Stinky Tofu Sausage

Disabled Food Cart (Tainan, Taiwan)

As I was sitting waiting for my friends to pop out of the market, I noticed a man selling food. At first it looked pretty normal, but as I looked closer I noticed he had no hands and no legs. I'm not sure if he lives in his cart or his someone will move his cart each day for him.

It amazes me how the poor and those with disabilities work so hard in Taiwan. Then when I look at America and see perfectly functioning people who are too lazy to work a job, sitting around expecting people to give it to them.

Tainan, Taiwan (Trip Part 1)

What started out as a four hour, fun trip driving scooters turned into a twelve hour adventure, through the mountains. I knew it was a little longer going through the mountains but I didn't anticipate it taking that long. In Taiwan scooters aren't aloud on the highway, and some how we ended up on one, giving us a police escort. Luckily he left us off. Then we finally arrived from Taichung to Tainan at 5am.

Not to long into our day, I decided to climb a tree (left picture). However Grant the Korean decided to try to, but fell and twisted his ankle pretty good.

Five Concubine Temple

Apparently there was an Emperor with five concubines. Eventually he died and the dedicated themselves to honoring him or something silly and mystical sounding. (its been to long ago for me to remember all the details)

One of my favorite parts about Tainan is all the history. I think Tainan has best preserved its historical places then all of Taiwan. (Photo: Old Temple's and gods with plaques to historical figures)

Photos Photos and Photos

Since being in Taiwan I have taken thousands and thousands of photos. With my macbook being a little over 4 years old its still runs pretty good, but photoshop does run a little slow. However photos have taken up every inch of my computer. I only have 11.49GB of free space. Mostly from photos taken in Taiwan.

Everyday I try to look through them upload them and burn them onto discs to free up space on my computer. However I still have a 8GB memory card that is full of photos that I have to put on my computer. No, I'm not still in Taiwan, just uploading some old stuff.

After 1 Year...

Its been a whole year since I've seen my girlfriend. I have finally arrived back home with her in America. Its been one of the best weeks spending time with her and getting to know her and her family.

Last Day in Taiwan

Today is my last day in Taiwan. I  currently have 8 hours left to enjoy this place. I am sorry for my lack of blogging and other updates, due to busyness with school and having fun with a some laziness mixed in. It is a confusing feeling right now. I'm not sure what to think. It is hard to believe that I will be placing my feet on American soil tomorrow morning. It all seems so unreal.  Spending 2 years in a country changes a lot about you. It gives you feelings you can never feel without leaving your home country for so long. You experience a culture on a deeper level then hanging out with an Asian in America. For the past 2 years I have eaten rice almost everyday, 2 meals a day. My life changed greatly to come here and now it is going to have to change to go back.

Taiwan Always Working

This is something I have encountered, maybe not to this extreme, but generally my friends in school or those working a normal job in Taiwan, are never able to hang out during the week, because they are to busy working. Taiwan will move holiday's to the weekends because no one is able to celebrate the holiday during the week because of work.

Michael Mcdonald - Tail Drop

Jonson - Bs Boardslide

Michael Mcdonald's son doing a bs boardslide to fakie. His son came out with us and skating all day with the old guys. There's not many other kids in Taiwan that skate at his age but he loves to do it with his dad.

Isun - Back Tail

Isun is from Costa Rico but has been living in Taiwan with his Taiwanese father. He speaks Spanish, English and some Chinese. I skate with him almost every week.

My first Car...umm I mean Scooter

Jake and I were given a couple of scooters from Marc Heckman, for only $3USD each. The name transferring cost were a little more. They have changed my whole world in Taiwan. I have been able to expand the world before me. It takes me only 15-30min to get to a place that use to take me 1 hour to get to by bus. This makes me really want a motorcycle in the states except the driving here is way more effective on a scooter. You can't just weave in and out of cars in the states.

Funny Things Taiwanese Say

My Students
Me: "What do you like to do for fun?"
Taiwanese Most Common Answer: "Sleep"

Me: "What did you do for fun this weekend?"
Taiwanese: "I ate."
Me: "Did you do anything else?"
Taiwanese: "I slept and played Facebook."

Me: "When you lived in Canada what did you like to do?"
Taiwanese: "I played hockey."
Me: "You played hockey? I didn't know you liked hockey."
Taiwanese: "Well that's what everyone else did. I never played hockey."

At Mcdonalds
Me: "Can I have the coke float but with no ice?"
Taiwanese: "No, it comes with ice."
Me: "But I don't want the ice can you just not put it in."
Taiwanese: "It only comes with ice, we don't have it without ice."

