anecdotes of my adventures in Taiwan

Hello!

2011-02-19T15:51:00.004+08:00

Dear Potential Employers:

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I have included this link to serve as a writing sample because it is something I am quite proud of. Though I wrote in it as a way to stay connected to my friends and family, it has now established audiences from all over the globe, with people mostly finding the blog via Google. This blog was actively updated - almost everyday (even when I was dead-tired and about to fall into a food coma on my laptop). I was abroad in Taiwan during Summer 2009, for an art museum research internship, as well as Spring 2010, for study abroad.

Writing this blog has not only improved my writing abilities, but it also cultivated my love of playing with words and passion for creative writing. And, of course, I loved writing about all the food I devoured in Taiwan!

With this blog, I hope you can gather a good sense of who I am and my creativity - including writing and photography.

Happy browsing!

honestly,

2010-07-21T06:08:00.002+08:00

it has been pretty hard adjusting to life back in the States. Obviously, there is reverse culture shock, and I miss Taiwan very, very much. I have been at home, now, for about a month and I still can't believe I'm here.. I continue to daydream and keep thinking that I will wake up in Taipei - back on my fake wooden bed frame :p Sighh. Teleportation would certainly be a nice invention.

someday, there's a way. someday, there's a way I know it.

in process.

2010-07-08T15:45:00.001+08:00

Bermuda blog is currently in process :) I've been writing new posts here and there. Check it out: http://lininbermuda.blogspot.com/

where in the world is lin?

2010-07-01T01:12:00.000+08:00

Hello from BERMUDA!!! I arrived here yesterday (Tuesday 6/29), and have fallen completely in love with it.... the chill lifestyle, friendly people, the culture, daily night festivals, the gorgeous turquoise water... everything! Only that I am pooped with a cough + cold and an eye infection in my right eye--or maybe my right eye contact lenses are defective because something does feel a bit odd about them [I think the manufacturer forgot to trim them or something because it looks larger than normal].

I'm thinking about making a blog just for my trip because there is SO much to say about Bermuda. The rich history, mannerisms of the locals, traditions and customs... Bermuda is certainly not just about the beautiful waters and coral reefs! The blog will be published when I return home because I did not bring any of my camera cables, and I'm using my mom's tiny mini-laptop that comes with a tiny keyboard...

In the meantime, I'll just say that we are staying in a cute, cozy inn in St. George parish, which is located at the Northeast tip of Bermuda. We'll be here for 6 days/5 nights. Once my cough is gone, my brother will take us snorkeling and kayaking. I brought a few disposable waterproof cameras, so I will finally have my own photos from underwater adventures!

home.

2010-06-26T11:07:00.002+08:00

Yup, touched down in LA about 4 hours ago. Back to reality. Time to recollect myself, catch up on sleep, and pick up where I left off. Need to get back on track, too, in terms of working out...4 mile runs around the loop, morning Sunday hikes at Crystal Cove, and walk my dogs twice a day.

On a happier note, no more mosquitoes and humidity!!!! For some reason, just this week, I got 6 hideous mosquito bites on my face. I don't understand why they like my nose so much. Oh well. It felt nice to take a deep breath of the air when I stepped out of the airport. Yes, LA is polluted too, but it certainly is not as bad as Taipei. Ahh, the weather is amazing! I just need to open my window and can enjoy the ocean breeze =)

au revoir taipei!

2010-06-25T18:40:00.020+08:00

I had waaaay too much FUN in Taipei (and other travels in Taiwan) this semester. This semester has been an amazing, enlightening, growing, crazy experience. Many memories I will never ever forget. Sounds cliche, yes, but I am so glad I chose to come here to study abroad. I made great friends from all over the globe, ate plenty of goooood food, spent valuable time with my family, improved my Chinese speaking skills (my pronunciation especially), and of course learned a lot about myself. These past four months have undoubtedly been the best four months of my life!

To all my friends and family who have been keeping in touch with me via this blog, thank you for taking the time to do so, I know you get giddy when you receive a newsletter from me :) Most importantly, I thank my parents for particularly letting me to come here. I've never been away from home for this long and thousands of thousands miles away. And thanks to all the other readers who stumbled across my blog...hope this blog helped you somewhat in whatever you were searching for!

From this experience, I truly feel like a changed person. Sounds corny, yes? Haha, but I honestly do! Now I know the feeling of Taiwan's tourism motto "Taiwan touch your heart." I can't wait to be back.

And, as this post is posted to my blog [I am writing for future] at 6:40pm, my plane is preparing for takeoff, and I will be on my way home. See ya later, Taiwan!!!

life is all about FUN :)

2010-06-25T12:35:00.002+08:00

Memories. This semester I.....lost 2.5 toenails. Caught at least four food bugs. Death by fried mozzarella sticks, fried onions, french fries, and fried lemon chicken strips at 3am. Went to the gym at 6am everyday for an entire week. Snorkeled for the first time ever, and loved it. Saw the sun rise and went to sleep at 8am after a few crazy adventures on one Friday night. Bought waaaaay too many clothes (ex. 8 dresses, 5 pairs of shoes). Started to eat pork again. Almost got hit by cars and mopeds too many times to count. Death by heels and cig smell four nights in a row during 2nd to last week. Spent a worthy 85NT on one little macaron at a Japanese/French bakery inside posh Bellavita (new, expensive mall). Ran in the rain by the river--though, it felt incredibly invigorating. Met up with two food bloggers, to eat of course. Ruined two pairs of nice leather shoes...one of which I am forced to throw away *sad face*. Slept a mere 2 hours and still went to the gym at 6am one day. Spontaneity at its best--last night in TAIPEI was going to be lounge bar hopping, we ended up first at Organo, then Bar Code, slummy Babe18 [had an awkward encounter with 2 nieces], KTV allllll in one night--then home at 6:30am......

Yes, quite a fun, crazy roller coaster ride, this semester. Taiwan touched my heart, for sure. Taipei summer 2011 can't come fast enough!

it's a bittersweet symphony, this life.

2010-06-24T14:34:00.003+08:00

Thursday today already. I have 26 hours left in Taiwan.

All morning I have been walking around looking like a zombie. I had a mere 1.5 hours of sleep. Went out last night...came back and went straight to the rooftop to watch the sky awaken. It's so peaceful up there. The birds chirping and all. J, W, and I talked about the future. Taiwan is definitely in the plans for all of us after graduation. But who knows what will happen one year down the road. Though, I am set on moving here for a year or two after graduation.

Honestly, I'm not that excited to go home, but I am trying to be optimistic. I mean I do have gorgeous beaches and snorkeling to look forward to in a couple days ...and apparently sea turtles!! Sighh. Just one more year, and I will be back.

remember the time

2010-06-21T01:28:00.004+08:00

I haven't been keeping track of the dates/days, but I do know that I have to bid farewell (aka see you later) to Taipei and my friends and family soon. So, I have been eating and doing things I have yet to do....living my remaining time here spontaneously. Basically, not saying no to anything. No thinking, just doing.

This past week, I....

_ate at Mos Burger, a Japanese fast food burger chain - they are most known for their rice burgers. I've never eaten at a fast food restaurant in Taipei (excluding vendors and TW hole-in-wall places) until this time.

_bought a drink from Chen Sanding 陳三鼎黑糖粉圓. This boba stand is near my dorm and always has a long line--it's "famous". My friends have all told me that they think it's overrated or mediocre. I finally tried it for the first time today...I bought a "Frog Egg Lemon Jelly"青蛙愛玉 (the boba are called frog eggs because they resemble frog eggs!) drink, with no milk tea since my tummy is sensitive to milk. My verdict? It was refreshing and not too sweet, though I don't think I will be back unless I'm really craving for boba.
_stayed awake til the sun came out almost everyday of this week. I know, my skin is totally hating me right now.
_went KTV with friends til 1am and had a blast :) It also made me like Mandopop more and realize how un-Asian I am.
_slept in til 1/2pm, twice. I haven't slept past 10am for awhile.
_indulged in a Greek protein-filled feast.
_death by heels four nights in a row.
_ate fried tea leaves and other tea-infused foods at Cha For Tea with my family on Zongzi Holiday.
_sushi at A-plus twice. I'm gonna miss this restaurant sooo much. Nowhere in the States can beat their prices :/
---lots more, but I won't list them...

picture roll:

marinated beef with sour cream and bread + nutmeg flavoring; pork gyro wrap; seafood stew in olive oil, vinegar; eggplant with melted cheese and ground pork...all gone quickly. We were starving =)

6.18 ~ Spark

the LOVE sculpture in front of Taipei 101

awake at 5:42am to see blue skies and sun

Salmon on Fire roll @A-plus. The waitress torched it to sear the salmon and fish eggs-->yummy smokey flavor!

RenAi Rd. + GuangFu S. Rd. intersection - the pretty, rich area of Taipei.

raspberry tart at Mr. Qute - Jay Chou's restaurant!! Though, Mr. Qute was not that cute afterall. The restaurant had a large window so we got a peek of the kitchen. Right when we walked in, we witnessed the waiters sitting on the floor, taking their break. Then the guy who decorated our cakes seemed like he hated his job and just carelessly threw the fruits and sauces on the plate.. But the cake was good ^_^

taken from a bus. I took a lot more pictures, but this one turned out the best because I kept snapping without looking through the viewfinder.

a 99NT hotpot near my dorm. Cheap and good!

the famous bubble tea place, dubbed "ugly man" bubble tea by some of my friends haha.

hey, good morning

2010-06-19T19:10:00.001+08:00

watch the sun come up.

it's calling,

i want another day with you.

These are photos from this morning that my friend took from the roof around 5am. A Taipei sunrise.

a list

2010-06-17T12:36:00.001+08:00

THINGS TO DO BEFORE LEAVING [I made this list 2 weeks ago]:
_x_KTV with friends - the only time I did was with my cousins --check. did this on Tuesday night
-go to top floor of 101 on a clear day --will probably have to save this for next time. gotta save that 480NT for other things.
-find the spot at Yangmingshan that gets a view of Taipei city with 101 during evening
-sun set at Danshui
_x_eat more Taiwanese and Asian food --check. I've been eating mostly Japanese food lately.
-Maokong Gondola's 貓空纜車
-spend more time with family --I'm trying, though everyone is so busy right now :(
-walk to 101 from 公館 --will make it there sometime next week.
-a day at Fulong Beach (Yilan area) --will most likely have to save this for another time. my next week schedule is craaaazy.
-see if all my stuff will fit in two suitcases --will need to leave my winter clothes and comforter here
_x_stock up on colored gel pens, highlighters, and cute notebooks --check. went a little crazy at a stationary shop yesterday!

-take more pics of things other than FOOD --in process

_x_learn a bit of Taiwanese --check. I've recently picked up a few basic phrases.

-actually make it to Danshui via bike --my plan for this Saturday morning.

I don't want to go home :(

i should cook more often...

2010-06-16T02:33:00.000+08:00

Simple foods that I eat often/LOVE and will attempt to make when I return home (and it will all refrain me from eating out). Hopefully I can perfect my basic cooking skills this summer so I never have to bug my mom about what temperature to cook things at or have my omelet turn out completely lumpy and result in scrambled eggs instead (or ummm burn the pan again).

-onigiri - triangle sushi/rice ball - my favorites (from 7-11) are the salmon 明太魚 and beef炭火燒牛肉 - I could eat one everyday, though I would probably use brown rice instead of white rice.

-okonomiyaki
-cauliflower soup from Saveurs

-smoked salmon with honeydew from A-plus

-banana walnut waffles - [will use wheat flour] I had the most delicious pancakes at The Diner, an American breakfast diner nearby --and I'm not even a huge pancakes person. The pancakes were sooo fluffy and had actual slices of bananas in them!

-white fish (seabass or trout) with paprika carrot sauce from Saveurs

I honestly sometimes wonder how I'm not obese yet or what I'd look like if I never ever exercised =)

Oh, and I decided that I'm going to compile all my food pictures, organize them by restaurant, and post them on Picasa. Or just categorize them for my sake and/or future portfolios if I ever decide to tread into food photojournalism!

take me to the place i love, take me all the way.

2010-06-13T17:33:00.002+08:00

I write this post with great sadness....because I don't want to count down the days that I am returning to not-so-exciting States. It is very grey outside. Dark. Pouring rain. I am stuck inside, recollecting myself after two long nights in a row and chilling to Ray LaMontagne. Reminiscing all that has happened this semester. Be prepared, my good friends, I have plenty of crazy stories for you! In the meantime, I am planning to live the next two weeks to the fullest. Cheers to more long, crazy nights to come and lots of eating!

the wonders of afternoon tea

2010-06-11T18:31:00.006+08:00

When I think of afternoon tea, I imagine pretty porcelain floral tea cups, sweet cranberry scones, and girly gossip with (girl)friends. But in Taiwan, it is much more than that. Well, I've never had "afternoon tea" back in the States, nor have I ever really anticipated to anyway. I mean who has time to allocate an hour or two in the mid-afternoon to drink a cup of expensive coffee and eat delicate cakes and desserts? And, I don't think I've ever seen a restaurant in Cali that serves afternoon tea. It certainly isn't embedded in American culture..

Anyhow, today a friend treated me to afternoon tea at a bright, colorful café called Bunny Listens to the Music (兔子聼音樂). We met at 2pm, so not quite the time to eat a full meal or to only eat sweets. So, we shared an afternoon tea set, which came served on two-tiered plate stand. Two real-deal foccacia ham (or turkey?) sandwiches and two scone-like sweets. My friend explained to me what they were....they were some kind of French dessert (far breton)that had a crumbly surface and prune on top. The top tier had two green tea macarons and two cakes of our choice: a slightly sour apple tart (tarte tartin) with a crumbly crust and a maple brulee cake. The set also came with two drinks, I chose an iced cappuccino. Unlike in the States, nothing we ate was too sweet. My throat didn't burn after the sugar load. Also, apparently they get all their ingredients imported, so everything is very high quality. I could certainly taste the difference between their desserts and other cakes I've had from Taiwanese bakeries and restaurants.

far breton

a real sandwich! most Taiwanese afternoon tea places give flimsy sandwiches made with yucky white bread.

tarte tartin

LOVE. my first time eating macarons in Taiwan! I've been craving them for months.

