Just a quick note to say we made it home safe and sound last night. Now begins the unpacking, mailing out souvenirs, and get reacquainted with the working life. Bah Humbug!
I'll start posting those videos and whatnot soon, so stay tuned.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Last Post From Taiwan
here unless something dramatic happens. We'll be leaving for the
airport in an hour or so.
Today was much like Chunnan's birthday party last Sunday. We started
off doing a coffee run to Crown and Fancy where I took the photos in
this post. The first is Chunnan ordering eight iced mochas and the
rest are some of the pastries in their shop windows. We drooled over
them but did not order any :-(
Back at Cher's place we spent the day eating and playing games. Ogre
Castle, Aquarius, Time Bomb, Jenga, and Dominoes all made it to the
table multiples times each with the kids and the ladies played Mahjong.
Shu-Min is burning me a CD with all the pics he took and I have some
short videos of butterflies abd koi that I'll post when I get back.
Anyone who wants a CD of all the pics just let me know.
We'll be home by 8pm Seattle time on Sunday.
Hugs to all and thanks for following our travelogue.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Running Around On Saturday
Saturday was a busy day for running around, mostly to places we've already been before, but a slow day for pictures. After a filling breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and a bunch of rude people from mainland China who constantly cut in line at the buffet and talked at excessive volumes, we went back to the Jade and Flower Market to get some pieces for a game a dreamed up several nights ago. Since I dreamed it here in Taiwan, I want it to have a Chinese theme, so I bought a bunch of old style Chinese money to use as scoring points and blocking stones. Last night we picked up some Chinese zodiac figures to use as pawns.
Afterward we stopped in at a Starbucks on the corner for drinks and to rest a bit. I took this photo on the third floor of the Starbucks.
After Starbucks we went back to Sogo because Cher had given us $1000NT in Sogo Cash (about $33US). Chunnan bought a very nice tea cup, saucer, and strainer set. After that we went to a little shop to have noodle and wonton soup then headed downtown to the Taipei 101 exhibit halls for the big Taiwan Consumer Electronics Show. The pic above is the crowd at the entrance.
And the pic here is the crowd inside. If anything, it was more crowded that the Taiwan Retail Trade Show we went to last week. It took some serious pushing and shoving to get through some areas as compu-geek boys of all ages swarmed the scantily clad demo-girls at every booth to snap pics of babes they can only dream about and teamed around the stalls with the latest offerings from every computer and electronics vendor on the planet. I picked up a cool blue-laser mouse from Microsoft that's supposed to be especially good on weird surfaces. So far it's working great on the polished marble desk top here at the hotel where the Apple mouse we had been using was sluggish and jerky.
In honor of my friend and business partner, Allen, I waited in a long line to get a 5 minute glimpse at Sony's new 3D Projection TV system that they're releasing next year. Allen, the 3D was great...not holographic yet, but as good as the theaters in a darkened room. When that shark swam right toward me I wanted to reach out and run my hands along it's flanks.
After a couple of hours fighting the crowds we retreated back to the hotel to rest and begin packing our bags. Surprisingly, we managed to get all the tea, souvenirs, and swag into the luggage and still find room for our clothes. We went to Mom's for dinner then stopped by Cher's cafe for a quick hello as they were in the middle of the dinner rush, then headed out to the Sogo area to find the one Starbucks that sells the tea Chunnan likes.
Afterward we stopped in at a Starbucks on the corner for drinks and to rest a bit. I took this photo on the third floor of the Starbucks.
After Starbucks we went back to Sogo because Cher had given us $1000NT in Sogo Cash (about $33US). Chunnan bought a very nice tea cup, saucer, and strainer set. After that we went to a little shop to have noodle and wonton soup then headed downtown to the Taipei 101 exhibit halls for the big Taiwan Consumer Electronics Show. The pic above is the crowd at the entrance.
And the pic here is the crowd inside. If anything, it was more crowded that the Taiwan Retail Trade Show we went to last week. It took some serious pushing and shoving to get through some areas as compu-geek boys of all ages swarmed the scantily clad demo-girls at every booth to snap pics of babes they can only dream about and teamed around the stalls with the latest offerings from every computer and electronics vendor on the planet. I picked up a cool blue-laser mouse from Microsoft that's supposed to be especially good on weird surfaces. So far it's working great on the polished marble desk top here at the hotel where the Apple mouse we had been using was sluggish and jerky.
