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Location | Taichung, Taiwan

Wow, this trip went by incredibly fast. I’m going to miss Taiwan a lot. Now that I’m older, I have more money, I can appreciate Taiwan a lot more than I used to. Even though my best time in Taiwan was still the summer of 2005 (I miss you TTT-ers!), this time was just as great hanging out with family and old friends.

We got back from Sydney around 6pm and back to Taichung around 8. My cousin and his girlfriend stopped by with bubble tea and their dog Manto. It wasn’t very eventful except the unpacking.

Friday started out early. First I woke up early to go get my eyeliner tattoo redone on the left eye. The under-eye line was faded. After another horrific 20 or so minutes, we were off to go do some shopping. We went to Mei Hwa Tai, Sogo and Net. At Net I spent US$400 on a new wardrobe… heh. I’m a big spender.

We had lunch at Chun Shui Tang. I got the Kung Fu Noodles, turnip cake and bubble tea. We spent the afternoon chatting at my Grandma’s before my aunt took me home with her to use the internet. I hung out with her, my cousin, Jack, and their dog Manto until it was time to go back to my Grandma’s so I could quickly change and we could go to teppenyaki!

This is Manto. He says "hello!"

Teppenyaki was easily the coolest part of the night. We went to this fancy-looking place where they have impeccable service and really delicious food. It was French-style teppenyaki. Here are the things we ate in order:

Amuse Bouche

Fish Soup

Nicoise Salad

Duck Breast!

Vegetables!

Sakura Fried Rice

Ice cream covered in a shell of chocolate

Milk Tea w/ Grass Jelly

It was a really satisfying and filling meal. Looking at the pictures makes me really hungry. I’d really love to eat some more of the Sakura fried rice. It was really amazing, but I couldn’t enjoy it that much because I was completely STUFFED.

Oh yeah, the chefs and waiters are all extremely attractive. Apparently it’s part of the way they choose employees. You have to fit a certain standard of good looks. I didn’t think our chefs were that good looking, but not bad.

Our Chefs

After dinner I got dropped back off at my grandma’s and my aunt took me and my mom to go see my aunt on my dad’s side. On the way there I learned that the uncle of the youngest aunt (my dad has 5 sisters) was (or still is!?) in the Taiwanese mafia… and apparently he’s on the lam after doing some jail time? Interesting…

Anyway, my aunts (the oldest and the 4th oldest) run a food stand on a small street. There they sell fried leek pancakes, oyster pancakes, noodles, fried leek, fried tofu, etc. I took a few shots while I was there.

Giant Fryer

Fried Foods

Later that night we headed of Fong-Chia Night Market. My cousin, Jack, his gf, Zhiyan, me and my cousin, Jessie just roamed around. Jack and Jessie ended up eating stinky tofu while Zhiyan and I walked around searching for accessories. In the end we ended up in this store with an absurd amount of stuffed animals. Here’s me with a giant pig.

Giant Pig!

Now I’m back in the states scheming about when I’ll go back to Taiwan next!!

Location | Taichung

I did something completely out of character today. I got a tattoo. Four of them in fact. It’s not where you’d expect.

So, I got eyeliner tattooed on my eyes. Top and bottom. Only cost me $200. Ok, it really cost my aunt $200 (my poor Aunt is going to spend a small fortune on me this trip).  Sounds horrific right? Well it might have been the most horrific experience of my life. So I get there and it’s all nice and peachy. The cosmetologist’s office is gorgeous. I mean, marble floors, chandeliers, and pristine posh décor. I meet the nice lady (Ms. Wu) and proceed to let her line my eyes to show me what it’s going to look like. She lines one side with only top and one side with top and bottom. The bottom looked great too, so I decided to go with lining both (which was an extra $100). So I lay down and she begins by numbing the area around my eyelids… with a giant needle. Then, the most horrified part wasn’t the fact that she was using an actual tattoo pen to line my eyes, it was more the horrific sound of the tattoo pen. This horribly tinny mechanical whirring noise oddly reminiscent of a dental tool.

Whirr whirr whirr.

