Last Day in Taiwan

Although there were parts of Taiwan that didn't agree with me, it's a favorite place of mine. I think many people would agree that the food is excellent and that it's one of the reasons why people come here. It's cheap and delicious.

It's easy to move around with the train system out here and there are a lot of things to see, especially the night markets (which are full of good food).

The best part of Taiwan was really having a local person as a tour guide. Josephine's friend Shirley was great. She would explain the foods, the sights, and a really great host. Tours of the Shilin night market, a couple hours of relaxing at her parents' house, taking us to eat at her aunt's restaurant, getting us free tickets to Iron Man 2. This trip couldn't have happened without her. It wouldn't have happened without Josephine either. It was also great seeing Lex and eating sausages with him. ;)

I'm going to miss Taiwan, but it's off to Malaysia ... with an overnight layover in Singapore.

Taiwanese food

Street Stall - Ximen - $2.90
• Cantaloupe (the guy ripped me off)

Street Stall - Ximen - $0.30
• Pork bun



Shop near 2-2-8 Park - $0.90
• Hot Soy milk
• Fried bread



Boba Shop - Danshui Boardwalk - $1.00
• Boba Milk Tea



Ay Chung - Ximen - $1.30
• Intestine noodles



Restaurant near Chiang Kai Shek Memorial - $3.00
• Pork dumplings



Bakery - Ximen - $0.75
• Ham and cheese bread



Long Shan Temple - $1.20
• Baked pork bun



McDonalds - Ximen - $3.00
• McChicken Meal



Night Market - Shilin- $10.00
• Frog Egg Drink (Lime with jello)
• Green Tea Boba
• Chicken Chop


• Oyster Omlette


• Strawberry shaved ice


• Passion Fruit shaved ice



Street Stall - Ximen - $1.00
• Speecy Spicy Sausage



Shirley's Aunt's Restaurant - near CKS Memorial - Hooked up





Magic Curry - Ximen - Lex's treat
• Chicken Curry


Random Boba - Ximen - Josie's treat
• Passion Fruit Boba


• Some other boba




Taipei - Food Court - Josie's treat
• Pork Chops
• Fish Ball Soup
• Noodles



Shop near Taipei Main Station- $3.00
• Fruit Shaved Ice

Taiwanese Random Observations

• My face was much greasier in Taiwan than Japan
• My kanji reading has improved a lot since last year
• Lots of Taiwanese street vendors spoke Japanese to me straight off the bat
• More Taiwanese people speak English better than Japanese people
• In general, Taiwanese people aren't as shy using English as Japanese people are
• My English got me further than I thought it would
• If there's a line outside a food stall or restaurant, chances are there's a delicious reason for it
• Cherry was a great tour guide last year
• Daiso in Taiwan feels trendier than any Daiso in Japan because of the fluorescent floor lights
• The view from Taipei 101 is probably better when it's not so cloudy
• I really missed shaved ice and boba
• People push a lot in Taipei
• Taipei train stations are chaotic. Japanese ones are too, but chaotic in an orderly fashion

Taiwan Accommodations

Taipei Ximen Backpackers - Taipei, Taiwan - $11
Good points
• close to Ximen MRT station
• close to The Modern Toilet
• free internet
• no curfew
• showers and toilets are usually always available

Bad points
• Internet hours 9AM to 1AM
• No windows, so pitch black until 9AM

Taiwan Pictures

Here are my pictures so far of Taiwan ... more to come later ...

Taiwan

Taiwanese Transportation

Taiwanese and Japanese subway culture has it's differences. Japanese culture, you line up, wait for the people to get off, then get on the train in an orderly fashion (unless I tell Chiyo to get me a seat). No cell phones, and anyone who uses one gets stared at by everyone. No eating or drinking, but lots of people do it anyway. Most people give priority seats up to people who need them, but there are jackasses who won't (I've been that jackass a few times).

