dangtravels

[dangtravels]

Day 70: Wandering (7/21)

left - a truck full of mangosteens, right - coconut ice cream bread

It was more of a relaxed day today. In the morning, we went to find a market we had passed by on our way to the roast pork restaurant, but we ended up taking a detour and getting lost. It turns out that if we had walked just a bit further down the street from where we took our wrong turn, we would’ve found it, but we learned that the hard way on our way back to the area we were staying. Since it was lunch time, the market/food court was bustling with people. On the street outside, there were a lot of street vendors selling various items. There was one truck with the bed full of mangosteens piled high on top that we bought from. We also got coconut ice cream from an older man’s cart that was really cheap and delicious.

It’s gotten to the point that my family feels overwhelmed ordering food from anywhere other than Terminal 21, so of course we went there for lunch. We returned to the hotel afterwards, and I ended up passing out for a nap while my dad and my sister went for a swim in the pool. We took it easy for the rest of the day, since me and my dad can start to feel the oncomings of a cold.

#thailand

[dangtravels]

Day 69: The Crispiest Roast Pork in the Land (7/20)

(clockwise from top left) the beautiful roast pork at Kuay Jab Mr. Joe, flags at the nearby pier, dang shop, aboard the river taxi

Maybe we all have a slight bit of jetlag – although the time difference between Thailand and Taiwan is only an hour – because we all woke up rather early. We still got a pretty late start to our day, though. We first set out to find what’s claimed to be the crispiest roast pork. It was quite far from our hotel, so we ended up taking a taxi, although it was a bit expensive as far as Thai transportation goes. The store was really crowded, mostly with locals on lunch break. Normal tourists probably didn’t want to wander this far for just one meal, despite all the press this store has gotten. There was a waiter whose sole job seemed to be passing out tin cups filled with ice for people to drink cold tea, which I found interesting. The roast pork was obviously amazing. The skin was extremely crispy as promised, although the meat could have had a little more fat. But this was probably better for my cholesterol levels anyway since I cleared out two plates by myself.

To get back to the hotel, we ended up walking to the nearby pier to take the river taxi. On the way there were little pandan cakes being sold by a lady on a street cart. It tasted like my favorite pandan waffles hehe. After we got off the first boat, we had to walk a good distance to get to the other ferry that would take us back to the hotel area. It was a lot of walking, but it actually wasn’t too bad since the weather in Thailand is somewhat more mild than Taiwan. I got a cup of Thai iced tea in front of the hotel, which makes it my second of the day but #noregrets.

#thailand

[dangtravels]

Day 68: Bangkok City (7/19)

(left to right) last view of Taipei from outside the airport express train window, my dad and his vacation backpack which was actually originally my backpack when I was in Kindergarten and has since been repurposed, our home Terminal 21

Today we headed off for the last leg of our trip in Thailand. We left our hotel pretty early because we were afraid that the public transportation to get to the airport would take awhile. At the main station where we had to transfer, Phoebe and I got our last cups of boba in Taiwan. I feel like there are so many brands that I still haven’t tried, but until next time I suppose. I’m a bit sad because I got really hooked onto Sijichun tea during this trip but I don’t think the boba places in the US sell it.

Because we took the express train instead of the all-stop train, it took a much shorter time than we anticipated to get to the airport, which then gave us some time to eat lunch. We went down into the food court and filled our stomachs. The flight we were taking was a cheap one, so there was no drink service, no food, and no in-flight entertainment for the entire three hour trip, which sucked.

It was a regular procession of events once we landed at the airport. There were some Japanese tourists in the immigration line behind me and my sister, and one of them must have caught sight of my US passport, because I think I heard him telling his friends that we were American. They then directed their attention to the back of my sister’s Rice in Korea shirt which has Rice University printed on it, and they said amongst themselves that they had never heard of it lol. They seemed to be surprised by our nationality because I think they thought we were Korean. Of course, I’m not completely sure that this was what they were actually saying because they were obviously speaking Japanese, but that was I was able to infer given my limited Japanese skills.

