Hey folks. Vacation time is here again and this time, I’m heading to the islands of Penghu for a few days. This will be my first trip without John in awhile and also, coincidentally, my first trip with just Taiwanese friends. I’ve committed myself to using Chinese for the duration of the trip.
I’m looking forward to some deep-sea fishing and some fun in the sun. No water sports for this gal though. The doctors have strictly forbidden my head anywhere near water! I had to explain dog-paddling to my friends last week. I think they’re looking forward to the show!
I’ll be back later this week, hopefully more relaxed, a bit browner and with new travel tales and photography to share.
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Have fun! I had to look up Penghu as I never heard of it before, but it seems wonderful! Certainly an opportunity to test your Chinese: from WikiTravel: “Very few people, hoteliers included, speak any English, so be prepared to exercise your Mandarin”
In thailand, everyone goes swimming with their clothes on so they don’t get dark. is it like that in taiwan too?
hey carrie, that sounds like fun. Have a good time.
i want to go deep sea fishing!
Brown is bad, Carrie. You’ve been here long enough to know that. LOL.
I’m (hopefully) off to Vietnam and Cambodia in August.
Thanks Kim. Penghu was great and I’m anxious to go back with John in October. Expect a blog post in the next few days!
Hi Matt,
It is and it isn’t. Yep. Some folks wear their clothes in the water. Others spend all their time worrying about the sun and smearing so much sunblock on that they never seem to enjoy the fact that they’re on vacation.
Thanks Michelle. I’ve been by your site several times. Way to go girl!
Hi Stevo!
I still get a laugh out of how different opinions are. I don’t spend a lot of time in the sun, and I’m very careful about applying sunscreen, but I still want some color. I’m chicken white most of the time.
On the other hand, it cracks me up when I see people at the beach spending all their time applying sunscreen. I watched a group of girls yesterday who wouldn’t leave the shade of their beach umbrella or go in the water for fear of getting burnt. What’s the point in going then?
Eh MJ. We didn’t catch a thing, but it was still lots of fun!
Looks like a great time, Carrie! I like all the shades of blue in the recent photos from this trip. Take care, Sarah
A language pledge! I tried to do that once, but didn’t quite have the will to stick with it. Good for you!
Hi Sarah,
I haven’t heard from you in awhile. I hope you’re having a great summer. I had a great vacation, but it was much too short. I could do with another week or two.
Mark,
(Groan). I had a very poor performance in the language department after a friend had a go at me about my Chinese. When on my own, when I’m traveling, when I’m with my teacher or fellow students, my Chinese is brilliant, but I’ve never used my Chinese with co-workers because they don’t believe in my ability to speak it. It drives me crazy.
I barely even said two sentences before someone made fun of me and then I clammed up for the rest of the trip, and when I did try to speak, people jumped ahead and did the speaking for me. It was very frustrating. I don’t have this problem with my other Taiwanese friends, just with this group. My Chinese wasn’t great when I arrived. Well, it was OK, but I had to make some adjustments because of where I learned. Anyways, I’ve learned my lesson. I made up for it at the end of the trip by singing at KTV, but then I was told that I needed to learn Taiwanese songs. Apparently Co-Co Lee is not Chinese enough.