So it's Chinese New Year in Taipei, with all the fun that entails. Fireworks non stop for 5 days now and everyone on vacation. I'm surprised I can even access the internet as the lag has been horrific lately. Half the shops are closed but the rest are constantly busy from what I can see.
On Chinese New Year (CNY), Felicity was kind enough to invite me to her house for dinner. Then she included lunch too so I went over around noon. I've had traditional CNY food but this was a first. The first dish that came out was deep fried fish, that we aren't allowed to eat. It has to have a head and tail, and stay on the table for good luck. Then came a pan fried salmon fillet with a pepper sauce on the side that was really good. Some of the other dishes were rather unique too. One dish looked like pigs feet, another was baked chicken served cold sliced, the final dish was an interesting one with Tofu and egg whites.
Dinner was much the same except there was a vegetable dish with mutton in it. I liked the vegetables, not the mutton. There was lots of fruit served with lunch and dinner plus a vegetable soup. I was really surprised that there was so much meat despite Felicity's mom being a vegetarian. She didn't eat any of it, but I guess that it's tradition to have lots of meat at CNY.
After lunch Felicity and I watched some movies and she answered some Chinese questions I had. It was a pretty lazy day all and all. Eating, napping, watching TV, eating some more, more TV. I'll probably have to spend the next week in the gym to make up for how much they fed me.
In the mean time, I'm still working and fireworks are still going off. I have to fly to Macau again next week, this time to get a new 6 month visa. It should go off without a hitch I hope. They offer same day service so I'll fly in the morning, get the visa, and return in the evening.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The State of Brett
Since I keep getting emails about the "State of (Insert Place name here)", I figured I would blatantly steal the title for my post. The State of the Union, the State of California, the State of Long Beach, the State of CSULB, etc etc. It also works since this January and a good time to update everyone as to how I am doing.
I can say that I am doing better than most Americans right now. My debt (except for my student loans) is very low, almost zero. I have a job. I don't have health or dental benefits, but I do have a retirement account. I have my health, I'm working out and I am eating well.
Now the negatives. The economy is horrible in Long Beach. 7.2% unemployment in the state and an estimated 9.2% in Long Beach. The CA budget shortfall has left me unsure if I'll have a job past June. I imagine I will, just to finish off Anthony's last book, but after that there isn't a need for me at CSULB. My skill set is Chinese braille, and there aren't anymore books to braille. I can do general editing for them, but they won't want to pay me 15 dollars a hour when they can pay a student assistant half of that.
I've had trouble finding work here in Taipei. Despite sending my resume to several locations, not one has called me back. This worries me because I don't even know if they received my resume. The bigger issue is that the contracts run 1 solid year at a minimum. That would be Feb 2009 to Feb 2010. My apartment lease ends Sept 2009 and can only be renewed for another year. Timing is coming to bite me in the butt.
I can either gamble and wait until August to start looking for work, or find work now and worry about the overlap later. The overlap would mean I need to find a 2nd job in August (when I find a new apartment) so that come next Feb I'll still have legal residency.
In the meantime, I have to leave TW for a few days in Feb to get a new visa. Mine will expire and I need to get a new 60 day multiple reentry one. This is also going to cause a problem if I get a job because all the listings want me to start right after Chinese New Year. I can't fly before CNY due to the prices being much higher than normal. It will take at least two days to get a new visa, Day 1 for processing and pickup on day 2.
Those negatives aside I'm happy that I can pay off my student loans. I am extremely happy that half of them they are only 6.8% and the other half are 4.5%. None of them are private loans at 15% interest or more.
I'm happy that I've kept to my plan to work out 4 days a week. I haven't seen much improvement yet but I feel like I have more energy when I work out. I also feel very sore afterwards. Now I just need to cut back on the snacks. That would be easier except that felicity has a sweet tooth for chocolate. She also can't eat alone or else she feels that she'll get fat. Somehow by feeding me chocolate, she can eat more without feeling guilty. I don't pretend to understand, only to help her feel less guilty.
