Sooooo, the rest of my Taipei experience was pretty good. I discovered the biggest 100 yen (Japanese $1 shop) in the top of 'New York, New York' shopping mall. It was brilliant, I was in there for hours! I went to the National Palace Museum and saw an exhibition on Mongolian treasures. I ate out at the street markets and bought lots of stuff!! Taipei is super cheap!! I had to post a box home already!!
I arrived in Vancouver Friday night and Hannah was there to meet me - she even had a sign! It was brilliant to see her, just like old times. We drove in to Vancouver and went up a revolving restaurant for a celebration drink - we managed to get the cover charge waived as Hannah is soon getting married! They love a romantic story! :)
The last few days have flown by. We've been making lots of preparations for the wedding, making table cards, play lists, organising all the final details, scouting for photo venues...it's been great!!
It's so cold here!!
We popped south of the border, into the states for a spot of shopping - everything is much cheaper down there.
About to head out to a BBQ. Running in the morning. Printers tomorrow.
busy busy, but fun fun.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Taipei day 1
I arrived last night. It's the first time I've been back to this part of Asia since I left Japan almost 3 years ago. I was immediately struck by how similar everything is to Okinawa here - MOS burger! Family mart! I suppose just reading the kanji again too - although it's Chinese here, Japanese language has many Chinese characters, so even though I can't speak Chinese, I can tell the meaning of some things, which is nice.
I found my hostel fine, right next to Taipei's main station. Everyone always forgets to mention that Taipei's main station is humongous. It literally takes 30 minutes to find your way out of the correct exit. It's a new hostel, complete with 'mini single rooms'. I have one, it's tiny, but it has nice details...a lamp, pretty cherry blossom painting on the wall, air-con...and remarkably NINE power sockets!!
This morning I woke up and researched Taipei a bit online then decided to head out to the south, Taipei Zoo. Apparently the largest zoo in Asia, it cost me less than £2 to get in! I saw the pandas (sleeping) and the penguins (in their freezy enclosures) and the giraffes, zebras. I was most impressed with the hippos. One hippo managed to get his jaw stuck between some railings...not a good idea! I have photos.
After trekking to the far end of the zoo I decided to jump on the shuttle train up to the MaoKong Gondola. It's a pretty extensive gondola system, going up and down and over a few different hills, terminating on a tea mountain, which conveniently overlooks the whole of Taipei. There are loads of tea 'plantations' here, and lots of tea houses, and a 'how tea is made' factory thing.
After walking around all day I decided it was time to get back on the gondola, back on the metro and get some food before going up Taipei 101 for dusk. I was in the queue to get up to the observation deck for what seemed like forever. Plenty of time to people watch. I gave my place in the queue up 4 times because the people behind me were so argy bargy! Beautiful view from the top, you get a free audio guide woohoo. It is an amazing building. Then I came home, and I'm wrecked!!
I found my hostel fine, right next to Taipei's main station. Everyone always forgets to mention that Taipei's main station is humongous. It literally takes 30 minutes to find your way out of the correct exit. It's a new hostel, complete with 'mini single rooms'. I have one, it's tiny, but it has nice details...a lamp, pretty cherry blossom painting on the wall, air-con...and remarkably NINE power sockets!!
This morning I woke up and researched Taipei a bit online then decided to head out to the south, Taipei Zoo. Apparently the largest zoo in Asia, it cost me less than £2 to get in! I saw the pandas (sleeping) and the penguins (in their freezy enclosures) and the giraffes, zebras. I was most impressed with the hippos. One hippo managed to get his jaw stuck between some railings...not a good idea! I have photos.
After trekking to the far end of the zoo I decided to jump on the shuttle train up to the MaoKong Gondola. It's a pretty extensive gondola system, going up and down and over a few different hills, terminating on a tea mountain, which conveniently overlooks the whole of Taipei. There are loads of tea 'plantations' here, and lots of tea houses, and a 'how tea is made' factory thing.
After walking around all day I decided it was time to get back on the gondola, back on the metro and get some food before going up Taipei 101 for dusk. I was in the queue to get up to the observation deck for what seemed like forever. Plenty of time to people watch. I gave my place in the queue up 4 times because the people behind me were so argy bargy! Beautiful view from the top, you get a free audio guide woohoo. It is an amazing building. Then I came home, and I'm wrecked!!
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Sunday, 4 April 2010
1 month in Australia
Well, I've been here for a month now. The first 2 weeks were busy with sister Eilidh and niece Kyla. Lots of family time. The three of us visited more relatives in Sydney for a long weekend. Since Eilidh left I've been on more of a mission. I've been trying to kick start all areas of my life, one part at a time. I've been playing the harp quite a bit. It's amazing how much my fingers can remember! I've made a basic website to try and improve my chances of getting hired for weddings and functions on the gold coast. All the other harpists have one, so, I feel like I'm ready now, if I need to become a harpist overnight!!
