Well, I’m a bit later than usual on this post, and I will be pretty much silent for the next few weeks as I take my big winter vacation trip to Taiwan and the Philippines. Afterwards, of course, I should have plenty to write about concerning all of that, but for now things remain dormant as school’s out and I while away my free time on God knows what. I will need to put my nose to the grindstone when I return, but for now, I’m taking it easy.
I figured I would throw up my itinerary for the trip on this post, and we’ll see how everything goes with it when I return. I start off by flying out of Busan tomorrow afternoon to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. This island nation was where the nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek fled Mao Tse-Tung and his Red Army, and has been a bit of a contentious point in international relations ever since, with China claiming it as part of their patrimony and Taiwan insisting on its status as the true Republic of China.
Things are much quieter in the present day, but it will be fascinating to observe the culture there and compare and contrast with that of China whenever I get there.
After a week there hiking and soaking in the culture, I’ll fly to Manila in the Philippines and right into the thick of tropical summer by the sound of it. Besides exploring the city, I’ll be going north to Banaue, where they have some ancient rice terraces that are supposed to be striking, then heading out to the island of Bohol to relax on a white sand beach for about a week. After all this winter weather, I’m definitely ready for that.
Well, this was pretty cursory, but I’ll write again in a few weeks and give you my impression of everything. Take care in the interim.
