taiwandays

Angkor Wat 2

2011-02-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

Pics as we approached...

Angkor Wat 1

2011-02-10T04:54:00.001-08:00

The next day we got up fairly early. The hotel had a great breakfast - I ate a lot of fresh pineapple and papaya along with an omelet with many vegetables inside. Yum. My idea had always been to bike to Angkor Wat because I had remembered how fun it was in Sukhothai. As it turned out, it was also free as our hotel had two bikes left for us to take. Angkor was about 2k away, and there don't seem to be any hills in Cambodia, so it was a nice ride. Lots of traffic of course, but the air seemed okay. It was expensive to get in (40$ us for 3 days) and unfortunately we were only going to be there for about a day and a half, but it was worth it. Quite a shame that we hadn't allowed more time, but that is a place I would like to go back to. Anyway, it was a hot day, but there are lots of trees on the road and in the shade it's not so bad. When we got there, of course lots of people came up and started to try to sell stuff. We locked the bikes up and headed in...

Tara Angkor Hotel

2011-02-10T04:41:00.001-08:00

The hotel in Siem Reap. Very nice.

trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

2011-02-10T04:27:00.000-08:00

These are blurry pics I took as we whizzed along in our taxi.

Cambodia 2

2011-02-10T04:18:00.001-08:00

The next day I got up and walked around. My neighborhood had lots of piles of garbage and recycling on the street. Odd place to build a hotel. Lyon showed up somewhere around 12:30 and we went to a pretty nice local place to eat some lunch. More Amok, and a tremendous amount of other food came. Cambodian food is good, though I didn't have anything that killed me in the way that Thai food does. It never gets that spicy, and seems to be more sweet and soft. Still, has lots of SE asian flavor, with the usual influence from China and India along with the local delicious flavors. After lunch we tried to get a mini bus, but we had missed the last one. Our only option was a taxi to Siam Reap, which would be extra expensive because it was Chinese new year. Everyone I spoke to seemed to think that they had a Chinese great-great-grandfather, though they didn't look too Chinese and weren't actually going to be celebrating the New year. Anyway, it was a good chance to charge more. We paid 80$ for the trip which took about 5 hours and was interesting for as long as it was light. Reminded me of driving through rural India a bit, lots of farmers and cows and tropical looking villages. Then it got dark and the lack of lights combined with the continued presence of farmers and cows walking in the street made it pretty harrowing. Anyway, we made it in one piece and the hotel (which Lyon had generously offered to let me share with him) was very nice.

Cambodia 1

2011-02-10T03:59:00.000-08:00

My flight arrived in the early evening, maybe a little bit after 6. The Pnomh Penh airport was small and immediately after I got off I was besieged by taxi or tuktuk drivers trying to get me. Finally went with this tuk tuk guy who didn't speak English but seemed smiley enough. 7$ seemed to be a set price to town, but maybe i got ripped off. Not terrible, anyway. The ride was interesting enough and bumpy and I got to my hotel just as it got dark. My room was not particularly nice - no full sized bed (which I had requested), window painted black, and mosquitoes. The hotel was in an inconvenient location, but I took a tuk tuk down by the river to walk around. Lots of shops selling pirated software, movies, and books. All in the open, but much more laid back than Bangkok. Almost peaceful except for the regular chirps of "tuk tuk?" and "motorbike?" as I walked down the street. Tried some Amok (pretty good, but very mild after the fire of thai food) and I relaxed. Went home early so I could meet Lyon.

another weekend

2010-07-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

I had another interesting Saturday. Woke up early yesterday to go to the beach, but when I stepped outside and looked at the sky (chance of showers) and thought about the money and time it would take, I changed my mind. Thought some more and decided to go to a pool party at some country club near taipei 101. Took the MRT, then a bus, then walked up a steep hill, and arrived at this place. Not that cheap, but I got a free drink (sparkling water with lime, not in the mood for booze in the sun), and I found a seat. On the way there I had met some guys who study Chinese at a Catholic University (Fu Ren) which I used to pass by on the bus every day on the way to work. Some Germans, several Africans of various countries, an Israeli guy, French guy, some other guy, they were diverse and lacking in Canadians or Americans which is unusual for a group of foreigners in Taiwan. I chatted with a guy from Liberia for a long time. He had traveled all over Africa, and although he dropped out of high school, had worked as a teacher in Africa. Then he sold precious stones in Hong Kong for several years until the downturn hurt the business and he came to Taiwan. With imperfect English, he had managed to hook up several teaching jobs here and was saving money. I admire his ability to hustle and move around to keep his head above water. A pretty smart and nice guy. The party was okay, I'm a little old for it I guess, not much interest in beer bongs at this point. There were some girls in bikinis and the usual drunken louts trying to meet them, but not in any great numbers. I did like relaxing in the pool, and one of the dj's was pretty good. It was a little cool though and I found myself missing the seriously hot days. I ate a vegetarian hoisin duck wrap and left around 5:30.

Managed to get back home and take a shower before I went to see a free performance by the Cloud gate dance troupe at a stadium here in Banchiao, only 5 minutes away by scooter. Here is a link to part of one of my favorite pieces they did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWAhUA05R4c&feature=related.
Too bad I was so far away, but it was free and very interesting, even if I couldn't see the movements clearly and could really only enjoy it as tableaux. I find myself strangely moved by dance, even if I have no idea about some kind of narative, people moving in the interest of looking beautiful and doing it well touches me. Cloud gate are very interesting, mixing ballet and modern and (what looks to me like) martial arts and probably other things that I don't know into their dance. They also have excellent set design, and being far away sometimes helps you appreciate the layout of the whole stage. And the music was very interesting. Free shows are free, though, and attract lots of families. Kids, understandably to my way of thinking, are bored and talk constantly and run around playing, which is a little bit annoying if you actually want to see and hear. I'll have to pay and see them in a concert hall next time, still, very interesting.

I went home and read and watched a crummy movie and went to sleep. Not a bad Saturday and no hangover for Sunday.

Today I mostly just relaxed, but I did go out with RC to try a new "Cuban" restaurant in town. It irritates me a little bit because I have had this idea to open one for several years now, I'll be curious to see how it does. Actually, the only really Cuban food they have is a Cuban sandwich, with good, but not authentically Cuban as I know it, bread. The sandwich tastes good, not that cheap though. The rest of the menu is adequate Mexican food, other than Mojitos which seems to be a main selling point for the place. They have some Cuban decorations and music (and a lot of Mexican music), though I think they need to redo the lighting and painting to make the place feel right. The people who work there are very friendly and the manager gave us a little discount for a small thing, which was very nice and I will remember. I will go back for that sandwich and to see how they do.

Taipei Toy Festival 2010

2010-07-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Last one.

Taipei Toy Festival 2010

2010-07-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

more photos and a link to the official site. If you scroll over the menus, you should see the English.
http://home.pmo.com.tw/pmo/monster/

Taipei Toy Festival 2010

2010-07-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

It took place at Huashan 1914 creative park. Here is a link to an article about the show:
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1313873&lang=eng_news&cate_img=35.jpg&cate_rss=news_Business_TAIWAN&mbn=420C56324089B156E73E348F96095E88

Taipei Toy Festival 2010

2010-07-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to this toy festival last Saturday. I always enjoy toy shows - so many creative people get involved with making toys that it's usually more interesting than a contemporary art show at a museum. Just like in the states, kids in Taiwan are a little bit too into Japanese culture, and while I love Japanese culture even more than the next guy, I would sometimes like to see more individuality shining through in their work. Still lots of good stuff though. Also, it was held in an interesting space, I wish I knew something about the history of that place. Another thing that I like about toy shows is that things are for sale and people who aren't ridiculously wealthy can buy these pieces of art. The prices are reasonable starting around $500 NT or so. There is no point in going into my favorite pieces, you can judge for yourself. I will try to get lots of photos up.

Tainan pt 7

2010-07-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

So that's it. I got up the next day, had one last Dan zi mian, drank some milk tea, and walked for 30 minutes to the bus stop. Just missed a bus, so I got to wait and it was super hot. But that's ok, I had a nice time. I was sorry to get home, oh well.

Tainan pt 6

2010-07-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of the night market, Chikan at night, the place where I bought the coffin bread, and the coffin bread itself under the jaundiced light of my hotel room. Looks like I time traveled back to the 50's for my snack, which is possible. Yuck.

Tainan pt 5

2010-07-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

After my nap, I went out again and saw the Confucius temple. This time I had my umbrella, which was handy because it was raining again. The temple was pretty nice, and very quiet. It was interesting to be a tourist in what felt like a ghost town most of the time. Not much tourism happening on Monday and Tuesday, pre-season. Also, the whole time I was in Tainan I think I saw about 7 westerners. I did hear some Mainland accents and japanese, but westerners were not around much. Which was kind of nice. I got more respect when I spoke Chinese, and when I busted out the little bit of Taiwanese I know, I got some laughter. Not bad.

After the temple, I went looking for this restaurant that the front desk person told me about, but I couldn't find. I think it had closed down. Then I went to the night market to eat dinner. Tainan's night markets are famous, but I was there too early, on a rainy night, and it wasn't one of the more famous markets. It was ok, I had stinky tofu, some kind of Taiwanese version of a burrito, and an attempt at Indian Chai (that wasn't too good, though. No flavor). I considered going out to watch the world cup again, but I decided it's better just to save the money, so I just watched it back at the hotel. That was okay. I brought home something called coffin bread, a leftover from American GI's apparently. It's white bread with some cream sauce covered mixed vegetables and seafood shoved in a hole in the bread and covered with something deep fried. Richard tells me American soldiers call this "shit on a shingle." The first part seems accurate, it's just terrible. I was hoping that the Taiwanese had improved it, adding some delicious local flavor, but no, just bland yuckiness. It cried out for hot sauce, which I had foolishly forgotten to bring with me. Not recommended. Then I went to sleep.

lunch and buildings

2010-07-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

This was my lunch and those other things with roofs are buildings I saw.

