Taipei – I love this city!
Ni hao ma? That’s ‘how are you?’ in Mandarin. Hope you guys are all doing well. We are in my home country Taiwan! It feels very nice to be back at my second home, especially having been on the road for exactly 6 months now. Yes, 6 months, can you believe it? We are halfway through our trip already. Besides enjoying the comforts of being at home and seeing my family, I am also having a blast hanging out with my 1.5 year old niece. Excuse me if I sound like a proud parent, but she’s so smart and adorable. Even Eug can’t stop smiling and laughing whenever she’s around. She looks like a mini version of my brother but much girlier. She seems to have a great talent in always finding new ways to amuse you. And she’s able to order Eug around by just pointing her fingers here and there. I definitely need to learn from her.
We did the usual Taipei must-dos, like eat xiao long bao (soup dumplings) at Din Tai Fung; walk around Taipei 101 and Sogo area; and of course karaoke and hang out with friends. But since we had more time than the typical 5-7 day visits before we decided to check out some tourist attractions in the nearby suburbs such as Jiu Fen and Yilan, and drive around the entire island to visit other cities that I never got to visit before.
My god brother Aven took us to Jiu Fen, a small area on top of a short mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean and surrounding small islands. The narrow paths of the ‘Old Streets’ (picture above) have not changed since Aven was there 5 years ago, and from the looks of it, Eug can guarantee that it hasn’t changed since 30 years ago. But that’s exactly the point. Besides the endless food vendors, most people come to Jiu Fen to drink tea. Most of the tea shops have an ocean view and you can make tea the right way (which is the long way) before drinking it. We did exactly that, and it was quite interesting. We bought a small bag of ‘Jin Shuen’ tea leaves, and that came with unlimited hot water and a complete tea set. Our friendly young tea waiter showed us how to make tea for the first time. He skilfully poured the hot water all over the tea set to clean and rinse the set (I said skilfully because later when Eug and Aven tried to do the same thing, the hot water spilled everywhere), then proceeded to make the tea. He then rested the small teapot on the edge of the set and made circles around the set a few times to signify ‘Welcome’. He used the first pour as the smell-test by pouring the tea into the slender and taller tea cup for us to hold and roll between our palms and then smell. It was very very hot. And finally we were able to drink our freshly brewed tea from the regular small tea cups. It was very relaxing to chill in the mountain and enjoy the flavourful Taiwan grown tea.
We also did a day trip to Yilan, a city about half an hour away to the east of Taipei. This is where our friends in Taipei go surfing. We found a nice stretch of black sand beach and saw a handful of locals taking surfing lessons or just surfing on their own. It was surprising to see so many of my peeps surfing. As we watched them for a bit, I was quite proud of both those who caught every wave and those who caught none yet never stopped trying. Maybe it’s because they were opposing the stereotype of Chinese people not doing many sports. Bravo to my fellow country mates!
Another highlight was going to see Boyz II Men concert. Thanks to Jen (my best friend since elementary school) who got us the concert tickets. They were awesome! Eug wasn’t used to people sitting down at concerts and tried to set an example by standing up, dancing and screaming on top of his lungs. It kind of worked. Boyz II Men said they love Taipei!
Taipei is much more relaxed compared to Hong Kong. And people seem to be smiling more here too. They are also way more willing to help when you need help. Hong Kong may offer everything you can possibly want but Taipei has that charm that you have no choice but to fall in love with. As much as Eug makes fun of Taiwan, he does like it enough that he came to ‘love boat’ (a Taiwan government program for overseas Chinese youths to learn Mandarin and Taiwan culture) twice when he was still in school, that’s two full summers. Since he couldn’t get his Hong Kong ID, he will try to be Taiwanese to get a Tai Bao Cheng (Taiwan ID) to make it easier to visit China. Stay tuned for Eug becoming Taiwanese. One faux pas is to ask Taiwanese if they are blue or green (kind of like asking Americans if they’re Democrat or Republican). It will lead to a passionate and endless political conversation without them answering your first question. That’s because the Taiwanese love Taiwan and really care about her, and to be honest, so do we. We love Taiwan! Peace Peace!
