For the last couple of days, ive been extremely anal about not having a dock for my ipod. It just didnt seem right having it lying about on top of my pc. I was almost ready to fork out some dough just so my raipod could have something to stand on.

I woke up this morning, connected it to my computer and decided i was not going to sleep tonight until i found some sort of a stand for it.

And so my mission began

I started with what was around me.. some possibilities
milky, my toy dog


catbus, present from jan this trip to Taiwan.


random toys



but none of them seemed right

I even considered just chucking it in a box...

But! it spurred an idea... boxes... something about boxes... 
Needless to say, i found my BOX of LEGO and the rest was history

My ipod fort 




Honestly... who needs a an ipod dock!! I say whip out all your childhood memories and go nuts!

I even found some wheels and made a car for my phone!

Oh, and btw, my snowboard is a "hooger booger"

Apologies for the lack of updates throughout the past week or more. There are too many things to blog and not enough days to blog them. The lack of people reading has won over the few most avid readers, but rest assured I'll have lots of pix and shizzle to show upon my return. I hope everyone has had a good holiday. Let me post a few highlights and hopefully before I leave- some more.

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sweet potato cooked old fashioned way in a giant ceramic smoking oven. We bought 2.

Went to Longshan temple. Hand carved dragon pillar

taipei 101 day before valentine's day

Sign from a bus. Maybe it's birdflue paranoia... it's Rove Live "what the?..." worthy

Latern festival- big dot is our lantern.

Went to the artist community and this was there clever toilet sign

Took a 1hr bus ride to have lunch with jan. But it was worth it... look at it man!!!

no words needed

Latern fest at CKS Memorial  -gates

Latern fest at CKS Memorial  -memorial hall

Train ride to Hua Lien (a popular tourist town 3 hours train ride away from Taipei- well known for their beaches and quarries)

First stop- an old theatre built during the Japanese rule- entire theatre made completely of white cedar(Hinoki). Smells like a dream

Bee hives- fresh honey. really GOOD fresh honey

Toroko Gorge- Taiwan's 2nd's largest national park. mountain cliffs completely made of marble.

During the 50's when roads were being built through the gorge, dynamite was the only way they could remove large amounts of rock. The roads were all hand chipped and blasted with dynamite. Many lives were lost so they built this memorial over the waterfall to remember all the workers.

close up of the memorial

Entrance to the waterfall of the memorial

Seven Star Lake- which is actually a pebble beach (possibly out towards the pacific ocean?). In summer when the sky is clear you can see bright constellations and large crowds gather at night to star gaze.

6:24pm train out of Hua Lien- lunchbox on the train for dinner.


^_^ Rai

It's been a fun-filled and culturally invigorating couple of days. Friday was spent "TRAMP"ling (refer to [Exhibit A]) the outer skirts of the city at the National Palace Museum. We saw at least a couple hundred Buddha images, ranging from inkings on silk to bronze and gold statues, jade carvings and ivory carvings. Some artifacts were circa. 2000B.C... Quite surprised it hasn't collapsed into a pile of dust which I'm sure I would be at 4000 years old.
The highlight was definately the intricately carved ivory pieces. Some of these were so small they provided a standing magnifying glass for viewers to see the fine detail. And there was one of an ornament with 17 spheres one inside the other.
Unfortunately I couldnt take any photos of the really cool and interesting (although at times tedious) exhibitions, but I managed to snap a few of the museum architecture and the outer gardens.

The entrance ticket, pardon the photo - i took it in darkness while some were in deep slumber.

Front gates of the National Palace Museum

Main Exhibition building in the background. Liz in the foreground

Museum teahouse, we were too cheap to go in, and sat out in the garden eating our snacks.

Some nice fishies in that pond above

-------Next door to the main museum, there was a nice garden/picnic place area.

There was a nice running creek

And the token bridge- would you look at that!

The usual crazy fish feeder!

Generic pagoda with a serving of tourists

And running across the walkway was the first live squirrel I've ever seen (bless my snap happy fingers, I was too fast for IT!!!)

[Exhibit A] And what better to complete the park with! A warning to NEVER tramp the lawn!