Tainan pt 4

2010-07-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

So, the rain finally stopped and I resumed walking around. It was a weekday, so there weren't very many people around, and a lot of the shops were closed, but it was interesting to walk. Many things to see, but I was getting hungry, so I started looking for food. I finally ended up at a place written up in my guidebook (Chou's shrimp rolls) which, indeed, had outstanding shrimp rolls with great tempura batter. The Dan-zi mian were good, but not as good as what I had the day before. It really hit the spot, and I appreciated the chance to take a break from the heat and sit in air conditioning for a while. After lunch I walked around a little bit more, saw some nice old broken down buildings, bought some interesting black sugar cookies for gifts, and finally decided I had seen enough. I could have taken a taxi ride to see some museums, but they didn't sound that great and I had been walking in the sun for several hours. I was pretty wiped out and ready to take a nap. So, back to the hotel to crash for a couple of hours. A good choice I think.

Tainan pt 3

2010-07-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

The next day, I got up early to head over to the Anping section to see Fort Zeelandia and wander around. It was already fiery hot, and I drank a papaya milk and a huge winter melon tea as I walked around. Fort Zeelandia was an old dutch fort when they had a trade presence here and it was interesting to see some dutch items and Indonesian items that ended up here as part of the trade route that the Dutch had set up. Eventually, Koxinga came over and lay siege to the fort and eventually kicked the Dutch out. This fact is used by both pro- and anti- unification people to justify their positions - everything is open to interpretation. The fort was interesting, it was cool to see the levels of ruins from different periods, and it was a beautiful day. Finally, the sky opened up and I ran for the nearest cover (I forgot my umbrella) and ended up spending about 20 mins watching rain come down and waiting to start walking around. The pics above include an old, semi-destroyed wall, a statue of Koxinga, and the view from up on the fort itself.

And a few more

2010-07-07T00:43:00.000-07:00

more pics in and around Chi Kan.

Some more random images

2010-07-07T00:34:00.000-07:00

Just some pictures of random things I saw walking around the city.

Tainan pt 2

2010-07-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

After lunch, i walked a few feet to see the Chikan Towers. As soon as I got there the sky opened up and rain poured down. I got bored of waiting under a roof - my feet and legs were getting soaked anyway - so I made a dash to the main building. Really nice. I especially enjoyed the stone hallways under the building, which were unfortunately difficult to reach since the rain had accumulated in very deep puddles. After I finished checking out the towers, I walked around the area a bit, looking at a couple of temples nearby and enjoying the old buildings and stone streets. My feet and socks were soaked, and I was exhausted and not yet adjusted to the heat, so I went back to the hotel for a nap.

My room was like a cave, nice and dark, and the bed was pretty nice, so I slept like a baby. When I got up it was already getting late. I went for another walk around the neighborhood, saw some more temples, etc., and generally explored. I found the bar where I would watch the world cup later and had some mian xian with oysters and garlic fried greens for dinner. I get cranky if I go too long without any green vegetables. Went to the bar to watch Netherlands play someone, a boring game in a smoky bar, but the Anchor Steam was cheap and it looked cool and I had a good seat. I decided not to stay for the second game - cigarette smoke burns my eyes - so I went home to crash.

Tainan pt 1

2010-06-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

When I got to Tainan, I was shocked to see blue sky. In Taipei it had been raining for 40 days and 40 nights, and I had forgotten that sometimes the sky is a color other than gray. I took the high speed train, which was nice except for the lack of information at the station. I was looking for a hotel and no one could give me any advice at all. Poor. I took the free shuttle bus into town and ended up in the middle of nowhere. Stupid bus driver wouldn't tell me anything, it's possible his mandarin was not very good and I couldn't ask in Taiwanese. So I took a taxi who took me to a place that fit my criteria: clean, not too expensive, in a convenient area. It probably would have been cheaper if he didn't take his cut, but at least he helped me find some place. It was nice to drop off my stuff and go get lunch. I wanted to try two things Tainan is famous for - dan zi noodles and the fried shrimp rolls. Unlike Taipei, people in Tainan were actually kind of impressed that I can speak some Chinese and my hotel staff were pretty nice and helpful. They sent me in the right direction and off I went. You can see that the pics of my lunch are too dark, I was still learning how to use this camera. The noodles at this place were really nice, great texture and a perfect, salty enough but not too salty, flavorful broth. The fried shrimp roll was also good, served with a mixture of that apricot duck sauce and wasabi and pickled ginger on the side, both excellent for cutting the grease of deep fried shrimp. The home made winter melon tea was also good and refreshing.

blah

2010-05-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

It's been about half a year since my last post. Just working knocks the stuffing out of me. I have been playing around in Brazilian Ju jitsu class, which is fun but hurts a little bit. I've been writing silly music reviews with my friend Dan at http://www.amixedreview.com/. I've had some visa issues, but I may have finally got a solution to that. The heat is back and I'm itching for some leisure. Feels like I haven't had a real vacation in a long time. Now I'm looking for a better job so hopefully I will be able to save some $$$ and take a little break soon. But who knows what the future will bring. It doesn't feel like I have been getting any breaks lately, but maybe I have been and things could be a lot worse.

acting/modeling job in chang hua pt.2

2009-12-10T04:12:00.000-08:00

At the end, I was supposed to give some kind of testimony to a girl playing a reporter. Since it didn't matter what I said, and no one there spoke English particularly well, I gave her a running commentary of the direction I was getting, with editorial response about why it was impossible or just a bad idea. Example :"He said don't move my head but use body language and now I feel like I can't move and I'm supposed to move this hand but not that hand and smile while seven people are yelling at me in two languages and I only had three hours sleep last night I wonder if I'm still smiling..." It was funny and needs a science fiction ending to the narrative of the commercial, I'm sure. As I left, the agent pointed out the owner's brand new BMW next to his brand new Mercedes, so I guess there is a market for orange mold.

I was happy to finally leave, it was dark already and we had a long trip. The cell phone was louder now, and the guy who really did nothing the whole time was singing along, but quietly so you could only hear him on the plosives, like "t" "s" "k" sounds. It was really annoying, and I started anticipating the next sound, which added to the annoyance factor. When Oksana got out halfway through the trip back (she lives in shinju) I realized he was just holding back out of the embarrassment of singing in front of a female, because he started singing louder. It reached a crescendo when Bon Jovi's it's my life song came on. A truly dreadful song, made worse by the tiny treble heavy speaker, augmented by chinese accented english sing along. And broken up by the coughing fits that came from this guy the entire trip back. The air was quite polluted at some points of the trip, and this guy smoked a lot, thankfully only on breaks. He would open the window for air, which just made it worse as the air was thick with dew and pollution, and the open window was doing weird things to the pressure in my ears. I was testing myself to see if I would crack and strangle this guy, but i'm happy to say i made it. yay me. After telling me they could drop me in Banchiao, they dropped me near an inconvenient MRT station on the far side of Taipei and I made it home 13 hours after I left. My pay, $2000 nt, about $65 us dollars. But it was kind of interesting and maybe they will give me another, better job next time since I did this one. I was going to meet richard last night, and that had to be cancelled, which was annoying. Oh well.

acting/modeling job in chang hua pt. 1

2009-12-10T03:37:00.000-08:00

I got a call on friday asking if I would be interested in the job. In broken English, she said something about it being in Taichung. Her English was not clear so we switched to chinese. I said, well, maybe, send me the details in an email and i will think about it. When I got the email, it said I had the job, without an audition, and it listed a taipei address. Foolishly, I assumed they had changed the address to some place people would be willing to go. I showed up, after a bad night with under 3 hours sleep, wearing my suit, and found out I had a 3 hour taxi ride to Chang hua ahead of me. I considered leaving, explained to the agent that they hadn't been clear with me, and ultimately decided to make a little money and have an adventure in a place I hadn't yet visited. The taxi was not comfortable, but I commandeered the front seat, which was bearable. At some point, one of the 2 taiwanese guys (1 was the agent, the other seemingly did nothing but smoke and annoy) started playing awful music on a cell phone, which was very annoying. I didn't sleep. We finally reached a town and they bought us lunch. The annoying guy was pushing for a boring looking lunch place - I said "bye" and went to the vietnamese place nearby. They begrudgingly followed me, and I enjoyed my lunch of sour and hot noodles with fried spring rolls in lettuce with mint and basil in sweet sauce. None of them had had vietnamese food before. The Ukrainian girl, Oksana, has lived in Taiwan for 2 years and never eats out, preferring to cook potatoes and meat for herself. She asked for something "not spicy." When I think about tying to sell food, it's people like this who scare me- no interest or adventure at all. Just eat and do the same things over and over again- nothing new. Oksana had come to taiwan to get her MA because she got the best deal here- fair enough, it just seems like a shame to me. She has learned no chinese and just took vacations to sit on the beach. I love the beach, but there is more to life.

