Art.

I've always looked at mood rings with an eye of skepticism. How would something as simple as a color changing ring, indicate how someone would be feeling at any given time. I never believed something inanimate would ever be able to capture the essence of a human emotion, let alone the whole collection of emotions.

Where the mood ring fails, music succeeds. The intangibility, the flow, the power, does a much smoother job of indicating what a mood is. Regardless of what I'm listening to, it encapsulates my entire being into sequences of intertwined, synergistic series of notes. However, the ability to express myself in such a fashion is incredible, and for one, I'm glad I can "vent" in such a way.

No pun intended, but the true key to my soul, lies in the piano. If any of you have been so lucky as to been in a practice room with me when I'm just playing something/anything, you've seen a piece of "me." Not the facade that everyone else gets to see from day-to-day. It's a privilege/offer that many have rescinded, but few have been wise enough to see/experience it.

The purest moment of all, is a piano, in a practice room, with the lights off, and it's like I've shut out all the world's distractions, nothing in my ears, just me, and the notes that play straight from my heart. A similar comparison would be of an inspired painter left alone in a room with four blank walls and no windows, and all the colors in the world available in a polished, 88-keyed, black and white easel. My fingers are the brushes, the notes are the strokes, the "music" created can be chicken-scratch, a doodle, a sketch, a line, a thought, a series, a classic, a masterpiece.

What is greatness?

I mean, how would you define it?

I've always seen it as being extremely proficient in one area of skill, however, does being moderately proficient in multiple areas of skill count as well?

Does the Enlightenment-period Renaissance Man have a place of "greatness" in today's society?

Legacy

That is the one word that most Michigan Wolverines try to rationalize out of their struggling football program.

The winningest program in football history.

Truth be told, I don't even believe half of the people who say that statement even followed Wolverine football back when they were strong and dominating. To that degree, I feel like whenever someone says something like that, they're just hiding behind a facade of past success.

For me, being a fan since when I first started following and watching football, it's gotten pretty lame hearing Michigan on the wrong side of the highlight reel, week after week. After an enthusiastic 4-0 start, we manage to drop the rest of our games (it got to the point, that the Delaware State game was nearly a necessity to prove that we were still worthy to play Division I football).

To me, "rebuilding year" is just another tack on the excuses and rationale for another losing season.

Rich Rod, it's time to pick up recruiting efforts, and develop the players we have. It's not that we don't have talent; we're not using them right. We're a strong rushing football team, whose running backs do in fact have the ability to catch screen passes. Try sprinkling that into your playbook more if they're loading the box and stuffing the run.

Oh, and by the way, can we pick up some high ranked linebackers? I'd like to stop seeing people run all over us. Maybe convince Lamarr Woodley to come back and show people how to get the job done on defense.

Bubbles

The WashU bubble.

I've heard this phrase, this simile, this phenomenon many times, but the meaning has changed:

Freshman year; I blew it off quickly as a mere philosophy to keep an open mind regardless of where you are. I was happy to get out of state, excitedly jumping into many new things, submerging myself into the new college campus, that couldn't possibly be more different from something as "isolating" as a bubble.

Sophomore year: I realized that it was more serious than what I initially thought as a freshman. It showed that outside of the WashU campus, there are many very real (and oh so very ugly) things that are happening around the world. The fact that it is hard for me to see these events merely shows the shielding effect that WashU has. The result? I have reverted back to reading the newspaper.

Junior year: Getting to know people even better, and going beyond simple surface level conversation, many attitudes, hidden from me before (or simply went unnoticed by me), now shown by people I care about, people I call good friends, close friends, really rang home for me. The state of being at WashU, what being a WashU student means, the definition of quitting, inner reflection, personal choices, the future- all things that I've NEVER needed to worry about, things that went unconsidered in light of extracurriculars and just school work. No longer am I swamped with said trivial matters.

As someone very close to me has told me before: "Book smarts and academia are merely the brick used to break the window of opportunity; people smarts and social skills are what give you the ability to seize the opportunity, once you hop through that window." I look back at my life, my experiences, my "career" thus far, and I realize that I am a poster child of the WashU Bubble, "shielded" from the latter two of the trifecta: "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly" of the real world.