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Saturday was a little less cultural. We went to a movie and shopped/ate/trampled the city for the rest of the evening. Although- you'd have to be somewhat knowledgable to understand the movie "Syriana". Missed the first few minutes, so it was kind of hard to put together, but you get the basic storyline - frightening how close to reality it might all be. I encourage you to watch it if you're interested in social and political relationships.

Of course, we had to have some snacks during the movies, here were a few selections we had-

Pork Jerk. Must have been an asshole of a pig

And Hot Dog Burger Popcorn. Hotdog burger flavored popcorn? Popcorn flavored Hotdog burger? Hotdog with burger and popcorn in the middle? What exactly is this "Hot Dog Burger Popcorn"???

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After the movie, we went walkabouts, shopping. Some got new shoes, some got a new bag, we tried out the famous "Tien-Ren Tea" and followed up with dinner at "The Bed", a Thai restaurant known for Shisha.

Business card for "The Bed" taken on "my bed"

Our primary source of lighting

coconut chicken - omg yum

I know. it looks kind of gross. but it was sooo good. Pork and ginger with chillies and asian sourkreut.

Prawn cakes with sour plum sauce

vegetables in chillie and garlic

After our bellies were full, we decided to try the much talked about Shisha- One mixed fruit Shisha coming right up!

**warning- the following images may be detrimental to your health

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After all that fluffing around, we walked out of the restaurant, just a tiny bit whoozy, but the fresh air soon cleared that up, we walked in and out of a few stores, and decided to take some sticky pics - refer to pickleses' blog for those...

They saw the drums and couldn't resist

... look i'm sorry, but do these somehow remind you of boobs???

Anyway, saw this on the way home. Actually we see it all the time on the way home, it's a building right outside our building at the round about.

------ Today! was a long long long awaited day since before my arrival in this country. TODAY! we saw THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA... LIVE!!!!!!!!! zomg zomg *BOW*. This is one musical I've known about and wanted to see since I was little, like yes, primary school little. Having a Sarah Brightman fan for a mom kind of helps you get to know the songs.
The musical was on at the National Theatre, one of the nicest architectural places in Taipei

This is the side of the building we were in

Chang Kai Shek Memorial is right next to the theatre and also one of the biggest attractions for the lantern festival. This giant dog statue was put up for the new dog year!

AND THIS.. is the wall advertisement right inside the door of the theatre. Signed by the entire cast *faint*

---- Of course, the musical couldnt last forever, ACT1:75min, Intermission:20min ACT2: 60min. We went to Taipei 101 for dinner, and observe the splendor of Taipei lights in the world's highest building.

Taipei 101 taken right across the road at the bus stop

We went up the elevator at 1010m/min, took us approximately 40sec to get up to the 89th level.

Kind of makes me feel glorious to be Taiwanese!

Just one of the photos I took at the 89th level

In the middle of the obvervatory was this giant sphere- a wind damper. It cost I think it was around 132million Taiwanese Dollars to build, and is the only damper in the world open to the public.

Damper facts. They should have named it ...

This photo was taken on the 91st floor - the highest level open to the public. It's the outdoor observatory. Those three lights (red block, yellow stripe, yellow rectangle) are of 3 of the taller buildings around the roundabout where we live.

We were lucky to have caught a night where the outdoor observatory was open. Some days, the doors are locked not allowing viewers. We also caught the last day of the very modest, but still cool, wax exhibition

Marylin Monroe

Teresa Teng (she was a very famous Taiwanese singer who died of asthma)

Yes, it's Bruce Lee

On our way out, we asked one of the guards to snap us a memorable pic. He was nice, i think he snapped us about 3 or 4. How thoughtful!

And so, we left after that, decending in the super sonic elevator

They dimmed the lights in the elevator, and that was on the ceiling of it

We had reached the 8th floor by the 40th second, and if memory serves me right, the doors opened at 46 seconds.

And there'en ends our super charged weekend. I hope yours was as delightful. Ta Ta!

