Taiwan etc.. (also a photo link)

For all non-facebook members (its hard to believe) heres a link to my Thailand photo album.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87838&l=2bb37&id=661120474

I arrived in Taipei on Feb 1st. Taipei is in the very north of taiwan, and its winter here right now. i have been living in balmy summer sonditions for roughly the last 7 months straight. sunny, 30's almost constantly. i get here (dressed in my summer clothing) and its raining and 10 degrees. i am FREEZING. hard to sympathize im sure (- 35 in sk the last i heard...) but i am not prepared for cold weather anymore. anyways, my friend amy logan is living her with her boyfriend, theyre both teaching english, and she has very generously let me stay in her apartment. we've toured around taipei quite a bit, the (current) tallest tower in the world, taipei 101, the National Palace Museum, which has over 700 000 chinese artifacts. its an amazing place, we only stayed a couple hours (they want you to leave when the museum closes apparently) but i could have looked around for days! Also we're been doing quite a lot of shopping. the best purchase ive made so far is a sweater, but there are a lot of other items which have added to my ever increasing backpack.

Currently we are in Hualien, which is a couple hours south (but no warmer incedently). The Taroko Gorge is about 15km away, which is a huge gorge made of marble and there are lots of hiking trails and hot springs. The hot springs are definatly more appealing right now! its chinese new years all this week, so the trains and hotels are really busy with holiday makers celebrating. ive learned a couple random facts about chinese newyears:

-a spirit/demon (i cant remeber his name) who brings bad luck is afraid of the colour red, which is why everything suring new years is red. also afraid of firecrackers, so you have to be on the lookout when walking down the street for people just randomly lighting small fireworks in the street.

-all this week, wearing white (death) and black (something else bad) is considered a bad omen
- on feb 10th, no one should leave their house
-all this week, all garbage is to be collected in the middle of the house, and not thrown away until the 11th, marking the end of last year, and a new beginning.

im not entirely sure how many of these traditions are still followed, but it'll be interesting to see the celebrations, as tonight is new years eve, the party night.

my furture plans have taken somewhat of a drastic change. deciding im not ready to go back to thailand yet, ive decied to go to Kuala Lumpar, whch is in Malaysia for a week or so, and see how that works out. Its also really close Singapore, which is conveinent...