Jeremy in Taiwan

Wednesday/Thursday

2008-07-17T23:36:00.011+08:00

Woke up early Wednesday to some warm breakfast breads, soy milk, and the All-Star Game - remember, we're 12 hours ahead here. We didn't stick around to witness all 15 innings, but it was good to see some good old American baseball on the tube.

At around 11am, we headed out to pick up Megan. She was eagerly waiting for her release, so we hopped on the MRT (subway) and went towards downtown Taipei City. We decided to go to Sogo, a high-end shopping mall that caters to people with a taste for international fashion - Givenchy, Kate Spade, Lacoste, Balencia, etc. We window shopped through the 9 floors and worked up an appetite.

Like any good mall, Sogo has a food court, so we ordered up some Japanese udon and rested our legs. For desert, we enjoyed this little delicacy, mango shaved ice. This dish is worth its weight in gold, my friends. It consists of shaved ice topped with fresh mango (it's in season right now), sweetened condensed milk, honey, and a scoop of mango ice cream. My sister and I are discussing opening a stand at the state fair this year and selling only this. We would make a killing.

After food, Dad headed home and Megan and I went back to the Ximen District. We wandered around the shops, discussing the finer points of Taiwanese fashion and her annoyance with FOB-by Asians from SoCal. We decided to get out of the heat by seeing a movie and we settled on Hancock, disappointed that Dark Knight wasn't coming out till the next day. After the previews, we were watching a Japanese kid's anime cartoon for about 5 minutes before realizing we were in the wrong movie. Oops. Megan used her Chinese skills to figure out we followed the wrong crowd, and we scurried off to the proper theatre. My review of Hancock: it was 80% of a movie. Not totally bad, but only because it wasn't a full movie. About the best thing I can say about it was that the theatre was cold.

After the movie, we called my cousin Su Miao (Diane) and her daughter Heidi, who is about Megan's age, and made plans to meet at the Shilin Night Market. I've written about this place before, and not too much has changed. We were wandering through the crowded market when apparently the cops showed up. All the illegal vendors scattered, pushing their carts into alleys and the backs of shops. It was quite hilarious.

After some more mango shaved ice and more Taiwanese iced, gelatinous, soupy, beany goodness, I dropped Megan back off at camp and headed home.

Thursday morning I decided that I needed to work out. All I've been doing here is eating, shopping, and sitting around. So, I walked over to the school down the street and started my routine. It was so humid, I felt like I was going to puke by the end. It took me a good hour, after I had showered, to stop sweating. New Jeremy rule: don't work out in Taiwan during the summer.

In the afternoon, we went out for tea with my aunt and cousins. The restaurant we went to was an Italian pizzeria (I know, weird) where they served us small pizzas, tortes, canolis, and cappucinos until we couldn't eat any more. To the left is my dad with my cousin Lannie.

After tea, Jo, Heidi, and I met up with Megan to go to the movies (again), but this time to see Dark Knight. A strange thing about movies in Taiwan is that you are given assigned seating. We ended up with crappy seats, and Jo complained, scoring us free tickets to a new movie. Peoples: go see this movie! Even from crappy seats, this movie blew me away. If you liked Batman Begins at all, you will be blown away. And, Heath Ledger will win a posthumous Oscar.

Tuesday

2008-07-16T09:01:00.008+08:00

We started out the day by driving west of Taipei city into the mountains surrounding the city. We're staying in the suburbs already, so it becomes rural pretty quickly. After winding through the mountains, we came to the temple that is the resting place of Ama's ashes, and where my grandpa's ashes will be placed. After offering some fruit and flowers to the shrine of the god looking over the temple, we visited the large vault-like room where their urns will be kept next to one another.

The temple is in a beautiful location looking out over green mountains. As Dad said, Ago and Ama always loved the mountains.

After getting back to Uncle's, we spent most of the day inside, eating and playing with Yi Chin, my cousin's 2 year-old daughter. She calls me "Uncle," but is reluctant to play with me (she's rather shy). Noticing that Dad and I were talking in English, she said (in Chinese) that we're talking in "great uncle's language."
It's 95+ degrees outside and humid during the day, so we waited until after dinner to go out and check out the city. We decided to go to the Ximen District, where Megan and I plan to go see a movie tomorrow. As I've posted before, this is the part of town where the kids hang out. There are arcades, shoe stores, clothing stores, karaoke, food, tatoo parlors, and a slew of other things for young people to consume.

I'm not sure whether these kids are weird, or just a whole lot cooler than me. They have hair styles that put American rockers to shame and clothes that make Brooklyn hipsters look like wusses. I've always contended that real Williamsburg hipsters spend at least 2 hours before going out to make themselves look ugly ... Taiwanese kids must sit at home all day thinking about how to pull off their latest fashion suicide. Or maybe I'm losing something in translation...

There were plenty of interesting things to see in Ximen, including this guy, who has drained a squirrel's will to live in order to train it to stand on this girl's hands. This girl was so shy she wouldn't uncover her hair from her face while her friend took a snap with her cell phone.

As always, English is always a humorous endeavor in Asian countries. Here we have two fine examples: (1) "Psycho Nerds," which pretty much sums up the style of kids running around Ximen District, and (2) IM ICEMAN, which I am going to assume refers to the character played by Val Kilmer in the 1986 classic Top Gun. What do these signs have to do with anything? Not sure.

I was quite tired by the time we got done with Ximen; I was also disappointed - Megan and I were planning on seeing Dark Knight on Wednesday, but it doesn't come out til Thursday. I fell asleep in the cab home, but stayed up to show Albert (my cousin) and his wife my new iPhone. It hasn't come out in Taiwan yet, but they are eagerly waiting.

We ate peanuts and mango (the sweetest I've ever had) and killed off some more Johnny Walker before heading to bed. I might finally be on an appropriate sleep schedule now.

Monday/Tuesday AM

2008-07-15T08:52:00.011+08:00

After some breakfast, Dad and I headed to the MRT (the subway) to meet up with Megan. She is here on a cultural exhange program for kids in the US that have Taiwanese parents. To say the least, she's not having the greatest of times... I'm glad I can be here to break up the month of what she's dramatically calling "prison."