Question

Is it bad to admit that nearly 95% of my success is a direct result of body stimulating drugs?

Easy is Not-So-Easy.

A month and spare change into my 3rd year in college. Many many inside jokes along the way, but one always sticks out among my buddies and me: "Just take it easy, man; take it easy." Sure, the hilarity resulted from the pure irony of the situation, the people involved, and the usual expression of the people's faces when we re-enact the scene.

But then I thought about it: what does it really mean to "Take it easy?"

Upon retrospect, I don't think I've ever "taken it easy." I mean, sure I've had weekends where I have no work, in a bye-week between my endless streams of exams/papers. However, I've always found myself running around from one activity to the next, and then returning relatively late to the suite for either sleep, or playing catch-up on some problem set that probably should have been done 15 hours prior. Most of the time, if I seem to not have any activities, it's usually because I forgot to sign-up for some dinner event, missed an appointment with some Dean, or we have a bye with for IM sports.

Needless to say, I'm a busy, busy person. I guess that is to be expected to someone who is jumping face-first into chasing a career in the field of medicine. The standards of each pre-medicine candidate only gets higher and higher, and let's just put it at "super-human."

However, in my case, I feel like this non-"taking it easy" principle started even back in high school. If I wasn't doing homework, I was doing some after-school activity such as: performing for some orchestra concert or a celtic music quartet street show, playing soccer or ultimate frisbee, throwing the football around with my buddies from the football team, participating and later managing a Science Olympiad team, the list goes on longer than an 8-year old's Christmas wishlist. The people who I saw that were actually "taking it easy" were what Asian parents called "failures."

But is "taking it easy" really a bad thing? I mean, I know those guys who did take it easy in high school ended up at community colleges or less prestigious universities, but what is the trade-off for the "educational difference?" I realized that the answer was levels of stress and sanity. The stress levels of someone who would need to follow in my footsteps, or repeat everything I did in life, would probably be off the charts. Granted, even if I, personally, reflect on what crazy antics I pulled in high school, I still don't believe that I achieved all of that within the 24 hours everyday, all coasting on an average of 4-5 hours of sleep. It's an insane lifestyle, and it's definitely not "taking it easy."

Why does this pop up now? At the end of my sophomore spring semester, I finally pulled myself out of the hellhole of 19 credits of class, and 2 internship/shadowing programs that made me go off-campus an average of 12-13 hours a week. I told myself that junior year, I'll be "taking it easy" and focusing on getting prepped up for the MCAT that I'm looking at taking in May. A hop, skip, and a jump around China for the summer, and now I'm back on WashU campus, looking at my classes. Credit-wise, I definitely took a well-deserved decrease in the number of classes, but time-wise and effort-wise, I don't think anything has changed. As I did gain back double-digit hours that I would normally have to spend off campus, those are exchanged for a pick-up of more CSA responsibilities, LNYF's Lion Dance choreography, as well as an increased role in IM sports with my good friends in ACF/GF. Alphabet soup aside, I essentially dropped my internship credits, and picked up about 10 credits-worth of what we fondly know as "extracurricular/co-curricular activities." In fact, I just finished planning my next semester's classes, and I'm staying at the above-average 16 credits, despite originally planning of taking less to fit in an MCAT prep course. Looks like that plan is going straight down the Chinese toilet-otherwise-known-as-a-hole-in-a-ground; once it's gone, you wouldn't want it back.

Why does it always end this way? Maybe it's in my nature that I need to be constantly occupied with something to stay on the top of my game. Maybe my time management skills probably hinge on the fact that I actually need to manage my time. Maybe I'm masochistic on my mind. Maybe I'm super-human. I don't know really, just that the only explanation I can find, is that there is no explanation.

Just take it easy, guys. Take it easy.

Final Traveller's Update on China

Hum, it's been a while since that last update for my trip, but it can't be helped. Computer got fried being in China, and after getting it back, I've been swamped with work and all sorts of jolly activities that I tend to busy myself with. Anyway, to the real substance of this post: the final installment of my China trip (at least the vacation part).