We took a taxi over to our hotel, and of course the first thing our family did was head over to the Terminal 21 food court for a late dinner. My sister and I didn’t even have time to get settled – we just went straight there haha. Nothing seems to have changed much in this area, but I feel like I’ve been seeing a lot more Korean tourists than I have in previous trips.

#thailand

[dangtravels]

Day 67: Food wishes granted (7/18)

(clockwise from top left) the guard changing ceremony at the Martyrs Shrine, stinky tofu instant noodles which turned out to be light on the stink and big on the tastiness, Taipei really seems to love the word ‘love’, hot pot goodness

It was a pretty chill day today. We had pretty much exhausted all the tourist attractions in Taipei, so we were able to take it easy. First, we took a pretty long bus ride to the Martyrs Shrine here since my dad insisted that I had to see it. We arrived just in time to see the entire process of the changing of the guards. I felt so bad for those guys because it was blazing hot outside and they were stuck in those heavy dark uniforms. Most of them were drenched in sweat by the time it was done. The sleeves of both the guards who had assumed their positions at the end of the change were soaked, as if they had dunked their arms into a bucket of water.

After that, I directed my family to the National Taiwan University area because I wanted to try some of the local foods that Josephine had recommended to me there. I think we have pretty similar taste buds because I was not disappointed by her choices. I think I’m going to crave the stinky tofu and instant noodle combination that I ate for lunch long after I leave Taiwan.

For dinner, we satisfied my mother’s wishes by going to eat hot pot near our hotel. The place we went to was Japanese style shabu shabu, and each person got their own individual pot, which turned out to be good for me since my mom ordered seafood and promptly tainted her broth with the shrimp she got. The portions were really generous for the price, so we were able to have a good final dinner in Taiwan.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 66: The best flavor of ice cream is durian (7/17)

left - the maid cafe near our hotel that probably won’t be missed, right - the amazing huge scoops of ice cream at Taipei Main Station that will definitely be missed

Happy Birthday to my child Wonwoo lol. We’re nearing the end of our Taiwan trip, and today we’re headed back to Taipei. Before we went to the station, we went out to get lunch. We found a Vietnamese grocery store on our way. There seem to be a lot of Vietnamese people in Kaohsiung and we’ve encountered a lot of them, but I still find it fascinating to hear them speak Vietnamese, especially since they blend in so well with the Taiwanese.

The train ride was really long and not really eventful. There were two passengers with small dogs. One of the dogs was a chihuahua that was having an asthma attack, which reminded me of Cinny. When we got to Taipei, my dad took us to an ice cream shop in the station that he had gone to before and said had really good durian ice cream. The scoops were huge and was a really good price for the amount. After two scoops I was super full. I felt bad for the girl who was serving the ice cream, because the line was long and she kept having to bend over and use a lot of arm strength to scoop the ice cream out.

We returned to the hotel we were staying at before we left for Taichung and Kaohsiung. We were going to get a bigger room, but it turned out to be not as good quality as the one we stayed in before, so we traded it in for the smaller room in the newer building. I have no idea what we’re going to do tomorrow, but I hope we can have a nice last day in Taiwan before heading off to Thailand.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 65: By the beach (7/16)

(clockwise from top left) a large religious statue at the end of a long pathway at Lotus Pond, a man flying a cool kite, the Dragon and Tiger Pavilions, one of the many squid stands in the beach area

Today was our last full day in Kaohsiung, and I had meticulously planned things out yesterday night to avoid mishaps that have been happening in terms of not knowing where to go or what to see or how to get there. In the end though, we only ended up going to two places, which was fine since they both had lots of things to see. Our first stop was the Lotus Pond, which had a lot of religious structures, the most well-known of which is probably the Dragon and Tiger pavilions. You’re supposed to walk through the mouth of the dragon and then come out of the mouth of the tiger to rid yourself of bad luck. I hope it really happens for me because I need all the luck I can get this upcoming semester. The weather today was breezy, which was a nice change considering how blazing hot it was yesterday.