In honor of my friend and business partner, Allen, I waited in a long line to get a 5 minute glimpse at Sony's new 3D Projection TV system that they're releasing next year. Allen, the 3D was great...not holographic yet, but as good as the theaters in a darkened room. When that shark swam right toward me I wanted to reach out and run my hands along it's flanks.
After a couple of hours fighting the crowds we retreated back to the hotel to rest and begin packing our bags. Surprisingly, we managed to get all the tea, souvenirs, and swag into the luggage and still find room for our clothes. We went to Mom's for dinner then stopped by Cher's cafe for a quick hello as they were in the middle of the dinner rush, then headed out to the Sogo area to find the one Starbucks that sells the tea Chunnan likes.Since there were so few pics today, I'll give you a few giggles with some funny Taiwanglish.
At the temples we visited back at the start of the trip we found this informative sign and map listing all the temples and a few more points of interest. One of those was the Tea Pavilion for Belaxation. We spend 10 minutes just laughing our asses off at that one and for the rest of the vacation we've been asking each other if we were belaxed or if a certain place was belaxing enough for us. Very funny.
After the very belaxing trip to The Chateau I was feeling in a particularly surly mood at the return to crowded and noisy Taipei. We made a quick stop at Shu-Mins office building and I saw this sign in a door way. I'm sure it was meant to be something like Do Not Enter...but Be Impassible helped me focus on the teaming city around me and I decided I would be impassible to bad feelings and let them bounce off of me. Helped me get ito a better frame of mind for the rest of that day.
I'm guessing they had conflicting translation dictionaries at the Butterfly Valley Resort because on the 2nd floor they had a Fire Hydranp...
...and on the 1st floor they had a Fire Hydrand.
At the temples we visited back at the start of the trip we found this informative sign and map listing all the temples and a few more points of interest. One of those was the Tea Pavilion for Belaxation. We spend 10 minutes just laughing our asses off at that one and for the rest of the vacation we've been asking each other if we were belaxed or if a certain place was belaxing enough for us. Very funny.
After the very belaxing trip to The Chateau I was feeling in a particularly surly mood at the return to crowded and noisy Taipei. We made a quick stop at Shu-Mins office building and I saw this sign in a door way. I'm sure it was meant to be something like Do Not Enter...but Be Impassible helped me focus on the teaming city around me and I decided I would be impassible to bad feelings and let them bounce off of me. Helped me get ito a better frame of mind for the rest of that day.
I'm guessing they had conflicting translation dictionaries at the Butterfly Valley Resort because on the 2nd floor they had a Fire Hydranp...
...and on the 1st floor they had a Fire Hydrand. I told Chunnan that when he was ready to retire and move back to Taiwan I would come along and start a consulting business hiring out my services as an English translator to make sure the signs and menus and posters all had proper English words. Of course, I'd email Fred on everything so he could proof read my work...my English is terrible! :-)
Friday, November 27, 2009
Return to Shilin Night Market
We went back to Shilin Night Market with Shu-Min. He drove and we parked in an underground garage below a huge gaming arcade.
We climbed the stairs and were surrounded by the pounding music of video games and bowling. Yup, we found a bowling alley two levels underground.
This leather and day-glow place is definitely a different type of alley than I used to bowl in...and check out those crazy basketball striped bowling balls. I had to check twice to make sure there were actually finger holes in the balls and that they weren't just tossing real basketballs down the lanes.
Here a crowd shot up on the surface.
We stopped and got a chicken steak...kind of like a whole chicken pounded flat and then batter coated and deep fried. It was enough for all three of us but Shu-Min didn't want that. He wanted sausages and later on we go that too.
We also went back to the drink place and this time I had a grape juice drink. It was real grape juice...right down to the crushed seeds in the mix.
Another crowd scene on another street in another part of the market. Chunnan and I spend more than two hours here last week, but in a matter of minutes Shu-Min led us to areas of the market we had missed. Another two hours and I don;t think we duplicartedmore than part of one street from our first trip. This place really is BIG.
We stopped for noodle near the end and this vendor across the alley caught my attention with the bright foods and sizzling cooker in her stall.
We climbed the stairs and were surrounded by the pounding music of video games and bowling. Yup, we found a bowling alley two levels underground.
