You know, just any other day listening to "Toot it and Boot it" on the way to Taiwan.
Spent the rest of the evening visiting Taipei 101. There's a big wind damper in it that helps to minimize tilting!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Day 7 - Taiwan
You know, just any other day listening to "Toot it and Boot it" on the way to Taiwan.
Spent the rest of the evening visiting Taipei 101. There's a big wind damper in it that helps to minimize tilting!
Day 6 - Guangzhou
Had breakfast in the hotel this morning and spent the day visiting places my parents used to live and nearby markets. My parents showed me an apartment that they bought near Jinan University. It's being used as the complex management office.The afternoon was more relaxed (finally). I just walked around the area near the hotel. Stumbled into the toy district, a jade warehouse, and strip mall full of odds and ends.
The wedding was held at the Shangri-la hotel. So apparently...weddings here are not as cool as I imagined. I was hoping to find a banquet of delicious food, lots of wedding games, dirty Asian jokes, and other stuff that we find at Asian weddings hosted in America. Here, there was no wedding cake, just a display. The food was mediocre even though the menu seemed loaded with goodies. There were no wedding games and instead, time passed with men smoking indoors and their wives gossiping about each other and their children. So in reality...it's not different here than any other day in back home.
While at the markets, I saw a couple things you might find interesting.Apparently, being "pizazz" is really important. I'm assuming it means cool.
A couple of the stores use different forms of the playboy bunny as their logos.
My favorite store, Swank Lady.
Day 5 - Guangzhou
This morning after having dim sum for breakfast, which wasn't as good as it is back home, we boarded the high speed train back to Guangzhou for the wedding of my dad's friend's son the next day.
We didn't get there until the early afternoon when we met up with some family friends and had more dim sum for lunch. This time, we ate in the restaurant connected to our hotel, the Landmark Canton. Dim sum here was freakin tasty! The roast duck here is fresh while back home, duck is frozen. Also, the pork is way better here, probably because they ship it on bicycles straight from the slaughter house. See picture.
At night, we visited Canton Tower which is the second tallest tower in the world. There's a difference between tower and building. Look it up. We ate at their buffet on the 106th floor, comparable to the buffet at the San Gabriel Hilton though I don't know if that exists anymore.
Though the culture is here is really different, there's one thing that always reminds me of home. They play Britney, Beyonce, and other random American artists here, but Enya is surprising popular.
Day 4 - Enter Hong Kong
This morning we grabbed breakfast in one of the hotel restaurants where I had the best coffee of my life. It was super smooth and had just the right amount of cream and sugar, so I was definitely disappointed to find that refills are NOT included here.
After checking out of the hotel, we made our way to the port where we boarded a boat much like those you would take to Catalina, but for Hong Kong. Approaching the city, we made our way around tightly batched buildings due to the limited here.
The first thing we d
id after getting off the boat was check-in at the hotel. We stayed at the Nathan Hotel and the hostess there gave us a free upgrade! I found out that 30 some years ago while my dad was trying to emigrate out of China, he worked at this hotel and that my great great grandpa was one of the founders!We took the subway for about half an hour to the other side of Hong Kong to visit Ngong Ping at Lantau Island. Here, they have the largest outdoor stone Buddha in the world! Afterward, we visited Sky100, which is the fourth tallest building in the world.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Day 3 - Macau
Woke up in the morning and found red spots all over my hands and arms. My dad had spots all over his hands, too. Apparently some of the foliage in Taishan is poisonous!
We started the morning getting on another bus that took us to Zhuhai where we crossed a bridge into Macau! Of all the places I've ever been in Asia, Macau has been my favorite so far. Imagine Vegas to a lesser extent, mixed with night markets and the best Asian BBQ. We stayed at the MGM Hotel. Though gambling is what you'd expect, the casino advantage is way higher here with about 90% payback.
Foodwise, everything is delicious. Not disappointed at all! We found this small BBQ place where I had the best Cantonese style chicken and roast goose I've ever had. Afterward, we ventured through the streets and grabbed different desserts. At Cafe Margaret's, they have these egg tarts that are better than any kind we have back home. The shaved snow in these little shops put class 302 to shame! But they don't have us entirely beat, their boba could use some work.
Driving on the left side of the street
Pop at Cafe Margaret's
Shaved snow!
Macau graffiti
Spotted hand:(
Day 2 - Taishan
The point of coming to Taishan was to visit the village of my paternal grandparents. I used to believe my dad was born here, turns out I was wrong. He was born in Guangzhou, but here, your hometown is where your parents are from so he says he is Taishan.
I've never been welcomed to a place in the style that we were greeted in that little village (pop. :50ish). The moment I hopped out of the taxi, people I'd never met before called my name and told me, "welcome home."
Backstory: About 10 years ago, the house my grandparents lived in collapsed and to show honor, my dad had a new house built where the old one used to stand.
Visiting this house was the weirdest thing ever. Here, in the middle of a village where they don't have running water, lies an empty three bedroom house with nothing but a shrine in the living room in honor of my paternal relatives. The remaining family members in the village maintain the building and light incense each morning at the shrine.
In celebration of my "return home" a chicken was slaughtered. These great aunts and great uncles that I never knew I had raise chickens for a living and barter them for vegetables and goods from other farmers in the village. Business is going pretty well, they've got about a couple hundred chicks and chickens that run around the village and the rice patties and a couple dogs (for gaurding, not eating).