After lunch, we sat in a 7-11 and waited for the production crew to come get us and lead us up the mountain. I had been told to bring all kinds of different clothes, so my backpack was too full to squeeze my chinese book in. I was happy to find my flashcards later- they really helped to kill time while waiting. I sat and tried to hold up a conversation with Oksana for an hour while we waited.

They came and led us up the mountain to the factory. I enjoyed the clean air and the old chinese style houses we drove by. Many Taiwanese prefer new homes, so when they get $$$ they rip down the old. In rural areas with less money, the old sometimes survives. Nice. When I came in, they put a white lab coat on me and did my makeup. Of course I didn't need any of my other clothes, just a white shirt and a tie. Then they did my makeup, which was quick. It took much longer for Oksana, and while I waited I tried the product the commercial was for. It seemed to be a special kind of mold, grown on organic rice. It was orange and brewed into a tea. When she was done, we went through an airlock, sprayed with alcohol, then more alcohol spraying, until we came to a large growing room filled with glass bottles. Mold was growing, first white, then green, finally orange and tendril-y in each bottle. I tried to find out what this stuff was supposed to do, but they could only tell me, "it's good for your health." It was funny that we went to so much trouble to decontaminate, but a guy in the crew was chewing betel nut and things really weren't that clean. With multiple long breaks, we (Oksana and I were filmed together, as the foreign scientists_ eventually did our scenes, staring in amazement at the strange, orange growth, listening and pretending to write as a taiwanese scientist explained things to us, then trying to look surprised a lot. They weren't recording sound, so we could say whatever we wanted, but it had to look like we were talking in many scenes. Oksana isn't much of a conversationalist, so I had to do most of the talking, which was a challenge. For one part, some people were yelling "smile! smile! smile!" while another was yelling "look surprised! look surprised!" and another "raise your hand!" another: "lower your hand!" and various other things in english and chinese. Try to smile and look surprised. Not that easy!

My Saturday at a funeral - a long post

2009-11-16T00:07:00.001-08:00

Things have been kind of bleak recently, but I had a very interesting weekend. Rae Chi's grandmother died and I was invited to come to the funeral, which was a fairly traditional Daoist ceremony. I'm sorry I don't have any photos, though I'm not sure that would have been ok. Anyway, we got to the location and there was a huge tent set up, filled with flowers and shrines of various sorts. Big paintings of various Gods were around and apparently the grandmother's body was in a back room (I didn't go see that). I just sat outside and had tea for a little while. Then I went into the tent to listen and see. All women wore white hoods, daughters and grand daughters hood had a little red dot on theirs. One grand daughter had a red hood because she is getting married in the next two months. Male descendants wore white bandannas around their heads, again with red dots for direct descendants. Husbands of daughters had special hats - that's what RC's father wore. I wore the white strip around my arm since I'm not married. It's interesting to once again see how important family relations are in this culture. It's clear in the language, where each family relation has a different name, so where we just say "cousin," the chinese indicates which side of the family, gender, and older or younger. It's so clear at a funeral where family ties are being re-emphasized. And for someone like me, who has no extended family at all and is an extreme example of American individualism (in my disconnect from a hometown, shared values, tribal identity,etc.), it feels a little bit like being a Martian visiting earth for the first time.

Anyway, blah blah blah. For a while, the daoist priest said various prayers in Taiwanese and when he bowed we all bowed. Eventually we sat down then stood up again and bowed some more. Along with his prayers, there was a strummed instrument that sounded a little bit like a banjo but playing Chinese scales. I enjoyed that very much. Then, we all turned sideways towards a shrine and various bowls of food were passed from person to person. We bowed with the food, offering it I guess, and passed it to the next person. There were continued prayers, then we took a break and had some tea. The kids stared at me and asked various questions about Americans, but they were scared to ask me so they asked Rae Chi while staring at me. The one who was around 12 had been interested when he heard I was American, but once I told him I don't have a nuclear weapon or a gun, he was disappointed and lost interest. I guess I would be more interesting if I had a nuclear weapon, to be fair.

So, the three women in bright costumes (one yellow, one green, one red) showed up and started dancing with the banjo like thingy and priest, who's prayers were kind of song like. They started doing splints and cartwheels and flips over each other and the music got faster, which I really liked. No drums, but percussive when he got fast enough. People put some $$$ on a tarp and the girls started stacking rickety wooden stools, then tables, then some more rickety plastic chairs until the stack was near the top of the tent, maybe 10 feet high. Each time they stacked a new level, they would each do a deep back bend off the top, reach their head down and pick up a bill with their mouths. Apparently, these bills are the tips for them. They would put the $$ in a compartment of a little shrine in front of the priest that had blinking christmas lights on it. At it's highest point, multiple people had to hold the stack of rickety furniture, the other two girls had to hold the bending girls feet, and she would backbend onto a table she could barely reach, then, $ in mouth, flip onto the ground. It was really interesting, though I'm not sure what it meant as far as the funeral was concerned. Maybe they represent some spirits who will help the grandmother's soul find her way, but I'm not totally sure about that.

When they were through, one of them put on a white hood and mimed being miserable and weeping in front of the shrine. She banged her fists and wept loudly while the sons and the eldest grandson followed her around the tent. A reedy stick with red fabric covered with characters hanging from it(which contained some spirit, I think) was held over her head as she moved around in mock pain. It was really loud and shrill and didn't look too fun for the guys who remained stoic behind her flailing in artificial mourning. If that wasn't fun for the men, the next part was really not fun for the daughters. They set up with the mock mourner about 100 yards away from the shrine and got down on their knees to slowly crawl back to the shrine. The whole time the women kept howling and the music got sad. As they crawled, they cried and had to be encouraged to continue on with red envelopes and people talking in their ears. At the end, they kind of collapsed in front of the shrine and cried while the leader kept wailing. The men set up another shrine in a different place and did more chanting, a different priest leading them wearing another interesting uniform. For a non-spiritual American of Northern European background, this public grief was kind of hard to take. I don't enjoy seeing other people weep, and for me to let other people see my sadness is not polite to them, and would be extremely uncomfortable for me. Here, showing how sad they were publicly gives face to their mother. And I think people here actually like this kind of super dramatic, operatic sadness. It's certainly interesting as theater, but wasn't easy to watch and a cynical bastard like me can't help but wonder if it's all 100% genuine. Anyhoo, Rae Chi and her brother and sister were all crying and then we had to help her mother stand up and move to a chair where she sat, stricken and unable to talk for a while. And suddenly, the music stopped and the priest left. It seemed a bit abrupt, but I was happy to see that end. So we sat down and had dinner. It was low key, and after dinner I left. When you leave, you can't say goodbye (the chinese goodbye means "see you again" and you don't want to see them again in these circumstances, so you just leave) though RC's brother made a mistake and did say bye bye to me.

I'm very glad I got to see that, though the experience was a little draining. Not nearly as draining as it must have been for the rest of the family though, since they had to sit with the body over night to "make sure no wild animals come" I was told. In the morning, I guess they took it somewhere for cremation. Things didn't end until 1pm Sunday afternoon. That must have been hard - being sleepy and emotionally fragile is not really the best place to be in my opinion. I guess it gives them time to grieve and have family support during a difficult time, though a good night's sleep is also nice to have.

Kao san guest house?

2009-11-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

I think this might have been the guest house that we stayed in. Maybe. I should have checked the rooms to see if they still have ceiling fans. But they didn't advertise rooms. And it used to be dirtier and more disconcerting. Or maybe I am just older and less easily disconcerted.

Kao San photos

2009-11-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

Cleaner than it used to be.

Kao San revisited (more Thailand)

2009-11-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

And so, feeling nostalgic for the good old days, and aware of C's recent facebook comment about the tuk tuk, I decided to take a tuk tuk to Kao San Road. I really hate the tuk tuks - always trying to rip you off, take you someplace you don't want to go. And the best you can do is always going to be about the same as a taxi ride, which would have air con, no rip offs, and a more comfortable, safe, clean air type ride. Anyway, it was for old time's sake. Got to Kao San Rd. which was always kinda sleazy, but the interesting things that excited me when I first went there had diminished. Fewer shady guest houses, fewer burnt out hippies, more fast food chains and boredom. The book "The Beach" which wrote about that scene and seemed recognizable from the experience I had there, will be a purely historical document for those in the future. And it made me a little sad, even if that thing was slightly horrible and definitely sleazy. I'm glad I got to experience it before it disappeared, I guess.

More Wat Pho photos

2009-11-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

Wat Pho photos

2009-11-03T07:28:00.001-08:00

A reclining buddha, etc.

Sunday in Thailand (3)

2009-11-03T07:11:00.000-08:00

The next day, Saturday, I did nothing. Hung out at the pool, read a book, did a little shopping. Went for a little walk around a neighborhood, ate some good noodles, bbq pork, and wonton soup with vinegar chilis. That was it.

Sunday, I was more active. I wanted to do some touristy things, so I went to the biggest temple in Bangkok, Wat Pho. Saw a very nice reclining Buddha. Lots of fun statues and little stupas. This temple is known as a base for thai medicine and massage, so I was thinking about that, but the massage I found was priced too far beyond the norm for Bangkok. Lots of interesting shops selling medicine with Thai labels. I was interested in something for my stomach (the green papaya salad was SO spicy) but they were unwelcoming. The food stands, on the other hand, were very interesting, and the lime leaf pork I had was really delicious. I hung around this area, checking out the temple and surrounding area, until my feet hurt too much and I needed a break.