Rachel

Last night my dear friend arrived in this humble country to begin her adventures as an Asian, and after a delightful slumber, we trekked off and I showed her our surroundings.
The morning began slowly, we walked to out local cinema and brought tickets to see Memoirs of a Geisha, something I've been meaning to do since I came back - the more the merrier I say.
We walked around the department stores smelling oils and looking at clothes we cant afford. How quaint!
Then we had lunch- beef noodles and fried dumplings (mmmMMMmmm!!!)

Right across the road was a pet shop, I couldn't resist.

(make no mistake, Chuckie is still my number 1!! ALWAYS!! I MISS YOU CHUCKIE!)

After lunch, we walked to a very popular public park, the "Sun-Yut-Tsen Memorial Hall Park". Felt very much like a tourist, but actually it was really nice, I think I'll make it a regular chillax spot in future.



This is the actual Memorial Hall. Inside are replicas of documents and seals and touristy info on Taiwan's founding father. Entrance Fee: Free

We arrived at 2 o'clock on the dot, as the guards were changing shifts, so we saw the little ceremony thing that happens every hour on the hour.

This is the statue of San Yat Tsen - the guards stand on the side.

The Three Principles of the People - the book SYT wrote, apparently are textbook my parent's generation read from during their highschool years. All about politics and principles... obviously

A map on all the places SYT had influence on in the world- this was actually a ground level glass walkway.

One of the trees outside the hall to look like some sort of animal X monster, if any of you know what this is, please let me know. I welcome all ideas... the eyes scare me!! >.<

We walked around the park, for some reason it was packed today, heaps of people flying kites and playing with frisbees. We were going to buy bubble blowers but we wanted to buy off an old lady instead of the young vendors- we didnt come acros any.

Again, I couldnt resist, a puppy in the park

Another puppy, there was a lady sitting next to him on a bench. She kept staring at my camera. Then she turned around, and said to her friend in chinese.. omg, they're taking a picture of the dog. i thought they were taking a picture of me! omg ahh, [insert chinese name[, your dog's a star!! *laugh*


We crossed this bridge to the other side of the pond.

A nice view of the hall from across the pond.

A few weird signed we came across at the pond. The fish must have requested no toast or crackers in their VERY particular diet. Too bad I didnt have any random animals with me to release into the GREEN pond.

That's one picky fish. Too bad i didnt have any toast nor crackers!

And finally, upon exiting the park, I saw this pixelated pleasure on the ground. They almost left me there taking the photo as they crossed the road, But I thought it would please everyone's eyes
So until next time, probably tomorrow, ta ta!!

Rai

Today is the official New Years Day according to the lunar calendar, but celebrations started on New Years Eve. When I say celebrations, all I really mean is a lot of food, eating and devouring of edibles. Here are some visuals to help you digest what I mean.

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CNY EVE dinner: fish, hot pot, abalone, among other very exotic and weird sounding chinese foods... mmm. delicious.

Played a few games of mah jong and called it a night. No pix, but there'll definately be more games of mah jong throughout the week

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It's tradition to goto the temples and pay your respects to the Gods every CNY day. The streets were bloody PACKED with people. Buses were full and the roads were even more jammed than usual.

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So after an afternoon of veneration, we went home in preparation for more relatives coming- which really means preparing more food

this was dinner

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And to finish off, this is Taipei 101, the world's tallest building---

Happy Chinese New Years suckers!
Rai---

There is nothing to do here cept eat. I finally finished V's Toy Story II puzzle from LAST YEAR. But i let her have the honor of putting in the last piece. How nice of me

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we went to eat at this new restaurant today. All the waiters there were like model looking people. The whole atmosphere and deco looked like it was a modelling agency that just HAPPEND to be serving food. It tasted kind of crap as well. I think they opend the start of the week. They'll probably be gone by the weekend LAWL. Somehow we still managed to spend ~NT$700 (AUD$30-40) there for 3 people.

(this dish was okay. but alas, it wasnt MINE)

(my lemon tea. Kind of OD'd on the lemon, gave me nearly a whole lemon. At least they didnt skimp on the lemon...)

You would think that after flying thousands of miles into a foreign country, that one would be compelled to savour the days before leaving; doing social and tourist-like activities. Today, to me, was such a day, although many of you might disagree.

