Went to Tainan yesterday. Got up nice and early around 5 am. Tainan is a historical city in the southern part of the island. I took the high speed rail (THSR). It was quite fast, quiet and clean.
As I said I took the THSR to the city took a free shuttle to the main train station, where they have a tourist info place, where....they speak ENGLISH!!! Go figure!!...In 6 years on the island this is the first time on the main island that they had a tourist info place period. Yea Tainan!!!
While on the bus I evaluated the driving situation....its seemed less busy than Taoyuan and more room on the roads. So I decided to try and rent a scooter.

So I got a tip earlier from a student of mine to go behind the train station and rent a scooter from those guys. They were quite a bit cheaper, although absolute idiots as far as customer service, being polite, and non racist. The first guy with the English sign which said, "We rent scooters!" But he didn't rent out scooters...and pointed me to the guy next door. The second guy also said no, and pointed me to the front of the train station...the more expensive guys.

Then I stood where and asked why should I go there....didn't he want to make money...he asked if I had a license, I said yes, and his tone changed... a little...then he slowly go off his butt and helped me out.
Once again simply say no rather than being bothered to deal with a foreigner. Too bad.

Anyway it was cheap about NT 250 for 1/2 day. Thats all I needed.


Cruising around I went to the Bad Monkey Fortress (億載金城 Yì Zài Jīnchéng), a 19th century coastal fortress.

Then Anping Fort (安平古堡 Ānpíng Gǔbǎo), originally called Fort Zeelandia, was built in 1620 by the Dutch.

Then a few temples including the Taiwan Confucian Temple built in 1665 (Chinese: 台灣孔廟; also called Tainan Confucian Temple, 台南孔廟 or 台南孔子廟; or Quan Tai Shou Xue, 全台首學)(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tainan_Confucian_Temple).

And toured the whole city in general.

I got myself back to the scooter shop, back on the shuttle bus, and back home via the THSR.

Home around 10pm.

(more coming soon)

A fallen flower and red leaf on a vine.

feelingblue

This was for a group photo scavenger hunt I am in. The topic...Feeling Blue

Yesterday was a great meal.....


Tom Yum Kung...Hot n Sour Seafood Soup

Always spices up your life...mmm
Spicy Raw Shrimp...not for everyone, its an acquired taste....and i err... acquired it...
Everyone loves Moon shrimp cakes. Golden crunchy on the outside, and warm shrimpy stuff on the inside....and a sour sweet sauce for dipping.
Pad Thai: the staple of Thailand...the everlasting yummmm
Spicy BBQ'ed cuttlefish...just right with the sweet spicy sauce.

THE BOOK IS RELEASED!!!!!

Thailand: My Way has arrived and is available for browsing and of course contact me if you want your own copy.

This book may be the start of it all.

Here are a few pages from the book.







In Asia the book goes for NT$1000 if ordered with in the next week or two.
(I will be putting in a bulk order so I can us get a discount). The Regular Price after that is around NT$1400.

There is no mark up.

In other words if you order from me now your paying cost. I make nothing. It may be silly to do it but this is my gift to the world. More books will follow... but I guarantee they will cost more.

I just really want to have people to have some of my work.

If your in North America then just wait...Nicole will be back in Canada in a couple of weeks and will do a promotional tour on my behalf.

Cost in Canada.....coming soon let me see what I can negotiate.

Here is one from a while back. I knew these two were goofing around, so I watched them then spun around and shot and kept walking.

Here is another...same place...

A couple of shots from today,
Juwei, Taiwan

ok I' m back on the picture posting path...

Book Cover Released


Here is the front cover of the book.


I've changed the book from a hardcover to a soft cover to be more cost effective.

Its about 80 pages in length.

Preview coming....

UPDATE

The book Thailand : My way is 75% finished.

expected to be submitted at the end of Oct. ready for purchase mid-end of November

I know its been a while since the last post. But I've been working on a photo book.
It should be ready sometime in the end of Oct or the beginning of November.

The title is Thailand: My Way

I will post the where and how to get it info soon.

A couple of tiger pictures from The Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai.

The small ones we played with the big ones we watched.

Yes his eyes are really that color...see below.

We visited a couple of hill tribes while we stayed in Thailand. These are from the Kayan (Karon) people most people know them as Padoung (Padong) or in the west Long Neck women. Only the women wear the coils. There are reported to have a population of 7000. Only 300 have fled to Thailand but I suspect because of the the conditions in Myanmar (Burma) that more have come.

The women are very friendly and always have time to chat, smile, or pose for a picture.

One of the long neck girls at the hill tribe Nico and I visited.

She was singing a song to her friend across the path. Her friend would join in and they would sing songs together. They were so cute.

on the elephant ride....woo hoo. A trek through the jungle to the hill tribes....we stopped for a couple pictures.

A small statue elephant looking over the mote that surrounds the inner city.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

This first shot was from inside the main temple that you can start to see to the right of the Golden Tomb in the next picture.

Two monks on their way to class. This compound also acts as a monk university.

The golden tomb where a part of Buddha's body actually rests.
One of the four gates that stand at North South West and East.
A tomb of an old monk framed by the pillars that make up a railing of the main Golden tombAnother location I was told there are more than 1500 temples in the city of Chiang Mai.
This one also serves as an Elementary school.

A shot of one of the original librarys...supposed to be around 400~500 years old.

Other buildings at the elementary school Temple. Apparently there are two things that every boy must face. One is being a monk for 1-2 years, and the other is Military service...often military service is served right after being a monk.
Below is an interior shot of the building on the right in the pic above.A nice reflection shot caught a couple seconds before the monks left.
A group of young trainees going about their daily lives.