Last where we left off, we finished up rounds in Hong Kong, and made for the mainland.

After Hong Kong, we stepped onto mainland Chinese soil, so needless to say, we went through customs. To my initial dismay (later joy), we were actually en-route to Macao, which meant only one thing: MORE CUSTOMS...I hate borders.

Macao: small place that has more people per square area than even Tokyo (at least it felt that way, Tokyo definitely takes the cake in that actual category). I know for a fact that at night, the population practically quadruples with all the gambling and sketch-tastic guys who are trying to give you flyers for "a good time." Anyway, the gambling age is only 18, so Dad and I try our luck at the slots and some poker. Ironically, Macao casinos don't take the local Pesetas, but would rather have those more expensive HKDs. Is this just an extension of Hong Kong? I wouldn't be surprised. So after about 90 minutes of winning and losing, my Dad and I call it quits when we break even (not bad, eh? My standards for gambling are just about right), and the family finishes up the day with a nice show. The next day for Macao involved the day life of Macao (which just PALES in comparison with the night life). However, it didn't turn out to be too bad of a day, since we went to the Macao Tower, home of the Sky Mast Bungy Jump...off the tip of the tower, down 233 meters. That just screams, "DO IT", right...right? Anyway, because of the absurd amount of adrenaline and yearn to do stupid stuff while travelling, I partake in said "stupid pig" (engrish translation) jump. I have to say, jumping off is the hardest part; but once you're off, free falling is pretty sweet when you know you're not going to be the next pile of spaghetti served in the Italian restaurants downtown. Check out of the tower, go to the center of town, where we tried the local fare, such as almond cookies and jerkies of ALL types of meat (they're in 8.5 x 11 inch sheets, I swear). In addition, I noticed that there were caged street soccer courts, which screamed "Portugal was here." Sadly, I didn't see anyone tot play, so we just left early and back to mainland China...through customs...again.

Zhuhai: first stop after we step on the mainland (for the second time). We stayed at a 5-star hotel, purely because one of my parents' old classmates' younger brother is some crazy businessman that has connections with this hotel. Long story short, we're rolling with the bigwigs here. We then went to the famous Ocean Spring Resort, which is basically a huge complex the size of like 3 football stadiums, of just different baths, massage parlors, saunas, and pools. Talk about...actually, just don't talk: enjoying is of the essence. We leave Zhuhai the day after, waltz our way to Guangdong, where we're just in-transit to Xiamen.

Xiamen: another parent's friend/classmate lives here, so we stayed with them (sense a pattern?). Being a coastal city, Xiamen has TONS of seafood, enough to make Joe's Crab Shack look like a small bucket of crayfish. Needless to say, seafood is key to what we're eating here: stuff like sea cucumber (which is actually pretty common here in China), sea bamboo, and conch...that's right, what's inside that shell. After lunch, we explored the area, thanks to our free tour guide in parental classmate. Of course, to get to anywhere cool, you're going to ride this ferry, which operates a lot like the London subway: mind the gap. Of course, once I'm on this boat, I was almost inclined to start referencing The Lonely Island, but resisted the urge to do so, because that would be a DEAD give-away that I'm one of those silly Americans, fascinated with the aspect of being on a nautical vessel. Although, with the amount of people on this boat, I actually did feel like being on a dolphin, doing flips and shit...anyway, moving on.

First stop was to see a piano museum, of all sorts of old pianos to new pianos. Needless to say, I asked one of the tour guides if I could play any of these pianos, and they actually allowed me to play one of the newer ones (those 1700s pianos/harpsichords would probably break if I actually touched them). They then proceeded to ask me if I was some professional musician that came to inspect the exhibit...hah, I wish.

