Home for Christmas

(NOTE: No longer being transcribed from journal, as not traveling and have a full size keyboard in front of me. Will note again when I start writing.)

Had an interesting few 10 or so days since coming back. I got rid of my work backlog pretty quickly.

I sent out my passport the morning after my return(16th) and got it back today(24th). I had it expedited, but I still found it amazingly quick work for a government bureaucracy.

I got my new phone, an iPhone 5s in grey. I also got a Lifeproof case for it, and bastardized a car mount for it as well. I quite like it. What I don't like is having to get a full priced unlocked phone for travel. I don't see why I can't get a on contract phone unlocked, since I'll be paying my cellphone bill even while I'm away anyways.

I had an eviction on Friday. It sucked, since they somehow didn't know we were coming and had a Christmas tree up with presents and everything. It makes a man feel terrible when you see people putting Christmas presents into their car because you're kicking them out of a house that isn't theirs anymore. I dislike the holidays for this very reason.

Met up with lots of people returning home for the holidays, which is the only thing I do enjoy about the season. Went out to go bowling with the kids from my summer trip in Taiwan, but ended up playing boardgames at nearby Game Empire after bowling was determined to be too expensive.

Tomorrow, well, today now, is Christmas. I don't plan on much, but will probably draw up the house a little more.

Taipei

12/15/2013 Taipei

Nothing of import has happened these last few days. I will leave for Los Angeles tonight. Instead of writing previous of days' non-adventures, I will simply list what I must do on my return home.

Renew Passport/Get New Passport(ran out of pages and will be traveling a lot)
Get Visas for Vietnam, China, India, and Cambodia
New Phone
Pay Taxes
Rent out properties (Foothill, Motz, Grier)
Draw plans for house addition

12/10/2013 Taipei

Another quiet few days, only three hours of lectures total, which is easily tolerable considering I had budgeted for five times that amount.

Today would have been my anniversary. For obvious reasons, I won't be celebrating, as I no longer have a woman to call my own. Even if I had, I am half the world away. Still, I plan on getting a bit drunk before turning in for the night.

In other news, new pen nib not too happy with LAMY ink, so I have since changed to Pilot's own brand of Iroshizuku ink, in a beautiful blue color, Tsuki-yo, or Moonlight. I find it quite pleasant to use.


12/06/13 Taipei

Nothing of note has taken place these last few days. I didn't end up going to Thailand due to rioting and protests in that country. Had instead two days of lazing around, one day of Bioshock Infinite at Cousin Arthur's. Today, I started the Starbound beta, and am loving it.

I'm now using a cursive italics nib in my Pilot Vanishing Point and am loving it. It forces me to write a bit larger and I suspect it uses much more ink, but I still enjoy it a lot.

Beyond that, my parents arrived in Taiwan. The dog days are over.

Australia

(After much delay)

11/29/13 Brisbane

Waiting to take off for Taipei on the same exact plane that broke down on me two weeks ago. Here's to hoping the technicians did a good job.

Fun day. We went to the Dreamworks amusement park in the morning, called Dreamworld. I got to pet some Australian animals, namely a wombat and a koala. Saw some kangaroos and, for some reason, tigers, but the platypus continues to elude me. No matter, I will live. Also rode two random roller coasters for the hell of it.

Wen to Skypoint, the second tallest residential building in world. The tallest is the Dubai, go figure. Had a coke on the observation deck. Good views, though the weather could certainly have been better.

Finished our tour with a trip to a duty free shop. I bought a boomerang.

Australia turned out to be less interesting than NZ. I had expected more from such a significantly larger country. If I were to come to Australia again, I think I will check out the central and western areas, where there should be more aborigine culture and landscapes.

I hope Thailand will be better when I go next week.

11/28/13 Gold Coast

Again, woke up early to catch a plane, this time to Brisbane. Mediocre domestic flight with equally mediocre entertainment, so I just closed my eyes. We reached Brisbane about noon, just in time for lunch, at the absolute worst sushi buffet I have ever had the misfortune and displeasure of sitting down at. The only reasonably Japanese thing about the place was the chopsticks. Not a single piece of fish to be found, nor proper sushi rice. Instead, all the rolls were of fruit, vegetables, and ground meat, all of dubious quality and freshness. The chow mien they offered had a powdery texture indicative of it's age. And the miso soup had little miso. I had two pieces of a crappy roll, before standing up and heading for the chicken sandwich place next door.

After this very disappointing meal, we took our new coach to a ferry stop. Brisbane is built on two banks of the Brisbane river, and thus public transportation is by ferry. It works just like any MRT system, with various docks, or stations, if you will, up and down on both side of the river. Sea cats go up and down the river stopping at each station, and passengers board the boats much as if they were to board a bus. Quite convenient. The ferry brought us from the suburbs to the Parklands, where we had a short walk before boarding the buss for a scenic lookout over the city.

Dinner was yet another revolving tower restaurant. There, I had my first cocktail in many weeks. Old Fashioned, of course, though with Jameson instead of bourbon. Odd that.

Our night time adventure was glow worm caves, much like Te Anau in New Zealand. I thought Te Anau was better, so won't bother to describe this adventure. Returned to the hotel about midnight for my last night in Australia.

Today was Thanksgiving in the States. I'm very sorry I wasn't there to celebrate with my friends back home. I always liked Thanksgiving more than any other holiday. I am particularly thankful this year, for everything that brought me happiness, for everything that I've been able to endure, and most importantly, that I will have another year to be thankful for.

11/27/13 Melbourne

A day involving lots of walking. After leaving the hotel late in the morning we went to visit yet another cathedral. I've been to a lot of these in the past few months, and this one was no different from the others. We then spent another couple hours in an outdoor mall, where I picked up another singbowl in a Nepalese curio shop, this one rather old. I wandered about the nearby marina, indulging in some gelato from a stand.

After, we took a free trolley to the Victoria Art Museum, fore some reason or another. Most art in the collection wasn't at all relevant to Australia, so this seemed a pointless stop.

Dinner was Thai food. I suppose all these different restaurants is indicative of how multicultural Melbourne is, but it is still odd.

Dinner was followed by a trip to a nearby casino. Being totally indifferent to gambling for money, I sat outside and slept by the river bank. Eventually, the rest of my tour emerged and we returned to hotel for the night.

11/26/13 Melbourne

Woke up early this morning to catch a plane to Melbourne. It turned a 16hr bus ride into a short 1hr plane hop. Oddly enough, the plane, and old 767, was probably one of the oldest aircraft I've ever set foot on, yet had the most advanced multimedia service I've ever used on a plane. Each seat was provided a iPad with on-board video streaming. An elegant solution to passenger boredom. When we alighted in Melbourne, we were met by a new bus which brought us to all things, Bavarian themed restaurant. Sure, the food was fine, the beer was delicious, and the accordionist passable, but still...I didn't fly to Australia to eat Bavarian food.

After lunch, we boarded a steam train on a short journey through the countryside before eventually making our way to Phillip Island(I'm still not sure if it's actually an island) and it's main attraction: Penguin Parade. A colony of blue penguins reside on the shoreline of the park, and every evening, groups of them make their way up the beach to their grassy burrows. We got to see the penguins cutely march up the sand, taking oft used corridors and trails into their hilly neighborhoods. Cute as hell. After this final activity of the day, we made our way to the our hotel two hours away, then retiring for the night.

11/25/13 Leura

We spent most of the day getting our fill of Katoomba. I hadn't realized such a place existed in Australia, but apparently it's pretty well known among the other tourists. Also known as the Blue Mountains, Katoomba is basically the Grand Canyon of Australia. It certainly isn't as grand or impressive as the real Grand Canyon, but that's not to say it doesn't have its own spectacular views. There's even a mini theme park on the rim of the canyon to assist in taking full advantage of the view. Unlike our own Grand Canyon, Katooba is covered in in trees, not bare rock a la Arizona. The name of the theme park is descriptively unoriginal: Scenic World. It consists of three rides, a bunch of raised walkways green enough to be deemed nature walks, and a gift shop. The most interesting of all this is the ride on the steepest funicular in the world. It's really quite steep, some 64 degrees. Great fun.

Many pictures and some walking later, we headed to the town of Leura, where we checked into the hotel early in the afternoon. We had high tea in the hotel tea room before leaving to explore the downtown area. The town center clearly caters to tourists, with many boutiques and gift shops. It was amusing for an hour or so, maybe double that if one was of the female persuasion. I purchased for myself a bottle of Australian Shiraz, then choosing to retire back to the hotel with it. I spent the rest of the night playing billiards on the hotel's giant 12 ft tables, finishing the wine before bed.

