Parents' Visit To Taiwan

Dad finds out that he's very popular with the locals here in Taiwan


With Steve and Yvonne


A doorway in Jiufen


Getting into the Taiwan aboriginal spirit at ORTV


Strolling with Dr. Liu in Hsitou Forest Park


Mom and Dad with my Friday Night Bible Study class


A small footbridge in Hsitou Forest Park

A view in Hsitou Forest Park


On the steps of Jiufen


Mom looks for the nearest gift shop


Late lunch in a Jiufen restaurant/cafe with a nice view


Looking out toward the Pacific from Jiufen


Jiufen street lined with shops, small restaurants and filled with people. Mom and Dad stand out in the crowd.


The bed & breakfast where we stayed in Jiufen


Our place for the night


A short walk up above where we stayed

Yilan English Classes

In one of my English classes at Yilan Vocational High School

Educational Services

With Skye Hsiao, Ellen Lu (front) Joan Lin, Ivy Lee and Bryan Hagerla (back)

Back From School Rally Tours (For Now)

Liz and Angus just off the bus (after being "on the road" for 3 weeks)

Bible Study Students

With my Friday Night Bible Study students. Check out "Krazy Kerby" in the middle back row :)

Jiufen (九份)

Pictures from a weekend excursion to Jiufen. See more photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philandlizarcher/


The famous steps of Jiufen

A quiet alleyway before all the tourists arrive

Mr. Li in the doorway of his shop. I spent the night in his guesthouse upstairs. It was a nice, quaint B & B!


Morning view from where I stayed at the guesthouse


View of the northeast coast from the top of Jilong Mountain near Jiufen

Heading back down Jilong Mountain into Jiufen

Looking south, there's Jilong Mountain (the highest point - left center) viewed from the coast

Here's a view looking out to sea from the same area as the previous photo. This is a section of the northeast coast between Jiufen and Keelung

Kaohsiung English

WHAT kind of line is this???

Recently StudioClassroom sent English consultants/judges to Kaohsiung. This is one of the many mistakes we found. Fortunately, we got this one changed :)

Liz and Buddy

I'm jealous. Liz has a new white boyfriend :)

Yilan (宜蘭) Students

With students from one of my English classes in Yilan. I take the train from Taipei to Yilan at least once every other week to teach there. It takes almost two hours. That might seem long - but it goes along a nice, scenic route of Taiwan's northeast coast.

Who Put That Flag There...?

... it wasn't there last year

(Willis Archer was seen in the area - click to see photo here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philandlizarcher/547719935/in/set-72157600355752931/)

Latest Vietnam Trip

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to the Da Nang/Hoi An area in Central Vietnam. This time, we brought along more of our ORTV colleagues. To see more photos from this trip, please visit our Flickr page Central Vietnam album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philandlizarcher/sets/72157600355752931


Ready to go. Liz, Yvonne, Cindy, Linda and Lynn at the airport

Shopping for clothes in Hoi An.

Liz and Yvonne display some of the impressive results

The son of our favorite tailor, Lien in Hoi An

To not attract any unwanted attention, Lynn tries to conceal her identity and the fact that she's now a millionaire in Vietnam

Cindy and Lynn enjoy some good Vietnamese food

I set out on a trip of my own up to Khe Sanh. While making a roadside "pit stop", I noticed this sign. Go into the bushes to get out of sight (I thought)... uh, maybe not... I'll just stay near the roadside with my back to the traffic :)

Why did the ducks cross the road?...
I don't know... perhaps they were migrating south for winter... or maybe they were just trying to block traffic :)

Kids having breakfast by the roadside on their way to school in Khe Sanh. Nice uniforms. Some even have cute little blue "Boy Scout" hats (like the one on the left) :)

Vietnamese coffee is great. Here it grows on the former airstrip of the old U.S. base at Khe Sanh


Here are some of the local farmers working on the plantation there

On the way back from Khe Sanh, at "The Rockpile" - a mountain that was used by the U.S. Army for observation and artillery spotting in the area

View of the Marble Mountains from the beach north of the resort where we stayed (The Sandy Beach Resort)

View from the top of Marble Mountain

Taking it easy up on the mountain

Our friend, Hai at his English school in Da Nang

Penghu (澎湖) Trip

With Hazel and students after an English activity at Penghu Technical College. In the foreground, is our host and their teacher, Professor Wang (Photo: Jason Lin)

With some of the students (Photo: Jason Lin)

With a cute boy near the cross-island bridge (Photo: Jason Lin)

Jason is impressed by the Whale Cave (鯨魚洞)

The beautiful ocean next to the Whale Cave

Reflection on the water (Photo: Jason Lin)

New "Sunshine Singer" album cover

At Baliyuan (巴里園) a coffee shop/restaurant run by this very nice lady - one of my mother-in-law's friends in Makung, Penghu. She made us feel right at home. :)

Jason makes a fashion statement

Watch out for the sea creatures! (Photo: Jason Lin)