Vacation is coming up!

Hey everyone,

I am still doing good here, and I am still having a lot of fun. Today I went to a tea shop around midnight and had some snacks and drank lemonade. It was still really busy. About 1 million people live in the city of Taichung so it's usually busy until 3 in the morning everyday.

Look at this picture I took. This is a VERY typical food vendor in Taiwan. Do you guys see all those different kinds of food? Do you know how many of those foods I have tried? 0. I just can't bring myself to do it. This type of food vendor is one of the most abundant type I think. There are lots and lots of food vendors, and they sell food really cheap. I am a picky eater so that is why I haven't tried on of these foods, but maybe you guys would like some?

So anyways, there is another typhoon coming here! That would be 3 in a row. I mean, in the past 3 weeks there has been a typhoon every week. It is suppose to come on Saturday, so I still have a little time to go outside.

I think I should be having a vacation coming up soon too. Let me explain. On Friday, it is my birthday, so I am going to go out with my friends. I don't know where yet, but I have a few ideas. So I think that counts as a little vacation. Then, next weekend is actually a vacation in Taiwan. There's no school next Friday, and a lot of people are off work. I want to try and go somewhere within Taiwan that weekend. I am pretty sure I will either go to Kenting, Tainan, or the mountains. Kenting is really nice and has the beaches that we see in postcards and that kind of stuff. Tainan is a lot closer to me (maybe 1 and a half hours), and it has a desert, beach, and mountains all in one county. So that would be cool. The other thing is I would go to the mountains around here. It should be pretty fun.

And then the weekend after that I will go to Taipei for the weekend! I'm going to see the Linkin Park concert which should be cool. Then while I'm in Taipei I plan on going to a little island by boat and also go to a temple in the mountains. So it should be pretty cool too. I have been to Taipei a few times already so I know a little bit about it.

Last time I was there, before I went I heard about this market that has snakes. I had to go see it, so I did. This market wasn't too big, and there weren't too many people there. Anyways, as you walk down the street you see LIVE snakes just hanging upside down on a string I think. Kind of like laundry hanging out to dry. I don't know if the peole hit them really hard and then hang them up, but they are still moving and stuff. So then these vendors ask you if you want something to drink right? That's when you see something you don't see everyday. The vendors take a knife and cut the snake while its still alive right down the middle. They cut open the skin like a surgeon. I think they do more than this because they get specific body fluids from the snake and put it into little cups like the ones you drink at a water fountain or the dentist office. They usually have 3 different types of cups and each one has different fluids in it. One I know for sure is 100% blood. They don't add water to it or something like that. You drink it straight up. So you drink all three of them one by one and then you pay the guy like $10 or something I don't know how much. I only saw two people do it when I was there. It was pretty cool. So that's the kind of stuff I like to see. I like to see the stuff I can't see everyday.

Ok so anyways, after that weekend my visa is going to expire. I have a visitor visa that only lasts for 60 days then before this time is up I have to leave Taiwan for one day. That's the type of visa I have right now, and I think that's the one I want. It gives me a chance to go to a different place for a little bit. I mean it makes me leave travel somewhere for at least one day. So anyways I am thinking I will go to Hong Kong for a few days. I have heard Hong Kong is a cool place. Maybe I will be able to go to Macao too since it is right next to it, and I hope to win money if I go there. You know Macao is the gambling center of Asia. Its different from Las Vegas. I can explain that a different day because that might be a like post. So anyways, I only checked this one airline, but it is about $230 for a roundtrip to Honk Kong or Macao. I think that's a really good price right? With this airline, you can go anywhere in the world, but I was just looking at SE Asia. It was around $500 round trip to Tokyo and that was the most exspensive. You can go to Bali ( nice beach resort ), Thailand, and the Philippines all for under $450 round trip. I was saying this is pretty good because when I was looking at flight from Knoxville to SanFrancisco it was $850 on the internet. I think thats crazy because you litterally can fly anywhere in the world round trip for around $1300, at least last time I checked. I might be wrong now though.

Ok well I hope everyone is doing good. See you later.