11/24/13 Sydney

A long day, if not all that exciting. Our first stop was the beach. What beach, I don't recall, but whatever it's called, I can say for certain it is better than any equivalent beach we could muster in the States. For one, the bikini babes were many. For the second, a good majority of them were of reasonable attractiveness, and not shy about it. For the last, topless, attractive bikini babes would trump anything we have to offer. I will state that besides the novelty of it all and the aesthetic qualities, I didn't find myself gibbering over all the boobies. Yes, it's true. I have become worldly enough to ignore hot, naked tits in favor of exploring the beach itself. I suppose my European adventures have helped me build up a certain tolerance to such things. I actually find that kind of a shame. It's hard for me to get excited for anything these days.

Our second stop was Sydney Tower, in the middle of the city, built on a Westfield Mall. The revolving restaurant on the top of the tower offers a spectacular view of the city, one that allowed me to get a grip on how large and sprawling the city actually is. Sure, it isn't near the size of my own “City of Angels,” but it still stretches out as far as the eye can see, and believe me, I could see quite far from up there.

Third stop of any interest was the artsy little flea market in Foundation Park. All sorts of interesting crafts and stuff. I picked up a pair of cufflinks made from a pair of Soviet era automatic watches, as well as a new production Nepalese Singing Bowl, and couldn't be more pleased with either purchase. We then walked to a nearby marina, boarded a boat, and went on a dinner tour of Sydney Harbor. Enjoyable enough, and 3g kept me amused with the ride went long.

Final stop of significance was the Aquarium. Fun, but not nearly as impressive as our very own Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. There was a platypus exhibit, but I was unable to find the duck-billed curiosity within. Unfortunate.

We finished off the day with meat pies before returning to the hotel, where I excused myself to the bar, where I write this now.

11/23/13 Sydney

Another day, another airport, another city, another hotel, and another overpriced beer. I do believe I've been spoiled by the cheap, delicious beers of Europe(how I miss it so). Imagine, for the price of the bottled domestic brew in front on me, I could easily purchase six times that in Prague, five times that in Vienna, and even three times that in the USA. Ridiculous. I've not changed much money for this trip, thinking that it would be short, therefore cheap. Instead, I now believe I will need to find an exchange desk within the next four days or so, especially if the price of alcohol is indicative of the cost of basic goods in the country.

I left Taipei last night, taking the red-eye down to Sydney. The flight was not particularly taxing, except for the sad fact I've watched all the movies I had even a slight interest in, the unexpected consequence of flying so many times in such a short period. Sydney reminds me of Los Angeles, but a much cleaner, friendlier, infinitely less ghetto and slummin' Los Angeles. With a real river.

Didn't do much on this firrst day. We visited an Art Museum, St Mary's Cathedral, and had a small walkabout in Hyde Park. Really, the only stop of any real import was the Sydney Opera House. We went on a tour of that symbol of the city. I admit, it was smaller than I had thought it would be, but still quite impressive. The late afternoon sun shimmered in an unexpected manner on the tile covered exterior. I hadn't even known the exterior was tiled, nor had I known that said tiles were in two shades! The interior was mostly wood panel and bare concrete, and while interesting, didn't seem to match the awe the exterior provoked. I suppose I may have been expecting too much.

The hotel we're staying in tonight borders the old Olympic Park. I wonder if any city actually uses its Olympic facilities after said Olympics? In a cost effective manner?

I'm about to finish drink number 2, and lacking the financial resources to drink more at these prices, I'll wrap this up an head off to bed. A new, hopefully cheaper, adventure awaits tomorrow.

Brisbane Airport and Taipei

11/21/13 Taipei

On a city bus on the way to breakfast with my grandmother. I'm not sure where we're going. I'm taking care to write in short spurts, as buses in this country are not known for their gentle and docile nature. Actually, I give up-

Now sitting in yet another cafe, with my dearest grandmother in front of me reading her paper, which I had just braved the street to purchase. Breakfast was a club sandwich accompanied by soup and salad. I've had a peaceful two days back in the motherland, I've made two trips to the travel agency. Once to submit my passport for an Australian passport, another time to retrieve my passport, because for some reason, Americans do not have visa-waiver status down under. I at a few times with Cousin Arthur and his family(my Aunt and Uncle, who do not have Anglicized names), and as Cousin Silvian returned from her honeymoon yesterday, I plan on visiting her today.

Beyond all that, little of worth has happened, with the exception of my 6 km evening walk last night from Zhong Xiao Fuxing Station to Muzha Station where I currently reside. Cousin Nancy had it in her mind to challenge herself to the “trek”, and being the caring and worried older brother, I accompaned her, to her eventual regret. For one, I didn't allow her to slow her pace or give up once it became clear that the flats she was wearing were extremely unsuitable for the task at hand. The entire exercise took 2 hours, about a fourth too long for my linking. I finished with a beer from my neighborhood convenience store; Cousin Nancy sat on a bench and would not get back up for quite some time.

As it's now the morning after, I feel great. She is probably cursing me, her legs, herself, and life itself.

I'm fine with that.

11/18/13 Brisbane Airport

Let's try it again! Plane ended up grounded due to technical issues. We made ourselves comfortable in the airport till about 0400, when the airline announced that the plane wouldn't be fixed until tomorrow, and would send us out on the same flight the next night. They had also found us all accommodations for the day, and are paying for the food and lodging. Being as there were 30 odd people in our group, the closest hotel they could find with enough vacancies was in a suburb some 50 minutes away. Unable to get a bus that early in the morning, we set off in a fleet of 10 cabs. At 3.3AUD a kilometer, each cab cost nearly 200AUD. We arrived in Ipswich and checked ourselves in around 0700 in the morning.

Not caring to retire and potentially ruin my sleep pattern, I decided to go out and explore the town, accompanied by Anna, another tour member who was traveling with her mother(who had retired for the morning). We first made our way about 1 km east of the hotel to Queen's Park, where we were told there existed a zoo with koalas. There did stand such a place, but our bad luck continued to haunt us: they did not open on Mondays. We consoled ourselves with the nearby park equipment, including a zipline and an awesome jungle gym. I also climbed into a provided hammock, but it was not comfortably designed, and I quickly gave it up.

We made out way to the center of town, where we explored the windows of unopened shops and waited for a nearby art museum to open. I wasn't so impressed by the museum when it did eventually open, as it was mostly geared toward a younger generation than mine. A much younger generation. Abandoning the town center, we moved westward toward the streets known as the Top of the Town, where numerous second hand shops, cafes, and bookstores greeted us. Snacked at one of the hipster eateries before walking into “Paint”, which turned out to be a sex toy shop, and a few second hand stores.

Last stop of the day was at the Riverlink Mall, so called because of the train tracks that run through it, as well as the river that it was built besides. I picked up a bottle of Shiraz at the liquor store inside, as well as some cheese and sausage at the grocers. After we returned to the hotel and whiled away the afternoon in conversation over said provisions. (Note: Anna is allergic to alcohol? She gets red and splotchy. Kinda odd, kinda cute.)

A bus picked us all up at 1900, bringing us back to the airport, where we now sit waiting to board the same plane that left us in the lurch yesterday.

Second time's the charm.

11/17/13 Brisbane Airport

We had morning call relatively late this morning at 0730hrs. We left about 0900, making the long journey to the Antarctic Center next door. First order of business was a ride on the Hagglund, the tracked Antarctic vehicle of choice, able to traverse over snow, ice, and rock, over steep grades and deep water, all of which was demonstrated to us. Kinda like a really bumpy rollercoaster. This was followed by a short stay in the simulation room, which basically was a room with some snow and ice, a slide made of the same, and some wind generators demonstrating how cold it is at the South Pole(Hint: it's really goddamn cold). We finished up with the Blue Penguin exhibit. Shortest of all the penguin species, blue penguins are also likely the cutest as well. Most penguins in the exhibits were injured or disabled in some way, so this was more a shelter than an exhibit.

Leaving the Center, we had a quick walk in a neighborhood park before heading back to Christchurch Airport for the three leg journey home. Our first two legs, Christchurch to Auckland, then Auckland to Brisbane, went well. However, our last flight is currently delayed, with no given reason. Three hours and three delays past original departure time, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

End New Zealand

(I missed the 4 year anniversary of this blog! Oh noes! But wait, its been 4 years! Let's hope I'll be able to keep up for another 4 years!)

11/16/13 Christchurch

We're back in the same hotel we stayed in last week when we came down to Christchurch. The C130 that was parked outside is gone, probably to the Antarctica base for a delivery. Of course, with that gone, I have nothing to do but to sit at the bar and put my thoughts to paper.

Our first stop of the day was Mt. Cook. By that I mean gazing at it from afar, in all its cloud covered glory. We hiked up to some random scenic lookout in some random park, about an hour all told. It wasn't the most impressive scene of the day, but the hike was enjoyable.

