Angkor Wat 2

Pics as we approached...

Angkor Wat 1

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

The hotel in Siem Reap. Very nice.

trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

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

Cambodia 2

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

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

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

Last one.

Taipei Toy Festival 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tainan pt 4

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

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.