We left Taiwan...so sad to go, because Chau's cousins have been really great to us! Taipei was a very cool city and we had tons of fun there...in fact, this was the first place in our whole trip where most of the fun we had was on land!

We're on our way to Thailand now...it's scary with just the three of us...if something breaks, we have to rely on Chau (our other engineer) to fix it...Chau is unlike TJ in that he sleeps...usually every night, for like 6 to 8 hours or more!! TJ, on the other hand, sleeps for about 15 minutes a day. I don't know how she does it.

It's been really quiet at night without the usual "Splashes!! I hear splashes!" coming through the intercom. That's actually a good thing. Whoever let TJ see U-571 should be shot.

We're not in Thailand yet. Wah. The end.

Very sad day, we are losing TJ soon to New York. But we're all keeping our fingers crossed that she'll return to us in India with news that she's ditched the WB/TNT whatever crazy teen network and will be working for the Discovery Channel, or catching king crab for us.


We finished partying last night...you can see all the crazy canned food we had...not many chefs among us. It was much fun though. We'll be here throughout tomorrow, then we're taking off to Thailand.  I'm crazy nervous about pirates around these parts...especially since the bird flu is around and they all have parrots (ALL of them) So I've been keeping in touch with Rick at the navy base in Guam. He thinks I'm either paranoid or interested in him. haha.

TJ went to train at a dojo today so we're calling her "the great white ninja the prophecy warned you about" - you should do the same... I called TBS and they said that nickname is "very funny" and I should have a giggle or two about it.

It's not 2:45, no, it's 4:45 in the morning...I haven't partied like this since college...and since I'm 105, that was about 85 years ago. 105 year olds should really treat themselves better than I do.

Awww, cute little Taiwanese birds!
Upon our approach to the east coast of Taiwan, these birds started swearing at us. They flipped us the middle feather and then started spitting avian flu everywhere in our direction. So we threw our brown tree snakes at them to counteract their powers and eventually, we won the universe!!

Really though, whenever I tell people I'm cruising around Asia, I get "Don't get the avian flu!" Dude, lemme shed some light on the avian flu. First of all, for the time being, it's only passed on from birds to people, so we've resisted taking birds on board and playing with their feces. It is also mandatory that we innoculate the Westender and clean the ever lovin bird poo out of it before we leave port. We're also not docking near land...which makes arrival to the island interesting...and increases the threat of piracy.

As for pirates, they are no longer allowed to carry parrots on their shoulders, and if they do, the parrots must receive the avian flu vaccine.

As for our boat in reality, air travel is much more dangerous as far as passing disease than is boat travel. Think about it - it would take weeks for us to come all the way back to the US, and by that time, you think we'd already know if we were infected. We also have the sneaking suspicion that the cure to the avian flu is tequiza...and if that is so, I'm all set and TJ will die. hah.

I'm just sad that I'm missing all the mockery of this on the Colbert Report...I bet that's a funny show.