Our second stop was much more visually appealing. The Church of the Good Shepard at Lake Tekapo is a small stone chapel perched on a small(and I mean small) rise on the edge of a turquoise blue lake. Said lake had a rocky shoreline, but scattered around the lake are huge swaths of flowering lupines. Probably the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen(that I remember, anyhow). I could have spent the entire day just sitting there gazing at that lake, but unfortunate time constraints dictated that some inadequate photos were just going to have to do. A greater sigh hath never been sighed.

Our final stop before hitting out hotel was actually a gift shop/restaurant. Here, I gave into temptation and bought myself an alpaca fur rug. It cost me every damn dollar I had on me, and then some, but I had to have it. It was a third the price of a similar rug I had seen a few days ago, in the same snow leopard style pattern. At that price point, I was happy to spend a good percentage of my income on such a luxury. Now my problem is deciding whether to put in on my hammock, my bed, my sofa, my bedroom floor, or my study floor. That and hoping said rug will get through customs ok. Yes, I know; first world issues.

I've a red envelop in front of me, which I'm supposed to fill with money for the tour guide. $120USD or the equivalent in NZ Dollars. Both of which I spent getting my rug. Luckily, I've still got some Euro. I think he'll be fine with that, so long as I get the conversion right.

Tonight is my last night in New Zealand. We have a three plane journey back to Taipei tomorrow.

New Zealand is really an incredible country. Safe, clean, no dangerous beasts, nor pests. No enemies to speak of. Really, the only flaw is the dearth of beautiful women, especially when compared to Europe. Of course, with or without the women, I'll be happy to come back again, for whatever reason.

So long as that reason isn't Zombie-free Sanctuary.

11/15/13 Omarama

Lots of driving this fine day. On our way back north now. We spent most of the morning in Te Anau, going on a brief walk of the lake front, visiting several native bird exhibits. I got to see a live takahe, a blue/green chicken type creature. Kinda cute, but very vulnerable, very delicious looking, and probably not all that smart. Which is probably why they're endangered. Still, it's good to know people take their conservation seriously in NZ, even if they don't bother to lock the cage for their endangered species.

Following our walk, we watched a 30 minute film, Shadowlands, produced by a few people on the Lord of the Rings crew during their spare time, using footage shot entirely in the Fjordlands National Park. I liked the soundtrack more than the movie, but that doesn't mean that the movie was no good, only that the soundtrack was awesome. The visuals were pretty cool, but not really something I thought worthy of the soundtrack.

Some food, some road, and a bunch of Tom Clancy novels later, I was standing in the same river/stream Peter Jackson shot the water horses scene in Fellowship of the Ring. While I didn't quite recognize it, the stream was extremely pretty in its own right, especially with the SHIT TONS of flowers blooming around the place(foxgloves or lupines, I don't remember which is which). Really, I mean SHIT TONS of flowers in purple and pink mostly, but a few white ones scattered here an- my ex just called, she got into an accident. Must be her third one this year? She seems fine, if complaining less than expected.

Anyhow, after flowers, we stopped at a bridge with people bungee jumping off it for a quick gander. I wasn't much interested in jumping myself, as I've already done it before, but I amused myself watching other people jump.

We made it to our hotel some hours later, having a pre-dinner walk in the local countryside, which was much more interesting than I thought it would be. Anna, a tour mate(who lives pretty close to where I do in Los Angeles) found a (dead, I'm pretty sure) bird egg. I accidentally broke it. Yes, I'm a terrible human being. I know. My ex will tell you all about it. Or not. She doesn't like talking about our relationship, even now.

Anyways, I spent the rest of the night uploading photos.

11/14/13 Te Anau

Long day today. We woke up really goddamn early to catch a boat. Actually, we spent most of the day on boats. Our first boat brought us from Lake Manapouri to Manapouri Power Station, a hydroelectric power station that's mostly underground, which spins its turbines using the height difference between the lake and nearby Doubtful sound. Quite ingenious, really. It never occurred to me that hydroelectric power could be produced so. Doubtful Sound was actually our next stop after a short bus ride from the power station to another dock, where we got on another, larger, boat. We had lunch on board the second boat, which took us on a two hour tour of the sound.

I took lots of pictures, conversing here and there with tour members and our boat provided guide, a cute thing from mainland China here on a work study program. She reminds me a lot of Kristine, who is currently living half the world away in DC(sooo far). They're both tiny(or at least seem so) and excitable. Cute-as-a-button cute. We exchanged Facebook info, but as she is a mainlander, and behind the Great Firewall, I doubt it'll be of any use.

Returning to the dock, we retraced our earlier path, taking a bus back to he power station. En-route, while on an long uphill part of the journey, our bus' engine got hot enough that it set off the emergency fire extinguisher system in the engine compartment, causing a cascade of foam to pour out the back of the bus. It was somewhat startling, but wasn't really an issue. We took a third boat back to the dock we originally left from this morning, where we met our bus and made our way into the town of Te Anau.

After dinner, we walked over to another dock, where we boarded a fourth boat, which took us to the glow worm caves on the other side of the lake Te Anau was built along. The glow worms were the same species that we saw a few days earlier, but in much greater numbers, and in the pitch darkness of the caves, they looked like constellations on the ceilings. I actually picked out a jellyfish constellation.

After our fifth and final boat ride back to Te Anau, we checked into our hotel, and I retired for the night as the bar had already closed.

11/13/13 Queenstown

We had an odd start to the day. Puzzling world is basically a small theme park(emphasis on small) with a man-sized labyrinth as it's main(and really, only) attraction. The labyrinth contains 2km worth of twists and turns and dead ends. Of course, I made it through the thing with the wall touch trick, taking me about 40 minutes. It was surprisingly amusing.

Drove a bit to the 45th parallel, which was basically a slab of rock stating that we were standing on the 45th parallel. Took a commemorative photo before driving on to Queenstown. First stop in town was the Queenstown Gardens. Watched some people do green bowling. Didn't really understand it after 15 minutes, but they seemed be enjoying themselves.

Dinner was in the heights above the town, in a restaurant reachable only by cable gondola. I've been riding a lot of those recently.

Getting into the hotel relatively early, I found the bar(upstairs in its own little nook) and spent the rest of my evening there. Some tour mates showed up eventually, and we conversed some before heading to bed.

Probably the least eventful day of the tour. That I recall, in any case.

11/12/13 Lake Wanaka

First stop of the say was a reflection lake, of all things. It was about a 20 minute hike from the parking lot. Besides it being reflective, the view wasn't especially amazing. Maybe I've already been spoiled by New Zealand's many spectacular views... After our brisk morning walk, we got back on the bus and made our way to the base of Fox Glacier, where we dismounted and had ourselves another hike up to a vantage point to view the glacier. Again, not too spectacular, especially after yesterday's helicopter tour. We did get to see the odd hole formation under the glacier, which was interesting.

We followed our morning hikes with lunch, which was itself followed by another short hike, 5 minutes, through the woods where we marveled over the crystal clear streams. This was especially amazing to me, as I've never seen a forest stream 2-3 foot deep yet be as clear as glass. Beauttiful.

More driving in the afternoon to a scenic lookout for pictures of Lake Wanaka, then to a nearby airfield, where I proceeded to shell out lots of money for the privilege of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, surviving only because of some string attacked to a nylon bed sheet.

Skydiving is an interesting experience to say the least. I will recommend anyone going up there to where gloves, after I damn near froze off my fingers during the free fall. I didn't really think much about the “dangers” of skydiving, nor was I at all nervous. When the time comes, you just...get in position, and let the wind take you. The process is as follows:

You wiggle into a jumpsuit(I wonder if this is where the term “jumpsuit” comes from?), and are fitted with a cap and goggles/eyeshield. Then you meet your tandem jumper, and climb into the aircraft. Our particular aircraft was a converted recreational prop plane, painted bright orange. It takes about 10 minutes for the plane to climb to 12,000 ft, making a big spiraling pattern upwards. I'm told that any higher than 13,000 feet and you'll need oxygen, but that's an additional cost that I was unwilling to pay for. At some point, the door opens, the green light comes on, and you go flying out into the blue. Freefall is cold, and I don't quite like it. As I mentioned above, my gloveless fingers damn near froze off.

It only takes a minute or two to float our way down once the chute opens, but while I was up there...man. The snow capped mountains in the distance, the glistening lakes and rivers, and the crisp green fields...I don't know if I could pick a better place to go skydiving than over NZ. It's not a life changing experience to be sure, but it's one well worth doing anyway.

