The Life...

My mom and I now understand why the other half live the way they do.  A trip to Sun Moon Lake in Central Taiwan was arranged for us for today and tomorrow and just mom and I went because dad had to work.  Our trip began with dad getting us mocha’s in the morning and the car that picked him up to go to the hospital also picked us up to take us a few blocks away to the Taipei Railroad Station.  He dropped us off and we said goodbye to dad and we were off to find the HSR bullet train below the station.  When we finally found the track they did not allow us down, so we waited on top with a few other people for them to open up the train for us to board.  Exactly 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave, they open the train and we were allowed to find our seats and get settled!  We were in a reserved car, #6, and had seats.   

At exactly 8:54am, the train began to move and we were off speeding away.  We were in the business class car and so during the one hour ride, we were served a few snacks and something to drink.  It was such a quick ride that we didn’t have time to do much else besides for look at the countryside with the rice patties and the few towns and the many mountains.  

 We got off at the Taichung Station, where as we were coming down the escalator to the exit of the station the person picking us up called us to let us know where he was.  He met us a few minutes later and took us to a black Mercedes private car with a female driver.  

 He told us a little bit of our itinerary for tomorrow and said today was full as well, but didn’t say exactly what we were doing.  And then as quickly as we arrived, we were whisked off.  Our driver was very nice, but didn’t speak much English.  We drove for about ½ an hour and then she handed us a piece of paper that said, Earthquake memorial park from the landslide.  We have two Taiwan travel books and I have read the area where we were planning on going to a few times in both books and neither of the books mentioned anything about this, so it was wonderful to go to a place that no one else knew about it.  We were on a large highway for quite some time and then got off the highway and onto tiny, windy roads.  This Park was high up in the mountains on a single lane (two way) curvy, steep, fun road to drive!  I definitely was wearing my sea sickness bands for this one.  We arrived at the memorial and our driver told us in her little English to walk up the hill.   

So we got out of the car and started hiking up a very steep paved trail not really knowing where we were headed to. We keep hiking and hiking and took a few photos along the trail until we reached the top, where there was a house the was completely flattened on the edge of a ravine.  We realized that the ravine was caused from the earthquake and the house (as we learned later) had moved 300 meters from where it once stood to the area where we were.  The earthquakes epicenter was right where we were- it happened on September 21, 1999 and it was a 7.3 on the Richter scale.  There was a huge landslide as well and many people died and even more were displaced from their homes.  We walked back down the hill to the car and she took us even higher up the mountain to a place where the man in the shop told us some more information about what happened, all in Chinese, and then we went to the actual memorial, which we discovered was actually this man’s home that had moved all the way down the hill and landed where the memorial is now.   

He was inside the house during the earthquake and survived.  It was very interesting seeing this site.  When we were ready to leave, our driver opened the doors for us and we were on our way again.  This time the driver pointed at a monastery on a map and said that’s where we were going next.  It didn’t seem that far away on the map, but 25 minutes later we arrived at the largest building I have ever seen: the Chung Tai Chan Monastery.  

 I also had never heard of this place and it was not in any of our guide books.  Our driver said it would take us about an hour or two and she should be waiting for us.  Neither mom nor I thought it would take us very long to explore the grounds, but wow, were we wrong.  We walked in under a huge gate and went into the museum where we received some information about the grounds.  Even though there were many mainland Chinese tourists there (from the 20 or so buses parked out front), we immediately felt a sense of calm and relaxation as we entered the grounds.  It is hard to describe in words here but it was a wonderful feeling.  The main building was the largest building I have ever been in and the statues were gigantic and meticulously carved. 

Mom was asked to photograph this woman and her husband and we later found out she was 103 years old and still is wonderful shape!

We walked all around in awe and calm of the place.  We even went to a bell pavilion  where we made a vow and a wish and then we rang the bell.  It was so soothing.

The guidelines for practicing mindfulness in daily life according to the Chung Tai are: To our elders be respectful, respect subdues arrogance; To our juniors be kind, kindness dispels anger; With all humanity be harmonious, harmony overcomes rudeness and violence; In all endeavors be true, truthfulness eradicated deceit.