Fever Pitch

2009-11-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

While I was in Thailand, I read Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. I've never liked his movies particularly- they always seem kind of smug and pleased to be English. Like Hugh Grant himself, the movies just slightly rub me the wrong way. But I read the book because it's ostensibly about Arsenal and I was curious. And I enjoyed it. Despite the fact that it was all about a time that is long gone, I found some of the observations about being a sports fan accurate. The appreciation of pain and suffering was particularly valid. I also identified with the cathartic nature of victory and the almost religious tendency to associate the team's ups and downs with one's own. The writing was a little smug, but not too objectionable, and the pages turned quickly. So, not bad. Of course, I identified even more with the long suffering of Arsenal fans after the team blew a 2-0 lead at the very end of the game to a lousy West Ham team.

Thailand 2

2009-11-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

The next day I didn't do too much. Walked around my neighborhood, hung out by the pool and read Fever Pitch, basically took it easy. I made the mistake of asking for a restaurant to eat at. Invariably in Thailand, the more expensive and the more westerners involved, the worse the food. So going to the restaurant that the hotel recommends for foreigners, with an English speaking waiter, was not a good idea. Dinner wasn't terrible, but it was 4 times as expensive as any other meal and was the worst meal of the trip. Oh well. After that, I went to see the muay thai, which was pretty fun. The price had doubled since the last time I went (almost 4 years ago) but I got a free CD. Sad I forgot a camera. The fights were kind of interesting - it's also really interesting to see the section with all the thai guys screaming and betting (I sat in the weak foreigner section - I can't bring myself to stand for so long. And I saw them refuse to sell the cheaper ticket to another foreigner, so maybe there was no choice).

Thailand 1

2009-10-30T05:25:00.001-07:00

When I got into Bangkok I was tired and cranky. I got off the plane (very small seats - the asian discount airline, but happily I was able to get a little sleep. Worrying that they had a sign by check in that said "we no longer allow guns aboard the airplane, with pictures of the guns they don't allow) and foolishly booked the first ride into Bangkok (4 times as expensive as my ride back from the hotel to the airport, and I gave that guy a tip!). Almost changed money there as well, but it was such a huge rip off I just couldn't accept it. Thankfully I still had a few baht from last time I was in Thailand. Got in to the hotel and felt tired, and pissed about the rip offs. Drank a few beers and watched soccer on TV which helped me relax a great deal. Had a good nights sleep. The room was ok - smelled a little of stale cigarette smoke, but basically clean and comfortable. Had a microwave and big fridge. I enjoyed the pool on the roof with a nice view of the neighborhood. It was very nice to have a bit more summer. I spent plenty of time up there, dipping in the pool and reading Fever Pitch. The location was excellent - 10 minute walk to the Taiwan consulate, and a free tuktuk type thing to the local MRT. Plus, it was located in a residential area away from all the sleaze and nearby lots of food stands and interesting places to walk. I was happy with it.

pingxi train

2009-10-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

I have a wierd thing about round windows and passageways. This made me fantasize about getting one of these cars and turning it into a diner, something Taiwan needs. Maybe....

my weekend

2009-10-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

I had a very nice weekend, taking a trip up to Pingxi and the small towns on the train line nearby. We got off the train at a stop that had nothing but a little house with a very loud chicken clucking away. The weather was perfect- sunny with a little breeze and not too hot. I've spent too long in the city, and the air up there was sweet and clean. We walked by the railroad tracks, ignoring the signs saying not to walk there. We walked through a tunnel, but everywhere we walked had plenty of space to move over if a train showed up. Eventually we could hear a waterfall, which was probably beautiful, but some jerk owned the only land where you could see it. Apparently, he had been charging 100 nt., which really is too much to see a waterfall on public land, and the government told him so. Now there was a battle between this guy and the government. The upshot being, he chained off the space and no one could see the damn thing. Oh well. We kept walking and eventually came to a little town called shi fen. It had a few touristy things, but hadn't been too built up yet, which was kind of nice. We had an unimpressive but overpriced lunch. The most expensive thing was young bamboo shoots. They were different from bamboo I've had before, and interesting, but I wish I could have had a better cook cooking it. We walked around a little bit, then got back on the train to see the next little town. This one was really small, and it only took a few minutes to see everything. We waited a long time to get an ice cream wrap (taro ice cream wrapped in a spring roll wrapper with cilantro and ground peanut brittle) but it wasn't exceptional. Near the train station I could smell jasmine flowers, which was nice. Unfortunately, while waiting for the train, some guy spilled his milky soda down in my shoe, which sucked. I unintentionally said "THANKS!" really loudly after he did it. He was polite about it and obviously felt bad, so I tried to tell him it was fine, no problem, just a little bit, but I wasn't too happy to have a wet, sticky spot on my foot for the rest of the day. We finally got to the last town in the area, another tiny little place. There was a nice, old japanese wooden house that had served as quarters for people overseeing the mining in the area, but they wanted too much money to see a small house so we skipped it. Another long wait in line and we got two fried chicken rolls which were excellent (I will try to get a blog about them on my new food blog soon). A nap on the way home on the train, and all in all a nice day trip.

Now, I'm hustling to take care of annoying bureaucratic issues, including my visa which is about to expire. Looks like I'll be in Bangkok on Friday trying to take care of it. I wish I had a little time to be a tourist there, but to save money it will be all business. Maybe I can drink beer and watch Muay Thai on Friday night. It was nice to pull in some cash at my temp job, but it reminded me that teaching is just a way to make money and not something I'm in love with at this point. A few possibilities have shown up, but nothing definite yet. I'll keep hammering away.

sick and typhoon

2009-10-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the moon festival here, which traditionally means bbq's, pomelos, and moon cakes. And this time I actually partook of all three. We went to a bbq at RC's home, where I ate some cake, a piece of pomelo (I did wear the pomelo peel on my head at a certain point), and some bbq. Also drank some beer with RC's dad. Which wasn't really very bright. Since I was feeling sick. My fever got worse afterwards and I spent a long night sleeping fitfully and sweating. Spent all day yesterday taking it easy, skipping out the martial arts thing I was going to go see with Dan. Clearly I made the right choice since I felt better today. And that was good because this evening I worked 3 hours substituting at a school in Tucheng. I haven't taught it over a year, so I was a little nervous. It went Ok, I guess, though the school was very poorly run. No manager at the school, unclear lesson plans, teacher's assistants who don't do anything or actually even stay in the classroom. Kinda crazy, makes me appreciate Kojen or even the YMCA. I'm just a sub, so it doesn't really matter too much. Just a little annoying. A few moments of fun, but not as much fun as I would like to have with my work. Whatever. It's a paycheck. I enjoyed the cheap Paht Thai and Spicy sour kong xin cai I got from my local thai place afterwards. I'm looking forward to seeing Edward Yang's Yi Yi (A One and a Two) that I have waiting for me. Tonight might just involve watching TV show episodes (the last few Mad Men) that I haven't seen yet. And hopefully lots of sleep. It's very typhoon-y at the moment, which makes me sleepy. Not looking forward to the rainy-ness of winter here. I hope I can swing some kind of tropical vacation to take a break.

today

2009-10-01T21:48:00.001-07:00

I just watched Roman Polanski, Wanted and Desired and enjoyed it. Such an interesting life that guy has had and survived. You wouldn't want to get in a fist-fight with a guy that tough. It's really hard to believe that the US would want him back to rehash this case which can only look bad for the American legal system. If he just stayed in France that would be better for them - I wonder if this wasn't orchestrated by Polanski's lawyers to force the USA to accept defeat on this case. The movie also reminded me how much I enjoy his movies. It's interesting to see John Huston in Chinatown because Polanski is a director more like Huston's generation of Hollywood directors- interested and good at so many things. I'm going to have to watch some of those old films again.

Other than that, things continue on. My sickness has settled in to stay for a while in my sinuses, which is nice. I may be able to get some short term (maybe just a week) substitute work starting next week - have to go talk to the boss today, which is less fun with a cold. It was nice to see Lyon on Wednesday and eat HK style fried noodles. Walked around Zhongxiao Fuxing and I bought some Wen Shan Bao Zhong tea which is fun to drink. The weather is fairly cool today, so maybe I won't be soaked with sweat all day. I dare to dream. I've been listening to Grizzly Bear for the last couple of days - some of it I like but I guess I don't love it.

random

2009-09-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit ill today, have a mild cough and feel a little weak. Went to buy a bunch of fruit (including pamplemousse) and got to sweat a bunch. Still nice and humid, despite the heavy rain last night. My right shoulder is sore, which is fun. I still want to lift weights today to keep my mood solid, but I have to be careful. I'm starting a new blog to focus on food, and maybe I will be more regular here, posting random thoughts and, uh, feelings *cough*.

I read today that they are going to extradite Polanski from Switzerland to the USA. I always wondered why they hadn't grabbed him before - I guess it's because the judge did some crazy things with the trial, ignoring plea bargains and such. Anyway, I'm working to see Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired which tells the story, I guess. I thought his last few films were just OK, but earlier movies like Chinatown, Knife in the Water, and Rosemary's Baby were all excellent.

RC and I watched the entire first season of True Blood this weekend. I enjoyed it, though the show could be a lot better. The human stories are kind of boring, it's really only interesting to learn about the vampires. I'm most interested in their back stories, though they haven't given us very much of that. The sex is pretty nice and explicit, I guess that's good. Better writing would be better, though.

