National Museum in Taipei

In our last day in Taipei, we decided to go to the national museum. It was a short bus ride from a metro stop. 

It was okay, there were lots of old artifacts on display. 

The most famous piece they had in the museum was this rock that had been shaped like a cabbage with a locust on it. The queue was pretty big to see this with your own eyes. Here it is below.

i think the picture speaks for itself.... Were off to Kenting National Park tomorrow

Jiantanshan hiking trail in Taipei

We went for a nice hike today on this track that is just on the outskirts of the city centre. It promised good views of the city.

It wasn't a strenuous trail but the heat didn't help and when you stopped you were attacked by the biggest mosquitoes I've ever seen. However, it was very pleasant and when we reached the top of this hill, it did have some good views of the city. 

We also got a nice picture of us which involved me looking directly into the sun!!

 

Baseball in Taipei

I've always wanted to go to a baseball match and I finally got my chance today. There are four professional baseball teams in Taiwan and luckily they were playing on the Sunday after we arrived on Saturday. 

The team of Taipei are known as the Fubon Guardians!!!! We were worried that we wouldn't get tickets but turned up in the hope they were on public sale. Luckily the stadium was only 5% full so there were plenty available.

Considering how empty it was, there was still a really good party atmosphere. There are cheerleaders trying to get the crowd to sing the whole time which was strange. 

There was lots of other weirdness with people dressed up as cartoon caracters and dancing like they were auditioning for something.

It was an enjoyable afternoon. The game lasted about three hours and the Fubon Guardians won. I also got to see home run!!!!

At the end of the game the team came and cheered us. It was a very nice way to spend an afternoon.

Back to Taiwan... again!

I've finished a semester and now its time to go on another trip. We've decided to go back to Taiwan. This will be our third trip here. The flights were really cheap and there are some places we still haven't been to yet.

We will stay in Taipei for a couple of nights then head to the very south of hte country on a high speed train to Kenting National Park for a few nights. Then we will spend the final couple of nights in Kaohsiung City and fly home from here.

Flat tyres in Ho Chi Minh City

I've been riding scooters in Ho Chi Minh City for several years now and they're amazing for getting around the city. Really cheap to run and convenient to park. However, one of the disadvantages is that, just like bicycles, they do get punctures. Usually, something will cause the puncture and when you come to use your bike at the end of the day or in the morning, the tyre is flat. This is exactly what happened to me this morning before work. 

In this situation you then have to push your bike and hope you are near one of the repair men who work on the streets with their own little mobile shops. So, this morning when I got a flat tyre I pushed the bike and luckily there was a repair man on the street at the end of my apartment block. Below are some pictures of the man repairing my puncture. 

Filing it down to make it smooth

Hitting it with a stick

Checking for holes with water

The process is pretty much the same a fixing a bicycle tyre and they're very good at it. They get the tube out and look for a hole. This morning my tyre had a nail sticking in it. He put one of the plasters over it. Banged it with a stick then put it in some water to check it was fixed. After this I was on my way again.

His air pump

View from my seat where I waited

The whole process took about 10 minutes and cost me 35,000 VND (about £1.20). I gave him 50,000 VND and he was very happy.

Coffee Museum, Buon Ma Thuot, Central Highlands

After I'd finishing examining on the Sunday we had a bit of spare time so the school took us all to a coffee museum.

It was a pretty funky building just outside the town.

There were lots of coffee related artifacts in the museum. It was okay. There was a nice view out the window.

Perhaps my favorite photo from the museum is below. It made me chuckle.

It was a really enjoyable trip and felt more like a holiday, not like work. I had a three day bank holiday after this so still felt refreshed when I went back to work on Thursday.

I have two more weeks at work then I have a week off teaching and will be returning to Taiwan!!!!!