South Taiwan
08/06/10 17:18
Cindy and I just wrapped up a 5 day trip on the southern half of Taiwan. I’ll share some of the details now.
墾丁
The trip started with a day and a half in paradise at a chateau with private sandy beaches in Kenting. Cindy’s dad was rewarding a few of his research assistants for their hard work with a day at this resort and as a VIP I was allowed to tag along. After a full day relaxing on the beach and floating lazily in the warm ocean currents we all went out together to walk the main drag of Kenting towards a famous American-style restaurant. Because in Asia western food is, to me, synonymous with “expensive versions of food I can get back home” I typically avoid those joints but as this decision was not mine to make I joined along. Boy oh boy did Smokey Joe’s blow my mind.
The first appetizer we got out was a Mexican-styled plate of fries with chili, jalapenos, and sour cream. The moment that sour cream began its seductive dance down my tongue I realized, my god, it had been half a year since my last sour-cream slathered burrito and I missed them so much. After that the other appetizers were good I’m sure but to be honest I can’t remember on account of my mind being BLOWN by the full rack of ribs we devoured as the main course. To be critical, they were not as succulent as the best ribs I’ve had at barbeque houses in the Southwest but, hey, outside of this joint were the cool ocean breezes of southern Taiwan and not the oven-brick gusts of Arizona. So, when the ribs were as good as they were, all things considered, I was in heaven.
We finished up the night walking across the street from Smokey Joe’s for a few after-dinner brews at a beach-front bar.
Day 2 brought more relaxation time after an incredible buffet breakfast that saw me stuffing my face with Chinese bacon, fried eggs, and coffee. Cindy, her dad, two of the RAs, and I signed up for a little kayak paddling out to the ocean. We went out to some point where the guide tried explaining the natural landmarks around the bay. But as I only understood about 25% of what was said, I stopped paying attention and started thinking of ways to annoy Cindy with rocking the boat and spinning in the waves.
Another amazing lunch, a quick stop at the aquarium, and the trip in Kenting seemed to be over as soon as it started. We all packed in the car and played a few more games of 20 questions to napping Cindy’s disdain on the way to Gaoxiong (disclaimer: that is the pinyin spelling of the characters, I can’t remember the official name in Taiwan’s English version).
高雄
Gaoxiong is still a working port town and, while not as bustling as Taipei, still came equipped with an incredibly efficient and convenient metro system and hosted a few nice night market streets and restaurants. Most of the places we wanted to see in this city involved us just walking around -- through bridges on Love River, around the paths in Central Park, and along the beaches on the campus of the National Sun Yat-sen University. At NSYSU, we napped on the beach to wait for the sun to set and to give us time to while digest the unfathomable amount of dimsum we had eaten for lunch.
台南
In the middle of the 17th century, the Dutch, in their expansion as a worldwide presence in the trading industry, established a base in the city of Tainan as the base of their operations in East Asia. This is a nice little link between the history of my and Cindy’s ancestors. This is also what brought us to come visit the old port city. There are a few remains of the old Dutch outposts in the form of preserved bastions, fortress walls, and foundations.
The weather was amazing as Cindy and I doddled around in the forts that passed through Dutch, Imperial Chinese, Japanese, and modern Chinese hands. And aside from the historic cites we went on a tour of all the famous food joints in the city. I heartily approve of all of them.
墾丁
The trip started with a day and a half in paradise at a chateau with private sandy beaches in Kenting. Cindy’s dad was rewarding a few of his research assistants for their hard work with a day at this resort and as a VIP I was allowed to tag along. After a full day relaxing on the beach and floating lazily in the warm ocean currents we all went out together to walk the main drag of Kenting towards a famous American-style restaurant. Because in Asia western food is, to me, synonymous with “expensive versions of food I can get back home” I typically avoid those joints but as this decision was not mine to make I joined along. Boy oh boy did Smokey Joe’s blow my mind.
