2009 January »

Jan 31 2009

a motorcycle trip

Posted by flora under Travel | Permalink | | Leave A Comment | 2 Comments

A friend of mine and I rented a motorcycle after we were arrived the east coast of Taiwan, Yi-Lan. I was excited and with a little bit nervous. Why? It’s because I went to many places in Taiwan and some spots around the world. My transportation is always by cars, air planes, or boats but never by a motorcycle. I think it’s crazy but I told myself it should be fun. So I took a deep breath and went on my journey.

About an hour, we were arrived the hotel. It should be taken less an hour but we always stopped for interesting places. So it took a little time to get the hotel. I got a map but I still wanted to make sure that we would not loose our way later. So I spent a few minutes to speak with the hotel owner to find out our exactly location and some spots for coming later. And I was happy that we didn’t lose our way at all during the trip. That night, we walked around a night market and had our dinner there. The night market was just ok because I like Taipei’s night market more.

Next day, my friend woke up at 5:25 in the early morning but I couldn’t. After an extra sleeping hour, I woke up and cleaned up myself. After breakfast, it was about the time for the trip. The owner told us it was about 40 minutes to get the mountain but we spent like nearly 3 hours!!! She was a liar or she just didn’t want to scare us for telling us the truth.

I don’t mind to share my real feeling with you here by this content. And I’m not embarrassed this time to tell you the truth. And that is my bums are SUPER hurt by sitting on motorcycle for nearly 6 hours to be on the top of mountain and back to the bottom of Mt.

The way to the mountain was slippery, foggy and very curvy. My mom said that I was brave to going there by a motorcycle. My brother even told me that he is happy to see me again.

Um, I think when you have no idea where you are going, you will just go without any serious thinking. But if you know it’s dangerous and with worries, you may scare or even give up the trip. I think I’m lucky this time.

But I still have to say after all, I’m glad to be home typing my diary on the sofa and have hot tea on hand.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea about the small journey.

: turtle island

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Jan 9 2009

a memory in paris

Posted by flora under Travel, photos | Permalink | | Leave A Comment | No Comments

it’s always fresh and exciting when you are arrived a new place. last year, i was “lucky” to go to paris with my mrs. boss for a business trip. i did feel excited when the first breakfast was served. i was happy about a great conversation with my mrs. boss when we slept together at the first night in a three stars hotel. everything seems pretty well. but after a conversation with a waiter, i changed my impression about paris. i remember the conversation as below

waiter: blah blah blah…(in french)

me: sorry, i don’t speak french. could you speck english.

waiter: blah…i will be back. (still in french, but with a bit of english)

after a few minutes, the waiter said, “what do you want?”

me: could you recommend any dishes for me?

the waiter pointed out some dishes on the menu and said this, this and that. but when i wanted to ask, what is this, this and that, he walked away. this all happend during the business trip i took with my boss. i felt terribly awkward about this ridiculous situation in paris. i blame myself for not learning a few basic french sentences instead of being upset about the waiter’s attitude. i was confident that i could use english there like i did in seattle, but i guess i was wrong. really wrong!