I saw Land of the Lost yesterday. Of course it's just junk, but I still get one or two small laughs from Will Ferrell. They are getting smaller though. I prefer his TV show with his LOTL co-star, Eastbound & Down, though that could be better as well. I was watching his clips on funny or die (www.funnyordie.com) and thinking that, like all of his work, they're kind of funny but they could be funnier. Stepbrothers isn't solid all the way through, but it has great moments. Only Elf and his masterpiece Old School show him at his best.

Other than that, I'm just stressing about not having a job and playing Sudoko to take my mind off of it. I'm at a loss as to where else to go with resumes at this point. It's a bit humiliating not being able to get such a low status job, especially when I know a lot of people who have these jobs who won't be joining MENSA any time soon. It's especially annoying since all the plans I have for things I want to do (including ideas to do things other than teach English) require a steady income stream and a visa that allows me to stay in the country. What a drag.

sun moon lake 6

2008-10-15T10:46:00.001-07:00

I was especially drawn to the chicken coops. Each tribe had their own design and they were all interesting. The pic above is me next to one. I also got to try some archery which i really enjoyed. i hit a balloon and got a free arrow, it's difficult to aim, but i find i enjoy games where i have to hit a target. maybe i will do some more archery, it seems like a strange thing to be interested in but it's kind of fun. And seeing zen archery when i was in hawaii as a kid really made an impression on me. anyway, it was fun.

And that's it. We went home (the return trip was quicker with less traffic) and even though it was the best or most relaxing vacation, i kind of missed it when it was over.

sun moon lake 5

2008-10-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

Finally, we went to the aboriginal park on the last day. This place was a wierd combination - half culture park museum, half amusement park. This can be somewhat explained by their interest in attracting school groups. Parents, teachers, etc. want field trips to have some educational value but actually kids don't care and just want to go on the dumb rides. So this place, with recreations of the villages and carving of various aboriginal tribes in taiwan next to a roller coaster and other stuff like that. I didnt ride the rides (other than the gondola which took us to the top of the hill so we could walk to the bottom and see the villages) but i enjoyed the villages. You can see me next to some recreations of skulls above. Taiwan had several tribes who were headhunters, and they would display the skulls of fallen enemies as warnings, much like me and the dead mosquitoes i leave on my ceiling.

sun moon lake 4

2008-10-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

The last day, we went on a boat ride around the lake. The picture of me with the ridiculous sunglasses was next to an island that was holy for the aboriginal people. Then the japanese flooded the lake with a dam (which used to be able to supply all of taiwan with power) and all that remained of the island was the tip. Now it's surrounded by this floating thing and only tribe members are allowed to walk on the sacred land.

sun moon lake 3

2008-10-15T10:30:00.001-07:00

Here's me with the moon at sun moon lake. Maybe you can see a little lake behind me, but the sun is the opposite direction and in the process of setting, so don't expect to see that. There was a nice little wharf to enjoy the moonrise from, though the sunset disappeared behind mountains before it became too interesting.

sun moon lake 2

2008-10-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is me at the love temple, dedicated to lovers and male and female energy. I'm next to the dragon, symbol of masculine energy. There was also a phoenix, a symbol of feminine energy. I was there at 5 pm, when they rang a bell and banged a drum, signifying the switch from yang (male) energy dominance to yin (female) energy. It was very interesting, and you could see couples praying together. Sun moon lake is a famous honeymoon destination, though I have to say that it's not exactly Paris as far as being romantic goes. And the food, which I consider important to any romantic experience, was not good. On this evening I had my most expensive dinner, and it was terrible, the worst, with slow service. Next time I will stick with the street food (the deep fried mushrooms and fried wild boar with onions that I bought on the street was the best meal I had.)

sun moon lake 1

2008-10-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

heh, that last post was stu-pid. oh well. So, now I'll write a bit about my trip to sun moon lake. 10/10 is a holiday in taiwan, considered the birth of their country. This was the day of the Wuchang uprising that led to the end of the Qing dynasty and beginning of the Republic of China. Anyway, for me it's a long weekend. And the only major tourist destination I haven't visited in Taiwan is Sun moon lake, so off I went.

I took the bus, which wasn't fun. Sun Moon Lake was the favorite destination for Chang Kai Shek, but I'm assuming he went by helicopter or chaufered limosine, which is different from sitting in an uncomfortable chair next to the bathroom for 6 1/2 hours. ugh. That trip really wiped me out, and by the time I got there, I just wanted to sleep. However, there were fireworks coming and a musical recital next to my hotel, so sleep was out of the question. I ate a mediocre dinner, then sat and drank a beer (heineken, yuk) while I waited for the fireworks to start at 9. 9 came and went with no fireworks. 930 came, and I went inside my room to use the bathroom. Then, boom! the fireworks started! I looked for my key, but couldn't find it. And about 15 seconds later the fireworks were done. I missed them all Wow, not too great. Anyway, at least I could sleep. I was out by 10.
Slept 10 hours or so and got up for a mediocre breakfast, then rented a scooter to ride around the lake. The scooter was a piece of junk (no horn, which I consider suicidal in a country where no one knows how to drive). but the weather was great, not too hot but sunny and clear. riding around the lake I saw temples and smelled bamboo, betel nut palms (which smell great, surprisingly), and clean air. the pic above was from a temple dedicated to students, with a big confucious statue and the red faced police man god who, apparently, was also an excellent student.

My Great Poetry

2008-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

At 37 and 1 month, which I will reach in about 10 days, I will have outlived Rimbaud. And I've already outlived Mayakovsky. So, there you go.

So, that was about it

2008-09-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Jan and I drank beer hoi (extremely cheap beer, but pretty good) chatted, and people watched for the rest of the afternoon until it was time for him to catch his bus (he was continuing on a mad trip down to saigon, 30+ hours by bus but with some stops as i understand it, leaving that evening. ah, to be young again.) I had a nice meal, had my clothing washed, walked around a little and ate some more ice cream, and generally took it easy. set up my flight for the next day. I had already missed my flight back to the states, but I wasn't prepared to spend my birthday in vietnam. Really, I had had enough.

Jan eating fried rice and drinking beer at the cafe in Lao Cai

2008-09-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Anyway, we saved money not flying by helicopter or riding on a motorcycle.

picture of ding in his cafe

2008-09-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

The crazy australian guys bought motorcycles and planned to ride to hanoi and then ship their bikes back to australia. But I was thrilled to be getting back on the train. Nice, comfortable sleepers with air con. yay! there was some uncertainty about it, but it seemed fairly hopeful. with all western roomates, I went to sleep feeling fairly confident...

And woke up in almost the same place that the 1st train had stopped. This time we were in a tiny, tiny town. A second train stopped behind us and we all waited. no one could tell us any news, but all of the bathrooms were soon not working. which wasn't that big of a deal, since the only food was ramen soup and the same chips and marshmallow cookies that I had been primarily living on for days. so we were stopped in the middle of nowhere with no one telling us anything. the train employees literally ran away if we started to ask them anything. I walked around the area, and there was really nothing, no stores, no interesting buildings, no views, nothing nothing nothing. 2 of the people we were sharing the room with (a german guy and an american woman) had had enough, and they joined the many people who were paying locals with motorbikes to drive them the 25 km to the next town to catch a bus. I had finished my mirakami book, so i gladly borrowed jan's english language book. it was by the guy who wrote the kite runner, which i won't read, but it was mildly entertaining and I read the 400+ pages that day. at one point, they thought they might leave soon and locked the train doors so no one could leave but they had also locked the bathrooms, which was disturbing. finally they unlocked the overflowing toilets, which was neccesary, but horrible. But still we waited. We stayed there all day, until 10 when I finally was getting ready to sleep, feeling miserable and totally defeated. And then the train started to move. There was applause and happy yelling from both trains. went to sleep feeling positive. when i woke up we were almost there. chatted with an australian guy about his plans for some new kind of homeowner loan in australia, and was so happy to get off that train. Jan and I ignored the overpriced taxi rides and stretched our legs, walking first to his hotel, then mine where i paid him back. I checked in, took a shower and a nap, then met jan and the german guy for Xoi.

more escape from Sapa

2008-09-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

Anyway, by some miracle I was able to get some sleep in that ridiculous van. Maybe I got 4 hours, maybe not. Woke up in time to watch the sun, or the gray, come up in the morning and walk around a little. We were on some ratty little dirt road with rice farms all around us. After waiting for a few hours, a troupe of local hill tribe girlscame by with shovels and a pack of buffalo, I guess to clear the road. It was fun to see that - I was surprised that they were wearing traditional clothes - I had really assumed they just wore it for the tourists at this point, but there you go. And for good measure, another bulldozer showed up soon after (I had heard that the previous bulldozer got covered in a mudslide). And after an hour or so, on we went! and the sun came out! I was very optimistic and said, foolishly, "this is the day we make it to Hanoi!" So we drove about 15 minutes to the next town (we could have walked that in an hour i think, if it wasn't dark and absurdly dangerous.) And our long haired vietnamese leader, Ding, discovered that the roads were all washed out. And the town was lousy with tourists. we managed to get a floor to sleep on, and were promised a hot shower. with that relatively ok news, I started to drink beer with an Irish couple, while most of my fellow travellers napped. that was fun, and we could find some restaurants with a few things other than ramen noodles, which was great. i can't express how wonderful it was to eat vegetables. but word on the street was that the town was running out of supplies. Ding was calling all his contacts to find a route that was open, and we were getting snippets of news throughout the day. Was able to get to the internet and send a few emails, mostly to let my mom know i was alive, since i wasn't sure how much news was getting back to the us about this. Before bed, Ding told us his plan to get to hanoi, which involved doubling the price, and driving for 28 hours, or some such thing. Ugh. I went to sleep, sharing a full sized mattress with 2 other guys about my size. It was such a major step up from the night before, I was happy to have that.