This leather and day-glow place is definitely a different type of alley than I used to bowl in...and check out those crazy basketball striped bowling balls. I had to check twice to make sure there were actually finger holes in the balls and that they weren't just tossing real basketballs down the lanes.
Here a crowd shot up on the surface.
We stopped and got a chicken steak...kind of like a whole chicken pounded flat and then batter coated and deep fried. It was enough for all three of us but Shu-Min didn't want that. He wanted sausages and later on we go that too.
We also went back to the drink place and this time I had a grape juice drink. It was real grape juice...right down to the crushed seeds in the mix.
Another crowd scene on another street in another part of the market. Chunnan and I spend more than two hours here last week, but in a matter of minutes Shu-Min led us to areas of the market we had missed. Another two hours and I don;t think we duplicartedmore than part of one street from our first trip. This place really is BIG.
We stopped for noodle near the end and this vendor across the alley caught my attention with the bright foods and sizzling cooker in her stall.Today, Saturday, we're going back to the Jade Market to look for a few things for a game I literally dreamed up several nights ago and then we're going to the Taiwan Consumer Electronics Show. Maybe we'll see the new gadgets and gizmos that will be all the rage next year.
Traditional Taiwanese Grocery
Today's main event was going to a Taiwanese Traditional Grocery Market. As with other markets like the night market from last Friday, there is one main building that the premium vendors inhabit and then the rest of the market stretches out for blocks beyond. The main building here was fairly small, maybe fifteen or twenty vendors, but the market beyond stretched down the alleys of three city blocks.
Here's Chunnan in the main building with meat and produce vendors on either side.
Here's one of the meat vendors in the main building. You can see a pig leg right up front and most of the rest of the pig is scattered around the table or hung from the ceiling. The whitish thing hanging on the left is probably intestines that will be used as sausage casings. I'm not sure what the darker hanging thing just to the left of that is, though.
This vendor was selling dried things...mushrooms, beans, fish, etc...along with other sundry grocery items.
This fish vendor had a nice selection...some large...some small...some (like the two in the red pan at the bottom) I'm not even sure if they were fish or not.
The fish on the right here are alive. I could see their gills working and they struggled against their bindings a bit. This method of tying them up must be the standard for live fish because I saw it in other fish vendors throughout the market. It's really very logical as it gives you a handle to carry the fish without getting slimy and doesn't let the fish flop around.
Stepping outside the main building we see here the beginning of the alley market. As I mentioned before, it went on for three city blocks with vendors on both sides.
Another shot of the alley market. The wheelchair in the lower left reminds me that I've seen a lot of wheelchairs this visit, some push chairs like this one, but a lot of electric chairs too. Taipei is definitely not a wheelchair friendly place...there are stairs everywhere, even in the middle of the sidewalks as you pass from one storefront to another...but I have noticed more big-name stores with ramps in front of their buildings and even curb cuts on some of the road corners. I don't recall either of those being here last time so I guess they are slowly adapting to be more accessible.
Here's a typical fruit vendor. Notice some of my new fruits here like the Custard Apple in the lower left, the Wax Apple diagonally up from there, and the Dragon Fruit just above that.
Here's a poultry vendor. Chickens are most often sold whole here. You can see the one right up front is fully intact, feet and head included. All that's missing are the feathers.
This vendor was selling prepared chicken dishes. There's Drunken Chicken, Soy Sauce Chicken, Steamed Chicken, and a half dozen others. All ready to eat.
Forgive the quality of this picture. I was aiming for the bright spicy red pickled cabbage in the barrel but just as I was snapping the picture I noticed the way her arm was bending and it kind of freaked me out. This is one seriously double jointed woman.
Here's another fish vendor, this time with price tags on the fish. The highest price I saw was about 150 Taiwanese Dollars...so about $4.50US. That's for the whole fish. In the US you'd be lucky to get that as a per pound price. BTW, speaking of the US, I think the FDA would have a stroke if they saw the lack of refrigeration in these stalls. Nothing was iced down and nothing was in cooler cases. Everything was just out in the open air on a sunny 80 degree day. Makes me a little surprised that I haven't been struck down with Monetzuma's Revenge or something worse with all the local food I've been eating...knock on wood.
If you want your green leafy vegetables then here's the vendor for you. They had just about every veggie known to Taiwan. What caught my attention though was that long green half melon near the top of the pic. That thing was BIG (you can see the lady's foot nearby for size) and it was only half a melon.