I wish I could spend the time studying Chinese every day like I want to. So far I've been studying 3 to 4 times a week for an hour each time. I don't know how it happens, but I get busy with work and then look at the clock and have lost several hours. I think I need to be more diligent and force myself to study every day or else I really won't improve my Chinese, despite being here.
All in all, I am happy here but I miss my friends and family back home. I can't wait to see everyone this summer when I visit. I can't wait to see the beach and have warm days that aren't so humid I feel like I'm drowning.
I talked to some of my friends today who told me it was in the 80's in CA. Lucky punks. It's a high of 54 degrees here with 60% humidity and wind. I forgot how lucky I am that my apartment is newer and insulated. I had dinner at Felicity's Monday night and was freezing afterwords.
I hope everyone back home is doing well and I can't wait to see you again.
I can say that I am doing better than most Americans right now. My debt (except for my student loans) is very low, almost zero. I have a job. I don't have health or dental benefits, but I do have a retirement account. I have my health, I'm working out and I am eating well.
Now the negatives. The economy is horrible in Long Beach. 7.2% unemployment in the state and an estimated 9.2% in Long Beach. The CA budget shortfall has left me unsure if I'll have a job past June. I imagine I will, just to finish off Anthony's last book, but after that there isn't a need for me at CSULB. My skill set is Chinese braille, and there aren't anymore books to braille. I can do general editing for them, but they won't want to pay me 15 dollars a hour when they can pay a student assistant half of that.
I've had trouble finding work here in Taipei. Despite sending my resume to several locations, not one has called me back. This worries me because I don't even know if they received my resume. The bigger issue is that the contracts run 1 solid year at a minimum. That would be Feb 2009 to Feb 2010. My apartment lease ends Sept 2009 and can only be renewed for another year. Timing is coming to bite me in the butt.
I can either gamble and wait until August to start looking for work, or find work now and worry about the overlap later. The overlap would mean I need to find a 2nd job in August (when I find a new apartment) so that come next Feb I'll still have legal residency.
In the meantime, I have to leave TW for a few days in Feb to get a new visa. Mine will expire and I need to get a new 60 day multiple reentry one. This is also going to cause a problem if I get a job because all the listings want me to start right after Chinese New Year. I can't fly before CNY due to the prices being much higher than normal. It will take at least two days to get a new visa, Day 1 for processing and pickup on day 2.
Those negatives aside I'm happy that I can pay off my student loans. I am extremely happy that half of them they are only 6.8% and the other half are 4.5%. None of them are private loans at 15% interest or more.
I'm happy that I've kept to my plan to work out 4 days a week. I haven't seen much improvement yet but I feel like I have more energy when I work out. I also feel very sore afterwards. Now I just need to cut back on the snacks. That would be easier except that felicity has a sweet tooth for chocolate. She also can't eat alone or else she feels that she'll get fat. Somehow by feeding me chocolate, she can eat more without feeling guilty. I don't pretend to understand, only to help her feel less guilty.
I wish I could spend the time studying Chinese every day like I want to. So far I've been studying 3 to 4 times a week for an hour each time. I don't know how it happens, but I get busy with work and then look at the clock and have lost several hours. I think I need to be more diligent and force myself to study every day or else I really won't improve my Chinese, despite being here.
All in all, I am happy here but I miss my friends and family back home. I can't wait to see everyone this summer when I visit. I can't wait to see the beach and have warm days that aren't so humid I feel like I'm drowning.
I talked to some of my friends today who told me it was in the 80's in CA. Lucky punks. It's a high of 54 degrees here with 60% humidity and wind. I forgot how lucky I am that my apartment is newer and insulated. I had dinner at Felicity's Monday night and was freezing afterwords.
I hope everyone back home is doing well and I can't wait to see you again.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
New Years Even in Taipei
Well 2008 is quickly coming to an end here in Taipei. The comfortable weather that has been a constant blessing for the last month has also come to an end. This is the third day straight of rain, and as such I'm curious if they'll be able to launch the fireworks at Taipei 101 at midnight. The building management are letting us up onto the roof at 11:45 til 12:15 to watch the fireworks. They normally close it down at 10 for safety reasons. I may head up or just watch the fireworks on TV since Felicity is working tonight.