I awoke at the humble hour (for me), of 10:30am, unable to fall into another deep or fulfilling slumber, instead, i decided to irritate the tired and grumpy individual sleeping heavily beside me. Needless to say, she was not a happy chap.

As the morning wore on, my stomach emptied, and it became quite agitated as it waited for lunch to be served. (I must say, life here is quaint indeed, each day, meals served at approximately the same hour, no cooking from me involved, and best of all, no dishes. heavenly!). I woke up and changed into sociable clothing while the smells of my next meal wafted up to our rooms.

Lunch was served and devoured, and the father requested we accompany him to..."IKEA"... *gasp*! Yes, heaven forbid, we went to Ikea Taiwan! Unfortunately I did not bring out my digital camera and begin snapping as a tourist would, however, i must admit, it would possibly bore all my viewers to death... after all, it's merely furniture. I'm rambling.

We visited some more furniture stores, which sparked again my innter  interest in becoming a furniture designer. Again, I would have taken happy snaps like a tourist, but I that would warr,ant stares from the snobby sales lady. But oh! These snaps would have been wonderous, the tables and chairs were like works of art!

The taxi brought us to a busy street close to our home, and we parted ways with our father. My accomplice and I strolled the streets and wondered into passing stores which interested us. Of course, on the way home, we saw the fried chicken stand, and Swensens ice cream. Brandied Cherry ice cream. Devilishly Delicious!

I dyed some hair as dinner brewed on the floor below. The scents must have made my mind wonder, because I squeezed the bottle of conditioner into the color developer. I had been wondering why the bottle stayed white... the dye was spose to be dark chocolate brown... correct? Well, of course the situation was remedied, and I must say her hair color looks rather lovely now.

You know what, i'm pretty fucking tired now. All that writing like a turdface is making my head explode.
I'll take some pictures tomorrow of my dad's new DVD Player/Burner with 250G HD which i helped set up. And the Sony CD/MD stereo shiz i helped him put in. It's all quite sexy and cool. Tried putting in a TV tuner in Jan the Man's room, but her stupid room doesnt have an antenna plug HA HA HA. suck shiiiiiiiit!!

Oh Kaz and Red? - i found "the rock" ost, and "broken arrow" and gladiator ost  which are all by Hans Zimmer. plus all these other ost's by john williams and howard shore. kiss my feet. kiss it good.

good night all you moles. updates tomorrow *click*

I thought it would be a nice little gesture to show my fellow mates the environment in which i currently reside. The following picturegraphs are blessed with my witty comments. Yes, because I am just blessed with such a humourous mind. I can't help it.

I have decided to take note of most things i devour over these holidays, perhaps so i can tally up the calories upon my return? not really, just to make all of the southern hemisphere people salivate over my sexually good breakfasts, lunches and dinners

brunch- cherries(blood red), japanese style curry rice
late lunch/afternoon tea- calamari rings, chicken wings
dinner- hot pot

in between meals i had more cherries, mini bananas, iced tea

- i think we're going shrimping tomorrow, so i predict our dinner will be ... seafood... yes... sexual seafood.

ciao bellas *click*

yo yo bitches,

well, someone actually requested i update 'more', i dont know who so please identify yourself immediately.
you do realise that i've only been out of the country for 4 days. 5th now, 12:01am. But still, how much excitement can happen?
I eat a lot tho, yeah, i should give you all moles a FOOD UPDATE

yesterday: lunch- japanese shredded cabbage with sauce, deep fried prawns
                  dinner- yum cha

today:breakfast- KWASON't, instant coffee(extremely milky) 
          lunch- chicken corn soup, spicy spaghetti and fruit tea
          dinner- sukiyaki hot pot all you can eat (unlimited veges, beef and rice)

plus nice sugary drinks, fruits in-between meals

if anyone knows a really high calorie/fat burning diet with minimum energy output from me... please let me know. greatly appreciate it. For everyone else, be prepared for the return of a big giant slob. Hopefully i wont be kept in quarantine for 6 months as a danger to society.

thankyou for viewing channel rai *click*