As you can see, I’m in the middle of blogging about my Taiwan trip that happened last year. I think I still have about 4 or 5 entries to go before I wrap this series up. Normally, I’d encourage people to travel to the places that I’ve blogged about here. In fact, if you had asked me a month or two ago, I would have told you that Taiwan is a very nice place with really kind and friendly people. Continue reading
Day 4 was to be our last day in the Fo Guang Shan Monastery. The next 3 days will be spent all around Taiwan as part of the cultural exposure aspect of the seminar. This day’s schedule is a lot less hectic than the previous days, especially the very exhausting Day 3. Continue reading
The episode on the DMCA takedown notice sidetracked me from my blogging, which, in a way, means that the plagiarist has accomplished what he/she has set out to do. So as not to prolong this, I have to continue blogging. The show must go on. Continue reading
Just this morning, I received an email from “Phil” of WordPress.com explaining that my blog post entitled “Batanes is not anyone’s private playground” has been the subject of a “DMCA Takedown Notice” due to alleged copyright infringement. As a result, it has been set to private, no one can view it, and I have been warned that if I do not completely delete the post, then this entire blog (meaning my WordPress account) would be permanently suspended. Continue reading
When I was still a smoker, one of the things that annoyed me about my former co-smokers was their penchant for throwing away their used cigarette butts just about anywhere. In a majority of cases, the rubbish bin was literally just a few steps away yet for some reason, they'd rather throw them on the grass, the floor, the street, etc.
One thing I forgot to mention in the last entry was that my participation in this seminar did not in any way obligate me to convert to Buddhism, nor was there any expectation on me to undertake further studies in Buddhism afterwards. Basically, it’s the closest thing to the proverbial “free lunch” as far as I was concerned. Continue reading
Photo credit: The 2012 International Youth Seminar on Life and Ch’an Facebook page.
So I’m starting to properly blog about my Taiwan trip that happened in July last year. For a long time, drafts of this entry and a few others were languishing in this blog’s draft queue due to an unfortunate combination of mental block, inertia and plain old laziness. Meanwhile, I almost fell into the trap of just posting slideshows, while I allowed this Taiwan series to be overtaken by my blog of my Tarak Ridge climb, which actually occurred after the Taiwan trip, as well as by some other entries. Continue reading
In terms of travel and tourism, there is only one issue that can make me flare up and hound an opposing opinion (and beat it down to a bloody pulp long after it has stopped having a pulse.) I am talking about the widespread belief that high air fares are necessary in order to preserve whatever is beautiful about Batanes. Continue reading
…even in a travel blog.
I originally wanted to post a video of “Reelin’ in the Years”, but in the course of looking for one, I came across this really cool music video of “Your Gold Teeth” made out of scenes in Ocean’s Thirteen. Enjoy.
