Expats in Hualien

Thru this blog, I have met and made many wonderful new friends, and some of them have made a trip to Hualien to see for themselves what a wonderful little place this is. This past week, a couple from Nevada stayed with us and explored future possibilities.

Ed and Kukui in this video enjoyed a warm evening by the beach with us, playing with fireworks.

One of the best things to combat summer heat is coconut water. It is refreshing, nutritious, and lowers body temperature instantly. Frankie loves coconut water, which is not to be confused with coconut milk.......

Keith and Yvonne have just relocated to Hualien from Capetown, South Africa, along with their son Joshua. They invited us to their new home for a BBQ, and what a wonderful feast it was.

Good food, great wines, good company and nice views on a hot summer night is simply priceless.

We also wanted to buy a BBQ for our house, but decided against it. Instead, we go to a BBQ restaurant, where meats are roasted on hot charcoal. In this video, I accidently captured a very special moment: Frankie drooling over the BBQ while waiting for the meat to cook.....it was perfect!

Its been over two years since coming here, and we continue to discover new things. Homemade dumplings made in a local market, organic free range eggs, grass jelly served chilled with winter melon syrup, home grown bananas.........delicious as hell and a taste of heaven!

Summer concert

Its time for Hualien's annual summer concert again.
An aboriginal Taiwanese band called "Power station" was on tonite, and they are awesome. Reminds me a bit of Beyond, but more melodic and not as metalic. Very popular in Taiwan, and should be more popular in Asia.

They are high energy but not overwhelming, and the love songs are beautiful....

Then later on, we saw a typical commercial Taiwanese artist with bubble gum music which is entertaining, but mindless and talentless. C'est la vie.....quite a contrast!

And the fireworks.....absolutely amazing!

Outdoor concerts need heat, and people. No problem here in Hualien. Basking in 30C weather, and over 60k people attending, you would think it would be chaos. Not. Nobody got drunk and caused any disturbences, fights, or even arguements. Traffic was well directed off site, and we only park two minutes away and no problem driving home.

It was great time, and the price was right.

Hualien's Banyan garden

The Banyan garden restaurant is an outdoor eatery, very popular here in Hualien.

Excellent sashimi, and seafood.

The restaurant is built around a huge old banyan tree which lights up at nite. The air cond is a steady cool mist with pipes on the glass ceiling, and combined with fans and a wooden deck, it is quite comfortable although the outside temperature is 32C. I sure love the ambience of outdoor dining, and my favorite is charcoal grilled fresh oysters with Heineken on draught.......get this: a dozen of fresh oysters for $7US, and a pint of Heineken draught is $1.30US.

Dinner for the seven of us with beer, $70US. And what a feast it was. A similar meal like this would cost $200US at home, not including HST and gratuities........

Summer is here!

Summer camp for Frankie

at the local university, for a 3 day camp.

Fun filled, sun drenched, sweaty three days which include kayaking, a BBQ party, singing, dancing, and meeting new friends.

Summer camp for Jack

Everyday is a summer camp for me as I play tennis at the Hualien tennis club 3 to 4 hours a day. At least once a week, the boys have dinner and karaoke, with lots of beer.....

an outstanding performance by one of our players......

and here is our "大哥", Mr Yang is retired, married to a Cantonese woman, himself speaks some Cantonese and English, a qualified tennis referree and accomplished player. Very good host to many of our players.

Eine kleine nachtmusik

Well, not quite. Frankie's grade held a concert this week, and here are some videos...

Frankie was nervous and paused a few times during the rendition.....

Her friend performing on a keyboard...

Nice flute....

This kid played the violin well.....

All in all, it was a nice afternoon. More than half of her class take music lessons. Typically, Chinese parents prefer their kids playing music than sports.

The original Eine kleine nachtmusik: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT7_Y1pIBb4

Two years in Taiwan!

Folks, its now almost two years since moving to Taiwan, and it still feels fresh and exciting.

We are still discovering new restaurants, and new places to visit. This pasta and pizza place is owned by an Aussie, and the food is very good, and very reasonable. It is packed wall to wall every time we go.

Frankie hitting balls at the driving range, across the road from our house.....

Frankie and her friends singing with a street musician on the weekends, a popular hangout for young people of Hualien.

Last weekend, there was a band and the singer was from Malaysia, speaks Cantonese. He asked me to jam with them, but I don't have my keyboard here in Taiwan.......

Our tennis team played in a tournament last week, and we won two matches and lost one, coming third place overall. We celebrated with dinner at an outdoor patio restaurant, with plenty of Heineken on draught......great evening with temperature around 30C.

Great news! Frankie finished her last exam yesterday, and guess what? She is #5 among her class of 43 students, top 5!!! This is beyond my expectation, and she did it all by herself. I'm a proud papa obviously, but what really matters, is the fact that she feels comfortable and has many friends now. She seldom mentions Canada anymore.....

We celebrated by taking her to an upscale steak house, and the food was fantastic. It costed us a fortune in Hualien standard: $50US, but it was worth every penny.

Frankie is 10!

Ten years old. A teenager soon.....
We had a quiet dinner at home and no party.
As a local tradition, a BD person goes to school and brings a BD cake for everyone, and she did that. She received some gifts, and everyone had a good time.

With summer approaching, there is an abundant supply of local fresh fruits and vegetables, which is perfect for me the juiceman. Quality, quantity, and the price is right.

Seafood of fish and shellfish are also abundant, and I pick up whatever tickles my fancy during the morning trips to the local markets.

Its been over a year now since I shredded the extra 40 pounds, and have been able to maintain that weight, therefore, I eat quite freely and heartily as long as I continue to maintain my program of nutrition, exercise, hydration, & rest. Sure feels good after a good sweat and a shower, and when the temperature hovers around 30C, it is paradise......