Scooter-Trip (English)

Thorsten, Fabian and I went on a scootertrip last weekend. We had a great time and were riding a total of 530 km. I can tell you, there was no part of our bodies that did not hurt afterwards.
But we had a great time, and had some great experiences. We drove through the famous Taroko Gorge in Central Taiwan, with hanging bridges, off-road scootering, natural hot-springs, 5-star to no star accomondations and so on...We took about 1 picture every km, so there is a lot you can see below, just click on the picture to open the webalbum.

TiT-Scooter-Trip

Karaoke (English)

Pictures from Karaoke-night at Partyworld in Taipei.

TiT-Karaoke1

Tit3, Birthday Party (English)

I celebrated my birthday a few days ago, luckily Thorsten was present, so we have some nice pictures from that very successful event...We first spent the evening in the German restaurant "Schwarzwald" in Taipei, started the evening with "Bratwurst", "Schweinshaxe" and "Hefeweizen" and went then on the to Club "9%" or "Night Person"....

TiT3-Birthday

TiT2 (English)

Some more pictures from Thorsten`s stay here! Including the first time English Corner, 2/28 Peace Park and some more impressions from Taipei.

TiT2

TiT 1, Thorsten in Taiwan (English)

First picture in a new world, Taoyuan International Airport, early morning, Florian not there...

Von TiT1

Taipei 101, the greatest landmark in Taipei, a beauty from every perspective

Von TiT1

First day, first sport, first contact with "natives", group picture after a Badminton session

Von TiT1

More contact with "natives", this time in combination with music and ....

Von TiT1

Trying to relax, but they were pulling hard on our feet...oh gosh for some it still hurts today

The full album:

TiT1

我在台灣的旅行經驗 (中文)

我是一個非常愛旅遊的人. 旅行對我來說是一個為了碰到新鮮的情況跟得到到新的經驗很好的辦法.我最喜歡的旅行方式是一個人或是跟一些朋友們在一起旅行.我不太喜歡參加一個旅行團,這有甚麼原因呢?我覺得跟著旅行團會比較快看比較多的觀光地方,可是壓力也很大.如果你比較喜歡一個地方你不能花你希望的時間而要跟著導遊走.最好的辦法是去一個有朋友住在那裡而且他也熟悉那個地方,他可以當你的私人導遊.

我是2006年8月中到台灣來的,那時候還不需要上課.我趁著這個機會跟一個從德國來的高中同學一起在台灣玩.

那時候我們去過台北最有名的觀光地方,像台北101,龍山寺,陽明山,中正紀念堂等等.我到現在最喜歡的是101我覺得它的設計真的很完美.它的外觀像一根竹子跟美麗的藍色玻璃結合.真的很不錯.

除了在台北玩我們也去過台灣最有名的一座山,就是阿里山.我們先坐火車到嘉義,然後轉車.從嘉義市到阿里山的峰頂我們做古老的日本殖民時代設計得火車.這個火車很小而且開得速度不快,因為阿里山的環境很複雜,沒有辦法用大的跟快的火車登山.第二天在阿里山上我們很早就起床了,這樣才能參加非常有名的也非常漂亮的日出.真的值得起床啦!

除了跟我的德國朋友之外,我也跟一些在台灣認識的朋友們出去旅行.這樣我已經看過了台灣的西岸跟東岸,過了台灣島最南的地方,那就是墾丁.我們在那裡的海邊騎著租來的機車玩.

在台灣的東岸我去過花蓮市跟太魯閣.我很喜歡太魯閣, 對我來說那裡的大自然美景顯示大自然的偉大與變化無窮.

Foto von der Computermesse in Taipei, Februar 2007 (Deutsch)

Kurzes Märchen (Deutsch)

Es war einmal ein stattlicher Prinz, der die wunderschöne Prinzessin fragte:
"Willst du mich heiraten?"
Und sie antwortetet:"...NEIN!!!"