The first appetizer we got out was a Mexican-styled plate of fries with chili, jalapenos, and sour cream. The moment that sour cream began its seductive dance down my tongue I realized, my god, it had been half a year since my last sour-cream slathered burrito and I missed them so much. After that the other appetizers were good I’m sure but to be honest I can’t remember on account of my mind being BLOWN by the full rack of ribs we devoured as the main course. To be critical, they were not as succulent as the best ribs I’ve had at barbeque houses in the Southwest but, hey, outside of this joint were the cool ocean breezes of southern Taiwan and not the oven-brick gusts of Arizona. So, when the ribs were as good as they were, all things considered, I was in heaven.
We finished up the night walking across the street from Smokey Joe’s for a few after-dinner brews at a beach-front bar.
Day 2 brought more relaxation time after an incredible buffet breakfast that saw me stuffing my face with Chinese bacon, fried eggs, and coffee. Cindy, her dad, two of the RAs, and I signed up for a little kayak paddling out to the ocean. We went out to some point where the guide tried explaining the natural landmarks around the bay. But as I only understood about 25% of what was said, I stopped paying attention and started thinking of ways to annoy Cindy with rocking the boat and spinning in the waves.
Another amazing lunch, a quick stop at the aquarium, and the trip in Kenting seemed to be over as soon as it started. We all packed in the car and played a few more games of 20 questions to napping Cindy’s disdain on the way to Gaoxiong (disclaimer: that is the pinyin spelling of the characters, I can’t remember the official name in Taiwan’s English version).
高雄
Gaoxiong is still a working port town and, while not as bustling as Taipei, still came equipped with an incredibly efficient and convenient metro system and hosted a few nice night market streets and restaurants. Most of the places we wanted to see in this city involved us just walking around -- through bridges on Love River, around the paths in Central Park, and along the beaches on the campus of the National Sun Yat-sen University. At NSYSU, we napped on the beach to wait for the sun to set and to give us time to while digest the unfathomable amount of dimsum we had eaten for lunch.
台南
In the middle of the 17th century, the Dutch, in their expansion as a worldwide presence in the trading industry, established a base in the city of Tainan as the base of their operations in East Asia. This is a nice little link between the history of my and Cindy’s ancestors. This is also what brought us to come visit the old port city. There are a few remains of the old Dutch outposts in the form of preserved bastions, fortress walls, and foundations.
The weather was amazing as Cindy and I doddled around in the forts that passed through Dutch, Imperial Chinese, Japanese, and modern Chinese hands. And aside from the historic cites we went on a tour of all the famous food joints in the city. I heartily approve of all of them.
Taipei 101
31/05/10 08:54
Our friend David, who’s studying at UA, is home in Taipei for a few weeks during summer vacation and offered to be our guide to the city for a long weekend.
Anyway, David had a really full itinerary for our stay there and I am going to copy his summary then see if I can recall everything in English.
Day 1:
台北車站 - the train station
三圓號魯肉飯 - a restaurant
忠烈祠 - 故宮 -
圓山大飯店 -
50嵐 - the best boba tea I had in Taipei
福勝亭 -
波斯王子 -
美麗華摩天輪 -
Day 2:
85度西 - Taiwan’s answer to Starbucks. More affordable and better tasting
福華飯店Dim Sun - ... Dim sum -- and I didn’t even get loose bowels from it!
自由廣場 -
總統府 -
華西街(蛇湯套餐, 綜合豆花, 苦茶) -
龍山寺 -
士林夜市(蚵仔煎, 青蛙下蛋, 豪大大雞排, 鹽水雞, 十全大排骨, 白甘蔗汁, 阿宗麵線, 義式冰淇淋) - Shilin Night Market... an amazing place with an amazing variety of amazing food.
情人坡 -
Day 3:
原味屋泰式料理(月亮蝦餅, 蝦醬空心菜, 咖哩牛肉 - 泰式打拋雞) -
85度西 - have to start out with coffee every day for health reasons
101觀景台 -
八里左岸(孔雀蛤, 兩個好, 花枝丸) -
淡水老街(Mister Donut, 蝦酥, 杏仁豆腐, 李炳輝Massage, 阿給, 阿婆酸梅湯, 雞蛋丸) -
漁人碼頭 -
新北投溫泉 -
McDonald's - hey... none of us are proud of it but sometimes you just really need some french fries.
