Garbage???

Well most of you will be asking: "So how is it living in Taiwan?" or "What have you been doing?" and the answer to that would be... Well you just watch it yourself and decide. Here's what we have to put up with everyday of the week. There's no place like home!!!



En as julle gedink het dit gaan maar stil-stil hier - kyk die video...

Back From Holiday!

So I am back home. Taiwan that is. After 4 weeks of travelling with my mom. I met her in Hong Kong where we stayed for 4 days. Jewelery, gemstones and a lot more female accessories. And don't forget RIO PEARLS.
We did see the other islands around Hong Kong from afar.











But that's honestly all you need after walking miles and miles from the one shop to the other. Here I am at Ocean World enjoying a well deserved rest after strolling through an amazing amusement park with breathtaking sites, beautiful exhibits and waiting times of an average of 25 minutes per ride/exhibit. Oh yes I am the red jellyfish on the right hand side...

After Hong Kong we went to Singapore for 2 and a half days to wander around the so called clean wonder. Blah!!! Lies all lies I tell you. There's litter like anywhere else in the world. This was low season!!!

In the back of the 2 huge people in the picture, you'll see Madonna's left bra cup also named after a smelly fruit called Durian. We were taking the city tour as it was the cheapest way to see something and yet that was expensive too. Very very very very Expensive!!!

Singapore and Malaysia

One thing about Singapore was their gardens, parks, animal attractions and basically any empty piece of land that was beautified by flowers and trees and orchids if you want. We met up With Josanne and her Mom. Tannie Hannelie en Moeder loop met oohs en aahs deur die orgidee tuin.



We also went to the zoo which was pretty impressive. Had breakfast with the Urangutangs and a few other creatures that was totally unasked for. Just ask yourself do you really want to look at a snake (constrictor) whilst having pancakes???
An Urangutang with her young and Yes we are on the right hand side again...



We also attended an animal show where some of the seals, monkeys and yet again snakes were trained to entertain the masses. Josanne never made it on a picture as she was constantly taking them. Jammer man - volgende keer...



This is a video of a multilingual parrot that was entertaining us at the Jurong Bird Park. It's counting to ten and was able to count and sing songs in Chinese as well.

As our trip to Malaysia was very short, the pictures were not all that impressive. Here we climbed like a million (not sure of the actual number) steps to the BATU caves. A natural piece of rock just standing out in the middle of the city. As you can see they have made it a religious place of - whatever. Apart from that Kuala Lumpur was about the Petronas towers which was closed on the Monday when we were there. Some nice architecture complimented the busy streets full of markets selling exactly the same things you'll get in Hong Kong and Singapore. The only difference is that they will try to sell it to you for 10 times the actual value as you are a tourist and you are willing to pay for it. Even when I told them not to quote me the American price, things were just not that cheap. We did manage to walk through about 176 shops owned by Indians selling.... wait for it..... Silk fabrics and all kinds of kakkies. So now sis is getting a wedding dress straight out of the east.

Phuket - Thailand

Phuket het ons vergas vir 5 dae. Believe me we needed the rest...
And what better place to take a break from shopping than an island in South East Asia.

Here we are at FantaSea Island. On our way to watch an award winning show in the Elephant Castle.




The next day was lying in the sun, get massages, foot therapy and getting really "psyched" for our trip to the James Bond Island by long tail boat. (that means noisy and wet)

The wheather throughout our holiday was cloudy with sunny patches here and there.












Even the small places where we went had flea markets with people begging to buy something at again American prices. To them there is no difference between westerners - if you can afford to be there - you can buy a shark tooth necklace for 1000baths - (R200) - if you really want it you can get them down to R15, but you're so tired negotiating all the time that it's better to go without than to go through the whole rickmarole of not being cheated out of your well earned holiday pocket money.

We also took a ride in the canoes on the wide open ocean. Some pleaces we had to lie down flat to be able to get through some narrow and low hanging openings.

Snorkel on "The Beach"

Just a day later and we took on very rough seas. The speedboat took 30 minutes longer than usual to get us to what must be one of God's most beautiful creations. Due to the rough seas we couldn't enter the Lagoon where they made the movie THE BEACH but even where we swam was absolutely fantastic.





Then of course we both snorkeled for the first time in our lives. If you haven't done it before... DO IT!!!!!

Next thing on the list of many, was to go elephant trekking, ox cart riding, watching the process of rubber being produced and sitting down for a baby elephant show. By the looks of it, my mom doesn't like sitting on an elephant. What do you think? I am there too. Yes, the elephant is the one at the bottom of the picture.


BANGKOK

A modern day Sodom and Gomorrah was just the thing we needed to end our trip. Well ready for some more shopping, negotiating and sightseeing, Bangkok is the city with a lot of temples and no good hearted people to be found. Maybe we were just not looking at the right places. Here we are riding the famous TUK-TUK's motorcycle taxi's to get around town.



The city is dirty, our accomodation was poor, even the general service we got everywhere was just terrible!!! BUT when it comes down to getting bargains at the wide variety of markets, this is where you want to be.

Here we are looking for yet another product that can be used for the wedding...

Home Sweet Home - Vir my altans

Back in the Taiwan for 8 days we went to see the tallest building in the world. Some other nice places in Taipei and of course we had to look at some wedding gown designs. Taipei 101 is really impressive and you can go up to the 89th floor in less than 39 seconds. That is at a speed of about 17m/s. With Taiwan's pollution the view from above was limited, yet fun.

Here at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial we had a nice time in the parks with their large Koi ponds and beautiful gardens. Of course we had to take another million steps up to the top where soldiers guards a big statue of the old man. They look like mannequins as they don't move at all during their duty.













Closer to home, Chunglhi, we had to take a ride with my official ride in Taiwan. For those of you who always wanted to see me on the scooter, here is a double dose of pure pleasure.

Ever since school has begun nothing much has happened. Moeder is terug in SA en ek werk tot Desember dan kom ek troue toe... Sien julle daar!!!