Ghost blog

Yeah, so, it had to happen sooner or later, and now it has - my blog is filled up with pictures and Google wants me to pay 10 USD per month to post new posts, which I'm obviously is not going to do. However, I started a new blog, so feel free to follow me there instead.

http://kongliandtheworld.blogspot.com

See ya!

Taroko, but not so much Hualien

A couple of weeks ago, a message popped up on Facebook saying "Wanna join for Hualien?" Staying in Taipei isn't really my favorite activity, so I said yes without hesitating. However, this wasn't a nice little trip with a few people, no, this was was a trip with FIFTEEN people. 15! Well, for the few of you that know me, know I'm a solo traveler and I don't particularly like people. So much for that. However, I can say it was a great trip, but never EVER again with so many people.

A cheer life

So, who'd thought that I'd, I repeat I, start doing cheerleading. Don't blame me; blame NTU and Synnøve. Yup, it's all their fault. Why? Because on our orientation day the cheer team had a performance, and I said to Synnøve that I'd like to join, because it looked so stupid. She replied rather sarcastic "haha, good luck". Well, people shouldn't dare me like that, because then I start doing things like cheerleading.

I'm not a quiter so I went to the cheerleading orientation, and decided that this is what I want to spend my evenings doing for the next year. Sounds fun, huh? 

Cheerleading is not piece of cake, even though it might look like it sometimes, so on the very next Saturday we got up early and took the bus to NCCU to have a whole day of cheerleading camp. 

  
Let me introduce Jemina, often called Jenny, from Finland. She's also doing cheerleading. She's a flyer, where as I'm a base (I think it might have something to do with that she's like a feather and I'm a big Viking), so she gets lifted, I lift. Looks fun, right? This one is called elevator, and when we started doing this it took quite long time, some screaming was involved and we were quite unsure of ourselves.

A new beginning

Three weeks has passed here in Taipei, and I've started school, celebrated my birthday, had a couple of beers and settled in my little prison cell. Here are some pictures of random things I've seen in Taipei. Enjoy. More updates will appear later!

 My view the next ten months - the boys dorm (I saw two people have sex in the window the other day).

Zhujiajiao

I hadn't really done any research about Shanghai, but Greg had, so I he decided (well, it was so easy and convenient to let him do all the decision making in China) we were to go the Zhujiajiao one day. And so we did.

Zhujiajiao is an old channel town with narrow streets. Once upon a time it must have been a beautiful town, and it still is, but has been very turistified, and there is souvenirs everywhere. However, in contrast to other places, they don't yell after you.

Hai

I have finally gotten internet that works, so here is some more pics from Shanghai.

I have to admit, at first I hated Shanghai, but after two weeks and one more Chinese guy that had fallen in love with me I didn't want to leave the city.

Shang

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I blame it all the ultra slow internet the hostel provides. There's not really much to say, so enjoy the pics, more will come later when I find internet that works.

Jingan Temple - a perfect example of Shanghai's love for mixing old and new.

The beer city

After my friends went to Qingdao and told me tales of great beer and sandy beaches, I have been dreaming of going there, so I jumped on a plane in Xi'an and left for the City of Beer. 

The journey to Qingdao was everything than easy; the flight was delayed, the airport bus was delayed, the bus stopped at the wrong stop, I asked for directions and was shown the wrong way and in the end I ended up taking the taxi, which brought me to the completely wrong place. The only positive thing was a lovely sun set on the bus and that I made it inside the hostel before the typhoon rain set in.

Xi'an

I might have showed you the terra cottas, but here's the rest of the pictures from Xi'an.

Every hostel should have a pet, and this is Doudou the turtle - of course named after Doudou the hostel dog in Beijing. First he didn't like me, but after a few days we were best friends!

Terra cotta-otta-ye-ye

New day, new opportunities, new city - or something like that. Anyway, the day before yesterday I arrived slightly hungover and very tired here in Xi'an, but I'm not easy to stop, so yesterday morning I got up really early and went on a guided tour of the terra cotta army right outside Xi'an.

First stop on the tour was the tomb of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. If you can see that mountain thing in the background I can now tell you that is the tomb. It's man made and this is the closest we got.