Nick and Wang's Euro-asia trip: January 2009

After a collective 24 hours of travel Wang and I arrived in Taipei around 10 pm on the evening of the 23rd. Wang’s family lives in a town called Chingsuei that is about 2 hours south of Taipei. His mother and uncle came to pick us up at the airport and both of us were so tired that we went straight to be when we arrived. It wasn’t until the next morning, 7 am (jetlags a bitch) that we woke up and I got to look around. Wang’s family lives in a little, old farming town in which they happen to own a lot of the land. Wang’s grandfather started a manufacturing business in the shoe industry and over the years had become a very successful man in his own right. His two sons also help run the business. The family house is actually two homes, the “old house” and the “new house”. They were extremely large homes in comparison to most that surround it with 3 floors and seven bedrooms in each. All the floors were made of marble to keep the home cool during most of the year. There was also a 5 car garage and a tea house on the grounds. As glamorous as this may sound, and by every Taiwanese standard it is, there are many conveniences that a middle class American would have in their home that was not in these. An example of this would be clothes dryer. All laundry is done my one of the three maids which is very customary for wealthier families in Taiwan and consists of scrubbing the clothes in a basin and hanging everything to dry.
The night we arrived was unseasonably cold and windy. The temp was in the lower 50s and since the climate is usually extremely warm and humid, the house had very drafty windows and no heat. Needless to say the house was cold and the floors were even colder. I slept in full sweats under my comforter the first night.
As you would expect with a traditional Chinese/Taiwanese home, shoes were to be removed at the door and indoor sandals were worn whenever inside. This took a little getting used to but by the end of the week it was second nature.
From the first second I met Wang’s family they were warm and welcoming even with the language barrier. Several of them understood English but all preferred to speak in Chinese. As the week progressed I also became better at understanding tones and body language to understand what people were saying. Most everyone from Wang’s mom’s side of the family was in town at some point during the week and to no surprise all were very intelligent. For example, the second day there we learned that Kevin, 12 years old, could complete a Rubik’s cube in just a shade over a minute. Needless to say, a fun and entertaining site!
The first morning Wang’s mom took us to the local market. It was one of my favorite things we did all week. It was packed full of people doing last minute shopping before the Chinese new year. Think your local grocery store the day before thanksgiving with a twist… Vegetables for sale on the ground, whole chickens being butchered at every turn, vendors selling everything from grilled squid to red bean cookies and who could forget the token 7eleven. We walked around for about an hour stopping at local vendors to get breakfast. The first stop was for scallion pancakes which became a quick favorite. Second was a rice ball, and last was dannbing. As this was a small town, I was the ONLY white guy there any day that we went that week. The children looked at me like I was a zoo animal and often times someone who knew a little English would yell out “hello friend” as soon as I was spotted. After the market we checked out the local temple where people pray to specific gods. IT was very interesting and was the most beautiful and elaborate building in the small city.
After we returned from the market, Wang’s cousin Patrick took us to Taichung which is literally translated to “the middle city”. It was a very quick 20-30 minute drive and when we got there we headed for a very popular milk tea bar called Chun Sui Chang. We then walked around the city for a bit and ended up at Tiger City a shopping mall/arcade. Asians take their arcades very seriously and this was very reflective in its size at Tiger City. We then decided a drink was in order and we ended up at a very swanky bar called Wein. Wang, by far, had the coolest drink. It was called a smoke bomb and one round glass was placed in another that had water and dry ice underneath. It created the visual of a bomb shaped glass that was smoking from the edges of the other glass. Very cool! Then we grabbed dinner at a local chain that really has no English translation but they did have unbelievably delicious dumplings for 4 NT which is the equivalent of about 10 cents. Needless to say we had plenty to eat! We ended the night at a Cigar bar where the three of us lit up a Monte Cristo No. 4 and had a drink. The bar had great music but the drinks were average at best. *A note on Taiwanese bars… the local people tend not to drink nearly as much as westerners. What this means for a bar is that they will have very fashionable drinks available like a mojito but will not have what an average bar would have in stock. An example of this was when I ordered an Absolute and tonic with a lime. They didn’t have Absolute and they didn’t have tonic. What kind of bar doesn’t have tonic??? Taiwanese bars need a little help.
