This week has been fun. It was my week off between classes. I'm moving to the 4th level...whoo! So instead of spending my week off here, I went to Hong Kong with my cousin Tiff. It was pretty fun. It started out fantastically! We got to the airport a bit early and when we were checking in, the guy at the desk asked us if we wanted to take an earlier flight out. I hesitated for just a moment, but then these magic words made the decision for me. He said, "we'll upgrade you to BUSINESS CLASS". I answered right away for the both of us...haha! I've never flown business before so I was a little too excited compared to all the other people sitting near me. I got a little snap happy with my camera too. It was only going to be an hour flight so I figured I'd just watch a bit of TV...but no....they served us food! And it was good food too, not your normal airplane food. I had shrimp pasta with red wine and then a cake with a fruit salad for desert. It was delicious! Well, that really was a nice beginning to the vacation. It was the only time I had wished the flight was a little bit longer.

We got to Hong Kong and had no troubles getting our bags and getting trough customs. It was just so nice and easy. We took the airport tram to a subway stop and then took a free shuttle to our hotel. Then we checked in and that was that. We still got in a bit late...so we just went on a coffee run and then just walked around and checked out what was nearby. The next day we took the Star Ferry from Hong Kong to Kowloon and got some dim sum and then went shopping. The shopping was better there than it is here, but it is more expensive. Regardless, it was fun. We then met up with my cousins friend from college. She took us out to this nice Cantonese restaurant. I had some abalone and a pumpkin soup. It was yummy. We had other stuff too...but those two things were the best.

The next day we did some touristy things. We went to "the Peak", the highest point in Hong Kong with a 360 view of the city. I took a bunch of pictures of course...but I'll just put one. They are all pretty much the same thing. Then that night I went to my Dad's favorite pub, Ned Kelly's Last Stand. When my Dad use to live in Taiwan, he'd often go to Hong Kong for Visa reasons. He would eat a bunch of Western Food and come to this pub. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. There is a live band there every night that plays dixieland music. I think if you have a meat pie with a drink and add a little music, it equals a lot of fun. I think we were there for almost three hours! Thanks Dad for the heads up!

Overall, It was a really fun trip. We were there for 4 days and 3 nights...but counting all the traveling time...it was really like two and a half days. We got a lot in and had loads of fun. I'm glad I went!

If you know me...or think you know me, then you know that I'm fascinated with entomology. So interestingly enough, since i've been here in Taiwan, I'm always looking around to see what kind of funky insect is around me that i've never seen before. So I'm devoting this blog to all the weird insects i've seen so far! The first picture on the left is from my trip to Hua Lian. This is a longhorn beetle. It was the length of my hand! This is the first time I've seen one alive...hehe. This next one on the right is a insect I saw when I went to Yeliu. I think this is a six spotted tiger beetle. I'm not 100%, but I think this is a pretty cool looking bug. I have this random...or some might say "unique" ability to find these hidden insects. I think it's just that I'm always looking for them...hehe. But sometimes, the insects find me! This next picture is of another beetle. I didn't have to go very far for this one. I was doing homework one day and it just landed on my laptop. I think this is a milkweed bug. It looks like some that i've seen at home. If it isn't a milkweed bug, then all I know is that it is in the Lygaeidae family. Yup...that expensive Cal Poly education for an accounting degree... I remembered all the important stuff didn't I. Well this next one is an insect that's been so noisy these last few months. Every where on campus were these scary looking insects. This is the first time i've seen a cicada this big alive. The ones back in San Diego are so puny in comparison. Well this will conclude my little excerpt on insects i've seen so far. I've seen a lot more but I guess four is enough for now. If any of you care and want to see more, I'll post another blog with a few other creepy crawlers. Until then...

I've been living in Taiwan for a little over 8 months now and I got to thinking...I have been here for so long, but I haven't really shown any one where I've spent most of my days. So I thought it would be fun for me to write a little bit about where I live and about my school, National Taiwan University. So for anyone who doesn't know, I've lived in Taipei before. I was born here and I use to live about a 2 min walk from where I currently live now. I live in an apartment on the 20th floor of 24 floors. I have a nice view when it isn't raining, but it's not nearly as nice as living in San Diego. The benefit of this place though, is that it is super convenient. My school is literally right across the street from my apartment...and what's better is that my classroom is in the first building when you walk into campus. Can't really complain about that. I'm sure I've told you guys all about this before so let me get to what I really want to talk about.

Everyday I walk through this campus. I have to either walk to work, walk to the MRT station (subway), or just walk to the other side of campus. Every time I walk through campus, I think about how pretty it is. I didn't think about it that much before because during winter, I didn't feel like going out. But now that it's almost fall, I can see what I was missing. This campus is full of old buildings...some nice and some...well not so nice. Those that are nice are really nice in the terms of it's architecture. There are a lot of buildings that have a Japanese influence to them. So it's kinda fun because it stands out. Also, there are so many trees here that sometimes it's just nice to stroll (if the weather isn't a scorching 100 degrees!). I tend to take the same paths every time I have somewhere specific to go. So I decided one day to take a few pictures so that you guys could see what the campus looks like.

Whenever I go to the gym, I walk by a pond. Some days it looks really nice, some days not so much. Luckily I got a picture of it on one of it's better days. And there are just so many little things that are fun to look at too. This pond has fish, turtles and ducks. Growing next to this pond is a Lian-wu tree. One of my favorite fruits here in Taiwan. So as you can see, it's kind of a fun place to be. If only the weather wasn't blazing hot, I would enjoy it more.