So, 18.3. heiße Quelle, Grasberg Chateau am Yangming Berg (Deutsch)

Quelle: http://german.rti.org.tw/Content/WhatsOnRtiSingle.aspx?ContentID=33151

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Wohlfühlwochenende am Yangming Berg:
Besuch in der heißen Quelle und im Grasberg-Chateau
Sonntag, 18. März 2007 in "Taiwan Heute"
mit Fabian Roday und Florian Göbel

Das "Grasberg-Chateau" - die ehemalige Sommerresident von Chiang Kai-shek auf dem Yangming-Berg Fabian Roday und Florian Göbel haben sich am Samstag auf ein "Wohlfühlwochenende" begeben. Da sich das Wetter mit Eintreffen einer Kaltfront wieder abgekühlt hat, haben Fabian und Florian deshalb eine heiße Quelle im Nationalpark am Yangming Berg angesteuert. Bei gefühlten Wassertemperaturen um den Siedepunkt haben die beiden die heilende Wirkung der Schwefelquellen eher indirekt erfahren, aber dafür gerieten wenigstens die ungemütlichen Außentemperaturen für kurze Zeit in Vergessenheit. Nach der heißen Quelle ging es weiter zum Grasberg-Chateau. Hinter diesem malerischen Namen verbirgt sich die Sommerresidenz des ehemaligen Präsidenten Chiang Kai-shek. Auch das Grasberg-Chateau liegt auf dem Yangming Berg. Dort kann man neben Geschichtlichem auch ein wenig moderne Kunst begutachten und außerdem noch Kaffee trinken, zu dem stilecht eine Schale Pommes Frites gereicht wird. Das Wohlfühl-Wochenende mit heißer Quelle am Yangming Berg und einem Besuch im Grasberg-Chateau erleben Sie mit Fabian und Florian am Sonntag, den 18. März 2007 in "Taiwan Heute".
Auf einer Tafel mit Digitalanzeige ist immer die gegenwärtige Wassertemperatur in der heißen Quelle zu sehen	Die malerisch am Yangming Berg gelegene Sommerresidenz von Chiang Kai-shek ist nun offen für Besucher
Im Grasberg-Chateau werden historische Stücke aus dem Leben von Chiang Kai-shek ausgestellt	Das Cafe im Grasberg-Chateau gibt es zum Milchkaffee einen Teller Pommes Frites

Imagine you sit in the train (English)

This article was written for and published in the Krant met Karakter, the student newspaper for students and staff and the Institute of Sinology in Leiden:

Imagine you sit in the train. A weekend of great adventures and memorable events lies behind you. But all of a sudden something hits your mind: 天阿 (Tian1a)!!!! I forgot it. Too many things held me busy the last few weeks. The deadline of this KMK article, I simply forgot it. I sit in the train! Ok, there is nothing to do about it any more- I guess, I missed it. After the train has arrived in Taipei Main Station I just returned home, put my luggage back and turn the computer on. Ok lets just check it one more time: Unbelievable, the deadline is today…and the fact that I am in Taiwan gives me another 7 hours to write this article. I like Taiwan!

Just taking this aside the last few days were a splendid source of writing this column. I travelled around with visitors from back home. That means that you can look through the eyes of a newly arrived person again. And you have to explain a lot, what makes you think and reflect about the phenomena’s which are already allocated in your brain as being normal. This is actually a pretty refreshing experience, as I figure that you get used to things quite easily.

Taiwan is actually a contrast between modern and traditional, convenient and complex as well as busy and very relaxed.

In Taiwan you can stand in front of the (still) tallest building of the world, the Taipei 101 tower, and think “Taiwan is such an advanced country” and after a trip in the modern, clean and convenient metro system of the city you reach spots where rusty bikes stand next to a pile of garbage. People walk around in dirty clothing a stare at the 外國人 (Wai4guo2ren2) as if some Alien from another galaxy has entered their motherland.

