2010-05 Taipei

Since I was in Taipei over a weekend, I had some time to explore the city. On Friday night after work I went with Lin from the office to the Longshan temple area, which has one of the many local night markets that Taipei is famous for. I liked the LED sign board on the ancient temple entrance--blending old and new. The night markets generally open around 4PM and sell food and merchandise. Different side streets specialize in different products or foods. Walking up and down the streets, motorcycles and an occasional car will come through. Many vendors have portable carts and they keep showing up as the night progresses.

The food vendors lay out the food and you can pick your items that they will then cook up. One side street was covered to keep people dry while they are shopping and is known as Snake Alley.  Snake meat and snake blood is a very special food and the snake vendors put on a great show with all sorts of live snakes. They all have signs in front of their booths indicating that you can't take photos. One snake case had a snake in it that had to be at least 12' long.

On Saturday I got up and toured the city by subway while I went hunting for geocaches around town. I was on and off the subway for 6 different legs for a total of about 13 miles covered. The total cost was 122 Taiwan dollars (about $4 US).

My first stop was the Yuanshan Scenic Area and Hiking Trail which was north of the hotel. The trail was filled with steps as you worked your way up to the top of the mountain with an elevation increase of over 450ft. The result of getting to the top was a great view back toward downtown and overlooking the river. Unfortunately it was not clear out and the view of Taipei 101 was very limited. Along the trail are many small cafes, badminton and other court areas, temples, and even what appeared to be a dance studio. It even appears that some people live on the mountain. These are all built into the side of steep terrain. so look very out of place. Just the hike to get to various courts is a great workout over and above the workout from playing badminton. At the observation deck, there was nice garden area with some very different looking plants than are found in the northern US. People on the trail were all very friendly and many would greet me with "hello", "good morning" or "how are you" in English, so I would reciprocate back in my very limited Chinese vocabulary and get a big smile from them.

From the top of the mountain, I went down to the Danshui riverfront. The riverfront is within some flood control walls, so you have to climb up and over the walls on sets of steps. There is a smooth area along side the steps so that you can roll your bike up and over. Many people bike these trails and they go on for miles. I didn't have a bike, so I had to keep my eyes open for bikers rolling by. On the river, 2 drum boats were going by. There were about a dozen people on each boat paddling, and one guy in the front beating the drum to keep the pace. I found the cache I was looking for up in a tree and pulled it down and took the container out of the baggy. While I was filling out the log, I noticed some movement in the baggy and saw a large brown spider in the baggy. The body was about 1 inch long and each of the legs were about 1.5" long. I dumped it out of the bag and it scampered off.

While heading back to the subway from the riverfront I saw some of the painted electrical boxes that I have noticed all around town. Rather than the plain green boxes we have in the US, they are brightly painted with scenes. I also noticed that at the round about nearby, they have traffic lights to control the flow into the roundabout rather than letting the roundabout control the flow itself.

The last area I visited on Saturday was National Taiwan University. As I got off the subway, I noticed double decker bike racks along the sidewalk. The top level slides out and creates a ramp that you can wheel the bike up. The lower levels slide back and forth so that you have enough room to get your bike in or out but they don't waste all the space as they can be more tightly packed. Once I got inside the University, there was a sea of bikes near the dorm area. Some bike parking was covered, and others were out in the open. The walls around the dorm were covered with glass set in concrete at the top of the wall. Some glass was flat glass and other were pieces of broken bottles.

The campus has a small agricultural area with test plots, a large mall in front of one of the building, and many small ponds, wooded areas and walking trails.

As I headed back to hotel, I decided to stop and grab a bite to eat. I was heading to a restaurant when I noticed an Ikea store entrance, which I never expected to see here. The store was in the lowest 2 basement levels of a hotel building. I went in a picked up a couple of their chocolate bars to keep for a treat later. As I walked out, I saw there was an Outback Steakhouse tucked behind the store, so I changed my plans and ate there.

Here are a couple of the routes I wandered as I was hunting the geocaches and climbing the hiking trail. The left track is the Yuanshan Scenic Area and Hiking Trail along with Danshui Riverfront. The right track is Riverfront area near the Univerisity and the Univeristy area. The nice straight or curved lines are subway legs, while the jagged sectons are me walking and finding my way around.

2010-05 Race for the Cure

As we do most Mother's Days, we walked in the Breast Cancer Race for the Cure fundraiser at the Mall of America in Bloomington.  More than 50,000 people walked and ran in the various events.  The weather was nearly perfect.  Although it was mid-30's when the run started, the sun was out and there was no wind.  By the time the walk started, it was in the mid-40's.  This time of year, we'ver ranged from cold and windy to warm and sunny.