Here is a basket full of Guavas. They are roughly pear shaped and about twice as big, but they are the wrong shape and size for the fruit I saw in the tree at Butterfly Valley. I looked at all the fruit and veggie stands and did not see that one anywhere. So, it remains a mystery. Speaking of mysteries: the guavas I've had here are green with firm white flesh and not very juicy at all...but when I get guava juice at the grocery store back home it's pink and syrupy. Either there's more than one type of guava or Ocean Spray is adding something that mother nature left out.
After we left the market we walked past a shop where the owner had put his pet parrots out for some fresh air.
They weren't talkers but they were colorful.
I leaned in close for shot of the green one and he leaned in close to inspect my iphone.
After the market we went to Sogo, the largest department store in Taipei. They have three stores in a three block area so they must be doing something right. This one is 15 stories tall. We started at the top and strolled our way down to the bottom. About 60% of it was women's clothes and accessories, 20% was men's wear and household stuff, and 20% was restaurants, bakeries, and confectioners.
After Sogo we went to Sun & Palm, Cher's cafe, where we had a little snack and drink.
Inside the cafe Joy and Chunnan discuss her cutting classes today to spend time with us. At 3pm we went to The Sherwood, a posh hotel nearby, to have their afternoon lunch buffet. There were 10 family members present. Very tasty.
Here's Chunnan in the main building with meat and produce vendors on either side.
Here's one of the meat vendors in the main building. You can see a pig leg right up front and most of the rest of the pig is scattered around the table or hung from the ceiling. The whitish thing hanging on the left is probably intestines that will be used as sausage casings. I'm not sure what the darker hanging thing just to the left of that is, though.
This vendor was selling dried things...mushrooms, beans, fish, etc...along with other sundry grocery items.
This fish vendor had a nice selection...some large...some small...some (like the two in the red pan at the bottom) I'm not even sure if they were fish or not.
The fish on the right here are alive. I could see their gills working and they struggled against their bindings a bit. This method of tying them up must be the standard for live fish because I saw it in other fish vendors throughout the market. It's really very logical as it gives you a handle to carry the fish without getting slimy and doesn't let the fish flop around.
Stepping outside the main building we see here the beginning of the alley market. As I mentioned before, it went on for three city blocks with vendors on both sides.
Another shot of the alley market. The wheelchair in the lower left reminds me that I've seen a lot of wheelchairs this visit, some push chairs like this one, but a lot of electric chairs too. Taipei is definitely not a wheelchair friendly place...there are stairs everywhere, even in the middle of the sidewalks as you pass from one storefront to another...but I have noticed more big-name stores with ramps in front of their buildings and even curb cuts on some of the road corners. I don't recall either of those being here last time so I guess they are slowly adapting to be more accessible.
Here's a typical fruit vendor. Notice some of my new fruits here like the Custard Apple in the lower left, the Wax Apple diagonally up from there, and the Dragon Fruit just above that.
Here's a poultry vendor. Chickens are most often sold whole here. You can see the one right up front is fully intact, feet and head included. All that's missing are the feathers.
This vendor was selling prepared chicken dishes. There's Drunken Chicken, Soy Sauce Chicken, Steamed Chicken, and a half dozen others. All ready to eat.
Forgive the quality of this picture. I was aiming for the bright spicy red pickled cabbage in the barrel but just as I was snapping the picture I noticed the way her arm was bending and it kind of freaked me out. This is one seriously double jointed woman.
Here's another fish vendor, this time with price tags on the fish. The highest price I saw was about 150 Taiwanese Dollars...so about $4.50US. That's for the whole fish. In the US you'd be lucky to get that as a per pound price. BTW, speaking of the US, I think the FDA would have a stroke if they saw the lack of refrigeration in these stalls. Nothing was iced down and nothing was in cooler cases. Everything was just out in the open air on a sunny 80 degree day. Makes me a little surprised that I haven't been struck down with Monetzuma's Revenge or something worse with all the local food I've been eating...knock on wood.
If you want your green leafy vegetables then here's the vendor for you. They had just about every veggie known to Taiwan. What caught my attention though was that long green half melon near the top of the pic. That thing was BIG (you can see the lady's foot nearby for size) and it was only half a melon.