Outside of that, we focused more on the beautiful coastal landscape, noticed the drastic difference between low tide and high tide...was probably around a good 7-10 feet in water level. After finishing up our intake of the countryside and more outer attractions, we turn our attention the centerpiece: Xiamen University. We wandered around campus, noting that there are still plenty of students on the campus (these guys get out real late, I will no longer complain). I noticed a Lu Xun statue (very important philosopher and writer, for those who don't know), and immediately proceeded to imitating the interesting pose that he was in. After making a fool of myself, we walked out of the campus entrance, and into a nearby Buddhist temple, the Nanputou temple. I wasn't sure if there was any important holiday or day of prayer, but there were literally tens of thousands of incense burning in this temple. The vibes in this place was ridiculous; of course, this was also offset by the other fellow Chinese tourists that were tossing coins at this outcrop of rock with a sutra carved onto it. Apparently, the rule is that if you can get your coin to stay at a good character (like peace, harmony or fortune), then you'll be blessed with that for the next year. I wanted to try my luck at it, but then thought against it because I probably shouldn't be tampering with my already pretty rock-solid lucky streak: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Finishing up in the afternoon, we jump on a megabus equivalent, and it's a few hours to Nanchang, where my grandparents are. We arrive, and surprise, surprise, one of my dad's best friends from middle and high school planned a surprise visit and timed it when we were going to arrive. Because how close my dad is with this guy, I am to officially call him "uncle." So Uncle Wei's family and my family go out to eat (and this time, it's our turn to be the hosts); as hosts, we also get to take them around Nanchang, show them around the place.

Nanchang: there is nothing here worth half a penny for tourism...unless you're communist. I kid you not, even in Chinese, Nanchang is known as "red tourism," since nearly all the important monuments or structures are related to the Chinese Communist Party, in one way or another. We went to the JiangXi hotel, which was the site of the first true uprising of the CCP against the GMD/KMT on August 1st, 1927 (that's enough history for everyone, including me). We then went to a nearby restaurant (which is actually one of the best restaurants in the area). This restaurant is red-hot, I tell you. The same day we walk in, there are 3 weddings, and 2 baby showers: holy crap. After a spending more time to talk with my "uncle," he heads back with his family to Hangzhou, where I promised to visit again the next time I come back to China.

Finally, last place on my travel itinerary, was Fuzhou (the one in JiangXi province, not in FuJian province-the pin yins are the same). We visited my mom's side of the family there, I went with my mom's older brother, and we all stayed at my mom's younger sister's place (there is no such distinction in the simple words,"uncle" and "aunt"). First thing on the agenda here was to pay respects to my grandfather, who is still my idol in my pursuit of a career in the medical field. We got to then see where my grandfather used to practice; this also happened to be where my mom grew up. We then stopped by where my uncle (mom's older brother) was sent down during the Cultural Revolution, and submitted to hard labor...good times. Oh, another note about Fuzhou, there is watermelon. Loads upon loads of watermelon. You could eat 10 lbs of watermelon per meal, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, and still have more than enough watermelon to sell for crazy cheap. Needless to say, I was practically 80% composed of watermelon, and watermelon juice when I was finished. We then ate dinner, stayed over one night, I chilled with my much younger cousin, and taught him some more English (he's apparently really good at English, but lacking in Math...take that stereotypes). We stayed the night, and then we headed back to Nanchang.

Nanchang, my final destination, after that, I stayed here in China doing an internship at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University (this will last a month, but is also a story for another time). The parents took my sister back to the States first, as she's got summer camps and other activities; good thing I look like I was born in China, and have the Chinese proficiency to back it up, too. All in all, this was a great vacation: lots of places, lots of experiences, lots of food, lots of fun.

Traveller's Update 6/20/09

Couldn't quite wait to update Hong Kong travels together, so here's the next installment.

Woke up really early today, it's going to be a tiring day today, a lot of walking, shopping, exploring in the big business district of Hong Kong.

After a quick breakfast of congee and milk tea, we went off to see the sights, and buy what is needed to be bought. :) Hong Kong's transportation system is magic, it's very organized, extremely well placed, and very convenient to get around the large metropolis. The key to the magic? The Octopus Card. This card comes with 150 HK dollars on it, and can be used for almost any type of transportation short of private taxis found in the city. I believe even some grocery stores will take the Octopus card for quick and easy transactions. Unfortunately for me, the parents did not believe that it was worth the money as we were only in Hong Kong for a day (their mistake, believe me). It is so much easier to just swipe a card and move on, instead of looking for a ticket booth to buy single-journey tickets everywhere. Whatever, their problem, I just get to stand around and wait for them while they get frustrated by the automated ticket machines.