85度西 - 涼麵 - 臭豆腐 - 光華商場 - 音悅音響 - 西門町 - 台北車站
Anyway, David had a really full itinerary for our stay there and I am going to copy his summary then see if I can recall everything in English.
Day 1:
台北車站 - the train station
三圓號魯肉飯 - a restaurant
忠烈祠 - 故宮 -
圓山大飯店 -
50嵐 - the best boba tea I had in Taipei
福勝亭 -
波斯王子 -
美麗華摩天輪 -
Day 2:
85度西 - Taiwan’s answer to Starbucks. More affordable and better tasting
福華飯店Dim Sun - ... Dim sum -- and I didn’t even get loose bowels from it!
自由廣場 -
總統府 -
華西街(蛇湯套餐, 綜合豆花, 苦茶) -
龍山寺 -
士林夜市(蚵仔煎, 青蛙下蛋, 豪大大雞排, 鹽水雞, 十全大排骨, 白甘蔗汁, 阿宗麵線, 義式冰淇淋) - Shilin Night Market... an amazing place with an amazing variety of amazing food.
情人坡 -
Day 3:
原味屋泰式料理(月亮蝦餅, 蝦醬空心菜, 咖哩牛肉 - 泰式打拋雞) -
85度西 - have to start out with coffee every day for health reasons
101觀景台 -
八里左岸(孔雀蛤, 兩個好, 花枝丸) -
淡水老街(Mister Donut, 蝦酥, 杏仁豆腐, 李炳輝Massage, 阿給, 阿婆酸梅湯, 雞蛋丸) -
漁人碼頭 -
新北投溫泉 -
McDonald's - hey... none of us are proud of it but sometimes you just really need some french fries.
85度西 - 涼麵 - 臭豆腐 - 光華商場 - 音悅音響 - 西門町 - 台北車站
中興
27/05/10 07:44
I went to the batting cages today in the city around 中興 college. I don’t know how hot it was outside but I am going to say it was basically as humid as earthly possible without actually raining. I managed to bat most of thee 100km/hr and 110km/hr baseballs well enough -- surprising to even me in view of how long it has been since I wasn’t swinging at a lobbed softball. More surprising was how much sweat I was able to squeeze out of my body out in those cages. Sweat was splashing onto my glasses after every swing, my shirt became heavy on my chest and my shorts had to be rolled twice at the waist for how much they expanded with weight and water, and the sweat came out so heavily down my arms and onto my hands that I nearly threw the baseball bat down the line at the pitching machine.
That was note quite like the heat I experience in Arizona.
I also think it is official that I can consider myself addicted to the boba milk tea here. It runs just under a US dollar, is larger than the servings available in Arizona, and both tea and boba are twice as tasty. Damn, just thinking about it enough to write here and I am jonesing for more.
That was note quite like the heat I experience in Arizona.
I also think it is official that I can consider myself addicted to the boba milk tea here. It runs just under a US dollar, is larger than the servings available in Arizona, and both tea and boba are twice as tasty. Damn, just thinking about it enough to write here and I am jonesing for more.
First Days in Taiwan
25/05/10 20:06
What a peculiar little island this seems to be; Cindy’s parents live right about in the center of it. She keeps stressing to me that it is just a small town but the downtown seems as big as anything in Tucson (which I used to sort of consider as a big town). We’ve gone walking around to try out a lot of the food she also keeps stressing is so delicious (which I have to agree is fantastic).
There is a quaint blend of Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese, and American influence in this little town where her parents live and I am going to look forward getting to know it better.
There is a quaint blend of Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese, and American influence in this little town where her parents live and I am going to look forward getting to know it better.
