I did not grow up in a coffee drinking family. My parents seldom drank any. They were much more likely to drink tea. In fact, as my father grew older, he would always have a pitcher of iced tea in the refrigerator. Coffee was just not part of our life. Shortly after college I moved to the Dominican Republic for four years. There I began to have some exposure to coffee. The Dominicans would serve coffee in small demitasse cups…
Continue Reading “Encountering Starbucks Throughout the World”
Having left Hong Kong behind us, we arrived in Taipei, Taiwan in mid-afternoon. While we arrived in the capital city, we were not going to stay there long. We would be going south to the city of Kaohsiung for most of our time in Taiwan. Following a meal at the church in Taipei, we participated in a church service that evening. When the service was over, we headed to the train station. We would be traveling by train to the…
Our last full day in Taipei would finish with viewing Taipei 101, the tallest landmark in the city. (Check out my previous posts on days one, two and three) Since we were going to see Taipei 101 in the evening, we still had a day ahead of us. We decided to check out a different area of the city, Huashan 1914 Creative Park. This is an industrial area turned modern creative center, something that occurs often in the United States.…
Continue Reading “Taipei Adventure: Last Days Including Taipei 101”
While day one and day two were all spent fairly close to our hotel. On our third day we would venture further away from Taipei. While researching our trip, my daughter discovered information on an unusual place she decided we should explore. It was a cat village where cats are allowed to roam freely. The town’s actual name is Houtong. Houtong is located outside Taipei, but one can get there easily by train. We hopped on the usual looking subway…
Continue Reading “Taipei Adventure: Cat Village and Mountain Town”
After spending our first day in Taipei getting acquainted with the city, we were ready for day two. This day was intended to be a day looking at some of the historical elements of the city. Unfortunately the first part of the day didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped. We were up at a decent time, and perhaps that was part of the problem. The first place we had on our list was the Red House, which…
After spending a few days in Kaohsiung, it was time to go to Taipei. We traveled up by train and arrived in early afternoon. Knowing our hotel was near the main train station, we asked for some directions at the train help desk and then struck out to find our hotel. The streets were crowded so moving around with our suitcases and bags was not easy. It was also windy, and at one point I lost my hat, but a…
Our second day in Kaohsiung started with another Taiwanese buffet breakfast. Having nourished our bodies the best we could, we were ready for the activities of the day. First we planned to go to Lotus Lake which is a place with a number of religious temples. Later in the day the plan was to go to a night market. To get to Lotus Lake we first took the light rail which was near out hotel. This was our first time…
Continue Reading “Dragons, Temples, and Lights: Kaohsiung Part 2”
When you think of international travel, what places come to mind? Caribbean countries and Europe probably come to mind most readily. However, there are many places to travel which will not have the hordes of tourists you might find in some of these places. May I suggest Taiwan as one such place. In 1971 when I toured around the world, Taiwan was one of the places we visited so last year when my daughter suggested my wife and I meet…
Continue Reading “Noodles, Art, and Sand, Discovering Kaohsiung, Taiwan”
