Our second day was dedicated to visiting the Tian Tan Buddha and the Po Lin Monastary on Lantau Island. The seated bronze Buddha is about 10 storeys tall, and weighs 250 tons. After viewing the statue and the museum inside of it, we enjoyed a cheap 5-course vegetarian feast at the Monastary. We made it back to Hong Kong Island in time for the Symphony of Lights, a synchronised building exterior decorative light and laser multimedia display, featuring 44 buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour (copied that from Wikipedia!). We ended the trip with an ode to Christmas Story.. peking duck! All I can say is that it was the most memorable dish we’ve had in Asia, and now we’re crazy for it.

Thus concludes our short vacation! With just 3 days left in Taipei, we are beginning to realize the things we will most the most: bubble tea, sesame buns, buffets, night markets… The past 5 months have been such a mixed bag, that it is hard to decipher our emotions in the end. I feel relief, sadness, anxiousness, and excitement all at once. Though I am reassured in knowing that one day I’ll return to Asia, I’m also deflated in my understanding that this world is just too big to see in a lifetime!

Taipei, check, Singapore, check, Hong Kong, check.

Today, after weeks of deliberation, we called China Air and changed our flight back home to December 30th.. just 21 days from now!

Let this be a lesson learned: travel and living should be approached in very different ways (duh?). Travel: plunge in head first with your eyes closed. Living: slowly dip your toes in and test the water first. We decided to move to Taiwan on a whim. A month after that first thought, we found ourselves in the airport of a country we knew little about. A week after that we had located an apartment, and I had started working. It probably took a full 3 months before we looked at each other and said, “what were we thinking?” What triggered this revelation? It could have been the lack of a kitchen sink, the bright orange wall, or perhaps the hopping rat. Or maybe it was kindergartners pulling on my arms and throwing paper wads at my head while dubbing me Teacher Fart, or the saleswoman at Skin Food who told me I look like Santa Claus? Then again, it would be easy to blame the culmination of two typhoons, an earthquake, and the back-to-back accidents I was in that involved a public bus, taxi, scooter and a Lexus.

On the contrary, these events I consider to be precious relics that in retrospect will have defined our existence on this island. So why are we really leaving? A big part of it is Matt’s job, the disconnection from his office and having to work long hours late at night from home. Another reason is that our heart just isn’t in it.. and though this experience has left us wanting more from Asia, it has also taught us that we aren’t meant to live here. For reasons I can’t explain, but I’m sure you can understand, sometimes the feeling is right and sometimes it’s incomplete. In this sense, finding a place to call home is a lot like dating. Taiwan lacks some of the important qualities we look for in a country, but many expats I’ve met consider it to be perfection. Take this blog for example, this is the first post that I’ve written from the heart.. and it is such a relief to let go of that reverberating Lonely Planet author in me that wants you to like everything about the outside world! Anyway, I hope I’m clear in asking you not to point the finger at Taiwan. I’d encourage anyone with an interest to travel here or move here.

So what’s next? We haven’t decided on the next step, but this time around we’ll take our time in reaching a decision. In the meantime, do keep an eye on the blog, because I’m sure we will cram a lot into these last 3 weeks, including a trip to Hong Kong the weekend before Christmas.

See y’all soon, just in time for 09!

The Beitou Hot Springs Museum is housed in an original Japanese-era hot-springs bath house. The inside of the house was just as beautiful as the exterior. Their was a large tatami room, where bathers once took tea and relaxed after their baths. In the basement was a large public pool surrounded by high arches and stained glass windows.

We both loved this modern library that sits next to the Beitou Hot Springs Museum.

Hot springs water flow through the district, giving a smell of sulphur from the moment you step off the MRT. We took advantage of the cheap outdoor public baths, which offered a number of pools with varying temperatures, from freezing cold to scalding hot!

And finally, some of the small details that give this district it’s charm. There are a few more pictures in the “Around Taipei” gallery on smugmug.

]]> http://mbtaipei.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/pictures-from-beitou/feed/ 1 mbtaipei beitou21 beitou41 beitou9 beitou6 beitou7 beitou8 http://mbtaipei.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/jiufen-day-trip/ http://mbtaipei.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/jiufen-day-trip/#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:39:16 +0000 Brittany http://mbtaipei.wordpress.com/?p=276 Continue reading →]]>

Today we took a day trip to Jiufen, a prosperous gold mining town up until the 1950s, and presently a popular tourist destination. Upon arrival, we began ascending Mount Jilong, which required us to climb a lot of stairs, but the end result was an unforgettable view of the misty Pacific coastline. Above is a picture of the trail, with the city of Jiufen built into the hillside in the background. We made it back down safely, and proceeded to walk aimlessly through the city’s quaint historic streets, where Matt and I had our first taste of the highly anticipated stinky tofu, a fermented tofu notorious for it’s open-sewer smell that can be detected from a block away! Now I can see why it is a favorite snack food in Taiwan.. we both loved it! Watch this video of Andrew Zimmern trying stinky tofu for his travel show Bizarre Foods for a laugh. Anyway, wandering Jiufen’s historic streets was such a thrill, because every shop and food stand contains something you’ve never seen before. I really had to restrain myself, because I wanted to buy everything I laid eyes on!

I hate when the weekend comes to an end but there is always another one to look forward to! Next weekend we will be celebrating Thanksgiving with a traditional dinner on Friday, and then an untraditional sushi dinner followed by homemade pie on Saturday. We’ll be missing home!

