Taiwanese Adventure, part III (back to Taipei)

Day V: Back to Taipei

Picking up where we left off, Thursday we hopped on the HSR for the two hour train ride back to Taipei.

Arriving around four, we settled back in, and got ready for the evening.


Our first stop in the evening was another of the 100TWD a plate restaurants for a lengthy dinner. Fortunately, we got a waitress who spoke some English!

Peter even showed off his chopstick skills before we went on a semi-successful bar hunt.

So, it wasn't a bar, but a Chicago-style steakhouse.
Taiwan didn't seem to have many bars, so we had to expand our definition.

We drank enough that Bill's hand vanished and then we walked home, enjoying a snicker at the,
"Sandy Ho Big Shoes for Ladies".




Day VI: Achievement

Prior to the trip, Hildo sent around this slideshow in the Guardian, which summarized some of Taipei's many theme restaurants.

We decided to visit out first, The Hello Kitty restaurant, for lunch.

We joined the other waiting people, who were looking at the massive cake display, and we took our place on a hot pink couch for a bit.

We basked in the sugary glow of many a Hello Kitty cake...


...until it all went awry. Hungry Time arrived for Hildo, and there was no going back.

It was a bit like when the Hulk transforms, only there was no violence or green.



We headed to the Italian restaurant next door, and thanks to
some foccacia, peace was restored in our time.

Our entrees were delicious!









Our next stop, Taipei 101 is currently the tallest building on Earth.

It has two observation decks on the 89th floor, and one takes the Guiness Record- holding elevators to get there.


While enjoying the very brief elevator ride, one can watch one's ascent/ descent, complete with snazzy animation, on the display to the left.

The building's design was modelled after a stalk of bamboo. There are eight sections, as eight is considered a very lucky number.


The view from the top is impressive, even on a very overcast day:

as is the view from inside:




















Later in the day, we headed out to a restaurant that Bill (check out his site) found, Five Dime.

The restaurant is full of carved driftwood and other art by the restaurant's owner.

The food was excellent; although we didn't have a seat next to the koi pond.

A Night in Taipei, Sans Bill

This evening, our friend Bill chose karaoke with the wedding crew over a trip to the Shilin Night Market, here in Taipei.

He missed out on quite a bit! After a brief wander around the market, Darren, Hildo, and I spotted a friend of his...

Naturally, we had to liberate him from that arcade, and we did with a bit of clever work from Darren.





After all that hard work, refreshments were in order!


But only for a little while, as there was much more to do and see this evening!








There were kittens,
waffles on sticks to purchase,
frog eggs, wow! to drink,








and strange t-shirts to browse!


After we had checked it all out, we decided to take our new friend on the MRT...









... after which we discovered a fish tank in the local subway stop!


The next and final stop was our hotel, to rest up for tomorrow's adventures!

I wonder how karaoke was...

Taiwanese Adventure, part II (Kending)

Day III: Journey to the South

Following breakfast with the groom’s parents, we took the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Kaohsiung and enjoyed the offerings of the snack trolley (pictured) before meeting our hotel’s bus, which would take us to Kending.

Kending is at the Southern tip of the island, and is generally known as the sunniest part of Taiwan. It is known for being an excellent place to scuba dive and snorkel.

Unfortunately for more than just us, super-typhoon Morakot had just torn through Taiwan the day before we arrived, and the worst hit town in the country was a mere 15km from Kending.

Our ride from Kaoshiung gave us a bit of exposure to some of the damage, including this ship, which had been pushed ashore.

We arrived around four in Kending to find the beach very closed, a tree being removed from the pool, and not much to do. We wandered around the town a bit, which was reminiscent of any American beach town, in that there were lots of places selling swim stuff, a few stalls on the street, and a few restaurants selling either Thai food or pizza. There were also a number of the ubiquitous 7-11’s and a McDonalds.

That evening, we decided to check out the hotel’s dinner offerings, as we had been offered free dinner during our visit. The American Dinner in Kending required its own entry.

Day IV:

We woke, hopeful that the pool would be open, but there was no such luck.

Given that I dragged us to Kenting for a bit of froofy beach holiday and so I could see fish, I decided I could still fulfill the latter.

Off we went to the Aquarium (aka: The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium), which was every bit as spectacular as the website promised. I could have spent hours in there, really. The hotel suggested two hours, but I think three would be a better estimate.

Among the many cool things in the Aquarium, we saw lots of fish, a whale shark, three tunnels and I had lots of fun with my camera.

We headed back to our hotel, made a 7-11 run, and did something I’d normally never ever do... we ordered room service cheeseburgers!

Day IV: Acceptance

We confirmed that the pool remained closed (or, according to the sign, "close", but the beach was opened, despite not being really fit for swimming.