Image you sit in one of the fastest trains of the world. After some complication and the delaying of the starting date for a few times the Taiwan High Speed Rail finally succeded. Taiwan has now another prestigious project that connects the major cities on the island with a maximum train speed of 300 km/h. The trains used are customized versions of the Japanese Shinkansen. The new connection makes it possible to travel from the north to the south on the West coast very fast, travel time is cut down by about half. I took the train from Banqiao (a suburb of Taipei, as the track to Taipei Main station is not finished yet) to Tainan (the old capital of the city, also with some memories of the Dutch colonisation of Taiwan). The trip for about 300 km is only one and a half hours. Yet, they built the brand new and modern train station far off the city itself. Which creates the need to take a bus or taxi to reach Tainan city. That means that the last 20 km take two thirds of the previous travel time. A really complex connection to the convenient train.

Another typical Taiwanese contrast is the difference in lifestyle, according to the place where you are. The capital in the northern part of the island can definitely be called a city of world format. Taipei offers everything you need, a lot that you have dreamed of and more than you will ever be able to discover within your lifetime. There are still a lot of things that need to be done and constructed by as I can see it with my own eyes the city government is pushing forward a lot to efforts to make an even better life possible. Compared to other major Asian cities everything is quite orderly and things run smoothly. On the other hand you have the smaller cities and the countryside. There are some parallels to the pulsing capital but most things differ. You see a lot of mostly elderly people sitting on the side of the streets watching the by-passers. The famous “betel nut” is still widely chewed in the more rural areas (yet also available in every corner of Taipei) and people seem to be kinder hearted. They seem to have not as much pressure as those living in the packed city.

As I said before, you get pretty fast used to life in Taiwan. The convenient and modern things make live really easy and not too hard to adapt. The “downsides” make it interesting, every turn you make leads you towards new and unique experiences. Within Taipei you sometimes get the feeling to walk through “magical gates” which lead to a long forgotten world. But then you see one of the many branches of one of the convenient stores and you know that you still are in your city – Taipei.

Post 200: Shenzhen and Hong Kong (English)

Wow, after about one and a half year of filling this blog I have reached the magical number of 200 posts!

But anyway, I might be the only one interested in this fact, so I go on and tell about my China trip:

After a "nice and relaxing", but after all quite ok 24h traintrip from Yichang to Guangzhou, and another 1 hour in a Intercity like train, I arrived in Shenzhen on March 1st. Though I had my own bed in the train (even a softsleeper), I was pretty tired after arriving in the former fishing village and now pulsing metropolis of Shenzhen. Only the fact that I was not travelling alone and expecting to see my good old friend Daniel kept me alive ;-).

Shenzhen has litterally not existed until about 25 years ago and is growing at a typical Chinese and incredibel highspeed, that new city districts get finished about every year. The metro system is still young and only a couple of lines are finished yet, but it is a very modern and clean system. Just as I am used to now in Taipei. There are no really traditional sights in Shenzhen, but a few new ones, like an Ocean Park or an amusement park where the best touristical highlights of the whole world can be watched in miniature. I didn´t go to any of Shenzhen´s attractions until now. Shenzhen also has a very nice Southern flair, with beaches and palm trees throughout the city.

And besides that there is another not to ignore highlight: Shenzhen is located right at the border to Hong Kong. That makes it possible to walk into Hong Kong. And that is exactly what I did today. Walking across the border, stepping into the train and riding into one of the most exciting cities on this planet.

And I can state, though I did probably not even see 1/5 of the whole city: Hong Kong is the trip worth. You can do excellent shopping there (clothing, computers), seeing a lot of modern buildings (not as modern as in the booming cities of China, yet more established), a lot of Culture, typical Cantonese street markets, and more and more. And DISNEY WORLD (what a pity, we had not enough time to go there this time)

Another interesting experience where the people there: A lot different from the typical Mainlander, and more like the people from Taiwan. That means that everything is a lot more quiet, less dirty and relaxed, and people practice more of what Germans call Rücksicht, which means to look out for each other. People in the big Mainland Cities, simply tend to be more rude and everything has to be fast and furious. But as far as I am concered is this due to the developements people here and there undergo and things will adjust according to time.

We had a very nice day in Hong Kong, with nice weather and some "typical" travelling adventures....