Dad tried to convince the wardens to let her have another day to attend Ago's (grandpa) funeral, but they wouldn't budge. I'm looking forward to jailbreaking with her for a couple of days, and we're planning on hanging out Wednesday when she has some free time. Gonna go try to see Batman...

After a short visit with Megan, Dad and I took a short walk up the hill to the Grand Hotel. We ordered some Taiwan beers and a sushi/sashimi plate, as recommended by my brother from his last trip. No disappointment here.

Also recommended by Chris was the Grand Tailor. My brother had some custom shirts made earlier this year by the shop owner, so we went in to take a look. He remembered my dad and greeted us kindly. After showing us some fine cashmere wool and cell phone pictures of the former president of Taiwan, one of his clients, he convinced us that we needed to get fitted for new suits. We obliged and within minutes he was wrapping a tape measure around us. Our custom-made suits will be ready on Friday.

We headed back to Uncle's and I took a much needed nap. Upon waking, we went to visit Ago's shrine. Normally, the shrine would have been set up in the apartment where he lived, but it is unlucky to have more than one shrine in the same house in one year (my grandma passed away earlier this year). We presented food and fruit at the shrine, lit incense, and recited some prayers from a book. In the background, recorded chanting played over the hum of traffic passing outside the building. You can always hear traffic in Taipei.

My sleep schedule is all messed up. Right after dinner, I layed down and didn't wake up until 2:30am. Stayed up for a little bit, catching up with email and whatnot, then tried to sleep again, with some success.

We woke up early and had breakfast of soy milk, egg dumpling, and sticky rice. We are planning on heading to the temple where Grandma's ashes are to pick up the urn for Grandpa.

Metanotes

2008-07-15T08:42:00.003+08:00

So, just to let you know a few things...

I'm in Taiwan to attend my grandfather's funeral. He lived a long life (96!) and has left a strong legacy.

I'm going to be here for 10 days, along with my dad and sister Megan, who is here on an exchange program. My dad and I are staying with my uncle, my dad's older brother.

I'm going to be blogging as much as possible, but am somewhat limited in my internet access. Purchasing an iPhone 3G before I left turned out to be a good idea. I'm uploading photos from my phone and Twittering when possible. Links to those are located on the right ----->.

I hope that you will post comments and check back daily for updates. Something to break up the workday, right?

FYI, Taipei is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Time.

Much love from Taiwan,
~Jeremy

NYC, Tokyo, Taipei

2008-07-14T10:12:00.005+08:00

Well. I'm back in Taiwan.

After 24+ hours in transit, I arrived in Taipei to see my dad, uncle, and aunt waiting just outside baggage at Taoyuan Airport. Yesterday (I think - I lost a day), this was a site I could only hope to see.

It started with a cab ride to JFK, only to find my flight delayed from 11:45am to 1:30pm. I had a short layover in Tokyo, so it looked like I wouldn't make my connection. American Airlines was plenty snarky about getting me new connection info (thanks a lot), but eventually I decided this was a blessing in disguise, as now I could manage to have a few pre-flight cocktails.

Wandering over to the bar, I ran into a couple of fellow Brooklynites - Will (Flatbush) and Christian (Greenpoint). I ordered a couple doubles of scotch and settled into my bar seat. After learning that our flight was delayed another hour and a half (supposed mechanical issues), we decided the only thing to do was to drink more beer. Fine fellows, these guys.

Eventually we parted tipsy ways and boarded the plane. Thus began 12 hours of airplane food, movies (Batman: Gotham Knight - recommended), TV (Mad Men - recommended, The Wire - obviously, The Office - yeah, and Big Bang Theory - eh), and bad sleep.

The transfer in Tokyo was rather harmless (except for getting my gift of Johnny Walker confiscated), and I got booked for a later flight to Taipei. 4 more hours of flying and little sleep and we landed in Taipei.

Once we got to uncle's apartment, we settled in eating frest fruit (the most amazing grapes ever - it was like biting into grape drink) and Taiwan beer (also highly recommended). Dad, Uncle and Auntie talked about Grandpa before he passed away. This was definitely a case of "old age" and nothing more. He had a long and bountiful life.

Dad and I stayed up, drinking whiskey and talking about work, politics, and golf until about 4am local time. We turned in for some well-deserved sleep.

Morning.

The food begins. Dumplings, vegetable buns, and what I can only describe as "peanut milk soup". Expect the theme of "food" to reoccur here.

We are hanging out with my niece for a bit, then heading out to see Megan.

Coming Home

2006-09-11T23:53:00.000+08:00

Our journey home proved to be long and testing.

We left early Sunday morning, before the sun came up. After saying goodbye to grandma and grandpa, my dad, his two older brothers and me packed our luggage in the van and headed for Chiang Kai Shek International.Our first flight was from Taipei to Osaka, where we had an excruciating 9 hour layover. We took turns napping, getting food, reading, putting coins in the massage chairs, and doing sudoku puzzles. Only after 7 hours did I realize that they had free wireless in the airport. The time would have gone a lot faster if I had discovered this earlier . . .

From Osaka, we crossed the International Date Line to Honolulu, Hawai'i (you pronounce EVERY vowel). After 7 hours on a plane full of Japanese tourists, the smell of fresh air upon arrival was welcome. We passed through customs, hopped on a city bus, and headed for Waikiki Beach.

What a way to end the trip: sitting on a sunny beach, warm sand under my feet, and a cool breeze blowing across my face. I jumped in the water and tasted the salty water on my lips. After a couple of hours on the beach, we walked to the bar and grabbed some food. Having eaten mostly vegetarian meals for the past nine days, we both ordered steak. We took in the beach scenery as we sipped on Hawaiian cocktails and inhaled the salty air.

Our next flight threatend to end the good mood that we were in. After reaching the mainland, our captain came on the PA and informed us that we would be making an emergency stop in Phoenix. Apparently, a woman was experiencing some medical problem during the flight, so we had to drop her off. This only made me more anxious to get home.