Got up the next morning, and even the 28 hour trip wouldn't get us to Hanoi. Roads everywhere were gone, there was no hope. Just go back to Lao Cai before the town we were in ran out of food and water, which we were told would happen that day. But it was sunny, I could finally kind of dry my soaking smelly clothes and at least I could get a hotel room in Lao Cai, maybe. Of course, Ding still expected to be paid his 1/2 million dong for this crazy little trip and my money was still in a safe in Hanoi. Oi. The ding dong jokes were being made. These Mit students in our van, who seemed to have unlimited access to cell phone minutes had had enough, and eventually shelled out 1200 us dollars to take a helicopter to hanoi. I heard that they left that night. It would have been cool to take a helicopter in vietnam, really cool I think given the history but not 1200 dollars cool.

So I went back to Lao Cai. Nice to be able to use the internet at my leisure and sit and drink a needed beer. Finally got a refund from my initial train ticket which allowed me to pay back Jan for the spending money he had lent me. Also found a western union and started trying to work to get mom to send me $$ through them. Just when I was thinking about a hotel, Ding showed up again and said that one of his contacts had tickets on a sleeper train that would leave that night. Joy! 300,000 dong was borrowed from jan, and we happily drank beer, ate, and waited until 10 pm.

sapa 3

2008-09-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

I stole this photo from Jan's facebook page, hopefully he won't mind.

So, I made it back to the comfort of the hotel. And waited. Ate some more mediocre food and had a beer with some Australian guys. Finally, we hit the road to Lao Cai. I had a big bottle of water, a few snacks, and about 40,000 dong ($2.50). I had planned perfectly. When I got in the room for the ride back, I was happy to see an actual mattress (I don't know why) and all foreign roomates. 2 girls from Quebec and a young dutch guy named Jan. I had a few million dong waiting for me back in Hanoi - I was excited for a few relaxing days, buying a few gifts and seeing a few sites I hadn't had a chance to see. I went to sleep feeling comfortable and happy, with silent, respectful roomates...

And I slept very well. But when I woke up, we had only travelled about 20 km. The tracks had been washed out and there was no way through. We were woken up and told to get out of the train. It was a mess in the train station with people pushing and yelling trying to get $ back. Finally they closed all of the ticket windows. No one was saying anything. I was still hanging around with Jan and the girls, we weren't really sure what to do. Then we turned around and the girls were gone. Jan and I noticed some people getting on a train and we headed on and back to Lao Cai. We sat on hard wooden seats, surrounded by smokers and watched the flood go by. Saw at least one dead cow float by in the river that was practically touching the tracks. Made it back to Lao Cai and tried to line up again to get $$$ back. Lots of pushing, which I'm good at. Cop told me to get out of the line and pointed outside. "Where should I go?" More pointing and impatient attitude. I'm not looking to mess with vietnamese police so i went. where? I don't know? It's raining hard and I'm not sure what to do. Jan and I ended up back at this restaurant where we met the vans that took us to the hotel. A long haired vietnamese guy, "Ding" starts talking about how he's getting vans together, for only 1/2 million dong. Which is fine, but I have 40000. uh oh. But he says I can pay when we get to hanoi, no problem. We wait a long time and finally jump into vans (I refuse to get into the very back, explaining that i will vomit). I'm soaked by the time i get in (my shoes had already been soaked earlier, i'm wearing plastic sandals) and am lucky that this m.i.t. guy will lend me his dry shirt as the fans are running. We travel over terrible roads, floaded, parts washed away, rockslides covering the streets. I'm out of motion sickness medicine. ugh. finally we stop for dinner. at someones house on the side of the road. Ramen soup. And this guy's homemade rice wine. Which I'm tempted by - these australian guys are enjoying it a great deal, shouting and joking with the vietnamese guys without any shared language. But I weigh the carsickness possibility and decide to stick with the crappy soup. And some stale cookies I bought. yuck. when we are done (we've been waiting for the road to clear) we head out for a few more minutes. and stop again. the road is closed again. Drunk australians with no shirts or shoes run to help clear the road. Eventually they come back, minus the energy. i get to see one puke. nice. it's dark and raining hard. apparently mudslides have blocked us of in front and behind. we're trapped for the night in this tiny mini van, basically a typhoon outside, all the seats are full, and we have to open the door for some fresh air. But I'm next to the door, so it's raining on my feet. I'm hoping no mudslides come in the van. or malaria carrying insects. Oi. And my shoulder is banging into the spanish guy next to me (luckily a couple, so they can get closer and give me some room). Somehow, I managed some sleep, in the middle of nowhere.

sapa day 2

2008-09-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

So, there was supposed to be a typhoon coming but we heard it was going to miss us. Still, it was raining a lot, and it just kept getting harder throughout the day. The path we were walking on was flooded, and mudslides had covered large portions of the path. Very unsafe, but they must not worry about lawsuits in Vietnam. I assume it's impossible to get damages from people and life is cheap. Saw one vietnamese guy almost sent over a cliff by the crazy water we had to pass through. Anyway, I'm glad to have survived. We cut the trek a little short and headed back to the hotel in a van (except for the guys who were lost for about 4 hours. saw them later). My new shoes were pretty messed up and my socks were turned permanently brown by the mud.

oxen

2008-09-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

This guy sprayed some mud at me. Damn joker cows.

Sapa pics

2008-09-15T04:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of some of the hill tribe girls and others climbing some stairs, plus me trying on a hat in the large market in town. The girls tend to latch on to the tour groups of tourists, occasionally talk to us and try to sell little doodads and whatnots. I ended up buying that hat, which i think will be a good weight for taiwan. The style of those hill tribe things (they were mostly black hmong, by the way) has been appropriated by the hippies in america, but I think some of it is pretty nice. I bought a blanket (to use as a mattress on the train ride back) and a collared shirt, as well as the hat and some other gifts. They were very cheap, just a few us dollars (i think the hat was about $3) and I planned my money perfectly (almost).

Sapa 1

2008-09-15T03:52:00.000-07:00

I got back to Hanoi from Halong and immediately set out to find some other interesting place to go. The other top destination in the north is Sapa, a mountainous former french outpost filled with various local hill tribes, a stone's throw from the chinese border. But nobody speaks chinese.

To get there, I took an overnight train. The guy who sold me the ticket told me the cheaper 6 person sleeper room was pretty much the same as the 4 person room. But he is a damn, stinking liar. I curse his parentage. My room was filled with cigarette smoking (despite the no smoking sign) radio listening, loud talking vietnamese guys who really didn't give a **** that I was in the room with them. And the beds had no cushion at all - just a piece of wood with a bamboo mat (see pic). Having been on a sleeper in India, I wasn't expecting that much. But let's just say it wasn't a comfortable night. Most annoying was the volume of the guys' conversation. At about 330 in the morning one of them got up for the bathroom and decided it was a good time to have a little conversation with his friend, REALLY LOUDLY!!!! I'm not exagerating when I say it actually hurt my ears. I understand that I'm a guest in their country and all, and I just let it all go, but in my heart I was basically torturing them to death. And when 4 AM rolled around and the radio went back on, playing my favorite vietnamese pop tunes, I had had about enough. I just stood outside of the room and watched the sunrise from the aisle way.

We arrived in Lao Cai about 6 AM and hopped on a bus which took us up a winding road for about an hour to Sapa. My hotel was ok - the incredible humidity had turned my room a bit green and the mildew smell was strong, but there was a big bed and a bathtub. I would have been happy to take a bath and sleep for a while, but I went on my little tour first (after waiting around for a couple of hours - everything here was poorly planned and no one could tell anyone any info other than sit and wait). The tour was fun - went to some hill tribes and a big central market. The women were all still dressed in the traditional clothes for the tourists but happily chatting away on cell phones. The men just wore t-shirts. It was nice and cool most of the time, but humid and we were walking up steep hills, so I was quickly soaked. Saw some waterfalls, ate some lemongrass satay and drank some homemade apple wine for a lunch time snack. Bought some random textiles and made our way back to the hotel about 1 for a full lunch. Which was ok but included in the package. I was watching my money, so I didn't go out for possibly more exciting food. And then I finally took a bath and slept. Which was great, despite the lumpy bed.

Woke up for more unexciting dinner and went out to walk around the town of Sapa by myself. I was very rainy and foggy, but nice and cool which was a pleasant break from Hanoi. Also kind of quiet. And the old french church rang bells that echoed nicely. Only got offered drugs and prostitutes once and I enjoyed my walk. Made my way home for more sleep.

ethnography museum2

2008-09-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 of my favorite buildings from behind the museum.

The 1st was extremely high, and a shape that really appeals to me. Might keep things cooler in the hot summer, I don't know, I bet there is some practical reason for that design, but anyway I think it looks cool.

The second is a mausoleum surrounded by erotic art. Whichever tribe likes to put statues of people having sex, pregnant women, and other funny things around the departed. I think I would really like that, at least while I'm alive it would make me laugh to think of my dirty, dirty Sarcophagus. Probably once I'm dead I wouldn't care a whole lot.