I guess I need to come up with some New Years resolutions, as that is the thing to do this time of the year. I can think of a few things that I want to do in 2009 that I didn't do in 2008.
First is to work out a minimum of 3 days a week. I have been doing well last week and this week on that goal. The next is to study at least one hour a day of Chinese. I have found that when I sit down to study, I use up an hour pretty quickly. The catch is finding that hour every day and forcing myself to do nothing but study.
The next goal is to get a job in Taipei. This one seems to be pretty easy to solve, but it has proved to be the most difficult. The job market in Taipei is shrinking and the requirement list seems to be lengthening.
The last that I can think of is to give up drinking soda. I've recently read some reports on the artificial colors in processed foods and links to several different medical conditions. The oddest thing though is that the artificial colors are petroleum products.
The only other resolution I can think of is to update my blog more regularly!
Have a happy New Years! Welcome 2009!
I guess I need to come up with some New Years resolutions, as that is the thing to do this time of the year. I can think of a few things that I want to do in 2009 that I didn't do in 2008.
First is to work out a minimum of 3 days a week. I have been doing well last week and this week on that goal. The next is to study at least one hour a day of Chinese. I have found that when I sit down to study, I use up an hour pretty quickly. The catch is finding that hour every day and forcing myself to do nothing but study.
The next goal is to get a job in Taipei. This one seems to be pretty easy to solve, but it has proved to be the most difficult. The job market in Taipei is shrinking and the requirement list seems to be lengthening.
The last that I can think of is to give up drinking soda. I've recently read some reports on the artificial colors in processed foods and links to several different medical conditions. The oddest thing though is that the artificial colors are petroleum products.
The only other resolution I can think of is to update my blog more regularly!
Have a happy New Years! Welcome 2009!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Xinjiang mummy Exhibit
Yesterday (12/13) Felicity and I met around 4 pm to head to the National Taiwan History Museum. It didn't start out well because I was about 5 minutes late. The real problem was she got there 15 minutes early and so had to sit for 20 something minutes before I got there. Oops!
We walked from the Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall station over to the museum. She and I both wanted to see the exhibit, which is a really rare event since out interests are so different, so we agreed to head over.
The exhibit is called the "Legends of the Silk Road" and is fantastic. I've included the link at the end of the post. They have some pretty amazing stuff from a wide variety of historical periods. The centerpiece is the "beauty" herself. She was between 40 to 45 years old when she died around 3800 years ago. It was remarkable to see her still have eyelashes after so long. There was one very odd thing though. She's not Chinese.
Her features, and the artistic representation of her face, has her looking like a European. They call her Indo-European but I swear she looks French. Either way she was a long way from home.
The mummy was interesting, but I found some of the other stuff far more interesting. They had clothing that was over 2000 years old. Felicity and I were both really surprised because the clothing was huge. I stood next to it and the shirt went from my shoulders down to my knees. The guy who wore it must have been huge. We are talking 200 years ago but this man (it was a male's shirt/jacket) had to be well over 6 foot. That was a rare height for most Chinese men before the last 40 years.
There was also some calligraphy from around 220 AD. Felicity could read and understand it pretty clearly, and I could guess my way through the meaning. I could read Chinese that was written 1800 years ago (about a loan on a winery) but have difficulty reading Shakespeare due to the language change.
I wanted to take pictures but they wouldn't allow it. I didn't purchase anything from the gift shop but I'll have to go back again. They had a book with pictures from all of the exhibits. The exhibit ends on 3/15 so I have some time but not all that much.
In other news, I'm almost done with Anthony's book. I'll finish the Braille this week and then I just need to proof it and format it for printing. I'll be so happy to get it done before Christmas. I'm also flying to Hong Kong to extend my visa for the last 60 days before this one expires. After that I'll have to get a new visa right after Chinese New Year.