I think mom and I decided that we could go to a Buddhist retreat somewhere and really enjoy it.  The rest of the buildings had more statues and were “enlightment” halls with huge Buddhas.    

After almost 2 hours we returned to our black Mercedes and were told it was lunch time.  She drove us about a mile away to a Buddhist restaurant where we went upstairs and were seated.  They did not speak much English, but enough to help us order some dumplngs, a little soup and some fried tofu with veggies.  It was the best food we’ve had so far on this trip.  We couldn’t finish all of it, so they gave us a to go box and we ate the rest of it for dinner tonight.

When we finished our leisurely lunch, our driver said we were going to a Chocolate factory.  Mom and I got very excited because we have not had chocolate since we’ve been here.  About 15 minutes later we arrived and our driver came with us to buy some chocolate.  Even she bought some.  We bought some 99% dark chocolate bars and some chocolate ganache that is delicious and melts in your mouth.  Mmm, I’m salivating just thinking about it!  When we bought the chocolate they put little ice packs in with them so they wouldn’t melt- very thoughtful.

By this point in the day, it was almost 4pm and we were getting to be quite exhausted.  Our driver said we were heading towards Sun Moon Lake now and about 15 minutes later we saw water.  The road to Sun Moon Lake and around it reminds us of the Amalfi coast road- windy, small, a bit scary at times and busy.  We had no idea where we were staying so every time we passed a hotel, we thought that may be ours.  At the top of a hill, we came to a stop and our driver told us we were at a Temple.  We got out and explored this magnificent temple and were even able to stand on the roof to take some photos.

Finally we were headed to our hotel, which we still didn’t know what it was until we were right in front of this beautiful log hotel directly on the water called the Richforest Hotel. I’ll let some photos tell the story for this one as I’m almost too tired to write anymore.

One of the views from our balcony.  The hotel is sitting on the water.

This was a wonderful day and tomorrow should be very exciting as well!

Electronic Heaven and a Green Hospital

To add to my previous statement that the Taiwanese like to shop and get foot massages, well they also like electronics!  Mom and I made our way to the mecca of electronics wholesale today in a gigantic 5 story building with everything from cell phones to cameras, to security cameras, to ipad2’s to labtops and desktops and home servers and you name it, they had it.  We decided to take a cab there with the address written in Traditional Chinese so that the taxi driver knew where to take us. 

When we arrived, we asked at the information desk where we could find a memory card reader and a bag for mom’s camera and the woman told us nicely in English to few booths we should go to.  We immediately found the memory card area and bought a reader, yay!  So now I can take my photos off my cf cards.  We then had to go up to the 5^th floor to find a camera case for mom, which we eventually did find the store and after a little debate, we found a nice neoprene one for her. 

We did look at all of the other floors in the building quickly and then we decided we should head back home because mom wanted to work on her lecture a bit more as she was getting nervous that it’s coming up next week already.  So we exited the building and then crossed the street and it took us a few minutes to hail a cab in the correct direction and then we headed home.  About 5 minutes after we arrived at home, dad came home as well from his teaching in the morning and he had brought some lunch home- tofu, mushrooms and dumplings.  Then we all got to work on mom’s presentation and spent the next 2 hours in dad’s living room going through each slide carefully.

Tonight was the evening that dad was filming an educational teaching video for the hospital where he had spent the first two weeks here.  We decided to come along to see the hospital and for moral support.  We were picked up in a car from the dorm and it took about 35 minutes to get there, but it was a wonderful drive as today was the first day it didn’t rain, but it was still completely overcast and we were able to see the outskirts of the city and the mountains surrounding it.  This is a very nice city with so much history and interesting architecture.  We arrived at the huge, beautiful, almost brand new (opening in 2008) hospital.  You almost didn’t even feel you were in the hospital.   

We went up to the teaching floor where dad had his office and he showed us around and then he went off to do his teaching and mom and I were taken on a tour of the hospital and watched a video about the department and the fact the building is the first green certified hospital in the world, (we think).  If not the world, certainly in Taiwan.   