Hong Kong – I Love This City!
Since the first time I touched down at the old Hong Kong airport as I child, I have been fascinated by this place. The question is why? After thinking about it during our past 9 days here, I’ve tried to come up with some answers for myself.
First there are the obvious; this place is a shopper’s paradise. There is something for everyone, and no matter what time of day it is here the consumers are always on the prowl, dangerously keeping you in the shopping vibe. I’ve been the victim of Hong Kong’s shopping culture many a time, buying things from the likes of Marc Jacobs and Shanghai Tang and returning home, never to wear them. We haven’t really shopped at all for the past 5 months but we willingly succumbed here.
This place is also a foodie’s paradise. I admit I am partial to Cantonese cuisine as that’s what I was raised on, and no where does it better than HK. This is my favourite place to enjoy the bounty of the sea, as the seafood is as fresh as it gets. We had a meal in Sai Kung where we were picking our live shrimp, fish, shellfish and a bunch of other things that I don’t know the English name for right from the tanks out in front of the restaurant. A few minutes later they were on the table, piping hot, uniquely prepared, and absolutely delicious. All over the streets you can find great noodles, BBQs, congees, the list is endless. And that’s just the Cantonese offerings. There are also fantastic options from all other regions of China and the world. We had a wicked steak dinner of imported Wagyu beef at a steakhouse in Central. We also had a couple great Japanese meals, and if time allowed I’m sure I could have added every great cuisine to that list of tasty meals available in HK. A lot of the big New York, Paris and Tokyo chefs have opened restaurants here, and it’s no secret why. Oh and two more words: Dim Sum. Nuff said.
In my opinion Hong Kong also has the most beautiful high rise skyline in the world. Nowhere is this more noticeable than when you’re at the Peak looking down, or on the ferry in Victoria harbour looking at the Hong Kong side buildings. The modern architecture is stunning here, and every time we come back there are new design gems somewhere to be found. This time it was The Upper House on top of the Marriot hotel. The contemporariness of the design and architecture is part of the reason this city feels really international in comparison to other neighbouring cities (like Taipei haha).
Ok those were the easy ones that can apply to everyone. Now for the ones that are more personal to me.
My parents roamed these streets as children and youths, and my mom especially really enjoyed her time here. My grandparents on my mother’s side also love this city. From my childhood to present day they would tell stories about their life in HK. All the stories were of happy times and good experiences, so that must have rubbed off on me somehow.
During my university years I spent at least a couple weeks every summer here, and some of the best times I’ve ever had were during those summers. There were first the days of Manhattan and ING when we would go on Thursday nights to try to get the girls to get us free drinks (Ladies could drink free on Thursdays). Then the days of raving took over in the late 90s, and yes they were awesome. In the early 2000s everyone started to have high paying jobs and everyone worked around Central, so our Lan Kwai Fong (the nightlife district) days really hit their full stride at this time. We always hung out in LKF since my first year of university in 1997, but we were students with student budgets. By 2001 and on, most of my friends here were young investment bankers on top of the world, which translated into a lot of fun in the clubs of LKF. I will also include the quintessential karaoke nights in Causeway bay into the night life mix as well. Yes I admit it, though I wasn’t much of a singer, the right mix of nostalgic songs and drunk friends made for great evenings (which usually morphed into mornings). My tribute to that would be our above picture. For those in the know, Di and I are singing the Jacky Cheung and Regine duet “In Love With You”. I am also trying to re-rock the middle part hairstyle for this pic.