It started pouring rain when we were heading back to the bus stop. At that point we planned to go back to the hotel to wait for the rain to stop, but then it let up while we were on the bus and we decided to take advantage of the return of good weather to go down to the beach. Once we were there, there were lots of food stalls lined up on the path to the beach. One of the grilled squid stalls we stopped at happened to be run by a Vietnamese lady hehe. The beach itself had lots of sand sculptures from a recent festival and there were lots of people flying cool kites. We didn’t really see any attractions, but it was nice to walk down the beach. We went to find a Vietnamese restaurant that the lady at the squid stall said was there, and we eventually found it in a side alley. The owner said she had been in Kaohsiung for 15 years now, which was really interesting. My dad ate bo kho, and then we got banh mi to take back. It started raining really hard again while we were in the restaurant, but we braved the walk back to the ferry station. We timed our arrival well, since the bus straight to our hotel came to the ferry stop right when we got off. We didn’t end up getting to try the huge shaved ice we saw on our way to the beach, but hopefully we’ll get to eat shaved ice in Taipei.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 64: Love, Love, Love (7/15) 

(clockwise from top left) the dome of light at Formosa Station, cute tourism mascot statues along Love River, the LOVE installation at the Love Observatory, one of the painted facades at the Art Park

Maybe it was because we spent most of the day outside today, but the sun was even more unbearable that it was yesterday. I also wore a tank top, so I have lots of weird tanlines and sunburns right now. Since it was so hot, it felt like we went to so many places, but we actually mostly stayed in one area and didn’t go very far. We first looked around the Love River, but there wasn’t really much there. We also went to the Art Park, which was another one of those hipster playground type places. There were lots of nice murals on the buildings, though.

We also went to the Martyrs Shrine, but the bus route to get there was really confusing. We got off at the stop that said Martyrs Shrine, but we ended up having to walk up the mountain for a good 20 minutes to actually reach the shrine. The Love Observatory was also there, but instead of the kind of observatories we’re used to, it was more of a small raised deck that overlooked the city. It was pretty underwhelming, but there was still a nice view.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 63: In the light (7/14)

(left to right) the big buddha statue in the distance from the main entrance, the word for wealth shining down on Phoebe’s hands which is supposed to be a sort of blessing, cute little buddha statue

Of course, no trip anywhere with my family would be complete without a visit to at least one temple, and today was the day that we made good on that in Kaohsiung. We took a bus to the Fo Guang Monastery, which is a huge Buddhist complex 30 minutes outside the city. Right off the bat, we noticed that there were tons of Vietnamese tourists, which was a pretty clear indication that these were the places that Vietnamese people gravitate towards. For lunch, we ate at the vegetarian buffet in the main hall. There weren’t very many options, but the food was decent and gave us the much needed veggies that we’ve been lacking on this trip.

It was uncomfortably hot outside for most of the afternoon. It was really hot in Taichung too, but Kaohsiung has high humidity on top of it all, which of course makes it much worse. My tan is coming along nicely, that’s for sure.

While we were at the monastery, we got roped into sitting and listening to a Chinese monk deliver a sermon for half an hour. When we were herded in, I thought we were being shown an introductory video to the Buddha tooth relic, which is the prized possession of the temple, but it turns out that it was a short religious service given in the hall where the relic is displayed. I felt bad for my parents and my sister, because I could understand bits and pieces but they had to just sit there and stare into space.

After we walked around the complex for a solid five hours, we finally decided to head back. We stopped at one of the bigger night markets in the area, Rui Feng, to find food. It’s been interesting to see all the different forms that Taiwan’s night markets come in. Most of the time, it’s laid out in one single line with stalls on both sides, but Rui Feng was a bit more like a maze, with a bunch of stalls centered in one small area that visitors can roam through. This night market seemed to enjoy potatoes in several forms – baked, hash browns, fries, etc. There also seemed to be quite a few stalls that tried to appeal to Koreans or people interested in Korean flavors. One of the stall owners even greeted us in Korean as we passed by. I didn’t end up buying anything for myself since nothing really called out to me.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 62: Kaohsiung Coming (7/13)

pictured - night market in the early evening

Another transport day. We got to the station a bit too early since it was right across from the hotel and they basically kicked us out at 1. The ride wasn’t really anything special. The Portuguese bun that Phoebe bought for me to have as a snack on the train was one of the best of that type of bread that I think I’ve ever had.

