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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