Update 7/20

Since our last correspondence Malissa and I have had the opportunity to travel to Taiwan's beautiful east coast and visit a few places that were new to the both of us. A 3 1/2 hour scenic train ride along the southeastern coast line took us to our destination of Taidong. We where able to get a whole new "Taiwanese" experience by staying at a "hot spring" resort in the nearby mountains. While the surrounding scenery was picturesque and the accommodations favorable, it was the amount of Taiwan tourists there that caught all of our attention. Through our observations we noticed that most of the families staying there were rather young. Adults with 1-2 kids in their mid to late 30's, taking a weekend vacation on the east coast. Though Taiwan's have always been a mobile people, this trend of weekend retreats to resorts is a relatively recent phenomenon. We traveled with Clark and Paula, the two other interns from dept. of state, throughout the trip and we all agreed that the resort was a unique experience to say the least. We can elaborate more on our experience in person if you'd like.

After a nice rest, we got up early to take a 1 hour ferry from Taidong to Green Island of the eastern coast of Taiwan. The island, though largely a tourist destination today, was once home to jailed political dissidents. The original prison that housed them is still there today and is visited by many tourists passing by on their rented scooters. The island itself is gorgeous. Small, green, tropical and filled with dozens of scenic ocean views. Anyone visiting the east coast should take the time to check it out. The only way to travel on the island is by renting a scooter for $10 a day, but keep in mind you should have some scooter riding experience beforehand as it is not an ideal setting to learn (one of our friends found that out the hard way). Greg got an intense sun burn on his arms from riding around w/out sunscreen for a few hours in the morning, but is now seeing a bit of color which is always nice.

My good friend Grey Ding came down from Taipei for the weekend and stayed here with us. It was a good treat to see him. His first night down we went to the LiuHe Night Market and found the most amazing fruit drinks I've ever had. Needless to say I had my fill of them. You have to take advantage of those opportunities.

Malissa and I have finalized our SE Asian itinerary and will be traveling to Malaysian Borneo followed by Kuala Lumpur and will be ending in Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat. We look forward to the upcoming adventures and are excited to share them all with you!

Here are some pictures of us out and about in the community.

A Much Needed Update

Hello All!

Well it's been a while since our last blog post and we wanted to get you all up to speed on what's been going on here. I've been rather busy at work planning for our upcoming "America Week" retail promotion, which is going to be held at Kaohsiung's Dream Mall. Malissa has been filling up on a wealth of online knowledge regarding webpage design in preparation for putting together AmCham Kaohsiung's official web site. Needless to say we haven't had much time to fully enjoy ourselves and play. We have been getting out most nights though and have committed to have at least 1 bowl of "bing" each week, as it is too delicious to not take full advantage of. (picture included above)

We have also been busy doing some "Public Diplomacy" as AIT likes to call it. Each Friday and Sunday at the AIT Kaohsiung "America Corner" we host an english class. Friday's are more advanced and Sunday's are basically for little kids (we read kids books). Last Friday I led the class with discussions on Pres. Obama's Inaugural Address. I was really impressed with how many people were able to follow along and express their thoughts/feelings. In all we had around 45 people in attendance. Today, Malissa and I heading over to the American Corner, as Malissa read "The Emperor's Egg" to a group of 20 or so chinese children. It was a cute sight and they all drew pictures of penguins for her. Also, this past week Clark, Paula, (the other 2 AIT Interns) Malissa and I headed to the top Kaohsiung Girls High School to present to them our experiences of college life in America. Malissa and I presented first and really enjoyed sharing some of the college experiences we've had together. The audience seemed to enjoy it too. Afterwards we basically had a full on photo shoot as 100 or so high school girls vied for pictures with out group. It was fun!

I also celebrated my 3rd birthday in Taiwan on the 18th! Malissa was amazing and planned a great breakfast of dunkin donuts and grape juice, which I loved. I took the day off to relax and enjoy Kaohsiung. We ended up doing some shopping at the nearby malls, went to eat at T.G.I. Friday's (so so here as well) and after dinner saw A-Team at the movies. It was a wonderful birthday!

Devin, I've been making sure to eat a lot of rice for you and am including a picture as evidence! Well we hope you are all safe and doing well! We miss you and love you! O, and Happy Father's Day to our two great dad's!

