Danny's Photos

these are from Danny's blog

Moon Festival '08 -> Hwy 20

I guess the trip started on Dong's birthday, September 21st. We kicked off the festivities by taking me to the hospital. I had been sick and had a fever for a couple days. "We're not going anywhere tomorrow!" said Dong. My temperature was soon back to normal but we decided to sleep in since i hadn't been sleeping very much on the nights prior to going to the hospital. I woke up late, around 10:30am. "We're not going to the east coast, lets just go to Taichung," said Dong. Even though it was now late in the day and it was raining, I insisted on going through the mountains. The further we got into the mountains, the colder it got, the harder it rained. We dodged the crazy drivers coming the other way, the boulders in the road, and drove over the rubble where the road had washed away.
I lost my shoe: We came to a place in the road where the road had washed away and was now a small river going from one side -> across the road -> and off the cliff. We couldn't turn back. It was hours since we had passed the last town and the sky was now pitch black. Dong got off and was trying to find a good place for the scooter to drive through. Being the impatient American, I just went for it: I was sliding all over the place and lost my balance at one point. When i put my foot down, my flip flop came off, and poured over the side of the cliff. Nevertheless, I made it. We found a hotel where others like us were stuck. We show up on one scooter, everything wet, and I have one shoe. The hotel was full, but luckily, two guys named Jaco and John, let us stay in their room. We were soon joined by two others with no room, Danny and Wennie. The room was the size of my bedroom which was probably better because it was so damn cold. We had a great time that night just chilling in our hotel drinking Taiwanese alcohol.
The next morning the road opened in front of us and we were able to go to Taitung on the east coast. The Wreck: The road was better today and there were many cars coming up the mountain as we were descending. In one of the tunnels we slipped on some water and the scooter came out from under us. We came out fine fortunately, just cuts, bruises, torn rain coats, and a digital point and shoot camera that bit the dust. My ribs are bruised from landing on my digital SLR camera. That camera is OK fortunately. We make it out of the mountains and get caught in the rain which continues into the night. The next day we take off, around the mountains this time, in the rain, back to Tainan.

K2 - Yong Kang Kindergarten

C'mon, you can do it......ok you know what I'll just walk for you

Derrik!

Teaching Demo - Thursday, June 21st

Dragon Boat Festival

Good ol' Tainan

Penghu Islands - Sesame Street Tour

Taipei

Dong and I went to Taipei to get her visa. I figure, "ya just hang out, see a few things and grab her visa on the way out." Nope. It rained the entire time so we couldn't see much, she was denied a VISITOR VISA, and when we got back we had to fix the flat tire on her scooter. She's apparently a candidate for someone who will just pack up and move to the United States. These regulations are something that was put into effect after 9-11....and once again the terrorists have won - - giving less freedom to an American who wants to bring his girlfriend to the states for a visit. I couldn't feel too terrible though. The lady that was in line with Dong was also denied - - she was getting her visa to visit her daughter that lives in the USA. Because of U.S. regulations, she can't go visit her daughter. Way to go America!

Anyways I got a couple shots when it stopped raining:

Some shots from my apartment

Alishan (continued) THE MOTH PHENOMENON!

OK, this is seriously unbelievable - even after reading what I have to say and looking at these pictures will you believe it to be true - I still don't believe it.... There is a temple at the top of Ali Mtn. Once a year (which happens to be the God's birthdays), giant silk moths fly into the temple (there were 22 this year) and perch on the God's beards. They stay there for a week or two and then leave. The phenomenon only happens at this particular temple and something I found strange was that even though the main god (not pictured) had a smaller beard, it had many more moths. I was able to get close enough to see that they were real! I was frantically asking my students (2 adults that i teach) for a logical explanation. Nobody knew for sure.... What do you think? Do moths migrate to the same place every year? This is a mind boggling occurrence and I recommend not thinking about it too much.....too late for me though.

Alishan (Ali Mtn)

Religious ceremony - guy hits himself with various sharp weapons - - The gods help him to feel no pain

Dragon Heart

Kending - Spring Scream

Budget Hotel
There were thousands of people = no rooms + we don't have a tent =
sleeping on magazines.....in the rain. Luckily we had an umbrella
but everything that wasn't under it got soaked