The hotel in Kaohsiung was farther from the station than in Taichung, but it wasn’t too far or hard to find. There’s a 50 Lan two minutes away, which is pretty spectacular. There’s also a maid café lol. We were able to muster enough energy to check out a nearby night market. This one was a bit more spacious than some of the other ones we’ve been in, which I appreciated since I don’t like being in tight crowded spaces. Since Kaohsiung is pretty close to the ocean, there was a lot of seafood. We ate dinner and headed back to the hotel.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 61: Art, Architecture, Boba (7/12)

(left to right) top - outside the original Chun Shui Tang store, the Kuroko no Basuke wall at the Painted Animation Alley, a little boy on his tiptoes ordering drinks for his table at Chun Shui Tang; center - a creepy angel of death sculpture that opens and closes it wings every few minutes, a Taichung City tile in the sidewalk, a scary ferris wheel installation that plays carnival music and starts getting progressively faster; bottom - the outside of the National Taichung Theatre, a cool winding staircases, one of the few boxy things in an otherwise very curved building

We had a bit more luck with our plans today than we did yesterday. We did a lot more walking, though. We first headed to Chun Shui Tang, the supposed origin of boba, which wasn’t too far from our hotel. It was good but a bit pricey considering the other chains in Taiwan. After we got our fill, we went to the Painted Animation Lane. I was very happy to see a lot of anime characters I knew, although I was a bit surprised not to see any Haikyuu when there was Kuroko and One Punch Man. It was a pretty small area, so we were in and out fairly quick. We walked up to the Museum of Fine Arts. I normally don’t really expect much from museums, but this one was free and a welcome respite from the heat, not to mention that there were some really cool exhibits. The one with all the mechanized sculptures was particularly cool, but also creepy, especially the carousel that sped up.

After the museum, we went to the theatre building following a recommendation from someone at the front desk of our hotel. It was really grand, with some awesome architecture. I found out later that there isn’t a single beam, and everything was done to maximize the acoustics. Death Note: The Musical is being played there at the end of the month, and I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see it because I think it would’ve been cool.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 60: Puli (7/11)

left - the top of the monastary against a clear sky, right - one of the huge pillars inside the exhibition hall

My dad wanted to head back to Puli, a town near Sun Moon Lake, so we could see a large monastery there. We took a public bus this time. The monastery was pretty secluded and looked quite grand on the outside, but there weren’t many things that were free and open to the public, which was a disappointment. After walking around and taking our pictures, we were stranded with nothing left to see. We had to wait almost an hour for the bus to come back around again (it was being operated by the same driver that picked us up lol) and then we had to wait for another bus to take us back to Taichung, which was an hour and a half away, so the day ended up being pretty much a bust. We were able to squeeze a bit more into the day through by going to the Feng Jia night market, which is supposedly the largest in the area. There were lots of stinky tofu places at this one for some reason, which I didn’t mind but the rest of my family clearly did. The market was definitely big, but there were a lot of stalls selling similar things, so after you saw one part of it, you basically could get a feel for what was available at other parts. We each picked out a few things to eat and then headed back to rest.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 59: Sun Moon Lake (7/10)

(clockwise from top left) boats at the port on Sun Moon Lake, one of the large temples by the lakeside, a candid of Phoebe on the cable car, a good boi manning the shop counter

Today we headed to Sun Moon Lake, one of the popular attractions near Taichung. The tourist package tickets we bought were on the expensive side and they only accepted cash, so we found ourselves running out of money quicker than expected. At least when we got there, our itinerary was basically all laid out and paid for, so there weren’t any troubles there. We were able to experience all sorts of transportation – bus, boat, and cable car. The scenery was quite nice, and the lake had some of the cleanest water I’ve seen since leaving the US. The food was pretty good too – the eggs brewed in the famous Alishan black tea were especially delicious.