G&M

Kenting Pics

Traveling in Kenting like a real Taiwan 人

Our trip to Kenting

So as we previously mentioned Malissa and I wasted no time to travel to the beautiful touristy town of Kenting. Feel free to locate it on a map if you'd like. It basically sits on the southern tip of the island and is home to many low cost hostels and hotels for backpackers. A lot of tourists travel to Kenting for the festive atmosphere, beautiful weather and of course the beaches. Finding transportation is simple as buses from Kaohsiung and other cities run to and from Kenting daily. Malissa and I took an afternoon bus there that cost us about $10 usd each. Upon our arrival we tried to rent a scooter so as to expand our area of exploration and found that most places were unwilling to rent us a scooter because Greg didn't have an international drivers license. Yet, due to his charm and language ability he was able to convince an older couple at a random scooter rental place that didn't have many customers to rent us a scooter! :) Good job Greg! haha Final price for 4 hours....$9.36 usd! Quite a bargain. Riding the scooter allowed for Malissa and I to travel up and along the southern coast and catch some beautiful scenery.

Finding a ride to Kenting was a piece of cake...Yet, finding a ride back proved more difficult. We were told to wait at a bus stop, yet the only buses that ever came by were tourist buses and most weren't heading back to Kaohsiung. A taxi driver approached us and said he would take us back home for a few dollars less than the bus fare. The only problem was he wanted us and 3 others to ride in his taxi. He told us to wait for a minute as he found a few more tourists to take back, so Mal and I sat patiently on a bench. He was super slow....We waited for about 20 minutes till I finally told him we were going to look for another way back (malissa was getting tired and bit by misquotes). At that moment another taxi driver came up to us and said he's take us! So we sided with him, which then caused a yelling match in Taiwanese between him and our other cab driver. I didn't catch everything they said, but it was basically how he'd stolen us. At the last minute before we left, our original cab driver found 5 tourists to take back, (which would've left us stranded had we stayed with him) and we rode back with our new cab driver friend. On our way back we had to stop and pick up another couple who had originally reserved the taxi. They were both from Taipei and we're very friendly. Finally after a 3 hour drive (because of having to stop for a bit) Malissa and I arrived back home happy to find our bed. We can now cross #7 Visit Kenting off of our to do list!

We've Arrived!

Well Everyone, Malissa and I have finally found a moment to sit down and get this blog up and running! Here's a brief synopsis of our first 2 weeks in beautiful Taiwan.

We arrived in Kaohsiung after our brief encounters with a nasty Delta counter clerk in SLC and the TSA in LAX. It was a pain getting through since Malissa's ticket said Malissa Levesque yet her passport said Malissa Candland (this was largely in part due to Greg's enthusiasm that Malissa will change her last name). Luckily, China Airlines gave Malissa a fake boarding pass to get around the TSA and then gave her the real one at the gate. Thank you China Airlines! After over 14 hours of flying, we finally arrived at our apartment in Kaohsiung.

After setting our luggage down, we immediately hit the streets. Greg's palate was reunited with a delicious danbing (basically a danbing is a tortilla-like flatbread cooked with an egg and bathed in sweet soy sauce). Great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! We live in a gorgeous apartment on the 14th floor of a brand new apartment complex, with views of the 85-story building (as it is called here) which happens to be the 2nd tallest building in Taiwan and the largest in Kaohsiung. From the west we can also see the ocean and the busy port of Kaohsiung in the distance along with IKEA and Costco. :)

For the first two days we walked around the city and were exhausted by the end of each day. Basically, we fell asleep as soon as we got home, which was around 7:30 and then woke up full of energy at 6 AM the next day! Not really a normal sleeping schedule...especially for Malissa. Then on Sunday we went to Kenting which is the southern tip of Taiwan. After much bargaining we were able to convince a guy to rent us a scooter for $9.50 for 4 hours. It was a treat to ride around and explore the area. More on this trip to come!

May 17th Greg started his internship at AIT Kaohsiung. Since then he has become more and more acquainted with how the Department of Commerce works and some of the many projects that are going on in southern Taiwan. Overall, these past few weeks have been busy, exciting and full of great experiences. Greg can't say enough good things about his branch chief Steve Green, who has been extremely helpful and accommodating.

The Wang and the Jiang family have both come down from Bade to visit Greg and meet Malissa. We had a great time with each of them and travel to Cijin island with the Jiang family for a very Taiwanese seafood lunch. The food was delicious and it was a wonderful experience. It was great to see both of my old friends and Malissa and I plan to travel up to Bade to see them again soon.

We'll be sure to keep you all updated on the latest developments and plan to post some pictures soon too!