This café is definitely on my return-to-before-heading-home list. Their cakes are the best I've had in Taiwan, or maybe even the best I've ever had. Afterward, my friend took me to Bunny's sister bakery: Boite de Bijou. Mmmm it is [carb] paradise. All their breads are nothing like other Taiwanese bakeries. Their bread is French-style ~ crunchy outside and moist inside and barely sweet. I couldn't resist, but had to buy breakfast for tomorrow. A dark chocolate bread that is surprisingly not sweet nor bitter and a whole grain bread. Sighh, if I could, I would buy their bread everyday. Ah, can I just move to Taiwan NOW?

in love.

2010-06-10T09:24:00.002+08:00

我愛上了okonomiyaki! I mentioned okonomiyaki (好吃燒 - literal translation = delicious to cook) sometime ago, but if you don't remember what it is....it is Japanese pizza, or pancake, that is very, very delicious. Made from cabbage, flour, water, and eggs - and whatever stuffings you chose. There are several variations of it. There are ones with noodles inside - Hiroshimayaki, others with egg inside or topped with a runny egg - Modernyaki (mmmm!).

My friend introduced an okonomiyaki place that is located in B2 of one of the SOGO's in Zhongxiao Fuxing area called Tenya (TEN室). At this place they cook the okonomiyaki in front of you, or you can choose to make it yourself. Basically you have a teppan on the center of the table, you choose which flavor you want, then the waiter will bring out the ingredients in a bowl, pour it out on the iron griddle, and you watch your okonomiyaki sizzle away.

I went to Tenya last night with two friends. We each ordered a different okonomiyaki and shared: beef kimchi, squid, and pork Hiroshimayaki with melted cheese and noodles.

The TEN室 okonomiyaki experience:

squid okonomiyaki ingredients

beef kimchi okonomiyaki

...and then there were three.

Final result. Okonomiyaki sauce (tastes a bit like BBQ sauce), mayo, wasabi mayo, katsuobushi powder.

I must must must learn how to make this. Apparently it's quite easy to make ^_^

THIS makes me happy.

2010-06-10T00:06:00.004+08:00

Every bakery in Taiwan has at least one cutesy cake. Passed by a bakery in Breeze Center (upscale mall in Zhongxiao E. Rd. area) food court earlier today that had this. I've seen quite a few piggie cakes, but none with a fence and all. Teehee.

So sorry everyone...I had just finished editing and re-sizing all my pictures from the weekend. Will be writing a post sometime later this week...perhaps tomorrow.

good, good weekend!

2010-06-07T16:57:00.001+08:00

Arrived in Taipei late last night from my trip. I am still in the midst of catching up on homework and editing pictures (and recollecting everything I did over the weekend), so I will write about the trip sometime later this week. In the meantime, here are some images from the weekend...

this was at a hotel on a hilltop. the hotel is actually under the same management of the hotel we stayed in, except of course this one is twice as expensive.

Flower Vase Rock through my eyes.

there were many scenic spots along the coast. we rode mopeds throughout the island, so we could stop anywhere we wanted.

since the island is made of coral, there is coral underwater and standing tall on land.

we woke up at 4:08am on Sunday so we could watch the sun rise...total fail. it was foggy and hazy, and no sign of sun. though, we sat there waiting til near 6am. this was shot at 4:46am.

refreshing mango lime ice.

my coral + shells collection from Xiao Liuqiu!

on an island in the sun

2010-06-04T14:35:00.002+08:00

Departing tonight for 小琉球Xiao Liuqiu for the weekend! Xiao Liuqiu is a small (very small - 6.8 sq. kilometers) island off of the southwest coast of Taiwan. It's the only offshore island that is formed by coral reef, and actually is one of the largest coral islands in the world!

...well, it might not be this pretty due to chance of rain/gray skies, but we can only hope for blue skies and sun right?

the famous Flower Vase Rock (made of coral) credits

dear taiwan mangoes,

2010-06-02T19:55:00.001+08:00

why are you so damn juicy (and thus, incredibly messy)?!? I literally had to eat a mango over the sink because it was sooo juicy. I have a hard time cutting the mangoes here. They are dense and packed with lots of juice. I usually cut the sides of a mango and then cut into the flesh of those pieces into little squares. But even then, with these mangoes, juice spills out everywhere. Every time I eat a mango I try to find a new method of cutting/eating it. But alas, I have yet to figure out a way that doesn't leave my fingers and chin sticky all over...

On another note, I have been so tired lately. I dunno what it is. Perhaps it's the extreme weather change. I had two cups of coffee earlier today, and I'm still about to close my eyes. I swear I'm immune to caffeine. It doesn't keep me awake at all! All it does is make my heart race and make me workout as if I were on steroids.

I go home in 23 days :(

fml.

2010-06-01T01:23:00.002+08:00

I was having a good day today...until I clumsily knocked over a bottle of nailpolish on my desk...which then cracked and little pieces of glass scattered across my room. Not to mention, my floor (thank god it's tile) had a nasty puddle of shimmery fuchsia nail polish. I scrubbed the stain with bleach, which made me dizzy while I slaved away. Took me almost an hour to clean up the mess. Thankfully, a good friend came to help with nail polish remover, which worked 10x's more efficiently than bleach, and it doesn't smell like it'd kill me. Oh, and a mosquito decided to bite the tip of my nose :/ Wow, my week is soooo off to a great start.

At least today was gorgeous out! I went to Banciao (Taipei county) area to hang out with my aunt (dad's sister) and cousins visiting from Australia. We ate sukiyaki for lunch--yay I can finally cross this off my list of 'things to do before leaving Taiwan'. Then we drove to Tucheng 土城 to visit a temple. The temple was very peaceful, unlike touristy Longshan Temple, and had a nice view overlooking Taipei county.

the awesome view

the Buddhist temple's architecture is quite simple. just white foundation and green roof.

hey there, cool-looking caterpillar.

guard of the temple

goosebumps.

2010-05-31T08:28:00.001+08:00

I have to share this amazing trippy performance. Just wow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrjwqXwyzNU

It was on replay all last night...perfect tune for a shitty day/night. Well, the sun and blue skies are back. But it certainly isn't here to stay :( The rest of the week will be raining. Sighh.

grey weather, just fool me.

2010-05-30T15:31:00.001+08:00

Taipei's weather is so bipolar. It has been raining quite a lot lately and humid at the same time. Earlier this week it was sunny and breezy. Today? Today is chilly. The air feels nice like a cool SoCal summer night, but it looks like it will rain later. Thus, I am forced to stay inside to do homework and begin on final term papers. No fun :( Well, I guess that means Garden State soundtrack will be on repeat all day today..

Yangmingshan day just feels like a faded memory.

the sounds of summer

2010-05-28T10:21:00.002+08:00

This song is ahh-mazing. It has been on repeat for the past three days in my iTunes.

On another note, I think my stomach has finally adapted to the food here. I can't count how many stomach bugs I've caught these past few months, but my tummy is getting stronger :) I went to RaoHe night market last night and ate a few things from vendors: mango snow ice (芒果雪滑冰) and a pepper bun(胡椒餅) - in addition to sharing a plate of beef kebabs and naan from an Indian/Pakistani restaurant, and so far my guts happily accepted all those things. Yay!

from taiwan to bermuda

2010-05-27T18:55:00.005+08:00

Red-eye flight booked to Bermuda: check. I opened up my email to find a little surprise...my itinerary for Bermuda that my mom just booked. Will be departing SoCal merely two days after settling back home. Grrrreat. I will probably be severely jet-lagged, from Taiwan to California to Bermuda. So many time zones!

captured this over the weekend when I was in the area. Going to the top is still something I have yet to do, but hopefully will do before leaving!

I don't wanna leave Taipei :( I'll miss the city life--no need for driving, the ubiquitous presence of 7-11 (convenience!), bakeries everywhere, street markets, etc etc. But I WILL be back in about a year. I am planning my life after graduation, and Taipei is in the plans.
~~Plan A: find a job in a marketing or PR firm or in-house at some company like Lexus or Bacardi + free-lancing food photography on the side
~~Plan B: if I can't find a decent-paying job: teach English for one year at the most + possibly find an internship + food photography
If neither works out, that means off to grad school/work in the US! Then maybe move to Taipei for a bit afterward.

Also, our 小琉毬trip got pushed forward to next weekend since Taiwan's weather sucks. It's 梅雨，which is rainy season, so this weekend will be raining with possible chance of thunderstorms. Next weekend better be blue skies!

bonjour,

2010-05-26T23:51:00.005+08:00

southern French food. Had an incredibly delicious dinner at Saveurs today. It was my second time eating there, but this time we went for dinner. We were the only five in the place, which caught me by surprise because when we went last time it was packed, and reservations were definitely a must. Then again, it is Wednesday night. As always, pictures:

cauliflower puree soup sprinkled with ground black pepper

1st layer = marinated shrimp with pesto

2nd layer = salad with lemon vinaigrette

3rd layer: tomato mozzarella pie (phyllo dough)

dory filet with orange rosemary paprika sauce, potato au gratin (so heavenly), broccoli

the ideal end to a great meal: peach pie with a crackly top crust and egg tart filling. not as sweet as I was expecting, but very very yumyum!

Okay, so now you probably all think I'm a pig. But the food at Saveurs is all quite healthy - barely any grease (I mean, generally, French food isn't anyway), and best of all it's all cooked with heart and soul. There is only one chef - who is from Bordeaux, France, so it is authentic, "homey" French food ^_^

mr. blue sky is living here today

2010-05-25T16:38:00.003+08:00

We choose the perfect day to spend the morning in Yangmingshan....breezy weather, sun, and bright blue sky. Sighh, why can't Taipei be like this all the time!? We left Gongguan at 8am, rode the MRT up to Jiantan, waited for the R5 bus that goes directly to Yangmingshan base 1, and from base 1 took a little shuttle bus to Xiao Youkeng--a sulfur deposit. From there, we took another shuttle bus to Qingtinggang, a beautiful grassland area with grazing (apparently dangerous--see below image??) cattle. Witnessed a cow eat his/her own poo and some tourists [they like to live life on the edge] hanging out with the cattle. The grass was so green, sky so blue, and the mountains...it was so pretty, it was almost surreal. Then, we "hiked" to JuanSi Waterfall. Hiking in Taiwan basically means climbing stair after stair. Serious glutes and hamstring workout! I will probably go back again--the air is a fresh change from pollution, and there are various scenic spots there that we didn't get a chance to go since my friends had an afternoon class today.

sulfur -- stinky stink!

cattle attacks, really? the cattle all seemed pretty mellow to me...probably because they were busy munching on grass.

all they do is eat, too!

why, hello cow.

it was sorta weird to go from grassland to shady bamboo forest. the main waterfall was hard to capture because the water was treading lightly...so here is the mini one.

quote of the day

2010-05-24T10:02:00.002+08:00

Had to write in the 'N' in 'an', but I like this quote :) Took this at the 29th Young Designers' Exhibition on Saturday. This exhibition was held by the Taiwan government and universities from all over Taiwan (and a few from Australia, Italy, France, US). Art and design students displayed their projects. Some were so interesting and fresh. There were architecture models, short films, computer games, modern furniture, photography, little trinkets...lots of random stuff.

[rain] all day, play all night

2010-05-23T20:56:00.005+08:00

...this is the life of a, the life of a go-getta, go-gettaaaa. Yeah, anyways, it's been raining all weekend...and today was icky. Despite only having slept 4 hours last night, waking up with a nasty headache, and knowing that there would be a 100% chance of thunderstorm later today, I still went with my plans to enjoy xiaolongbao (at Kao Chi again) with friends. If it hadn't poured, we were going to walk to there, but instead we rode the bus. Ah, one of my most favorite, memorable meals. Good conversation with friends and best of all, amaaaazing food. We ordered crab egg xiaolongbao 蟹黃小籠包，ordinary pork xlb元籠小籠包，shrimp shao mai (dumplings) 蝦仁燒賣, Cantonese-style shrimp dumplings蝦餃, a chicken soup with 凍粉 fried tofu and wonton, flaky honey pastry stuffed with BBQ pork (pork siu, but this was Shanghai-style), and a "mash taro with sweet longan sauce." Yes, a carb-filled feast.

umm guts, anyone??

chicken soup for the soul (thankfully it had no traces of chicken meat)

Cantonese-style shrimp dumplings

the yummiest, juiciest xlb ever ~ crab egg

I love the intricate folds of the xlb

Shanghai-style shrimp dumplings

flaky goodness ~ flaky honey pastry w/BBQ pork

ordinary pork xlb

the "mash taro with sweet longan sauce" - all I gotta say about it is...it was interesting.

Afterward, we walked aimlessly, in the pouring rain, around Yong Kang St. There are unique antique shops and Chinese gift boutiques. We stumbled across a store that sells exotic gifts from Tibet and Yunnan (south province of China). I bought three gorgeous, unique pashmina scarves. Too bad it's too hot to wear them now, but I'm sure they'll be worn this summer in Cali chilly summer nights. It started to pour really hard, so hard that the rain leaked through all our umbrellas!! Thus, we went into many stores to stay dry. A French furniture boutique, aromatherapy/fragrance (with yucky smelly fragrances) store, a cutesy happy Japanese eclectic store selling the cutest Jinglish objects [one that cracked us up was a bag that had little red riding hood on it and it said "I like my hood"], and a few other stores I don't quite remember. There are many tea houses and cafes in that area. Ahh, Yong Kang has gotta be my current favorite place to explore. After getting fed up with rain leaking through our umbrella, we stopped by Dante Coffee and sat there for an hour or two, sipping lattes and telling stories. Then, we walked all the way home because I didn't know where the bus stop was.

one of the lanes of Yong Kang

the neighborhood

Mmmm, very good day even though it I came home with dirty feet since I wore sandals and jeans soaked with rain. Now it's time to catch up on a very much needed sleep. This week will be busy--I plan to hike around Yangmingshan 陽明山National Park early Tuesday morning, then I will be traveling next weekend to down to Kenting again and Xiao Liuqiu 小琉球!

kao chi >>> din tai fung

2010-05-16T21:03:00.001+08:00

I have been hearing about a Xiao longbao 小籠包place called Kao Chi高記 that is a bit cheaper and tastier than Din Tai Fung, the worldly famous (overrated if you ask me) XLB place. Well, I finally got the chance to decide for myself... And it was better than Din Tai Fung. The atmosphere is definitely more relaxed and peaceful. You don't have people towering over you, waiting for you to finish eating, thus you don't have to force feed yourself and instead can take in the xlb's slowly and enjoy every bite.