After another two and a half hours in the air, we touched down in Minneapolis. Our luggage arrived and we drove home. A hot shower and some breakfast was my way of kissing the ground.

Family

2006-09-10T18:15:00.000+08:00

When I arrived back in Taipei at my uncle’s home, I had a feeling that I hadn’t felt until this point in the trip. It was the feeling that I was home.

Today was a special day for me. I woke up and spent some time with my cousin’s children. We watched Saturday morning Japanese cartoons and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (made popular by Wu-Tang), which is probably the best kung-fu movie ever. Ever.

We ate lunch with grandma and grandpa and relaxed into the afternoon. Then people began to show up.

First, my dad’s oldest brother arrived. Then, my dad’s sister arrived with her husband, daughter, and her daughter’s children. Then, my cousin arrived with her husband and daughters. Then, my dad’s sister arrived with her two children. Cousin after cousin after cousin walked through the door. Pretty soon, the house was filled with my family members, at least 25 people from 4 different generations. I was overwhelmed at the number of family members that showed up. And this is only a fraction of the entire family!

As dinner approached, the men headed upstairs. We feasted on various dishes prepared by my aunt, sipping on whiskey Dad brought from the duty free store. At dinner, men raise glasses to one another, similar to a “cheers”, except it happens constantly throughout dinner. My cousin Kunlam told me to raise my glass to Grandpa, and I obliged. We drank and Kunlam told me in English that it made Grandpa very happy.

We continued to eat, drink, and talk into the night. Like most of my “talking” in Taiwan, it involved a lot of tracking the speaker, trying to figure out certain words that I know, and nodding. Dad will turn to me often and say, “We’re talking about . . .”

My dad’s youngest sister, Sharon, has three children that are about the same age as my siblings. Her younger son, Su Yi, is going to be a senior in college this coming year. He can speak some English, so we connected and had a good conversation that lasted into the night. We talked about girls, drinking, music, baseball and family. I made him a promise that I would come back to Taiwan very soon and bring my siblings with me.

This large family gathering made one thing clear to me: family transcends language. While I didn’t have the words to say the things I was thinking, the feeling of family made me feel at home.

Sun Moon Lake

2006-09-09T12:13:00.000+08:00

My American grandparents visited Taiwan in the late 70’s, when my mom was a mission nurse in Chiayi. My grandmother fell in love with a lake high in the mountains called Sun Moon Lake. This morning we visited the clear blue waters of this mountain lake.

Sun Moon Lake is a man-made reservoir, a fact that is made apparent by its almost fluorescent blue color and pressure spout that sporadically shoots water several stories into the air. There are several Buddhist temples overlooking the lake, as well as more commercial establishments such as hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops. One of the most expensive hotels on Sun Moon Lake is the former retreat of Chiang Kai Shek. Almost all of the buildings around Sun Moon Lake have been or are being rebuilt since the earthquake in 1999.

One of our stops as we drove around the lake was a peacock pen. It started raining and all of the peacocks were shoed inside and we moved on. The rain quickly cleared up and we stopped at another spot for a snack of boiled eggs and a gelatin/tea/lemon drink.

I can see why my grandma liked this place so much. The mountains surrounding the lake make it feel like it is isolated from the rest of the world and the color of the water gives it a tropical vibe. Time seems to stand still at Sun Moon Lake.

Pinang (Betel Nuts)

2006-09-08T16:38:00.000+08:00

I've encountered a strange social phenomenon in this part of the country. Pinang, or betel nuts, are very popular in Nantou and are available just about everywhere around here. These small nuts grow on a tree that looks similar to a palm tree.

The culture behind pinang is rather strange. Older men usually buy and chew the nuts, and they are sold in little stands on the side of the road. The stands have large glass windows for walls, are decorated with bright neon lights, and are attended by young, scantily clad women.

The effect of chewing on these nuts is a mild stimulant, similar to the effect of nicotine. It causes your mouth to go numb and produces a "dry" effect in the back of your throat. For me, it just made me gag and want to spit. It tastes a lot like peppermint, and you spit out the husk after you chew it thouroughly.

Chewing on pinang is known to cause mouth, throat, and stomach cancer. There is a warning on the box from the department of health describing such damaging effects. I guess this pretty much equates to cigarette smoking in the States, including the social stigma.

Mountains of Nantou/Puli

2006-09-08T16:06:00.000+08:00

About 2/3 of Taiwan is covered in mountains, and we are now in a mountainous county called Nantou. Nantou is the only county in Taiwan that does not border the coastline. We had spent most of our time in urban areas up to this point, so it was time to explore some nature.

Our first stop was a landmark near Yi-Wun's home. This spot is famous because it is the geographical center of Taiwan. I am a bit skeptical as to how they measured the "center" of Taiwan, considering that the island isn't anywhere near a perfect geographical shape. AnywHavingays, it gave us a good view of Puli, and warmed us up for our next hike.

We drove up a winding road into the mountains, traversing up the steep slope. We stopped along the way to get some coffee, at the highest Starbucks in Taiwan. Yes, Starbucks really is EVERYWHERE. After taking a short break, we headed up further into the mountains.

After parking, we began our ascent by foot. The first obstacle was a large set of stairs, 487 stairs, to be exact. My calves burned towards the end, convincing me that I need to hit the gym when I get back home. Another set of stairs led us to a large statue of Chiang Kai-Shek, the former Kuomingtang (KMT) leader that fled China during the Communist Revolution. At the end of our hike, we arrived at Green Green Pastures, an open area near one of the mountain peaks. Here, we saw sheep and enjoyed an ice cream bar.

Heading back out of the mountains, we stopped at a vegetarian restaurant for some lunch. Many of my family members are strict vegetarians, due to their religious beliefs. We enjoyed a hot pot meal, with tons of mushrooms and veggies. For desert, we had almond soy milk with red beans, which was deeeeelicious.

Yi-Wun brought us to a paper factory after dinner, where we did a short tour and watched some of the workers make paper. Check out my Flickr account for more pictures from the day.

