1.05.2009 Pencil Crayon Chopsticks

Labels: Only in Asia

NSFM - Not safe for Michelle

My big sister has an ocean related phobia or two so I rate this video as NSFM.

The Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium blew me away. I'd live there if they let me. Definitely worth seeing if you have time in Osaka.

1.02.2009 On the top of 101 during New Years'

I've seen the fireworks go off of Taipei 101 since New Years' for 2006. It seems like every year I hear that "this is the last year". Last year Han and I got completely locked on his scooter for hours, thankfully with a great view, in the middle of traffic during the festivities. We swore regardless of whether there were going to be fireworks or not it was going to be OUR last year to go outside to see the fireworks, for sure.

Until.... Han found out we could get INSIDE 101 to see the fireworks when they went off. He had heard that the tickets were limited to 2000 people but now we doubt that....and again they claim this will be the last year...

We headed for 101 straight after I got off work. Even at 7:30 the crowd inside Taipei Main Station was incredible. It was a sea of people all pouring onto the MRT trains which seemed to fill up in the blink of an eye. Overall it seemed the metro did a great job of keeping things smoothly running and things felt much more organized than previous years.

We grabbed some food in the eatery and then around 9 decided to go up to the 89th floor (where the observatory is) to stake out our place before everyone else got the same idea. I found the perfect spot. A great view of the Living Mall and a great view of the Neihu ferris wheel where Han and I had our first date.

We ended up waiting 3 hours for 3 minutes of fireworks but I do have to say it is one of the coolest things I've seen in my life. Maybe just because I've never seen anything like it or imagined I would. My knees turned to jelly a few times as I saw swirly bursts of light that seemed to be only 10 meters in front of my face and others that looked like shooting stars. The excitement and disbelief in everyones' voices along with the vibration underfoot as the fireworks went off only added to the feeling of awe. It was hard to believe I was seeing what I was seeing.

Sadly my new 4GB CF card wouldn't format in my camera so I only had a 64MB in another slot and was only able to get 1 minute worth of footage that in no way does the experience any credit. I honestly was paying little attention to my camera and had my nose nearly pressed to window almost the whole time.

One note on the video is that all the twinkling white lights from down below between fireworks are the flashes from peoples' cameras going off!

Here is someone else's video from outside of 101:

Labels: 101, fireworks, taipei, taiwan

9.29.2008 Both the cheapest and most fun day I had in Japan

Cheap fun and Japan seem to be rarely uttered in the same breath, especially coming from a tourist, but it does exist. One of the days that ended up being one of the cheapest days Han and I had in Japan was also the most fun.

Originally when I had planned to go to Japan I had wanted to spend only a minimal amount of time in Tokyo. I wasn't into seeing another big city and really wanted to go and see places that I thought would offer more of a cultural experience of Japan. I honestly thought any city, no matter how big and modern, was going to be boring and redundant after awhile.

When Han decided to come along I had two options, either go off and see a lot of different places in Japan, or being with Han and spending a longer chunk of time in Tokyo with a smaller part of our trip seeing different places. As Han is still a student (just started his Master's program!! woo hoo) he couldn't afford to do an "all around Japan" trip with me but we haven't had a lot of time together lately because of our schedules so I decided Tokyo for 2 weeks and 1 week of traveling around on a JR Train Pass.

To my surprise we only touched the tip of the ice burgh of fun things to do in Tokyo. I still came back to Taiwan with a Tokyo guide book earmarked with tons of things I wanted to see and do but never had the chance to.

Day 4 I wanted to discover some of the beauty within Tokyo so we started at the Meiji-jingu "Tokyo's grandest shrine". It was truly a gorgeous spot and even though I'm not thrilled with the photos I took there the memory is still fresh in my mind. The smells, the sounds, the heat. It was like being transported to the countryside while being in the middle of the city. The shrine itself only takes up a small portion the 175 acre forest grounds. The shrine is for Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken who ruled during the time Japan's isolation from the rest of the world ended.

We strolled around the shrine, hit the treasure museum on the Northern part of the grounds and then headed for Asakusa for a boat cruise. I love water, I love seeing cities from the water, and I loved boats. I wanted to visit Hama Rikyu onshi-teien palace gardens and one of the ways listed to get there was by boat. Han and I made our way to Asakusa grabbed some Japanese curry and found the boat ferries. Unfortunately by the time we arrived the gardens were closed so that wasn't an option for where we could get off. Instead we decided to take the ferry as far as it would go. In this case to Odaiba.

The boat was comfy, the time of day was gorgeous and it was such a great little relaxing trip.




Once off the boat we decided to go over and explore Odaiba. It had really interesting buildings and we had heard that it's a romantic spot with a lot of places to eat. Most of the buildings on the Odaiba, which is a man-made island are futuristic looking and make it look like some big amusement park from the distance. Even the subway ride over felt like a ride as it crosses over the water running along side a busy looping bridge with cars zooming both ways.