A family friend, visiting from my hometown, took me to eat at the branch on Yong Kang St. We shared a crab egg xlb 蟹黃小籠包, shrimp shaomai/Shanghainese dumpling 蝦仁燒賣，and noodle soup (made with chicken stock, fried tofu, dongfen thin glass noodles, and pieces of pork dumpling). The crab egg xlb was oh-so-heavenly. It is small enough to eat in one bite, but curious me wanted to see what the meat inside looked like. Well, the crab egg xlb is deliciously juicy, that taking that one tiny bite made the juice squeeze out all over my shirt. Oops! I learned that you're supposed to hold the spoon in one hand and the other with chopsticks, placing the xlb in the spoon to catch whatever spills out.

Here is what the shrimp shaomai looks like.

Sorry, no pictures...I didn't bring my camera this time because I walked all the way over there from my dorm (approx. 3 mile walk in the humidity). But, I will certainly be back for more 小籠包!!!

the artsy district of Taipei

2010-05-15T21:37:00.001+08:00

I think Taipei is quite random. Yes, it is a big city and therefore, diverse...but there are some places that I go to and gush to friends this doesn't feel like Taipei. I dunno, maybe because the places aren't "Asian" enough. Ha. I mean even Pitbull came to Taipei last night - which by the way was an awesome concert!!

I spent the day in Zhongshan 中山, which is known to be the artsy place of Taipei. It is where MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) is located, a bunch of cute cafes, cool eclectic boutiques, Taipei Film House/SPOT...it feels like Austin to me. I started my day in ShiDa, munching on a grilled salmon panini and fries + some kind of dijon dip for brunch. Then, met up with other friends to head to Zhongshan. We had plans to go to MOCA to see the David Lachapelle (brilliant photographer/digital artist), but the line was way too long. We will go again later in the week. Outside of the museum was a mini-art festival.

inside the Zhongshan MRT station

outside of the MRT exit

Taiwanese Avant-garde art...kinda creepy

the shape of Taiwan

After deciding to come back on Thursday to catch David Lachapelle's exhibition, I pulled out my Taipei map too see what else was in the area. I had circled the Taipei Film House/SPOT as a Taipei destination, and that was nearby so we all walked towards it. The Taipei Film House building was originally a US Ambassador's house. Inside is a mini-art gallery, a small indie movie theater, two cafes (one dedicated to Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien), and a really cool, eclectic gift shop.

Taipei Film House

inside the gift shop

I heart crafty stuff like this.

cool chandelier - I wish I could afford to bring it home!

on the ceiling

Around Zhongshan neighborhood...

construction in progress guy

Ended the trip at Forkers, a Western restaurant that serves REAL American portions, that we stumbled across when walking down the lane of cafes. I shared a wasabi tuna + fruits salad (huuuuge Cheesecake Factory portion) with a friend and a real cheesecake.

i love taiwan, but....

2010-05-15T20:31:00.001+08:00

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog. These past few days have been incredibly stressful. I had to sort out a very messy situation - something to do with my credits and not being officially registered for TWO of my classes [there goes six credits that don't exist on my transcript]... Yeah, I won't go into it, but that is what has been taking up my time and energy. And after all what happened, I decided that I won't come here, or Asia, to get my MBA or any grad degree. Maybe I will just stay in the US or move to Europe. Who knows. I am still not quite sure what I want to do after graduation. All I know is that I want to do some photojournalism or free lancing on the side. Perhaps get a post-grad degree in something related to fashion or advertising. Or I also have been considering Sothebv's Art Business/Marketing program in London. Who knows...still have a few months to make a plan.

Anyway, back to Taiwan...

I started a photoblog and plan to maintain it everyday, as in post a new picture. Some pictures I post will not be exactly new, like some photos will be from my stay in Taiwan last summer. But I made this photoblog to keep track of my best pictures...sort of like an amateur portfolio :) http://polkadotsnmoonbeams.aminus3.com/

And, by the way, I come home in five weeks, six days!!!

what is that pork blood doing in my soup?

2010-05-10T02:12:00.003+08:00

I don't understand the fascination with pork blood in Taiwan. It is made as a black spotted block--mixed with glutinous rice--that could pass as tofu...which I did accidentally eat one time because it was in my shabu shabu. It is usually found in hot pots and soups. At night markets, it is commonly found as a block on a stick, dipped in soy sauce, then rolled in peanut powder, and decorated with cilantro. Double yuck right there (I despise cilantro).

Someone please explain to me how this looks sooo tasty!? And the other mystery meats around it don't look very appetizing either.

Took these pictures at ShiDa night market / 師大夜市. At these vendors, you pick and choose which meats and vegetables you want, and they dump it all in a plastic baggie for you to enjoy. Check out the chicken feet on the top level. I actually used to looove chicken feet (from dim sum) when I was younger...til I found out what it actually was...

eating tour @ShiLin night market (aka food heaven street)

2010-05-08T01:02:00.002+08:00

Last summer when I was in Taipei, I rarely ever hit the night markets. Mostly because majority of the foods are fried and not the cleanest (vendors facing the busy streets). But the foods are extremely cheap, so you get to try out a lot of different snacks. So I finally ate at a night market this time. I went to ShiLin night market - the most famous and crowded one of Taipei. Let's just say that I ate a lot of heart attack-inducing foods. But hey, I only live once right? Two Xinjiang (Northwest China that borders the Middle East) beef kebabs, a small bag of the juiciest mangoes ever, a few large sweet strawberries, two 煎包jianbao's--baozi that is pan-fried on the bottom and filled with vegetables, 蔥油餅congyoubing (Chinese pancake, fried, with scallion) with fried egg [runny egg yolk! mmm] on top, a box of takoyaki--a Japanese dumping stuffed with octopus and topped with fish flakes, and a small cone of honeydew melon gelato. Whew. What a diverse dinner huh? Yup. We shall see how my tummy feels tomorrow :p

this weather blows.

2010-05-06T17:11:00.001+08:00

Yeah what the title says. The air is icky thick, and there is no sight of sunshine. Earlier this week it was pretty sunny, but really hot. I would come to class dripping in sweat...sooo attractive, I know. Today there was a thunderstorm, and I had to share a tiny umbrella with 2 friends after we finished lunch because none of us brought an umbrella. We had to borrow an umbrella from the restaurant--actually it was an umbrella a customer previously left behind. But yeah, the whole left side of my body was soaked. Can I please just go back to SoCal??

I'm dreaming of home and Bermuda already.

Can you believe that this was taken in January in SoCal? Sighh.

i live for good food.

2010-05-04T00:49:00.003+08:00

...because I'm too tired to write anything [had another 5am wake-up day, but this time for a good reason...gym!]. This is just some stuff I've eaten in the past couple weeks...

peach honey almond crepe

pre-packaged sushi

pudding flavored Turkish ice cream

youtiao changfen / dough fritters rice noodle - dimsum

Greek seafood salad - ouzo, shrimp, squid, veggies, lemon, capers, pepper, chili

Greek desserts - rice pudding, apple in sugar lemon juice, zabaglione (Italian custard made with egg yolks, sugar, Marsala wine) + lady fingers

healthy sandwich - whole wheat, anka bread, veggies, sliced apples

French grilled seabass doused in a spicy carrot sauce and potato au gratin

coffee mousse

smoked salmon wrapped sliced apples with cream cheese topping - I "made" this

Japanese BBQ

shrimp and taro love

freedom, run away tonight

2010-04-30T09:51:00.004+08:00

Feels so good to be done with midterm exams. Freeeeeedom (until mid-June)! I went out last night to celebrate with friends, and now I can't feel my toes and my voice is a bit raspy but it was all totally worth it. Speaking of freedom, I have decided to withdraw from my finance class. It's too difficult, I'm convinced that it is MBA level. The education system is clearly different here and hard to adapt to if you're used to discussion-based classes and professors who help you comprehend the info/actually teach. Professors here, instead, just hand you information...basically like "here, take it" and don't really explain the content. Of course, also, math and some business classes--particularly accounting and finance--are bound to be harder in Asia. It seems like most of the people in my class just memorize the content and don't really try to understand it. Or maybe they are all just naturally smart and get finance immediately. Oh well, I can't afford to have a grade lower than a B- in this class, hence dropping this class and retaking it back at home school, where I can definitely achieve at least a B.

So, now I can sleep in on Thursdays, which I hardly ever do...even on the weekends since I always have plans and such.

Anyhow, I discovered this really cool website where you can basically photoshop-edit your photos all in one step [they do it for you]. For the lazy and for those who can't afford the $800 Photoshop package. Yeah, that's me. Here are some photos from different events in Taiwan.

took this last summer from the lower angle, looking up to a tree

also took this last summer, at Longshan Temple

this was at the Tribal Harvest Festival in Hualien, during my last few days stay in Taiwan last summer

Kenting~

trois le petit cakes from a friend's birthday party dinner

bubbly for her birthday

i eat meat now?

2010-04-24T15:15:00.002+08:00

Okay, Okay I know, I said I wouldn't post anything new til after the 29th, but I just had to share something... So those who know me well know that I don't eat meat (excluding seafood and the occasional filet mignon), and that I haven't touched meat since six years ago, aside from the little bits of pork I ate during Chinese New Year back in February. Since then, I haven't craved for any sorts of meat, even though all the food with meat here look sooo tasty and the smell - ahhh meat smells so good! Well, anyway, I caved in.

I woke up yesterday at 1:30pm--I desperately need to catch up on sleep after slaving away to finance for an entire week--hungry and craving for carbs. I walked around the neighborhood, and no restaurants were open. Uh, hello it's lunch time, why isn't anywhere open?!? I walked up and down the little alleys and only found vendors to be open. Starving and indecisive, I passed by a vendor that I always see a long line for. My cousins told me that this Taiwanese specialty is very popular and delicious. Sadly, the only meat they use is pork. But hungry me waited in the line, not even thinking about the fact that I would be devouring pork in a few minutes. The lady asked me what I wanted--you can choose from the menu what kind of pork: lean or fat pork. Of course I went with the lean. I gave her 45NT and got my warm 割包guabao in a plastic baggie and briskly walked back home.

Was it worth the cave? Oh yes! Juicy, chewy, and slightly sweet the 割包 was totally worth it. Now you're probably wondering what the heck is a guabao. It is a Taiwanese burger. It is an open steamed bun (similar to what you eat with Peking duck) stuffed with braised pork, mustard pickled greens, cilantro, and sweet peanut powder. SO GOOD. I would definitely eat it again! And after eating it, I had decided that only in Taiwan will I cave in for meat. I still won't touch poultry because I don't like the texture of it, but since pork's texture is similar to beef I am okay with it.

gimme a break.

2010-04-20T23:20:00.001+08:00

It is midterms month now. I have three midterms - of which when I tell other local students, they are surprised and exclaim Whaaat only three? One of my friends has eight midterms!!! Anyway, I need good grades this semester and even prayed at a little temple on campus earlier today, therefore, posting shall resume after April 29--the day of my last exam.

daily consumption

2010-04-16T16:00:00.002+08:00

I just saw a cool art project about daily consumption and it got me thinking...I consume more here than I do anywhere else. And, well it is mainly because I don't have a kitchen so I have to venture out on my own to buy food and snacks. But at the end of everyday, I come home with tons of receipts. Usually back in the US I say "no receipt" or just immediately throw away my receipt, but here I collect receipts because there is a lottery number on there. Taiwan does a drawing every two months, and there are many cash prizes. There is one grand prize [if you match all the seven numbers] for $2million NT, which is about $62,000US. Then there are three first place numbers if your all the digits match, then 2nd place prizes if the last six digits match, and so on...all the way til if the last three digits match any of the 1st place numbers. And last month I won that last place prize~~$200NT! So because I consume so much on a daily basis, there should be a pretty big chance that I would at least win some money.

Anyhow, I never really thought about how much I was consuming until today when I saw the art project and opened my desk drawer to see a thick pile of my receipts, just from April so far. I went out earlier for less than an hour and already spent 23NT to print out powerpoint slides, 85NT for tomato shrimp rice meal, 190NT for a pullover sweater, 25NT for one small yogurt, and 60NT for a bottle of oatmeal drink. On any given day, my wallet is filled with at least four receipts when I return home. In the beginning of this semester I actually kept a log of what I was buying and how much I was spending. Taiwan is a cash-based society, which I wasn't used to since I hate carrying around cash and just use my card whenever. But now I always carry cash and rarely use my card. So it was hard keeping track of what I was buying since by the time I got home ready to pencil in my purchases, I had already forgotten most of the stuff I bought that day. This logging merely lasted for a week!

I have to admit, however, that sometimes I feel like I am consuming an excessive amount. I always usually stick with buying things that are necessary, but it's hard to resist when there are so many clothes, shoes, breads, cakes, and vendors in my face, enticing me to buy something. At one point a couple weeks ago I felt overwhelmed with having to buy something everyday. I buy all my groceries at different places because there is no big supermarket near me, and certain fruits are different places range in prices. Like I buy grapefruits (4 in a bag) from Wellcome, a small British-chain grocery store, for 40NT, then 8 Gala apples from a fruit vendor near school for 100NT, guava already cut from 7-11 downstairs for 27NT per pag, and bananas wherever is cheapest. The prices of fruits are always fluctuating. I miss grocery stores where I can buy everything I need under one roof. There are international grocery stores in Taipei, but they are extremely expensive and not in walking distance.

obsessed

2010-04-13T12:27:00.003+08:00

A few random pop culture observations I noticed:

TW pop culture LOVES Lady Gaga. And, I mean lovelovelove. I hear "rah-ah-ah-ah-ah-roma-gaga-ooh-la-la" every day walking along Roosevelt Rd. In the clubs, Lady Gaga will be played 4 times within one hour. And even uglier, some people even dress similar to her on a given day. I suppose they aren't sick of her... yet.

The girls really like to dress cutesy and look like dolls. I've seen girls wearing white knee-high socks, baby pink mini-skirts with a lace or tulle layer peaking out, huge pink bows in their hair, and of course fake lashes and colored contacts. It's not pretty a sight. Some even have their hair dyed barbie-blonde. C'mon, please tell me this looks ridiculous.

Speaking of fashion...some people are really stylish and some just try too hard. I rarely ever see the girls wearing sweats in public. I have seen the oddest clothes. Yesterday I saw a guy wearing baggy jeans, and on the jeans were iron patches of cartoon sneakers. I must say that the majority of clothes I find in stores here that are made in Taiwan are absolutely unflattering, too. Tops are have stitches in the most random places that I would look like I'm hiding a baby.