I can feel my eyes roll back into my head as I reminiscence that horrifying noise. So then the tattoo starts. It wasn’t very painful, more-so, it was just… tingly. The worst part was when she had to line my bottom eyelid. I had to have my eyes open as the pen was whirring toward my eyeball. I could feel my heart practically jumping out of my chest as I held my breath because I was so afraid that if I moved it’d be the last time I saw out of my eye.

The best part was all the tears I shed in the name of a) laziness (I got my eyeliner done because I was sick of lining my eyes everyday) and b) beauty (woo! My eyes look pretty freaking awesome now)

Anyway, after my eyes decided to turn puffy, red and really just kind of gross looking from the tattoo, I got to go upstairs for a facial. The facial went nice and smooth until the portion where they clean out ever pore. My God… That was incredibly painful. I thought I’d pass out from the pain. Almost as bad as the eye tattoo. I think I shed a few tears then as well.

After everything was set and done, I got a ride back to my Grandma’s where I ate some lunch then passed out for 3 hours. My aunt came to take me shopping. We went to Shinkong Mitsukoshi to stroll around, but unfortunately I didn’t get anything. Then Doris called, it was her last night in Taichung, and we both went bowling at Tiger Bowling Alley. We even played the Taiko Drum Master game and also shot some hoops.

Her boyfriend dropped me off around 11 and I went to deal with my puffy red eyes because I’m going to Taipei tomorrow!

Location | Taichung, Taiwan

So, I’m a little bit sick. I thought it was allergies, but nope, it’s a cold. Sore throat, runny nose, cough. Awesome.

Today I went to Lukang, a town in the outskirts of Taichung. There’s a big Matsu Temple there. We went for Matsu worship at the various little shrines. Matsu is the patron saint of travelers (especially those who are sea-faring). [If you are interested, I’ll wiki link it later]. We didn’t stay very long, but we also went to eat their specialty – everything oysters. We ordered oyster omelette (which sadly, sucked), fried oyster and leek pancake, oyster porridge, fried oysters and fried shrimp balls.

I wasn’t very hungry. Not much of an appetite since I’m sick.

Afterwards we walked through the historic district and bought a few random souvenir type items. Nothing really outrageous, some glass figurines anyway.

Then we headed back to Taichung where I took a 2 hour nap before going to Shinkong Mitsukoshi to do some shopping. We had Chun Shui Tang’s Kungfu Noodles (sounds awesome right?) and some bubble tea before walking around. I’ve never really liked shopping in department stores. I can never find anything I want…

So we left and I met up with Doris at a bowling alley where we bowled, played the claw games, played Taiko: Drum Master, basketball, and air hockey. I’ll definitely miss Doris, she’s pretty awesome.

Anyway, so now I’m back home and tomorrow I’m getting something special done. I’ll show pictures later. I hope the pictures aren’t weird. I just took an antihistamine so time to pass out.

Location | 4th Floor of Grandma’s Building – Taichung, Taiwan

So… I’ve been overeating. A lot. Partially because all the food is so damn good here and also because I’m completely deprived of good Taiwanese food in the states.

The morning started out at 8am. I woke up, did some work (yes, I did check work email) and then I went downstairs to find that no one was home… oh…

My grandma came back and immediately took me to get breakfast. We went and got pork buns, fried oyster and leek pancakes, wonton soup and iced black tea. When I got back, I proceeded to eat 2 pork buns, 1 fried oyster and leek pancake, the whole bowl of wonton soup, the large iced black tea and a wax apple. Time to loosen my belt.

Pork Bun Vendor

So I spent an hour listening to The Bowery Boys so I could digest. Then I went upstairs and decided to go through old photographs. I found a lot of my Grandfather’s side of the family. There were some great shots from the 1920’s up until the 1940’s. I’ll try to locate a scanner so that I can scan them all. They were mostly of my great Grandfather and various other people my grandmother wasn’t too sure about.

Drinking Friends

Then it was lunch time. My aunt brought over Peking duck, dumplings, vegetable buns, cold soy milk and bubble tea. My grandmother made steamed crab and shrimp. We also had some leftover pork buns and oyster and leek pancake. I can usually eat a whole Peking duck (I know, sick), but I could only eat 3 wraps. Hopefully I’ll save room next time.