Dinner was underwhelming, but had a long walk along Lake Wanaka after. Very peaceful and contemplative. I aksed myself what I was doing with my life, but realized I was content with it. It's hard to be discontent while on vacation.

New Zealand, Part 1

11/12/13 Fox Glacier

Woke up this morning to a mediocre breakfast, but the rest of the day was anything but mediocre.

We took the train from Christchurch to Arthur's Pass, enjoying the mountain scenery along the way. There was even a special open air train car for photographers. Note that next time I get on this train, I should make sure to stand on the right-hand side of the car, where the views are superior. Alighting at Arthur's Pass and meeting our tour bus(which beat us there), we went on to have lunch in the little town of Hokitika, followed by a quick walk on the beach. I picked up what I think to be a large piece of unpolished jade. Apparently, the town is rolling in the stuff.

Leaving all that behind, we made our way to the town of Fox Glacier, but not before stopping at the Bushman's Lodge, definitely the most redneck structure I've seen outside of the deep South. Watched a short video about the history and development of the venison industry in New Zealand, accompanied by exhibits such as a giant eel, an albino possum, and a whole bunch of redneck paraphernalia. An interesting experience, to be sure.

Arriving in Fox Glacier, we dropped our stuff at our hotel before walking to the nearby helipads. A good dozen helipads were actively taking tourists up for a look-about of both Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Though it was an optional activity, I happily shelled out the $250USD for the 30minute ride + glacier landing/walkabout and boarded a whirlybird posthaste. Took lots of pictures. The weather was really cooperating, giving us blue skies and clear views of damn near everything.

Returning to town, we ate dinner and went off on a night time nature hike, this time to see New Zealand's famous glowworms. They're pretty hard to describe, but they basically attach themselves to the underside of things, then drop down lines of sticky mucous before emitting a glow from their backsides to attract insects. Said insects get caught in the lines and are consumed.

They glow blue, and are all kinds of amazing. Really.

Returned to the hotel, had some drinks, then went to bed.

11/10/13 Christchurch

Ain't much happened today. We visited the Agrodome in the morning, feeding sheep and alpaca, petting both. We also watched a sheep shearing and a herd dog demonstration. After that, it was all driving and flying, with a quick stop at a alpaca wool duvet factory. I also got to check out some alpaca rugs. I really wanted one, but for $4000USD(not NZD), it's more or less a pipe dream. Got on the plane from Auckland to Christchurch. Christchurch airport, incidentally, is the staging base for the US Antarctica mission, and had a C-130 Galaxy sitting on the tarmac outside the storage hanger for said Antarctic mission.

Dinner, drinks at the hotel bar, and sleep(slightly tipsy).

11/9/13 Rotorua

Had a pretty traditional breakfast this morning. Eggs, bacon, the lot. Left the Marmite alone.

We got on the tour bus and made out way out of Auckland. Seeing as Auckland is a pretty modern city, it wasn't really in our interest to stay and sight-see all that much. Arrived in Hobbiton, but didn't have a tour of the movie set scheduled, which was a shame. I'll be sure to come back and do that next time I come to New Zealand. After a quick stop, we made our way to Rotorua Skyline, a gondola accessible luge park located in the heights above Rotorua proper. We went up, went on a quick luge ride, and had lunch. A few photos later, we descended the heights, got on the bus, and made our way to some boat docks on the edge of Lake Rotorua. Our boat captain and first mate were both ethnic Maori, who greeted us traditionally with nose touches. The boat took up to the island in the middle of the lake, Mokoia, which looks remarkably like the snake that swallowed an elephant in the illustrated “Le Petite Prince.” We had ourselves an hour long nature walk on the island, ending at the Hinemoa's Pool, the scene of one of New Zealand's great love stories(Google it).

After leaving the island, we made our way to Te Puia, a Maori cultural park built around some steam geysers and hot springs. Took a glance at a Maori carving school and a Maori weaving school, but the most impressive attraction of the park has got to be the geyser terraces. White ashy terrain, full of cracks and vents gushing hot steam. It's not really a landscape I've seen before, and really wins in novelty.

The highlight of the day, however, was the kiwi bird exhibit. Visited the domed building multiple times hoping to see the thing, but it just didn't want to come out and say hi until I was just about to leave the park. Frankly speaking, it looks like a fluffy brown bowling ball, much larger than I had thought it would be. I got to watch the thing poke it's long beak into the ground looking for bugs to eat. Really unique experience.

Hotel for the night is a Holiday Inn. Dinner was at the same. Ate, then made my way to the bar, skipping the Maori Dinner show. Had a few drinks before making my way to bed.

11/8/12 Auckland

I'm sitting on my bed in Sky City Hotel. My tour guide claims it's the best hotel in town. I'm inclined to believe him, if his idea of best hotel is the one with a casino. I had spent most of the day on the plane and am not currently in an argumentative state. Taipei to Brisbane to Auckland isn't as annoying as LAX to Taipei, but it's not far off. Have since determined I'm the best seatmate you can have on an airplane, because I don't ever get up to use the bathroom, I won't be fighting for the armrest, and I'm not fat. As usual, caught up on my movies on the planes. Notably, I watched “Pacific Rim” and “Red 2.” Both were movies that I've been meaning to watch for some time. Enjoyed both of them very much.

My new tour group is 34+1 tour guide. In the 34, there are 4 sets of honeymooners, with nearly all the remainder being 40+ years of age, with the exception of one 5 year old boy and one 29 year old woman accompanying her mother. Prospects of making friends is not good, as are prospects of finding someone to converse with.

(My penmanship is terrible, especially when not writing at a desk.)

Good news! I got myself a prepaid Vodafone simcard. It cost me $35NZD, including $5 for the card itself. It comes with 500MB worth of 'Net, but I can always buy more with the $30 credit. Not bad at all.

We only had one activity on our first day(night) in New Zealand: We went up Sky City's tower and took some pictures. I suppose it's as convenient and interesting an activity for a bunch of tired travelers as anything could be.

Sleep now.

Back in Taipei/Pre New Zealand

(Really behind in transcriptions, but I really am keeping up with the writing.)

11/7/13 Taipei

Currently sitting in yet another cafe, writing up what's happened in the last three days.

Monday was literally just me lazing about at home. There wasn't much to do, what with the heavy rains outside.

Tuesday, I spent in various places. Notably, I went to the Xingmending shopping district, the Taipei 101, and Taipei Station Underground Mall.

Xingmending is known to have a hopping nightlift, though I've personally never enjoyed it, as I need to be home before my self-imposed curfew of 2000hrs, as my grandmother can't go to bed until I return. I'm also not really into hopping nightlife type activities anyhow. I was only in Xingmending to accompany Nancy why she shopped around. Didn't end up buying anything, besides food to eat on the spot.

Taipei 101 had changed some since I last explored it. Notably, in the mall, the 4^th floor, which used to contain a cafe, some food, and a PAGEONE bookstore, had been taken over by some well known luxury brands. Having checked the directory, I knew that the PAGEONE still existed, but kept missing it. It's original entrance had been converted to a Burberry store. Eventually managed to find it, spotting its tiny new entrance at what used to be a small service door, obviously jury rigged to serve as a new entrance to the large bookstore behind Burberry. Talk about bad faith.

Metro mall was just for shits and giggles.

Wednesday, I made the long metro trip to the last stop of the system, Danshui. It took me a little more than an hour to get there from Muzha, as Muzha was one station off from being the other end of the system. Walked along the beaches and explored the oldtown. I met up with Nick in the evening. He attends university close by, and was somewhat knowledgeable about the area. We proceeded to ride bikes along the banks of the river, followed by dinner at an American style vegetarian restaurant. The original restaurant I had wanted to eat at was closed, and this was the restaurant next to it. Wasn't all that enjoyable, but food is food, and I shouldn't complain. Caught the MRT home afterwards and made it back before 2000hrs, though it was a near thing.

11/3/13 Taipei

Woke up late today, but had to disappoint my grandmother. She had be wanting to go out for breakfast, but had to settle for home food when I informed her that her daughter, my aunt, had arranged to have lunch with me. My aunt's daughter, Silvian, who had just gotten married, and it was apparently some kinda of tradition for the two newly united families to have a meal together after the wedding or something. I am unsure how these traditions work, or even what these traditions are. Either way, I was invited. Lunch was at the buffet at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei. My grandmother would have been invited herself, but for some reason, she disliked the family of the groom. The meal wasn't awkward, the food was fine, enough said.

After lunch, Silvian, her brother Arthur, and her new husband, had me come along with them to Taiwan's version of Home Depot. Pretty much the same as Home Depot at home. Major differences included the name, the building, and the general uselessness of the staff. Major similarities include the products sold, the layout of the store, and the orange aprons the staff wear. Spent a bunch of time looking for a roll of real duct tape for ducts, which I later used to repair the range hood vent in Silvian's new apartment.

