My Final Post (Part 2)

So, sorry for that hiccup, school started etc. Anyway I'm ready to give you the next installment of my FINAL POST. Or more namely, my trip to China and Thailand. I have quite a few more pictures to show you, so enjoy the show! The pictures are great!

CLICK ON THEM TO MAKE THEM BIGGER!

So anyway, where we left off, we were in Beijing climbing the Great Wall! And if that isn't exciting enough, we continue with two more pictures of Beijing!



Here is a picture of me an Jon enjoying some chinese brew in a hole in the wall restaurant that my parents never would have gone to if me and Jon couldn't speak the language.




Here's some pictures of the Summer Palace outside of Beijing.

Anyway stayed another night in Beijing and early that morning boarded a plane to ChongQing to board a cruise ship to take us down the Yangtse river (Yangtse not being Chinese btw) But! Before we got on the boat, we had to treat ourselves to some of ChongQing's Hot Pot food. Hot Pot is like having a big pot of broth under a flame brought to a boil. We are brought different meats and vegetables and they are uncooked, we throw them into the broth and wait for them to cook. Mmmm it's good.



Hot Pot!



I personally think that this looks like Kylene if she was Asian.





A stroll through ChongQing markets.



Our room on the Cruise Ship. And a celebratory drink! It's actually a pretty funny story because, getting on the plane to ChongQing, we had to empty ALL of our liquids (they had a law where alcohol was not permitted to be taken on domestic flights) and my dad basically took all of our water and cokes. Anyway arriving on the ship, my dad was looking through our backpack, and it turns out we had 3 or 4 taiwanese beer in his backpack! Somehow going through 2 international flights and one domestic flight... I'm not sure how legal our Democratically Free beer was, anyway that was our celebratory beer!



Here's my dad getting acupuncture on himself. My parents became Chinese medicine addicts, and went in for massages every day on the cruise... and my Dad had back problems for the rest of the trip!

So our first stop in the morning, was the ghost city of Feng Du. It was called the gateway to the underworld I think...



I guess people train here to lift that 200 pound half ball on to that little stump. There was a man who was seriously smaller than me who trained for 3 months and managed to lift it on top of the stump. So Jon "Big Mountain" Fairbairn (seriously that was his chinese name) took the try, and managed to roll it right over his toe and got his birkenstocks all bloody. Nice Try though.



I'd like to explain this... but I'd rather you guessed on your own.





Some more pictures of FengDu, pretty crazy stuff.

So anyway, we continued on our boat trip, and the night met with the Captain of the ship at this social (who happened to be taiwanese, but we didn't alert the authorities...)



Here's a sunset to send you off good bye for this installment!



See you soon!

My Final Post (Part 1)

Hey guys, What a year it's been. It went quick didn't it. Anyway, as you probably already know, I've returned to my home (Well, that's debatable) and I've been putting my life back together. So anyway, about 2 months ago, me and my parents went on a whimsical journey of enlightenment to Mainland China and Thailand. Anyway, I think it would be better to look at pictures and explain on the fly because, it's been a while since I went on the trip! So, here we go!

These will be done in a 4 part series because I have over 120 pictures to show you guys

CLICK THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER



Here's the first photo of Beijing! Here I am with my exchange student friend Jon from Ontario, we were travelling together for the China portion of the trip. Anyway our first meal in beijing. When we first arrived the lady said we should eat inside of the hotel, but when she realized we could speak chinese she said, just go down the road to this restaurant! Anyway the food was great. And things are so much cheaper than Taiwan as well surprisingly!

Here are two pictures of Taiwan's favorite Chinese Mao Zedong





Pictures of the Forbidden City!













Tiananmen Square!!! (Minus the Tanks)



Peking Duck for lunch (It was Exquisite)




Our trek into the city to see HuTongs (Traditional Beijing Houses)





No... Doing... Anything...



The Summer Palace, and the gateway to heaven.



Here we are on the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!! It was so surreal, it was simply AMAZING.
When we got there it was raining pretty bad, but, it stopped after about a half hour, and it scared away most of the lesser tourists. (...wimps)

The monorail ride up!



















And that was only our first TWO DAYS. Believe me there's more where that came from. I have at least 90 more pictures to show you guys! So please stay tuned, i'll give you a day to digest this stuff, and continue to show you guys my journey.

See ya, Brenden

My Parents have come!

Hey weekly readers! It's Brenden updating his blog one more time before his trek over asia... My parents have come here, It was a great time, they had a great time meeting my host families and experiencing some of the things I experienced when I first arrived. I ended up taking them to CKS Hall, the 101, Longshan Temple, Ximending, Shilin Night Market and Danshui. I'm going to be back in Taipei August 10th, so anyone want to hang out or have lunch with my parents are welcome to do so!

Anyway, sometimes photo's describe a trip better than words, here you guys go..






Some photos of us at CKS Memorial Hall



ME! Feat. Aviator Sungalsses...



Me and my Dad in front of the subway entrance...



The Subway






This is the Canadian guy I'm going to China with, he just got back from a buddhist temple, so his hair was completely shaved. Good guy that Jon...


Inside the Taipei 101 (you know world's tallest building?)



In Longshan Temple being pagans...



The Temple in question.




Little Market outside Longshan Temple



What would a trip to Taipei be without XimenDing?



Rotary for lunch, My parents in the front, and my first host parents and brothers to the left with the president and secretary to the right...



My fourth host sister telling the Rotary club about her experience in Houston...



Third host sister as well in the front speaking.



My Dad speaking to the club and me translating...



My Dad giving his Rotary Club's banner to the President of the Club



Me with my 4th host mom (Aren't we cute?)



Me being frustrated at a travel agency... We have visa's now though!







Our trip to the ocean. My second host mother was nice enough to drive us. Thanks!



My going away dinner! Take a look at the food! I hope you like pigs feet and whale (I'm not kidding)



A big Group photo of Rotarians my real parents and host parents...



Mmmm... food I will miss...



Big Group Photo!!

So guys, For those who want to know, I will be back in Taipei August 10th, and back to Cape Breton August 13th. So, you probably won't hear from me till then! Miss you and love you all!!

Brenden