We were then taken up to our host’s office on the top floor where we were given two wonderful gifts- a bag of teas and a wedding present of a porcelain plate with two birds by a famous artist that I don’t know his name yet.  

The view from the corner office.

 They also gave us a good shrimp dumpling noodle soup that we started to eat and then dad and the woman who had helped dad this whole time get around the city and the hospital joined us for dinner.  It was such a nice experience!

Mom trying not to look at the vegetarian option!

It was getting late and we wanted to get home because we have to pack as mom and I are adding a little extra trip to our trip and taking the bullet train early tomorrow morning to the central region of Taiwan to a place called Sun Moon Lake where we are staying for a night at a place on the water and where we can explore some aboriginal tribes.  So depending on if we have internet or not, it may be a couple of days before I am able to post again.  I think that we are closer to adjusting to the time now, which is definitely a good thing.  Oh and my feet are killing me.

 

Is there such a thing as a lazy Sunday?

Today was a bit of a lazy Sunday because of the pouring rain and the damp and dreary day.  We spent the morning hanging out in the room, mom did some work on the presentation she has to give next week on parenting, dad did some work, and I also did some work and some organizing.  When living out of a suitcase, it is essential to organize yourself everyday with your clothing and etc otherwise it is very difficult to find anything.  Around lunch time, pops went out to get some hot soup with lots of veggies, tofu, and other ingredients that we had no idea what they were, but it was perfect for a day like today.  We ate in dad’s living room area in our fleece jackets because it was so cold!  Around 3pm, we met our hosts from dinner last night outside of our place and they drove us to the Jade Market.  We were told beforehand that we needed to have an experienced Taiwanese to even begin to decide which Jade is real and which is counterfeit.  The market was gigantic and extraordinarily overwhelming with at least 5 rows, ½ a mile long with vendors sitting and standing next to their goods selling jade, pearls, prayer beads, wood, glass and many other chatchkes.   We walked around for a bit with our host who knew the “good” merchants and we went and found some beautiful turquoise that I will make a necklace with and mom found some pearls, a pearl necklace, and some silver beads that she is going to make her medical bracelet look much nicer.  

 

We spent almost 2 hours there and were so exhausted and ready to come home, however our hosts suggested that we go to the Taipei 101 buliding (the second tallest building in the world) to look at the shopping mall and eat some dinner there.  We were all tired, but decided they were going to drop us off there and it was pouring rain, so why not?!  Plus we were meeting them at 8pm this evening for a special Taiwanese foot massage! They dropped us off at the largest shopping area I have ever seen in my entire life- there must have been at least 1000 stores in this area, from Gucci to bulgari and crabtree and evelyn to a crocs store and even an apple store which they call an iStore.

Taipei 101 Building at night

We started to become hungry so we decided to look for a place to eat for dinner and all of the food courts are under ground.  So the first one we went to was very expensive though we did buy a baguette to tide us over until we found some real sustenance.  Mom and I started looking at some chocolate and became quite hungry.. however when we discovered that the chocolate bars were 11 dollars, we decided we definitely didn’t need any chocolate!  Even though we have only been here for 3 days, at the thought of eating any Chinese food- vegetables, leafy greens, soup, mushrooms almost made us want to throw up.  Mom and I eat vegetables all the time and usually that is our diet, however here it is so different that it has been hard to get used to.  We were craving some form of meat, bread, something that was not going to come out of us as soon as it went in… we almost even went to McDonalds, which if you know us is an unknown entity.  We finally found a place that had panini’s and I had a roasted chicken Panini, mom had a tomato, mozzarella and basil Panini and dad had a zucchini Panini and for dessert we shared one tiny cup of cold stone chocolate ice cream!!  Yum. 

 

We are hoping that we will be able to cope with the Chinese food because dad said there is not much like this “real” food once we get to China.  Wish us luck.

