would score.

Well the part of the match that I thought was cool was that one guy in the match, who wasn't screaming and stuff, broke his racket twice. The way he broke it was from swinging his racket so fast that it just broke the part where you hit the ball. He did that twice in the match, and I just thought that was really cool. I think the rackets are expensive so that part isn't cool.

Ok well I will talk to you guys later.

National Taiwan Games

Hello,

Something that is coming up here in a few days is the National Taiwan Games. It is going to be held in the city that I live in, so I am planning to at least see one event if I can. The sports are stuff like basketball, track, and archery. I think it is Taiwan's own Olympics, but I am not sure. I want to either see the basketball, ping pong, or badminton event.

Also, over the past week there has been the Taichung Jazz Festival here. I actually forgot about it until I passed by it yesterday, so I missed it. It is where musicians from all over the world come to Taichung for a week and play jazz. The event has food venders and all that kind of stuff. I went last year, and it was pretty interesting. Ok talk to you guys later.

Some PIctures

At the ruins of an old army base. Here is an old cannon pointed at a casino. There were really nice views from the base.

18 hole putting golf course (view from my hotel room).

This was the ruins of an old church in Macau. It is the most famous attraction there. It is a very nice church, and luckily this part of it remains so people can see it.

I'm Back

I am back from Macau. I had a lot of fun there, and I will tell you guys about it later. I just wanted to post real quick to let you guys know I am back. See you.

Macau Tomorrow

Well I guess I forgot to tell you guys, but tomorrow I am going to go to Macau. I have to leave Taiwan every 60 days because of my visa. I have the 60 day visa, so if I didn't have that I would only be able to stay here for 30 days then leave. It doesn't matter where you go, but you just have to leave Taiwan. I could jump on a plane to Hong Kong and eat my lunch in the airport then jump back on a plan back to Taipei. Anyways though, I will go to Macau for 2 days. I hope the weather will be nice there, and I will try and win a lot of money.

I will let you guys know how it went when I get back. I will show you some pictures too! See you guys later.

Something Interesting I Saw

I wanted to let you guys know about something interesting I saw. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me because it would have been great to show you guys.

Ok so here is what happened. I was going to school with my dad, and one of the roads near the school is a two lane road with houses at one end and the other end there is a lot of construction. My dad and I are about 3 cars back from a slow moving truck. The truck is one of those big trucks that takes up more than 1 lane, and it also has a big hook on it. I'm not for sure, but I think it was a crane. Something about this road was that for one thing the traffic lights go across the road just like a lot of roads. Another thing this is that there are signs over the road telling where certain things are like the school and a museum near the school. It is just a normal road. Another thing about this road is that the power lines go across the road too. The lines also go along the road as well.

Then all of a sudden we noticed that the truck's hook grabbed onto one of the power lines, and it pulled it. It didn't bring it down or anything; it just really pulled it. This was around 5 PM so people are outside and the road is kind of busy. Everyone sees it happening except for the people in the truck. Then the truck just keeps going, and the hook grabs another power line and this time it completely breaks. Now the power line is just hanging there kind of swinging a little bit. Now everyone is just kind of shocked at what the truck is doing. The truck doesn't stop though. It just keeps going a little bit further, and this time it grabs onto another power line and totally uproots one of the telephone poles. At this time the truck stops and three guys jump out. They look confused like what just happened. The truck went a total of maybe like 15 yards from the first power line to the last. If the truck kept going, it would have hit signs and even more power lines. It would have also hit street lights.

It was hard to believe that the people in the truck didn't notice what was happening. Also, almost everybody in the world would have noticed that the truck is way too big to be on that road. Everyone noticed except for those guys in the truck.

Ok well that was something interesting that I saw this past week. Ok I hope everything else is good and talk to you guys later.

First Classes

So school started here, and it has been going good. At my dad's school most of the students don't go to class the first week. Some don't even come to class until at least the 3rd week of school. All of us know this really couldn't happen at UT for example because that student would be so far behind in his classes. It is just kind of weird that students would do that. Of course not all students here do that at my dad's school, but I would say most Juniors and Seniors do it. It makes it hard on the teachers too because for one thing classes are only once per week, so if a student misses two weeks worth of school that is a lot of class time. It also hurts the teachers because then they might have to explain stuff all over again to the new students coming in. It isn't just five students per class... it around 8+ students that skip class.

Anyways, so I could imagine that is annoying for the teachers. It is ok to miss class every once in awhile for whatever reason, but I am just talking about the very first class that the majority of students will not show up to class. What else.... I am not too sure yet about what I am going to do this weekend. It will be Cherry's birthday on Saturday, so we will do something with her friends. I wouldn't mind going on a bicycle ride in the countryside on Sunday, but I don't have any real plans.

Ok well that is it or now. Talk to you guys later.

