Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Gloria's First Football Game

Gloria's first football game.

I was very lucky to go to a Jaguar football game with some clients on Oct 2, 2005. (Jaguar V.S. Bronco) To be honest, I do not like football at all...could hardly follow the ball. You can imagine us having arguments about who should get the remote control on a Sunday night! :) Normally, Gloria wins because Scott loves her too much!



Thanksgiving - Orlando - November 2005

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress



Our kids


These two love to sleep with each other.
Have you ever seen a dog's nose bent?
This is our Bagel, the beagle. He was borned in May 2002. He talks like Scooby Doo and loves to howl when he hears "Ding Dong"!


Gloria's favorite. Fifi was born in 1993 in Taipei. My aunt's students found her and her siblings by the elementary school. She was only two weeks old when I got her. Fi loves to sleep with me and loves to eat when she sees her brothers being pet.


My Buddy..... we adopted Buddy at the SPCA in Dallas. We went there. Gloria said " ummmm, we will just go in to take a look." We left with a new buddy in a box. He is so affectionate that I could not say no. He is the shy one in the famliy.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Thanksgiving - St. Augstine - November 2005

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Heng Chuen, Taiwan II - September 2005



Well...... both of my licenses expired (car and motorcycle). I was very bumbed. We were so ready to rent a couple of scooters to ride around the peninsula. Now the dream was broken........ Next time, we will be well-prepared!
So...... we signed up for a bus tour. But the hotel clerk never registered us with the touring company. To make it up to us, they provided - just the two of us - a private van and a personal chauffer/guide to travel around. That was pretty cooooooool!!! That is Mr. Chen in the picture.



Scott, Gloria and Nixon's head!!!

The sand at this beach is made of coral.


Oluanpi's Lungpan Park - the southmost point of Taiwan.




FongChuaiSha - It means "Wind blows Sand". It gets really windy, especially in the winter. The wind is very strong and will blow the sand on the beach all the way up here on the cliffs. Sometimes, the wind is too severe for people to stand straight.
A panorama shot!

Before the highways and roads were built, this bridge was the only way for the residents in GangKo to travel out. GangKo used to be very famous of the tea leaves it produced. But the tea production has greatly decreased due to industrialization.


Another rice farm
ChuHuo - Nature Fire - There is natural gas coming out of ground. The fire is lit all the time. The couple was selling boiled eggs and grilled corn at the pit.


Heng Chuen was named by a famous politician, Sheng Boa Jen in Chin Dynasty. He renamed the city due to it's warm weather year round. "Heng Chuen" means "Forever Spring". In 1875, Chin Dynasty built the four gates (East-West-South-North)to protect this southmost city in Taiwan. This is the East Gate.


This is the South Gate.

Night Market

It starts getting busy after 9PM. People set up their stands out on both sides of the street to sell...... souvenirs, kitchen products, food, clothes, games......all kinds of stuff. It gets busier as the night passes. And this takes place EVERY night! Here is my favorate - BBQ squid......yummy!!!!!
The picture below is a stand that sells "Fried Chicken".......well, of course, the Chinese version.

Kenting, Taiwan I - September 2005

In the Express Bus to Heng Chuen. You can see the rice fields.



View from the hotel room -

View from the hotel room - Mt. Dajian


Beach by the hotel


"Hello!" "Hello!"



Aquarium







That is the Taiwan Strait!

Friday, December 16, 2005

Our house

Although it took us 4 weekends to complete the new paint job of all the rooms, the result is rewarding. The previous colors made it dark and cold. The new colors bring more light and warmth and make the house look more inviting.

This house is much smaller then our last one. But we love it! Love it for its location, big trees and the huge yard........planning to come back here for our retirement in the future.
:)

Living Room





Entry


Living Room




Yard


Taipei City, Taiwan III - September 2005

These are pictures from the Taipei 101 Building - the tallest building in the world. The building has the world's fastest elevators, traveling upwards at 1008 meters/minute (60.48 km/hour) and downwards at 610 m/min. (36.6 km/hour). The top speed are 34 percent faster than the current fastest, Yokohama Landmark Tower.

http://www.tfc101.com.tw/ch/Tower/index_tower.asp





This is a glass model of the building.


Taipei 101 consists a huge mall, restaurants, office space and an observatory on the 89th floor.





These are from a night market in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.
It was 11PM and the market was still loud and busy.


















Sorry! Bad Habbit.....had to take a picture of the hotel room......
YM and his son
Best friends from high school :)










What is that?? Ice cream!......But "Chili Pepper Ice Cream". You've got to try out this place. They have all kinds of ice cream flavors.....fruit, nuts.... beans, fried chicken, beef stew, egg, beer...you name it! The shop has been here for 50 years!!!!
So...... how was the chili pepper ice cream?? It was pre-tty HOT!
http://tw.lifestyle.yahoo.com/biz.html?bizid=6f752067c2957b9a







This is the express way. Lack of space...almost all the express roads are built to be above the groud traffic.
Almost all the express ways have tall walls to block off traffic noise.










Over populated, people build ileagal units on rooftops.


Where I grew up. Our old house was inside this alley.
Yup! We have Pizza Hut!

It was shocking when I saw her. A local restaurant here sells pork products. They love pigs so much that they keep this pig around as a pet. She knows her ways around the streets and always finds home.
Yup! We have Blockbuster too!



These are pictures of Gloria's Parents' Wedding



ShengYuan and Hsiaonan's Wedding