Not all those who wander are lost.
LATEST TRAVEL ENTRIES
-
A Pacaya Volcano Hike Poem
Some people climb mountains stay active in their lives. But what if the mountain that you are climbing is active too? I don’t mean Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge active, where bolder just roll beside you. I am talking active volcano! Pacaya Volcano Hike By Gregor South of Guatemala City, the capital of the nation, Lays…
-
Guatemala – Guate Beautiful Country
Recently I had been to the Central American state of Guatemala to visit my girlfriend Adriana and her family. Of course, there had been some plans to discover Guatemala a bit and AY DIOS MIO!!!!! This country! It got me right in the marvel-part of my heart and brain! I could dedicate my entire blog…
-
A Chinese New Year’s Origin Poem
For years, the monster NIAN had been terrorizing the poor villagers. But with the appearance of a mysterious stranger, the tidings seem to change. Watchmen: „Villagers, come! Pack your stuff! Forget the weapons, the beast is too tough. The only way for you to survive Is to take your kids and your wife. And make…
-
Austrian Culture Calendar: December
Saint Nikolaus, Christmas, New Year; December is full of traditions and cultural events in Austria. Check out the Austrian Cultural Calendar for the last month of this year. 1.12. – Advent Calendar To shorten the long days before Christmas, Austrians tend to give their one themed calendars with 24 little presents, one for each new…
-
A Typhoon Poem
The Challenger’s Word: Typhoon Provided by the stormy blogger Sunshower In Taiwan, I had the chance to experience not only one but multiple tropical storms called typhoon. Although the fierce power of nature raged outside, my roommate and I could deepen our young friendship during the storms, eventually become BROommates. This is for you, Jacek.…
-
A Linz Poem
The Challenger’s Word: Linz Provided by the global blogger Adriana The style of the poem is AABBCC. Growing up in the city of Linz, I have learnt to love it. Walking with open eyes and open mind through the streets of history, one can be astonished by the richness of a small 200.000 resident city.…
-
Brettljause – Austrian Culinary Art
Revenge is a dish best served cold. The famous proverb, which first appeared in Eugène Sue’s novel Memoirs of Matilda, but made a fatal mistake. The thing that is best served cold is a traditional Austrian Brettljause. What is it about? Opposed to the classic dinners I had in Taiwan, which had been mostly hot,…
-
Sun-Moon-Lake
The Sun-Moon-Lake is the biggest lake inside of Taiwan with a total area of 4,55 km². While many believe that the name of the lake derives from its form of the sun in the east and crescent moon in the west, the legend about the lake is awesome. So we had to check it out…
-
International Cheers
Birthday, Weekend, Promotion, Engagement, Wedding, Children, Grades, Degrees, Week-split. There are millions of reasons to cheers with your friends, family and random strangers in a bar. Life itself deserves to be cheered every day. And that is what we do here in Taiwan. Due to our international friendship compositions, there are many ways to cheer,…
-
Yushan Front Peak – Sims-Edition
Most of us know the video game Sims, where you as divine being control the lives of the virtual avatars called Sims. Having a perfect virtual life is boring, I heard, so people tend to let out their inner demons by fucking their avatars up. On our hike to the front peak of the tallest…
-
Cultural Festival – Griaß di, Austria
Like every year the Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology hosted a special event, where foreign students can introduce their country, culture and art performance to other (mostly Taiwanese) students. So I tried my best to bring a little Austria to Taiwan – in traditional leather trousers (Lederhose) of course! Griaß di, Austria At…
-
STUST III.C – Master Thesis
I’ve finished it! Besides the acknowledgement I will write after the defence I’ve completed 125 pages of academic paper, exceeding my Bachelor’s thesis with over 75 pages. During the process I laughed, I cried, I wrote, I rested – more than I should – and I wrote again. See the journey of my thesis and…
-
STUST III.B – Courses Second Semester
The second semester at STUST is more exciting and interactive than the first one and to pep it up, I will give you valuable information about each course in the typical real-life Grexxen style – “Did you know that…”. For those of you who missed the first part and are motivated enough to read about…
-
STUST III.A – Courses First Semester