Finishing up Lunch

My cousin also brought over his crazy dog. He was jumping around all over the place and licking everything. The poor thing got so excited we had to tie him to the staircase railing outside the apartment door. You could hear him crying from the dining table.

So we rested up after eating until 3:30ish when we went to my Aunt’s to switch cars and drive off to the mountains.

Mountains

My cousin made reservations at this really nice restaurant in the outskirts of Taichung. We went a little early to take photos. The place really was quite beautiful. Set up to look a little Japanese (even though the food isn’t Japanese), there’s a reflection pool, shiny wooden floors and tatami.

Reflection Pool

There’s an outdoor bathroom and the funny thing is, the back wall is clear glass. It’s facing the edge of the mountain, so no one should be able to get back there to see, but it was still a little unnerving to go to the bathroom…

Would you use this bathroom? (Heh I did!)

We took a lot of pictures outside.

Zhiyan is very tall compared to me...

We sat inside for a little bit before getting kicked out again because they had to set the tables.

Inside Looking Out

The meal was 7-courses. You pick what your main meat dish is and the menu is set by the chef. I’ll post each dish below in pictures.

Table Setting

First Course: Salad w/ melon wrapped in proscuitto

Second Course: Fresh Tofu

Third Course: Japanese Winter Gourd w/ Shrimp & Squid

Fourth Course: Lamb w/ zucchini, squash, potato and kiwi

Fifth Course: Chicken Soup

Sixth Course: Pasta w/ wild mushroom

Seventh Course: Sweet chestnut soup

Final: Tea

We were so full after the meal that we had to walk around before finishing the “final drink.” We took some really cute pictures outside (even if it was dark) and then we wandered back inside to take some more photos.

Outdoors Looking In

Zen

This tea is very bitter...

After finishing we drove back to the main part of Taichung. First stopping for some taro desserts and also at a clinic (to grab some cough medicine for my aunt).

What a crazy and awesome day. Can’t wait for this to continue!

Location | 4th Floor of Grandma’s Building, Taichung, Taiwan

I’m about to pass out. Since Thursday at 8am until now Saturday (in Taiwan PM, in the US AM) at 9pm… I have slept a total of… 4 hours on an airplane.

I should be out of my mind by now. I think the only thing holding me together is some coffee, then tea, then more tea. Today wasn’t too eventful. I’ll pick off where I left off in my last entry.

So at noon I met up with Doris, a friend I made from my internship at the National Palace Museum in 2005. We went to a branch of Chun Sui Tang ( 春水堂 ) located in a small department store. Yay for bubble tea and snacks. Afterwards we walked around and even went to a Jazz festival!

Myself and Doris at the Taichung Jazz Fest

Then it was back home (but not after meeting Doris’ boyfriend — awww so nice for dropping me off). They came and visited my ah-ma (grandma). Then we went to dinner at a Japanese resturant. 9-course meal for NT$350 or US $10.83. Crazy right? There was salad, fried tofu slice, chawanmushi, hand roll, fried rice, sashimi, miso soup, fruit, and taro jelly).

Sashimiiii!!!

Taiwan food is awesome! Tomorrow is crab + Peking duck + more Japanese!!!! Plus my uncle is taking me to a sashimi joint + all you can eat oysters. Freaking awesome. I love food people and my family is definitely a food family!

Location | Grandma’s House in Taichung

So far so good. People are impressed that I still speak understandable Chinese. They’re also fairly impressed that I can understand their Taiwanese (diabolical I know, I’m taking over the world one language at a time). Already ate 4 pieces of turn-up cake, 4 soup dumplings, cold soy milk and a wax apple. I’m on a roll already with the food. The fact that I can’t suck in my stomach anymore, now that’s an entirely different situation.

Today I’m meeting up with my friend, Doris from Russia. Sometimes we refer to her as Boris from Russia. Anyway, she happens to be in my hometown and will be meeting up with me later to go eat! I haven’t made any plans for the day, but I really should. I got in around 6am and it’s about 9:30am right now. I just have to make it through another 12 hours and I’ll be set with no jet lag. I hope. I HOPE! I need some coffee.

