. . . but Invest 9 has popped up and started calling itself  Tropical Storm Namtheun.   This means a lot of rain; I returned from  lunch with my head wet from water coming through overwhelmed seams in my umbrella.  My pants were soaked from splashback and horizontal rain, and I hung my socks to dry at my desk.  Cynthia’s planned shopping trip today was also foiled.  Wunderground says it’s going to hang out for a while.

We also had an decent earthquake this afternoon to complete that Old Testament feel.  Don’t worry, Cynthia jumped up and saved the TV from falling over.

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Photo’s from the last couple months are up with captions by Cynthia.  Michigan at the beginning, some Idaho, and our bike ride yesterday in Taipei.

(click for pics)

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I had lunch at the sushi train down the street today

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Pics are up from Paul and Rachael’s visit when we took them to the Green Island, better late then never.

(Click to access)

Also included a few from the Dragon Boat Festival (a day off) this week.

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It’s been a frantic month with tons of work and travel for us.  This weekend is the first time I’ve had a chance to catch y’all up.  Here’s a short synopsis, because there are lots of Cynthia-captioned pics.

• Hong Kong (Apr 3 weekend) – we forgot the camera, so no pictures for you.   Hong Kong was definitely the most expat friendly of any city we’ve visited.  Cynthia, not normally known for shopping, was quite fond of H&M in particular.  We ate Dim Sum, but actually stuck mostly to non-Chinese food (Gyros, Indian, Steak, Mexican!) because we no longer feel guilty about it on a trip.
• Beijing (Apr 10 weekend) – Cold, a bit strange.  We were staying at  a government hotel at the Olympic Green because it was connected to the convention center – the whole area was brand new but virtually deserted.  We climbed the Great Wall, crashed the Forbidden City, tried not to arouse suspicion at  Tiananmen Square (along with pervasive uniformed and plain clothes security) and saw a genuinely amazing acrobat show.
• Shanghai (Apr 15-16) – Just one night for a meeting – stayed at the Renaissance this time which superior to the Hilton
• Penghu Islands (Apr 17 weekend)- Bev and James came to visit is and we caught a flight from the local airport across the street to some of Taiwan’s southern  islands, which we explored via scooter.  Cynthia crashed once ( low speed) and was luckily unhurt.  Bev and James also make an appearance in a lot of our other pics this month.
• Hualien (Apr 24th weekend) – went with a group to explore Taroko’s “Golden Canyon” which involved rappelling UP a small, frigid waterfall and having rocks thrown at us by monkeys.  The next day we did some light whitewater rafting on the Hsiukuluan River.  Richard posted some pics on Flickr, and there are more here in the monthly pics.
• On Wednesday I felt 3 separate earthquakes.  Next up: Typhoon season.

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People have been asking for pictures of food.  I provide.

Bejing Duck Pizza at Costco.  Duck+ Green onions + oyster sauce.  Tasty.

$2.50 pork/rice/soup lunch across the street from the office

Teppanyaki in the neighborhood, about $7.  Mine is Rice, Cabbage, Bean Spouts, Garlic Beef, Kimchi, Cynthia’s the same but Garlic Pork instead.

This was my best lunch of the week – this is a grilled baby skipjack  tuna plus a rice/egg/cucumber bowl.  The skin was crispy and salty.  This comes from a Chinese-only place near the office, but I know how to order this now.  The proprietors said I was the first foreigner who wasn’t scared to eat a whole fish there.

Thai milk tea.

Bonus picture.  The building across from ours is almost done, but I still I had to walk under this giant crane right outside our door to get outside.  I’m not sure how they even got it down the street.

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We took a train trip to Hualien and Taroko Gorge this weekend with friends from work and I posted pics here.  It was scenic and a lot of fun . . .  until  we got back Sunday night I realized my apartment key had fallen out of my pocket in the cab or train or something and that we were locked out.   We managed not to sleep in the street but didn’t get back into the apartment until Monday morning.   It sucked.
More trips are coming, stay tuned.

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There’s a minor China/US dustup going on this week over arms shipments to Taiwan.  My standing plan for armageddon scenarios was to head to the deep underground recesses of the Songshan Airport MRT station – the entrance to which is not 200 meters from our apartment.  However, my Marine friend pointed out that a significant fraction of the 200 or so Chinese ballistic missiles pointed at this island are probably aimed at Songshan, since it’s a facility shared between domestic airlines and the Taiwanese military.  So, seeking protection under a missile range is not as safe as it would first seem.   I don’t have any faith in the accuracy of the Chinese missile guidance systems either, especially with our apartment so close – so I’ll head towards some cultural landmark likely to be spared instead.  Family: try not to freak out.

This week was the 43rd anniversary of the Catholic parish here, that like everything else  is just a short walk from us in the neighborhood – and they had special festivals to celebrate.   They sent the Pope’s ambassador (the Vatican has the only embassy in Taiwan) to say mass.  Then we were all invited to kiss the relic of the parish patron, St. John Bosco, given that is was his feast day (an intentional coincidence).   I’m new to kissing relics – they don’t usually make an appearance in the US, at least in the places I frequent.  Afterward. there was a delicious 10 course luncheon at a nearby wedding hall that cost $11 for tickets.  Wine (from Ontario!) flowed freely and there was entertainment MC’d by the church ladies.  Members of the parish young and old sang, danced and played  instruments.  Also, there was a sanctioned competitive drinking game between tables, and a game in which people had to trade all their clothes with someone else on stage, “excepting the underwear” behind a blanket the church ladies held up.  I know. Cynthia is always amazed at how Catholics party, her other primary non-mass experience being “Oktoberfest” at St. John the Baptist in Folsom.  Also on her mind – “How come everything is St. John with you people?”

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I caught a stomach bug this week and had a leave a group dinner I’d set up for my team at  Taipei 101 before we even ordered any food.  I was sick the whole night, and stayed home the next day to recover.   I suspected food poisoning, but had only eaten yogurt, some homemade ramen, and chips and salsa that day – no obvious suspects.  Two nights later, Cynthia’s showing the same symptoms , which I will spare you the details of; I guess we won’t be bike riding with friends from work today – it’s soup, Sprite, and crackers for a while.

I’m going to try to post more pictures of food – I got feedback when I was back in the US for Christmas that people really enjoyed seeing those pictures in particular.   We’ve been sticking to a working set of some old haunts recently, but we’ll branch out to explore some new joints again once normal digestion returns which should yield some new shots.

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I emptied a huge backlog on the camera here, including Shanghai and hiking pics

We ate at an awesome place near our house this weekend: “Stone BBQ”.  There’s a big hole in the table that they fill with coals, then cover with a marble slab.  Then, you char all you can eat meat, seafood and vegetables, and eat it.  They also have all you can drink beer.  All of this costs less than $20 a person.

All the restaurants and shops play Christmas music in the background, which seems completely out of place but has me “in the spirit”.  I can’t wait to get back to the US next week, unwind and see the fam.

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