I've been searching for jobs in the sports industry - a huge vague umbrella covering all sorts of roles. But I did find a job on the Sunshine Coast - 2 hours north of Brisbane - the job is Regional Coordinator, Active After-School communities. This involves working with primary schools and hooking them up with the local community sports providers to try and encourage inactive children into sports after school. Sounds like a perfect job for me...but if I don't get it, it's not the end of the world - at least it's forced me to crack on and get my CV in order and the letter writing process under way. The next letter will be easier! The search continues!
Sports! Sports have been keeping me going through this strange time. I've been swimming most days, there's a pool in the garden, and a 50 metre outdoor pool 5 minutes away, so that's brilliant. I've been cycling 2 different routes - the first is a 40km valley road - out and back. The 2nd route is a 70km loop, going up into the mountains - a beautiful ride, but massive elevation, hills galore. It's currently taking me 3 hours...hoping to gradually speed this up. It's a tough tough ride at the moment. Need to find a cycle group. I saw a group of girls this morning on the valley route, but I was going the other way. I'm thinking of turning around next time, joining their pack and find out what the deal is!!
Running. I've been running along the beach - with no shoes...it's been good for my running I think. Then I found the bike shop in Coolangatta - they are about to set up a whole new triathlon training scheme. The first run was that very same night, so I managed to get a group run in - the hills were harsh though! Training buddies! There were only 3 guys, 2 of which used to be on the pro olympic triathlon series, now overweight and trying to get fit again! The third guy does sub-10 hour ironman distances, so pretty quick. Really fun to find a good bike shop anyway. At the moment, they only have super fast bike ride groups...a little out of my league at the moment, but hopefully I'll get fitter and faster!!
So, I have just over 2 weeks until I head to Canada, my friend Hannah from my Japan years is getting married! Hooray! So, the McRazy travels continue!!
Life with mum and dad is pretty chilled and relaxed. The kookaburras are on the balcony from about 6 am until 8 am and again from 5 pm...funny things. We're having BBQs almost every night! The house is amazing, the view of the ocean is stunning. Sunrise from my bed isn't too bad either.
I have been missing my friends and Andrew a LOT. Having no routine and no job...it's a weird thing - but everything will come together eventually. I have the luxury of hanging on until the RIGHT job comes along. It's all very exciting.
Seeing 2 of my best Japan friends next week. Dona lives an hour north of here on the Gold Coast. Jaimee lives further north but is back in Brisbane for Easter holidays. Great to have such good friends so relatively close!
Time to put the BBQ on :)
Happy Easter everyone!
I've been searching for jobs in the sports industry - a huge vague umbrella covering all sorts of roles. But I did find a job on the Sunshine Coast - 2 hours north of Brisbane - the job is Regional Coordinator, Active After-School communities. This involves working with primary schools and hooking them up with the local community sports providers to try and encourage inactive children into sports after school. Sounds like a perfect job for me...but if I don't get it, it's not the end of the world - at least it's forced me to crack on and get my CV in order and the letter writing process under way. The next letter will be easier! The search continues!
Sports! Sports have been keeping me going through this strange time. I've been swimming most days, there's a pool in the garden, and a 50 metre outdoor pool 5 minutes away, so that's brilliant. I've been cycling 2 different routes - the first is a 40km valley road - out and back. The 2nd route is a 70km loop, going up into the mountains - a beautiful ride, but massive elevation, hills galore. It's currently taking me 3 hours...hoping to gradually speed this up. It's a tough tough ride at the moment. Need to find a cycle group. I saw a group of girls this morning on the valley route, but I was going the other way. I'm thinking of turning around next time, joining their pack and find out what the deal is!!
Running. I've been running along the beach - with no shoes...it's been good for my running I think. Then I found the bike shop in Coolangatta - they are about to set up a whole new triathlon training scheme. The first run was that very same night, so I managed to get a group run in - the hills were harsh though! Training buddies! There were only 3 guys, 2 of which used to be on the pro olympic triathlon series, now overweight and trying to get fit again! The third guy does sub-10 hour ironman distances, so pretty quick. Really fun to find a good bike shop anyway. At the moment, they only have super fast bike ride groups...a little out of my league at the moment, but hopefully I'll get fitter and faster!!
So, I have just over 2 weeks until I head to Canada, my friend Hannah from my Japan years is getting married! Hooray! So, the McRazy travels continue!!
Life with mum and dad is pretty chilled and relaxed. The kookaburras are on the balcony from about 6 am until 8 am and again from 5 pm...funny things. We're having BBQs almost every night! The house is amazing, the view of the ocean is stunning. Sunrise from my bed isn't too bad either.
I have been missing my friends and Andrew a LOT. Having no routine and no job...it's a weird thing - but everything will come together eventually. I have the luxury of hanging on until the RIGHT job comes along. It's all very exciting.
Seeing 2 of my best Japan friends next week. Dona lives an hour north of here on the Gold Coast. Jaimee lives further north but is back in Brisbane for Easter holidays. Great to have such good friends so relatively close!
Time to put the BBQ on :)
Happy Easter everyone!
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