The 25th was Chinese new year’s eve and we again grabbed breakfast in the market. We then walked up a hill behind the village to a large temple that overlooked the city all the way to the Taiwanese straight, the body of water separating Taiwan with China. Once back at the house we learned how to make traditional Chinese tea. It was a very elaborate process and helped me come to the conclusion that I could not leave Asia without an authentic tea set to come home with me. After most of the family enjoyed the delicious green tea, we hopped in the car and headed to the fish market in the harbor. The fish market we so interesting that I could not do it justice through words. Check out the pictures online. On the way home we drove to a beach known for bird watching and took some amazing pictures there as well. Once home it was time to celebrate Chinese new year with a very traditional meal and fireworks. Traditional basically means that everything is cooked whole. There was a chicken dish with pieces of chicken with the skin on it and ordinarily I would have no problem eating this but when the chicken head is sitting right next to the piece you intend on eating it adds a whole new variable to the equation. While there was nothing on the table that I wouldn’t ordinarily try, I found it very difficult to get past the presentation of each type of food. After dinner the family exchanges gifts in the form of money. Wang’s family was so generous that all of his relatives gave me gifts too.
On the 26h, New Years Day we again walked to the market for breakfast. Today was a little different though. On new year’s day the locals dress up in their nicest clothing and go for walks around the city. Keep in mind that nicest clothing is not a scene from the financial district in NY at lunch time. It is a slightly different take on Sundays best. After the market we all headed to the oldest and most popular temple in Taiwan. It was PACKED with people but the area around it was very historical with beautiful buildings.
On the 27th Wang and I took a high speed train back into the city of Taipei. We checked into the YMCA and headed out for the day. We started at the day at the Chang Kai Shek memorial which was larger than life. We then moved on to the National Palace Museum which featured art from all of the different Chinese dynasties. Lastly, we went to the night market in Shilin. This is the most popular night market in Taipei and is full of street vendors selling everything from stinky tofu(NASTY NASTY SMELL) to bags and belts. The place was packed and I got a firsthand experience as to how little the Taiwanese regard personal space. It was bumper to bumper in that crowd. For dinner we met up with Wang’s uncle from his dad’s side of the family. He took us to a little place called Tu Hsiao Yueh and had a delicious dinner and then coffee and dessert at a very trendy coffee house called the Green Steps. After dinner Wang and I headed to the Brass Monkey for drinks. It was actually a pretty normal bar and I tried “Taiwan Beer Draft” and it was actually quite good. Good enough to have another large bottle.
The 28th was the last day in Taipei and Wang and I headed for ‘Taipei 101’, the tallest building in the world. We went to the 101st floor and overlooked the entire city. While this building sounds very cool, and it is, there are very few tall buildings around it. Meaning… there is absolutely no reason for something like this in Taipei except to have the bagging rights of the tallest building in the world. I spent the 12 bucks to get up there but is still seems kinda stupid to me. After lunch we headed to Danshuei which is the harbor district in Taipei. The weather was about 70 and sunny so walking up and down the edge of the water was very nice, with the exception of the occasional whiff of stinky tofu or grilled calamari in the air. *A side note on squid… I have seen enough squid on the bbq to live the rest of my life without ever seeing it again. After Danshuei we hopped back on the high speed train to Chingsuei. That night we quickly went to bed.
Thursday the 29th was the last full day in Taiwan and again we headed to the market for breakfast. We just hung out with Wang’s family for the day and headed off to a dinner with all 20 people. Dinner was a sight to be seen with 10 traditional Taiwanese courses, none of which disappointed. The best was a pan with a glass lid. It was placed on the skillet on the table and at first sight looked like shrimp... Well that exactly what they were but I was very shocked and somewhat disturbed at first to see them start jumping! Yes the shrimp were cooked right in front me and after I shelled the shrimp I felt very comfortable knowing they were as fresh as they could be! After our huge meal we went home and we learned how to play mah-jong. It was a very fun game but we all need a little more practice.
It was an early morning on the 30th and true to Wang’s families generosity and hospitality they had a driver and a Mercedes S-class ready to drive us the 2 hours to the airport. We checked in and took off at 11 am local time to head for Tokyo. The Tokyo entry is soon to come!

Nick and Wang's Euro-asia trip

Friday, January 30, 2009

Taiwan

Thursday, January 22, 2009

San Francisco - Jan 16 - 22

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Our tentative Itinerary

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