Welcome

You have stumbled upon the web site of Kathy and Michael Chu. Here you will find news and images of our life and adventures in Southeast Asia. Below is our blog of random thoughts. For our latest grand correspondence, click on Latest News above. For past events, click on Archives above. We hope you enjoy the site.

taiwanchus

2008.01.21- Climbing Ice

	Kathy got Mike a weekend ice climbing trip in Nordegg, Alberta for Christmas. He got to climb the 50 foot high custom made ice wall and a 75 foot high frozen waterfall. The drive out was horrendous, almost going into the ditch twice but once he was at the camp, he got to enjoy the fresh two feet of snow. The second night was -24°C. It was so cold, Mike's boots were stuck to the floor of his cabin.

2007.11.12 - Oh, Canada!

So Mike finally got some pictures of our first few weeks back in Canada. Most of these shots were taken on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. We got to see a lot of family as soon as we got back which was great. If you notice in the pictures, the sky is blue on this side of the world. However, if you also notice we are wearing sweaters and pants...in October. The days of wearing shorts and dresses for 11 months of the year are now gone. We came back at a beautiful time of year when fall paints a wide palette of colors everywhere. We took a trip to Chinatown since we missed Asia so much. We don't even flinch when a car pulls up onto the sidewalk to park. The oddest things seem normal and Canadians seem really anal when they drive. They can't seem to deal with Mike's crazy driving skills that he picked up in Taiwan. Time to re-learn the system.

2007.08.30 - Yep. It's true

2007.08.16 - Blow Me Away
A super typhoon is headed this way! 53 meters per second (that's 190kph)! That's faster than Kathy's Dynasty had ever been. We are currently under a nice cloud. It's pleasant here at the moment but that's only because the typhoon has sucked everything to itself. It's supposed to hit us Saturday...a day too late for us to get a typhoon day off work but what can you do? We'll batten down the hatches and update you all soon enough.

2007.08.14 - 'Nam Photos
Brace yourselves as you set upon a photo overload. You can see the album or view a slideshow. Just to warn you, there are 101 photos. That's too much for Mike to handle making a page so he just uploaded them by mass onto photobucket. What a lazy souse!

2007.07.13 - Soaked to the Bone
We have had 7 days of rain straight! Today we have received over 300mm of rainfall in less than 24 hours. Let's just say our scooters were converted to jet-skiis for most of our drive home after our small group meeting. Water was half way up Mike's shins in some parts and Kathy's little 50c.c. slowly made it through the lakes traversed. We have never seen it rain like this before, especially without a typhoon. Supposedly there is one on its way in 4 days. Yeah! More rain!

2007.06.27 - Back When I Was in 'Nam
Sunday has been dubbed 'Nam day as we ready ourselves to head to S.E. Asian peninsula. Fortunately, Mike will now be able to say with truth when he is aged, "Back when I was in 'Nam..." How fortunate this will be for others, time can only tell. We will keep you all posted with pictures when they come. Now that Kathy has her own camera (an anniversary present), there will be different perspectives to view Vietnam from.

2007.06.07 - Update
Greetings all! Our latest update can be read. Also, here is a movie compiled from the trip to the National Marine Biology Museum a few years before. Click here to view. Hope you enjoy.

2007.05.20 - Sitting on dogs

James and Liezl's dog, Tundy, came for a visit this weekend. As they were on the church retreat, we had the pleasure of taking care of their dog. It seemed strange that one of them was willing to stay home for the weekend from the retreat in order to watch it so we took the liberty in freeing both of them for the weekend. We will be heading on the same retreat this coming weekend. It is a much anticipated time away from the city.

2007.05.19 - facebook;snippit culture

facebook An online community of individuals who want to keep in touch the best way possible as light, free and fancy as can be. The intimacy between individuals is growing less and less with the onset of new technologies. Letters take too long to write and require too much vulnerability. Emails have now taken a backseat to this snippit style of culture; just look at youtube popularity. Slowly culture is moving towards a less effort, nuke it to me style of living. Slowly, television shows will need to move to more breaks as a new generation requires more stimulation of the senses. Facebook is amazingly powerful. There is now an unprecedented time when friends could be so easily accumulated without any real connection. The last time friends were this easily attainable was camp. We use it; we're not proud. But it seems to be the best way to view some photos of friends and find the ones who have been dodging your emails because they have no time. Yes! I've got 40 friends now!

2007.05.12 - No Party Like a Hong Party

Who can party like the Hongs? With close to 30 in attendance in their home, the Hongs celebrated one year of marital bliss in their humble two bedroom apartment. There were vows said once again (this time all in Chinese), dances, poems, songs and the like prepared for the audience. We prepared a newlywed game for them. Josh's favorite question was, "When I want to ____ my wife wants to _______." It's not as "R" rated as it may have seemed. Paula and Josh will be greatly missed when they leave Taiwan for America this year. Maybe it's a sign for us as well.

2007.05.06 - Weddings and Anniversaries
We haven't been to this many weddings and parties of the like since the onslaught of our high school friends got married in one summer; we believe 14 weddings in total that year. Our friends Elizabeth (American) and Stephen Clark (British) had a one year anniversary party here since they didn't have a chance to hold a wedding ceremony here in Taiwan shortly after they were married. It was a lovely time with friends and Kathy got to wear her new Cambodian silk dress.
The next party was attended by Mike alone. His secretary from his school got married. It was a full Taiwanese wedding with the bride changing outfits several times, karaoke at ear splitting volume (with a psychedelic echo) and lots of food catered to the Asian palette. It was similar to Chinese weddings Mike has been to before however Cantonese food seems more edible.

2007.04.04 - Get Back to Your Roots
Kathy loves her roots as deep down as those roots go. So much in fact that canals are being made to them. The joy of not having fluoride in the water results in the rapid decay of teeth here. It's no wonder that Kaohsiung has more dentists per capita then anywhere in Taiwan. Even though we go to the dentist once in ten years (for shame) in Canada and possibly have one small cavity, here it has only been three years and our dental reports are atrocious. Another difference here in Taiwan dental world is that a root canal takes a few visits. For Kathy it's actually seven just for the canal. Although it only costs us $4 each time, sometimes you would rather pay the full seven visits instead of booking up all the free time for your next few months and preparing yourself for each visit.

2007.03.30 - Labour of Love
New car starter - $3500 ($140CAD)
Labour for 3 hours of work - $600 ($24CAD)
Our love for Taiwan expenses - priceless
Let's compare that with Canada. While we were at home, Kathy managed to damage the rear bumper of her parent's car. A nasty hole in the bumper but a required replacement of the bumper nonetheless. The estimate came to $1200CAD. 600 of that alone was for labour. How are we ever to afford a Canadian living while being spoiled here.