I also found out how wonderful Ender's Game is. It's a sci-fi book that has me so hooked I haven't been sleeping. I stayed up well past 2 am the last couple nights just to read a few more pages.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/12/06/2003430422
We walked from the Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall station over to the museum. She and I both wanted to see the exhibit, which is a really rare event since out interests are so different, so we agreed to head over.
The exhibit is called the "Legends of the Silk Road" and is fantastic. I've included the link at the end of the post. They have some pretty amazing stuff from a wide variety of historical periods. The centerpiece is the "beauty" herself. She was between 40 to 45 years old when she died around 3800 years ago. It was remarkable to see her still have eyelashes after so long. There was one very odd thing though. She's not Chinese.
Her features, and the artistic representation of her face, has her looking like a European. They call her Indo-European but I swear she looks French. Either way she was a long way from home.
The mummy was interesting, but I found some of the other stuff far more interesting. They had clothing that was over 2000 years old. Felicity and I were both really surprised because the clothing was huge. I stood next to it and the shirt went from my shoulders down to my knees. The guy who wore it must have been huge. We are talking 200 years ago but this man (it was a male's shirt/jacket) had to be well over 6 foot. That was a rare height for most Chinese men before the last 40 years.
There was also some calligraphy from around 220 AD. Felicity could read and understand it pretty clearly, and I could guess my way through the meaning. I could read Chinese that was written 1800 years ago (about a loan on a winery) but have difficulty reading Shakespeare due to the language change.
I wanted to take pictures but they wouldn't allow it. I didn't purchase anything from the gift shop but I'll have to go back again. They had a book with pictures from all of the exhibits. The exhibit ends on 3/15 so I have some time but not all that much.
In other news, I'm almost done with Anthony's book. I'll finish the Braille this week and then I just need to proof it and format it for printing. I'll be so happy to get it done before Christmas. I'm also flying to Hong Kong to extend my visa for the last 60 days before this one expires. After that I'll have to get a new visa right after Chinese New Year.
I also found out how wonderful Ender's Game is. It's a sci-fi book that has me so hooked I haven't been sleeping. I stayed up well past 2 am the last couple nights just to read a few more pages.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/12/06/2003430422
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Its finally comfortable in Taipei
Well it's December in Taipei and as the title states, I am finally comfortable. The skies are clear, the winds blow and generally its cold and crisp. I love this weather. It's not cold enough to have to wear jackets yet but soon I will be able to. Lately the Taiwanese in my neighborhood are dressed as if they are living in the arctic, wearing large North Fleece jackets, beanies and scarves.
It feels like it has been a lot longer than two weeks since I updated my blog. So much has happened since then. Work is the same. Every day I get up, get my coffee and start typing. I've taken to listening to podcasts while I type, but my mornings are typing or editing and drinking coffee. I get lunch, or eat veggies that I bought from the store, and then work in the afternoon. Workout with Ryan and then get a small dinner and go home. Sometimes hang out with Felicity, sometimes not.
This last weekend Ryan finally went home. Natalie left the week before Thanksgiving and Ryan the week after. Now I'm here by myself in Taipei with Felicity. As luck would have it, last Sunday Felicity and I were shopping at the Eslite bookstore near Taipei 101 when I ran into an old classmate of mine from three years ago. Kevin has been working and studying here and so his Chinese has become almost fluent. We exchanged numbers and so now I should have someone else to hang out with, but I'll need to start making more new friends and acquaintances here.
I went for a job interview this week at a chain of afternoon English cram schools. The location is great, less than 10 minutes by bus north of me, and the hours looked good too. No working on Saturday, afternoon and evening work, and they provide a curriculum. When I arrived they had me fill out a form with all my information on it, which took 15 minutes. I was a little peeved at that, given that they could have emailed it to me and I would have shown up with it printed. Then came the "interview"
I was expecting an actual interview. They were expecting a teaching demonstration. I was given 5 minutes to prepare and then explain how I would teach the students a section on new vocabulary and grammar. I did fine on the vocabulary, but not the grammar. I didn't prepare to do a demo, just what kind of questions they would ask me about my resume. They didn't even ask if I had a degree, just if I had teaching experience or not. I told them I didn't and they looked surprised. They thought I was responding because I had experience, but I responded to an ad for "1st time teachers wanted!".
