Customize this in the header.php theme file. You can fit a 468x60 banner here, if you wish. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer link. Lorem ipsum mauris semper, consectetuer another link.
Interesting fact about the world’s most popular soft drink…
Coca-Cola is pronounced ‘ke kou ke le’ in Chinese, which coincidentally translates into “Delicious Happiness.”
Where it came from: In the 1920s, Coke created the four Chinese characters that, when combined, approximated the English sound of “Coca-Cola.” As the official Mandarin-language Coca-Cola logo gained visibility, local citizens put together the first two Chinese characters in the logo to form an expression meaning “delicious” and combined the last two characters for “happiness.” The name Coca-Cola throughout China became recognized as “delicious happiness.”
Hong Kong’s skyline is world-famous, and for good reason. It’s one of the tallest, it’s colorful and unique, and it’s got tons of amazing vantage points (these photos were taken from the boardwalk across the bay in Tsim Tsa Shui, Kowloon).
And every night at 8PM, there is a light show where the buildings come alive and dance to music. Check out my pictures below! There’s also a video of the nightly light show that I didn’t record (it’s kind of crappy quality, but you get the point)!
Taiwan is swarming with locusts right now, and somebody has to catch them.
I went for a walk this morning in Taitung, and stumbled into the Lishu Recreational Area, a little park with the Shinto “Longfong Tower” and a nature walk called the “Liyushan Trail.” The sky was black with locusts buzzing everywhere, and I was recruited by a some local kids to help them catch the giant bugs. I followed the kids around the nature area and helped them catch the locusts (dead and alive) for a few hours. It’s great being a kid again!
Taiwan doesn’t have biker gangs. Taiwan is a biker gang.
Taipei is absolutely swarming with mopeds…it seems like there are more mopeds here than people, and then some. I walked out on a random street near where we’re staying, and recorded a few minutes of video. It’s insane:
Pete and I are planning to head South through Taiwan tomorrow to find a place to rent mopeds…wish us luck!
Although all Japanese people spend years studying English in school, that doesn’t mean they understand it one bit. Sure, they have rather extensive vocabularies (most of the people I’ve met here know the English words for every fruit from peach to pomegranite) — but Japanese people can’t string together a grammatical English sentence to save their lives.
Yet, that doesn’t stop them from embracing English when it comes to fashion. Thus,the trend in Japan of wearing t-shirts with completely incoherent and nonsensical English catchphrases:
“The big get your heaven all — The Heartfull Faniest”
This is not just a minor trend. Nearly every single teenager and twentysomething out on the streets is wearing a cotton tee emblazoned with some incoherent string of English gibberish. I’ve see the shirts regularly on everyone from the youngest toddlers to senior citizens. Compared to the number of t-shirts that have Japanese characters (kanji or katakana), I’d say the English t-shirts outnumber them 3 to 1. It’s truly one of the most bizarre fashion trends I’ve ever witnessed (and that’s saying something — I spent the last year of my life in Hollywood).
AFOOT and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
