My Last Blog!!

Well the time has come for me to say farewell! It has been an extremely long time since I blogged, and will probably be a while until I blog again seeing as how I will not be home for at least a month! But for now, I will leave an outline of my travel itinerary so that you may follow along with my adventure if you so desire! If not, then I will tell you all about it when I get home! *mwah!*

Oct. 7th - fly to Thailand, Bangkok
stay in Bangkok for 3 days, and then go to Chang Mi for a 3-day jungle trek
go to Pia and ride some elephants
Oct. 17th-go to Laos, Luangprabang
after a few days go to Vangvieng for a life-on-water tubing experience
Oct.21st-go to Vietnam, Hanoi
after a few days go to Halong Bay
fly down to Phnom Penh
go on a 3 day boat ride to Cambodia
Oct.28th-go to Cambodia, Ankorwatt
visit the famous temple
Oct.30th-back to Thailand, South Islands
visit Ko Phi Phi
Nov.3rd-Half Moon Party in Ko Phangan
Nov.7th - leave Bangkok and go back to Taiwan for one day before going home!

Sorry it's been so long!

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in weeks I'm SORRY! But I try to only blog when I have something crazy to share, and the last couple weeks have actually been pretty low-key. Working every day from 9-9 has left me tired, sadly enough. But that all ends this week!! Tuesday is my last day working at 9am with the kindys! Which means I get to sleep in past 7!! But I really am gonna miss those precious little babies, hugging me every morning! I've posted a few pics of my favourite ones :o)
I now get two weeks kindy-free, and then in the middle of August I begin working at a different one for the rest of my time here.
On a separate note, Saturday night was a boooooz fest!!! I went to a friend's house for a little pre-drinkin and after many-a-vodka I was drunkety drunk drunk! Lee and I went to the bar and hung out with some friends, where I had a couple more... by only 2am I was falling asleep against the wall! So I sent myself home in a taxi and passed out :o) It truly was a really fun night! I hope you all had a great weekend too, and keep me posted on what's new and happenin!

Hot fun in the summer time!

Saturday night was a booz-fest to say the least! After a loooong week of waking up every morning at 7, and working till 9 at night, I was exhausted beyong belief! After downing a whole lotta vodka, Lee and I took a cab with a friend to a bar where we watched our buddy get a tattoo! Right there in the middle of the bar, he knealed on a chair, sweating and biting his knuckles for an hour as the tattoo artist went to town on his calf! Right before the tattooing began, our friend actually passed out! But in the end it was all good, and he walked away with a gorgeous tattoo of his father's initials in old-school Greek lettering, and it looked amazing! Definitely psyched me up for when I get my own in Thailand in a couple months :o) Unfortunately, not too much later, I found myself running to the washroom and, well, let's just say, the combination of no sleep and oh-so-much alcohol didn't agree with me and I ended up going home a little early! But it was a great night, and I found out this morning that Lee too had a wee bit too much to drink as he suffered from a severe caseof the spinnies! But a few glasses of water cleared it all up and we're both fine today, on our way to see Transformers!! Our friend Daniel is also having a big good-bye dinner tonight as he leaves for Canada tomorrow after 4 years of teaching here, so it should be a memorable evening!

To leave you with an interesting story, on my way home from work last week I was walking back to my house and it was appr. 36 degrees and humid as hell, I was sweating and dying for a cab to come my way, praying for ANYONE to come my way, when all of a sudden a polite Taiwanese gentleman pulls over and offers me a ride! What a nice man, I thought. Actually, I knew it was taking a risk but if you can imagine for a second being that delirious from the heat and actually seeing spots b/c you're just about to faint, then you'd understand my getting in his car! Don't worry mom, it was completely fine and safe! He dropped me off at the end of my street and only reached out to touched my leg as I was already halfway out the door! Funny, yes; a bit sketchy, yes! Be careful what you wish for :o)

The Lockwoods Take Taiwan!