Oh, and the most absolutely ridiculous and puzzling trend are the glasses without lenses. Why why why!! I tried on a pair a couple days ago and cracked up...my friend told me that I, then, looked "really Taiwanese". It is the leading and universal trend among the teenagers here. Not cute.

KENTING ~ day three, 4.7

2010-04-12T14:59:00.002+08:00

We had to check out of our hotel by 12pm, so we woke up early to eat breakfast. Our hotel is too small to have a dining room, so they partnered up with another hotel down the street, Kenting Resort. Our breakfast was almost the same as what we ate the day before...porridge, toast (they had wheat!!), cabbage, salad....and scrambled eggs!!! Yum :)

Our view from the breakfast dining room was breathtaking. I did not bring my camera to breakfast, but immediately after I cleaned my plate, I powerwalked back to our hotel to grab my camera while Lu and Kathryn relaxed on the swing at the hotel. After grabbing my camera, I strolled along the sidewalk of the beach. So pretty...

After snapping a bunch of pictures at the shore, I joined Lu and Kathryn back at the breakfast hotel.

Sighh. I want to go back....and be there right this moment. Boo school!

KENTING ~ day two 4.6

2010-04-11T15:48:00.001+08:00

On this day we had planned to wake up early and hang out at the beach allll day. So, we woke up at 9am to eat a delicious "Kenting" breakfast - which consisted of toast, Chinese porridge xifan, cabbage, handmade mantou, and tofu. We then checked out, hitched a cab to our next hotel, put our things in the lobby [because we couldn't check in til 2:30pm], bought a water-activities package - 450NT (~$14) that includes snorkeling, banana boating, speed boating, and headed toward the beach. At the beach, there are umbrella-chair sets you can rent. It is a big umbrella that is plotted in the sand and a bunch of little kiddie plastic chairs...for 300NT. So expensive, we even tried to bargain with the lady, but she wouldn't budge. So, we just laid our stuff on the sand. Our hotel gave us a boogie board to borrow for free. I love the hotel owners, they are SO friendly and personable. Every time we entered the hotel they would ask us if we had fun or ate good food :)

Our hotel for the 2nd night ~ Yoyo Resort Inn

in the lobby

the view from our hotel window. we didn't even order an ocean view room! well, we couldn't see the ocean directly because this window was on the side, but still a great view!

I mostly hung out on the sand to tan, and then I went into the water. There were sharp rocks in the sand, and I think they cut my foot because when I got back to the hotel I noticed a deep cut on the ball of my foot. Ouchie! We were about to leave to return to our hotel because the sun was sooo hot and we didn't want to pay 300NT for shade. But as we were leaving, we made friends with a group of local TW guys + 1 girl. They were letting us borrow their 2-person tubey and Lu let them borrow the boogie board. So we went back into the water. Lu and I in the tube, Kathryn pulling the tube, and one guy struggling to boogie board :p I got dizzy from the waves and felt like puking, so I tried to swim back to the shore, but a wave pulled me backward, and my foot hit a sharp rock. That's probably when my foot got cut, but I didn't even realize it til a few hours later.

Afterward, we went back to our room and took a quick 30 minute nap so we would have enough energy for the water activities. At 3pm, a guy from the company who conducted our activities came to pick us up and dropped us off at their shop in Houbihu (see map). Right when we entered, a lady handed us wetsuits, a life jacket that has a buckle at the crotch, and snorkeling boots. We looked pretty ridiculous in our suit haha. Then we hopped into another van that had no doors and drove to the sea. It took me awhile at first to get the hang of not breathing through my nose while snorkeling. I've never snorkeled before so I was pretty nervous, especially since I'm scared to see the ocean bottom, but where we were was not too deep. I saw many pretty green/red/yellow fishes and tropical clown fishes and coral communities. Then, I got dizzy and my goggles kept fogging up because I would forget to breathe through my mouth. A little bit afterward, we all got on a speed boat that pulled the banana boat we'd ride on.

(I did not take this).

The banana boat actually looks like a hot dog. I literally thought it would be the exact shape of a banana with curves at the end, but it was a plain surface with side things to rest your feet on. The driver asked us if we wanted the boat to flip over, which does look FUN but I was feeling queasy so we got the easy ride, though some parts are bumpy and I felt like I was going to fly off.

Afterward we climbed onto the speed boat and went on a thrilling ride. It was quite a breezy ride. When we got dropped off at the floating dock, I started to feel sick again. Then one of the guys on a jet ski told Kathryn to get on. We were all confused at first because we didn't pay for the 4-in-1 package, which included jet skiing. Maybe they got ours mixed up with someone else's or they are just nice people... But yeah, I rode a jet ski too. Scariest ride of my life. My driver was racing with the guy driving Lu, and he was going sooo fast. I was too scared to look at the meter to see what speed he was going, but I was holding on for life. There were many times I felt like I would fly off and possibly die. It was fun, nonetheless!

I picked up a few unique [dead] corals from the shore....

For dinner we ate at a cool restaurant down the street called Bossa Nova Cafe. It had a tropical Tahitian theme, and all the food were Taiwanese, Thai, or Western. I ate a very, very spicy squid salad. It was sooo spicy that I was sweating, crying, and downing 3 cups of water at once. The waitress even told me that it wasn't too spicy. Afterward we went to 7-11 because my taste buds were begging for a sweet dessert. As we walked toward our hotel, we heard live music coming from a distance and then turned around to head to where the sound was coming from. As we got closer, Lu and I recognized the Chinese song the band was singing. When we got to the outdoor amphitheater we all hesitated to go in and sit because it looked like an exclusive event. So we stood outside the wooden wall and tried to get a peak through the tiny 1cm slits. Then a guy came out, saw us peaking, and told us that we could go in. Turns out the concert was a post-Spring Scream event. There weren't many people in the audience. The band performing was a group of 5 guys who looked high-school age. They were pretty good though. One of the bands sitting in the first row walked up to talk to us, gave us a free CD, and their contact info - told us to call them to hang out when we get back to Taipei. We returned to our room and rocked out to our new free CD :)

KENTING - day one 4.5

2010-04-11T01:59:00.003+08:00

Here is a map of the south tip of Taiwan. Kenting is almost at the very tip.

We rode the HSR (bullet train) to Kaohsiung, which took only 1.5 hours. If we rode the regular train it would take at least 5 hours! When we arrived in Kaohsiung we took a cab to our resort. For the first night, we stayed at a beautiful, yet Asian flashy/cheesy resort. The hotel is called Swan Lake Villa Resort in South Bay area (see map). Right when our cab turned into the driveway, we all giggled - the entrance has white swan sculptures, an American and Taiwan flag, and a bunch of other random flamboyant sculptures. Anyhow, our hotel room was very nice. We booked a lake villa, so we had a balcony that overlooked the algae-filled lake and swans. We had a plasma TV and a spa tub. We got a pretty good deal, too. Our hotel, however, was kinda in the middle of nowhere. Although it was near the beach, but not close enough. We had to walk about a mile down the street to get to the ocean.

We had planned to stay two nights in Kenting, but we booked only one night at this resort. So after we checked in, we went hotel shopping on Nanwan Road. We came across a gorgeous 5-star hotel that had a Moroccan theme. It looked sooo luxurious, and of course it was $300US per night. So, we moved on and settled on a cute, cozy bed-and-breakfast type hotel further down the street. We were five minutes late to book an ocean view room, but our room essentially had an ocean view anyway. After booking our hotel room, we headed to the beach. It was pretty crowded even though the sky was very gray, and it even started to drizzle. There were a bunch of tractor ATV-type vehicles on the sand, that we wondered if they were for us to drive around :p But actually, they were there to drag jet-skii's into the sea!

After walking back to our hotel, we chilled at the pool. There are three pools: a regular swimming pool, a spring water pool with a waterfall, and a red-colored spa which is red because of some wood element they put in. For dinner, I wanted to go to Kenting Night Market, but it was 6-7 miles away. Taking a cab there was out of the question since the cabs there don't go by the meter to go to Kenting St. It would cost 300NT one way! So, Lu and I waited at the bus station for 10 minutes, and no buses came by. So, we just ate at a restaurant near our hotel called Bermuda Restaurant, which served good Taiwanese food.

the view from our balcony at night

cool lighting in our room

spring flowers ~ kenting

2010-04-10T01:54:00.001+08:00

This was taken in Kenting, in the morning, on our last day there. We ate breakfast at another hotel down the street, and the hotel had such a beautiful view...

More pictures will be uploaded later sometime this weekend!

back from my 3-day reality pause

2010-04-07T21:40:00.000+08:00

I'm back. Back to rainy, chilly Taipei...and reality. Now it's time to catch up on homework because I, sadly, have class tomorrow since spring break here is only three days :( I still feel kinda nauseous from riding the cab (from hotel to Zuoying/Kaohsiung train station - the driver was speeding and swerving, driving on the shoulder of the road to pass others) and then the high speed rail. I will have to upload pictures tomorrow...!

leofoo village

2010-04-04T01:51:00.002+08:00

Can you tell that I am dying inside^ ? Yeah, that drop was pretty scary! It dropped at maybe a 65-70 degree angle. I was hanging onto the side rails so tightly that my hands were sort of purple after the ride was over.

I went to Leofoo Village六福村, a theme park in Hsinchu (windy, windy city) - one hour outside of Taipei, with cousins and my aunt on Saturday. The park is divided into four themes, similar to that of Walt Disney World in FL: Arabian Kingdom (Aladdin-themed), African Safari (zoo), South Pacific (tropical theme), and Wild West (like Knott's). It seems like rides at amusement parks worldwide are pretty universal. At Leofoo, there was the Indiana Jones type of ride, a twist-and-turn coaster with a 90-angle plunge (similar to X-celerator at Knott's, but only shoots straight then shoots backward four times at 76 m/hr), the swinging ship, log ride, rapids ride, etc. Only this place wasn't too crowded because the weather reporter predicted that it would rain today. It sprinkled a bit, but it was manageable, especially since we didn't have to wait in line at all!

After four hours of fun (the park closes at 7pm during off-season!), we headed to Taoyuan to stuff our faces at Sushi Express, a chain conveyor belt sushi place. There is one near my school, but the first and only time I ate there I didn't like the sushi because it was waaay too sweet. But this place's sushi was pretty good.

success!!

2010-03-30T16:39:00.001+08:00

So, all the clothes sold here for girls are made in one size (free size/one size fits all), with the exception of clothes sold at department and "western clothing" chain stores. I have never been able to fit into their bottoms because Taiwanese girls are sticks. Even I remember last summer when I was trying on shorts at a chain store, I could barely button a size large pair [I swear their size small equals an xxs in the US) of shorts! But today, I bought a pair of shorts, made in one size, and I can fit them comfortably!! Well, only because they have an elastic banding in the back :p Heehee, just had to share my excitement!

I'm anticipating to go to the BEACH ~ beautiful Kenting! And, then I am already counting down the days til BERMUDA...even though that means this semester will come to an end, but ah Bermuda!!

that's where we wanna go, way down to kenting

2010-03-29T12:27:00.000+08:00

On April 5, first day of my spring break (only 3 days off), I will be traveling to the most southern tip of Taiwan to Kenting 墾丁and relax on this beautiful beach. Kenting is the destination for spring and summer. There will be thousands of travelers going to Kenting around the same time as us because there is a huge music festival on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. I, however, will not be going to the festival because I don't want to deal with massive crowds/Pingxi experience, and most importantly, I need a quiet break!

Soooo excited! It will be nice to get away from the city and breathe fresh air.

these past few days

2010-03-28T23:28:00.001+08:00

I ate:

okonomiyaki. It is Japanese pizza, or pancake, that is very, very delicious. Made from cabbage, flour, water, and eggs - and whatever stuffings you chose. In this case, I shared shrimp and fish eggs okonomiyaki's with two friends. It is topped with okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise. Those flakey things is katsuobushi, which are dried bonito flakes. Those things were flaying when the chef handed over our plate because the flakes are so thin that it waves in heat. I even thought they were alive or something. Freaky experience, but the okonomiyaki was yum yum in my tum tum nonetheless :)

鳳梨酥 fenglisu pineapple cake - made with love by my aunt. She made a huge batch of these, and gave me half (~80!). So, of course I shared them with friends...or else I would get fat =)

I visited:

Taipei Fine Art Museum. They house modern art and mostly host Asian artists, but there are also special exhibitions, such as Richard Rogers - an amazing British architect. He has designed many cool buildings worldwide.

Almost all the models had little people figures. They were so detailed...each had a distinct facial expression, clothes, accessories (some had canes, hats, briefcases, etc)!

This is the Leadenhall Building in London.

This is somewhere in Madrid, I believe. I can't remember what it was...maybe airport?

Can you imagine living in a building like this? It is in Seoul, Korea.

This is where the Olympics will be held in 2012 - the Millennium Dome in London.

That's what it looks like in reality.

I rode a bike for the first time in ten years (more or less) today: Yeah, no photos from that because I cannot bike and photograph at once, especially since I was basically struggling to balance on the bike! It was a nice journey though. Wind was blowing, it wasn't too hot, and the sun was out. We rode out from near our dorm, along a river, up to Danshui - but of course not all the way, otherwise that would take awhile. I think we biked maybe 20-something miles roundtrip. Afterward we headed to Shida to eat a satisfying carb-filled meal: bibimbap and fruit jumble shaved ice (same as in picture in a previous post).

i don't like...

2010-03-25T17:22:00.002+08:00

my unfavorite things about Taipei:

_stinky tofu (chou dofu) - yuck yuck yuck. People claim that stinky tofu is so delicious. I can't see how. It reeks and makes me gag every time I'm near it. Down a few streets from my dorm/on my way back from campus is a corner where there is a stinky tofu vendor. I always take the longer route to avoid this corner (that is, when I'm not absent-minded and remember to).
_the smell of sewage. I joked with a friend earlier that Taipei has two unfortunate smells that our noses breathe in on a daily basis: stinky tofu and sewage. There are sooo many sewage pots on the streets here. I don't know why, and wouldn't really want to know anyway.
_mosquitoes. They apparently like 'foreign blood' because our blood is sweet. Now that it's getting more humid than ever, I have a higher chance of looking like I was struck by the chicken pox. And whenever I open my window, mosquitoes always somehow find their way into the tiny air holes in my window screen :(
_bipolar weather. Yesterday was blazing in the 90s + nearly 80% humidity. Then around 5pm, the temp dropped to the 50s + wind chill. The weather predicters report that Monday will be up in the 80s/90s again. Great.
_the lack of trashcans. So Taiwan's government set up this environmental protection/waste less plan. No trashcans in the city is part of the plan. Yeah. That is why I frequently carry my trash all the way home. There is not even a trashcan in sight in the park! No trashcans in classrooms, no trashcans around the campus, no trashcans in some restaurants in the public seating area... So convenient, Taiwan!
_smog. By the end of the day, I feel like my pores are clogged with copious amounts of dirt and pollution. And Taipei rarely ever sees a clear sunny, blue sky. Of course, the pollution is not as bad as China's, but it is still pretty bad. Though, plenty of people still do use public transportation instead of riding a motorcycle and driving a car.