Taiwanese subways, you line up, as soon as the doors open, rush in. If there is a small space between someone and the person in front of them, dart in and rush into the train. If someone's trying to get off the train, block them so you can get in first. If you use your cell phone, no one seems to mind. No eating or drinking, and if you do, you get fined up to $100. Priority seats seem to mean, I got there first, it's mine.

You have to be a much tougher person to handle a subway ride in Taiwan.

Corporate World

When I imagined Taiwan and the other countries I'm going to, I had this sorta exotic, very different than America world in mind. I get to Taiwan and I see McDonalds, Starbucks, Burger King, Yoshinoya, Dunkin Donuts, Mr Donut, MOS burger, 7-eleven ... and that's just scratching the surface.

Reading the directions to one of my hostels in Indonesia, I read ... 1) Turn left at Starbucks 2) Go straight passed the Kentucky Fried Chicken ...

It really takes away from the exoticness of foreign countries. At the same time, it's comforting knowing that even if I can't speak the language, I can eat something familiar. Corporations are amazing in how they have their footing in I guess every country in the world.

I'm going to go get a whopper and famous jack now ... tune in later ...

The Modern Toilet

Last year in one of my classes, we read about the restaurant in Taiwan that was bathroom themed. The curry and hot pots are served still bubbling in mini toilet bowls, side dishes are served in squatters, and drinks are brought in tiny urinals. The seats are actual toilet seats with fancy designs on them (like the American flag) and the tables are large sinks with a sheet of glass to cover. You'd think that many people would lose their appetites at such a place ... probably because It wasn't very crowded ... but we thought the food was very good. On the menu, some of the dishes had little poo marks next to them. They were supposed to be spicy or recommendations or what I don't know.

I also met up with Josie and her friend Shirly ... it's kinda scary to see how many people there are around the world that share the same weirdness that Josie has. But it was a fun night. I ended it hanging out with Sheng at his apartment for about 2 hours, then talking to the Swiss guy in my hostel. He wouldn't stop talking so I just went to sleep ... Nice guy though

On a related note, when you go doo doo in Taiwan, you don't flush the toilet paper. There's a trash can next to all toilets and you just dump your used paper here. For some odd reason, there is absolutely no smell though.

First Day in Taiwan

Location: Bus from Taipei Airport to Taipei Main Station

My first thought as soon as I got off the plane ... "Taipei's hot!" I can instantly feel the mugginess of that humid weather that I hate so much.

Taipei has the same look as a major Japanese city, but just a little more run down and gloomy. The bright colors and strong contrasts are there, but Taipei has just a pinch of gray on everything with an occasional splash of brown. There's much more red though.

As many bicycles as there are zipping through the streets of Japan, there are just as many mopeds in Taiwan. My first thought when I see them is the Bousouzoku motorcycle gangs in Japan. 3 or 4 mopeds alone in Japan, people are just going from A to B and they don't want to walk. Throw in a motorcycle, it's a motorcycle gang. The occasional moped trying to look tough just looks pathetic without the asshole on the bike.

Culture Shock

Location: Nagoya Airport

Culture shock happens right when you get to the airport. For the past 3 years I've been surrounded by polite Japanese people who refrain from the slightest action that would cause the smallest inconvenience.
Just standing at the counter at the airport, I instantly remember how different Taiwanese culture is ...

1) There was a group of Taiwanese travelers crowding around the counter all over the place, yelling at each other. But one guy let me go ahead of him.
2) While I was being helped at the counter, this mother interrupted me and tried to get her family checked in ...
3) Her kids were all over the counter while they were waiting ... literally brushing elbows with me.
4) While I was in line at the security check, the guy in front of me dropped his boarding pass. I picked it up for him and got no acknowledgment.
5) I was sitting at the gate and the family sitting across from me ripped off their baby's diaper and started changing it.

It's interesting to see just how different cultures are, and I hadn't even left the airport yet.