It started raining pretty hard in the late afternoon when we had finished seeing most of the main attractions, so we decided to take the bus back to our hotel. Before we left, though, we stopped at a little store in the information center, and there turned out to be a little chihuahua perched on a chair behind the counter, which was super adorable.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 58: 1000cc boba (7/9)

left - exploring Liuhe night market, right - an entire liter of milk bubble tea

We were headed off to Taichung today. We went to the station fairly early in search of something to eat. The second floor of the building was a lot bigger than I anticipated, and there were so many options to choose from. Phoebe and I decided on tonkatsu, which was delicious and filling. Afterwards, we got snacks to take on the train and then waited to board. I’ve found that I really like travelling on trains. The trains that I’ve been on recently at least have been spacious and comfortable, and there’s not as many extra steps and complications that can arise with planes. You can also use your devices whenever you like. Of course, the downsides are that trains are slow and you can’t go over oceans in them, but I enjoy them for intercity travel nonetheless. While we were on the train, my sister and I cracked up over what sounded like a little Chinese boy imitating the automated English-speaking PA voice butchering the name of a city.

The hotel that we’re staying at in Taichung is really close to the station, so it was a lot smoother than it has been to get from a public transportation center to our housing. Something really interesting about this hotel is that there are attendants eagerly waiting in front of the elevators to summon one for you when needed, and as the doors are closing, they stand in front to bow and send you off. The formality throws us off every time.

For dinner, we explored a nearby night market, as Taiwan has no shortage of them. Right off the bat, we spotted a tea shop that had a line of locals in front of it. When we neared, we realized they were selling huge cups of tea in short, fat, 1000cc cups. I ordered what I could read off the menu (that was written entirely in traditional Chinese), and both options were tasty and super inexpensive for the amount. We stopped by a few other stalls to try their fare, and then headed back to the hotel.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 57: Hot day at the hot springs (7/8)

(left to right) top - one of the old baths at the Beitou Hot Springs museum, a refreshing pineapple ice bar, the hot spring valley; center - mango slushie from the farmers market, an installation that had “I didn’t forget your concern and care for my family” in Chinese and English spelled out in letters on the ground, the brightly colored photo room; bottom - a flight of stairs up to a temple in Beitou, the interior of the ramen shop, the very pretty greenery outside the public library

My sister went off to meet with her friend today, so it was just my parents and I travelling as a trio. We spent the majority of the day at the Beitou Hot Springs area. It was already a super humid and hot day, and the steaming valley that served as one of the main attractions definitely didn’t help. The heat aside, the area itself was really nice. It had the feel of a hot springs town in Japan, probably since it was first set up by Japanese people. My mom and I even ate Japanese style ramen for lunch. I also enjoyed the aesthetics of the library, which was constructed from wood and looked like a large forest cabin, and got engrossed in a book while I was waiting for my dad to finish bathing at one of the nearby spas.

We still had some time left before we had scheduled to meet up with my sister, so we went to Yuanshan to check out the Fine Arts Museum. On the way there, we stumbled upon a farmers market they were holding outside the Expo building, where people were selling all sorts of produce and juices and other typical farmers market fare. The museum was across the street. It was a fairly small building that showcased mostly contemporary art, and I felt cool and hipster just by walking around.

In the evening we met up with my sister at Zhongshan to go to the Ningxia night market. There were tons of food and game stalls that flanked the sides of the streets. The pathway was really narrow and there were a lot of people walking about, which is a situation that I am never a big fan of. I think I’m a bit claustrophobic in times like this. We were surrounded by a lot of delicious food though, which helped take my mind off of my discomfort. I probably should have just skipped lunch so I could eat my way through everything, but I settled with the oyster pancakes that were famous in this area and an peanut ice cream roll. My dad, on the other hand, managed to find a Vietnamese restaurant that was run by Vietnamese people, so he had himself a nice bowl of pho. I think I’m going to suppress my cravings and wait until I get home for that.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 56: The lake and the hipster’s playground (7/7)

(clockwise from top left) the Bitan suspension bridge, on the lake with our paddleboat, the roast duck and pork restaurant we went to for lunch, one of the walls in the Huashan Creative Park that reminded me of Attack on Titan lol

We’ve already seen most of what Taipei has to offer in terms of tourist attractions, so we had a bit of trouble deciding where to go on our first full day. We settled on the Bitan Scenic Area, which had a suspension bridge and some body of water there (a river? a lake?). We quickly learned that it wasn’t really anything special, but we still tried to make the most out of our time by going on paddle boats. After we had sufficiently sweated and worked out our legs, we cooled off with some sorbet-like fruit ice cream. We also ate lunch in a roast pork restaurant in the area, which was right next to a Vietnamese restaurant run by Vietnamese people.