We had discussed leaving early, and just forfeiting the day’s costs in Kenting, but a passionate lecture from Darren led to a change of heart. To quote, “We’re English, we are stoic in the face of misery....” this led into references including the sinking of the Titanic, and overly steeped tea, and Agincourt. I really couldn’t argue with this, so I pulled up my kneesocks, as one does in the face of holiday adversity, and with upper lip stiffened, enjoyed the day.

We read books, took naps, and were 100% lazy. I did try to go for a run, but I learned that recreation center does not always mean gym through a bit of charades ,and proceeded to work on my notes for the first half of the trip, instead.

Launching into some of what was, at the time of it's writing, a bit of musing about the present...

I sit here from a fluffy resort, where we have been formally advised to please conserve water, because the water supply to the area has been cut off. The hotel should be fine, as it has its own water supply, but it makes one really realize how much the hospitality industry protects its guests from whatever is going on outside of the pristine sanctuary one has booked into.

The news tells of mudslides and chaos, so much so, that my mother has finally seen this on the news in the US, 5 days after Molokai tore through this country. 80 people were found alive in a mudslide not far from here this morning. Yet, still, each person I meet is kind, patient with my efforts to speak Chinese, and endlessly accommodating.

All this reflective thinking was disrupted by cheerleaders, which were unleashed on the lobby at four, when the bus of new guests from Kaoshiung is scheduled to arrive.

We missed this show on our arrival, fortunately.

Later on in the evening, we headed out to wander around Kending for the last time, but much to our surprise, the streets were much more lively than they had been earlier in the week.

We stumbled upon this bar, built on the back of a truck and had to drop in.

Naturally, we decided to stay for a few, given the good company.

Our barman had built this bar from a truck and opened up stop about four years ago. The "Bar" sign was a relatively recent addition, which he had made himself.

The bar boasted a reasonable selection fo beer and mixed drinks, music, a running refridgerator, and for patrons who preferred to not sit at the bar, a variety of lawn chairs.

Our barman has a website, if you're interested. There's a bit in English.

We called at a night, happy that we had found something in Kending that we really enjoyed.

Day V: Leaving Kending

Our first gloriously sunny day was the day we were scheduled to leave Kending.

We headed for the HSR, wishing we had a bit more time to spend in the sun, but excited to return to Taipei and meet up with friends.

BigTom, now with Less Air Overrun?

I'm inclined to think that this sign for the Bigtom retaurant in Kending, Taiwan, means exactly what we all think it does.

Taiwanese Adventure, Part I (Taipei)

To give a bit of background...

... a very dear friend and former flatmate of mine (the groom, Roland) found a fantastic woman (Vera) and managed to convince her to marry him.

This resulted in a Zimbabwean-Taiwanese wedding in the midst of typhoon season in Taipei, Taiwan, to which we had the honor of being invited.

Naturally, we said yes. We packed our bags and a set of swim fins, and we headed to Taiwan.
Little did we know, we’d be in for a spot of bad weather, but we still had plenty of good company.

Day I:

After 16 hours in flight, not including our 2 hour stop in Hong Kong, we arrived in Taipei at night.

We arrived at our hotel, quickly unpacked, and headed downstairs to a Japanese restaurant before meeting our friends, whose wedding we had made this mighty trek to witness and the groom’s parents (Christine & Ian), whom I have had the pleasure of getting to know while travelling in Zimbabwe.

It was then that we learned that there really aren’t a lot of bars in Taipei. As it happens, the Taiwanese are not genetically evolved drinkers, which means that gathering at a bar isn’t much fun the next day for most locals. The groom’s parents proudly advised is that this was not cause for concern, as they had found that the presence of a 7-11 on every corner made it easy to make one’s own bar. (Check out the 7-11 link, as Taiwanese 7-11 looks like far more fun than American 7-11.)

That’s right, parents told us to go get beer at the 7-11 and bring it back to their room. Naturally, We did as we were told.

Day II:

Day 2 kicked off with free hotel breakfast and plans to rendez-vous with the groom mid-day.

We took the MRT (pictured to the right) to visit the both the Longshan Temple and the Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

The MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit), pictured to the right, is super clean and wonderfully efficient. It even has very cute tickets!

Inside of Longshan Temple, one could purchase items of food to offer as a gift to the gods, and many people burned incense. Our friend Rachel was randomly given soup by a woman who insisted that it was for Rachel and not for Rachel to place near one of the shrines. Unfortuantely, I failed to document said soup.

The temple itself is very beautiful and ornate, as you can see from these pictures.
It’s really quite amazing to look at.

The Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall is located in a large square which is also home to the National Theater, The Gate of Great Centrality & Perfect Uprightness (Freedom Gate) and the National Concert Hall.