After we finished our dinner, it was perfect timing as our “hosts” called our Taiwanese phones saying they were outside of the Taipei 101 building (which is beautiful at night all lite up)- and in fact you can go to the top, which would be fun except that it was pouring rain and we wouldn’t have been able to see anything, which was the whole point.  We probably won’t have time to go back to the top, but if we do we apparently have to wait in line for over 2 hours.  We found our hosts outside and got into their car- their daughter actually is my age and she and her father were taking us to a foot massage place that they like to go to.  When we got there, we took off our shoes and socks and were given slippers.  We then were whisked to the second floor where there were about 12 chairs and 8 were in a small room overlooking the road below.  We were given capri sweats to change into so they could massage ¾ of our legs.  Suddenly, it seemed out of no where, 5 people came in and were telling us where to sit and to put our feet in a hot water solution (of which I have no idea what it was) and then the massage began.  They massaged our necks and backs first with great pressure- it was so nice I didn’t want it to end at that point.  I wish my masseuse would have done more on my back as it seemed everyone else’s masseuse spent more time on their back, but oh well.  So she then had us turn around and the foot massage began.  I think my masseuse had anger issues and pressed so hard on my feet that I could barely breathe and was about to throw up from the pain.  I usually have a strong pain tolerance and love deep tissue massages that are extraordinarily painful and I always have to put ice on afterwards.  This was 100 times more painful.  Everyone else around me as soon as the massage started fell fast asleep… dad even started snoring.  I had no idea how they could sleep through this painful experience.  Because the massage was 75 minutes long, I had a lot of time to practice yoga breathing the pain away and try to relax.  The leg massage was nice and very hard, but I could handle it on my legs.  When they finished the massage and we stood up, our feet and legs felt very light, except that I could barely walk.  When I put my sneakers back on, the arch of my foot didn’t even fit in the correct place in my shoes.  Maybe my arch was so incorrect before that now it’s correct, but now my shoes don’t fit correctly!  Hopefully my feet will get back to normal tomorrow.  Mom and dad had terrific people and are so relaxed and are planning on returning on Friday evening for another one.  I will of course go to, but hopefully I will get someone different this time and have a better experience.

What is special about this place is that they are open 24 hours a day and they are always busy.  I’ve never experienced anything like it.

 

After today, I have learned that the Taiwanese like to shop and get foot massages.

Our "home" in Taipei

I thought I might talk a little bit about the place where we are staying in Taipei.  This area is an older section of Taipei where the University Medical Center Hospital is located.  The “hotel” that we are staying in is not really a hotel, but more of a hostel type housing where medical students and visiting professors stay.  We are on the 4^th floor (which is about 150 steps up according to our pedometers that we are wearing everyday).  Dad’s room is at the end of the hallway and mine and mom’s is right next door.  You might find it a bit strange that mom and I are staying in one room and dad in the other, but it is not that strange if you know my dad and know how he snores.  It is so loud that is reverberates right through your body and you cannot sleep.  Luckily we don’t hear him next door snoring!  The other reason mom is not sleeping in his room is because our room is MUCH warmer than his and there is no heat here.  There are some lovely medical students on our hall- from Singapore, Thailand, America and from all other parts of the world.  Most people speak English and seem very bright.

Burping is hard to get used to…

I will never be able to get used to people burping at the dinner table.  We were invited out to dinner this evening by a wonderful surgeon that dad has been working with while in Taipei.  We went to a restaurant called Le Palais Restaurant in the Palais de Chine, an extraordinarily fancy restaurant on the 17^th floor of a brand new hotel.  We were quickly whisked away from the entrance of the restaurant to a private room overlooking the entire city where we were greeted by our hosts and three other doctors from the hospitals where dad has been working.  There was a couch, a private bathroom and we had our own server for the room.  We were introduced to everyone and then we took our seats for what was an unbelievable 8 course meal (but really almost 11 courses…).  We began with a shot of red wine sweetened vinegar, which helps to digest the food as it goes down along with a few appetizers- candied almonds, fish skins and something else that was gone before it got around to us on the lazy susan that was in the middle of the table.   We then were poured some sauvignon blanc and were served our first course, “cold cuts combination” which was actually some green beans, ginger, and two other veggies that I didn’t know what they were. 