At any rate, we ride the subway into the center of the city, and even at 7 in the morning, this place is bustling already. The smaller street stores have not opened yet, but the bigger department stores are all ready for action. First stop for Hong Kong? The Great Peak and the Sky Terrace. We ride a tram up the mountain and get to see the magnificent sight that is Hong Kong. There was probably about 20 stores up here, but we didn't get anything as it was the sights we went to go see.

So coming down from the Great Peak, we went to Victoria Park, where I saw a group of young men playing soccer...they weren't very good. Eh, didn't have time to go play them, so whatever. We dive into the bigger shopping districts, and there are so many shops, with like 10+ floors in every "mall." One of the bigger ones we went to was called Times Square...aptly named. This place was huge...the only thing missing was the crystal ball.

One of more well-known stores is Chow Tai Fook, or (Zhou Da Fu), a gold and jade jewelry store. My mom got a buddha, and my sister got a little double heart pendant. It's the same chain of stores that I got my Guanyin bodhisattiva from.

Later, we came upon the Ladies' Market...before you say anything, this is the largest street vendor booth set up that I've EVER seen. It sells everything from polo shirts to purses to soccer jerseys. Speaking of soccer jerseys...they're all fakes. The saleslady was trying to convince me that Michael Ballack, an idol of mine, played on a team that I KNOW he didn't play on. There's no point in trying to sell a fake soccer jersey to a guy who actually follows soccer. So after some shits and giggles from that venture, we kept going...after my mom got a purse, a wallet, some shoes, my sister got sunglasses, and my dad got 2 fake Polo shirts...the whole thing cost maybe...300-350 HK dollars...lol

Next stop? The Avenue of Stars...yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. It's a parkway along the side of the Hong Kong bay, and has all handprints and names of many famous Hong Kong movies stars and directors. Too bad for me, I didn't really know too many of them. Although, a few famous names did come up: Cecelia Cheung, John Woo, Bruce Li, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Stephen Chow. I compared hand sizes with Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Andy Lau. Jet's hands are smaller than mine, Jackie's are about my size, and Andy's hands are puny, which surprised me indeed.

We finished the day of exploring Hong Kong by eating at a restaurant that specialized in xiao long bao. I think I was extremely hungry or something, because I ate until I fell half into a food coma. Man, I think I have a weakness for those little things. Still, no complaints about food around here.

Right on schedule, pictures!
Octopus Card: http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/15/hongkong_octopuscard.jpg
Chow Tai Fook: http://img1.gootrip.com/attachments/326167/1216870083/12168704151716106206.jpg
Avenue of Stars (No I did not actually get to see him, but I did see where he left his mark): http://www.jackiechankids.com/images/JC_Ave_Stars_2.jpg

Traveller's Update 6/19/09

Mmm, might as well update you guys as much as I can while I still have a stable internet connection.

Today started way early, as we are leaving Taiwan and jumping on a plane to Hong Kong. We rode on Cathay Pacific, a Hong Kong airline, and my god, for a two hour flight, it was a pimped out plane. Normally, any flight that doesn't really last more than an hour or two, won't provide any food, since it's like up and down in air time. We got a full plate of breakfast: a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, fruit salad, a cup of orange juice, some Gruyere with crackers, and a roll. Nice.

After arriving in Hong Kong, the airport is huge. We went through immigration and customs faster than Usain Bolt ran the 100m, so that was a plus. My dad is here for a meeting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), so a contact of his picked us up from the airport and drove us nearly an hour to the mountainous campus of CUHK. We stayed in the Guest House, which for a University isn't half bad, but that isn't really saying anything...this place makes the Knight Center at WashU look like a 4-5 star hotel, but I guess that's not a fair comparison. Let's just say even the internet connection was iffy until I set up a VPN connection through the school's dial-up network. At least that didn't take too long.

