Greetings all from Shenyang, China!
Wow, It's already October of 2013...only 4 more months to go in 2013..then can you believe it...2014...it just doesn't seem possible! Here in China October means 1 thing...the 3 day National Day celebrations...celebrating the birth of communism here..not something I'm ready to celebrate, but it does give us a good opportunity to have a week off work!. This year, the week is particularly welcome..I've worked non-stop to startup the plant since the 'Spring Festival' holiday we spent in Australia back in February, so I was ready for a break! (Yes, we did make our 1st tire back in July, and now, we've just finished our 1st month of the production rampup up...slightly ahead of schedule!)
When celebrating the 'Fall festival', we were told early on to not travel to the classic tourist locations in China due to all of the people..so the 1st year we went to Seoul, South Korea, 2nd year we went to Busan, South Korea and this year we went to Taiwan...next year, who knows...Philippines, Tibet, Malasia (none of the above have we visited yet, but are on our list!).
I did some research on Taiwan before we left and while I was there just to refresh my memory about this country...you can look it up on Wikipedia or your favorite history book if you want more details! Here's the bottomline: is it an island, located between Japan and Peoples Republic of China (The communist China) colonized by several Euorpean countries over the years, one of which was Portugal who gave it the name of Formosa and then into other rules eventually coming under Japan before and during WWI. After WWII the Japanese surrendered Taiwan to the Allies...then a civil war broke out in China where the communist (PRC) won against the nationalist and the Nationalist fled to Taiwan and established the ROC (Free China) Repuplic of China). The ROC was actually the representative of China at the United Nations from after WWII until 1971 (during that time the PRC wanted nothing to do with the rest of the world and was closed to most everyone in the West..it culminated with the "Cultural Revolution" in 1968 which saw many millions of Chinese die at the hand of the communist government and also from starvation.) In the meantime, Taiwan flourished and enjoyed a booming economy based on Manufacturing and electronics. (Remember all the toys and stuff marked 'made in Taiwan') In 1971 the PRC started to open up and they actually claimed their seat the at the UN, kicking Taiwan to the curb...to somewhat of a no-mans land...independent, but not recognized as such by the UN and threatened by China with military power if there is any formal declaration of independence. So ROC Taiwan has made it their goal to remain independent, and keep their economy thriving...from what we could see it is working! We did our part to help the economy of the Free China to maintain independence from the PRC China!
Here are some of our photos...there are several of them...just couldn't choose, so this blog is a little more picture heavy than others!
1st day out, we loaded up...went on a Gondola ride and subsequent visit to a tea plantation then went to Chang Kai-shek's memorial..I think I about wore us both out that day! Had to take a little slower pace after that!
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| The Gondolas up to Maokang area on the Southern end of Taipei |
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| Sarah in the Gondola |
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| A small Tea plantation at Maokong just outise of Taipei |
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| Up close and personal at some Tea plants growing on the moutains outside of Taipei |
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| View from the 'Crystal floor' Gondola to Maokong area outside of Taipei |
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| A Selfie of Sarah and Rod at the Chang Kai-shek memorial (the leader of the ROC government) |
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| Some angles of architecture outside the Chang Kai-shek monument (notice the Blue and White tiles..colors of the Kumingtang (the main military forces of the 'nationalist government' that lost to the Communiists in the Chinese civil war) |
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| Rod looking at the Chang kai-shek memorial square |
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| Rod at the top of the steps of the Chang Kai-shek memorial...been there seen that, let' s move on! |
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| The 101 building...the biggest sky scraper by far in Teipei and you guessed it, it's 101 stories tall..The elevator only goes to the 89th and there is an obervation floor on the 99th..the rest is anteanna height to the 101st..quite impressive to see up close! This view was taken from our hotel. |
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| Rod and Sarah riding the fasted elevator in the world in the 101 building! |
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| This is a pic of the timer in the elevator...at this time it was 32 seconds into the 43 second trip and it was already at the 87th floor...going 226 meters/minute! |
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| Rod at the fishermans market in Timsui on the northem side of Taipei |
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| Rod and Sarah standing outside of the Sun Yatsen memorial hall with the 101 building in the background |
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| The Sun Yantsen memorial hall in Teipei..Sun Yatsen is noted as the 'father' of both ROC Taiwan and modern PRC China |
One of the evenings we went to a night market..a typical night market...lots of vendors, street food, lights...this one was close to our hotel, so we walked and just took some shots of Taipei at night.
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| Rod browsing the night market in Taipei |
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| A typical buddhist shrine in Taiepei |
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| Rod standing next to a Maybach car (the highest production car ever made by Mercedes...no longer made)..one of those things that if you have to ask how much it cost, you can't afford it! |
Our last day in Taiwan, we ventured out into the countryside up on the north side...and so glad we did! We went to Yanmingshan National park, then to a small farm (that is setup for some simple tourism, but said to be authentic) and then to Shitoushan park by the ocean...all beautiful and worth the venture!
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| This is the freshwater water source for the farm...it's shallow and easy to manipulate the water on the high ground |
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| The view from the farm |
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| Sarah walking along the dyke on the farm |
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| Farmer Rod walking on the dyke |
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| A view from the mountain |
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| Farmer Rod petting the bull at the park! |
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| A view on the farm |
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| Another view of the water source at the farm |
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| Rod gettting a little close to the edge of the dyke at the farm |
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| Rod selling the rice of the farm to the lady at the farm! |
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| Sarah's lunch...yes, those are little tiny fish all wrapped up in a ball...it didn't taste too bad, but gotta admit, it took some getting used to the texture and knowledge I was eating fish eyeballs! |
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| The map of the park by the ocean |
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| Rod and Sarah rubbing the belly of the baby budda for good luck |
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| The pagoda at the sea in the park |
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| A view from the pagoda looking at the Pacific ocean |
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| Rod looking at the military side of things at the park..it wasn't too long ago that those bunkers were active! |
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| Sarah Getting a little close the edge at the Shitoushan park on the North coast of Taiwan |
So, there were many more photos of Taiwan and it definitely deserves a return trip so that we could see the middle and southern sides of the island..maybe next time!
After Taiwan, we stopped off for a quick trip to Hong Kong..we didn't take alot of photos there as we've done this trip before...we did manage some shopping though...but that's another story!
Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers...we've been here 3 and 1/2 years..doesn't seem possible on one hand, and yet, when we look at the places we've seen, it's clear we couldn't have done that in a year (and still worked full time!)
Until next time,
Sarah & Rod