Played boardgames after.

Not the most eventful day.

11/2/13 Yilan

Spent most of yesterday lazing about, with the exception of an evening outing to a newlywed relative's place. Silvian moved into a small flat about 40 mins away with her new husband, and not having left on their honeymoon as of yet(they're going to the Maldives via Singapore), they invited me over with Cousin Nancy to play boardgames and drink beer. Interestingly enough, the beer was from Le Ble Dior, and if you buy two growlers, they give you a hard foam case to carry it in. I thought it a good deal. Boardgames ended up being Portable Catan(which I had brought with me from Los Angeles) and Carcasonne. Having never played Carcasonne before, I thought the scoring system slightly confusing, and not really worth the money for what you get. Then again, most boardgames aren't really worth the money.

Currrently sitting on a tour bus, on the way home from Yilan. Woke up early to hump it to Taipei Station, to meet up with my one day tour group, some 25 people, plus guide and Samsung representatives. Samsung representatives? Yes, this was a photography tour half sponsored by Samsung, who was pushing their new mirror-less cameras on we ignorant masses. They had loaners available for all of us, but I figured today would be a good opportunity for me to test the limitations of my Fuji X100, and did not opt for a loaner. Result? I miss my DSLR, but at least my back don't hurt from humping a bunch of camera equipment around.

For serious photography, a DSLR can't be beat, even by a mirror-less. I missed a lot of shots today, and some shots that took a lot of effort would have been the work of mere-seconds on my D7000. Still, for a pure walk-about travel camera, the Fuji X1000 seems almost purpose built.

We visited a small botanical garden this morning, but due to poor weather conditions(rain), I didn't get the shots I wanted. We had a model along for the trip, possibly good looking, but with the Fuji's focal length, I'd have to get too close to the model for good shots, and would be in the way of other photographers, and opted to take other shots instead.

Second stop was a cultural park commemorating the logging camp that used to be in it's place. Apparently, said logging camp was instrumental in the area's development throughout most of the 20^th Century. I took a long walk around the park and the lake contained within it, and again, the rain was unhelpful.

Final stop was an contemporary art museum. We weren't there to admire the art. We didn't even go inside. We were there to admire the tilted structure of the museum, which was probably a nightmare for the contractor to build, slanted as it was.

Lesson of the day? Bring DLSRs for serious photography.

10/31/13 Taipei

It's been a few days since I last wrote, but only because, really, it's taken me this long to gather enough material to write about. On Tuesday(day before yesterday), I went out with my grandmother again, to Shenkeng. But before I get into that, I must relay at quick story about the bus stop in front of my grandmother's. Every day, buses labeled with “666” in big red LED letters pass by, with me always wondering where they went. Someone in the bus service must have a sense of humor, be cause they go to Shenkeng, which literally means “Deep Hole.” Yeah.

So my grandmother hears that a restaurant in Shenekeng serves good chicken, and decides that we should go, because, lets face it, what else do we have to do? We caught the bus there late morning, deciding to lunch there. Chicken wasn't all that spectacular, but was particularly fat for an Asian chicken. My grandmother loves to walk around looking at stuff, and since I do love my grandmother, off we went. Most exciting thing she saw were the fish in the semi-clear stream. I didn't think it special, but it made her happy. I was actually pretty happy about it too. They say you can't choose your family, but I like to think I lucked out on this end.

Wednesday, (yesterday) my grandmother decides she wants to go to the market. Being a dutiful, loving, grandson, I told her I would accompany her and carry the bags. Now when she says market, we ain't talking about no shiny, well-lit, one-stop supermarket. No, my grandmother does it old-school. Imagine a farmer's market, but in the dirty, smelly alleys of South-East Asia. Add the smell of rot and mold, stains upon stains, and don't forget that even if it's in an alley, the sun doesn't penetrate the dense canopy of umbrellas, tarps, plastic panels, and aluminum siding built into a common, hodgepodge structure I hesitate to call a roof. Stalls of vegetables, fish(maybe on ice, maybe on the plywood board it was chopped on) meat(probably pork, most definitely on the board it was chopped on. A typical upper-middle suburban American would freak at this place. One because of the smell, two because of the general lack of hygiene, and three they don't take no VISA, cash only. I will note that after foodstuffs, the most common stall is actually women's underwear, usually lacy, usually displayed on armless, headless, legless mannequins; sometimes lit from inside, sometimes not.

(Of course, I've been here many times and am quite at home with the sights and the smells, having lived at, eaten from, and slept in much worse. The above is only for reference, and only for any readers that stumble across this post that don't have any idea what a farmer's market in Asia is like.)

After finishing our shopping, we proceeded home, where I did some laying about until late afternoon, where I joined my cousin Arthur on a hike down the Taiwan Cultural University mountain. I don't actually know the name of the mountain, I just know that the University sits on the peak. We went our separate ways after the hike, me going to join another cousin, Nick, for dinner, and Arthur to parts unknown, hopefully for a date.

Today,(Thursday) I was somewhat more productive. I did little in the morning, but went out in the afternoon for a pre-trip prep meeting for upcoming tour of New Zealand. Basic info, but did hear that there would be optional skydiving. Will decide on that when the time comes. It ain't cheap, but I really didn't expect it to be.

Went to specialty pen shop afterward, and purchased a new matte black Pilot Vanishing Point(they call it a Capless here). I'm writing with it now, and I'm loving it. It's no Mont Blanc, but it's much more practical, and I wouldn't hurt if I beat it up some, as I'm wont to do with all my gear.

Had Halloween dinner at Le Ble Dior, where Halloween is apparently a big thing, even if noone else in Taiwan celebrates it. Tankards of beer with my cousins(female cousins, because it seems like my male cousins don't drink much, if at all), paper cat ears, and giant inflatable Jack-o-Lanterns was my theme for the night. Didn't get drunk, but caught the MRT home, since I wasn't driving anyhow.

So goddamn convenient, that MRT.

10/28/13 Taipei

I lazed about today, eating breakfast at Starbucks with my grandmother. I concluded that Starbucks has possibly the worst food of all the chain coffee shops in Taiwan. Escorted her to the doctor's office in the afternoon for a checkup, after which we walked home via river bank levy footpath. Dinner was Asian-ized pizza(not as bad as you'd think). I then spent the rest of the evening doing online things.

Hualien

10/27/13 Taipei

The morning I was to leave Hualien, Sunny, my host, took me around the city itself, which I had not yet previously explored. We first had breakfast with her parents aft a cafe, where I demolished a rather decent eggs Benedict, before hopping on her scooter and getting on our way. We first visited an old train yard turned cultural park. A very small cultural park.

There were some restored Japanese Colonial Era structures containing historical displays, surrounding a small square where some aborigines were holding some kind of event. While that was going on, I investigated the structures. The displays were quite interesting, one of pre-metal civilization artifacts, one of colonial era china, one was a smithy, and the last was a pair of holding cells for drunks.

Our next stop was a still standing neighborhood of Japanese era residences, though for some of them, standing was about all they could handle. A few of them were in good condition, solely for tourism purposes.

We finished our morning at the Pine Garden, a structure on the heights overlooking Hualien's harbor. Unsurprisingly, it used to be the headquarters of the Japanese Navy in the area. A few snapshots later, we went to lunch(steamed buns), returned to her house to pick up my pack(where her parents presented me with honey cakes for omiyage), and she dropped my off at the station to catch my 1300hrs train. All in all, I endjoyed my trip to Hualien. I didn't get cuddled or laid, but that was already unlikely.

Getting off the train 3 hrs later in Taipei, I immediately hopped on the MRT to meet my cousin in Ximen, where we watched Gravity in IMAX 3D. Exciting and beautiful. We had dinner at his place, and I caught the MRT home afterwards.

10/26/13 Hualien

We went to Taroko Gorge today, Sindy, Sunny, and me. I had visited there once before many years ago, but my memories of that trip are more than fuzzy, so this trip was both welcome and fresh. I had breakfast twice this morning, once being turnip cake with Sunny's grandparents, once being bread and gyoza with the rest of Sunny's family.

My host and I left son after our morning meal, meeting Sindy on a taxi to the train station, where we bought day tickets for the Taroko bus line. We rode the bus to the end of the line, determined to make our way back along the line.

At our first stop, again, the end of the line, there was supposed to be some kind of Catholic church or something to hike to. After hiking in a big circle, we found a not so impressive building with extremely deceptive steeple. Disappointing, to say the least.

Our second stop was lunch, followed by a longer hike(3km) along the river gorge. The water was a beautiful shade of bluegreen, much different from when last I came. Then, it was just after some heavy rainfall, causing dirt and other particles to muddy the water, so today was a welcome change.

