Touring the North

As noted, I arrived in Taiwan a bit more than a week ago. Current struggles are the basics:

-Get a work permit
-Get an apartment
-Get a set schedule of tutoring students

When I got up this morning, I wanted to know how the work permit was going, so I called my friend who is helping me, a local Khenpo. Khenpo lives around 2 hours by public transport from Xinzhuang, where I am currently located, so when he told me he was in Taipei (30 minutes) I jumped on the next bus. I expected we'd grab lunch, discuss any paperwork details and then I'd head back to Xinzhuang for a boring afternoon. Fortunately, I was wrong.

Khenpo la picked me up, said "you'll get a call tomorrow about the paperwork, but it's going well. Where do you want to go?" Not what I expected! I told him I didn't really know anything about the area, so he said "OK!" and started driving.

After about an hours drive, we were up in the northern tip, a resort area where lots of people go for the natural hot springs. We got a nice lunch and then went up to a public park in the mountains. The mountains were beautiful, lush and green. Right in the middle was a big stone gash in the mountain with steam pouring out. The whole place smelled like sulfur and you could feel the warmth of the steam and hear it roaring. it was impressive. As we went up to look closer, there were signs warning about the steam jets. The really shocking part was little puddles, that were fed by the springs, and were boiling!

I cannot wait to go with some girl friends to the hot springs for a soak...

After that, Khenpo la asked if I wanted to visit the coast, which was visible in the distance. I was thrilled!

On the ride over, we saw....a Tibetan monastery? Yep, there on top of the mountains. Neither of us knew of one in this area, and it wasn't an area where one would be expected, so we stopped for a quick look before heading to the ocean.

The water was pretty cold, but it was still fun to wade and look for seashells. I deeply regret not wearing sandals. I have sand in my socks.

I didn't sleep much last night (for some insane reason, despite going to sleep at 3 AM, I woke up at 7.) so I fell asleep in the car as we drove back towards Taipei. I woke up as we arrived at a music studio in Tainmu. Khenpo la introduced me to the producer who has asked to listen to my music...we'll see what happens from there!

We then had a delicious dinner of Hong Kong food and tomorrow...who knows?

Life is good.

Let the Blogging Begin!!!

Well, as a new adventure begins, time to start a new blog. This will cover my times and adventures in Taiwan.

I just arrived here in Taipei about one week ago and so far so good, but each day is full of some wackiness, so I'm starting a journal to get it all down.

Some posts will be private or at least viewable only to "invited members" so once I figure out how to do that, friends and family (read: people who ACTUALLY know me) might want to get in on that.

Most posts will be public. Let the blogging begin!