First, I got to tell you a good news: I started my Spanish course! (Actually since June 11th) Maybe in the future, we can comunicar en español!
I checked the RAGBRAI online. And it looks cool but also tough! I've never been on such a tough ride! Many people asked me if I want to ride around Taiwan (about 1000km=620mi) but I said I'm afraid not. First of all, it's too long. Second of all, the roads in the eastern may be very dangerous. And last of all, my longest bike ride is probably 32km (20mi) round trip from my friend's house to a city called Tucheng, we ride on the riverside bikeway and we were even not riding our own bicycles. What we rode is a bike-sharing system called Youbike and this kind of bike is for commuting and short-distance road travel, not for adventure, so it only has 3 gears. I think we finished the ride in a morning and it was a sizzling hot summer day. I don't know whether I will get heatstroke or injuries during the RAGBRAI ride. But I have to say, I can still consider about it because it still looks very interesting and I've always wanted to go to the countryside of the U.S. !
I was shocked when I saw the chart of weather on the newsletter! It was almost 50 degrees centigrade! How could you put up with that heat? But honestly I kind of hate the weather in summer in Taiwan, because the temperature is still high when it's raining outside. Which means, you immediately start sweating as soon as you are outside. It's surely the worst thing. So I think I'll trade the "plum rains" with you.
I'm very interested to Nogales! (Didn't mention this last time) I'm especially interested to borders between countries and border cities because it's very interesting to see how two countries connect each other and how the border cities or two countries develop themselves differently (just like Nogales of Arizona and Sonora). It seemed that Nogales, Sonora is relatively a larger city because it has a population of 220,000 while Nogales, Arizona only has about 20,000. But two cities started being developed since almost the same time (1884, 1893). Like us living in Taiwan, we don't have chance to go to borders or drive to other countries.
Have I talked about my trip to Japan this July? I'm on a trip to Osaka and Kyoto again with my friend this July, from 8th to 14th. In these seven days, we will live in Osaka, and go to Kyoto, Kobe and more cities. The reason I want to go to Kyoto so desperately is because I haven't have a chance to visit this city nice and slowly. This will be the third time I go to Kyoto, but in the last 2 times, I only went to 2 places: Kinkaku-ji 金閣寺 (on the last time, July 2016, if you hadn't heard about this name you might have heard it being called as Golden Temple or Rokuon-ji 鹿苑寺, Deer Garden Temple, which is its official name or something else related to gold)
And the other is Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum, I visited there when I went to Kyoto for the first time. But it's not called Umekoji Steam Locomotive museum any more because it was expanded, renewed and merged with the former Osaka transportation museum in 2016, now it's called Kyoto Railway Museum, I'm also going there this time. But the park around the museum still called Umekoji Park.
The sign wrote "In spring 2016, there will be a new museum of railways born at Umekoji, Kyoto."
It's the Imperial Seal of Japan, also known as the Chrysanthemum Seal, in front of the locomotive. (Taken 20/07/2014)
There's a plenty of places I plan to visit when I go to Kyoto because it's the highlight of the trip. And Summer might have told you that I will leave EHP but I will still update the blog from time to time and keep in touch with you, so this won't be the last letter. If I'm free or there's something worth a share I will post an article, but it might not be as long as those before. Maybe I can update when I have free time in Japan! As an ending, let's see some photos I took in Japan.
These two were taken at Hakodate, Hokkaido. Hakodate is famous for its steep slopes.(16.07.2014)
This was taken at Nagoya. Those are the names of sumo wrestlers. And the smaller characters below are the name of the sponsors. (19.07.2014)
This one was taken in Shiga Prefecture, near Otsu, on the side of Biwa Lake.
(20.07.2014)
These two were taken at the same place. Maybe you remember the bottom one because it was taken this February. The top one is taken at 21.07.2014. (Senso-ji, 21.07.2014-03.02.2017)
There will be more if I want to share, but I'm sure about the certain date of posting them, so be sure to check my blog often!
Sincerely,
Melvyn Chou, 22.06.2017.
Melvyn,
ReplyDeleteThink about RAGRARI. Trust me when I tell you that it is a wonderful experience that you will never forget. Because Iowa has no mountains, the riding really isn't that difficult, and there are plenty of "breaks' along the way. The best part is the people, both the other riders, from all over the US and many foreign countries, but also the people in the small towns along the way. I could go on and on about the food,but I will just say that it's all delicious!
Did you know that Changhua has an interesting training museum? It's in an old switching yard and roundhouse, and has a lot of old Japanese era steam engines.
I've been to Kyoto, and have seen the "Golden Temple, but only from across the lake. Like you, I'd didn't have enough time to spend in Kyoto to see everything that I wanted to see.
Good luck with your Spanish! Spanish is close enough to English that it shouldn't be that hard, unless you are constantly getting the two languages mixed up. I do that with French and Spanish all the time. French nouns in Spanish sentences, etc.
But I think that Spanish will be important to Taiwan in the future.
If you are not in English EHP, what will you be studying next year? I believe that your English is at or near a "native speaker' level now, so it only important that you keep practicing. "Use it or lose it".
i'm looking forward to hearing from you in the future. You can always reach me on the website, or you can write directly to
tdmaher08@gmail.com
Tim