I'm still looking for work that is in Taipei, not horrendously far from my apartment, and provides a work visa to stay. As I am unlikely to finish that process in the next two weeks, it looks like I will have to fly somewhere. flights to Manila seemed to be the cheapest route, but they only have one flight per day. I would have to stay the night there. Given that Manila has so many attractions, I want to have a bit more time to see things than one day. To renew my visa, I'll just fly to Macau and back and plan to go to Manila in a few months.
It feels like it has been a lot longer than two weeks since I updated my blog. So much has happened since then. Work is the same. Every day I get up, get my coffee and start typing. I've taken to listening to podcasts while I type, but my mornings are typing or editing and drinking coffee. I get lunch, or eat veggies that I bought from the store, and then work in the afternoon. Workout with Ryan and then get a small dinner and go home. Sometimes hang out with Felicity, sometimes not.
This last weekend Ryan finally went home. Natalie left the week before Thanksgiving and Ryan the week after. Now I'm here by myself in Taipei with Felicity. As luck would have it, last Sunday Felicity and I were shopping at the Eslite bookstore near Taipei 101 when I ran into an old classmate of mine from three years ago. Kevin has been working and studying here and so his Chinese has become almost fluent. We exchanged numbers and so now I should have someone else to hang out with, but I'll need to start making more new friends and acquaintances here.
I went for a job interview this week at a chain of afternoon English cram schools. The location is great, less than 10 minutes by bus north of me, and the hours looked good too. No working on Saturday, afternoon and evening work, and they provide a curriculum. When I arrived they had me fill out a form with all my information on it, which took 15 minutes. I was a little peeved at that, given that they could have emailed it to me and I would have shown up with it printed. Then came the "interview"
I was expecting an actual interview. They were expecting a teaching demonstration. I was given 5 minutes to prepare and then explain how I would teach the students a section on new vocabulary and grammar. I did fine on the vocabulary, but not the grammar. I didn't prepare to do a demo, just what kind of questions they would ask me about my resume. They didn't even ask if I had a degree, just if I had teaching experience or not. I told them I didn't and they looked surprised. They thought I was responding because I had experience, but I responded to an ad for "1st time teachers wanted!".
I'm still looking for work that is in Taipei, not horrendously far from my apartment, and provides a work visa to stay. As I am unlikely to finish that process in the next two weeks, it looks like I will have to fly somewhere. flights to Manila seemed to be the cheapest route, but they only have one flight per day. I would have to stay the night there. Given that Manila has so many attractions, I want to have a bit more time to see things than one day. To renew my visa, I'll just fly to Macau and back and plan to go to Manila in a few months.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Fall has finally arrived!
I was waiting until we had 3 consecutive days of cold before I posted this. Fall has finally arrived! After having hot weather from when I arrived in August until November, cold weather feel WONDERFUL! I talked to my friend Mike who is in Northeast China and he got snow this week. I know he'll wish he didn't have snow come February...
Its windy and cold outside right now. Weatherunderground.com has the temperature at 61 F (16 C), humidity at 55% and 10 mph wind. Not quite cold enough to wear my coats yet, but cold enough that I can't wear shorts outside anymore. For the first time in a while, I didn't run my Air Conditioner today. Pretty soon I'll need to get a heater and heavy blankets for my bed.
I'm still looking for jobs teaching English to fix the problem with my residency requirements here, but my student Anthony gave me an interesting idea. Apparently Skype has a new service that you can purchase at a premium that acts like a virtual classroom of sorts. You can be an "expert" in some field, decide how much you want to charge per minute, and what hours you are going to be available for. People call you (the first call is free) and the Skype deals with the details. They withdraw the cost amount for the call from the persons Skype credit and add it to your account. Pretty nifty idea that I am thinking about trying. My buddy Ryan suggested that I postpone it though, otherwise I'll never leave my apartment and will become depressed. He makes a very good point.