Our last stop on the Taroko line was a beach, with seriously strong waves. As opposed to most beaches I've been to, this one consisted mostly of pebbles, as opposed to sand, so it wasn't at all annoying.

Returning to Hualien proper, we had dinner with Sunny's family at her home. Eight people around the dinner table makes for a more raucous dinner than I'm used to, but it as enjoyable. We took a short ride to the local nightmarket afterwards, again meeting up with Sindy's mother, before we headed home and bunked down for the night.

10/25/13 Hualien

Currently staying at a friend's house in Hualien, after taking a three hour train ride south east of Taipei. the odd thing is apparently, there's a faster train, but it's not like I'm in a rush. Still, while I've plenty of time to spare this go around, it's useful information for the next time I come back.

My friend, Sunny, who I met over the summer, has been most gracious in inviting me to visit her hometown of Hualien. Suuny, her boyfriend(name loosely translated as Champion), and our other friend Sindy ferried me around on scooters all day. I'm not sure on exact locations, but after a quick lunch of wontons, we visited a new residential development, part of which is being build alongside an artificial lake. The water was a very turquoise blue for some reason, butt there were many tourists around checking out the development. This was a first for me, as I've never seen a normal residential development be used as a tourist attraction before.

This was followed by a visit to an old sugar factory, where we ran into another friend, Uncle Sam, our bus driver and tour guide from our trip during the summer. He refused to take a picture with us, so we had to console ourselves with ice cream. It was starting to get dark, so we got back on the scooters and set off for dinner, that being hot pot.

We spent the rest of the evening at Starbucks chatting after being joined by Sindy's mother. Conversation was easy and contained very few awkward silences.

Scooter backseat riding was today's new experience, and learning that Hualien county is long and thin, some 200km long so I hear tell, is today's fact of the day.

10/24/13 Taipei

I'm sitting in yet another cafe in Taipei, this one much newer than the one I last went to, being a chain store with franchise standards. I've been back a day, this being the second, having slept most of the first away. I was woken up pretty early by my dearest grandmother, who now sits next to me while we wait for breakfast. What's for breakfast? Hot dog, spaghetti, and a mango slush. Really. She got salad, bread, and coffee. These were the breakfast specials.

I now know how to take the bus from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei, which will undoubtedly prove useful in the coming weeks. especially since I'll be flying in and out of the country so goddamn often. It'll save my uncle some time.

Final thoughts on the trip to Czech and Austria: Over all a very good experience, despite not understanding what the tour guide and other participants said half the time, speaking Taiwanese(which I do not understand) instead of Mandarin(which I do understand). I still saw a lot and experienced a lot. Given a chance, I would certainly come back. Prague is a more culturally interesting city than Vienna, even with Vienna's sauna clubs giving it a boost in my mental ratings.

Speaking of which, if I do go back to a club, I'll need to bring something to occupy myself during downtimes. If I go with friends, maybe I'll bring cards or portable Catan or some other board games. And a lot more money.
Assuming I even decide to go back. We'll see how desperate the situation is in my own bed when the time comes.

Cesky Krumlov is a very picturesque spot, but could do with more of a night life, lack of said night life being its biggest flaw. I hope to get up that tower next time I come. Of Salzburg, I didn't really get to see the salt mines, so I could do that next time. Point is, there's still so much for me to see and experience, and I'll be sure to come back again. Life is short, but it ain't that short.

Salzburg and Vienna

(Transcription note: I'm pretty behind on Transcriptions, but worry not, I'm keeping up on the writing side.)

10/21/2013 Vienna

How quickly time passes. To think I'll be back on a plane to Taiwan in a few short hours. Life is too short for me to experience all that I wish to, but it'll have to be enough. I'll make do.

This morning, we visited the Schonbrunn Palace, a giant cream yellow edifice with two bronze eagles out front flanking the gate. A tour through the palace informed us a bit about the history of the Hapsburg dynasty, though it mostly focused on Maria Theresa and Sisi. Today was also the first time I've seen wooden tiles(basically, tiles made of wood set just as regular tile is, with grout and mortar), apparently to keep down the sound of horsed carriages traveling upon them. After Schonbrunn, we hopped over to the Hundretwasserhaus, apparently designed by a man who abhorred straight lines. I was equally abhorred by his resulting structures, and believe that said structures are a danger to visitors.

Lunch was at the same dance Chinese restaurant where we had dinner the previous night. After lunch, we were lead to the shopping district surrounding, yes another cathedral, St. Stephen's, and left to our own devices. I wandered around for a bit, visited the cathedral, and decided that while the exterior of this cathedral was charmingly Gothic, the interior was rather plan compared to previous cathedrals I've visited, especially for a cathedral in a city the size of Vienna.

Dinner was a fried pork chop in what purported to be a Mexican joint. Bout the only thing actually Mexican about it was the tequila.

I figured to myself, can't come to Vienna without listening to Mozart concert, right? Wrong. 50€ lead me to an old concert hall after dinner. The décor was certainly beautiful and antique, and the orchestra was certainly dressed to match, in powdered wigs and embroidered coats, but the seats...were a travesty. I don't mean the position of seats, that was fine. No, the seats themselves were bent wooden constructions made with the ergonomic know how of Dali and the spacing of that quack Hundretwasser. There was no possible comfortable position in the damned things, and even when seated properly, my knees were pressed heavily into the wooden back of the seat in front.(I wouldn't sit a goddamn masochist sub in it, it was so bad) I barely heard a note through the two hour long concert through my discomfort.

Toward the end of the concert, another member of our party, a panicky woman, rushed up to us after having received a message on her phone saying our hotel had caught fire. This resulted in our leaving in a hurry, and while I was thankful to leave my seat, I didn't see a reason to rush. Either the fire was burning down our hotel, and emergency services was taking care of it, or someone set off a smoke alarm and it wasn't a big deal. Either way, what the hell were we going to do about it? But Panicky Woman was Panicky, so we rushed back to see the firetrucks no longer there, and that everything was fine. And thus I ended my first trip to Europe, on a very anticlimactic note.

10/20/2013 Vienna

As far as the tour goes, today was probably the most boring. We left Salzburg in the morning, driving to the nearby lakeside town of St. Wolfgang. It's a small town with a church as it's centerpiece, though most come for the stunning lakeside views. The lake is pretty clear, leading to me to believe that it likely fills from snowmelt. As is my custom, I walked through various parts of the town, leaving the tourist districts behind. The small size of the town leads me to believe that I actually walked through the entire town, residential streets and all. As it was Sunday, the church bells were tolling for Mass, and shops were most definitely not open(which was a pity, I did see some bronze statuettes through a shop window that I was interested in).

After leaving St. Wolfgang, we immediately headed off to another lakeside town, Hallstadt, situated by a different lake. Unlike St. Wolfgang, which is built more traditionally, on flat land, Hallstadt is built on a steep slope, creating terraced layers of structures on the hillside. We had backed trout for lunch(probably because there was no Chinese food to be found, thank the gods.), followed by my normal wandering. If I were to differentiate the two towns, besides the lay of the land and the consequential city planning differences, I would say that St. Wolfgang has gondola lifts up a nearby mountain, and Hallstadt is built on the side of a mountain.

After these two pleasant lakeside destinations, we drove some 4 hours and 300km to eat Chinese food, visit a park with creepy statue of Strauss, followed by checking into our hotel for the next two days, where I promptly dropped off my bags and headed out on my own to the real highlight of the day.

A 5min cab ride from mine hotel lies the Goldentime FKK Sauna Club(FKK stands for free body culture or something). 90€ gets you a towel, a bathrobe, and a key to a locker and a safebox in the lobby. You go in, put your valuables and money in the safebox, and have yourself a shower in the locker room before donning your bathrobe and wandering into the club proper. The club facilities include saunas, swimming pool and whirlpool, a buffet, more showers, a bar, and lots and lots of lounging chairs and sofas. Said facilities tend to be populated by young, nubile, and very under dressed girls. I only say under dressed rather than stark naked as each of them have at least a pair of high heels strapped to delicate ankles, if nothing else.

Let me tell you, there wasn't a single girl in there I would kick out of bed. Some were certainly more beautiful than others, but I would not say that any one of them was ugly. European girls already tend to be more thin than girls in the States, and this is especially true among sex workers. English language skills were more or less universal, and while many would not be able to carry on a decent conversation, their language skills are able enough for your needs. Prices are set at 60€ for 30mins per girl, non-basic “special services” to be and additional, negotiable cost. Most girls are of Eastern European origin, and the majority of those tend to be from Romania, though there is a sizable Ukrainian contingent, and several Bulgarians. I also spoke with an Italian, so I expect most of Europe to be represented in that room.