Dad has informed us that we will be about 95% vegetarian on this trip (dad is pretty much 99%) and so when we went out to dinner he informed our hosts that we were also vegetarian and so they ordered a different menu for us than they had themselves.  Unfortunately, mom and I actually did want to try some of the different types of food and so our hosts gave us tastes of all of their meals as well.  We tried bbq pork, pig knee cartilage on a piece of warm thin bread, seafood soup, and a type of acorn squash.  Some of it was better than other parts… the pig knee was actually not terrible, the bbq pork was delicious; the squash was interesting- mom liked it, I didn’t like the flavor of it.

Then we were poured some terrific light burgundy wine.  Every time we drank a sip of wine, we would say cheers, salut, or the chinese version of it and then take a sip of wine.  Our next course was “boiled seafood soup with pumpkin” which was definitely interesting.  Dad ate his whole soup and thought it was wonderful, though mom and I ate a few bites and could not eat anymore.   

Next course was “sautéed vegetables” which was kale or swiss chard or some green leafy greens with a very neat dumpling like substance filled with really good veggies, mushrooms and etc. 

Also we had tea all evening long being refilled every few minutes.  For our water glasses, we didn’t get cold water, only a glass with some warm water, which was nice.  Okay, next course was “deep fried lotus root and rice crackers.”  I’ve never eaten lotus root before and it was absolutely delicious… it could have been that it was deep fried, but it was so good and it was dipped in sweet and sour sauce.   

Then more wine.  Next course was “fried noodles served with soy sauce” and shitake mushroom and carrots- absolutely delicious. 

Meanwhile during the eating, some of the doctors across the table burped a few times throughout the meal.  It took all of my will power not to throw up right then and there at the table.  I am okay if people cover their mouths when they burp at the table, but when it is loud and very close to me, it is very nauseating.  Though I have always heard that it is a sign of respect and of a good meal to burp at the table in China, I was always skeptical of that rumor.  Well the rumor has been proven this even to be true.  Okay, so our next course was “Steamed grouper with bean curd” which was delicious and probably the best course out of all of them.   They call grouper, garoupa, but i'm not sure why.

Following that was an “egg tart with steamed dumplings” – shrimp and a regular dumpling and the egg tart was sweet.  This I thought was the dessert as it seemed like a nice finish and the server took away our chopsticks and everything else.  However a minute later, she gave us silverware again and by this point I was so full I didn’t think I could fit anything else into my stomach- I could barely move, plus it was past 10 pm and I was exhausted!  However, the next course came out and it was “fresh seasonal fruits” which consisted of watermelon, honeydew, one large grape and pineapple- all grown in southern Taiwan.  But that was not served alone.  Next to that plate came a tureen of what they called almond tea, but I think it may have been similar to almond milk but tasted like marzipan.  And they gave us two Chinese donuts to dip into the “tea/milk.”  It was so good.   

By this point, all I could do was out of respect take one small bite of everything because nothing else fit inside.  And after that, the dinner was over and we took some photos overlooking the city.  Our hosts offered to give us a ride home in their car because we were late to the dinner tonight because we had trouble finding the building while walking there because we could not cross two very busy roads and had to walk an extra half a mile each way to find a crosswalk over the roads in the rain.  We made it there late and drenched and completely sweating from rushing, so our hosts decided to drive us home.  On the way home they showed us where to buy electronics- as most electronics these days come from Taiwan and they are very inexpensive (also we really need to go there tomorrow because Mom was supposed to bring the memory card reader and she seemed to have forgotten it and that is a minor problem as you may imagine!) and then drove us around the Presidential Palace which is a block away from where we are staying.  They dropped us off at the dorm and we are going to see them again tomorrow as they are going to take us to a Jade market to explore!

 

View from the restaurant!

