佑昇的Taiwanblog

I finished my trip around the island on friday the 26th, right on time to turn in my scooter. After being in Hsinchu I also stopped over at Taoyuan, then Taichung and at last Chiayi.

 

After two final nights in Tainan I am now back to Taibei, just before the trains stop service because of the approaching taiphoon. On tuesday night I will have to take my flight back to Germany. Sad that those wonderful days have come to an end.

 

By the way, I am on the news again, this time in the Epochtimes and Liberty Times:

http://tw.epochtimes.com/b5/8/9/29/n2279359.htm

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/sep/29/today-so6.htm

Here a Link to a Picture of the real Article, clear enough to read:

http://picasaweb.google.com/erathostenes/AuswahlChina2008#5251691074381543506

Then a Picture of the older article:

http://picasaweb.google.com/erathostenes/AuswahlChina2008#5251691074381543506

and a link to a very interesting Blogentry by a friend about me^^

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/v198303182005/article?mid=2309&prev=-1&next=2301&sc=1#yartcmt

Keep on reading...

Even more Media Coverage on Radio Taiwan International, being broadcasted on Do 23rd:

http://german.rti.org.tw/Content/WhatsOnRtiSingle.aspx?ContentID=66507

Here the link to the program, although it wont be activated before tonight: mms://play.ccdntech.com/vod09/wma/3200810240100.wma

It will be overwritten in a week, but i also uploaded it on my webspace: http://www-user.rhrk.uni-kl.de/~jmeyer/3200810240100.wma

Since my last entry I have been to may places, seen beautiful things and ridden miles and miles. Still a bit of the road left to go, lets see if I am up to make it or if the weather has something else to say.

A big german newspaper published a report about me, but they turned a phone interview into a text that looks like it was written by me. I am not so happy about how they put some things.

http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/arbeit-karriere/karriere/:Jonathan-Meyer-Feuerwehrhelfer-Taiwan/638372.html?eid=638508

For those who can read chinese, there has been another article I like more than the german one: http://www.cdns.com.tw/20080917/news/nxyzh/T90015002008091618410470.htm

I just left Tainan, this time on my own rented scooter, off to Kaohsiung. In Tainan I have been staying with Peter, my good

friend from the emergency command center at the fire department. I am always looking forward to see him, his wife Amanda and

their daughter Xiao Mi again. This time again he borrowed me his scooter, so I was free to visit friends. The first day I met

with Frank, one of the voulenteers who is still in Tainan, still taking classes so he can keep his Visa and still teaching

english for a living. I also visited the fire department on saturday. Because of the Taiphoon that has been rocking the island

many people where there, also the Chief. I again met with the reporter who once wrote that story about me and my brother and he

thought me being back to ride a motorbike around the island was newsworthy. So, the day after I met with the daughter of the

Firedepartment Chief who now works for a big newspaper to collect informations about me and my travel.
Another good time was on saturday night, when the choir of Cheng Gong University met for Moon Festival Hot Pot. This might be

the last year with some of my friends still being there, many already graduated and new people joined.
After having Hot Pot together we still watched the Dark Knight, really interesting movie.
On Monday I went to Xinying to pick up my motorcycle and ride it back to Tainan. There I went to see the ICYE Office and then

also a new exchangee and Tobias, who has been at the firedepartment the year after us.
And now on tuesday I am off to Kaohsiung and then Kending.
My original plan to take the mountainroads was thwarted, because both big routes have suffered massive damage by landslides and

floods, as this Taiphoon moved particularly slow, unloading up to 1600 mm of rain to one single spot. So I will have to keep in

the coastal area this time.
More soon.

As the Taiphoon changed direction and will mostly affect northern Taiwan, I decided to take the plane, as boats still wouldn't

operate for the high waves. What came in very handy here was that I already know most of the personnell of the airport, we

either had had BBQ together or even, as in the case of the flight companys clerk, the day before went to have beers together.

This way I didnt have to wait in line for the tickets. Many people where lining up because their previous flights had been

cancelled due to bad weather conditions. So I suddenly had to prepare for the next flight in half an hour, pack my stuff, say

goodbye and off I went. Back in Taidong I even could return my boat ticket at the travel agency. So in order for things to get

back in the old order only the open day of the airport will have to be resceduled to its original date the 13th.
Now I am again in a Train, continuing my first Trip around the Island, this time clockwise.
I am looking forward to whatever is waiting for me next...

After spending two nights in Taidong I am now in Lanyu, the orchid island. I am really enjoying life here, even when a Taiphoon is not so far away and I still dont know how long I have to stay here till I can take a boat to mainland Taiwan.

By the way, I have a cellphone number now: 0934037740 

I am now in the Train leaving Taibei to Taidong, travelling along the East Coast of Taiwan. After staying in Hong Kong for one night I have been in Taibei to get started with my trip in Taiwan.

I decided not to upload the pictures one by one but to create one webalbum, which makes it much easier to handle for me. A link is below, if you want to write it down, use this one: http://picasaweb.google.com/erathostenes/AuswahlChina2008

Auswahl China 2008

More will follow as soon as I make them^^.. Have fun!