Mkay, that's it for now. Other than those aspects (and a few others), I am absolutely enjoying my semester abroad :)

all i do is eat

2010-03-21T20:03:00.002+08:00

..in Taiwan. Fact. I seriously do wake up thinking about food! Taipei is, no doubt, absolute food heaven. Here are pictures of some of my favorite foods/meals that I have devoured...

smoked octopus topped with vinegar jelly @A-plus Sake Bar

crispy rice stuffed with salmon + topped with masago, also @A-plus

smoked salmon with melon - tasted interesting, but delicious! @A-plus

salmon + masago rice in a stone bowl

yes, good thin-crust pizza exists in Taiwan [Greek pizza @Mary Jane - becoming one of my fav places for lunch]! although, they don't use marinara sauce.

roasted corn - many food vendors nearby sell corn on a stick for 25NT

Takoyaki - a Japanese dumping stuffed with octopus and topped with fish flakes...this is certainly a guilty pleasure!

red bean puff - made fresh to order.

steamed fish with healthy 5-grain rice 五穀飯 on the side

湯圓 tangyuan (sweet rice flour balls) rolled in peanut powder at my cousin's wedding reception at 圓山飯店/Grand Hotel

green tea + red bean 剉冰 shaved ice

Mmm, sorry if I made you hungry!

we laugh, we sing, we dance

2010-03-18T15:07:00.000+08:00

I am slightly overwhelmed with the amount of things to do here in Taipei. I can't think of one moment of boredom... In short, I am having too much fun, and thus results in sleep deprivation. Though, I must admit that it has been pretty tough trying to balance my academic and social/fun life. My schedule goes like this: Tuesday class from 2:20-5:10 then 6:30-9:10pm; Wednesday class 9:10-12:20pm; and Thursday 9:10-12:20 then 6:30-9:10pm. And I don't have my internship anymore--which honestly is a relief because I can now play (okay, okay I mean study) harder.

One of the fun activities that is a must in Taipei is KTV, aka karaoke. It's like a weekly pastime for people here. On Sunday afternoon, my cousins Huang-shiuan and Huang-bing and May brought Allan and I to Cash Box - the largest KTV chain in Asia (and a few in SoCal). This franchise runs daily, 24/7! You cannot imagine how KTV here compares to what it is like in the States. The one we went to had 12-floors, each with at least five different private KTV rooms. Each room has a bathroom, LCD flatscreen, advanced computer systems....a luxurious, yet inexpensive few hours of fun. There is also a full menu of food, desserts, and drinks! We belt it out for a good two hours, singing along to MJ songs, oldies, and a few Chinese songs (which I mostly mouthed the non-chorus parts). I am going to KTV again this Saturday with friends, so cheers to a night of laughing, singing, dancing, and of course eating!

May ~ [hopefully] future cousin-in-law

yes, I'm aware my eyes are closed =)

bright lights, big city

2010-03-14T14:04:00.004+08:00

Last night I hung out with my cousins. They're a hilarious, crazy bunch :) It was Allan (flew from Houston for the wedding), Aunt Shan-zhen's sons (edit: Huang-bing and Huang-shiuan), and on of their girlfriends, May. I'm really bad with names, and Allan goes by their Chinese names which I can't even remember. Yeah, anyway. It was pouring rain last night (plus thunder and lightening) and definitely not the best time to be going on a large ferris wheel. But...we're Taiwanese. We can wade it out. We drove out to Neihu district, which is almost outside of Taipei city. There is a big mall out there called Miramar. This plaza has an 8-floor movie theater, American brand shops, and a ferris wheel on the 5th floor. From the ferris wheel, you get an awesome view of Taipei. Though it was raining and all the windows were foggy, I still captured a few successful photos.

look out below!

through the screen

Taipei 101

Afterward we went to feast on sashimi and sushi. Ah heaven! However, I have had a weak stomach for the past week, but I am a bad sick person and couldn't resist. So. Much. Good. Food...

don't worry, I only ate the masago (on the left) handroll!

weekend spent surrounded by nature

2010-03-10T17:20:00.002+08:00

Last weekend (March 6-7) I traveled to Sitou and Sun Moon Lake, which are located in centralish Taiwan in Nantou County. I went with other exchange students, most of whom are also in the College of Management. We rode in a coach bus, which essentially was a party bus--equipped with KTV (karaoke), surround sound, microphones...and best of all, the seats were extremely cushy, plenty of leg space, and I could lean the chairs back :) After a windy road up the mountains, we arrived in Sitou 溪头. NTU owns part of the mountain, which is pretty cool. Thus, it was free for us to enter the park/hiking trail. Here are some photos from the (painful--too many stairs, and it was icky humid!) nature walk on Saturday:

those are trashcans! thought they looked funny

On Sunday, we visited a temple that was devastated by a powerful 7.6 earthquake 10 years ago. The temple is located in the epicenter of the 9/21/99 earthquake. It's scary to see damages by such a massive earthquake. I've never seen anything quite like this. I even got a peek of the rubbles of the interior of the temple.

武昌宮 Wu Chang Temple

Later we headed to Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 area. We first stopped at a beautiful temple that overlooked the lake.

that's all made of paper!

look at the ceiling! it is amazingly detailed and colorful.

you write your wishes and/or blessings on these things.

this guy was quite an attraction. he even posed for me haha.

Then, we had a delicious traditional/aboriginal Taiwanese lunch by the lake. The food was pretty interesting. They really like to cook with bamboo! Afterward, we rode a speed boat in the lake, which was a bit nausea-inducing, but after one dramamine, I felt much better. Sun Moon Lake is most beautiful during sunrise and sunset. Unfortunately we wouldn't have made it to either, but the lake is beautiful nonetheless. I hope to go again to see the sun set.

NTU's pretty campus

2010-03-03T18:40:00.001+08:00

台大's campus is massive, like I've mentioned before. I finally took pictures today of some areas.

Royal Palm Rd. - a little bit of SoCal in Taipei :) The building in the way back is their extensive library...I could get lost in there!

an admin. building

there are beautiful flowers planted everywhere around campus

NTU's emblem: the Fu Bell--it symbolizes enlightenment and discipline.

College of Management, building 2 is across the courtyard. This was shot from building 1, where most of my classes are.

the sky lit by lanterns

2010-03-03T00:27:00.004+08:00

My schedule has been overwhelmingly filled that I barely even have time to open/read emails and of course, update my blog. I just uploaded my pictures from Sunday from the Pingxi Lantern Festival.

Feb. 28/Sunday. It was the most tiring, ridiculous night of my life. Though the sky was beautiful, lit by orange-red lanterns to celebrate the 15th, last, day of the Lunar New Year, I had a pretty horrible night. I won't go into details because I don't have much time, but basically it took us almost 6 hours just to get home--from trying to exit the area, being packed like animal herds, being pushed and shoved and having an old lady grab onto my arm for support, standing in line to catch the shuttle back to Taipei Zoo MRT for a good three hours... It was horrible. Also, the president of Taiwan showed up unexpectedly. The police ordered everyone exiting to stay on one half of the extremely narrow road to allow people entering to make way and for the president and his crew. Then many people were shouting out curse words at the president (obviously people don't like him very much here) and the police. It was crazy. At one point I could barely breathe. I had to tiptoe and stick my head out from the crowd to catch a breath of air.

This festival has been a tradition for many years. The airborne paper lanterns are launched to ward off devils. People write down their wishes, whether to wish for wealth, good grades, to find a boyfriend... then release them into the sky. We rushed to be there in time for the first round--where the lanterns are officially launched all at once, which began at 6pm. There were crowds of people, and people with fancy cameras standing on bleachers--wish I got a spot up there. We shorties had to push and shove our way to the front, and by the 2nd round we got up pretty close to the front! During the first round, once they were launched it's was all oohs and aahs. Such a breathtaking, peaceful scene. Then you see the lanterns slowly dispersing into the sky. We also saw quite a few make their way down...the unsuccessful ones. They fell into the trees, which freaked us out because the lanterns have candles or some sort of fuel cell to allow them to fly. We even saw one leaking gas, above a walkway!

Well, this experience is definitely 'once a lifetime' thing. Don't think I will be back. It was extremely disorganized, left my heart racing and made me think of the worst case scenarios, and not to mention is incredibly damaging to the environment. At least 1000 lanterns were released, and in addition were fireworks after fireworks.

Anyway, here are pictures!

the town of Pingxi is part of Taipei County, but it is in the countryside/mountains. We had to ride a shuttle, standing up, up the super windy road :/

soooo many people!

my dinner, see below

don't worry, it's not an alien. T'is an octopus!

the view from my dorm/apt rooftop

2010-02-26T23:02:00.001+08:00

It was pretty foggy tonight, but I still got out a few good pictures from the rooftop ledge. There is an amazing view of the skyline. Taipei 101 is also viewable from the rooftop!

busy, busy bee

2010-02-25T01:36:00.002+08:00

I have been extremely busy with registering and adding classes, which is a complete HEADACHE. The system here is awfully confusing. I don't even want to talk about all of it, thinking about it makes me want to change my flight to go home now--or drop out and just travel! Anyhow, so far I have attended two classes: Marketing Management and Int'l Mktg Mgmt. So far, I love both. Thankfully, they are taught in English. The business classes here seem very competitive and hardcore. Of course, that is to be expected considering NTU's College of Mgmt is ranked pretty highly, and their Executive MBA program is #40 in the world! Hopefully this semester won't be too stressful, because I still want to have enough time and energy to explore Taiwan.

A few interesting, odd, and funny cultural differences I have observed:
-people really love their afternoon naps here. in schools, probably all levels from elementary to high school, is a specific nap period! gee, wish I went to high school here!
-Taiwanese people travel in groups. You will see girls holding hands - which of course in other regions of the world would be interpreted otherwise, but they are just representing their friendship.
-no toilet paper in most bathrooms. and at NTU, there is usually only one stall of a normal toilet, the rest are squat toilets. um, fun!
-no trash bins anywhere on the streets. it is part of Taiwan's save-the-environment program to teach the society to waste less.
-manpurses! you will see guys carring furry black totes or brown leather handbags. they are all straight, trust me.
-toy dogs in sweaters and strollers.
-peacoats, boots, tights, scarves in 80 degree weather. not to mention, it is like 80% humidity. I have no idea how those girls are keeping their cool. I'd totally faint if I were wearing all that bulk.

here comes the sun

2010-02-21T23:42:00.001+08:00

Today, Sunday, was a gorgeous day. The sun even came out, the first time I saw it since being here. I spent my morning at the gym, attempting to burn off some of what I gorged on. The treadmills are sorta weird here. First, they have German words on them. And then, it skids when you run faster or slower than what the track is going. Oh, and the mileage is set in kilometers. Eeek! For lunch, mom's friends from college (friends for almost 40 years!) treated us to a feast at a nice Chinese restaurant on NTU campus. The food is very, very delicious and relatively healthy. The food was not greasy, and I mostly ate veggies and fish. Afterward I headed back to my dorm to rest. I didn't sleep too well last night. First off, fireworks were going off at 3am...then it was freeeeeezing in my room. There is no heater. I had two blankets and was wearing a sweater and was yet cold. Later I met up with Jasmine. We hung out in my room for a bit, browsing online to find a place to eat around here. I mean, we could easily go out and pick a place to eat, but I wanted to check my 'list' [a compilation of places I desperately want try out!]. None of the restaurants on that list are in walking distance. So, we went to a chain Japanese place that Jasmine is familiar with. It was pretty good, especially with hot sake mmmm perfect for a chilly day. After stuffing our faces we walked around Gongguan (the district of NTU) and then walked [aka exercise] all the way to ShiDa Night Market. It was way crowded, as always. We ended the day at KFC, downing danta, which is a Portuguese/Macau egg tart. Delicious!

display of visual menu - it's all fake! many restaurants here do that, and they replicate the food exactly.

fake sashimi - looks tasty, huh?

appetizer - this comes with every meal: cold tofu, small side salad, steamed egg with shrimp & mushrooms, miso soup, and a shot of plum vinegar (to drink!)

Donburi. Yum yum in my tum tum - sashimi and salmon roe topped on rice

danta - left is heitang (black sugar) that has a mochi filling

right is called 'cream bomb' - has a cream filling

i heart taipei

2010-02-21T23:17:00.009+08:00

I moved into my dorm Saturday morning. My cousin, Tony who is also a professor at NTU, came to pick me up. My mom, uncle, and aunt (his mom) came along for the ride as well. All five of us squeezed into Tony's sedan, plus my two 50-pounder suitcases. I am so thankful for my family here. It's great to be near family wherever you are! As we were entering Taipei City, I felt a rush of adrenaline. I love the thrill of living in a big city. I hate suburbia life, and living in Xizhi for a week was killing me. The skyscrapers, bright lights, people, restaurants, bars...I know I will be living the good life here. So, it turns out my assigned room is next to the electricity room. It's not a power plant per se, but it's where all the internet and phone lines route from. This room, however, was on the 13th floor - the top floor. The view wasn't amazing - just the other side of the building. I know some people have a view of the city and of Taipei 101! I wish that were me. Anyway, my mom and aunt urged me to move into another room. We went to the front desk to rant. Tony urged the receptionist to find another room in the top floors. No empty rooms, except for the 2nd floor. She gives us the key and we go take a look. It's right above the entrance to the building and in the way corner of the hall. Hmm noise vs. possible health hazards + good location. I finally decided to go with the 2nd floor room to ease my family's worries.