Here is a basket full of Guavas. They are roughly pear shaped and about twice as big, but they are the wrong shape and size for the fruit I saw in the tree at Butterfly Valley. I looked at all the fruit and veggie stands and did not see that one anywhere. So, it remains a mystery. Speaking of mysteries: the guavas I've had here are green with firm white flesh and not very juicy at all...but when I get guava juice at the grocery store back home it's pink and syrupy. Either there's more than one type of guava or Ocean Spray is adding something that mother nature left out.
After we left the market we walked past a shop where the owner had put his pet parrots out for some fresh air.
They weren't talkers but they were colorful.
I leaned in close for shot of the green one and he leaned in close to inspect my iphone.
After the market we went to Sogo, the largest department store in Taipei. They have three stores in a three block area so they must be doing something right. This one is 15 stories tall. We started at the top and strolled our way down to the bottom. About 60% of it was women's clothes and accessories, 20% was men's wear and household stuff, and 20% was restaurants, bakeries, and confectioners.
After Sogo we went to Sun & Palm, Cher's cafe, where we had a little snack and drink.
Inside the cafe Joy and Chunnan discuss her cutting classes today to spend time with us. At 3pm we went to The Sherwood, a posh hotel nearby, to have their afternoon lunch buffet. There were 10 family members present. Very tasty. Later tonight Chunnan, Shu-Min, Joy and I are going to the Shilin Night Market again.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
BVR Day 3
Thursday, Thanksgiving, and our last day at the Butterfly Valley Resort. Less than half a day, really, since we had to catch the train back to Taipei at noon. After breakfast Chunnan went for another bubble bath since the hot springs didn't open until 1pm and I went on a photo safari.
We found the Koi Pond last night so I went back this morning to take pics and feed the koi
As soon as the food hit the water they became a writhing roiling mass of mouths trying to find and gulp down the little fish pellets. I bought two food packs and used the first to get photos and the second to get a video. I'll post that video later.
Here another shot of the rainforest just a few steps off the manicured paths.
Another colorful flower that caught my attention.
There was a stand of tall trees neat the south end of the property that had these softball-sized green fruit hanging way out of reach and a lot of fruit scattered on the ground around the base of the trees. I thought they might be guavas, but I'm not sure and Chunnan has not seen the picture yet to give me his opinion.
I went to these yellow flowers to shoot the blossoms, but instead found these odd ands swarming all over the blooms. They were about the size of the little black ants we're all used to seeing but their thoraxes were rotated 180 degrees and curved up over their bodies, almost like scorpion tails. They looked perfectly poised to be stingers so I made sure not to get too close.
Here's a pic of the puff ball flower in white. You can see what I assume are the seeds at the center more clearly here.
I found this pitcher plant growing in the butterfly enclosure. This is a carnivorous plant. The bulb is hollow and holds a sweet smelling digestive fluid. When flies or other insects go in to investigate they get trapped in the fluid and...well...digested.
The snails were out in full force this morning. Seemed like every plant I looked at had at least one snail on it...this one had more than it's share.
This brightly colored bug caught my attention and since it was the only beetle I'd seen I snapped it's portrait.
Most of my time was spent in the butterfly enclosure trying to get snaps of as many different types as I could. Here are a few of the better pics.
I like the feather-like wings on this one.
This is the hummingbird-like one I mentioned in the last post. It's upper wings hardly ever stopped moving. I got lucky here and found one that was resting.
A small swarm of white winged butterflies fluttered around my head then all alighted on the same flower. I got several pics of them as they flitted back and forth among these blossoms but this one was my favorite. The middle one has a damaged right wing.
Here is one of them up close.
This guy taunted me all morning. He would flutter around and then shoot off in different directions before I could get a focus on him. He finally settled down at the very top of a tall shrub and I had to stand on tip-toes and hold my camera high up to get this picture of him.
Later he finally agreed to do his thing at a more reasonable height but he was hyperactive and moved around so fast that I was hardly able to zero in on him before he was off again. Of the dozen or so pics I snapped this was the clearest. His red body and interesting wing design were quite beautiful.
On the opposite end of the "active scale" this guy found a perch he liked and promptly went to sleep. He was in a perfect location for me to get several really up-close shots. I'f I'd had a tripod these would have been much better, but for handheld on extreme close-up, they're not too bad.
I really liked his bright yellow and red body.
You can make out all of the details here...really amazing.