We were here for 9 days because we had to apply for our China and Indian Visas, and the Indian Visa took 8 days. During the past 9 days we have pretty much met up with a different group of friends every night. It’s great to return to a city where you still have a lot of good friends, most of whom are from Vancouver and/or went to UBC with me. Those university days were fun for everyone, but it’s pretty hard to not have fun as a student, especially when the bulk of us were lucky enough to travel halfway around the world during our summers just to play. Now that everyone is kind of “grown up” my friends that moved here are all succeeding. And when I use that term succeeding I don’t only mean in a professional manner, most have great personal lives as well and are very happy people. Coming to a place where everyone made it really ups your opinion of that city.
Though the Middle East and Africa are amazing, I am extremely happy to be back in Asia. It’s nice to be in a metropolis where everything works, seemingly as efficiently as humanly possible in comparison to most of the places we’ve been. I feel like that old woman paying with a cheque at a grocery store when I use cash here to pay for something at a 7-11 as everyone just uses their instant-pay Octopus card. There’s also a definite entrepreneurial spirit in this city; a spirit that I haven’t felt anywhere else in our travels. Cities like Istanbul and Cairo have their unique versions of energy, but it’s definitely different than here. Also compared to our previous destinations, Hong Kong is refreshingly very secular. It’s nice not having to talk about religion after 4 months of having it in your face.
Being in unfamiliar cities for the past 5 months has made me really appreciate returning to a place where I don’t need a map, guide book, or translator. Apart from Calgary (my hometown) I can’t say I’ve visited a city as much as Hong Kong since 1996, the year I left home. This gave me the luxury of watching its evolution (albeit as an oft- returning tourist and not as a citizen) from the handover back to China to present day. Since then the city has had its downs, namely SARS and the financial crisis. However, it has recovered with more energy, spirit, and confidence than ever. It holds on to its heritage, yet is nimble enough to roll with the changes of the world and what’s coming in the future. Hong Kong is punching well above its weight (literally, look at how small this place is), and I’m loving the fact that it is.
I felt like I just wrote a junior high essay on the topic of why I love Hong Kong. Hope I passed.
Dead Sea – the funnest place ever!!
Being in the Dead Sea is probably one of the most fun things in the world. The salinity of the Dead Sea is 31% which is about 9 times higher than the ocean; as a result everything is very buoyant. I was looking forward to floating around in the water because I could never stay afloat by sitting and extending my legs out like most Europeans you see on the Mediterranean. And Eug planned to take Christine and I to a spa by the Dead Sea, which we found out later wasn’t just any spa, it was the Zara Spa at the Movenpick, justifiably renowned as one of the best in the Middle East. It was quite a treat after a few nights of two star hotel stays and camping out in the desert.
We drove our trusty but not so powerful Toyota Yaris from Aqaba to the Dead Sea in three hours on the Dead Sea highway. The landscape turned from all desert to a body of smooth oily blue water. It kind of resembled the road in Hawaii without the tides, and Israel was just on the opposite shore. The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on earth at 408m below sea level, and when we passed by the marker on the highway that indicated we were below sea level I started to get excited. We were ecstatic when we saw the Movenpick sign emerging on the side of the highway. We first went to the private beach at the back of the hotel and self administered a mud wrap by covering ourselves with mud from a big clay pot next to the water. The Dead Sea mud contains high concentrations of minerals including calcium and magnesium, which have health-giving properties. It was funny seeing everyone patting and rubbing mud on themselves. It reminded me of Mystique in X-men but in mud colour. Even Eug got into it. He covered his face with mud too which Christine and I didn’t dare to. Then we all jumped into the Dead Sea. It’s so amusing when you just can’t sink in water! The very first thing I tried was extending my legs out and sitting in the water like the Europeans. I could finally do it! We also tried to stand straight holding a pencil dive pose but it was impossible to hold that position for long. We ended up bouncing awkwardly sideways back to a floating position, kind of like that inflatable toy with a weight in the bottom that keeps reverting to its starting position after you punch it. We also tried sitting crossed legged, which was fairly easy to do. Christine and I tried some synchronized swimming poses, but it turned out Eug was the best at that (jk). I tried the Bikram airplane pose, super fun. I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing the whole time. If you haven’t been to the Dead Sea yet, you must! It is 3 million years old but it has shrunk by 30% in recent years, about half a meter per year which means it’s disappearing. I must give credit to Christine for being a real trooper. She had all kinds of wounds on her body from the days before but she sucked it all up and spent as much time in the salty water as we did and had a blast too. It must’ve stung like hell for her. One of the life guards (not sure why they were there since you couldn’t possibly drown in the Dead Sea) even called her to the side at the end and bandaged up her wounds. We then tried all the spa pools. There were three indoor Dead Sea pools, one aqua-pressure pool, foot-massage pool, and one gorgeous infinity pool with a view of the sunset. We spent about 4 hours in the spa altogether, it was a relaxing haven.