You are probably all curious as to what my dorm looks like right!? It has cream-colored walls, tan tiles, and a large window. Equipped with a phone, desk, bookshelf, shoe rack (!!), built-in wardrobe, fridge, and of course a bed frame (mattress NOT included). The bathroom is nice. The electricity costs money. you have to buy an electricity card and slide it in the electricity control box. It's on a per watt charge! Therefore, the hot water costs money too. So, I guess it's good in a way...it will force me to be more environmentally/money-saving conscious. There is a gym on the first floor, along with a few pool tables, lounge, and a dining area (no food, just microwave, toaster oven, and boiling water). But finding food will definitely not be a problem. In the dorm complex to mine is a Starbucks and 7-11. Then directly across the street is a Mexican restaurant + bar. Down the street are tons and tons of restaurants...Thai, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, sushi, Italian, and a mini-night market (stinky tofu, fried stuff on a stick, etc). I am most certainly in food heaven. Let's just hope I don't gain too many pounds this semester :)

Roosevelt Rd. - one street away from my dorm - the street of restaurants

bright lights, big city

friday morning

2010-02-19T09:59:00.005+08:00

This morning I got woken up by ear-deafening fireworks...at around 7 or 8am. Okay not nice, people!! My mom explained to me it's because today is the fifth day of the new year--the day all shops, mom and pop diners, and grocery markets open. For a week, all these shops have been closed, including banks and business firms. So imagine not being able to withdraw (aside from ATMs) money for a week or not being able to contact the HR department of some firm for an entire week! Only department stores and chain restaurants and shops stay open.

This morning I also woke up with a swollen right eye due to a mosquito bite. There has been a mosquito(s--hopefully not!) hiding around my uncle's house. It seems like it likes the blood from me face. So far, I have gotten seven bites on my face. Yesterday it bit my left cheek, which left my eye puffy and it looked like I got a black eye. This time, it bit my right cheek and my bottom lip.

It's still pouring rain, and it's super windy today. I caught a cold, and my entire face feels itchy. Not a good Friday morning :(

On a somewhat happier note, there is a 40% chance of rain tomorrow in Taipei!

not much fascinating things to write about...

2010-02-18T22:55:00.000+08:00

because the past few days have just been filled with eating, visiting relatives, eating some more, treading along in the rain, and trying to keep warm. Today was 8 degrees celsius, which is about 46 degrees. It is even warmer in SoCal right now! The weather report says that it will start getting warmer this weekend. I hope it is true because I didn't pack many winter clothes, and soon enough I won't be able to fit into them...

Tonight we attended a mini family reunion at a chi dao bao huo guo--which essentially is a hot pot buffet. Taiwan is known for these; they are everywhere. There were 30 or so of us. I met a few cousins I never knew existed. Both my parents side of the family are complex. My mom has 7 siblings, so you can imagine how many cousins + aunts and uncles I have. Then on my dad's side, there are many, many siblings. Even I don't know the exact number, but I believe there are 14 or so in total (by blood and through adopted siblings). Anyhow, at this hot pot place, you get your own personal hot pot. Then, you fill your plate with your selections of what you want to cook. There are several kinds of yuwan/fishballs, meats (usually beef or lamb), veggies, fish, mushrooms, and starches (pumpkin, corn). There are different sauces and condiments to add, too. At these buffet hot pots, of course there has to be dessert: coffees, ice cream, shaved ice, fruits, tea jello, slushies, sweet popcorn... Basically, you stuff yourself til you feel disgustingly fat. I mean, after dinner I could barely button up my peacoat :/ Nonetheless, tonight was fun meeting relatives and stuffing my face some more--day five/feast six of the new year!

please don't feed me!

2010-02-16T22:04:00.000+08:00

me + rolls soon---->
I have never been more tired and stuffed in my entire life [so far]. I am currently growing a food baby, my face is getting puffier and puffier each day, and I am getting lazier and thinking about food 24/7. Never in my wildest dreams have I imagined that I'd ever eat from morning to night, non-stop. JoMa (my aunt whom I'm living with right now) feeds us waaaay too much food. She always has some sort of fruit or crackers on the table or is always asking me if I want to eat anything. My cousin explained to me that only during Chinese New Year, people go out and buy the most expensive groceries or dine at the most extravagant restaurants. You munch on nuts and cookies before a meal and eat some sort of dessert after every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It truly is non-stop eating. I feel as if the pit in my stomach is growing bigger and always is begging for more food, even if I feel really fat after a big meal.

Today we took a train to Shuangxi, which is a small town in Taipei County, but not near downtown. From there we walked four miles to another train station. Apparently, this is a popular trail to jog/powerwalk, but we were the only ones on the road because it was drizzling the entire time. I had planned to go running to burn off all that I ate from the past few days, even wore sweats (which you will rarely ever see Taiwanese women wearing, even when exercising--they instead wear skirts and heels) and my sports headband, but it was freezing and raining. No fun. After the walk, I could already feel my thighs and calves burning. I am so out of shape. It's from gorging on all that food! It's only 8:30pm right now, and I feel so ready to go to sleep. I do know, however, that after I move into my dorm I will not be feasting on all that tasty food. It will be back to living like a starving college student and running on the treadmill everyday. There is no meal plan, and I have no kitchen nor a microwave, so I have to venture everyday to buy food. Yip. Ee.

day two of the new year/day three of feasts

2010-02-15T22:51:00.002+08:00

[backtracking to the 15th, Monday]

Today we walked to Costco. Yeah, you read right COSTCO! Our mission was to buy a cake for Wen-wen's (my cousin) 18th birthday and to bring to da ah-yi's (mom's older sister/my aunt) house for dinner tonight. Costco defintely keeps all their stores consistent, in terms of setup and products, even the menu of their deli is the same. Walking in the Costco I knew exactly where to head for cakes and vitamins. It's the same exact setup as all the Costco's I've been to. Of course, things are more expensive here...generally about a 30% markup. Tiramisu, New York Cheesecake, big rectangular frosting-covered generic cake, strawberry cheesecake...which to choose? There was a sampling booth for Bailey's (yummm!) which shocked both my mom and I. I don't recall ever seeing a sampling booth for any sort of alcohol in the states. The drinking age here is 18 anyway, and IDs are rarely asked for.

Anyhow, after purchasing a strawberry cheesecake, and running in the rain to the bus station, we took the MRT (subway term in Asia) to my aunt's house. While walking to my aunt's from the MRT station, I noticed plenty of good restaurants...if I lived in her area I'd probably weigh 500 pounds. She lives in a good area of Taipei, extremely convenient and near everything. We sat at her place for a bit, ate a few snacks--including these incredibly addictive dark chocolate covered pomengranates that my mom brought from US Costco. I ate more than I should have, knowing that I'd be eating dinner in an hour or so. They are that addictive. Afterward, we headed to the 8th floor, where my cousin + cousin-in-law and their adorable newborn baby live. There were 14 of us, all family...my mom, her two sisters, her brother (Jojo, the one I am currently living with), three of my cousins, my mom's two cousins, my cousin-in-law's parents...The food we ate tonight were specialties of Hunan province (China). My cousin-in-law's parents are from Hunan, so we got a taste of homecooked gourmet Chinese food tonight!

we made 300 or so dumpings!

the feast for tonight

egg dumplings

shreds of pork, or maybe it was beef - I didn't eat it, so I'm not entirely sure

everyone's favorite and my cousin-in-law's parents' specialty ~ pork butt

some kind of special vegetable; tasted like cabbage, but had a radish texture

pork + veggie dongfen (glass noodles) soup

seaweed with tomatoes and sesame mmm

Hunan sticky rice

strawberry cheesecake a la Costco

Another tradition of Chinese New Year is giving out red envelopes filled with crisp dollar bills, my childhood favorite [and still a favorite hehe] tradition. Ah, the joy of being part of a HUGE family. Every adult hands the young money! The average to give each person is 2000NT. The older you get, the less money you receive. But this time, I received more money than I have for the past years because I have so many relatives here. At home, my parents are the only people who give me a red envelope. I remember in my mid-teen years, I'd spend all my CNY money in a month...on new clothes and shoes. This time, all my cash will go towards good food, accessories, and of course my savings [that will contribute to all the loans I have to start paying off eeek!].

din tai fung, fighting the crowds at sogo, new years day

2010-02-14T21:38:00.001+08:00

Chinese New Year is a nine-day celebration, and therefore there are nine days of stuffing your face with way too much good food. It's like Thanksgiving times nine. Never-ending eating, all day for lunch and dinner. I felt guilty from all that I indulged in last night and promised myself that today would be 'detox' day in that I would only eat fruits and veggies. Completely unrealistic and impossible in the land of where your food fantasies come true! So, did I stick with my detox plan? Absolutely not!!

Today we went to the two SOGO's (Japanese chain multi-level, extremely overpriced department store) in Zhongxiao district. Both were incredibly crowded. There are, I believe, eight SOGO's in Taipei. They are always incredibly packed, which I don't really see why because everything is so expensive, even during their so-called sales. I guess it's because of the awesome food courts they have and all the pretty clothes! We first went to the Zhongxiao Dunhua SOGO, where JoMa (aunt) took us straight to a bakery in the basement. Ah the fragrance of freshly baked bread...so enticing. I shared a cranberry walnut bun with my mom. Afterward we headed up the escalators to each floor, only up to the 4th floor though because we decided to go to the other SOGO, which is right across the street. As we entered the Zhongxiao Fuxing SOGO, I saw a poster for Din Tai Fung, worldly famous for their xiaolongbao (traditional dumplings). So yes, we had to eat there for lunch. The wait, however, was two hours long, so my mom bought to-go, which still took awhile, but not nearly as long as the wait to sit inside the restaurant.

crazy, long wait

making xiaolongbao

veggies + mushroom + tofu baozhi (bun)

veggie dumplings

xiaolongbao

veggie + minced pork bun

So, that was lunch. When we got back, dinner was already waiting for us. Both my aunt and uncle cooked. I didn't even really feel hungry, but I proceeded to eat anyway. Ahh...

the tastiest shrimp dish ever. my aunt made it and won't tell us the recipe!

clam soup

"lionhead" - meatball

whole fish

this is a fruit native to Taiwan, called shi-jia. The literal translation is Buddha's Head. It's quite interesting. The texture is like a coconut, and the taste is sweet. Since being here, I have eaten three fruits I've never seen/eaten before. Taiwan is abundant in fruits!

feast number one ~ lunar new year eve

2010-02-13T23:50:00.020+08:00

It seems like all my mom's siblings are chefs! My uncle cooked thirteen or so dishes. And, of course, I overstuffed myself...typical. A tradition for Chinese New Year is to pay respect to your ancestors. Before eating, we climbed (literally, because their stairs are so steep!) our way to the third floor, where my aunt and uncle have a traditional Buddhist altar. On the altar were pictures of my mom's parents and her grandparents. We set the dishes my uncle cooked as offerings and had five bowls and five pairs of chopsticks for each of them. Then my uncle reminisced about my grandparents and their dear grandmother who took care of them after my grandparents passed. Anyhow, afterward we headed down to the dining room and began our feast....

meatballs - traditional Chinese New Year dish; crunchy on the outside, pork + onions + ginger on the inside

veggies, shreds of pork, mu'er

shrimp rolls

egg roll stuffed with pork

soup number one; there were three soups total

bamboo shoots

egg layer with veggies underneath

some kind of meat, pork I think

pork fat

yumm shrimp!

a pricey, but delicious $70 soup

whole fish - symbolizes wish and abundance

mmm yum!

This is my nephew. He is four years old and incredibly energetic.

We, then, proceeded to put out ground fireworks. I heard this sound all night til 3am.

lunar new year eve: food coma allll day

2010-02-13T13:29:00.000+08:00

I can't. Stop. Eating. Today is Chinese New Year Eve, which means feast all day, devouring all that you can possibly handle [or til you decide when to stop eating, which I totally can't esp when there is so much good food in front of me!]. I broke my pescetarian diet today....I ate pork and umm cow stomach...for the first time in I don't know eight years!! Jojo (the uncle I'm staying with in the meantime) cooked lunch. Maybe I felt obligated to eat it because it's CNY and all or that I watched my uncle prepare it. Anyhow, he made a mushroom soup that had bits of pork in it, pork that had a layer of fish paste on the outside. The soup itself was good, but all the pieces of pork lying around in it looked appealing so I thought I would just try one piece. One piece turned into two pieces then three then ...yeah. I also ate two meatballs, made of pork...called rouwan, which is a traditional CNY food. There will be another feast tonight at my mom's older brother's house. This uncle, apparently, cooks gourmet Chinese/Taiwanese food. Mmm! Expect photos soon!

safe and sound!

2010-02-12T19:50:00.003+08:00

So I have arrived here in Taipei late last night. It is chilly (totally not the hot, sticky Taiwan I know)and rainy, but not a bit drop of gloomy - despite that I feel like a total zombie after being sedentary for 15 hours on the plane and adjusting to the 16-hour time difference, not to mention the not so appetizing vegan airplane food [I signed up for vegetarian, but everything was non-dairy/no animal-by-products]! It feels great to be back in Taipei...feels like I never left actually.

These sights, sounds, and smells are all so familiar. The aroma of fresh bread from the bakeries on every street corner, the extremely packed subways--packed to where you feel the person's hot breath on your neck, the bright lights of the city and gas-guzzling taxi's, stinky tofu "fragrance", rows and rows of motorcycles parked on the sidewalks, cloudy days--the sun hardly ever shines during this season, performing my balancing act on the bus - which I totally suck at, today I nearly toppled over a monk when the bus came to a sudden halt (umm oops!)... Oh, and crossing a busy street here is like suicide. The law of pedestrians get the right of way is a complete joke here. But I love Taipei. Not only do I lovelovelove the food here, but it's bliss being here with family, exploring the city, and most importantly learning more about myself as a Taiwanese American. I'm very glad I chose to come here to study abroad as opposed to China or anywhere else!

Taiwan is known as a gastronomic wonderland...and it truly is! There are thousands and thousands of little mom and pop diners to extravagant buffets everywhere you go, it makes you wonder how any restaurant manages to stay in business with all the competition. But Taiwanese culture revolves around food. Actually, my uncle told me that when greeting a relative, instead of saying "How are you?" they say "Have you eaten yet?" And, my relatives have managed to keep feeding me even when I'm overstuffed. So, expect me to talk PLENTY about food in the upcoming posts, especially since it is near Chinese New Year, which means feasts everyday, every minute of my life for an entire week.