The first picture is a painting on a silk hanging scroll, named “A Palace Concert”; the second is a bronze ritual vessel; the third is jade dragon shaped cup; the fourth is a curio box from the Ming dynasty; and the last picture is a ceramic pillow–ouch! Curio boxes are like imperial toy chests, they are used to collect objects and vary in their design and functioning.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends! More pictures are up on smugmug.

Matt and I had planned to visit the Taipei Fine Arts Museum today, but when we arrived we found the art outside the building had been protectively wrapped, and dozens of police were setting up blockades and distributing riot kits. As we later discovered, a high-ranking Chinese diplomat is visiting Taiwan for the first time in 60 years. A full news story can be found here.

Anyway, we decided it was best to steer clear of the wooden batons and plastic bullets, and walked next door to the Taipei Story House. This English Tudor-style mansion has a long history–it was constructed in the early 1900s by a rich tea merchant. It was claimed by the Japanese during their colonization of Taiwan, and used to hold dissidents. In the 1980s, it was purchased and refurbished by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. It now houses art exhibitions, and has a teashop on the grounds. The restaurant/tea shop was pleasant–I’m always happy when there’s tea and soup on the menu! The museum itself was more geared towards children, which explains the soy sauce and cowboy in the picture below, but I’ve found that sometimes better than the museum is the gift shop waiting for you at the end! This particular gift shop was full of small treasures, such as vintage post cards, hand-painted tea cups, musical boxes, and brooches.

Over the weekend, we visited the small city of Danshui, where the river meets the ocean in northern Taiwan. After stepping off the MRT, we walked hand in hand along the waterfront, which was lined with carnival games, food stalls and interesting shops. Continuing on, we walked up a steep hill to see some of Danshui’s historic architecture, including Oxford College–Taiwan’s first Western university. It was such a treat for us to see these old, beautiful buildings, as contrasted with Taipei’s slapped-together concrete boxes! We spent a decent amount of time there, sitting quietly in the garden, and savoring our surroundings.

Later in the day, we took a ferry to the island of Bali, where we rented cruiser bikes and circled the island, dodging the thousands of tourists riding alongside us, and stopping occasionally to enjoy the view. I will never forget that bike ride! After our hour was up, we headed back to Danshui for dinner and an incredible night view, before making our way back to Taipei for a comedy show.

It was the best day we’ve have had in Taiwan thus far! The pictures are up on smugmug.

Sometimes we forget, living in Taipei amongst concrete buildings, that we are in fact living on what the Portuguese named Formosa–beautiful island! Long overdue was a trip to one of Taiwan’s plentiful beaches.

Thus, this past Sunday Matt and I ventured to Waiao beach in Honeymoon Bay. It was an easy, hour-long bus ride from Taipei. The beach was, as you can see, beautiful and authentic, meaning it was not overrun with tourist resorts! Rather, it was dotted with a few tents renting surfboards and small groups lounging in the shade (people prefer to be whiter as opposed to tanner here). The sand was black, the water cool, and cute Turtle island loomed in the distance.

We swam and surfed, well I should say Matt surfed because I was too afraid to get on my surfboard… but I did enjoy using it as a buoy. When we decided we were too tired and thirsty to continue, we walked to a cafe where we could further enjoy the view. We then opted to take the longer, more scenic route home–a two hour train ride weaving through green canyons and small, quiet towns. We are now eager to see more of Taiwan’s coastline.

On another note–sorry again for the lack of updates. We both get quite busy during the week, so I would advise everyone to check for new posts on the weekends! Next weekend I’m trying to organize a camping/kayaking trip, but it is very difficult to make arrangements using Chinese websites so wish me luck!

Have a good week, and enjoy your Halloweens!

Have a great week everyone! Drop us a line!

Matt and I ready to climb!

Laura and her audience!

After the hard work, we decided to reward ourselves with thai food and ice cream in ShiDa night market. Thanks for the pictures Laura and Kate!

Ice cream in a crepe cone.. delicious!

After yesterday’s non-stop action, rest and relaxation was in order! We decided on Singapore’s charming, albeit cheesy, island resort of Sentosa, where we spent an hour swimming in the ocean, journeyed through the impressive Underwaterworld Oceanarium, and then watched playful pink dolphins jump through hoolah-hoops and balance beach balls on their noses.

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped at a hawker center to snack on kaya toast, slices of bread toasted on a charcoal grill and layered with sweet coconut, egg jam and butter. We had dinner at Cafe le Caire in Kampong Glam, also termed the muslim quarter. Afterwards, we smoked hookah while watching entertaining Arabic music videos.

Monday

We stuck around on Monday to get our visas renewed, but received a flat-out no from the embassy. They didn’t even take so much as a minute to consider us, but really it’s our own fault for not researching the visa process! Feeling confused and deflated, we sat through an action movie to take our mind off things. But we need not have worried because we have multiple-entry visas (learned the meaning of this today), and were given a fresh stamp at the airport with no questions asked! This means we’re good for another 60 days!

Visa issues aside, we enjoyed our last night in Singapore back in Little India. We had dinner at Banana Leaf Apollo–vegetable samosas, malai kofte (my favorite dish in the world), and fish-head curry, a popular Singaporean creation that tastes better than it sounds! We could barely make it through half of what we ordered, and had a hard time moving afterwards, but it was worth it as Indian food always is! We had some Singaporean dollars that needed to be spent, so we wandered through a temporary market set-up in preparation for Deepavali, India’s “festival of lights.” We purchased some trinkets for our apartment, and I received my first henna tattoo! I had a hard time explaining to my kids, and the girl taking my order at Mo’s Burger today, that the tattoo isn’t permanent. It lasts around 2 weeks.

Enjoy the rest of our pictures!