HELLO!! And welcome to a sneak preview of the past 2 weeks, in which my family came to visit me here in Taiwan! These past 10 months were the longest I've ever gone without seeing my family, and it was so great to finally have them here! But I will keep this short and sweet :o)
Exhausted and jet-lagged, I didn't care! I dragged them all around the city of Taipei, showing them every sight, building, temple and restaurant that I could! My brother arrived the day after my parents; we spent 2 days in Taipei, sight-seeing and shopping and always eating! The weather actually held out nicely for us :o) A great Chinese friend of mine also took us out to the mountains for a day, which was beautiful and a nice change from the busy city.
My parents spent the last 5 days of their trip here down South on the beach, and Dan stayed to party here with Lee and I! We took him shopping and out to the bars and to the Dragon Boat races!
Unfortunately, the time passed all too quickly and before I knew it, my parents were flying home and Dan was on his way to Japan for a week. All in all, it was the best family vacation I've had in a very long time!

The Pilons Take Taiwan!

WHAT A WEEK!!!

Never in my life have I ever had so much happen to me in so little time! After a jam-packed week when Lee's family first arrived - filled with working full time and then seeing his family every spare minute we had - with trips to Taipei and other such fun places, we then ventured on a week-long tour of Taiwan! We looped the island, hitting every major spot along the way, both planned and unplanned!

The first day we went to Hualien, the city that holds magnificent Taroko Gorge; giant mountains surrounding an enormous gorge filled with rushing water, monstrous rocks and beautiful forests. It was raining here, but we still managed to have a great time! Our tour guide, Eddie, then raced us to a restaurant he knew in order to make it in time for lunch; this, unfortunately, caused a few car members to feel car sick as we sped along windy, twisty mountain roads at full speed. Regardless, everyone still managed to have a great time and at night we all shopped around at a beautiful jade market and watched aboriginal Taiwanese dancers perform!

On the second day, we went to Green Island, a teeny tiny little island that had some of the best snorkelling spots in the world! We took a ferry boat for about an hour to get there (some had to fight through sea sickness but I thought the ride was a lot of fun) and then spent the day exploring the island via a golf cart!! Obviously not everyone in Lee's family could drive a scooter so we rented a golf cart and one scooter for the 6 of us. Man oh man, the stares we got! 6 white people squashed into a golf cart, slooooowly bopping along our way, it was hilarious! It was even MORE hilarious when we attempted to go uphill and the BATTERY DIED!! Stranded on a mountain top on Green Island, we all got separated in an attempt to go get help... it was an adventure! Green Island also has some interesting wildlide, with deer tied to leeshes on sidewalks and giant bulls standing on the side of the road! At night, we enjoyed a relaxing soak in the hot springs and then Lee's family went snorkelling the next morning.

We left that day and stopped at museums and arts 'n crafts shops along the way. We also passed the Tropic of Cancer! We arrived in Kenting that evening, the most beautiful and Southerly point of Taiwan. It was so beautiful, in fact, that we cancelled our next day trip in order to stay there for one more night! The next day there was a high school class trip on the beach and I joined in a ridiculous game of dodgeball involving a beach ball the size of a car! The heat, the sun, the beach, the shopping and night markets and food was all too fabulous to give up! We all got sun burned, but trust me: it was worth it!

On our fourth day we drove North to the middle of the country to see Sun Moon Lake. We stopped along the way at an aquarium which was by fat the most impressive building I'd seen, in both size and content. We walked through tunnels that were in the middle of water; surrounded by fish and rays and coral and sharks and whales and penguins and every colour of the rainbow, it was incredible! Before arriving at the lake, we stopped at a gigantic and lavish Tai monastery, filled with golden statues 4-stories high! At night, we went on a boat ride around the lake and then had a few drinks back on land before dinner!

On our fifth day we went to Taichung, a really cool city that is big and has great shopping but also palm trees and parks, the best of both worlds. We walked and shopped and ate some more! We also saw a GIANT Buddha statue that was 6-stories high and made of gold, quite a sight to see!

On our last day, before making it home, we stopped in two little villages; one specialized in hand-crafted wood carvings and the other in pottery and ceramic figures. A cute touch to end such a wild journey!

Sadly, Lee's parents and aunt left for their long journey home, but at least we got to keep his sister for one more evening of sillyness! She took off today though and left me crying... The family will be greatly missed! Up early every morning, eating and shopping and laughing more than I ever have, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Now I only have 2 weeks until my own family arrives!!

...And We're Off!

The Pilon Family has arrived, travelled, shopped, and eaten more in the past week than I ever thought humanly possible! That is, of course, until now: we are leaving for our one-week journey around the island! The whole country of Taiwan, 7 hot spots in 7 days, and I am super excited! I will update you as soon as I get back next weekend. I hope you all have a great week and keep me posted on everything I miss! Tzi jien!