I have almost caught up with my schedule for work at CSULB. I was a month and a half behind schedule in the middle of October. In 1 month I was able to reduce that to being only two weeks behind schedule. I can finally start translating the braille now and I will be able to get everything done on time. I'm extremely happy, and very tired of looking at my computer screen!
Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm still looking for places that are doing a US style dinner. If that doesn't work I'll try Anthony's suggestion of heading to Costco, buying turkey lunch meat and grilling it on my hot plate. Really what I want from Costco is pumpkin pie. They have every other type of gourd here in Taiwan except for pumpkins.
I don't know what I'll do for the holidays yet. My buddies Ryan and Natalie will be leaving soon. Natalie flies out this Sunday and Ryan a week later. It will be weird without them around but I'll find a way to manage. If I get a job quickly then it won't be a huge issue. What will be interesting is Chinese New Year. Mike and my friend Jeremy want to go to Japan for a week and I really want to go. Meeting up with the two of them in Japan for a week would be a lot of fun. The only issue is that during Chinese New Year, everyone who is non-Chinese tries to leave to island. Flights to Japan from Taipei are mostly full already and look to be about 600 US just for economy class tickets.
I'll see what I can do. At least I'm not in Korea right now. I saw that the Korean Won fell in value by 30% in the last three months. It use to be around 1050 Won to the dollar, now its 1450 Won to the dollar. Great if you want to visit Korea, but for my friends who went there to teach English, it makes it much harder to pay off student loans when you now have to pay 30-40% more for every US dollar.
Its windy and cold outside right now. Weatherunderground.com has the temperature at 61 F (16 C), humidity at 55% and 10 mph wind. Not quite cold enough to wear my coats yet, but cold enough that I can't wear shorts outside anymore. For the first time in a while, I didn't run my Air Conditioner today. Pretty soon I'll need to get a heater and heavy blankets for my bed.
I'm still looking for jobs teaching English to fix the problem with my residency requirements here, but my student Anthony gave me an interesting idea. Apparently Skype has a new service that you can purchase at a premium that acts like a virtual classroom of sorts. You can be an "expert" in some field, decide how much you want to charge per minute, and what hours you are going to be available for. People call you (the first call is free) and the Skype deals with the details. They withdraw the cost amount for the call from the persons Skype credit and add it to your account. Pretty nifty idea that I am thinking about trying. My buddy Ryan suggested that I postpone it though, otherwise I'll never leave my apartment and will become depressed. He makes a very good point.
I have almost caught up with my schedule for work at CSULB. I was a month and a half behind schedule in the middle of October. In 1 month I was able to reduce that to being only two weeks behind schedule. I can finally start translating the braille now and I will be able to get everything done on time. I'm extremely happy, and very tired of looking at my computer screen!
Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm still looking for places that are doing a US style dinner. If that doesn't work I'll try Anthony's suggestion of heading to Costco, buying turkey lunch meat and grilling it on my hot plate. Really what I want from Costco is pumpkin pie. They have every other type of gourd here in Taiwan except for pumpkins.
I don't know what I'll do for the holidays yet. My buddies Ryan and Natalie will be leaving soon. Natalie flies out this Sunday and Ryan a week later. It will be weird without them around but I'll find a way to manage. If I get a job quickly then it won't be a huge issue. What will be interesting is Chinese New Year. Mike and my friend Jeremy want to go to Japan for a week and I really want to go. Meeting up with the two of them in Japan for a week would be a lot of fun. The only issue is that during Chinese New Year, everyone who is non-Chinese tries to leave to island. Flights to Japan from Taipei are mostly full already and look to be about 600 US just for economy class tickets.