And I apologize, no pictures today. This morning we left my uncle's at 8am to get to the city (he lives in Xizhi, a suburb of Taipei) so that we could extend my visa duration because I have a visitor visa that I can use til May 2012, but only with a max of 60 days. That took awhile to sort out, which I can't even apply for til sometime in April. Then I had to obtain an ID number so that I can open a bank account. That also took a long time. Anyhow, after all that my aunts and uncle took us to a street called DiHua St., which is crazy crowded before Chinese New Year. Think holiday shopping crowds times ten. This street basically is a bunch of shops selling food, kinda like a street fair I suppose, and there is free sampling of almost everything: dried squid, beef jerky, candies, dried persimmon, vacuum-dried vegetables (yumm bought 2 pounds of it!), teas, coffee, noodles, fried squid balls, calamari, etc. I didn't bring my purse/camera to this because my aunts told me that there are many thieves in that area. Although, I wish I did at least bring my camera because it definitely is a sight to see!

FEBRUARY 10

2010-01-23T07:54:00.002+08:00

is the date I am jetting off to TAIWAN!!!!!

In the meantime, I have been busy with an internship at a local marketing firm. I recently pre-registered for classes at NTU...a headaching process. I selected six classes: International Marketing Management (credited as Int'l Marketing at Trinity), Marketing Management, Information Systems, Intro to Biodiversity of Taiwan, Intro to Field Geology (crossing my fingers this will fulfill the Common Curric requirements for natural sciences), and Creative Art Design. Unfortunately, I couldn't register for Chinese classes because they are all full year courses. So, to get into these classes, the computer system randomly chooses students from the pool. It's not based on whether you are of junior-standing or if you are a certain major...it's all based on luck. Luckily I have the advantage as an exchange student, so it's pretty unlikely that I will get rejected by professors when I bring in a course registration approval form (or so I've been told).

Otherwise, I am SO excited because I am arriving just before Chinese New Year! Hongbao (red cash-filled envelopes) and yummy Taiwanese food, here I come!!

stairway to heaven

2009-07-18T17:08:00.003+08:00

Hualien

Oh, how I miss Taiwan.

home

2009-07-14T22:12:00.002+08:00

I am home. Back in the states. It feels so strange. I don't want to be here. I miss Taiwan already. Anyone who has lived abroad for at least a month knows this feeling of attachment. Because I've lived there for almost 2 months, and what felt like a long time, I adapted to the culture, food, traditions, and living in the city. Now it's back to greasy and expensive food (only if I eat out, which I promised myself won't be often) and life in boring suburbia. I told my family and friends there that I will return within the next two years. And, I will definitely make frequent stops to my homeland from now on and not wait another eight years to return. In fact, my grandaunt (mom's side) says she will try to arrange an internship for me at the National Palace Museum, where she worked for forty years and where I visited on Saturday.. I have about 400 pictures to upload and so much to update on. My mind is still in Taiwan, and my times are messed up since I slept during the bumpy 12-hour flight. I wonder how long this jet lag will last!

gratuitous post of the beach ~ Hualien

2009-07-12T23:09:00.014+08:00

beautiful Hualien, talking bird, ocean travel, indigenous cultures

2009-07-12T22:59:00.012+08:00

Sunday: Jojo handmakes his special dumplings for breakfast...though mine are shrimp instead of pork. Cooking must be in our family because my mom cooks, he cooks, and one of my aunts is a famous cook and has published quite a few recipe books. We leave the house at 7:30am to get to Kunyang MRT Station by bus to connect at Taipei Main Station and take the train to Hualien. Hualien is a beautiful town at the east coast of Taiwan and the most beautiful place I've ever visited (other than Lake Louise).

While on the train we went through mountains (tunnels). One tunnel was very long, it was pitch black. And then all of sudden people ooh and ahh, and there it was--the ocean right outside our window. People are snapping pictures every second, as I am of course.

after the long tunnel

When we get to Hualien train station, my mom's friend of 40 years from college (Yuanshan University, Taiwan) picks us up along with her husband. We eat lunch at this cute cafe near their house. I had the best fried rice ever. Definitely unique and not like the typical fried rice you'd find at a Chinese restaurant or your mom's cooking. All ingredients were fresh and organic--salmon, pine nuts, grape seed oil, and oregano cooked with purple grain rice. The owner of the restaurant comes by our table to chat with us. She seems like a free-spirit bohemian type and tells us she opened the restaurant because she wants everyone to be healthy, likes cooking for others, and another reason that's kind of hard to translate into English.

Mom's friend's house is right across the street from the ocean. The house looks like it belongs in Corona del Mar--American beach house style, and certainly does not look like a Taiwanese/Chinese house. She says when she and her husband traveled to Australia, they saw a house they fell in love with--took pictures of the house and designed their house after that model. I took a two hour, much needed nap and then we went to the beach. We drove there because the beach in front of their house is a harbor with no shore to walk along.

The view is breathtaking. I don't know what else to say about it, but it's prettier than all beaches in Cali...by far. No one is swimming in the ocean. Both Mom and I are shocked by that because the ocean is so clean here. But actually, it's because swimming is not allowed. It's extremely dangerous...just a few feet away from the shore is a 2000 feet drop into the deep end, like diving off a massive cliff. There is not really sand here, it's pebbles instead. I leave mom with her friends and sit alone by the shore. Breathe in, breathe out. The air is so fresh here. No smog, pollution, nasty people hacking their spit onto the ground, nowhere can compare to this place. I watch little kids jumping the waves, but they seem to know to not go any further. The dogs even know it. On my right is a lighthouse and a gazebo. On my left is Taroko and mountains. I end up taking about 300 or so pictures of just the ocean. The sky is turning orange and pink, and I'm wondering where the sunset is. Then I remember that the sun sets on the west...Hualien is on the east coast. But there are strange clouds in the sky, four cotton candy clouds that make the shape of the back of a sitting dog.

We leave up walk further down the shore. It's just as humid here, so I'm soaking in sweat...grrrrreat. So we sit down on the stairs, and beside us is a couple with their talking bird [in a cage]. This bird is called Ba ge--I don't think there is an English word for it. It's not a parrot, but a black bird kind of like a small crow but with a yellow beak. He nods when his owner asks him questions. He can say Wan An! (good morning!) and Baobie (sweetie, baby).

We eat another healthy meal at a small cafe called Lighthouse. Right when we stepped in, I could smell the aroma of coffee mmm. All their coffee is from South+Central America. The owner is half-Aboriginal. Purple soup was served first--made of purple sweet potatoes. Then I ate multigrain bread and a salad dressed with yogurt. Who would have thought that yogurt would taste good with salad. It's a yummy alternative to the boring olive oil + vinegar. I order an iced coffee, grounds from Jakarta, Indonesia.

After dinner we walk to the Tribal Harvest Festival. In case you don't know and a little history lesson, there are three ethnic groups residing in Taiwan: aboriginal, hakka/hoklo (my dad), and immigrant (my mom). Aboriginals (divided into about 13 tribes) are those who are native to Taiwan and were the first to migrate and settle in Taiwan. Hakkas are descendants from those who were "imported" to Taiwan by the Dutch (sometime in the 1600s the Dutch colonized Taiwan) from the Fujian province in China as laborers. They are primarily a mix of Fujianese and Aboriginal--and some are part Dutch [like me, I think, 1/16th or so].

It seems like the whole town of Hualien is here. There are crowds of people here, some tourists from other countries as well. We arrive a bit late as it started at 6:30pm so we unfortunately missed a lot of performances. The center stage is a light pastel green color, and one of the tribes wearing colorful costumes is performing a traditional ritual dance. For some reason, while watching the dance I got emotional and fought back tears. I don't know if it's because I find indigenous culture dances beautiful or maybe because at this moment I realized that I now want to have a career related to cultures/preserving indigenous cultures (+animals, fashion, art, food, marketing). Watching this makes me want to come back here, to Hualien or somewhere in Taiwan where I can study aboriginal culture, language, and history. And, there is still so much to learn about my own family history. After spending plenty of time with my family here, I still have many questions about my ancestors.

~~MORE PICTURES IN NEXT POST :)

museums, move, thai

2009-07-11T23:00:00.005+08:00

Saturday: Today I rode the subway to Jiantan to meet mom so we could go to National Palace Museum together. I think I always underestimate the time it takes to get to a certain place on the subway. When mom called me at 8:35am I was still getting ready. I'm supposed to meet her at 9. I tell her that it only takes 20-30 min from XInpu to Jiantan, which is in the northern part of Taipei. I get there at 9:15, and mom was angry because she says it takes almost an hour to get to NPM from there and the English tour starts at 10. But then again, she always overestimates the time it gets to somewhere in Taipei. So, at Jiantan station we wait for the bus that will take us directly to the museum. We board the tiny bus, which is smaller than the usual buses it's more like a private shuttle size, and we are literally all squeezed inside. Seriously, these people squeeze themselves in no matter how crowded it already is.

the entrance to Gu Gong National Palace Museum

Gugong is beautiful. I was here 8 years ago too, but don't remember anything because apparently Jeffrey and I were fighting the entire time according to Mom. Anyways, this museum was where I had intended to intern at. But because this museum is bigger, more well-known than NMH it's more competitive to aqcuire an internship here. It's like the size of the Met Museum, if not bigger. My grandaunt worked there for 40 years. She says that she will help me get an internship there next summer. Hmmm come back to Taiwan for another summer? I dunno, it's waaaay too HOT here, but if I can fit enough credits this year I most likely will be back. We arrive at the museum just in time for the tour. It is so crowded. NPM is a museum that every tourist stops at when visiting Taiwan. They have an extensive collection of ancient Chinese art representing all dynasties plus special (most of the time contemporary) exhibitions that would be rare to find elsewhere. I spot a lot of tourists, most from Europe and Africa it seems like. And girls [who obviously ai piaoliang love to be pretty] wearing clubbing clothes with black stilettos...and a girl wearing the shortest shorts that I could see more than I'd like ew. Ugh, no manners these people. NPM has three "Mona Lisa's": jade cabbage (see photo, not mine because photography is prohibited), Mao gong ding (bronze vessel from Zhou Dynasty), and something else both Mom and I don't remember. All three are worth millions of dollars, or rather invaluable.

We eat a quick lunch at the museum's 4th floor dim sum restaurant. We order xiajiao (shrimp dumplings, and named different on the menu bc xiajiao is the mainland Chinese name for it), a dish of sticky rice with mushroom, and mom gets a dumpling soup. Afterwards, we begin our power workout through the massive museum. We're in a hurry because Tony, my cousin, is picking us up at 3pm to go to Yingge (it's already 12pm at this time). My favorite exhibits are the Ming Dynasty porcelains, which are so vibrant - some are even bright yellow and magenta as opposed to the typical blue and white designs what they're known for, very modern for that time and a special exhibition showcasing a contemporary Chinese artist, Chen Chi-kwan (no relations). His art style is very modern and unique. There is a recurring theme of suns appearing in his paintings. Finally, we see every gallery in the museum a huge accomplishment to finish the rest of the entire museum in 3 hours! We make our way down to the garden that is adjacent to the museum. It's very peaceful and a nice getaway from the city, although it is in Taipei it's hidden in the hills far away from the noisy downtown.We meet Tony and A-yi in front of the museum and head towards Yingge - small town south of Banciao and still considered part of Taipei County--known for ceramics culture. It is International Ceramics Day, so the Ceramics Museum entrance fee is free if you donate your receipt (the receipts in Taiwan are basically lottery tickets each stamped with a string of numbers). We join a tour at the museum, which is in Chinese so I don't really understand most of it because my Chinese vocabulary of art-related words is not vast, but Tony and mom translate most of it for me. Tony buys me a croissant sandwich with lobster and mayonnaise and I eat it during the tour because I'm starving to the point that I'm shaking and sweating. He tells me that I'm allowed to eat in the museum, which I at first find very odd but I eat it anyways. Then 10 minutes later an old guy in the tour scolds me saying that eating is prohibited blah blah blah. Well, the tour guide saw me eating and didn't say a thing. Anyhow, after the tour we walk to Lao Jie, which is the old street of downtown Yingge. It is a cute pebbled street where no cars are allowed, and there various ceramics stores and slushie vendors...and a random German sausage stand, where the seller was a German guy.

in front of the Yingge Ceramics Museum

After Yingge we go to Ah-gou's to pick up my two heavy suitcases, lugg them down the four flights since there is no elevator in the building boooo, and bid our goodbyes to my aunt and cousin. We drop off the luggage at Da A-yi's house, pick up Judy--my adorable preggars cousin-in-law, and go to eat at a Thai place called Southern City that I ate at before with dad and Jiejie. We ate the 吃到飽 chi dao bao meal, which basically is you pay a fixed price 480NT (dinner) then order ANYTHING on the menu as many dishes as you want. Among the five of us, we ordered maybe 18 or so dishes. This was the best Thai food I've ever had. Not greasy as they make it in the States. Lemon fish (twice); soup with lime and rosemary (not but it tasted like it forgot the name) flavors; tofu in coconut milk (three times sooo delicious!); green curry beef (twice, and this is my only exception to eating beef); Taiwanese water spinach with little shrimp (twice); some kind of curry chicken in coconut milk (did not eat, but did try the sauce); shrimp pancake; fried shrimp balls slathered with mayonnaise; a pork intestine soup; cold seafood with fruits (twice); a papaya salad sooo incredibly spicy...and probably a couple more I don't remember. Oh yeah, and ice cream.

Then with my expanding stomach Tony drives us to pick up my suitcases and we move to Jojo's house for the night. He lives in XiZhi, which is a suburb of Taipei and quite far from downtown.

quattro, quatre, 四

2009-07-10T13:12:00.003+08:00

I have four more days til I head back to the States. It kind of feels like a long time, but at the same time I know these next four days will quickly disappear in front of my eyes.. Today is my last day at the museum. I received my certificate of internship and took a few pictures with my "roommates", Cheng boshi, Mr. Tong Ba (head of research dept.), Zhao Laoshi, and another laoshi who was in fact the most welcoming out of everyone else in the office (besides my adviser and Zhao laoshi). On my way to work, the last time I ride the subway to Xiaonanmen, I have to admit that I got a bit teary-eyed. I survived these 7 weeks, hopping from country to country, being crammed in the subway every morning, walking under the blazing sun and arriving at work soaked in sweat from head to toe, food poisoning from eating night market foods, language barriers, ignoring what my relatives say when they comment on how fat I've become since the last time they saw me [which c'mon was 8 years ago], getting laughed at by a salesperson when I couldn't understand what she said in Chinese, writing extensive research papers at work, squinting my eyes when trying to read traditional Chinese characters, cleaning up poo and pee at an animal shelter, accidentally almost swallowing a piece of metal found in my ice cream.......ah, what an adventure this has been.