Will post pictures of food as soon as I get my sh*t together.

Location | New York City

Introduction: I completely forgot to write an itinerary entry for my trip to Taiwan & Australia… so in the introduction here, I’ll set out my itinerary for my trip…

October 15, 11:50pm – Depart from Newark to Taipei

October 17, 6:30am – Arrive in Taipei, head to Taichung

October 23-28th – Fly to Brisbane and Sydney in Australia

October 31st – Depart to return to NYC

As part of my pre-preparation for going to Taiwan, I’m going to write a blog series about Taiwan and everything it has to offer. For the first part of the series, I’ll focus on Taichung and surrounding areas. It’s where my family is originally from. For the second part of the series, I’ll focus on Taipei. I know about Taipei the best because I’ve spent the most amount of time there (in total about 7 months). Hopefully I’ll be able to provide some insights into what characterizes Taiwan to be it’s own unique nation.

It’s really not a love story, rather my own love for Taichung. This is going to focus on general information on Taichung as well as some stories from my family history.

Taichung, A Love Story

Taichung (台中 simplified or 臺中 traditional) is located approximately 86 miles SW of Taiwan’s capital city, Taipei. The third largest city in Taiwan with a little over a million people. Located in a valley surrounded by mountains with the Taiwan Straight to the west.

My ancestors left China in the mid-1600’s to move to Taiwan. In the present, we are at the 14th generation of the Lee family (my mother’s side) while my father’s side it remains unknown on how to trace a scattered family tree. To tell the story correctly, I’ll have to discuss my mother’s side of the family because there is more information readily available. My hopes is that I’ll also be able to find pictures and collect more stories during this trip when I have time to talk to my grandmother who is turning 80! (Happy Birthday Ah-Ma! 生日快樂阿姨!)

My Grandma and me in 2006

The Lee family left China and moved to Taiwan sometime during the mid-1600’s. As most historical sources have stated, during the 1600’s mainly men were allowed to travel/immigrate to Taiwan, therefore, to establish themselves, they’d often marry aboriginal women. So it’s relatively safe to say that besides Han blood, I also have aboriginal blood.

My great-great-great grandfather was a wealthy man who was a part of the local government in the early to mid-1800’s. He was well known in Taichung and his eldest son was also growing in popularity and power.  In those days they were carried around on palanquins through the street. One day, the eldest son was stuck behind a palanquin while crossing a bridge. He yelled out at the palanquin ahead of him, cursing the person for blocking the way. Unfortunately the person ahead of him peeked his head out of the curtains and it… was… his father! Oh my… a story we often laugh about in our family.

So much of my family history is steeped in Taichung that it’s easy to understand why I love a love affair with the city. Known as a very friendly city with it’s own uniqueness that can be described as a big city with a little town’s personality.

My great grandfather was a doctor (as his son was and so on… there were apparently many doctors in my family). His friend was also a doctor and tried to convince my great grandfather to start a hospital together. My great grandfather declined, because my great grandmother felt that his services should be offered to those who really need it, who are often those who couldn’t afford hospital care. My great grandmother was an extremely devout Buddhist. She devoted her time to helping those in need. So my great grandfather would often help those who needed a doctor and accept what they could give, monetary payment or not. Meanwhile his friend went on to be the founder of one of the top hospitals in Taichung.

Although I’m not religious myself, my morals and values have come from a mix of Buddhist & Taoist teachings. It’s so deeply entrenched in the teachings that have been passed down from mother to daughter in the Lee family. There are many shrines and temple throughout Taiwan. My grandmother grew up in the nearby town of Dajia (大甲). Dajia is well known for it’s temple to Matsu, a goddess of the sea that protects those associated with water. My family goes to Dajia annually to pray at the Matsu temple (Chenlan). There you can actually find my name in one of the many (hundreds if not thousands) of lights. Those seeking guidance can have any of the monks put their name in a light (or a prayer book) to be prayed over for protection. Offerings include food (particularly Taiwanese pastries and fresh fruit), the burning if incense as well as the burning of ceremonial money.

My hopes is to further explore temple culture in my short visit to Taichung.