The building is quite tall and houses a museum to Chang Kai Shek’s life in the ground floor, which we wandered around before heading to the memorial at the top.

This is the view of the square from the top of the stairs:

Inside of the memorial is a large statue (and Ian & Darren):

inside the museum, you can see, but as the sign sternly advises, not touch or enter Chang Kai Shek's official cars









After all that history, we headed to what is known as the best dumpling shop in Taipei for Xiao Long Bao (aka: soup dumplings).

Conveniently, they do provide directions on how to properly enjoy the dumplings on a laminated card. (The other side is in Japanese, as Taiwan has many Japanese tourists).

We ordered many dumplings (pictured), vegetable & pork buns, and at the end, a red bean bun (pictured, bisected).

After all that, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of quiet time before meeting up with the bride, groom, and groom’s family for dinner.

We headed out to one of a number of “100” restaurants which seemingly dot the city. These often independent, casual restaurants sell small plates (as displayed in the pictures) intended for sharing for 100 TWD each. Much eating did follow, as did a 7-11 run.

Whitemen Toothpaste

It speaks for itself, really.

This toothpaste was provided to us by our hotel, and other friends have also received the refreshing gift of Whitemen Toothpaste at their hotels here in Taiwan.

A Moon Cake, a Man, & His Dog

This cake poster on the Taipei MRT left all of us wondering what this advert was trying to tell us.

English Speakers' Consensus:
78% of this cake is made from this man's dog.

The Actuality:
This sign is saying that 78% of people asked said that they like to share a Moon Cake with a very good friend. (the guy in the picture is a Taiwanese celebrity... not sure about his canine friend)

Cathay Pacific

As I sit down to write this, I can't help but wish I were writing about flying first or business. How my seat makes a bed, potential for backrubs, or how my seat is a bit like a glorified barca-lounger and that the flight attendants keep over-feeding me.

Would I like more cheese? Yes. As previously established, I am quite fond of it.

Still, I can't help but think that while my experiences in the roomier bit of the plane, and I don't mean the hold, may have been more pleasant to experience, they're less key to take note of. Economy service is increasingly uncomfortable, more often than not, but it's not all bad.

Given that I like going places, and I am unwilling to pay for anything but economy tickets, it just seems sensible to take note of which airlines provide a pleasant Economy experience.

I usually fly Virgin, BA, or American, and my recent adventure on Cathay Pactific is a first. This means that my upgrade potential is zero, even if I am on especially charming behavior and try to wow them with my recently acquired Mandarin.

And so begins my rant about Cathay Pacific, Airline of the Year 2009.

I rang Cathay's UK Customer Service line shortly after booking my flight, at which time I sat on hold for 20 minutes and I eventualy learned that I would need to call 48h before takeoff to select my seats.

When that mighty day came, I still couldn't find a general, 24 hour service number for Cathay, so I rang the UK number again from this page at 2115GMT, it was closed. Closed?!

I called the US number, confirmed my reservation code, and was advised to select my seats online.

I logged in to find that all along I could have selected my seats earlier if I had opted to sign up for the Marco Polo Club at 50USD a person, but having that information earlier likely would have made no difference, as I'm unwilling to pay for that, either. (Yes, I may be turning into my dad.) I also learned that my paranoia over bad seat potential led me to login 72 hours before launch, rather than 48.

That takes us to t-48h. I login to Cathay's Website, I enter in my flight confirmation code, and much to my joy, I get my aisle seat. I feel fortunate.

Still, I will be there bright and early to fanagle an exit row. I'm a big girl, and I'm sure I can open that big door in the event of an emergency.

Training Update: 5 August

In the mighty battle that will be Franc v Tube, there has been a little progress since the last update, namely that I've actually run a some!

In this case, "some", is a mediocre sounding 15 miles in since 15 July.

Getting back into it is something I'm really struggling with. I'm supposed to gradually ease back in, which isn't really indulging my stubborn nature after 8 months of sitting on my couch eating. (Yes, it was fun.)

So, I'm trying to be good, sticking to slow intervals twice a week. I've already cheated a bit and overtrained, but I'm mostly behaving myself and trying to make the best of the bit I'm allowed to do. This can't last forever, right?

I'll definitely be running in Kenting and in the meantime, I'll just keep telling myself that Franc v Tube will be even better in the autumn.

On that note, I leave you with the 70's-astic picture above of yours truly, doing something I do even better than running: touching cheese.

**PS: I didn't get a spot in the New York Marathon. I'll hear about my lottery for a spot in the April 2010 London Marathon in October, and I'll probably sign up for the the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town and the Chicago Marathon (just so I can see Victoria!) as a backup plan.
Perhaps I should start a Franc v Midlife Crisis thread for all that, eh?