While trying to explain in this three-plus-two-part-series about the STUST that I work hard for my oversea degree, I caught myself talking more about food and leisure activity than actually study related topics – again. That’s why the three last parts are dedicated to my study, courses and master thesis instead of fried rice and…
-
STUST II – The Surroundings
I really love the STUST campus, but there is one thing the bothers me a bit. Such as the JKU, it is far away from city centre or anything interesting. I envied the campus of the National Cheng Kung University a bit, which is located in the heart of Tainan. Three big shopping malls, the…
-
STUST I – The Campus
Since my arrival in Tainan, the campus of the Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology has been full of surprises for me. In Linz I was used to walk around the calm University pond, sit down and relax. The only crowded place are the Mensa during lunch time and Thursday nights, when another party…
-
Manila – 3 Days Pearl of the Orient
„Be cautious; take care!“ Everyone I told about my planned weekend trip to the capital of Philippines was more worried than me, that I will get robbed, stabbed or get a cold. Besides that my nose really got blocked – due to the air-conditioning in the plane – visiting Manila was an interesting but never…
-
Kuala Lumpur – Malay-see-ya soon
Kuala Lumpur is one of the jewels of South-East-Asia and disrupted my perception of this region. For what I thought is a traditional capital far away from developed luxury, the city turned out to be a modern metropolis growing stronger every minute. Showing the contrast of origins and internationalization this melting pot of cultures and…
-
Xiao Liu Qiu – One Island a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
One apple a day to keep your body healthy is a nice thought of treating yourself right every day. However, I need special kinds of the vitamins A and E, namely Adventure and Excitement. Praise the healthy body but do not forget a healthy mind. Thus the old clique and me visited Xiao Liu Qiu…
-
5 Tips to Survive a Scooter Ride in Bali
Bali is a wonderful place on earth, but even when it looks like a small island somewhere between Borneo and Australia, it is way too big to travel every distance by foot. Because of the vastness of the island tourists and residents depend on transport vehicles. For buses and cars some roads seem pretty narrow…
-
Buddha Memorial Center
One advantage of Taiwan is the diversity of things you can explore. One day you hike in an amazing gorge, the other day make a bike tour at the biggest lake, another day you chill on the beaches of the south – and everything is reachable in one day. Great right?! I have been to…
-
Two Faces of Jakarta
When I was thinking about Indonesia I always had active volcanoes, tropical rain forests, millions of dreamy islands and exotic animals in my mind. But there is one thing I never used to wonder about: the capital – Jakarta. On our broommate (a combination of bro and roommate) trip around Asia, Jacek and I discovered…
-
Linz – Tainan! A Comparison of Two Homes
Same same but different. With this statement I could end this comparison of my home town in Austria, Linz and my temporary home in Taiwan, Tainan – when I take a really general look at the differences. But looking closer, there are worlds – or at least 9000 kilometers – between my both home cities.…
-
Bali – A Dream Island and a Nightmare Karma
When it comes to beautiful places on earth the Indonesian Island of Bali is sure one of them. On our last roommate-trip we decided to experience the promised Valhalla of relaxation, fun and surfing with our own eyes. It was amazing at all levels, but be aware! Never go there with a bad luck strain…
-
Singapore – A Song about Prosperity
Not so long a time ago, My roommate and Polish bro, And me wanted to see of Asia more, So we travelled to Singapore. To tell you about this Asian city, It is full of wealth and prosperity. Also rich was our plan, What to see in this nice land. When we arrived at Singapore,…
-
Taipei – A Capital Story
As in every nation I am travelling to, I try to visit the capital of the country. I am living and studying in Tainan, Taiwan so I am almost obliged to see its centre of power – Taipei. For my master thesis, which I am currently writing, I had to travel to the capital city…
-
Shanghai – Shangbye
So Jacqueline was visiting me 10 days over New Year’s Eve and we decided not to spend too much time in Taiwan. To make sure, I like this country very much but we are young and have to see the world. While spinning our imaginary globe to look for a place to stay at New…
-
Merry Christmas – Shèngdàn kuaìlè
