Kites in Anping

Photos from the local park which on the weekend is packed with kite fliers.

Michele in Taiwan

So a couple of weeks ago I had my first visit from a family member; my sister Michele. She came for a couple of weeks, so together, we toured the island.

It was great having my sister visit me, finally someone from back home would understand and get first hand experience of what life over here is like for me.
Watching my sister's reaction to life in Taiwan made me realise how much I take these things as normal, e.g. 'There are three people on a scooter!' 'He is not wearing a helmet!' 'He just came up to me, started to talk to me, and offered me a tour of the island?!' All to which I said 'Yep, that's usual'.

Unfortunately, when Michele first got here, the weather wasn't great, actually, it was awful. The day before she landed Taiwan was just hit by a Typhoon (Hurricane). Fortunately, but the time she had landed, the typhoon had passed over Taiwan, however, there was still a lot of rain.

First stop on the island tour was Tainan, the city I live in.

1. Michele arriving in Taiwan 2. Not so sunny
















1. Helmet shopping 2. Around Anping









Michele even tried doing a spot of Tai Chi









1. My favorite - Prawn and pinapple with hundreds and thousands.
2. Michele at my local breakfast shop









1. A random site - the driving test centre. To get my license, I had to drive around that track once. 2. One of the old town gates









1. Playing Japanese drums 2. Anping harbour









1. Michele at the hairdressers
















1. The little alley 2. Entering the Confucius temple
















Around the Confucius temple

Get these ones out of the way

Pues ya no he actualizado mi blog para algunas semanas.
He vuelto recientemente de mis vaciones por Taiwan, pero antes que subo esas fotos, quiero subir estas, porque ya he querido para un rato largo, pero nunca encuentre el tiempo para hacerlo.

Estas fotos son de la playa mas cerca de mi casa, en un Domingo por la tarde. Eso es cuando la playa es mas ocupada con gente, porque no temen los rayos del sol.


La playa de Anping
















Madre e hijo

Dragon Boat Festival

These are photos from the Dragon Boat festival last month. Chongming school was short of a few foreigners to make up a full boat. Luckily, one of my friends works at the school, so I was asked to pitch in.
As the team had been formed at a late stage, we had only three sessions in which to practice in. So we had to learn how to paddle and work as a team in a very short time.
What we lacked in experience we made up in enthusiasm, which was definitely needed, especially when the guy who sat in front of me repeatedly splashed the stinking brown Tainan river water in my face!

The race day was a lot of fun, lots of photos to pose for and a huge crowd lined along the bank of the river.
Unfortunately, we came second in our race (we were never going to beat a team from the USA who had flown into Taiwan just to take part in the race, that's dedication!). However, for overall time, we were third best which was nothing to be ashamed of.

The team - front and back
















A quick practice before boarding the boat
























Raising the paddles (I wasn't too sure why we did this, we were just told we had to)








This video is not from the race, but from the practice sessions before.