School Starts Soon

Well on Tuesday school will start here for university students. It started already for all the other students a few weeks ago. I think I have told you guys before, but school over here is completely different than back in the United States. I guess really just about every part of school is different. Just for some things that are different are everyone gets a lunch break at the same time, so could you imagine at UT or other schools everyone eating lunch at the same time? Another thing different is with the students textbooks. Do you remember how much you spent on textbooks for school? It depends, but I remember some of mine costing about $100 for just 1 book. Want to know how much some students pay for books here? Some are just $9... for the class textbook! It isn't for a reading book or something it is for the entire semester. But guess what? A lot of students think that is too much, so they won't buy it! Can you believe that?

A lot of teachers will make their students buy the books because if they don't the students will just share it and probably never do homework or readings. Something else that is different that I think I have said before is that guys can't go to the girl's dorm and girl's can't go to the guy's dorm. Along with that every person that lives in the dorm has a curfew to be back in the dorm at 11 PM I think. If people plan to stay out past that time, a lot of people will either stay out all night and go back to the dorm at 6 AM, when they open the dorms, or stay in a hotel and sleep for the night.

Ok, well I will talk to you guys later. I hope everything is good.

Howdy

Hello,

Well, I am kind of sick right now. It is just a little cold like a sore throat. I plan on taking a Chinese class while I am here. I don't know how many other people will also take the class, but I heard it will be less than 10 and all of us will be foreigners. It will last for about 2 and a half months, and it is at a university close to where I live. The class will be for 3 hours every morning Monday-Friday. That class has a bunch of different levels, so I have to start out taking the beginner level 1.

So I will be doing that, and then I will have free time after that. I will use the time to study some Chinese and also maybe go to classes with my dad. Here in about 2 weeks, I am going to try and tutor at my home too. I should make decent money if it goes according to my plan. I will advertise it and everything too. Once the final copy is done, I will post it on here.

Ok that is it for now. Talk to you guys later on.

Bicycle Trip

Well the other day I went on a bike ride. I didn't know it but it ended up taking longer than I thought. The time it took was about 4 hours. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. The people that I went to go riding with is kind of like a club, and they go every week to a different spot. The week I went was when they happened to go to the top of a mountain. I went with this group before to another mountain, but it wasn't nearly as hard. Anyways, I had a great time going with this group , and I didn't bring my camera but I have some pictures from their blog.

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/giant-xingda/article?mid=6991&next=6949&l=f&fid=1

My Bicycle

Hello,

Well I got a new bicycle. It is my birthday gift which is cool. This bike is good because now I can ride on the roads a lot faster. My other bike if you guys remember is smaller and it folds up and can fit in your trunk. My other bicycle is good for just going around school or a short distance. Anyways, I am glad I have this new bike now because I plan on riding it a lot to go explore around and stuff.

This bike in the US is really expensive, and it is over here too but not nearly as much as back home. I will say that I have never ridden one of these kinds before, so I have to get use to it. It kind of feels like I am going to fall off of it, and it is a little different to turn. Also I change gears with my break handles. On the picture it is the silver things on the handles. What I do is I move it to the left to change and there is another button to change it again. Anyways, I hope everything is going good. Talk to you guys later.

Flea Market

Sorry I don't have any pictures for you guys, but today I went to a flea market here. I never went to one before over here, so I didn't know what to expect. What I found out was that it is pretty similar to the ones back home. A lot of people there selling stuff. I didn't find anything I wanted, but I saw some interesting things there. If I go back there again I will bring my camera to take pictures for you guys. The flea market was an indoor and outdoor place. Some of the things that was being sold were tools, clothing, bicycle accessories, and lots of nick-knacks. My dad and I were the only foreigners there, so I thought that was cool. I like going to those types of places that don't have many foreigners.

Now a new topic...There use to be a clothing store here that sold clothing that I liked. Well, they sold t-shirts that I liked. I liked them because they were super cheap ($2.00 or something like that) and because they were comfortable. I guess I am kind of picky about my t-shirts. I just want ones that are really soft and comfortable. Anyways, that store is closed and a Burger King is there now. I can't believe it. Now I am looking for a new store that sold the same thing. I guess another reason why I liked that store so much is because of the types of t-shirts they sold. They sold ones that didn't make any sense. The t-shirts will just have a random picture on it with some English words on it. I think they were funny.

Ok thats it for now. Talk to you guys later.

Update

Hello,

I just wanted to give you guys an update about what is going on here. I am still not doing too much here. I don't have a job yet, but I am thinking I should soon. I am trying to look for a full-time one. Something else I was thinking about was taking a Chinese class. I will see I guess. If not, I still like going to classes with my dad and helping out with that and stuff.

Other than that not much else going on. I will talk to you guys later.

Taiwan

I am here again, and I am going to start trying to do my blog. I will hopefully post things every now and then.

A Trip To the Mountains

Hello,

I went to the mountains with Cherry and some of her friends. It was a lot of fun. We went to a place where sheep get to live on the side of a mountain. We also saw a farm on the mountainside too. You can see something new everyday here in Taiwan. Ok well enjoy the pictures.