We decided to skip the romantic spot until later and head over to the Toyota Mega Web not quite sure what we were going to find.





The Mega Web ended up eating up the rest of our night. Built as kind of a showroom it not only shows, it plays! Aside from all kinds of new Toyota models that you an open up and sit in, and even test drive with advance reservation there are all kinds of simulators, hands on exhibits, displays of futuristic technology and even a theater that you have to buckle up in to experience what it's like to be Super GT race car driver. All of it free and all of it fun. We did dish out a modest fee to ride the electric cars around the whole showcase and to the other buildings.





Even though I'm not the auto-geek Han is I still had a blast and was as sad as Han to be booted out at closing time and had no regrets on missing out on the romantic stuff.

Sony is supposed to have a similar kind of showcase both in Japan and here but we never made it to the one in Japan, I'm looking forward to seeing if the one in Taiwan is as fun.

8.21.2008 Japanese Food

One of the true cultural experiences of Japan is the food. I already indulge in Japanese food of some sort at least once an week in Taiwan. I kept hearing that it doesn't compare to true Japanese food. While I believe that's true of any "import" food Japanese food here is still so good I couldn't believe it.

Well of course Japanese food in Japan is the best. Unfortunately most of the time when we ate we were starving so bad from wearing ourselves out sight seeing that we just grabbed what was easiest. Thankfully most of the time that was still something incredibly delicious.

Japanese curry (definitely distinct from the other curries), Tempura, noodles (udon, soba, ramen.... well Han not me), and sushi.... ohhhhh sushi. I think I could go on a trip to Japan again just to eat.

We did gorge on junk food a little more than I would have liked but Japan even does that good! Junk food in Taiwan is not the best. Taiwanese tongues aren't big on salty foods but in Japan things that are supposed to be salty were salty, and things that shouldn't be sweet (like milk and whole grain bread) weren't sweet! Surprisingly Japanese style pizza and hamburgers are both delicious.

A few things did surprise me in Japan. I found out that my taste in food is very Osakan (maybe I made that word up). After awhile I noticed something missing and asked Uken, where are all the teppanyaki restaurants????? Teppayaki is food cooked on a large iron griddle in front of you. Steak, pork, lamb or seafood are fried up in front of you by a swiftly working chef and served along with peppered bean sprouts and oily chinese cabbage. To my surprise this is an "Osaka thing". Another Osaka thing I adore that was easy enough to find all over Tokyo is Takoyaki. Takoyaki is pieces of octopus cooked up on a very cool grill into battered balls. I have to say even though the Japanese version is more delicious, the Taiwanese version of the wasabi sauce topping is a lot more delicious.

A lot of things are common to Taiwan but it was really interesting to be able to finally distinguish what is Taiwanese, by not being able to find it in Japan, and what comes from Japan.

Something else I found a little odd and funny is that even though there are junk food spots all over Japan I think I only saw one MOS burger on my trip. MOS burger is a Japanese fast food restaurant that is famous for cooking up everything fresh when ordered so it takes the "fast" out of fast food but it's really popular in Taiwan and it is easy enough to find one within walking distance from wherever you are in Taipei. I'd be willing to bet that there are more MOS locations in Taipei city, than in the whole of Japan.

Although I've eaten a lot of crazy things in Taiwan (intestines, alligator, hearts, etc) while browsing menus in Shinjyuku I saw something that simultaneously made my eyes bulge out and make me nearly start crying. I saw not only horse meat on a menu, but also raw horse meat. So wrong on so many levels. It wouldn't surprise me if somewhere in Taiwan it's possible to get horse meat but the shocking part... aside from HORSE MEAT... was how posh this place looked.

Surprisingly in the end even though Japan still has some of my favorite meals I was getting really bored with Japanese food and homesick for Taiwanese. I don't think it's possible to convey the variety of food that exists in Taiwan and I have a hard time believing there is anywhere else in the world with as much "food diversity". I've lived here over 3 years and I still try new stuff all the time. From my understanding, which could be misinformed...correct me if I'm wrong in the comments, it is because mainlanders who have come from China at different points in history came from all different parts bringing with them their cuisine. Not to mention a lot of colonization by many different countries.

Another annoyance with Japan is how it doesn't cater to night owls like me :) Compared to Taiwan things close EARLY. In Taiwan there are restaurants that only open at 9 or 10pm. It's possible to eat at any hour of the night or to find something else to do. Even as huge as it is it really felt like Tokyo shut down early.

But Japan does win brownie points on being foreigner friendly. Wonderful picture menus, realistic food displays outside the restaurants, and food ticket machines that let you buy a ticket that corresponds to a numbered food display. Most of the time, not all of the time, getting food was easy.



Japan also wins points for customer service. First for having customer service, which doesn't seem to exist in Taiwan, and second for doing it well. Smiles are everywhere, as is courtesy.

Not to mention great ambiance!



Another awesome feature that I'd seen posted in Korean blogs before was the button! This allows you to page your waiter/waitress to let them know you need something.



Taiwan is a long ways away from this!