We found the Koi Pond last night so I went back this morning to take pics and feed the koi
As soon as the food hit the water they became a writhing roiling mass of mouths trying to find and gulp down the little fish pellets. I bought two food packs and used the first to get photos and the second to get a video. I'll post that video later.
Here another shot of the rainforest just a few steps off the manicured paths.
Another colorful flower that caught my attention.
There was a stand of tall trees neat the south end of the property that had these softball-sized green fruit hanging way out of reach and a lot of fruit scattered on the ground around the base of the trees. I thought they might be guavas, but I'm not sure and Chunnan has not seen the picture yet to give me his opinion.
I went to these yellow flowers to shoot the blossoms, but instead found these odd ands swarming all over the blooms. They were about the size of the little black ants we're all used to seeing but their thoraxes were rotated 180 degrees and curved up over their bodies, almost like scorpion tails. They looked perfectly poised to be stingers so I made sure not to get too close.
Here's a pic of the puff ball flower in white. You can see what I assume are the seeds at the center more clearly here.
I found this pitcher plant growing in the butterfly enclosure. This is a carnivorous plant. The bulb is hollow and holds a sweet smelling digestive fluid. When flies or other insects go in to investigate they get trapped in the fluid and...well...digested.
The snails were out in full force this morning. Seemed like every plant I looked at had at least one snail on it...this one had more than it's share.
This brightly colored bug caught my attention and since it was the only beetle I'd seen I snapped it's portrait.
Most of my time was spent in the butterfly enclosure trying to get snaps of as many different types as I could. Here are a few of the better pics.
I like the feather-like wings on this one.
This is the hummingbird-like one I mentioned in the last post. It's upper wings hardly ever stopped moving. I got lucky here and found one that was resting.
A small swarm of white winged butterflies fluttered around my head then all alighted on the same flower. I got several pics of them as they flitted back and forth among these blossoms but this one was my favorite. The middle one has a damaged right wing.
Here is one of them up close.
This guy taunted me all morning. He would flutter around and then shoot off in different directions before I could get a focus on him. He finally settled down at the very top of a tall shrub and I had to stand on tip-toes and hold my camera high up to get this picture of him.
Later he finally agreed to do his thing at a more reasonable height but he was hyperactive and moved around so fast that I was hardly able to zero in on him before he was off again. Of the dozen or so pics I snapped this was the clearest. His red body and interesting wing design were quite beautiful.
On the opposite end of the "active scale" this guy found a perch he liked and promptly went to sleep. He was in a perfect location for me to get several really up-close shots. I'f I'd had a tripod these would have been much better, but for handheld on extreme close-up, they're not too bad.
I really liked his bright yellow and red body.
You can make out all of the details here...really amazing.That about wraps it up for the Butterfly Valley Resort.
We got a ride to the train station from the resort's shuttle bus. We walked around the town a little to find a place to eat and saw this little shop with some locals coming out with meals to go so we popped in and put in an order for pork and rice. We were the only ones in the shop but as soon as we sat down to wait for our meal the place was flooded with locals or people also waiting for the train. When our food arrived and I started to eat it (with chop sticks) one of the locals remarked to Chunnan that he was surprised to see a white guy able to use chop sticks. I get that a lot, actually. He was tickled and I imagine that I was the top gossip in the little town that day.
We got a ride to the train station from the resort's shuttle bus. We walked around the town a little to find a place to eat and saw this little shop with some locals coming out with meals to go so we popped in and put in an order for pork and rice. We were the only ones in the shop but as soon as we sat down to wait for our meal the place was flooded with locals or people also waiting for the train. When our food arrived and I started to eat it (with chop sticks) one of the locals remarked to Chunnan that he was surprised to see a white guy able to use chop sticks. I get that a lot, actually. He was tickled and I imagine that I was the top gossip in the little town that day.
The train ride was long and boring but the scenery was nice. This bridge caught my eye on the trip down to the BVR but I was not ready for it so missed the shot. This time I guess I lucked out because I was able to get several snaps of it as the train went by. This was the clearest. It seemed like most of the rivers we crossed were about 90% dry. I don't know if there's been a drought lately or if there are dams further up river.
We had dinner at Cher's place and then went to see 2012 at the theater. It was in English with Chinese subtitles so it was easy for me. Chunnan said he listened to the English since the subtitles went by too fast for him to keep up.
Friday...Today we're going to a buffet lunch and then I think we're heading back to the local hot spring and maybe back to the night market later on. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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