Always an Adventure...

One of my 30 before 30 goals was to do more hiking in Yilan. There are so many amazing hiking trails around here, and many I didn't even know about before. The first thing I did was make a list of all the trails I knew how to get to on my own, and checked off each one as I hiked it. Since I love making lists, this really did help me to achieve my goal. There is one trail that I haven't made it to yet, but I do have one more week to go! I think this year, I will try to do each trail a 2-3 more times. Another thing I did was suggest hiking as a group activity or accept invitations to go hiking with others. This led me to some new places, including a botanical garden with an amazing English garden on the top of a mountain. There were "Watch out for monkey" signs, but to my disappointment, I didn't see any.  The view from the top was incredible. We could see the whole Yilan area. Another hike I did was to a waterfall, that turned out to be 4km each way! Unlike the...

I've been home for almost a month now, and when people ask me "How was Thailand?" I say, "Great!"   The weather was perfect. The food was amazing. The bargains were cheap. Evening entertainment - Settlers of Catan In class The company was fun. What more  could you want? But when they ask, "Did you do anything exciting?" I struggle to find something to share. This year, I really didn't do much, and that was OK. Part of the reason was that I've been there before, and I've done the elephants and tigers already. Part of the reason was that part of my fun budget was devoted to my layover in Singapore. And part of the reason was that I was there for other reasons... like to study and reconnect with my cohort members. Both of those goals were certainly achieved. It was kind of sad to realize that this was my last winter study term in Thailand. I may have to find an excuse to go back though! It was sad and happy, because that means...

南部 First thing to take note of is the drastic change in wardrobe!  On the first day I was wearing: A hat An undershirt A long-sleeved shirt A hoodie A scarf A thin jacket A raincoat Jeans Rain pants 2 pairs of socks As you can see, by the third day a t-shirt was just fine. The weather was awesome! I asked myself...why don't I live here?? I really haven't spent much time in southern Taiwan, but I've enjoyed every trip I've taken down there. It seems like it's always sunny! I don't know how I would do in the summer heat, but it's a great winter escape. There was also a lot of great food to try, including mountain pig and wild hen (or some kind of small wild bird), and giant shaved ice! I love this place in Kaohsiung!