After cooking the chicken and bringing out some food they had cooked earlier (roast pork and goose, chicken wings, and other chicken parts I didn't want to recognize) they told me it was time to visit the family graves. This is where things started getting a little uncomfortable. I followed my dad as we trekked through the village and past neighbors that spend their days farming and playing mahjong. We eventually hiked about a quarter of a mile before reaching the bottom of a foresty mountain. Wearing sweats and a t-shirt, I made my way through thick shrubbery and foliage, my arms around my face, climbing packed dirt formed into steps for a good 20 minutes until we arrived at these 12x12ft graves with packed step-dirt. We walking up other graves to get to them.
For an hour the family members stood at the graves lighting incense, fireworks and eating the food. They handed me some and would stare me down until I put it in my mouth. I would spit it out when no one was looking to avoid food poisoning.
When we finally made it back to the house, my mom was there sitting with one of the great uncles I had just met and he was wearing a San Francisco Pride t-shirt from 2000. I don't know how the heck something like that ended up in a this little village two hours out of the city, but I'm glad that even here, God is able to humor me.
That night we went back into town and I took a long shower, feeling itchy from climbing through who knows what. Adventure in Taishan: complete.
http://t.co/POTGzUrP
http://t.co/rj56nZ6l
I've never been welcomed to a place in the style that we were greeted in that little village (pop. :50ish). The moment I hopped out of the taxi, people I'd never met before called my name and told me, "welcome home."
Backstory: About 10 years ago, the house my grandparents lived in collapsed and to show honor, my dad had a new house built where the old one used to stand.
Visiting this house was the weirdest thing ever. Here, in the middle of a village where they don't have running water, lies an empty three bedroom house with nothing but a shrine in the living room in honor of my paternal relatives. The remaining family members in the village maintain the building and light incense each morning at the shrine.
In celebration of my "return home" a chicken was slaughtered. These great aunts and great uncles that I never knew I had raise chickens for a living and barter them for vegetables and goods from other farmers in the village. Business is going pretty well, they've got about a couple hundred chicks and chickens that run around the village and the rice patties and a couple dogs (for gaurding, not eating).
After cooking the chicken and bringing out some food they had cooked earlier (roast pork and goose, chicken wings, and other chicken parts I didn't want to recognize) they told me it was time to visit the family graves. This is where things started getting a little uncomfortable. I followed my dad as we trekked through the village and past neighbors that spend their days farming and playing mahjong. We eventually hiked about a quarter of a mile before reaching the bottom of a foresty mountain. Wearing sweats and a t-shirt, I made my way through thick shrubbery and foliage, my arms around my face, climbing packed dirt formed into steps for a good 20 minutes until we arrived at these 12x12ft graves with packed step-dirt. We walking up other graves to get to them.
For an hour the family members stood at the graves lighting incense, fireworks and eating the food. They handed me some and would stare me down until I put it in my mouth. I would spit it out when no one was looking to avoid food poisoning.
When we finally made it back to the house, my mom was there sitting with one of the great uncles I had just met and he was wearing a San Francisco Pride t-shirt from 2000. I don't know how the heck something like that ended up in a this little village two hours out of the city, but I'm glad that even here, God is able to humor me.
That night we went back into town and I took a long shower, feeling itchy from climbing through who knows what. Adventure in Taishan: complete.
Bus station to get there
The "big city" of Taishan
Imagine the villages
Day 1 Part 2 - Guangzhou
We got there pretty early in the day so the airport was still empty. It's weird to see a place you're sure is overflowing with people so desolate. The subway was 12 yuan a person (about 2 US dollars), and took us relatively 30 miles to Guangzhou and our destination for lunch. My dad told me that back when they lived here, security would only let politicians into the restaurant; much has changed. By the way, dim sum in San Gabriel is way better than it is in Guangzhou. Hopefully Hong Kong will do better.
We left for Taishan (Toisan) in the evening and checked into our hotel, which I don't have many pictures of because my dad told me to put my phone away. Apparently the iPhone costs 1200 US here and he didn't want me to get jacked.
http://t.co/Dgz6hCMw
http://t.co/iOSVoLIh
http://t.co/wLtmNDjZ
We left for Taishan (Toisan) in the evening and checked into our hotel, which I don't have many pictures of because my dad told me to put my phone away. Apparently the iPhone costs 1200 US here and he didn't want me to get jacked.
Empty airport
Immigrants, all over again
Dim sum in Guangzhou
Day 1
I haven't been on a plane ride lasting more than 5 or 6 hours for about a decade, so 14 hours is passing by pretty slowly. Thankfully, I found that I was able to fall asleep for a few short hours. A couple things that I've noticed...
If you have a newborn, don't go traveling! They'll keep the whole cabin awake.
Airplane food, although still not any meal I'd take pride in eating, has definitely improved from what I remember. I can imagine finding something like this in a small cafe at home.
All of the people I've met so far are surprised that I speak English, but we're on a flight from America!
http://t.co/yIguCHgV
http://t.co/kDhyXRzk
If you have a newborn, don't go traveling! They'll keep the whole cabin awake.
Airplane food, although still not any meal I'd take pride in eating, has definitely improved from what I remember. I can imagine finding something like this in a small cafe at home.
All of the people I've met so far are surprised that I speak English, but we're on a flight from America!
Last thing, I didn't bring a computer on the trip and I realized I can't upload pictures from my phone so tweet pics will suffice.
Mom and pop
Surprisingly decent airplane food
One last thing! Due to the regulations on communication in China, most posts will come in batches.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Getting Ready
So for those of you who don't know, I'm going to Asia for about two weeks tomorrow! My parents told me a couple weeks ago that if I didn't have a job by October that I could join them on a short vacation (wink). Taiwan, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau, here I come!
Passport: Check
Toiletries: Check
Clean Underwear: CHECK!
WOOOHOOOO!
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