Coming here has made me realize how important it is to practice Chinese. Hearing others speak it makes me regret that I quit Chinese school and always spoke English with my parents. Of course my Chinese isn't at level one, but when I speak it people immediately know that I did not grow up here. When I go places with my friends or family, others always ask Ta shi cong na li lai de? "Where is she from?" Obviously my Chinese has an "American" accent. And apparently, I do not look Taiwanese. Quite a few people have commented that my facial expressions are not like other Taiwanese girls, and I have dark skin and freckles as opposed to the million other women in Taiwan who obsessively apply whitening creams to rid their tan and freckles. So, yeah, at times I've felt like an outcast, especially when people constantly stare at me. They would observe me, look at me from head to toe, and I dunno what in the hell they are thinking. Maybe She's definitely a foreigner because she's fat (they say that all foreigners are "overweight") or Hmm she looks interesting, certainly not a Taiwanese. I know I will never assimilate to the Taiwanese culture. There are many things within their society I can never accept and agree with. However, I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to come here and spend time with family, meet new friends, and absorb the culture and environment around me.

Zhao laoshi - who helped me arrange this internship

me and my hard-earned certificate
Cheng boshi/Dr. Kee in Sung - my adviser
Mr. Ba Tong - head of research department

good fusion food; racism; more shopping

2009-07-09T23:48:00.010+08:00

Thursday: Shi-jia and I had planned earlier this week to celebrate the end of work at this restaurant that we found on a food blog. It's called Watami @ Zhongxiao Dun Hua. It's a chain restaurant from Japan. Normally, chain places in America don't have that great of quality foods and are known for their family/big group atmosphere and large portions. But, Asian chains are different. We were amused with how many things on the menu there were...sashimi platter, bibimbap (what I ordered, and only came in a stone bowl), steak, kebabs, ramen, sushi, pizza, huoguo, salad, etc etc. There were sooo many drinks too...cocktails, mocktails, wine, sake, sours, smoothies, "healthy" drink..... I had a hard time choosing what to drink. They were all relatively cheap too. 100NT for a cocktail (alcholic & non-alcholic). Thought about ordering a sour or cocktail since I am of age to drink in Taiwan (yay!), but decided not to when I thought how odd it'd be to drink one while eating bibimbap.We ordered a Japanese niangao (sticky fried flour) for appetizer - too sticky and hard to chew but still yummy nonetheless. The bibimbap was good. Different from Koreana's and others I've had from Korean restaurants.

After stuffing our face we rode the subway to Houshanpi third to last stop on the east end of the blue line and pretty deserted. We planned to go shopping at Wufenpu - shopping mecca called "wholesale clothing district". It's supposed to be crazy crowded so I was surprised to see such an empty station. But when we got outside near the district it was more crowded. There were store after store of clothes and cheap(y) shoes.

We went in one store where I spotted a linen blouse that I really liked, I held it up for a long time observing each seam making sure there were no hanging stitches (I do this with almost every piece of clothing that I'd potentially buy)...then the store owners talk to each other and say "Ugh, why does she take so long. It's so cheap (250NT), and made in Taiwan--I don't understand why they won't buy it immediately. Taiwanese people ought to only buy Taiwan-made clothing. They must hate Taiwan or are from Da Lu (China)... I might as well just go to America to sell these clothes #$*#$*W..." After I heard that, I threw the blouse on the floor and we left. So freaking rude and racist.

After going in many stores, I ended up only buying one top. We shopped til almost 11pm til my legs were too wobbly to walk.

3rd treasure of Taiwan: "199 all you can eat"

2009-07-08T22:15:00.000+08:00

aka eat til you feel like exploding at the buffet. Tonight a Jo-ma (mom's 3rd eldest brother's wife) invited us to eat at an upscale hotel restaurant, called Brother Hotel Xiong di fan dian. This is the same exact place I ate last time I was in Taiwan 8 years ago--the place where I tipped over a porcelain plate, and it smashed my big toe. So I remember this restaurant because of that, and well the food is sooo amazing. We ate at the Rose Room, which is the buffet on the 13th floor. I didn't take any photos, unfortunately, since it is kinda fancy. But the food was ahhh heaven. Best buffet food ever. I mostly ate seafood--cocktail shrimp, sashimi, mussel, albalone, cold octopus... and I ate a tiny piece of steak because I was desperately craving it when I saw the juicyness of the medium done steak [yeah, I know I'm a very bad pescetarian]. The desserts were the highlight of the night. I had the BEST creme brulee ever here, 10 times better than the $9 creme brulee at that one overpriced restaurant on Forest Ave in Laguna. What I love about the desserts in Taiwan is that they are not overly sweet, so you can eat as much as you wish to and not feel like a pig. I totally got up three times to get more creme brulee. There was this other dessert that was out of this world. I have no idea what it's called, but it was mm mm good. Even my mom, who claims to be on a diet, ate two cups of it. It was kind of like flan, but not as caramely, more like cream/milk. And it had a thin overlay of jam on the surface. This will have to be my last time stuffing my face in Taiwan...or for the rest of the summer.

c'est bon!

2009-07-06T23:09:00.001+08:00

Earlier tonight I went to a cute French dessert/afternoon tea place with my intern friends, Chloe and Shi-jia. We first ate a quick dinner at this chaofan (fried rice) restaurant nearby on Yong Kang St. This was my first time eating chaofan in probably almost a year! It was pretty good. I almost cleaned up my plate, but wanted to save room for dessert at Patisserie la Douceur--especially since I was planning to eat a supersized macaron :)

The pictures say it all...(but I will add captions tomorrow)Macarons (those three hamburger-looking things) ~ left to right: lemon, coffee+hazelnut+white chocolate [what I ate], rasberry

Dark chocolate mousse with mangoes in the center of bottom half--what Shi-jia ordered

Latte ~ two hearts

The most luxurious dessert - sugar and nice :)

let them eat cake...and peking duck, steamed sea bass, taiwanese style shrimp, and...and.....

2009-07-05T19:22:00.001+08:00

We Taiwanese, or actually Asians, love to eat, and eat, and eat til our stomachs can't bear to digest anymore food. Eating is a huge part of our culture, and it is disrespectful to refuse food from others. Today my mom and I were invited to eat a banquet feast by her college friend. There were nine of her college friends in total, so you can imagine how many dishes of entrees we had--dish after dish after dish! Chinese banquet-style meals are set on round tables with a circular lazy susan, and you just rotate it til the food you want to eat is in front of you. I ate to my heart's content, not stopping to think how many calories I was consuming because the food here is not greasy, and there was a lot of food in front of me, how could I stop :)

For those of you who aren't aware [because I had a friend say "I hope you're having fun in China!" to me], Taiwan is an island SEPARATE from China. It is not part of China. nor will it ever be--at least I hope not. Even though I am Taiwanese/Chinese, I am partial to Taiwan because of this cross-strait issue. China's president has rejected Taiwan's bid to join the UN as an independent nation 23 times. The PROC claim Taiwan to be an inalienable part of "One China." So, I just have to put this out there because when my friend, who will not be named, said that I got pretty offended.

peekchurs of Jiufen~

2009-07-05T18:40:00.015+08:00

making yuyuan - chewy taro with flour mmmm

the view from the yuyuan place

hi mom

view from the observatory in downtown - mountains+ocean...ah, I so wish I could wake up to this view every morning!

that mountain is a popular hiking spot. My uncle and Wenwen both have climbed to the very top! There are three gazebos/resting spots, and the stairs are so steep. I've read somewhere that some have seen women hiking in miniskirts and heels. Oh, what the women do here to be pretty every second of their waking life.

this breed of dog is Taiwanese. I don't know the English name, but she sure is pretty :) *edit: It's Japanese

Lao Jie (old street)

We ate our lunch at this quaint Taiwanese restaurant that overlooks the beautiful ocean and mountains. We listened to Moon River and other oldies that mom and A-yi both reminisced about.

bead bracelets for sale.

and dragon puppets!

Jiufen = beautiful place spoiled by tourists

2009-07-04T22:32:00.000+08:00

This morning David, my cousin whom I had just met today, picked me up at Ahgou's place to take me, mom, Jojo, and da A-yi (mom's older sister) to Jiufen. Jiufen used to be a gold-mining town, and therefore pretty wealthy back in the day. Then, I guess the gold-mining business declined and so it gradually became kind of dead until Hou Hsiao-hsien (famous Taiwanese director) filmed his hugely popular film, A City of Sadness, in Jiufen. Jiufen's downtown also inspired director of Oscar-winning Spirited Away--that city in the film was modeled after Jiufen, so because of these two films Jiufen is now a destination spot in north Taiwan. According to a folklore, or maybe reality I'm not entirely sure, Jiufen used to be occupied by 9 households. The dad or mom would go out to buy groceries for nine people in each family, so the name Jiufen is originated from this story [jiu = nine; fen = fraction].

We were stuck in traffic in Taipei for awhile. The roads here are so narrow, like in San Antonio. I'd never have the guts to drive in Taiwan, even mom said that Taipei is the only place where she'd never rent a car. The people here are crazy drivers--worse than the drivers on Bellaire/Chinatown in Houston! Basically no one follows the laws (except for traffic lights)...

Finally after winding and winding around the sharp curves of the mountain we get the Jiufen, which is already so renao (crowded). David drops us off in front of a 7-11 while he goes further up the hill to park the car. Jiufen is a quaint, little town with vendors on every street selling all sorts of desserts and snacks--most popular are pineapple cakes and fried stuff. Jiufen is also known for its yuyuan (chewy flour with taro) and teahouses with balconies that overlook the Pacific Ocean (Keelung as well).

This place is filled with tourists and tour buses. that I feel the beauty of this place is spoiled. It kind of makes this place less enjoyable, especially when you're trying to move through the crowds within such a narrow space that is probably about 5 feet wide. While waiting for David and Jojo to meet us at 7-11, mom, A-yi, and I go inside 7-11 because it's air-conditioned. The 7-11's here are different from those in the states. They sell fine wine, hard liquor, and $1 beers. You can buy pre-heated ready-to-eat meals here that contain steak... I'm so hungry because all I ate for breakfast was a slice of bread so mom crosses the street (runs for dear life actually because a tour bus wouldn't stop for her) and brings me back a sweet bun with taro inside. Everything tastes much better in Taiwan, even this simple bun that we usually buy at 99 Ranch Market. So, after David and Jojo meets us, we head towards the narrow road. There are lanterns lined up overhead and a plastic cover for shade. On our left and right sides are vendors, each offering samples. We stop at a famous yuyuan eatery. We get shaved ice with yuyuan, grass jelly, and green bean then head upstairs to see the gorgeous view of the mountain and ocean. After finishing we sit there for awhile, catching up with each other. David, my cousin, talks about his job and China. He's like a Wall Street type of guy and works for a global finance firm. His company sends him to Beijing and Shanghai frequently--and now his Mandarin has a Chinese twang.

We walk and walk, up the pebblestone narrow roads, all the way to the end of downtown. I realized that I haven't seen the famous Jiufen scene--the picture that shows up most on Google images when you type Jiufen. I guess I must have missed it because everyone else remembers seeing it. It's sandwiched between two buildings--the stairs/scene. We head back and climb the steep stairs. At top there is a Taiwanese restaurant where we stop by to eat lunch. The restaurant is five floors, the fifth floor being the best to see the view because we sat on the 2nd floor, and there were electrical wires in our view. We were too tired to climb more steep stairs, but the view is spectactular nonetheless. I shared a plate of mushroom+bamboo and sauce with rice and a side of a Taiwanese green vegetable with mom. And I have to say this again...everything just tastes better here. The ingredients are fresher, and there is rarely ever MSG used or tons of grease. We sit there for an hour after finishing our lunch, and then we make our way through the even more crowded street back to the car.

I pass out in the car and wake up to see Taipei again. David drives us to Beitou, where Jeffrey is staying at a 5-star hotel for hospital volunteer training. We make a surprise visit, and luckily he was on a 5-minute break from his intensive class. Afterwards David drops mom and I off at Shilin Night Market, which is the busiest night market in all of Taipei. At merely 5pm it's already crowded, and the sun hasn't even gone down yet. We don't buy anything, even though I see cute cheap stacked heels [the shoes that I've been wanting to buy for summer] and tasty snacks. And, I don't trust night market foods anyway after getting sick from eating crepes at Shida Market. I should save my money too since Judy, my cousin-in-law, is taking me shopping tomorrow and I'm eating out on Monday night with my new friends from the museum (fellow interns). Anyhow, we walk up and down the street looking for a restaurant that doesn't sell fried cod fish or beef noodle soup. Finally we spot a seafood restaurant. We had mango shrimp, pho Taiwanese style, and clams. The food was pretty good.

I will post the pictures from today tomorrow since there are a lot, and posting pictures between paragraphs on blogger is a pain.

wo shi taibei ren (maybe)

2009-07-02T08:29:00.001+08:00

I know my way around Taipei like I know the lines along the palm of my hand. I pretty much can tell a lost tourist how to get to his/her destination via subway, of course, without having to look at the route map. I know where all the teens flock to on the weekends, where the sea is, where I can buy accessories (a 4-story store near Taipei Main Station), where I can eat Italian food (literally,the only place where you can order a salad!), where I can get mochi-on-a-stick...It's always so fun being able to explore a city without having someone to drag you around (aka my mom who drags us museums and botanical gardens). Although, I do wish I could read traditional Chinese characters and speak Chinese more fluently so that I don't have a hard time figuring out what to order at the smoothie stores or noodle vendors. Like NYC, you're never alone in Taipei. I feel like it's more crowded than NY here. Maybe it's because I'm crammed in the subway every morning on the way to work. These people force their way onto the train, even when it's obviously too full to fit just one more person. I noticed that their tactic is: door opens-->turn back to train-->walk backwards into the train-->take itty bitty steps all the while use back to push people into train-->lean back when door is closing. You know that box or zone you make for yourself i.e. don't step within x many inches/feet from me or you're in my space. So, there is no such thing as "personal space" on the subway. People are literally toppled onto each other, and you can feel that person behind you breathing hot air onto your neck, where you can feel each dew landing on your skin. Not a very good feeling...at all.