some things just get better with age.

Like a good cheese, Broken Social Scene get better with age. It's my 3rd time seeing them (my first time seeing them indoors) and they most certainly proved themselves tonight. So much music, so much talent. I was proud to be a Canadian amongst a crowd of (equally enthusiastic and impressed) Taiwanese folk. Truly proving that good music knows no bounds. Hands down one of my favourite bands to see live!

love.

I can't get enough of these guys lately. This is one of my favourite tracks by them.

an east coast adventure.

Four of us headed to the east coast for the week-end. With Taroko National Park as our desired destination, the adventure began on trains, playing musical seats, sitting beside stinky men while enjoying the lovely recycled air! We arrived at 1:00am in Hualien. After the 4-5 hours of travel, we were sure happy to know that our hotel for the next couple of nights was so close to the train station. We checked into our hotel then went to a 7-11 where we got some snacks to enjoy in the park. We made friends with the sweetest street dog then headed to bed so that we would be somewhat well rested for the next day.

Since we arrived at night we really had no idea what Hualien would look like once we woke up. To our excitement, we awoke to the most wonderful and clear view of the mountains all around us. We knew at this point that the best was yet to come! (This was the view outside of our bathroom window. Not bad!).


We hopped on our scooters and we were off. After an hour or so we arrived at Taroko National Park. We took a quick break (for our bottoms, mostly!) and then we headed for the hills-- literally. Just breathtaking scenery. No words can describe the feeling of driving through the gorge. We spent about 4 hours exploring what we could, but you could definitely devote a few days to this park to really get a sense of its size and splendor.



It was the perfect week-end, despite the time spent on crowded and somewhat uncomfortable trains. I am certainly feeling a bit more refreshed, ready to finish my time in Taiwan with thoughts and memories of the beautiful east coast.

13 days!

I've been trying to play tourist lately, knowing that I'll be home SO soon and aware of the fact that this will likely be my last chance to see and do a lot of these things again.

Last week-end we ventured to Taipei to check out the National Palace Museum. Very rich with history, very neat to see up close rather than as a picture in my Taiwan guidebook. You could spend days here if you wanted to!

finally!

... some good, live music on this side of the world! One of my favourite bands just happens to be coming to Taipei 5 days before I head home. What a way to end a year! I am more than looking forward to seeing and hearing what Broken Social Scene has up their sleeves this time around. So, so, so very excited!

(This is one of my favourites from their new album. Here's to hoping I'll be hearing it live a week from tonight!).

... and that heat? it's up north, too!

I spent Saturday in Taipei with 4 other lovely ladies. The heat was hard enough to handle in Hsinchu (thankfully we at least have the wind here!) but as we got off of the bus in Taipei it hit us like a tonne of bricks. It was as though you could cut through it with a knife if you wanted to! Yuck. It was a long and hot day (these days are becoming much more common lately), but we had a great day in the capital city: buses, taxis, fabric markets, sushi, tea (to feed my addiction, of course), subways, night markets, and a falafel pita to end off the day... or rather, evening!

my first addiction.

Honey Green Tea... it's becoming a real problem.

catching up: field trip fun!

For three days, I travelled South with 10 middle-schoolers. It was a wonderful few days despite the relentless heat which subsequently led to another teacher's heat stroke. Yikes! I'll miss these kids dearly. Just such a sweet bunch... I really can't say enough.