Odd thing I noted: There is a single stripper pole in the lounge, and for the three hours I was there, not a single girl danced on it.

Had my first threesome experience with a petite blonde and a thicker(relative to the blonde, so therefore still thin) brunette, with hard to remember stage names. Meh. While threesomes are off my bucket list, I will say that next time I have a threesome, I will make sure it is with two long term partners, and all participants will be more familiar with each others' wants and put more effort into the act. Overall experience was positive, though there was much to be desired, which was a statement that would apply to the rest of the night. As a man, I heartily approve of such an institution, and dearly wish someone would do the same thing in the States. Personally, I feel like only some of my needs were being met, as it lacks the casual intimacy and affection I'm used to with those I am intimate with. Also, with long term partners, I would expect much more familiarity and acceptance of my particular needs and wants, eg. I like it when my girls cuddle up to me after I beat them, neither of which is available without a large increase in price at the club. It can therefore be said that for me personally, quality of sex is an issue here.

Do not let all the above turn you off to such an institution, however, as the club does have several things going for it. It is likely both cheaper and less time consuming than an actual girlfriend, and said girlfriend is likely never going to have skin as soft nor be as physically attractive as one of these girls. Also, to be certain, while quality of sex is an issue, for some, variety is a quality of it's own. While all these things are certainly not able to overcome it's faults, they are enough that I could honestly be enticed to go again if it were extremely convenient for me to do so.

10/19/2013 Salzburg Wals

I spent the day wandering around the city of Salzburg today. Apparently, the town was named after the salt mines in the hills nearby, which accounted for the great wealth of the city. In fact, the city was so wealthy, that when the city burnt down, they built it right back up even better than before. Said wealth also explains the huge fortification on the hill the city surrounds, as well as the cathedral in the city center.

As Salzburg is the first Austrian town I've spend any amount of time in, I did a little reading about Austria in general, then tried to look up something to do at night, when I discovered something amazing. Prostitution is legal and regulated in Austria like it is in Germany. (I should have realized this before, since they're basically one country. No, I didn't immediately set off to for a brothel, though I admit that the idea was tempting. Actually, the more I read the more curious I became. Apparently, some brothels in Austria are actually controlled by the police, ostensibly to prevent human trafficking. I can't help but draw comparisons to our own US government, which, when attempting to run a brothel and casino in Nevada, ran both into bankruptcy. How on earth does someone run a casino into bankruptcy when people go to lose money there? (Then again, how did I expect a bureaucracy that spends twice as much as it takes in to be able to run any kind of functioning business.) But enough about brothels and government.

Salzburg architecture is more simple that that of Prague and the cities we previously visited, with the notable exception of the Cathedral. The Cathedral was actually rebuilt several times, ost recently after having its dome bombed in WWII. I actually rather dislike this particular cathedral. Externally, it's quite nice and cathedral-y, but inside, it's decorated with white a multitude of white plaster figures on it's walls an ceilings in a Baroque style that gave me a heebee jeebies. The rest of the castle town is a high class shopping district, mostly filled with shops selling Mozartkugel. Did I mention that Mozart is big in Salzburg? Because hes's goddamn everywhere. Mozart bridges, Mozart buildings, Mozart candy, Mozart streets, and Mozart parks. Everywhere.

I spent an hour sitting along the banks of the Salzach river at sunset. Pretty calm end to the day.

On an unrelated note, about something I'm not really entitled to complain about, since I didn't spend a dime on this tour, but going out with a Taiwanese tour group is particularly painful in the dining aspect, since they always want to eat Chinese food. We eat Chinese food whenever possible, in fact we ate at a particular Chinese place twice, because it was the only restaurant in town. Goddamn annoying.

Prague, Karlovy Vary, Plzen, Cesky Krumlov

(Note: Transcribing in Salzburg tonight, but will transcribe Salzburg entry another day, getting late now.)

10/18/13 Cesky Krumlov

Woke up early this morning to use the internet in the Marriott lobby. I must say that this is the only hotel so far that doesn't have free internet in it's rooms. Internet exists, but must be paid for. Of course, I din't pay, and went down to the lobby about 0500-0530 to use free lobby wifi. Iddly enough, right when my watch beeped 0600(atomic watch), the hotel fire alarms went off. I paid it just about zero attention, reasoning that no fire takes place at 0600 on the dot, and that it was a technical issue. (It was.) The lobby filled with annoyed people and I continued to use the internet. Eventually, I went upstairs to get away from the noise and pack my bag, then came downstairs to a much emptier lobby.

Visited a Czech Tesco after breakfast. Reminded me of a smaller, cleaner Walmart will less people. Found some Haribo gummi bears and purchased a regret filled sachet of the new flavored ones(the flavors could have been around for some time, but they were new to me: pear, peach, raspberry, lime). Eventually, we made our way to Cesky Krumlov.

Cesky Krumlov is an old town with an Oldtown. The entire place is crowned by the Krumlov Chateau and its very distinctive tower. We were going to climb it, but unfortunately, said tower was closed today with no given reason. I spent most the the afternoon and evening wandering about the Oldtown and its shops, as well as the chateau and its gardens. Had lunch at the only Chinese restaurant in town(getting tired of Chinese food), and also had coffee at a small shop along the banks of the river running through town. Dinner was a pork knuckle cooked Bavarian style(not all that delicious, but a welcome change from Chinese). I was going to find a bar, but they didn't much exist, or at least, not in a form interesting enough for me, so I retired after dinner to my hotel room to work on photos.


10/17/13 Plzen

I just got kissed by a beautiful Czech girl. I mean, sure, it was just on the cheek and I had to crawl through a goddamn hole but s- actually, I'll explain later and run through the day in chronological order.

The day started in Prague, with breakfast at the hotel. Did I mention that the breakfast was actually quite good? American hotels take note, NH(pronounced n-ha?) Hotels got it down right. My tour group loaded up the bus after breakfast, then took a hour's drive west to Karlovy Vary. The fall foliage was out in force, though mostly yellow; rarely did I see reds or browns. Karlovy Vary is a vacation town, and has been since it was founded when hot springs were discovered there. For some odd reason, someone decided that drinking the spring water was healthy, and even came up with a cup for the purpose, basically a mug with a hollow handle, to be used as a straw to drink from.(fill mug as usual, tilt back from handle and sip from straw protrusion from said handle).

An interesting thing I encountered here was a musical contrivance built into the ground. It consisted of nine square bronzed plates arranged in a square. Each plate is depressed by weight(ideally from someone stepping on it) which then causes the bell attached to said plate to chime. This device was brought to my attention by the sight(and sound) of two cute little blond girls in hot pink jackets dancing about on the thing, and being quite happy about it. Cute as hell.

Lunch was Chinese food in Marienske Lazne, at a restaurant with quite the talkative owner. Apparently he grew all the vegetables used in the restaurant himself. Visited a musical fountain after, was not at all impressed.

Evening activity was the highlight of the day: a tour of the Pilsner Urquell brewery. Our guide, Nicole, was a beautiful dirty blonde, mid 20s. We had a pretty normal tour around the brewery, seeing lots of copper equipment, explanations as to how beer is made, short video presentation about barley, hops, and the history of the brewery(actually rather interesting, that history). We finally arrived in the old fermentation and lagering cellars underneath the brewery, basically 9km worth of tunnels carved into the chalky limestone. We saw beer fermenting in wooden casks(made there especially for the tours, since fermentation and lagering takes place in a new facility now). We then tasted completed beer from other wooden casks, while some of the other tour group members offered Nicole some interesting Taiwanese drinking snacks(vegetarian beef jerky made from beans, her face said she didn't like it).

Finally, on the way out of the tunnels, Nicole led us to a cask lid held upright with a small hole, about a foot and a half tall and about 10 inches across, cut into it. She asked if anyone could crawl through the hole. I immediately dropped my pack and did so. Then, on my way back around to retrieve my pack, I tapped my cheek and asked for a prize. There was a smile. It was quick, little more than a brush of her lips, but altogether pleasant and made my trip to the Czech Republic that much better. I can honestly say that I will be much more fond of Pilsner Urquell now when I drink it, enough so that the company should really consider making the entire thing SOP.

Just don't tell me it already is SOP, and let me keep this fond memory as it is.


10/16/13 Prague

Visited Prague Castle this morning. A walled fortresses turned seat-of-government overlooking the city, I thought it impressive as hell. It was interesting to see how the government buildings enveloped and replaced fortress walls as time went by and the place became more focused on governance and less on military power.