Back in Nanjing
24/05/10 20:06
I’m sure most of the reason I have for loving Nanjing is actually loving the time spent with my friends there. I have to think hard about any truly bad experiences in this city. Even looking back to two years ago to what could be considered by many to be a bad day (broke up with girlfriend from home, got hit by car, etc.) and I remember how nice that day actually was.
All the same, coming back to Nanjing was simultaneously comforting and estranging. Much of what I knew of the city had, strangely, remained just as when I left it; I took a taxi to the old apartment at Wutai Huayuan and walked up to the same Beijing Kaoya restaurant on Shanghai Street that I had gone to dozens of times in 2008. But still, many things felt different. Walking through the neighborhoods of Xinjiekou, I realized that the biggest difference between 2008 and now were not with the city but with my perspective.
Two years ago I could only barely understand the simplest phrases in Chinese and would basically stumble around the city relying on friends and the kindness of strangers to help me out. Because of this helplessness and how foreign the city was, in a lot of ways it felt like I was on an amusement ride. Like I was sitting on the boat in Disney World’s Small World, being carried down the stream while strange people sang strange songs at me. But it never felt like my world and I always felt that soon enough the boat would leave the ride and I’d go back to the my world, the ‘’real’’ world.
In the two months I spent in Europe, because it was so much easier for me to be confused with the regular population, I felt like I did blend in. Of course I was a tourist doing most of the touristy things but there were those moments when I would be walking around some downtown, hands in my pockets, looking for something warm to eat that I could feel like I stepped out of my role as a semi-lost Arizonan and more like just another anonymous Berliner, or Budapestian, or Haarlemer stomping around on the asphalt. I think maybe those experiences and the comfort of fitting-in in so many different places is what made it possible for me to do that once I was back in China. For sure, living those 3 months in Xi’an as a regular graduate student and not as a partying foreigner had a hand in that too.
Anyway, Nanjing is still a beautiful city. For all the reasons I loved Berlin I felt the same way towards Nanjing. This city has a long and vivid history that casts a shadow on the future without chaining it to the past. It is modern, growing, and alive but the progress seems at a pace that the city can handle without spinning out of control. Yes ma’am, I do still love Nanjing.
All the same, coming back to Nanjing was simultaneously comforting and estranging. Much of what I knew of the city had, strangely, remained just as when I left it; I took a taxi to the old apartment at Wutai Huayuan and walked up to the same Beijing Kaoya restaurant on Shanghai Street that I had gone to dozens of times in 2008. But still, many things felt different. Walking through the neighborhoods of Xinjiekou, I realized that the biggest difference between 2008 and now were not with the city but with my perspective.
Two years ago I could only barely understand the simplest phrases in Chinese and would basically stumble around the city relying on friends and the kindness of strangers to help me out. Because of this helplessness and how foreign the city was, in a lot of ways it felt like I was on an amusement ride. Like I was sitting on the boat in Disney World’s Small World, being carried down the stream while strange people sang strange songs at me. But it never felt like my world and I always felt that soon enough the boat would leave the ride and I’d go back to the my world, the ‘’real’’ world.
In the two months I spent in Europe, because it was so much easier for me to be confused with the regular population, I felt like I did blend in. Of course I was a tourist doing most of the touristy things but there were those moments when I would be walking around some downtown, hands in my pockets, looking for something warm to eat that I could feel like I stepped out of my role as a semi-lost Arizonan and more like just another anonymous Berliner, or Budapestian, or Haarlemer stomping around on the asphalt. I think maybe those experiences and the comfort of fitting-in in so many different places is what made it possible for me to do that once I was back in China. For sure, living those 3 months in Xi’an as a regular graduate student and not as a partying foreigner had a hand in that too.
Anyway, Nanjing is still a beautiful city. For all the reasons I loved Berlin I felt the same way towards Nanjing. This city has a long and vivid history that casts a shadow on the future without chaining it to the past. It is modern, growing, and alive but the progress seems at a pace that the city can handle without spinning out of control. Yes ma’am, I do still love Nanjing.