New Contest!

2006-09-07T23:54:00.000+08:00

Ok, so apparently Blogger is having some issues right now with posting pictures, so in the meantime, here's a little contest for all my dedicated readers . . .

Question: In what year did martial law begin and end in Taiwan, and who was responsible for imposing it?

Post your answer as a comment here and I will bring you back a small gift from Taiwan. Previous winners (Ian) cannot win again. The first correct answer wins!

Train to Taichung

2006-09-07T08:32:00.000+08:00

This morning we left Taipei and headed south along the west coast of the island to Taichung, Taiwan's third largest city. We traveled by train, which, if I'm counting right, is my 5th form of transportation (taxi, airplane, subway, scooter, train). After buying our tickets, we walked down to the platform to wait for our train. Following Dad's lead turned out to be a mistake . . .

We got onto what we thought was our train and got comfortable in our seats. Dad mentioned that he was surprised that the train had arrived early. I asked him, "Are you sure that this is the right train?" "Oh yeah." The train pulled out of the station about 10 minutes ahead of time. "Dad, trains don't leave early."

When we got to the next station, he was convinced. We got off and tried to figure out where to go. While talking to the conductor on the platform, the train we were supposed to be on zoomed by us. After transferring and waiting another half hour, we got on the train to bring us to Taichung, about an hour behind schedule. I had a bento box lunch on the train, as recommended by my cousin Joanna from Texas (check out her MRT story here).

Upon arrival at Taichung station, we were greeted by Peter and Sue, old friends of my parents' from the University of Minnesota. Peter, a retired economics professor, was in graduate school at the same time my father was working on his Ph.D. When I was a baby, Peter and Sue took care of me when my parents were busy.

They took Dad and me to the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts where we had food and drinks at the museum cafe while catching up. Peter and Sue are avid art museum-goers (they have been to famous museums all over the world) and I invited them to come to New York to see the best museums in the world (Met, MoMA, Guggenheim). I hope they take me up on the offer.

After saying goodbye to Peter and Sue, we met with another one of my cousins, Tsai Ming-Der, and his family. Tsai Ming-Der is a photojournalist for the China Times and he has two teenage children, a boy (Jones) and a girl (Cherry). Cherry skipped her English class to have dinner with us, so I made sure that she practiced her English during our meal. I could tell that Jones liked hip hop from the buttons and stickers on his backpack, so I burned him a CD of some old school hip hop (ATCQ, Illmatic, Biggie, 36 Chambers) after dinner. Gotta spread some hip hop history!

My cousin and his wife drove us to Puli (about an hour and a half drive) after dinner. Puli is a small town in the mountains where another of my cousins, Yi-Wen and her husband Yao-Sheng, lives. We reached their home, settled in, talked, and got ready for bed.

Guanghua Tech Market

2006-09-07T00:09:00.000+08:00

This post is dedicated to all the tech nerds out there . . .

After a nice little afternoon nap, I got up, took a shower and called my cousin Wendy, Kunlam's daughter. Wendy has visited my family in Minnesota and she has studied a lot of English in the U.S. We made plans the previous night to meet up and check out the technology and electronics district in Taipei. I planned to meet her at a specific exit at the Taipei Main Station on the MRT.

To get the to subway station from where we are staying, my uncle took me by scooter. In Taiwan, scooters are a major form of transportation. Every street is crowded with people on scooters zig-zagging in between cars and trucks. After strapping on my helmet, I jumped on the back of my uncle's scooter and took a firm grip. We zoomed off, winding through narrow streets, cruising over a long bridge, and arriving at the MRT station. I used my subway skills to get a ticket and catch my train to Taipei Main Station.

I found Wendy's fiance in the location we had specified, but Wendy was nowhere to be found. After some searching and a phone call, we connected and went off to the market. Before shopping, we stopped to get some bubble tea and dinner at a dumpling shop. We sat down and ordered 3 different types of fried dumplings; they were all delicious, but I liked the spicy ones (the red ones) the best.

Walking around the Guanghua district, I was amazed at the number of computer and electronics shops. But this was only the beginning . . .

We walked down an alley to an area with a parking lot and what looked like 3 large storage garages. Inside the garages were tiny boutiques filled with any type of electronics imaginable: hard drives, CPUs, MP3 players, headphones, computer games, blank CD/DVDs, cables, monitors, printer cartidges, digital cameras, video games, etc.

I picked up a 1 GB mini SD card for my cell phone for $800 NT (about $25 US, half of the average price in the US) and 512MB DDR400 RAM for my laptop. I later found out that I got the wrong kind, so if you or someone you know are looking for some RAM, let me know and I'll give you a good price.

We continued looking around and I picked up some kung-fu movies for a pretty good price (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Game of Death). After walking me to the MRT, Wendy and her fiance said goodbye and I headed home.

Breakfast and Lunch at Home

2006-09-06T08:02:00.000+08:00

We decided that it was time to take a break from all the running around town and spend a slow day at home. We enjoyed some breakfast and spent the morning reading the newspaper and relaxing. For breakfast, we had soy milk, tea, and fried sesame buns (which is Mom's favorite).

It's good to finally be able to catch up with my blogging. As you can probably tell, my posts are getting rather long-winded. I guess I am just eager to capture every moment of this trip. Don't worry, I'm trying to make sure that I don't "live life behind the lens."

For lunch, we had a home-cooked vegetarian meal. My uncle and his family are vegetarian for religious reasons, so this is what a Taiwanese vegetarian meal looks like. They have a lot of soy-meats, including these ham/pea/bamboo and fake liver dishes. You can also see a stewed winter vegetable dish, a green vegetable dish, and tater tots. Yep, they look like tater tots and they taste like tater tots, so I'm gonna call them tater tots.

Visit to Cousin Kunlam's Jade Store

2006-09-05T23:06:00.000+08:00

When you have a very large extended family, the meaning of the word "cousin" begins to obscure. You find that this word is too general to truly capture the relationships between relatives. My "cousin" Kunlam is really more like my uncle, as he is just a few years younger than my dad and has kids that are my age (much like my other "cousin" from the previous post). Kunlam picked us up from the subway and brought us to his jade shop near the center of the city.