 

Okay, so for our adventure during the day today, we did a walking tour around the Wanhua District.  We left the room fairly late as we were exhausted and are still not used to the time and our internal clocks are completely screwed up.  We walked to the Taipei Main Station of the metro and took it to the Longshan Temple exit where we began our walking tour.  We walked to the Longshan Temple which is a beautiful large and one of Taiwan’s oldest temples.  Longshan means dragon mountain and it was originally a Buddhist temple and is now more of a Taoist temple with all of its elaborate designs.  The temple was built in 1738 and it resembles the Forbidden City in Beijing apparently (though we will know at the end of the trip if that is actually true!).  There are many altar’s throughout that hundreds of tourists and I believe locals were praying at, buying food for and burning incents.  We made sure to enter the temple on the right and exit on the left- following temple lore. 

After the temple we walked down a little alley way to the Herb Lane or Qingcao Lane where there were canvas sacks and boxes of teas and herbs, which have been there since 1738!

I have many pictures from these places, but not on my little camera, so they will have to wait to be shown until I get a card reader...

Next we got a little lost walking to the next stop on the tour but eventually by chance came upon Qingshan Temple, which was wedged between two large buildings. We made some nice pencil rubbings at this temple and one of them means spring.

 

After that tiny temple we made our way a few blocks to Qingshui Temple, a larger temple which was also a school in which a Song dynasty Taoist monk was revered for giving medical services to the poor.

 

Then we went to a famous night market in the middle of the day called the Huaxi Street Night Market in Snake Alley- antique shops, snake stores with rats, seafood everywhere and lots of foot massage parlors.  We are going to go to another night market tomorrow night while it is booming, so I will report back about what they’re like.  We then returned  back to the Longshan station.  

As we were walking back to our room from the MRT, we realized that we were starving and needed to get some lunch if we were going to make it through the evening, so dad gave us a little “tour” of the few blocks around the neighborhood where he has been getting breakfast, lunch and dinner, a nice stationary store, a mos burger (where we have food coupons to in the morning but haven’t been yet) and a crepe omelet stand that dad said was excellent.  So, we decided to try a crepe omelet with veggies and you order it by pointing at it and then we brought them back to room and they were delicious!  They all cost NT$90, which is a little less than 3 dollars.

When we returned to the room, we had about an hour to rest and take a quick shower (only after 5 pm do we have hot water until midnight) and then we went off to dinner.  Mom tried to take a shower at 5:05pm but the hot water had not been turned on yet, so she took a cold shower… however I waited until we almost had to leave and took a shower at 6pm when we luckily had some hot water!  Mom has actually just taken a shower at 11:30 pm so she could wash her hair for tomorrow since we don’t have hot water in the morning.  Okay a long, nice day… I wish it wasn’t so overcast and rainy, but apparently this is a cold front coming in and its usually 70-80 degrees here now, but its only in the 50’s and cold and rainy.   Time to get some sleep!

Taipei National Palace Museum

Mom and I, both utterly exhausted and very out of it, felt that we needed to get out on our first day and go to the National Palace Museum, where there is the world's largest collection of Chinese artifacts.  In order to get there, we had to figure out where the metro station was close to our "dorm room" and then find what stop to get off at and then what bus to take to get to the museum.  Not an easy task when no one speaks english and all of the signs are in Chinese!  Luckily, we have some nice Taiwan books and both mom and I have a good sense of direction and can read a subway map!  So we made it into the metro station and after looking at several maps and finally deciding which direction we needed to go, we found our track and got onto the train.  We took the subway to Shilin stop and got off and somehow made our way our of the station to the bus stop, where we found two buses that we could take to get to the museum.  After about 15 minutes of waiting (and almost hailing a taxi because we were not sure the bus was coming), the correct bus arrived, we tried to ask the bus driver if it was the correct bus and he just shook his head and we got on anyway.  After a nice 10 minute ride, we arrived at the Museum.  We decided that we would get an English audio so we could get some explanation of the pieces and then we had to check our bags.  There were so many asian tourists on tours that it felt like we could have been at a tourist destination anywhere in the world.  Overall, the museum was nice- one of the main things that interested mom and myself was the difference of art between all of the dynasties.  Mom's favorites were the Song and the Yuan Dynasties. There were more simplistic of all of the art work.  We also saw the famous Jadetite Cabbage, with a grasshopper hidden in the leaves, and some amazing tiny, tiny pieces of carved wood that were a "meat shaped stone" and a carved olive stone boat.  We spent about 4.5 hours in the museum walking around and then went to the garden outside the museum to explore.  It started to rain a bit while we were out there, but it was very nice and resembled a Japanese garden, even equipped with many carp.  We were so exhausted and hadn't eaten anything all day so we decided it was time to head home.  We found our way back via the bus and the metro and are now waiting for dad to come home from teaching all day at the hospital with some dinner!  hopefully we will adjust to the time zone too, because we feel very loopy and a bit out of it.  This was the perfect adventure for the first day of the trip.