All around this back area, there was a couple taking wedding photos. People in Taiwan also go around with a photographer to famous beautiful spots, dressed in the wedding clothes, making a photo album before the wedding. It's interesting, but I feel bad for them, wearing so many clothes when it's 35+ Celsius and humid. Strangely, while I sweat like crazy in shorts and a tshirt, they seem to have no problem.

ethnography museum1

2008-09-12T04:44:00.000-07:00

One of the other highpoints in Hanoi was the Ethnography museum. I especially loved the houses built behind the museum showing the different building styles of the different tribes in Vietnam. It's too bad we only had an hour at this place, maybe too much time for the other people there, but not enough for me to wander around those houses to my heart's content. I like these statues, especially the 2nd one from left which I think is the spitting image of GW.

2008-09-12T04:43:00.001-07:00

ho chi min

2008-09-12T04:38:00.000-07:00

I made a point of doing tourist things in hanoi. I took a tour and we saw this place, Ho Chi Min's mausoleum. They have preserved his dead body (against his wishes, he wanted to be cremated), and I walked by to take a look. Also saw his house, pretty simple which I liked. His cars weren't too great, Russian cars. Seeing Chiang Kai Chek's cadillacs, you have to say picking the American side was a good choice, car wise. That Lotus temple was next door to his house.

young rice ice cream

2008-09-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed getting ice cream from this french style ice cream shop. My flavor of choice was young rice flavor. Later on my trip, I had the opportunity to eat some raw rice from inside the plant. Very sweet and interesting. And this ice cream tasted like that. Sort of like rice, but more so.

xoi #2

2008-09-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

And here it is, in a "to go" box. You can see the meat is pretty fatty, cut off a big roast piece. You can also see that the portion isn't huge, but it's a good sized snack or about half of a large meal. I ate this several times. Now I need to find it here.

Xoi

2008-09-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

Back in Hanoi, this is the most interesting restaurant I found. I followed the taiwanese tradition of going to the most popular place and this place was always hopping. Xoi, which I've never had before, was simple rice, with some thick yellow paste with a texture similar to polenta, I'm guessing some kind of bean, put on top. Then some meat (the pork was better, and cheaper, than the chicken), some fried shallots (those things are great, and everywhere in asia) and some oil (just oil) poured over the top. Yum. And very cheap, less than $1 us.

last one

2008-09-12T04:24:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of photos from Halong Bay. Here is the sunset. I had a very nice time there, though it was only 2 days and 1 night. And I just did silly touristy stuff like the cave, went canoeing, climbed another mountain for a view. But it was relaxing and pretty nice. Not as much aggressive selling and you could just relax. After this sunset, I drank a couple of beers on the deck of the boat and looked at the stars. Chatted with some other passengers about nothing. Read a book in my cabin. Pretty good.

Nice, isn't it

2008-09-12T04:21:00.000-07:00

This was a view after we came out of the cave. Yes, it's nice.

blending in

2008-09-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

My fashion sense. Amazing, isn't it? Note the Arsenal cap.

2008-09-12T04:08:00.000-07:00

I went to a cave while I was there, the usual stalactites and stalagmites. But very nice and cool on a hot day. Damp. And interesting graffiti from 100 years ago when it was discovered, mostly in french and some in Chinese. It had been discovered, and then lost, and then used by the viet kong to hide people and weapons from American detection. I haven't been to a cave for a while, and I enjoyed it. Touristy as hell, of course, but occasionally I was actually alone in a section, so it wasn't objectionably crowded.

Halong Bay

2008-09-12T04:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot from the junk I was on in Halong Bay. It was really beautiful there, not quite as hot as hanoi, cleaner air, and these views. The Junk I was on was nice, I had a very comfortable bed and a private shower.

water puppet dragons

2008-09-12T04:02:00.002-07:00

Here are the dragons squirting water at each other. They also breathed fire at each other.

another water puppet

2008-09-12T04:02:00.001-07:00

Here is a standard water puppet. Hand painted wood, they fall apart after a few months of use. Apparently, they provide work for a whole village somewhere. This style of puppetry was started in the north of vietnam when the rice fields would flood every year. Apparently, there were lots of secrets that were passed down in families. Women were previously not allowed to do this. And the people who did do it, prior to the waders that they all wear now, got all types of horrible illnesses and problems from spending so much time with their body in the water.

The orchestra at the water puppet theater

2008-09-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

More Vietnam

2008-09-12T03:51:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to put up some more before I forget it all.

A highpoint in Hanoi was the water puppets. I'm generally a big fan of puppets, and these puppets were especially cool, appearing and disappearing out of and into water. Lots of fire and squirting water too. They had all kinds of dragons, animals, boats, animals and elaborate moving sets. Also, the orchestra played great, sometimes chinese style music, and occasionally interacted with the puppets, talking to them and emphasizing their movements. Of course I didn't understand, but the stories were pretty simple and generally easy to understand from the action. It's a pity my camera isn't good enough to take good pictures in the dark (too far away for a flash) but you can get an idea from my photos. The one above is the stage.

2008-08-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

I was trapped trying to come back from Sapa when this happened. I was in both Lao Cai and Yen Bai. I need to post more soon before I forget too much. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=79779

churches and temples

2008-08-14T23:47:00.000-07:00

Apparently the communists in Vietnam are very tolerant of religion since there are buddhist temples and churches everywhere. This one was in Hanoi, but my favorite was up in Sapa. It was nice to hear the church bells echoing around the town at night. The temple is the one pillar pagoda, built to resemble a lotus blossom. It was destroyed by the french (out of spite) when they were driven out in 1954 The church is St. Joseph's cathedral, built by the french in 1886.

Hanoi Street video

2008-08-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

I hope the sound works on this to give an idea of the honking horns, but even if not, you get some idea of the streets. no lights or signs, just people driving from all directions, often on both the right and left side of the road on all sides. total driving anarchy. It's amazing I only saw 2 or 3 accidents. crossing involves looking all directions, moving slowly so people can try to avoid you, and possibly prayer.

Vietnam post #1

2008-08-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm back from Vietnam. The trip to the usa isn't going to happen because I missed my flight and couldn't reschedule this month. And I'll be tied down to Chinese classes for the next few months, oh well. It's so expensive and difficult to fly - it really is a bad time to travel.

For the record, I should mention that I finally got the Typhoon day I was bitching about on the last week at my job.

So, on to my trip. I flew into Hanoi, which is an interesting but tiring city. So much noise and chaos. It reminded me of many other cities mixed together. The streets felt like Calcutta, in some disrepair, but lively and filled with interesting smells and street stands. But also like Taipei, with ghost money smoke and masses of scooters and a certain east asian energy. And certain stretches had trees and buildings that reminded me of Tours, but maybe not Paris. And there was something about the strange tall, thin, long buildings that reminded me of Oman. And certain industrial stretches reminded me of the Bangkok Charlie and I visited in the early 90's. But actually, the chaos and noise were unique to Hanoi.

I stayed in the old quarter, which is located to the north of a large lake. It's interesting, but again, swarming with people grabbing at you, stepping in front of you, trying to sell you all types of things. The most common are the motorbike guys who greet you with "Hello motorbike!"on every corner or every time you step out of a hotel or restaurant. I met a dutch guy named Jan who would try to reply "Hello motorbike! How are you, Motorbike?" which kind of underlines how often you hear this phrase in Hanoi. There are also ubiquitous ladies with the conical hats and the balance scale carryalls who sell everything, but usually the tiny bananas and pineapples that seem to be all over Vietnam. I heard many foreigners talking about how great the fruit is in Vietnam, but I'm spoiled in Taiwan, which, I swear, has the most delicious tropical fruit in the world. Then there are guys selling rides on their cyclo (a bicycle rickshaw, basically) which I wasn't interested in but I heard was very expensive. Also, I felt there was something horrible about seeing a 120 lb. Vietnamese guy peddling a 250+ lb. white woman around the street. I decided I didn't want to be that 250+ lb. white woman. Occasionally, some guy would jump off the back of a scooter and follow you around trying to sell you photocopied books, that still weren't at much of a discount, actually. I burned through the one book I brought quickly (excellent) and was curious, but who wants to pay $10 us for a photocopy of a crap book? And finally, occasionally one of these different types of hawkers would try to sell me drugs or women. Not for me, but even if I was interested in that, I get the feeling that time spent in a Vietnamese prison would not be fun.

soccer 2

2008-06-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

oh i saw a soccer game on saturday. russia v holland. i was tired and the game was boring. without england, i just don't care that much. it certainly isn't worth staying up until 5am and eating crap bar food just to make the minimum charge.

i shouldn't complain...

2008-06-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

...because the past couple of days there was no rain. Although it was around 100 degrees and humid and standing in the sun felt like standing in fire. But the stupid typhoon which killed lots of people in the philipines is missing taiwan, we just get some rain and lightning but no day off. I should be happy - I'm not looking for massive devastation or anything. I just can't help remembering all the typhoon days i had when i got paid by the hour and needed the money, and the more i needed it, the more they came. and now that i'm on salary, not one. and most of the holidays have fallen on weekends. that just sucks. i have a lot of stress at work right now, with a performance for my kindergarten approaching, and other things approaching, and i could really have used a day to relax. but no.

soccer

2008-06-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

I still haven't been able to see a damn European game. And unless I stay up late tonight (unlikely) I won't get a chance until the final. I was hoping to call in sick, but because of the kindergarten graduation ceremony we are preparing for, I really can't call in sick without screwing myself over (I need the practice). My only hope is a typhoon comes and they cancel school on monday. Come on Typhoon!!!

every day it rains

2008-06-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

I used to blame keelung for the never ending rain. But all of north taiwan is unbelievable. There hasn't been a completely dry week this year. I'm almost positive about that. It always rains here.