We went inside and down to his meeting room to talk, drink, and eat. We ordered Japanese food from a take-out place and feasted on sashimi and various pickled foods. Kunlam's wife brought a tofu cabbage salad and fried octopus salad down for us. The octopus had lots of cilantro, garlic, and chili pepper and was delicious.

We split a big bottle of Taiwan Beer, which is a lot like Heineken. In my experience, most of the beers in Asia are lagers: Tsing Tao, Tiger Beer, Singha, Sapporo.

After dinner, Kunlam drove us back home and we stayed up late talking (well, everyone else was talking, I was just kind of nodding). Dad played with Albert's baby; he loves playing with babies. All right . . . off to bed!

Ximen District

2006-09-05T14:22:00.000+08:00

After our hot spring visit, my cousin and her eighteen-year-old daughter brought us to the Ximen District, the old center of commerce in Taipei. In the 70's, the major commerce center was moved to the area around where the Taipei 101 building is now located. The Ximen District is very popular among teens in middle and high school, and even elementary students go there to try to be cool. The district offers shopping, arcades, and entertainment catered to this young crowd.

We walked around and shopped for a while, and I found myself people watching more than anything. The youth culture is heavily influenced by Japanese style, as well as American and European trends.

One artifact of the Japanese influence are these photo booths. You can find them in an arcade-style store that is filled with booths. They are kinda like the photo booths that you know and love, but on steroids. The camera adds a sort of "glamour shots" effect that makes you look kinda like a cartoon. After you pose for several pictures, you go to another booth where you use a touchscreen pen to add clipart, frames, and writing to your photos. Once I figured out what each of the buttons was, I went nuts. I even made one picture with tons of cash and bling (upper right). I'm sure whoever brings this to the States is going to make a boatload of money. Anyone interested in going into business?

The girl in the pictures is my cousin's daughter, Annie. She told Dad that she didn't like her English name and wanted a new one. She asked me if I would give her a new English name. I spent some time thinking and decided on Heidi. She is currently debating the change, so if you have another idea for a name, be sure to post it in a comment. You could name a Taiwanese girl!

We did a little more shopping (I found a tight pair of seersucker Air Force Ones) and ended our trip to the Ximen District. Heidi had mentioned that she liked my sunglasses when we were on the subway, so I gave them to her before we parted ways. Sunglasses AND an English name . . . It feels good to give back a little to the city that is giving me so much!

Hot Springs and Lunch in Xin Beitou

2006-09-05T07:31:00.000+08:00

Taiwan is a volcanic island located on what is known as the "Ring of Fire", a series of volcanoes and earthquake occurences that encircle the Pacific Ocean. Volcanoes generally occur near the boundaries of tectonic plates, especially at convergent boundaries, where plates move toward one another. The tectonic nature of Taiwan is the source of danger, in the form of earthquakes and eruptions, as well as pleasure, in the form of hot springs. (Thanks for bearing with "Science Teacher Jeremy" for a minute there . . .)

The Xin Beitou area of Taipei is famous for its hot spring spas, so this is where my cousin and her daughter brought us to experience them. The water from the springs is pumped into buildings where you can rent a room for with a bath tub and a view. We settled on this particular spa and took a couple hours to soak and relax.

From our room, we could see the public hot spring baths, which are much cheaper and outdoors. The hot springs are more popular in the winter weather, but believe me, it feels good to sweat it out sometimes. Even better is showering off with cold water after a hot bath.

After a couple hours of hot spring bathing, drinking tea, and watching Taiwanese TV, we packed up and headed to lunch. This particular meal was Japanese, a sort of semi-fast food (literally) restaurant; all of the food is served on small plates that pass by your table on a conveyor belt. As you see something you like, you grab it and eat it. We had tuna, salmon, and yellowtail sushi, fresh bamboo, seaweed salad, fried tofu, eel, miso soup, and a gelatin milk desert. My cousin's daughter said that she came here with 3 of her girlfriends and they ate almost 80 plates of food in one sitting! At the end of the meal, the waiter counts up the plates and charges you based on what you ate.

On our way out the door, we stopped and picked up some trinkets, the equivalent of Happy Meal toys. I will award one of these as a prize to the first person that can answer the following question: "What is the brand name of the 'formerly' racist toothpaste from Taiwan?" (hint: you won't find the answer on my blog page)

Post your answer as a comment on this post and I will get you your prize when I get back home!

The Taipei Subway: The MRT (vs. The MTA)

2006-09-05T06:44:00.000+08:00

As a New Yorker, if there is one thing I feel comfortable with, it is the subway. Sure, I make the occasional misfire, but for the most part, you have to be on top of your subway navigation in order to survive. Today, Dad and I took a taxi to the closest MRT subway station (they are still building the station that will be closer) to head into Taipei.

Our home station, Xinpu, is located in the southwest suburbs of Taipei. Our destination is the northwestern part of the city, Xin Beitou, where we will meet my cousin and her daughter. The first thing that I noticed about the subway is how clean it is, especially compared to the NYC subway. This is in part due to the fact that the MRT (Taipei Subway) is a little over 10 years old, compared to the MTA (NYC Subway) which just celebrated its 100th anniversary. It is also due to the fact that no food, drink, or gum is allowed on the subway and it is heavily enforced (there were plenty of security guards everywhere).

We took a look at the map to figure out exactly how to get where we wanted and then headed to the automatic teller to get our tickets. As a subway veteran, I was quickly able to figure out ticketing (that, and the directions were in English). In the MRT, prices are based on where you begin and end your trip, with trips costing between $20 and $45 NT (about $0.75 to $1.50) depending on how far you go. I helped Dad get his ticket and we walked through the turnstyle.

The platforms, again, are so clean. They even have flat-panel TVs to tell you when the next train is coming. The trains themselves are again clean and more spacious than MTA trains. There are similarities too, though; adverstisements line the walls and a recorded voice chimes in to tell you what the next station is going to be (similar to the robo-L train).