On a side note, all I know of my history of my dad’s side in Taiwan is the Lin Family Shrine, dedicated to the Lin’s that traveled from the Fujian province to Taiwan.

I’m hoping to continue my love affair with this city with a photo journal. I’d like to find some books on the history of Taiwan to translate. We’ll see how it goes.

Location | Taichung

Well, my trip has come to an end. I can only hope that I will gain another internship in Taiwan in the future — like at Uni-President!! (They own all the 7-11’s and Starbucks in Taiwan AND they make my favorite drinks and puddings!!)

All the National Palace Museum Interns

This trip has been the best trip ever. No lies behind that fo sho. I made a lot of good friends that I hope will last forever and I met a lot of amazing people. I’m making a photo journal of everything I did soon. It’ll be slow-loading, but worth the wait I guess.

Other pictures are here at Webshots.

Ok, the people:

NPM Interns:
Angel, Andrew, Alan, Jocelyn, Joey, Doris, Joe-Jay, Young, Tiffany, Monling, Grace, Vision, Joann, Myung-Hwa and Jean!

Group 9:
Angel (again), Tiffany (again), Karen, Martin, Ray, James, Chi, Esther and Stella!

Others:
JKo, Jeff, Laura, Will, Carrie, Diana, Eric (aka fanfan), Sam and more people I want to name but can’t think of right now (sorry sorry sorry!)

Ok, so I’ll write more later. Thanks for a great time everyone!! I love you all! More later!!

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

*NOTE* I wanted to make note that the man in the center is Ching Shieh. In 2006 he was arrested under charges of corruption, but later he was cleared of those charges. See www.supportching.com for more information.

Location | Taichung

Today I’m going to Kaohsiung. I’m not bringing my laptop… (which could be good or bad) so no updates until I get back. I’ll try to “write” on my pda some entries I can add later.

Well my aunt bought me shoes that feel like I’m walking on pillows. I quite like them. They are squishy and comfortable. They make my feet look very wide tho. I also got a new purse — a strange color — but I like the purse a lot too.

For breakfast today I’m gonna go eat cake that I got from “Sugar and Spice,” sounds nice doesn’t it? Except I’m getting super fat. I had lunch at an Italian restaurant yesterday and dinner at Sogo (pork-don). Its getting painfully hot here in Taiwan. I feel like I’m sweating like a pig everyday. I’m trying to keep my allergies and cold (which I’m fighting) under control. Tough stuff I’d say.

Apparently all the people riding the train down from Taipei booked their tickets together. Booo!! I wanted to meet them too! Oh well, there’s a person in car 3 I can meet.

Oh yes, and much sadness over the Piston’s loss (yes, there was crying) BUT we know there’s always next year, even IF Larry Brown leaves. (Give away Darko yo! Give us Wade!!) So I’ve turned all my focuses onto Michigan Football (damnit, I hate losing to Texas… WAAHH GO AWAY TEXAS). This year my favorite MI FB player is gonna be… … … probably Jasan Avant (again) and perhaps Hart. I’d like Henne more if he improved (he’s good, but he can definately be better!! Yay for our true frosh QB!!). Who else? I miss Braylon. He’s playing for the Browns now (ooh 3rd pick in the draft) Oh and Breaston (WR)… Others worth mentioning — Massaquoi (needs some improvement on the tight end… lots of screaming at him last year. Questionable about who is gonna play safety, fullback, center and anything on the defense end. OMG… THAT’S PRACTICALLY THE WHOLE TEAM!!… Thank goodness for 2 good WR’s and a super good RB and good QB. But… this means we really need a good defense end lineup for next year.

LOL… its funny how I talk like I know so much about football, I’m such a rookie. I should read “Football for Dummies.” I’d probably learn something from it.

Ok!!!! It’s 8:24am (I woke up at 6… I was sweating… damnit I don’t sleep very well here). I have about 1.5 more hours until I leave for the train station… still a lot of time to spend doing nothing.

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]

Location | Taichung

I’ve been up since 6am.

GO PISTONS GO PISTONS GO PISTONS GO PISTONS!!!

[This entry was taken from my old blog, Away from Home. Formatting may have changed when moved to Explore!]