Aside from the Hot and Humid weather that I'm already used to from travelling around in Asia, Hong Kong is still organized much like the British system, where the driver's seat is on the right side, and everyone drives on the left side of the road...disorienting...silly Brits. After dropping all the luggage in the rooms, we went to grab lunch...at the CUHK student cafeteria. Now before you all cringe at the fact that I went to get cafeteria food, remember, this isn't University of Michigan cafeteria food (I'm not sure all of that is edible, sorry guys.), this is Hong Kong. You go up to the counter, and you pay first for tickets of whatever it is you want to eat, and then go to the correct booth (noodles, stirfry, japanese, grill, etc) to get your food. I got Roasted Duck + Rice, cost about 20 Hong Kong dollars (that's about $2.60!). Hell, after this trip to their cafeteria, I wouldn't mind being a student of CUHK just for their food, haha.

So we came back after lunch, and went back to the Guest House. The entire campus is like carved into the mountainside, so the roads are all either uphill or downhill...tiring. I'd be in great shape just walking to class. There is nothing else on the TV, other than Cantonese children's cartoons, and AlJazeera...haha, at least I get my world news from AlJazeera.

While my dad went to give a seminar for professors about his research, my mom, my sister and I went to the Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong to get some more HK dollars. Coolest thing ever: Hong Kong has a new 10 dollar bill, which is not made of paper. Rather, it's plastic and "washable." Man, these guys think of everything. Now people who are forgetful and put money through the wash can rest easy that their 10 dollar bills won't be phased what-so-ever by the wrath of their washing machines.

I tried contacting Jessica and Liz since they were both in Hong Kong at the time, but only Liz replied, and due to a dead cell phone that doesn't work in China/Hong Kong/Taiwan, I'm stranded. Bah, so close and yet so far.

We'll continue to explore Hong Kong tomorrow.

As expected, picture time!

CUHK Campus: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/40thanniversary/1024x768.jpg
CUHK Cafeteria: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ow6S8PmFACM/SWtEhUfOsnI/AAAAAAAAAFY/ZPkEmoqODUk/DSC00016.JPG
Roasted Duck + Rice: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v61/monophoto/leap%20day/2pm.jpg
Washable Money: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_aEQLNTFH_iU/RpK6w2bkqYI/AAAAAAAAAV8/5shZ2M7ShgY/s320/hk-money.jpg

Traveller's Update 6/18/09

Last update of the batch. Other days will probably be added up when I get the time.

Today, my family and one of my dad's old friends family hired an entire van just to ourselves, and a tour guide to go with it. This guy was pretty hilarious, he knew mandarin, the local dialects, and even some shaky English. The guy's name? Ambrose...even spelled it out for us, in case we didn't know.

With everything set up, we all loaded into the van, and we were off. It was a 3 hour drive to Hualian, which is next to Taidong. Ambrose was definitely very knowledgeable of Taiwan's history, down to every detail about Jiang Jieshi and the KMT, and how it all related to Chairman Mao and the CCP. He seemed to know a good thing about everything; apparently Taiwanese rice was closely related to wartime procedures, and was introduced by the Japanese, which was why the rice was somewhat sticky but nothing too mushy, which was pretty much perfect for sushi. The name Taiwan also originated from the way the aboriginal people pronouced "Big Garden" or "Da Yuan." Slowly over time, as the Han people moved in, and heard the aboriginal name, "Da Yuan" slowly evolved into Taiwan.

When the van arrived in Hualian, and the history lesson over, we got out to see Taroko National Park. This included the sights: Swallow Valley, and the Cave of Nine Turns. There were huge deposits of limestone and marble around the cliffs, and a small stream that still steadily flows from the mountaintop down. Every 3 minutes of walking or riding in the van, we would see more signs that warn us of possible rockslides and such...the fact that there are this many signs warning against it meant that it was pretty common. To lighten the mood up, we saw some genuine Engrish: "the disaster falls the stone." What a great warning indeed. When we got to the top of the mountain, we got to eat at the mountaintop 5 star hotel/spa/restaurant. The food was amazingly fresh and delicious. Man, Taiwan's spot on for food! Coming back down, we passed by a factory that manufactured jade and marble products, my mom ended up getting a cat's eye, whose value is completely determined not by size of the jade that it's found in, but rather, the width of the cat's eye slit. The straighter and thinner the line, the higher quality the cat's eye is. As we continued our way back to Taipei, we saw a huge cemetary, and honest to goodness, the tombstones weren't tombstones. They were huge houses, obelisks, near-monuments for the deceased. The running joke was that the houses for the dead were bigger than for the living. Damn, with a monument like that, who needs to be famous?

