Taiwan: The Heart of Asia -- So I Took Their Tests

Close to Home This Time

Taiwan Tourism contacted me today and, encouraged me to finish this course.

Somewhere along the line, I had enrolled but, never took the tests.

Awhile back, I was planning a trip to Ishigaki and Iriomote Islands in the south of Okinawa.

Right before, I was ready to pack up and leave, I got hacked.

Credit card and an email account, somehow got compromised. Groan.

Two banks, notified me of suspicious activity. I chopped up the card and ordered a new one.

Well, I was busy and forgot all about Taiwan and the travel professional's school.

All is well now, with the banks and email so, off to the online course, I went.

Taiwan Would Be a Fun Place to Visit

It's just a little over an hour flight time from Naha, Okinawa. I could handle that.

It's been awhile since, the last time, I visited Taiwan and, that was just the big city, Taipei.

Now, that I've learned some culture, history and geography, I want to see all of the island.

They have stuff like, bears, deer, monkeys and wild boar plus, lots of migratory birds.

Mountains over 12,000 feet, big raging rivers, lots of jungles and, a mild climate.

Heck. It would take me hours, to get to Africa, Hawaii, Mexico or Switzerland !

Should I disappear suddenly, for a week or three, you can probably guess, where I'll be.

Travel Agent Academy

This course was an external one, not at the Travel Agent Academy.

But, taking their courses was probably, how I got referred to Taiwan Travel Bureau.

Around the globe, I have been taking travel agent courses, not because I'm a travel agent.

A travel professional, isn't necessarily a travel agent. It's someone involved in the industry.

Writers and photographers, can be travel professionals, too.

Most to my photography and writing, has been about Okinawa. That's my specialty.

But, I like to peek at other countries and, see what they're promoting for the tourism industry.

It gives me ideas, when I see them, promoting whatever is unique, about their location.

Things like, the fastest train, slowest train, tallest mountain and widest river.

Okinawa has the best beer !

Chasing Lowly Manhole Covers

Somebody on Facebook Started It

 

 

A manhole cover from Chiba, Japan, I shared on Facebook got a comment.

It seems there's some group taking photos and adding Geo-tags to manhole covers.

 With a typhoon approaching, landscape photography was out of the question, for today.

But, high winds, don't have much effect on manhole covers,  So, off I went to shoot some.

Nothing fancy, just your every day, grungy and unpainted ones.

The handheld Garmin GPS was brought along to get latitude and longitude coordinates.

A dozen locations were documented, along the northern boundaries of Kin Town.

Just a few samples will be posted here.

The artwork on these sewer covers is pretty impressive.

But, we don't have any problems with people stealing them to decorate their homes.

Many other places, around the globe have manhole cover thievery problems.

Beijing, China loses about a quarter million manhole covers in one year.

The scrap-metal industry and, thieves, gobble them up.

It got so bad, they invented smart manhole covers to help catch the rustlers.

They began embedding GPS chips in them.

 And, when a manhole cover is moved, it notifies the authorities.

Bogota, Colombia was having 10,000 manhole covers, lifted each year.

They started placing satellite tracking devices in them, too and are catching the crooks.

The Taipei Taiwan Solution

 

 

Engineers in Taipei developed a new type of manhole cover, made of cement.

The metal covers, were slippery and causing vehicle accidents on highways.

So, they started replacing the manhole covers and burying them underground.

Special tags, with embedded radio frequencies help locate the covers when necessary.

Theft problem and 17 accidents a month caused by manhole covers -- GONE ! 

This Could Become a Trend

Suppose countries around the globe, decide to bury the manhole covers.

Maybe, that's why somebody came up with the idea of Geo-tagging photos of them.

The search ended with Finley + Muse.

These guys may be on to something if, they're doing it world-wide.

Who knows ?

This could be the beginning of The Society for the Preservation of Manhole Covers.

Typhoon Soudelor Blew Right Past Okinawa

Still Have Roofs Over Our Heads

 

 

The Super Typhoon everybody was worried about went south of Okinawa Island.

It dropped from a CAT 5 (wind over 155 MPH) to a  CAT 3 (111-130MPH) recently.

And, it's path is moving towards Taiwan and China.

So far, there's been hardly a sprinkle of rain on our orange-tiled roofs.

And, one weatherman says, we can expect 2-4 inches of rain, to hit us overnight. 

If you enjoy worrying, worry about Taiwan and, the far south islands of Okinawa.

Quit worrying about us, we're doing just fine !

Beer Time.....

Wildlife Photo:Juvenile Grey-faced Buzzard Eagle

This bird was spotted in Kin Village, Okinawa, Japan today.

Learn more about the Buzzard Eagle (Butastur indicus) on this excellent site:

Birding in Taiwan

Visit my homepage for today's Feature Photo

Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan Far Away From Okinawa

Here's a photo of what Okinawa, Japan looked like after the last earthquake I reported on in February 2010 and this is pretty much what I expect it to look like tomorrow, except, it may not be so sunny.

There's a flood of emails coming in and I appreciate everyone's concern. This is the quickest way for me to reply. Please pass this on to anyone who may be worried.

Okinawa island is hours away, by plane, from where all the damage has been done.

If you hear anything about Taiwan getting hit, I'm closer to that island than I am to mainland Japan.

So far, the worst of the tsunami has passed. It was something like 20 centimeters (8 inches) from what I've gathered. Please don't worry about me. I can handle worse things than that. I'm a married man !

I have found that the  GOOGLE CRISIS RESPONSE  seems to be the best place to go for maps, locations and accurate updates.

The folks up in Sendai are the ones we all need to be concerned about and I hope everyone helps them make a speedy recovery.

You may also like: MY POST CONCERNING HOW YOU CAN HELP


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