The last big destination on our trip together was Shanghai. From Qingdao we took the train and planned to arrive on the night of Thursday the 28th. According to our information the Train should take about 9 or 10 hours to reach its Destination. But as we finally reached our seats and settled down, just as the train started to move, we discovered, that that time estimate was for the high speed train, not the normal express train. This carriage would take 22 hours. Wonderful! So we set out again to another of those endless trainrides of which I had quite a few last time in China, just this time the difference that I was not alone and also had a proper seat. It was not so bad, from time to time it got quite crowded and at night they turned up the aircontition so high so I got a sore throat and Thomas really cached a serious cold. Anyways, the following day we arrived in Shanghai, having to rescedule our plans. Because we couldnt set out for the famous Yellow Mountain (Huang Shan), we just planned to go to Hangzhou instead. Hangzhou is the City of the West Lake, a classic chinese style recreational area for high ranking officials of the emperor. But before we got there we had dinner together with all of us plus two friends of a friend and an old schoolmate of Chen with his wife. We went to this Xinjiang-Place and had lamb, very good! Anyways, in the morning of the 29th we took the High Speed Rail to Hangzhou. There we stayed at this small hostel, wich was very cheap, 60 RMB a night, about 6 EUR, simple but clean and tidy. After a long day of sightseeing (see the pictures mentioned in the other post) we finally came to an rest and went back to Shanghai the day after. In Shanghai we had the usual sightseeing to the Bund and also did some shopping. Its a big contrast to many other places in China, maybe only comparable to Beijing but even a bit more commercial and well of. In the city center everything is very international, with a colourful mix of nationalities, cloth and shops. What I was really looking forward to in Shanghai was seeing Cesar. Together with the whole group we went for Beijing Roast Duck and afterwards to see the night scenery of the skyline. Cesar is one of my great friends I made in my time in Taiwan, if you sroll back to those posts, you might read quite a lot about him too. So we had to cach up a lot and also had quite some fun together. Something to recommend is a foot massage, a really decadent experience, you lying back on a comfortable chair and having someone pampering and kneading your foot. After weeks of contant walking, this is really helpful, while also sometimes a bit painful if the masseuse hits the right/wrong spots. Unfortunately today on the 3rd my time in China comes to an End, I am sitting in Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, waiting for my plane, ready for Shenzhen, which is my gate to Hong Kong, where it ultimately will lead me to Taiwan. Really looking forward to that!

After more than a week, I can finally update my blog here. It has been a busy time, first about a week in Beijing with miles and miles of walking, hundreds of thousands of people, delicious and special food and and and... To get more, keep on reading...

Finally back on track. As I am typing away on my notebook, I am sitting in the plane of China Air, setting out for Taipeh first

and then without any real stopover on to Hong Kong. What is very convenient is the power plug here to have juice for my

notebook.
I left quite a lot behind and looking forward to an exiting time. The last few weeks have been very full of work, fighting

against my inner self to make me learn for the exams I had to pass and also lots of other activities. Again, on the road I will

be posting on my blog again, to keep notes of what I am doing and also to keep in touch of my friends.
This time in the Plane I got a seat in the aisle which is quite good. The flight is not fully booked, so I had the chance to

spread out over three seats to take a nap. Still a kind of akward position.
Anyways, keep up with what is coming up here next and take care yourself.

Update: This Post was uploaded at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with the free WiFi-Internet available here..

I havent written in a long time, but just now I had a quite interesting journey from Berlin to England that I wanted to write about.. So continue below....

The last weekend I have been in Steinmaur near Zürich in Switzerland for the wedding of my good friend and mentor from Taiwan, Koli. I felt very honored to be invited for this happy occasion. So it was no question, I just had to go there. I hichhiked both ways and stayed with a very nice host in Baden, not very far from there. I had a very nice weekend after all.

Last week at our university was free, so I took the chance to travel to a few friends places throughout Germany...
The weekend before I was hitchhiking already to go to Erlangen.. There I took the HSK, the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi 漢語水平考試, a standardized exam for proving your level of chinese.. I am still waiting for the results...
As my method of choice for transportation I decided to hitchhike all the way, once because its a lot of fun and also unbeatable cheap...
I visited Berlin, Dresden, Bremerhaven, Bremen and Hamburg. My destinations where the Berlin Beach Camp by Hostpitality Club, Hao, my roommate in Taiwan, another Friend I know from Taiwan and then i spent a day at Hamburg.

Back in Germany, back at school, back from my life in Taiwan, which was the dream which held me up the last half year..
A great time it was indeed. I definitely enjoyed there, even if not everything worked out like planned.
Much happened, I saw many friends, and I look forward to be there again.. But now real life started again.

I went to a lot of places recently and I have a lot of reason to thank many of my friends.
Last Monday I left Taizhong for going to Tainan again. This time I was guest at an old friend of the fire department, who invited me to his home.
After being there for two evenings, I travelled on to Che-Cheng near Kending, to visit the parents of one very good friend I got to know at my university in KL.
At last I visited an Tandem-Partner, a language exchange possibility.
Now today I will be returning to Taizhong.