We transferred at Taipei Main Station, which is like the Grand Central Station of Taipei. Here, all the subway and long-distance trains meet, serving as a hub for transportation around the city and the country. It didn't look all that big to me, because the large space is made up of the long corridors between subway lines, rather than the vast, open space of Grand Central.

Like the NYC subway, the trains move above ground as you get further from the city center (think F train out to Coney). We ended up in Xin Beitou, where we met with my cousin and her 18 year-old daughter (my second cousin). From here, we head to the hot springs.

Breakfast with Grandpa and Grandma

2006-09-05T06:11:00.000+08:00

I woke up around 8:00AM this morning and took a shower. Again, breakfast was laid out for me as I came out. We enjoyed some Taiwanese pastries, tea, breakfast sandwiches with bacon and egg, Taiwanese grapefruit, and soy milk. I really think I could get used to this.

After breakfast, Grandma and Grandpa came downstairs. At 90+ years old, the fact that they can still walk down the stairs by themselves amazes me. Maybe they shouldn't be doing this, but I think they prefer to show their independence. I sat with them and listened to them reminisce, Dad translating for me every once in a while. We took out a photo book of pictures of my family in Minnesota, including pictures from Christmas, my cousin's wedding, and Megan's prom. As we looked through the pictures, I pointed and said "Yi-Jian" (my brother), "Yi-Ling (my sister), and "Baba" (Dad).

Grandma and Grandpa's vision is not so good, so they spent a lot of time looking over the photos. At the end of the photo book was a picture of me as a baby sitting in Grandma's lap; it was taken during their visit to Minnesota. Grandma looked at the picture and smiled. I had never seen the photo either, and I smiled too. I noticed that in the photo she was wearing a jade bracelet, the same jade bracelet that she was wearing today.

We are heading back into Taipei and have more exciting things to do and explore. I'll keep you posted.

The Shihlin Night Market

2006-09-04T00:24:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the Night Market! This is something that I have been looking forward to for a while. Ask anyone where to go while you are in Taiwan, and they will tell you that this is where you need to go.

It is called the night market because business generally begins to pick up at sundown. We arrived at about 6:00PM via taxi. The market itself is a series of winding alleys that are crammed with tiny shops which are crammed with stuff for sale. Once night falls, these alleys are crammed with people meandering and browsing. Get the idea? It's crammed. For all you Minnesotans out there, I would equate it to taking all the food stands at the State Fair and condensing them into one square block.

There was a movie theatre right where the taxi dropped us off. And guess that they were playing? That's right . . . Snakes on a Plane! I asked Dad what the Chinese translation was, and I think that it basically is "On a plane there are snakes." You wanna help me with this one Paul?

The Night Market is basically divided into two areas: clothing and food. I'll bring you through both of these areas one at a time . . .

Clothing

The clothing area is a series of connected alleys that are filled with shoe, clothing, and accessory shops. You can hear Taiwanese pop music coming from one shop and American hip hop blaring from the next. Shop owners stand outside their stores and lure customers in with the deals they shout as they walk by. The clothing itself is very influenced by American and European fashion, however, there is definitely an Asian flair to everything. Trucker caps, Air Force Ones, and Polo shirts with oversized logos are real hot right now.

While walking around, I bought a few pairs of iPath socks from a stand dedicated to logo-ed socks. The man selling the socks began to talk to me in Taiwanese, but I promptly told him, "English." He, in turn, promplty ripped me off. Oh well. I ended up paying $200 NT, which roughly $6 US. (For those that are interested, the exchange rate is $1 US = $32.5 NT.) Nowhere did the word "iPath" appear on the packaging. Hmmm . . .

Food

This is where things start to get interesting. The food night market is basically crazy. As you walk around, you are assaulted by the smell of all types of food. The market itself is shoulder-to-shoulder, and you have to be rather deliberate as you move, lest you get run over by a black-haired mob. I'll give you a short tour of the market by showing you all of the food I ate along the way.

The first food we ate were these little gelatin balls. They are filled with 3 different pastes, one of which I think was red bean paste. Yummy with a strange texture.

Next up was some fruit. Dad got some guava and bell fruit that had some spices on it. This is one of my American grandma's favorites.

And the food on a stick begins . . . this time it's grilled corn with spices. It's not as sweet as Minnesota corn in July, but it was pretty good anyways.

I didn't eat either of these, but they were notable for their American counterparts: donuts and corndogs.

We stopped for a minute to sit down and eat one of Dad's favorite snacks, fried oysters and eggs. It is covered with a mayonnaise that is ketchup-based and is served on lettuce. Next to this is deep-fried fish paste and pickles, which I found quite delicious.

As we passed some of the food stands, I would catch a whiff of a nasty odor. It smelled like hot garbage or rotten diapers. I imagine that it is not unlike the "panther perfume" from Anchorman. The smell comes from a type of tofu known as "stinky tofu." The scent originates from the fermentation process that is used to make the tofu and is released when cooked. While it smells quite bad, it tastes quite good, surprisingly.

I washed all of this down with a bubble tea (boba), which you can find in the U.S., but was invented in Taiwan. For those of you that haven't had this, it is tapioca balls in a cold milk-tea. This was actually my second one, and was taro-flavored. Mmmm . . . tapioca balls . . .

Having stuffed myself silly, we took a cab back to the van and headed home. My self-induced food coma knocked me out on the ride, and I woke up when we got there. Looks like it's bed time . . .

Flickr Update

2006-09-04T00:14:00.000+08:00

FYI, I am posting my photos to my flickr account. Take a look for uncut pics from my trip.

National Palace Museum

2006-09-03T23:38:00.000+08:00

When Chiang Kai-Shek fled mainland China during the Communist Revolution, he didn't leave empty-handed. In fact, he took just about every important Chinese cultural artifact of the past 6000 years and brought them to Taiwan. The result is the National Palace Museum in Taipei, one of the most famous landmarks in Taiwan.