Metro Station near our room.  Very clean and modern.

National Palace Museum

National Palace Museum, celebrating 100 years of something that we will find out what soon.

Zhishan Garden

Just a couple Carp!

Had to throw a little american into the mix.

In Taipei!

We are now in our "dorm room" at the hospital housing in Taipei.  Dad came to pick us up at the airport (with a driver of course because he would never have been able to find it!) and we barely fit all of our 9 bags into the tiny black mercedes benz.  This room is very much a dorm room for medical students and visiting professors- its bare bones, and very slow internet with an ethernet cord... but at least we have some connection to the outside world!  Mom and I are sleeping in one tiny room and dad is sleeping in the "VIP" room- which basically means he has hot water in the morning and we do not... unless of course we use his shower!  Okay, we are going to try to sleep through the night (as 10 pm here is 10 am EST) and then tomorrow will be our first day exploring with some light.  I will try to upload all the photos from my memory card tomorrow and post some on here.

Taipei Airport

From the Plane...

We have about three hours left of our longest flight of the day today: 14 hours.  Our first flight left this morning at 730am from JFK and we took a small plane (which mom was very nervous about- even though I have flown on them many times before and assured her it would be fine).  That small plane took us to Detroit, where we boarded this plane for Seoul, Korea.  It has been a nice flight actually.  I had a minor panic attack before we left thinking about being in an enclosed plane for 14 hours, but it is okay now.  We are actually flying over Russia as we speak and its pretty cool to see where we have been- we fly over the artic circle, northern Alaska, and Canada.  We are about to enter eastern China as we make our way south to Seoul.  We are completely avoiding Japan which makes me feel better about the radiation.  Mom and I both watched the King’s Speech, which was excellent.  Mom has slept more on this flight than I’ve ever seen her sleep on a plane before.  I wish I could say the same.  I have not slept much at all, which is very unfortunate.  I will post some photos of our meals which were pretty good on here so you get the whole experience!  We also have really nice down pillows and comforters to sleep with… if only we could actually lie completely flat!  Once we land in Seoul, we have to change airlines and then we have a 2 ½ hours flight over to Taipei.  Yay- can’t wait to not fly for a few days!!

Food from our Seoul to Taipei Flight.

Our first toast on the 14 hour flight.

Appetizers

In Seoul, Korea

And the trip somewhat commences...

So the trip has officially begun for me as I sadly, yet excitedly boarded the 737 this morning to fly from Wyoming back east to NY.  I know you may ask ‘why would you fly east to fly back west again’, but I am flying back east for two reasons- one to see my grandmother for a day and two because mom doesn’t want to fly by herself, so we are leaving together from NY on Wednesday at 4am!  Currently, I am sitting in the sardine-like filled airport of Atlanta watching the rain fall on a stormy smoggy, quite depressing day here.  At least I can have some Monterey jack cheese, baby carrots and olives for dinner, with some dried fruit for dessert.  If any one reading this has had the same snacks while in the airport, then you know where I am.  I know I am still in the US, but it is still a shell shock coming from where I normally live to anywhere else in this country.  It's just such a different way of living and taking care of your self.  That may have been a bit of a tangent, but I’m sure I will have lots of tangents on this trip.  I am sad I had to leave b on his birthday though.  Happy Birthday B!  Hope you ended up having a nice day.