ꭉ Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells Blog ꭉ Finally, Christmas is here, but unlike every former year I’d celebrated the birth of a child – who actually was born in summer, but the 24th of December had already been a paganic holiday for centuries, so we celebrate here – I am not in lovely…
-
Hong Kong in 6 Days
I was so excited! I had been in Taiwan for 3 months and hadn’t seen anything of the rest of Asia. So we did something about it and traveled to the metropolis Hong Kong and Macau! Day 1 Our flight from Taichung to Hong Kong arrived after 1.5 hours of flight time. We all bought…
-
Feeling Home II – Marvelous Marble
… cliff hanger. That is funny, because in Taroko there are a lot of cliffs to hang from. However, we had been in the mountains on Saturday, my urge as an Austrian to experience hiking was still not fully pleased. As promised, Part II will be a firework of adventures, photos and marvelling in the…
-
Feeling Home I – An Austrian in the Taroko Gorge
ꭉ I am an alien. I am a legal alien. I am Austrian in the Taroko Gorge ꭉ For all of you singing the song in their head while reading, I sang it while writing too. And I keep singing it, because I am very happy that I saw this awesome place. As an Austrian,…
-
Taiwan 2.0
This article is dedicated to the perception of time. Instead of improving the country via updates, I will talk about a second first résumé. The reason is, that I’ve already spent 2.0 months in Taiwan. Not 1.99; not 2.01; on the day, exactly 2.0 months. In these 61 days, a lot of stuff had changed…
-
Golden Beach and Red Lobster
All I wrote about my life abroad deals with money, weather or cities; but do you know that Taiwan is an island? I hope that you do, and I know it too. First, I was not sure the first two and a half weeks after my arrival because, although Tainan – the city I live…
-
Money counts – A Poem
To increase this article’s pep I am writing in style of Rap. The country itself is my muse, If the poem is clumsy, I have to excuse. For this post I want to give An insight of the costs to live In my new home, so far apart, Taiwan, in Southeast Asian’s heart. To show…
-
Kaohsiung – A Day to Remember
In our urge to explore the beauty of Taiwan, my friends and I decided to go on a day trip to the biggest city in the south of the island, Kaohsiung. And wow, this day was intense! While doing some Google-research we found a lot of interesting spots to see and we had a really…
-
5 Tips to kill Time during a Typhoon
The weather is getting better again. The clouds let some sunrays hit the ground, newly created ponds evaporate in the warmth of a new day. After devastating parts of the country the tropical storms “Meranti” and “Megi” finally left the island. The Typhoons are gone and hopefully the Typhoon-season with them. If you imagined experiencing…
-
Am I adopted?
Last weekend I had the weirdest experience ever! Middle in Chiayi, the middle of Taiwan, the middle of South-East Asia, a man was waiving at me. The moment I came closer he said to me: “Nice to meet you; I am your father!” Instead of a thrilling “Nooooo!” such as Mark Hamill performed Luke’s reaction…
-
Finnland, nicht das Land der Sauna!
Heiße, nach Früchten und Holz riechende Luft, ein intensiver tiefer Herzschlag in der Brust, Schweißperlen die nahezu auf der Haut verdampfen. Saunieren ist etwas Wunderbares. Bei uns findet man die Hitzekabinen in Schwimmbädern, SPAs, Wellnesshotels oder in den eigenen vier Wänden, in Finnland findet man sie überall. Sie heißt ja nicht umsonst finnische Sauna. Doch…
-
Erste Eindrücke
So, eine Woche ist fast vorüber. Die Männertränen getrocknet. Das erste Heimweh überwunden. Ich denke, es ist an der Zeit für die ersten Eindrücke, die ich hier in Taiwan gesammelt habe. Damit das Ganze auch spannender ist, kommt hier meine Platzierung der fünf EINDRUCKSVOLLSTEN EINDRÜCKE die auf mich hier eindrücken! Verkehr Nach dem Verlassen des…
-
Anreisetag
Die Sachen sind gepackt, die Liebsten nochmal gedrückt und schon fährt man nach Wien zum Flughafen. Wie schnell nicht so ein dreiviertel Jahr Vorbereitung vergeht. Mindestens genauso schnell verging heute der Anreisetag nach Tainan, obwohl die Achterbahnfahrt der Gefühle und das Feuerwerk der Impressionen sich währenddessen wie Monate anfühlte. Zuerst die große Überraschung bei der…
-
7 Schritte nach Taiwan
Überschrift – Check! Bilder –Check! Sinnvoller Text – Check! Viele Leser – In Bearbeitung! Listen sind was Tolles! Man sieht was noch zu tun ist, was man erreicht hat oder wieviel schlechtes Gewissen man haben sollte, weil man etwas noch nicht gemacht hat. Mir helfen Listen nicht nur wegen dem letzten Punkt, sondern weil…
grexxen 