He's here!

No, that ground shaking is not an earthquake. Just his foot steps.

Children cower at the mere sight of him.

Toilets haven’t been abused like this since Salmonella 2012.

Men puff their chest out in admiration of his size.

The gym had to buy more weights for him to do triceps.

It’s Mike Voltz,

And he’s in Taiwan!

Here are his first impressions with pics and a video of him trying stinky tofu. Haha Yum Yum. I gave him my scooter and let him explore the town while I was teaching. Some pictures are from that, and others from the night market.

(As a teacher, his grammar is insulting. haha Mine isn't the greatest either I guess.)

As I stepped off the bus in Taichung it struck me. I have no idea where I am, I can't communicate with anyone, and i'm not really sure i got off at the right stop. Looking around at the Taichung rail station masses of people walked in every direction, and the imposing buildings on all sides did not help to ease my worries. But with some luck i spotted david and then the adventure truly began. Riding on the back of a old scooter with duct tape holding on the front fender at 50 to 70 km, weaving in and out of traffic. Most unsafe i've felt in a LONG time. The ride from the station to his place was short but gave me my first real glimpse of the city. Mobs of scooters in a dangerous dance with sleeper buses and taxis, sidewalks filled with people walking by the thousands of different storefronts, the flashing lights of betelnut pushers, and all the while david shouting street names and directions to me. It was overwhelming to say the least. Once settled, we hit the streets headed for the night market near a goat statue. Again, Taichung is in your face. Your senses are assaulted by flashing lights of stores, the smells of the street vendors, and the sounds of a buzzing city. After that night I was on my own, off to get lost and found again in Taichung. So far this is what i've found: The people here are kinder than anywhere else i've ever visited. They are engaging and try to be as accommodating as possible with the language barrier; The city is clean, your hard pressed to find graffiti or litter. A welcome change from the US; Taichung is a city in motion, the sounds of construction can be heard on most street corners; The food is wonderful, altho i couldn't tell ya what most of it is (minus stinky tofu, its god awful); And lastly banana milk! if you come to this part of the world without trying banana milk you wasted your trip. 

We have a visitor

So not much exciting has happened lately.

Last weekend I rode my scooter 2.5 hours into the mountains to meet some friends and camp out. Lemme tell you, anything over 30 minutes is uncomfortable on a scooter. The ride was even worse because my scooter stopped working. So I was in the middle of the mountains with no cell reception and no buildings visible from where I was. But it worked out because I kicked my scooter and yelled mean things at it. 30 minutes later it was running again. We camped out in the middle of the jungle/mountains. It was pretty relaxing breathing fresh air.

All week sucked pretty bad because we had our monthly reports due. I have close to 40 students and it takes FOR-EV-ER to do these. I was not in the best mood.

Monday is our all school Halloween party. Im not sure what I am dressing up as yet, I should probably get on that.

On Tuesday, Mike is arriving. Not sure how he is getting from Taipei to Taichung. Ill let him figure that out. There are only 22 million people on this island, it cant be that hard to find me, right? We were planning a trip to the Taroko Gorge. But trains aren't cooperating. So idk what the plan is.

Ill take and post a lot of pictures of Mike in Taiwan next weekend. It's going to be so funny.

Hong Kong

1 hour taxi ride.

2 hour flight.

45 minutes on a double-decker bus.

20 minute walk to the hostel.

Sounds like a normal travel schedule. Under most circumstances I wouldn’t even have mentioned this in my blog. But my trip to Hong Kong wasn’t under normal circumstances. I was sick. VERY sick. Salmonella poisoning sick. Every rock of the plane or turn of the bus felt like it was going to be the one the sent me over the edge. It was the most uncomfortable travel experience of my life. But I made it.

It wasn’t until midday on Saturday when I actually appreciated being in Hong Kong. The previous 6 hours were spent looking for a toilet and trying not to pass out. Much props to the girls on the trip that had to put up with me. I was a drag. I probably used the restroom no fewer than 50 times over the weekend. Hong Kong has some pretty nice toilets…I can even flush my toilet paper. Luxury!

One of approximately 400000 stores like this.

 Our first trip was to Victoria Peak. You take a steep rail car up to the top of a mountain that overlooks the city. Naturally there was a shopping mall at the top; they love their shopping in Hong Kong. The views were pretty spectacular even with the haze over the city.

 Next we hurried to the harbor to catch a ferry to ride around the city and watch the symphony of lights (A bunch of huge buildings light up to music). Millions of people have done this so I am not going to tell you about the symphony of lights…it was pretty boring to be honest. The fun story all started when I decided to use the restroom aboard the boat. The show was still going on so I thought I still had time to take care of business and return to the deck before we docked. That wasn’t the case. About halfway thru my…ummmm…poop, I heard them say “thank you for watching the symphony of lights, please come back again”. Then I felt the side jets pushing us towards the dock. At this moment I had a decision to make. 1. Finish pooping and risk being left on the boat for another hour ride and lose my friends. Or 2, Get off the boat and for sure poop my pants. Not an easy decision. I decided to continue pooping. As I finished and ran to the top dock there were my friends telling the workers that I was still on the boat and they couldn’t leave yet. So they saved me and I made it off.

  

We then went back to the hostel which was very nice, other than the guy who stayed in our room with us. Jerk!

  

The next morning I went to Stanley, which is a little market town on the ocean very near to the city. It was nice, but not a lot for a guy who doesn’t like to shop.

Street-side fruit stands like this are one of my favorite things about Asia. They are everywhere.

Our final trip was to the gondolas. They were glass bottomed and went over the river/ocean and up into the mountains. At the top was another shopping area and then a walk to an enormous Buddha statue. It was pretty cool how big this thing was. Also the setting was pretty spectacular. Mountains and ocean all around us with clean, crisp air.

People hand fishing in the river. Not sure for what

Hong Kong's airport is HUGE

That brings me to my next point. When I pictured Hong Kong in my mind I thought of a never ending dirty city. Boy was I wrong. The city is nestled between mountains and the ocean. The air quality in the city was way better than in Taiwan. Where ever you looked you could see green…pretty awesome for such a huge city. Also, there was basically no trash on the ground. But what surprised me the most was the amount of people who spoke English. I would guess 90% of people speak English. There are more English signs than Chinese signs. Sometimes I forgot I wasn’t in America.

Im not going to put Hong Kong on the absolute must-see list. (Unless you like to shop) But if you ever get a chance to visit, take it!