Hailey and her friend Mikhaela got up early and ran in the 5k run.  They were in the spirit of wearing pink and shared a pair tall pink socks.  They also joined in on the 5k walk later on. 

Our walkers ranged in age from 1 to over 80, and everyone was able to keep pace.  After the walk, we had invited everyone over to the house for hot dogs, hamburgers, brats and chicken on the grill. 

2010-04 Las Vegas

Ray and LeAnn celebrated their 20th anniversary by going to Las Vegas.  The morning we were to leave, LeAnn woke up not feeling well with stomach problems, but we decided to go ahead and go.  We arrived in Las Vegas and checked into the Wynn before noon.  LeAnn took a rest during the afternoon and Ray went exploring for a couple of hours.  The rest helped LeAnn and she felt good enough in the evening to go to the show we had purchased tickets for. 

We walked from the Wynn down to the Venetian to watch the Blue Man Group.  We had great seats in the center of the stage, just a few rows back from the "wet zone", which are seats that come with their own ponchos to protect you from possible water and over spray from the show.  After the show, we wondered through the Venetian and marveled at the indoor river and the gondolas that are going up and down the river.  With the way the ceiling is painted and the lighting is set-up, you can feel as if you are outside.

Saturday was a day for exploring the strip.  We got up and headed down the strip, stopping at various casinos along the way to admire their architecture and themes.  Neither of us are big into the gambling aspect of Vegas, but enjoy the people watching and the casinos themselves.  We were lucky enough to be going by the Bellagio when the musical fountain show was starting, so we watched that for the first time.  Inside the Bellagio, a flower show was on display that utilized both tree sculptures and flower art. 

The New York, New York casino has a mini skyline of the city of New York as its facade, with even the Brooklyn Bridge.  The inside has a series of food vendors and restaurants laid out in a series of alleyways in the back of the casino. 

Towards the south end of the strip is the Luxor.  The Luxor is the large pyramid shaped casino.  the rooms are all along the outside the perimeter of the pyramid, and the center area is wide open to the top of the pyramid.

Heading back to the north on the other side of Las Vegas boulevard, we ate at the Hard Rock before going to the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Casino.  The tower is a half scale version of the one in France.  From the top we got to watch the Bellagio Fountains again, as they are right across the street

We had tickets to O by Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio, so rather than head back up to Wynn and then come back after a full day of walking and with sore feat, we decided to hang around and wait for the show.  This meant we were going to the show in our casual clothes rather than dressing up.  We realized the night before that while some people dress up for the shows, many don't.  The show O is set in water and full of acrobatics.  The pool has a hydraulic base that can rise or fall from the top of the pool to the bottom, so one minute the people in the show are running across the top of the pool on the floor, the next they are diving into the pool at the same spot from 20' above.

Sunday we took the car and headed up to the old downtown casino area.  On the way, we passed the Gold and Silver Pawn shop from the TV show Pawn Stars.  We stopped in to check it out.  It is a small store that looks bigger on the show.  When we went by again later in the afternoon, there was a line up outside just to get in and walk through.  

The main street for the downtown casino is Fremont Street.  This is the famous street with the overhead canopy and light show.  We did not see the light show since it only happens in the evening, and we were there late morning.  A bunch of the old, original neon signs of the first casinos in Vegas (many since torn down) are scattered around Fremont Street and kept up as an outdoor museum.

We then headed out of town towards the Hoover Dam.  We never made it that far and stopped in Boulder City, which was one of the main residential areas for the people working on the dam.  We wandered up and down the main street, which is filled with antique shops, cafes and knick-knack stores.  On the way out of town, we saw an old railroad museum.  It was just closing for the day, but you could still walk around and see the trains.  They have working trains and give 45 minute, 6 mile train rides on the weekends.

Heading back to into town, we decided to stop at the Stratosphere.  We went to the top and got some great views of the city.  They were testing a new activity for thrill seekers that allows you to fall off the edge of the stratosphere while attached to cable that unwinds to control your descent.  Although not open to the public yet, we saw a couple people get suited up and testing it.  I don't think you would have seen LeAnn or me lined up for this one, even if it would have been open.

On Monday, we checked out of the hotel late morning and spent some time on the casino floor before heading back to the airport and on to Minnesota.  We had  great time, and didn't lose a lot of money (since we didn't spend too much time gambling).

Some of the exploring up and down the strip.