It is really hot in Taiwan right now. It is about 98 degrees and humid. Spending time indoors is a good thing, but it is even better when you can look at invaluable jade sculptures and bronze antiques. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed in the museum, but I managed to flick this one of a Buddha statue outside the exhibition halls without getting caught.

As we were walking in, I caught a glimpse of a guard doing something curious. He had Steve Irwin-ed a snake near the main entrance to the museum. He took a minute to pose for a picture, then carried it off to what I can only assume was an airplane occupied by Samuel L.

There were two particular pieces that we saw worth noting. The first was the "jade cabbage." It is a jade scuplture of a Chinese cabbage with a grasshopper and katydid sitting on its leaves. The painstaking detail of the carving can only truly be appreciated in person. It is one of the most famous jade sculptures in the world and people come from all over to see it.

The second piece was an ornament made of ivory that is known as "latticed balls within balls." It is had to describe exactly what this is, but basically an artist carves a single piece of ivory into several concentric spheres that can freely rotate inside each other. The particular piece that we saw had 17 balls and amazingly intricate artwork embedded on the outside.

We stayed in the museum until it closed at 5:00PM, and then headed back to the van. The view from the parking lot was pretty nice, so I took a pic. I can hardly wait for where we are about to go next: the Night Market.

Taipei 101

2006-09-03T22:31:00.000+08:00

Taipei 101 might sound like a class you would take freshman year, but it is actually a building in Taipei. In fact, it is the tallest building in Taipei and is currently the tallest building in the world. It provided a good "crash course" for me to learn about Taipei and get an idea about the layout of the city.

We left homebase around 10:00AM and hopped in my cousin's van. The drive into the city is about 45 minutes, and there was quite a view as we entered. As we approached Taipei 101, we could begin to appreciate just how tall this building is.

The first 5 floors of the building are an upscale shopping mall, very similar to the Time Warner Building near Columbus Circle in Manhattan. There are stores like Dolce & Gabana, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Brooks Brothers, etc., spread around these floors. One of the strangest things I saw was at a store that sold message chairs and devices. Called the iGallop, it is a message chair that imitates the motion of a galloping horse. I was under the impression that this motion leads to saddle sore, not a relaxed and refreshed back.

We got tickets to ride the elevator to the 89th floor of Taipei 101. "101" represents both the number of floors in the building and "going beyond the best". The elevator goes from the 5th floor to the 89th floor in under 30 seconds, making it the worlds fastest elevator. While on the 89th floor, I walked around and learned about the city with the help of an audio guide. I learned interesting facts like "the population of Taipei is 2.6 million" and "there are four mountains surrounding Taipei city and they are named after animals" (I forgot which four animals . . . bear, elephant, leopard, ?).

From the 89th floor, we walked up to the outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor. The deck reminded me of the Empire State Building's observation deck, with a tall, hooked fence surrounding the edge. From here we could see the very top of the building and a hazy view of the city.

After riding back down, we stopped for lunch in the food court in the lower level. I had what I would call "seafood noodle stew" from a Japanese fast-food noodle restaurant. It consisted of shrimp, clams, noodles, half of a boiled egg, tomato, cauliflower, garlic, Chinese broccoli, and hot spices (pepper). I washed it down with an apple soda called "Apple Sidra".

Having oriented ourselves with the city from above, we headed back to the van to go to our next destination: the National Palace Museum.

Breakfast

2006-09-03T09:26:00.000+08:00

I slept good. Real good.

After waking up at about 8:00AM, I took a much-needed shower. Dad, grandpa, uncle, and cousin were already up and having breakfast. I joined them and had a bao tse (steamed bun with vegetable filling) and warm soy milk. Add a banana and some tea and it was a nice wholesome breakfast. My cousin gave me some dried ginseng, which you chew on for health.

We have a big day planned ahead of us. Back to the action. Blog you later.

We made it!

2006-09-03T01:53:00.000+08:00

I'm sitting in my uncle's living room right now, watching the Twins/Yankees game live on ESPN. I go to the other side of the country and I do the same thing I do at home. Weird.

The flight from Osaka to Taipei was quick; it was supposed to take 3 hours and we made it in 2. During this short trip, I sat next to Rei and Mario from Boston. They are on their way to visit Rei's family in Taipei. As veterans, they shared some Taiwan favorites with me. Hoping that we can meet up later in the trip.

Upon arrival (approximately 9:00PM local), we gathered our luggage from the claim and waited for my aunt and uncle. Since we were a little early, they weren't there yet. My dad found them among the dark-haired droves and we hopped in the van.

As we drove through the outskirts of Taipei, I finally realized that I really am here. I'm on the other side of the world and there are many things that are similar and different. The landscape is littered with neon signs, some familiar, some not. Seven 11 seems to be a staple, along with KTV (karaoke) and scooters. More on this later.

We arrived at my uncle's house. It is very reminiscent of a New York apartment, particularly the 4th floor walk-up aspect. My people live here: my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, their two children (my cousins) and their spouses, and my cousins' children (11 total). After dropping off our luggage in the guest room, we went upstairs to visit Ama and Aba (grandma and grandpa).

We sat down and talked with grandma and grandpa for a while. Grandma immediately reminisced about the time she spent in Minnesota with me when I was born. We looked at pictures from my cousin's wedding in Dallas and my graduation from Rice. I was amazed at how sharp my grandparents are. The do not show their years.

We went back downstairs and my uncle came in with a box full of food, mostly fruit. There was lychee, bananas, and mango, along with treats from the bakery and Taiwanese Coke (which is more like root beer). We sat around and talked (well, Dad translated) and ate and drank until late.

Laying in bed was a comforting feeling. Looking forward to some deep zzzzz's.

I think I'm turning Japanese (I really think so)

2006-09-02T17:12:00.000+08:00

So, we've landed in Osaka after about a twelve hour flight that took us over Canada, Hudson Bay, Alaska, and the greater part of Japan. I'm sitting at an "e stand", trying to type on a Japanese keyboard (where are the quotation marks?).

