Far Side of the World (Taiwan, Part III)

Last week of my Taiwan trip we returned to Taipei. Good times in the Shilin Night Market (outdoor giant bazaar of shops) and the Taipei 101. The 101 is the (former) tallest building in the world, and quite an intimidating sight above the already impressive Taipei skyline.

The view off the back of our ferry boat as we left Green Island. Had a blast there SCUBA diving, snorkeling, eating and riding motorcycles. Fortunately, the seas were MUCH calmer on the way back to Taiwan than on the way to Green Island. So long!


This is a cool restaurant we went to called "The Modern Toilet". It was themed after.. what else? Toilets! Toilet bowl chairs, tables, plates, cups, the works. It was a definite "experience".


Here's Ryan at the Modern Toilet, with his "Hot Pot". I'm ashamed to say the quantity of toilet-puns we broke out during dinner was quite expansive.


Near the top floor of the Taipei 101 you can see this giant orb. At 730 tons this is the world's biggest Mass Damper. It's essentially the same Mass Dampers we put into seat headrests at Nissan to stop vibration, except MUCH MUCH bigger. In the 101 it's purpose is to prevent the building from tipping over during an earthquake. I'm trying to make it look as cool as possible.


Here's a picture of me with one of the "Damper Babies", the colorful cartoony mascots of the 101 Building.


A crowd shot of the Shilin night market. Thousands and thousands of people hustling and bustling, haggling and buying random things. It was insane!

Far Side of the World (Taiwan, Part II)

Here are some more pictures from my second day on Green Island (off the coast of Taiwan). We went SCUBA diving on the outlying coral reef. Unfortunately, I lack an underwater camera, though I will most assuredly be buying one soon along with a full compliment of SCUBA gear for myself.

My friend Kaho lives near me in Nanao, and is an avid SCUBA diver. She has told me that her club goes diving nearly every other week. So, I think I will be joining them soon!

Me, all SCUBA'd up!


My friend Huma, also SCUBA'd up!

Far Side of the World (Taiwan, Part I)

For a while now, my main goal in life has been to live in such a way that Jimmy Buffett might write a song about me. It's going well so far.


It's Midnight on December 28th, 2011. I've just sat down to review, edit and upload a few pictures from my travels so far this week in Taiwan. It's the second time I've been here, and I'm doing my best to keep up on the photography.

I'm traveling with three of my best friends (Ryan, Dani and Huma), and we're having a blast. So far this week we've lived it up in Taipei, spent Christmas Day picking oranges on a mountain-side grove, taken a train down to the south of the country, driven motorcycles around Green Island, and that's just the start.

From tomorrow, we'll be going SCUBA diving in the ocean, snorkeling, and then returning to round off our trip exploring the night life in Taipei for a few days. We plan to cap it all off by watching the New Years fireworks display from the top of the Taipei 101 (formerly the tallest building on earth, now number two I believe). Whoo!

Far side of the world.


Pondering bananas.


Picking oranges on a mountain on Christmas Day.


Green Island coastline from a mountain top.


Keeping my eyes on the horizon to help ignore those thirty-foot waves.


Walking out on the diving dock into the ocean.


Ultraman pose on a cliff.

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Snow has come to Ishikawa! Some pictures I took this weekend:

Coming out of the underground walkway in Kanazawa (the "Big City")


On the highway back to Nanao (my city)


Snowy mountains!


More driving.

Soccer in Fukui

This Sunday, I traveled down to Fukui Prefecture (the "state" directly to the south of Ishikawa) to practice soccer with my team for the upcoming national amateur soccer tournament in Osaka on November 19th. We played a scrimmage against a team from Malaysia.

Unfortunately, the weather was utterly dreadful, and I have not yet purchased a proper pair of soccer cleats... What resulted was a 4 hour long soccer game in the pouring rain, in 3-4" of sticky nasty mud.

What a day! I left the field sore, bleeding and completely head to toe covered in mud. A good time was had by all despite this though!

Futsol Mondays

Every Monday evening, several of the ALT's and I get together with our Japanese friends and play Futsol (which is basically the same as soccer). It's a great time, and it feels good to get some exercise after slugging through a Monday.

I'm actually playing in a tournament next month near Osaka (to the south east), so hopefully all my practicing will pay off! Here's a picture of my friends and I after tonight's practice:

Sennmaida Light Up Festival

This weekend I went up to Wajima (a small city in the north of the Noto Peninsula) and attended the Sennmaida Candle Festival. Sennmaida is a giant cliff overlooking the ocean which has been built into a great terrace of rice paddies, similar to the mountain terraces built by the Incans.



I volunteered with the local community and helped set up thousands and thousands of candles along the rice paddies, which we then lit up after nightfall. Hundreds of Japanese tourists and foreigners alike turned up for the festival, which was capped off with several musical performances (including one of the most famous Taiko Drumming groups in the world). Overall a wonderful experience that gave one of the most scenic views yet in Japan, which is really saying something.

Haku-San 2: Haku-sannier

Just got back from another long weekend... This time I returned to Haku-san (one of the three holy mountains) with a different group of friends. Great weather, great climb!






Afterwards, we went to an onsen (a Japanese hot spring) and hung out in the hot water for a few hours. Today, I participated in a Yasakoi (traditional Japanese dancing) competition. My group placed second out of seventeen teams. Very cool! I don't have any pictures of me, but are a few I took. The best one is the little kid with the flag 10x bigger than him!