Finally, last stop on our way back before we got back to Taipei was a shop that made handmade Taiwan Mochi by the local aboriginal girls. Not only was it delicious, it was cheap, and offered by the aboriginal girls themselves. Cute girls selling you cheap, homestyle mochi? Pretty hard to say no, eh?

As you guys are all accustomed, pictures!

Taroko National Park: http://www.easyasiatravel.com/files/images/Taiwan-Taroko-1.jpg
Cat's Eye: http://www.mineralminers.com/images/jade/jlry/jadj128.jpg
Cemetery/Tomb: http://www.taiwan-guide.org/aa/tomb.jpg
Taiwan Mochi: http://epicurious.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/chiayi3b.jpg

Traveller's Update 6/17/09

It's that time again. The following day of adventure in Taiwan.

Went down to the bottom floor of the hotel for breakfast. And what do you know? I meet up with May Fu there, apparently her parents are here too...small world. At any rate, we got the catch up a bit, she's staying in Taiwan for a bit before going to Mainland, whereas I get to stay longer overall...booyah.

An interesting observations about Taiwan: The writing is in traditional, but what's more interesting, is that it's still written from right to left, making it quite an interesting read for people who've grown used to reading Chinese left to right. Can't tell ya how many times I've read something backwards, thinking it didn't make sense, only to realize that I read it backward.

Jumped into a taxi on our way to the old rail train system. We're on our way to Jilong, or as the locals spell it out, Keelung, a pretty famous harbor on Taiwan. We went over to Yeliu Geopark, where we got to see many interesting rock patterns and formations created by weathering of wind and water. One of the most interesting ones, was a mushroom rock that looked like a Queen's head. Outside of that, there wasn't anything too outside of the ordinary that I haven't seen at a place like the Grand Canyon. However, unlike the Grand Canyon, the ocean breeze was well appreciated and kept us cool for most of the day.

The last part of today was spent at Jinshan marketplace, which is a smaller mountain village, which is famous for their duck. There was a guy right outside the place where we bought the duck cutting up many, many more ducks that have been broiled, steamed, roasted, etc. Again, no complaints about the food. Simply delicious! After coming down from the mountains, I treated myself to another shaved ice, honestly, can't get enough of that stuff, haha. Today wasn't too bad, weather-wise, and even tiredness. Solid.

Picture time!

Queen Head: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hMGAnqABsBs/SGYSMO3uHvI/AAAAAAAABo4/Remmc_7UwzA/s320/yeliu5.jpg
Broiled Duck: http://www.soba-daian.com/english/dinner/img/sumibi_img01.jpg
Roasted Duck: http://www.ctmenusonline.com/images/rp_2_roast_duck_60.jpg

Traveller's Update 6/16/09

It's been a while, guys. Finally found some time to update, let's catch up, shall we?

Hot and sticky, humid like no other in Taiwan.
Started off today with a cool breakfast, with cold soymilk and some congee. Went outside, and realized something. Motorcycles. Tons and tons of motorcycles. So many motorcycles and mopeds that I thought Aarthi was here in Taiwan too...joking. Anyway, first stop, the National Theatre and Concert Hall. Huge decorated buildings that have elaborate interior designs. The next show that was going to come next to the Theatre was Bizet's Carmen, but alas, no time to watch. We kept moving, and soon came upon Freedom Square and the monument devoted to Jiang Jieshi. Impressive, to say the least. Now that we're all tired, and as hot and sticky as the weather, we needed some stuff to cool down: nothing quite as good at cooling you down as a red bean iced milk drink, eh? The next stop was the Executive Building, which is where all the government processes occur. Granted, we only got to get within like 50 yards of the place, as there were still armed guards and sentries all around the building: government is still in session or whatnot.