An Emotional Rollercoaster

After a week of emotional turmoil because of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear issues, we have been on the phone with Delta for some many hours we have lost count.  One minute we are going on our trip, the next we are canceling the trip.  This has happened at least 20-30 times a day for a week.  We have not been sleeping well and the unknown was driving both mom and myself a little bit crazy.  As of this morning, we were still planning on flying through Tokyo as we could not change our flight without it costing thousands of dollars.  Finally we found an absolutely terrific agent who was able to figure out some flights for us... for the 2 hours of the conversation, we were going to fly through Paris, then Bangkok and then into Taipei.  We got the confirmation email and got excited because we had a 7 hours layover in Paris and we could hang out!  (One of our favorite places in the world... well France really in general).  However, half an hour later, while still on the phone with Delta, they could not confirm the flight anymore because we do not have a "world" ticket... So back to the drawing board.  Eventually an hour later, they figured out how to get us to Taipei, finally avoiding Tokyo, and flying through Seoul (Incheon), Korea and onto Taipei.  So the trip is back on and we are going!!  WOOHOO!  And the emotional roller coaster, well it's still present as probably everyone gets nervous when about to embark on a month long trip to the Orient and a really, really long travel time- almost 40 hours!

Dad is safe from Tsunami

At 2:30am MST, we received a phone call from mom informing us of the massive 8.9 earthquake that had just hit Japan.  As usual, mom was up in the middle of night with CNN blaring in the bedroom and she had just heard about the quake.  She also had heard that Taiwan was about to get hit by the tsunami in 40 minutes and she immediately called dad's Taiwanese cell phone.  He answered and was completely unaware of the quake and tsunami supposedly heading right towards him. He was still in his office at the Taipei Medical University Hospital and signed into skype and although he could hear mom, his microphone was not working but at least they communicated by writing.  He then wrote to mom to hold on (mom not having a clue why he wrote hold on) and there was no contact for several minutes. He returned to type that the entire staff was watching BBC but that they were not worried as no tsuami warning had gone off.  Mom stayed on skype with dad until after the tsunami warning was supposed to have hit Taiwan and as far as he knows, there was not much that happened and he is safe.  Three hours later, he left the hospital, took the shuttle and subway back to the dorm and went to sleep!  So our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by the earthquake and the tsunami.

Dad's Chinese Name

Dad was given a Chinese name last time he went to China and yesterday he was given another Chinese name:

司登泠  (in English it sounds like Si Den Lin)
> 司  means commander
> 登  means climb mountain and peaks
> 泠  means pure water and breeze

Because he is staying in Taipei for a month, he was also given an office in the hospital yesterday.  Apparently it is much nicer then any office he has ever had in the U.S!  His translator is a senior medical student who grew up in Californina but went to medical school in Taiwan and wants to be a neurosurgeon. He speaks perfect English and is fluent in Chinese.  He has yet to find his way to the grocery store and has been living on green tea!

Dad's Arrival in the Orient

Even though my mom and I are still in the states preparing for our month long journey to the Orient, my father has already made the trip from JFK to Tokyo and continuing on to Taipei, Taiwan. His journey took about 21 hours and he arrived yesterday evening to a taxi cab driver holding his name and not a word of English was spoken. He was whisked away to a University medical student and visiting professor dormitory where dad found his room on the 4^th floor. Because this is not a hotel, dad has discovered that he has a bed, a bathroom that only has hot water from 5pm-12am, a tiny refrigerator and meal passes for one meal a day (for the next 4 weeks) at a fast food restaurant across the street. He does not have any soap, tissues or toilet paper and so has recently requested that we bring some supplies over for him. His day has now started with his first bedside teaching at Taipei Medical University and it will be interesting to see how he is greeted here. His last visit to China, about 11 months ago, was a nice experience for him as he was wined and dined everyday for his teaching and medical advice. This is his first time to Taiwan. As stories arise while he is over there, I will continue to post a few stories that I hear from him. While Dad was getting adjusted to Taiwan, I was skiing in beautiful 15 inches of fresh powder all day! What a glorious Sunday.

Mom and I are leaving in t-16 days.