This past weekend I smoked cigars and drank scotch with some friends and tried unsuccessfully to
see the spain/sweden game.

2008-06-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of me being silly at the aquarium in Kenting. Note the Doraemon T shirt and ugly red sweat pants.

puppet show

2008-06-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent picture of me in front of a puppet show at the top of the mao kong gondola.

2008-06-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

Someone offered to buy my blog for $50 this week. I guess that's what happens when you don't update for 7 months. Of course I'm tempted. But I'm also unsure why he thinks there is value in the blog. Where is the value? In the name? In the content? I don't get much traffic, of course, since I update so infrequently. But the very fact that he offered me money makes me unsure about selling. There must be some way to make money with this, I guess. Interesting.

In other news, I'm learning some basic vietnamese f0r my trip. Makes taiwanese seem easy.

no promises

2008-06-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

well, i'm leaving my ymca job in the end of july and hoping to start full time studenting this fall. In between i'm hoping to sneak over to vietnam to see and then back to the east coast of the usa to see the family. Lots of stuff needs doing between now and then, yay. maybe i can post a bit more.

t's

2007-11-06T01:44:00.000-08:00

One of the most popular tshirts here has a red apple on it and says "Algebra is for lovers"

Nian gao

2007-11-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

So here is my nian gao. I hope you can see the shape, which I enjoy. It's a little bit noodle like, but more solid and chewy from the sticky rice. The mushu at this place is fresh and delicious. You can see in the front that I got some taiwanese style pickled cucumbers on the side prepared with chili, garlic, and sesame oil alongside some sweet vinegar. It's crunchy and a nice counterpoint to the chewy nian gao.

Fried beef noodles

2007-11-04T07:51:00.001-08:00

And here are the fried noodles with beef. On this day, my boss ate this but kindly allowed me to take a photo. You can see cabbage and onions and carrots which give it a nice flavor along with the beef.

fresh noodles.

2007-11-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

They make their own noodles at this place. Basically that means that they keep this big hunk of dough under a towel until they need it (no pun intended). After kneading it, they cut it into a big pot of boiling water to cook briefly before they whisk it away to the back to be fried. You can see a flying piece of noodle near this guys curved blade if you look closely. The noodles are slightly uneven, which gives a texture i quite like.

2007-11-04T07:44:00.001-08:00

Here are the small plates of side dishes that are available at this place. I usually get a kale type thing that has been sauted with garlic and chili and something sweet. They always have a variety of green things along with some tofu, noodles, and maybe a few pig's blood related items.

Food near my new job

2007-11-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

So, I have a new job now and a few new places to choose from for dinner. The job provides free lunch for me, but it's pretty simple stuff. Maybe I will get some photos up of that soon. But today we are looking at one of the two places I like that I have discovered. This one has excellent, homemade noodles and Nian Gao. Nian Gao is made from sticky rice flour which is steamed into cakes and cut into oblong shapes. It is famous in a Korean style, but I get it here with mushu (mushrooms and pork).

Merry me!

2007-10-03T08:15:00.001-07:00

i can't resist. someone was asking his girlfriend to merry him by dancing with cheerleaders and mascots during the break. it was a little embarassing to see him dance, but his future wife probably thought it was sweet for him to humiliate himself for her. hope you can see the sign clearly.

Coors girls

2007-10-03T07:37:00.001-07:00

One of the joys of Taiwanese baseball is cheap beer brought to you by pretty girls. Here, Michael and I pose with our beer girls, one of whom seems to have a halo. I abhor coors generally, but what the hell.

companeros

2007-10-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Note my ridiculous yellow noise makers and suave black shirt from Thailand (perfectly matching the black and yellow coloring of the victorious elephants). Seated next to me are Michael (teacher from New Jersey of cuban descent - gave me his family's recipe for black beans), Dan (from Canada), and his girlfriend Rebecca (from Taiwan).

bows

2007-10-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

At the end of the game, the losing team (losers!) applauded and bowed to their fans to thank them for their support. I was sitting with the losers as my yellow team enjoyed their triumph.

my baseball lunch box

2007-10-03T07:25:00.001-07:00

Because the fried tofu wasn't enough, I also ate this "lunch box" at the game. It's pai gu fan (pork cutlet rice). On the left you can see a yellow thing (pickled radish - tastes sweet) next to a hard boiled egg (brown because they cook it in some stock with spices). On the right are pieces of sea weed tied in knots with carrots (salty - not the best version of this I've had), next to gray bamboo shoots (they have an interesting vegetal flavor) and a kind of pickled cabbage in the back (salty, this stuff shows up a lot. you might remember it on my gua bao).

drums and flags

2007-10-03T07:17:00.001-07:00

without seeing my video, it's hard to understand the cacophonous nature of sound at a taiwanese baseball game. I bought stupid plastic horns that can be used to bang together or yell into like a bull horn or make terrible trumpet sounds with. The taiko drum and the marching band drum combine with the plastic noise makers to make a tremendous racket, over which the distorted mike pumps crazy cheers in mandarin. These pics show one of the drummers and the flag waver for the brother elephants. By the way, in the color sympolism here, yellow can sometimes mean perverted, which just adds to my enjoyment of the "think yellow" signs.

baseball 2

2007-10-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

so, I made it to another baseball game a couple of weekends ago. My team (brother elephants) playing the La New Bears (who i don't like). Unlike the last game, it was a pitchers battle - we won 2-1. This is a picture of me (looking awfully scruffy) eating fried tofu on a stick covered with pickled cabage. yum.

oops

2007-09-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry. Took a little break there. I haven't been eating anything new lately - just the same old stuff. But I have some news. I may have a new job where i will make more $$$ for less work, paid vacations, and no weekends in a beautiful school near to my home. It seems to be better in every way, but we'll see if it works out. I hope so.

I had a fun experience last weekend. I went with my buddy Dan to see a baseball game. Baseball is the most popular sport in Taiwan, and although most of the taiwanese people I've asked think the quality is too crappy, I had a great time. Admission is around $9 us and the stadium is more than half empty so sitting in the front row, or anywhere else is no problem . The game i saw had plenty of action (the pitchers suck) and at least one home run per inning for the first few innings. Taiwan beer (which is cheap swill, but not undrinkable) costs about $1.50 us, and is brought to your sear by beautiful girls in short skirts. The fans of the 2 teams sit on opposite sides, and when their team is at bat they chant songs in chinese (frequently to the tune of Popeye the sailor man) and play drums (a taiko style drum and a western marching band drum, in the case of the game we went to) along with those noise maker sticks and deep horns. It was a lot of fun. The teams we saw were the La New Bears and the Sinon Bulls. The bears won by one run. My favorite team in taiwan is the Brother Elephants - On the back of my baseball cap it says "We are all Brothers." I realize this doesn't have anything to do with food. just fyi, they don't have American ball park food. I ate sweet popcorn (not good), a fried chicken cutlet (ok), and some salty soup with grn. onion, cilantro, and pork balls (pretty good but a little too salty). After the game i went to a pub to watch arsenal win and had fish and chips (good, but no malt vinegar). sadly, i forgot my camera for the day - next time.

Speaking of drums and horns, the park where i go running is also the practice space for some Dragon dancers - I see them if I run in the afternoon. It's great to run with that throbbing drumming and resonant horn echoing around the park. And so cool to see them practicing the dance - without the dragon it looks the same as a kung fu form, with kicks and jumps and punches (which would move the thing around I suppose). All the kids doing it are covered in tattoos - my understanding is that young gangsters attach themselves to temples here and do this kind of thing. Great.

Korean Kimchee fried rice

2007-08-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I need some extra variety at work. This pao tsai chao fan (kimchee fried rice) is really excellent. Not fiery hot, but with a good amount of kimchee flavor mixed in. The nori on top adds a nice salty-ness. You can see the extra kimchee in the back right of the box. In front of that is bean sprouts in sesame oil. And in front of that is seaweed and carrots. It tastes a little sweet and a little sour - I think it is sort of pickled. In the back is a basic dashi soup with big chunks of seaweed floating in it. They also give you some ginseng tea with the meal. After I eat this, I always feel very full but very good.

wonton soup

2007-07-30T09:49:00.001-07:00

Since I've been here, I have learned how to make a fair wonton. But my home made version can't match this stuff I buy near my work (at the same place as the beijing tsong yo bing.) It contains at least three kinds of onion, with a funkyness that smells a little bit like lamb (I find this odor inexplicable.) The broth is rich and deep, with a nice stock flavor. The wontons are full of flavorfull meat, and they are generous with the wontons. You can have this with noodles added, but why bother. The wontons are the point, and they are delicious. Whenever I get this at work, at least one of my female coworkers will exclaim "hao xiang!" (good smell!) and look around to find the source and ask me where I got it. This place is a little expensive by local standards (this soup costs $2 us!!!) so others seldom go. But I love it.

tu two u gang

2007-07-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

This is a fish soup that I quite like. It is a thick soup, with egg and probably corn starch thickening the broth. Mixed into that are pieces of cilantro, nice chunks of fried fish, and usually a little of the chili paste I like to add. It's not overwhelming, but there is a soft sweeness mixed with the herbal cilantro flavor and the flavor of the fried white fleshed fish that makes this an enjoyable meal, especially when the weather is a little bit cooler than it is now.