Dear god, what a weekend...

Hello friends and neighbors (loosly used, yes, I know). This weekend saw the kickoff of my second semester here at Temple University, Japan. Our esteemed program director throws a heck of a party and I got a chance to meet all of the new semester-abroad JD students. All told, a pretty fun group of people.

Now I know some of you have been dying to see these pics, so without further ado, here's some images of my trip to Taipei. I went last semester right after our finals were over. Here goes...

To set the stage, I went with my buddy Kevin. He's another soon-to-be-lawyer. Here's the intrepid crew before departure (and after a few post-exam beers).


Kevin on left, me on right.

Now, by way of explaination on this one, in Taipei, the street-lights take the concept of that little walking guy the extra mile. Each of the lights has a timing display that counts down the time you have until you get run over by scooters. If that isn't enough, the little animated man walks, jogs then takes off and runs like hell during the last few seconds. Here he is...



The first place we checked out was the Chang kai-Shek memorial. This place was by far the most beautiful set of buildings anywhere in Taipei. This is the national theatre (if I remember correctly).


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Here's the gate at the far end of the memorial.


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The building opposite the national theatre. I think it's a memorial museum.


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The memorial itself...


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George making new friends amoung the local populace...


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Mr. Shek himself...


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There was a festival/market being set up at the memorial. It's funny, I think only I can travel all the way to Taipei and see authentic Mexican dancing. Scary...


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Another shot of the gate...


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After the memorial, we wandered the streets of Taipei for a while. We found a great little part (very beautiful). I, of course, found the "do not" sign to be quite funny.

Here it is...


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From the top to the bottom, the prohibitions are...

"No Littering" Ok, that one is pretty standard.

"No Parking" Again, not too odd.

"No Defacement of Park Facilities" Well, I left my sledgehammer in the states, so...

"No Clothes Washing" Is this really a problem???

"No Graffitti" Ok.

"No Camping or Overnight Stays" Not on your life, pal.

Read the rest for yourself, but the last I will comment on is my favorite...


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Awww, and here I have to go!

Here is the most interesting hospital I have ever seen. I kept expecting Allan Quartermain to walk out of the front door with an elephant gun.


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I changed my name to "George Yeh" and opened up shop here in Taipei.


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After a few days of craziness, we went to the beach to check it out. It was remarkably similar to Carolina Beach in NC. It was bizarre. The same weird, obviously rigged games. The same vendors selling tourist crap. Hell, I think I even met some Taiwainese carneys.

Sunset at the beach...


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That ladies and gents was my trip to Taipei. I left the camera at home when we went to the clubs, so you'll have to get that account first hand when next I see all of you.

Take care all.