Celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar, Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu, is said to commemorate the death of poet Qu Yuan. Originally a supporter of the Chu royal house, Qu was banished for opposing a new alliance. When the new allies took over the Chu capital, Qu …
Tag: Taiwan
Yangmingshan National Park
Yangmingshan is a National Park in the north of Taipei, home to many of the area's hot springs, hiking trails, and, apparently, flowers and agriculture. This afternoon some friends invited me to join them on a hike in the area. We took the MRT to Jiantan Station and then a bus up to Yangmingshan. As …
Street Food Part 2
I promised there would be more! Steamed Buns, or Mantou (饅頭) They sure love steaming things here. Steamed buns are common, with seemingly endless varieties: white, wheat, taro, brown sugar, chocolate, cereal (as in the picture), and many others. And that's before you even begin adding fillings! Fillings include pork, cabbage, and red bean, while …
Jiayou!
I've never been much of a runner. The mile run in middle school was the epitome of misery and pain for me. But, my time in the Czech Republic marked my introduction to TRX, so I thought that I should try something new in Taiwan as well (An aside: while taking a new exercise class …
All kinds of weather, we stick together
I've been lucky enough to live in three countries (so far!) outside of the United States, and I've had family or friends visit me in each one. It's amazing to be able to show people close to you your new stomping grounds and how weird/normal/funny/fun/etc. your new country is. About a week and a half …
Trip #5 – Yilan
I'll be the first to toot my own horn and say that I'm good at traveling by myself. Several years ago I spent three weeks traveling through the UK and Ireland, and since then I've accompanied myself to Poland, Slovenia, Vietnam, and various locations in the Czech Republic and Taiwan. Despite language barriers, 95% of the …
A Season of Holidays
1) Chinese New Year I don't have any special memories of Chinese New Year as a specific holiday, just of the season as a whole. It began in January, although the date this year (February 17th) was much later than usual. Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. …
Trip #4: Southern and Western Taiwan Tour
People always ask me what other parts of Taiwan I've seen, and I have to reply awkwardly that I haven't done much traveling yet. And the country's so small that there's really no excuse! So I used my week vacation for Chinese New Year to visit other parts of the country. To give you a frame …
Goings On
The past few weeks have been full of fun and delicious happenings. Sushi with my roommates. A mobile puppet show appeared in the lane by my apartment. In other news, I was walking along the street a few days ago, when I tripped on something, and the heel of my boot came off. …
Trip #2: Hualien
I'll be up front with you, I don't know how to buy train tickets ahead of time here in Taiwan. I've been banned from searching for tickets on the TRA website, with this delightful message: So, I knew that it would be extremely unlikely that I'd be able to get a train ticket at the station, …