Me: (in Chinese) "Number 1"
Taiwanese: (in English) "You want the number 1?"
Me: (in English) "Yes"

Taiwanese Employee 1: (in Chinese) "Oh no, Do you think he speaks Chinese?"
Taiwanese Employee 2: (in Chinese "No he doesn't"
Me: (in Chinese) "I'll have the Number 3"
Taiwanese 1: (in Chinese) "pheww, he knows Chinese"

Tea Shops
Me: "Can I get the Mango Ice Cream Green Tea but without the tea?"
Taiwanese: "No, you have to get it with the tea."
Me: "I'll pay the same price, I just want the ice cream. I don't want the tea on it."
Taiwanese: "Sorry, but the ice cream comes with the tea."

On the Street
Me: (in Chinese) "Whats your name?"
Taiwanese: (in Chinese) "I don't speak English."
Me: (in Chinese) "I'm speaking Chinese."
Taiwanese (in Chinese) "I don't understand English."

Friends
Me: "Hey would you like to hang out today?"
Taiwanese: "Sorry I have a really big test coming up next year that I really need to study for."

Guy Mariano and Justin Eldridge in Taiwan

I got to meet and skate with two very famous pro skaters from the company known as Girl Skateboards.

Disputed Islands

Photo from CNN.com

Taiwan, China, and Japan has recently been disputing over a set of islands laying north east of Taiwan. Though Taiwan didn't put up much of a fight for it (probably due to smaller military power). I often see articles in the newspapers about the issue over the island, however I cannot understand what I am reading because it is in Chinese. It is actually pretty common to hear about disputes over different islands in asia. However this ones seems to be a bigger issue recently. If you want to read more follow the links below to CNN.



Taiwan Boats Retreat

News Video about the Events

Having fun Skating Taoyuan

Vans Warehouse Sale - Taiwan

I managed to go hear about a warehouse that was selling a bunch of Vans shoes for really low prices. the shoes were anywhere from $10-30. I got 5 brand new pairs of shoes for less then $100.

Self Portrait - Wall Ride

I set the camera up and told it to take 30 pictures one after the other. The camera kept missing all the shots, showing the trick before or after I landed it. This was the only shot that had a make.

Temple Shop - Taiwan

Mostly you will see a lot of Spirit Money in the picture used for burning to ancestors or idols. This shop is located in Dajia, Taiwan, right outside of a temple.

Taiwan Labor

Riding my bike around, I came across this girl working hard with some kind of metal in her hands. She looked up for a slight moment then went back to work as I took the picture.

Wall Ride - Andrew Chang

Chinglish - I Love Taiwan because...?

None of these things listed would make me love Taiwan but there are plenty of other good reasons.

Skating Rusty Ramps

This is at a school around Hsin Ju area.

LongPan - 龍磐公園

Long Pan (龍磐公園) is an area on the south east tip of Taiwan. The cliff has been slowing decaying from the ocean winds and water. Layers of rocks are tilted and collapsed on the ground below it. This is probably one of the best places in Taiwan to go star gazing and see the sun set/rise.

Pingtung Train Station

Spirit Money?

This isn't your typical spirit money, you can actually buy objects that look like ipads, razors, sports things, to burn to your ancestors or gods. No, they aren't real they are just paper or cardboard objects. If you want to worship your idol to the fullest forget burning your $400 iPad when you can just burn something that looks like it for $3.

Idol's on the Drive

Sometimes the idols just get a little too dusty in those old creepy temples. The best way to fix this is to put that idol on the back of your car and drive until its looking spic and span again. In Taiwan as part of their worship to their gods they drive them around on tours through the city.

bs Air's at the Nangang Bowl, Taipei

Ollie Up Seven

Filmed by Micheal McDonald

Typhoon heading Towards Taiwan

The small island in the upper right hand corner is Taiwan. The big white circle cloud is the typhoon. They say its about a category three. It should be coming in the next few days. To read more click here.

Taiwanese Family Bonding

The City of Idols: Chia Yi, Taiwan (嘉義)

Walking through the town of Chia Yi (嘉義), the crowds began to gather and bang drums, carrying their idols on their shoulders with faces painted like monsters.

As if a bomb was dropped in the middle of town, the city fills with smoke and loud bangs. They lay out the firecrackers on the pavement to walk through them while going off, carrying their gods.

After all the excitement the streets and cars are covered in the ashes from the fireworks.

A bus used for carrying idols

Fire Prevention

Chia Yi Skatetrip (嘉義)

 We decided to take a trip to Jia Yi (嘉義), with a bunch of local Taichung Skaters. The first place we showed up to was the skate park which wasn't much.

There was a big idol parade going on right by the skate park. The firecrackers left smoke that looked like someone dropped a bomb.

 We then skated this plaza which was full of ledges. No one cared if you skated there. A bunch of the locals have repaired the ledges and have rails and boxes to skate also.

 I'm pretty sure we were the first to skate this in the park. Isun was trying to get a 50-50 but didn't land it before we had to leave. (left photo: Strectching?)

Isun got tired and decided to put his face on the ground.