The flight could have been worse, especially considering my current contempt for flying. I spent a lot of time reading (Mindstorms by Seymour Papert), doing Sudoku puzzles, and listening to music. I even sat through Inside Man (sorry Spike, me no like) and a crappy Lindsey Lohan movie (I'm gonna pretend that I don't remember the name of it).

The in-flight culinary experience was decent; they served dinner, a snack, and breakfast. The dinner consisted of chicken in BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, a salad, shrimp cocktail, a dinner roll, and a tall, cold Budweiser (what would an international flight be without a little buzz?). The snack was just a turkey sandwich and a Twix bar. Breakfast, served at the end of our flight, was a Swiss cheese omlette, sausage, potatoes, fruit, OJ, a muffin, and some tea. Mmmm . . . jealous? Don`t be. I`m hoping for more interesting gustatory experiences in the next 9 days.

Our brush with Japan is proving quite fascinating. Here are some pictures from inside Kansai airport in Osaka. I especially like the Kansai mascot. I'll have to take another trip to Japan to explore more someday. Anyone else interested?

Thanks for your comments so far. It's really encouraging. I hope that I can bring you every excruciating detail (like the in-flight menu) throughout the trip. Gotta fly to Taipei!

Wangs on a Plane!

2006-09-02T02:44:00.000+08:00

Our journey is underway. We are currently sitting in Wayne County airport in Detroit, Michigan. Having just filled out stomachs with some airport-quality sushi, we have settled down at our gate, with approximately two hours to departure (3:30PM EDT). While I have some downtime (and an outlet to plug my laptop into), let me catch you up on my progress . . .

Yesterday afternoon, after some last minute shopping and packing, I hopped in a car service cab (note: form of transportation #1) to JFK to catch my 5:30PM flight to Minneapolis.

The flight presented little difficulty, despite some ear-popping issues and a frustrating wait at the luggage claim. Mom greeted me with a traditionally long welcome-back hug and we headed for the car.

Although I was only scheduled to be in Minnesota for a little less than 10 hours, I managed to squeeze in some fun. On our way back from the airport, we stopped at the Minnesota State Fair, a yearly staple of my childhood. We met up with Ange, Christian, JT, Isabel, Myles, and Carl outside the Grandstand and proceeded to consume our monthly intake of fried food. One corndog, bucket of cookies, tub of fries, beer, reuben sandwich, plate of garlic fries, fried shrimp skewer, and vanilla cream puff later, it was time to go.

I learned from Mom that this short detour has some significance to my current trip. When I was one year old, my grandparents came from Taiwan to visit me. My grandmother helped take care of me during this time, and consequently has a special connection with me as her grandchild. While they were visiting Minnesota, almost 23 years ago to the day, they went to the State Fair. Something tells me their Taiwanese sensibility steered them clear of the deep-fried cheese curds.

Upon leaving the fair, I spent some time with Ange in St. Paul, then headed home for a couple of hours of sleep before leaving at 5:00AM CDT for the airport.

Dad and I checked in, passed through security (liquid-less), got some coffee, and wandered to the gate. Our first flight, from Minneapolis to Chicago, took a little less than an hour, and we turned around and took the same plane to Detroit, where we currently stand . . . well actually sleep.Here’s where were going to be spending the next 16+ hours (Detroit to Osaka to Taipei):

Next stop: Taiwan! Blog you then.

Packing

2006-08-31T20:49:00.000+08:00

It wouldn't be my style to pack for an international trip the week or day before an international trip. My style would be to wait until the day OF that trip to pack.

Never fear, because I have taken the time to write a meticulous list of things to do and pack before I leave Brooklyn.
As you can see, it was written on a napkin, as if to show the great care taken to craft such a delicate list.

After a trip to the post office, the pharmacy, and some other quick errands, I'll be off to JFK via taxi. From there, I fly to Minneapolis where I will stay with my family for a (short) night.

The itinerary from Minneapolis looks something like this:

In case you can't read that, it goes Minneapolis to Chicago, Chicago to Detroit, Detroit to Osaka, and Osaka to Taipei. And yes, it all begins at 7:00AM tomorrow.

Off to run errands and finish packing . . . and say goodbye to New York.P.S. Post a comment! You'll be more likely to get a gift from my trip.

Preface

2006-08-26T12:21:00.000+08:00

In approximately one week, I will be headed on a journey that I haven't taken in almost 19 years. I am returning to Taiwan, the birthplace of my father and the destination of my mother's medical mission trip as a young nurse. The last time I set foot in Taiwan was in November of 1987, when I was 5 years old.

I am now 24 years old and my memories of my first trip to Taiwan have all but faded. If I close my eyes and try to picture it, I have flashes of high-arching bamboo bridges over streams, cheap toy robots at the night market, poinsettias blooming on the mountainside, and the smell of cakes wafting from the bakery down the street. I remember wearing a 1987 World Series Champion Twins sweatshirt on a train, as I watched the tropical countryside pass me by. But the pieces that connect these disjointed memories escaped my dreams long ago.

The circumstances of my visit are a combination of happenstance and fate. For about a year now, something has been tugging at my heart to return to the small island on the other side of Earth. I never went so far as to plan a trip, which may have been the result of my laziness or salary.

In early August, I got a call from my mother. She explained to me that she had received word from family that my grandparents had fallen out of health. My grandparents, who are both in their nineties, have always been mentally and physically strong people, rarely showing signs of letting go their vitality. The news of their weakened health had weight in my mind.

At the time I received the call from my mother, I was pursuing a job opportunity in Manhattan. When I had the good fortune to be offered the position, I felt both a sense of relief and a sense of urgency; relief that I had secured a new job, and urgency to plan a trip to Taiwan. Luckily, my mother was two steps ahead of me and booked the tickets for my father and me as soon as I got clearance to push back my start date.

As I sit and wonder about where I will be a week from now, I try to fathom the experience that lies ahead. What will happen when I see my family in Taiwan again? Will I feel connected to the people and places that are so distant from me in location, time, and culture? What does this trip mean to me?