Spent most of the afternoon running about the city center. As a city that has a great focus on culture, and thus tourism, there were the expected plethora of shops and such to explore. I had wanted to try and see if my Starbucks card worked in a Prague Starbucks, but the line was long enough for me to not bother with it. The day ended with a sunset climb up the Astrological Clock Tower in the city center, which offered an astounding view of the city. I managed to figure out the panoramic function on my X100 pretty quickly just for that(the trick is to keep the shutter speed high).

Taipei to Prague

10/15/13 Prague

It was a 13 hour flight to Vienna International Airport. I'd never flown with China Airlines before, and while I can't say much for the service, I will say that they had the nicest personal entertainment screens I've ever used. (I've only ever sat economy, so there really isn't a high standard.) VIE isn't as big or glamorous as LAX or TPE or Singapore, but it has a grocery store, and that already makes it more functional for passengers than any of glitz filled airports mentioned above. I bought myself some sausage, a wedge of cheese, and an orange drink of some kind for my first meal in Europe.

Made it to the town of Telc in the Czech Republic(we'll be coming back to Vienna in a few days to enjoy that city) with a short stop at what seemed to be a Dragons and Castles themed truck stop along the way(the less said about that the better, was kinda ridiculous) Czech doesn't use Euros, so I changed out 50Euros to Czech Krona. It was about 1000hrs local when we arrived, too early for most of the shops to be open in the town square. Said square had its main entrance blocked off by a film crew, so we had to make detour through a park and come through a side entrance. (Not a bad thing.)  What were they filming? Dunno, but it had armored soldiers, mounted men with spears, and a horse drawn carriage, so must have been something historically before firearms.

I took some pictures, explored a bit of the town, and had lunch accompanied by Czech beer, another first, but not the last first for the day.

Back on the bus after lunch, destined to Prague. A very architecturally impressive city, having not been touched by war in centuries. Buildings that did not survive elsewhere are in fine form here. Most that I've seen have been Baroque styles, though there are many others. Lots of palaces and bridges and such to admire, something on every street. It was already early evening when we arrived, and only had time for a short boat tour before dark. The tour served beer and snacks, so all was not lost. Said tour basically took place around the Charles Bridge and was very enjoyable. (The boat's launch was actually under the bridge itself.)

Dinner was Chinese food. Not too bad, but will hope for something more local tomorrow when I explore the city.


10/14/2013 Taipei

Went for a long walk with my Uncle, Aunt, and some of their friends yesterday evening. The entire experienced served well to underscore a conclusion I came to long ago: Taiwan is a far superior place in convenience, transportation, leisure, safety, and  cost, when compared to LA, or really, any other city in a the US, and my parents should retire here.

We took the MRT to Guandu Station, a 20 minute trip that cost about a buck. A comparable car ride would have taken twice as long, then another 20 minutes to find parking, and would have cost enough in gas to make the trip unreasonable for less than a full car. We walked along the banks of the Keelong River, on a well maintained walkway/bike trail, which consisted of a mixture of wood and asphalt sections. The entire thing was supported along the top of the river levies. Hundreds, if not thousands, were out taking in the scenery: mangroves, rice paddies, other agricultural fields, the occasional coffee shop, it was all very calming and probably perfect for most people trying to find some relaxation on a Sunday evening.

The entire trail took about 3 hrs and was probably 5-6 miles in length, considering the hour long coffee break we took at the midpoint. We ended up at Shiling Station, not to far from the night market, well after dark. It was a good way to spend an evening.

I hop on a plane for Vienna tonight. Tomorrow, I set foot on a new continent.

Quiet Afternoon Habits

10/12/13 Taipei

I can now report with certainty that US Starbucks cards cannot be used in Taiwan; Taiwanese cards are embedded with smart-chips, unlike their US magnetic strip equipped brethren. Quite unfortunate.

I watched a movie with my cousins this morning. MALAVITA. De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones, snarky humor, whats not to love? Finally getting better at writing in this tiny notebook(not that my actual handwriting has gotten any better). I only hope my ink refills will last(I got more, but left them in the truck at home, silly me). Also, I need to remember to keep up with transcriptions to my blog(and not double post, as seen in this particular post).

I believe that I've gotten a better idea of my Fuji X100's capabilities and functions, but have yet to come up with a name for it. I like the thing, but only time will tell if she's a capable replacement for my DSLRs during my travels.

10/11/13 Taipei

I'm sitting in a small mom & pop cafe in Taipei. It rained pretty heavily this morning. The smell of mold permeates the stale air. Being a born and raised LA boy, its a strange odor, one reserved for the oldest of houses, most decrepit of houses, or those with recent plumbing issues(of course, the two are not mutually exclusive). Piano jazz emits from what sounds to be a ancient speaker(and truly, by the sounds of it, ancient might be putting it lightly), giving the place an even more dilapidated feel.

Surprisingly, despite smell and sound, the place looks just fine, with a pretty good crowd for a Friday afternoon. The plane ride over wasn't particularly special; I caught up with recent movies; The Heat, WWZ, a few Hong Kong action flicks...I did my best not to fall asleep on the plane, and ended up with less jet lag than usual. My shoulders are pretty tight though(a situation that's been ongoing for several weeks now) and would like a massage. It's very unlikely that I'll get one though.

I'll make do. I always do.

Embarking

10/09/2013 Los Angeles

About to embark on the longest trip of my (admittedly short life. I believe the longest continuous trip I've yet taken is the three weeks this past summer. I'm not feeling very excited about the trip(then again, not usually excited about anything). Pensive passivity is the emotion of the day.

The new Villaragiosa terminal is quite impressive. Very shiny, especially the new floors. I'm not quite convinced it was quite worth the cost, but it is a suitable face for the biggest city on the West Coast. The architect did a good job: lots of glass, arching ceiling, etc. Biggest annoyance? Billions of dollars spent, power plugs on new seats don't work. Ridiculous. Most impressive feature? Projection clock tower in departure hall.


I'm quite taken with it.

Handwriting is as difficult and as terrible as it was last week in this tiny notebook, but I have confidence that I will improve. Other things to improve on this trip? Maybe I can finally start and stick with a workout of some kind. (Unlikely.)

Last meal in LA? In-n-Out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:World Way,Los Angeles,United States

Pre-Trip Notes and Blog Changes, Transcription Begins

There is now an travel equipment list that I will (hopefully) keep updated on the right hand side.

I will now begin all posts with a date and location. Why? Because while traveling, international dateline says that location dates will vary with blog date.

Transcription (with corrections) Begins(parentheses are direct to text additions):

10/4/13 Los Angeles

I've picked up 3 Picadilly Medium Primo notebooks today. Also picked up a pair of gel refills for my Schrade Pen. So far, the combination of the two seems to work well enough.

I've spent a lot of money this week, purchasing a new laptop (Sony VAIO Pro 11), some new clothes, bags...All of this because of an announcement my father made a few weeks ago:

I'm to spend the next year(maybe two) Traveling the World(minus Africa, because my mother doesn't want me going there, but maybe Antarctica).

My mother had wanted me to apply for a some kind of graduate program, but I was of the opinion that such a thing would matter little in my occupation. My father shared my opinion(somewhat, but still thought I needed some seasoning and education) and told me two days later that he signed me up for a series of tours over the next few months. Any work still pending needed to be rushed to completion, put on hold, or otherwise pushed onto someone else.

Father explained that rather than spending $100,000 of perfectly good dollars on a degree that I most likely would never use, he had devised his own way of furthering my education. Throughout the next year, he would pick out destinations throughout the world, and send me to tour them. (Also, when asked why tour groups, he replied that I wouldn't need to spend the time figuring out what to do when I got to a destination. Also, he said I could go back again in the future if I wanted to explore on my own. "Company will pay ticket. No worry.") All that I need to do is bring myself and my camera. My only homework assignment would be to keep a log.

I've decided I would keep said log the old fashion way, using notebooks. Then I would transcribe(such as I am doing now) to digital format later. This might seem tedious and unnecessary to some, but I've discovered that since leaving school many years ago, my handwriting and grammar has deteriorated to an unacceptable state, and that this would be an excellent opportunity to bring both up to a more satisfactory level. (One issue I did not predict: It's difficult to write in a small notebook.)

I leave in five days. Here's to hoping my Amazon order arrives in time.

Travel the World, Meet New People

Going on a two month trip. I'll explain in a later post.

Gonna see parts of the world I ain't seen before. Should be all kinds of exciting.

Need to get a new laptop. Torn between several different options. Kind of a bad time to be purchasing new laptop, as new Haswell Ultrabooks have yet to be released, but the power draw improvement would be significant to previous generation.

Looking at the Sony Vaio Duo 13 at the moment, it being one of the few Haswell units currently on the market.

Working on shifting my workload onto other people. Need to figure out what to do about my rental listings.