We headed back to Amman after the Dead Sea spa. Christine’s friend hooked us up with a pimp suite at a very reasonable rate, which wrapped up our Jordan journey very nicely. She decided to stay in Amman for one more day to hang out with her friend and meet us in Israel the next day. So Christine’s story continues. Thankfully Eug and I had a very boring border crossing to Israel (we were told we would have trouble since we had Syrian and Lebanese stamps in our passport) compared to Christine’s. The next day, we were waiting for her at our hospice in Jerusalem when we received an email from her saying ‘You guys go ahead and don’t wait around for me; they evacuated the entire border crossing building, it might take awhile’. I thought ‘uh oh… that doesn’t sound good’. Because when we were in Aqaba, a Taiwanese mom restaurant owner told us that three Taiwanese boys were scared out of their minds when they couldn’t tell the custom officer what was in one of the bags their friend asked them to bring back for him. The next thing you know, they blew up the bag without trying to find out what was inside. When Christine finally made her way to us, we found out that they evacuated the building because of the purse her friend gave her in Amman. It was a Thomas Wylde purse with tons of studded metal skull heads. I guess the border security people couldn’t identify what they were looking at through the x-ray machine, so they called Christine in after evacuating and questioned her for awhile. Luckily they didn’t blow up her purse.
Christine should really write a book about her 2 week adventure with us. I hope it’ll be smooth sailing for her from now on.
Our poor friend Christine
Christine arrived in Amman, Jordan on a long, 2 day connecting flight from Vancouver ready to spend 2 weeks with us on our adventure. I think she’s regretting coming already.
The first place the 3 of us went to was Jerash, an old Roman town about an hour north of Amman. Though the ruins are quite nice, I think Di and I are pretty happy that they are the last ones we’ll see on this trip as collectively we’ve seen more than 15. Anyways, in the Roman theatre the last step, about one inch high, is of different height than the rest of the steps. Christine missed this as we were coming down, resulting in her falling and rolling on the ground on her first day here. Her knee and hand were quite scraped up but after she got up and dusted herself off we were all able to laugh as it honestly looked pretty funny. It was a really slow fall and roll, so she called it her slow-motion-fail.
The next morning we rented a car really early and drove to Petra, the ancient rose-red city that is the highlight of anyone’s trip to Jordan. The Nabataeans, who built it, were an Arab tribe who settled in the region and were able to generate massive wealth through controlling the lucrative trade routes of the desert caravans. They also had control of water supplies through innovative hydraulic engineering, creating an artificial oasis that only added to their prosperity. This wealth enabled them to cut this beautiful city out of rock, a city that is now on everyone’s list of “places you must see before you die”. This was my second time here, and this time was equally as fascinating, if not better than the last. The only thing that was worse was the preposterous entrance fee which is currently 33 JD (about 50 USD) but will be rising to 50 JD (70 USD) in November of this year. I think since they’ve been voted on that ridiculous list of “The New 7 Wonders” they’ve raised the prices significantly.