What I know about Cambodia and Thailand

I remember watching a documentary years ago about land mines in Cambodia. There was a local guy who would go around and disarm them. That's it ... I've heard of Angkor Wat, but I couldn't tell you wat it was.

I watched a Nicholas Cage movie about being a hitman in Thailand. Also, Akira showed me some Thai Bahts, but it ended up being a US penny. I know there are lots of transexuals in Thailand. I imagine Bangkok to be like Las Vegas or Tijuana. I think Jean Claude Van Damme was in Thailand in Kickboxer too. There's that Thai restaurant in LA where Kevin dresses up like Elvis and sings happy birthday

Basically, I'm going into these countries with almost a completely empty head.


Bangkok Dangerous!!


Damme!

What I know about Malaysia and Indonesia

I knew (and probably still know) absolutely nothing about Malaysia. I didn't know that Kuala Lumpur was the capital. I've heard of both places, and I think I heard it mentioned in that Animaniacs song.

Indonesia was hit by that big tsunami a couple years ago. I knew like one or two people from there. Aside from that, that was it. I thought Bali Island was somewhere in the middle east with the dubai islands.

I suppose this feeds into the "Stupid American" image that Cherry has. I thought that Hong Kong was a completely separate country from China ... and this "stupid American" mind of mine wants to think that ALL Americans think the same as me.

I have been studying up on the countries so I'll post about them when I get there. That way it'll sound like I found out so much more this month.

What I know about Taiwan

I went to Taiwan last year in May so I'm not going with a completely empty plate. The food was really good and the overall cost was pretty cheap. Minus the $500 roundtrip airfare, everything for 3 days and 2 nights was a little over $100. The night markets are crazy busy with food stalls and exploited disabled people who are brought to you at least 3 times asking for money. (This only happened one night).



The people were really nice, and many people spoke English. One person spoke some Japanese so that helped too. Taiwan was the first country i went to where I didn't understand anything people were talking about. But I was still able to make out some of the writing with my pre-school level Japanese. I'm definitely looking forward to going back there again.

What I know about Not-America

After living in Japan, I realized just how much I didn't know about the rest of the world. Not like about foreign politicisms or
gubernatorial infrastructurialisms, but just in terms of geography, language, culture, almost nothing. Something I noticed after about a year of being out here is that a lot of the newer American teachers I'd meet would 1) have this view of Japan and then 2) get upset because the "real" Japan didn't match their Japan. (For the very few who are reading this, it's not you).

But then I started to think about when I first got to Japan. I don't think I was that similar, but when I read the two journal entries I wrote 3 years ago, it sounds pretty close-mindedly arrogant.

Apparently, America doesn't acknowledge Africa ....

First Blog

So instead of throwing my entire Southeast Asia experience at everyone all at once, I think this would work out better. At least, if anyone gets bored, it's not because I was rambling everything in one sitting, but because the stories generally have nothing interesting in them.

But every attempt I've made at journaling stuff, e-journaling stuff (i suppose that's a blog), or just keeping records have failed, so we'll see if this even gets to Asia or not.

So far, this is the basic plan ....

4/26 - Taiwan

• Toilet restaurant
• Hang out with Sheng, Chaue, and Josie
• Eat stinky tofu, toasted baos, boba, shaved ice, dumplings

5/1 - Malaysia

• Scuba Diving license - Yesssssss!
• Petronas Towers - Used to be the world's tallest
• Little India and Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur
• Fireflies - Thousands of them
• Batu Caves - Only one of them

5/11 - Indonesia

• Borobodur - largest Buddhist stupa in the world (What's a Stupa?)
• Madakanpura Waterfalls - some 10km hike in a park
• Gunung Bromo - big volcano with a nice sunrise view

5/17 - Cambodia

• Killing Fields - also a crazy movie
• Angkor Wat - ancient ruins
• Donate blood - maybe

5/23 - Thailand

• Nothing planned yet, but probably some more scuba diving, elephants, and rioting with the red shirts

5/31 - Japan

• Come back home