Hualien

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I went to Hualien for a few days over the weekend. Hualien is a really nice place to go. It has the beach, and 30 minutes away are the mountains. The mountains aren't like anything I have ever seen before. I went so high up in the mountains that I was eye level with the clouds within the mountains. I don't know if they were really clouds, or just oxygen but it wasn't really like how it is in the Smokey Mountains. I don't know how to explain it.

In Hualien there are rice fields overlooking the ocean too. Hualien is a famous place to visit for going to the beach, but more for going to the mountains and bike riding. There are other sights to see here too. I also saw a Tropic of Cancer marker, a famous ice cream factory in Taiwan, and a tourist farm. Oh yea, I even went to a little night market that Nicholas Cage was at! I saw his autograph on a vendor's sign, so I ate there as well.

Next weekend I am going to go to another place in the mountains that is famous for hot springs. I am excited about going there too! See you guys later.

Some More Pictures

Here are some pictures to look at. Other than that...not much going on!

The first picture is of a church made out of paper! Not like the paper you write on, but still though its pretty cool. I don't know too much about it though. It is called "Paper Dome".

The second picture is of a really nice place called Sun Moon Lake. It is a pretty lake in the mountains. Over here you can go hiking, biking, and that kind of stuff. Lots of people come here to get away from the city.

The third picture is inside a huge Buddhist temple. Those 4 giant statues are the columns holding up the roof to this part. Its really nice here, and it is also in the mountains so it makes it cool to go to.

Some Pictures

Hello everyone,

Well I'm sorry to say that I don't have many pictures from the Philippines. It's because I forgot to take my camera out, but I did take a few pictures.

I really enjoyed going there and seeing my family. I hope I can go back soon because my family said they can take me to more places because they would have more free time. I didn't mind that they were sometimes busy and stuff because I just wanted to go there to see them and also see some of the Philippines.

Ok, well enjoy the pictures, and I will talk to you guys later.

Philippines, Updated

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you guys know that I really like it here in the Philippines. I am visiting my family, and they are all really nice. I haven't seen them in a long time, so I think it was good I came here. I just wanted to let you guys know in case anyone was wondering about me. Ok, I will post later on. Have a good day.

Philippines

Hey guys,

Tomorrow I am going to the Philippines for about a week. I think it should be a lot of fun. I just wanted to let you know incase you were wondering what I'm doing. Ok, there isn't much else to say. Talk to you guys later on.

Philippines Coming Up

Hello,

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Maybe you guys are tired of looking at Three 6 Mafia, so here are some pictures from a bicycle ride a few weeks ago.

Well, there isn't too much going on here. This week is the last week of the semester here, so a lot of students are busy studying. Next week I am going to the Philippines for about a week. I think that should be fun because I will get to see some of my family and also see the Philippines. The last time I was there I was maybe 2 years old, so I don't remember anything from there. There are a few things I want to do there, so I hope I can do it.

One place I want to visit is north of Manila, and it is famous for its rice fields along the mountains. I have seen pictures of it, and it looks like something on postcards. It looks really nice, and I was reading that it has been used for 2000 years. That would probably be the #1 thing I want to see. When I go to different places, I like to see and do things I can't do anywhere else, so that is why I like to see the most famous or interesting stuff in different places.

I don't know if my family will be able to take me around and stuff, so I was trying to see what there is to see in Manila. I know there are lots of old churches and stuff having to do with WW2. I want to buy some souvenirs too. I really don't like to buy expensive stuff from a place I visit. What I like to buy are 2 things...1. a postcard of what I saw 2. something cheap from a vendor, so I can have a little souvenir.

Anyways, it should be fun, and I am looking forward to it. I wish I could go there when it is even warmer because I would like to go to the beach and swim and snorkel. Ok, I will talk to you guys later on.

Three 6 Mafia

Hello everyone,

Well I hope you guys had a good new year's celebration. I went up to Taipei, and saw Three 6 Mafia!

It was great, and I had a lot of fun. I was in the very very very front, so the only thing between me and them were two huge speakers. They gave me a lot of high fives and also sang and posed for some pictures and video for me. That was cool. I held up a piece of paper that I drew that said "I'm from Knoxville, TN!", and I drew a picture of the Tennessee flag on it. I think that was cool, and they enjoyed it. At the end of the show I even got to take a picture with one of them, but it turned out blurry!!! I was sad. Anyways, if you don't know to much about Three 6 Mafia let me tell you real quick. They have been out for a long time, and they have a ton of songs. Mostly everyone I know likes them, and from watching them on TV and from being at the concert they seem like really easy going guys that just like to entertain their fans. For example, Juicy J (one of the members) saw my paper that said "I'm from Knoxville", and during the saw he was talking to me real quick about that. Also, he was wearing sunglasses and during the show, and he let my friend wear them and he put on his glasses (second picture from the bottom and second video). So I'm just saying they seem like good entertainers that like to play around.


I really enjoyed it, and I hope another group goes up to Taipei that I like. Enjoy the the pictures and videos! I have a lot of videos but most of them are long and would take too long to upload.