About a kilometre after you pass the entrance gates of Petra you hit the Siq. The canyon-like Siq is 1.2 km long, with walls up to 200 m high on either side. At parts the width of the path between the walls is only 2 metres. Technically it’s not a canyon as it’s a block that’s been ripped apart by tectonic forces. Either way it’s my favourite part of Petra and as you emerge from the darkness of its looming walls your first sight is the Treasury (pictured above), bathed in daylight and absolutely stunning. The treasury is Petra’s signature building, and seeing it as you come out of the Siq is Petra’s most ethereal experience. I actually enjoyed it more the second time because I knew what was coming and the anticipation of it approaching was pretty exciting, unlike my first time when I had no idea how long the Siq was or what was at the other end of it. Way at the other end of the city about a 2 hour hike away (over 800 steps uphill are involved) is the Monastery, Petra’s second most famous building. The Treasury was used in Indiana Jones and the Monastery was used most recently in Transformers 2. The plan was to walk from the Siq to the Monastery and back, admiring all the other amazing structures in between. Christine (a high powered lawyer in a famous downtown firm who is not used to walking) wanted to hire a donkey to cover the distance. Di and I did not want donkeys, so being the team player that Christine is she decided to try this crazy thing called hiking. Much to our delight she made it all the way to the Monastery! We stayed there for about an hour to take pictures, drink water, and rest before making our way back down. All in all, we were probably hiking for at least 5 hours. Unfortunately all this walking created a massive blister on the sole of Christine’s foot, and she decided not to tell us.
The next morning we drove down to Wadi Rum, a desert made famous by TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). I actually like it more than the Sahara due to its amazing landscape and colour. Here large sandstone and granite mountains emerge from the pinkish desert, with wide sandy valleys separating these pillars. It reminded me of the limestone islands of Asia (Halong Bay or Krabi or Palawan), except you replace the ocean with sand and the limestone islands with these sandstone ones. When we arrived, Bedouins met us and took us around in 4x4s for the day to different attractions in the desert. One of these attractions was a natural bridge that you could hike up to. The Bedouin guide told us to take off our sandals to walk as the slope was quite steep and would be better walked barefoot. Christine, though scared of heights, was a good sport and did exactly as she was asked (though deep down I’m pretty sure she wasn’t so thrilled about it). Unfortunately, the hill was a little rough and it cut open her blister. Imagine having an open blister on your foot while you’re in the sand-filled desert. Yes it would suck. She kept it together and that night we slept on mattresses underneath the countless stars with no tent in the middle of the desert. I actually really enjoyed it as it was warm (unlike the Sahara) and I decided to listen to old songs and reminisce (think R&B songs from the mid-late 90s, I think my haircut from Barbie in Kuwait got me in the mood) while all the other people were sleeping.
The next morning we awoke and drove to the town of Aqaba on the Red Sea. By this time Christine could barely walk as her blister was filled with sand (and looking pretty nasty if you ask me). So we went to a pharmacy where the pharmacist, a 250 pound dude, asked her to sit down so he could clean her wound before bandaging her. For the next 20 minutes, he was my new hero. First he told her to put her foot on his lap, and then he proceeded to tear off the tape that Christine had on covering her blister. She was in obvious pain while he was slowly peeling this off, and as she was gasping he looked up at her and told her to ”stop being such a baby”. Immediately I started to like this guy. After this he wiped the wound with iodine which elicited a larger pain response from her. Di ran over to hold her hand, and the pharmacist looked at Di disapprovingly and said “she’s not having a baby”. Awesome! He then proceeded to bandage everything up really nicely and when he was done he finally smiled and started to joke around. I would love to be able to be that stern with my patients in certain situations, but alas that would not fly in North America. After this Christine went back to the hotel to rest while Di and I did some spectacular snorkelling in the Red Sea.
Now we’re off to the Dead Sea before heading to Israel. Christine, who is walking with a significant limp, still has about 9 days left with us. Let’s see if we can keep the remaining parts of her body injury free.