Not really sure what to do next, we picked the Huashan Creative Park off the tourist map. It seemed like a playground for hipster youth more than it was a real tourist destination, and in this respect it kind of reminded me of Common Ground in Seoul. It was good for taking pictures for your Instagram, but not much to see otherwise. Slightly disappointed with how the day turned out, we decided to round it off by walking to the Taipei Main Station, which was nearby. I rented a YouBike and had a grand old time riding about for an hour.  Like many things, the bike was a bit too tall for me, so trying to stop and get on and off was a bit of a pain.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 55: To Taiwan (7/6)

pictured - the slogan on the lid of the yogurt I recently got obsessed with which translates to “No one can make me give up besides myself”

Today was mainly the day for transport. We had an early start because we had to take the subway and be at the airport before 11. Our plane was delayed an hour which was kind of annoying, but soon enough I was saying goodbye to the place that was my home for the past month and a half. I sat in the emergency exit row of a plane for the first time ever. It was nice to get a lot of leg room, but inconvenient in almost every other way.

One thing that certainly amused my mother once we arrived in Taiwan was that the immigration officer didn’t seem to believe that I was the same person that was pictured on my passport. He kept glancing from me to my photo and back again, and leaned over to the person next to him to ask if it really matched up. He finally let me through, but not before asking me to confirm my name and birthday.

After we went through all the standard airport procedures, we had to navigate through the Taipei metro system to get to our hotel. We got a bit lost trying to find the building, but thanks to the help of a friendly grandma, we were able to check in. The atmosphere in Taiwan is already a lot different than it is in Mainland China. People are a lot more orderly and helpful.  It also seems like I got too much into the mindset that no locals can speak English when I was in China, because I was shocked that almost everyone that we asked for help could speak English really well. It takes a bit of the burden off my shoulders, because it’s harder for me to read things here when everything is written in traditional characters. We’re spending more time in Taiwan than we have in the past, so I’m looking forward to going around and seeing more of the country.

#taiwan

[dangtravels]

Day 54: On the water (7/5)

(left to right) the peace statue at the end of the Nanjing Massacre memorial, the river running through Fuzimiao, the vast Yangtze River

Last full day in Nanjing! We started it out by going to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, which I had heard about in class and from my host mom, but never got a chance to see. It was a pretty large complex, with a museum and lots of wide open spaces with art installations and the like. It was a solemn place, and made me feel a bit unsettled for most of the time, but I liked that the end of the exhibits opened up into a large garden with a huge statue of a woman with “peace” engraved into the base.

Afterwards, we walked around the area to try and find some lunch. We stumbled on a Wal-Mart in the mall we were wandering around in. I don’t know how, but it somehow had the exact same smell as Wal-Marts back in the States, which was pretty trippy.

My dad wanted to go check out the Yangtze river, so I went with him to a park on the map that seemed to be right on it. The bus ride took about an hour, but we didn’t end up being able to see anything once we got there because there was a tall wall and trees blocking our view of the river, and there wasn’t anywhere to get higher up and see. We took a couple of pictures and then decided to head back on the same bus. I saw that the bus also went to Fuzimiao, so we rode it from the start of its route to the end to look around Fuzimiao. I had already been before, but it’s a pretty big area, so I ended up seeing a few things that I hadn’t before. We headed back to Xinjiekou to meet up with my mom and sister and we all had dinner in the underground shopping area near our Airbnb. The weather outside today was really hot and humid, so my skin was slippery and I was pretty worn out, but I’m glad I was able to see some parts of Nanjing that I hadn’t before on my last day here.

#china