Saturday, June 21, 2008

Trip Back to Kaohsiung


Notes on the two video clips: Top: Mostly rural scenery between the central and southern areas of Taiwan (fairly close to Chiayi). Bottom: Starting to enter Kaohsiung. Our home is only a few miles behind what you see in the middle of the picture. Still, it really isn't that bad where we live.
Well, we stayed at the old apartment near Taipei last night and now I know the difference between sleeping with an old-style air-conditioner (the big box variety) and the new modern ones that come in two parts, with the motor on the other side of the bedroom wall. Last night was a bit like sleeping on a plane on an overnight trip, whereas in our new home we cannot hear it at all.

This afternoon we were scheduled to have a meeting with some people in relation to our old apartment and so I just stayed indoors. I had to miss swimming, but that may be a good thing once in a while. After all, I have been getting a little tired recently, and missing a day like today makes my shoulder feel a lot better.
I will still go swimming Sunday morning, and since I will be swimming at the same time as Bree, maybe I should start by trying to swim 2.4 miles non-stop. I hope, however, to get home fairly quickly to try to find out how she is doing, and will follow the race at least on and off. I just hope that whatever happens she is safe out there and does her best.

I attach some more pictures from the train. It appears Taiwan is very flat. Well it is in these parts shown in the pictures. However, we did go through a lot of tunnels especially in the early part of the ride, and the visibility was not that good today, and so the mountains that run down the middle of the island that can sometimes be seen were barely visible if at all. It should also be noted that the northern part of Taiwan has a lot of buildings and built-up areas.
From the train I am facing mauka (i.e., the mountains for those haole guys). )I hope the photos help calm the nerves as we await reports on what is going on at Ironman Japan.
Pictures (from top to bottom): (1) Rice fields north-central Taiwan, (2) Part of Taichung metropolis in Central Taiwan, (3) Crops grown in central-southern Taiwan, many under green netting, (4) Fish farming, southern Taiwan, (5) Baseball stadium, southern Taiwan, (6) Factory near Tainan in southern Taiwan.

1 comment:

Cricket said...

Great pictures!
Thanks for cheering and praying for Bree!
Did you swim at the same time as her? Did she beat you? Just kidding- Have fun!
Cricket