A little something from home…
Our friend Christine brought a surprise for us from one of our best friends at home. Along with it came a little note:
Tapas, Tapas, Tapas
I have to talk about the food we had in Seville. We ate nothing but tapas every meal, and I think I want to return to Spain just to do an eating tour! 2 restaurants completely blew us away. One was called Eslava, we just happened to walk by and drop in as it opened. Luckily we did, because in 15 minutes it was packed. We later realized that it was michelin rated though the bill would never indicate that. Between the 4 of us we spent 8 Euros each and we were full. The other one was called Vineria San Telmo. This restaurant was truly spectacular. We let the waitress pick out 5 tapas for the 2 of us, and all 5 were amazing. Wash it down with a glass of sherry or Tinto de Verano (Di’s newfound love) and you have a perfect meal. Julia Child once said “Tapas are reason enough to go to Seville”. You add that to everything else this city has to offer, and you get a destination that you can’t afford to miss.
“Seville is a pleasant city, famous for oranges and women” – Lord Byron
The remaining 4 of us took a 5 hour bus ride from Lagos in Portugal to Seville in Spain yesterday. Seville is the capital of Andalusia, the southern region of Spain. For the fans of opera, it is home to Don Juan (Don Giovanni), Carmen and Figaro. It is also said to be home of the famous Spanish hallmarks bullfighting, flamenco and tapas. It is an absolutely beautiful and charming city.
Sagres – The End of the World
We’ve spent the last 3 days surfing in a town called Sagres, at the very south western tip of Portugal in the region known as the Algarve. It was once known as o fim do mundo (the end of the world). It was from here that Prince Henry the Navigator launched Portugal on the seas of exploration in the early 1400s. Vasco da Gama, one of Portugal’s most well known figures, reached India in 1498 and was thus able to dominate the Indian Ocean and all its trade. By the early 1500s Portugal became the first of the great European maritime empires. Ok enough with the history lesson.
Even with all that history from this town, you don’t feel any of it at all here. Sagres is now a full on resort town with a dominant surf culture. The bars lining the main strip (of 2 blocks) serve burgers and play Bob Marley, just like any other surf town in the world. When you go to the beaches, the parking lots are filled with Volkswagon Campers. As the sun rises, long haired European surfer dudes emerge from the cabins. This being low season, it seems like only the hardcore surfers are here. You hear an equal mix of German, English, Spanish and Portugese when the surfers talk to each other. We seem to be the only novices catching waves (or more like the white wash) out here. The temperature is definitely not warm and we’re all surfing in wetsuits, but it’s been awesome. Supposedly it’s packed here in the summers with people from all over Europe who like to bask in the sun. I’m glad we’ve spent the low season here though because the beaches are empty and there’s tons of room to practice our surfing. Tomorrow we part ways with Andrea and Sherman as they head to London. Ron left to France this morning, and the remaining 4 of us will head to Spain. It’s been fun Portugal!
Best Egg Tart Ever!
We've been in Portugal for a week and a half now, we haven't been wow'ed by any particular food we tried, except for the Portugese egg tart from the Pasteis de Belem. They are served warm, with just the right crunchiness on the outside and the perfect silky smooth texture on the inside. The filling is not too heavy nor too bland. The secret to enhance the taste is the powdered sugar and cinnamon powder that you can add on after. I miss the po tat already!
Time to surf
We have our new passports! We picked them up yesterday morning at the Canadian embassy. They’re just temporary passports but when we go to Morocco our permanent ones should be waiting for us at the Canadian embassy there. Unfortunately the weather in Lisbon was terrible yesterday, so we basically spent the day in coffee shops and restaurants. The highlight of the day, apart from getting our passports, was checking out a fado performance. Someone we met told us it was a style of music characterized by mournful tunes and melancholy lyrics, or Portugese emo he called it. There was a singer, a classical guitarist, a Portugese guitarist and a bass. To be honest the music was moving, powerful and beautiful and if you can you should youtube a fado performance to see what I’m talking about. Phil wants me to say that the singers voices were almost as sultry as his. It was a good way to end off our Lisbon leg of the trip.
fromwonderintowonder 
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