I'll see what I can do. At least I'm not in Korea right now. I saw that the Korean Won fell in value by 30% in the last three months. It use to be around 1050 Won to the dollar, now its 1450 Won to the dollar. Great if you want to visit Korea, but for my friends who went there to teach English, it makes it much harder to pay off student loans when you now have to pay 30-40% more for every US dollar.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Macao Trip
Macao was awesome. I got a package deal from a travel agent here that included 2 days 1 night at the hotel plus airfare for 350 US. The original quote was for 200 US but they taxed the hell out of me in airport taxes. They do that to everyone, but I thought it was pretty ridiculous that the airport taxes were almost as much as base cost for the plane ticket.
There was also an issue with Immigration leaving the country. I left on the 60th day (or 61st) depending how you counted. The immigration guy counted on his fingers a couple times before realizing I didn't overstay and then just gave me an exit stamp.
Flying to Macao was easy. It was about an hour and a half flight and then I landed. Immigration gave me no trouble and neither did Customs. The cab took me straight to my hotel (supposedly a 5 star hotel) and I got checked in. The cab fare was about triple what I expected and this was foreboding of what was to come. On the weekends, Macao institutes a "tourist tax" where everything increases in price dramatically.
I took a shower at the hotel and went exploring. Unbeknown to me, my tourist map was incorrect. It showed streets as running straight when really they all went in circles. I got lost and found myself a couple of times before ending up downtown. I saw the casinos there and then walked up to the San Leonardo square. After figuring out where I was and taking some pictures, I went to the Saint Paul Cathedral. Right as I was going to take a picture, my camera battery died. I trekked back to 7-11 and bought a disposable camera. Took some pictures of the Saint Paul Cathedral and then the fort protecting the Cathedral.
Walking around for 2 or 3 hours really tired me out so I went back to the hotel to shower and sleep. I got up in the morning and walked around some more. I was looking for a bakery that opened up early to buy some Portuguese egg tarts. I found one but it wasn't very close. I walked to the store, bought a box and took a cab to the airport.
Customs and Immigration were easy, and the boarding didn't take very long. They started boarding passengers late but we still took off on time. Boarding looked like it was out of the 40's, walking up a gangway to get into the plane. 2 hours later I was back in Taiwan, and shortly after that on a bus back to Taipei.
Here are the pictures:
http://tinyurl.com/67kjnz
There was also an issue with Immigration leaving the country. I left on the 60th day (or 61st) depending how you counted. The immigration guy counted on his fingers a couple times before realizing I didn't overstay and then just gave me an exit stamp.
Flying to Macao was easy. It was about an hour and a half flight and then I landed. Immigration gave me no trouble and neither did Customs. The cab took me straight to my hotel (supposedly a 5 star hotel) and I got checked in. The cab fare was about triple what I expected and this was foreboding of what was to come. On the weekends, Macao institutes a "tourist tax" where everything increases in price dramatically.
I took a shower at the hotel and went exploring. Unbeknown to me, my tourist map was incorrect. It showed streets as running straight when really they all went in circles. I got lost and found myself a couple of times before ending up downtown. I saw the casinos there and then walked up to the San Leonardo square. After figuring out where I was and taking some pictures, I went to the Saint Paul Cathedral. Right as I was going to take a picture, my camera battery died. I trekked back to 7-11 and bought a disposable camera. Took some pictures of the Saint Paul Cathedral and then the fort protecting the Cathedral.
Walking around for 2 or 3 hours really tired me out so I went back to the hotel to shower and sleep. I got up in the morning and walked around some more. I was looking for a bakery that opened up early to buy some Portuguese egg tarts. I found one but it wasn't very close. I walked to the store, bought a box and took a cab to the airport.
Customs and Immigration were easy, and the boarding didn't take very long. They started boarding passengers late but we still took off on time. Boarding looked like it was out of the 40's, walking up a gangway to get into the plane. 2 hours later I was back in Taiwan, and shortly after that on a bus back to Taipei.
Here are the pictures:
http://tinyurl.com/67kjnz
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