Another thing I noticed: masks. A lot of people were wearing masks, but not as many as I thought. Many of them actually said that it was to protect against air pollution, and not swine flu. The swine flu protection offered by the mask was actually more of a side bonus. This was actually pretty surprising for me, since I thought the H1N1 scare was pretty big in Asia.

Before continuing, it was about time for lunch, but I wasn't really in the mood for a hot lunch. What did I end up getting? The most incredible, amazing thing ever to have been invented: Mango Cream Shaved Ice. Taiwan is known for its shaved ice, and I am now a believer. Pieces of fresh Mango, Tapioca Jellies, a heaping portion of shaved ice, and a dash of condensed milk to splash on top. Delectable is an understatement.

Next stop: Yangmingshan National Park. This is where we got to see some great scenery, some monument dedicated to scholars, and a big clock made of flowers. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get to enjoy the hot springs as we originally planned. When we were on our descent from the mountain on our way to the hot spring bathhouse, it started raining, which quickly turned to pouring...Goodbye hot spring bath. Oh well, maybe next time, eh?

Hopping on the bus, paying a fare equalling a little less than 50 US cents, we arrived at the Shilin Night Market, renown for Stinky Tofu, and other cuisine. Needless to say, we loaded up on food, and Stinky Tofu is actually pretty tasty...just don't smell it, it smells somewhat of a combination between salty fish and rotten eggs, can't quite describe it. Called it a night after finishing up dinner, in preparation of the next day.

And just to pique you guys' appetites, pictures!
Red Bean Ice: http://d2.biggestmenu.com/00/00/ab/d2a729b6b6c7b441_m.jpg
Mango Shaved Ice: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1156/727948067_2a89e67352.jpg
Spicy Stinky Tofu: http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t49/cinzia326/stinkytofu.jpg?t=1245507442

Traveller's Update 6/15/09

Woke up pretty early actually, I wasn’t about to miss the Lakers win the Championship! (After all, it may be 8pm EST, but we are in fact in Taiwan means I get to watch it at 8 in the morning!) So after I saw Kobe get his number four, I went down out of the hotel and searched for breakfast. First thing that hits you is the humidity, I felt like I was drenched in sweat and sticky within 5 minutes of walking outside. Luckily, Taiwan has tons of little booths of people selling various breakfast items; I end up buying a 6 meat buns and 2 fried crullers, as well as two cups of soymilk, to share with my sister. The food is amazing, as well as cheap…can’t complain there.

After finishing up breakfast, the family got together and went to explore Taiwan. First thing we do, is ride a taxi to the nearest subway station. The subways are extremely organized, and perfect for managing the heavy levels of pedestrian traffic when it comes to the school and work rush. We jump on, and ride a few single-ride tokens, and scan them to get into the platforms, and after riding the subway, threw in the token to exit.

First stop, Taipei 101, the world’s tallest observatory. The weather wasn’t exactly cooperative, being rainy and somewhat foggy, but the view was still amazing nonetheless. The building itself broke like 15 different world records, a few of them being: world’s tallest completed building, world’s tallest occupied floor, world’s fastest elevator, and world’s biggest wind damper, impressive indeed. In addition, the first 5 floors of the building were all huge shops for everything imaginable. I later found out that the other floors were used mainly for offices, or structural integrity. They have little commemorative dolls that were based off the big wind damper that helps keep the building stable: they were called Damper Babies. There were a total of four of them, each of them having representative trait that goes with them. Lucky for me, I forgot what the black one stood for already, but the other three were: Rich Gold, Lucky Red, and Smart Silver. Fancy that, huh? After going through the entire tower and eating a VERY big, and delicious lunch (man, I’m loving the food) consisting of a lot of those little soup buns that are steamed in those little wicker baskets, we head off to the next destination!

Next stop, the National Palace Museum! This place has a lot of huge historical archives of different ancient Chinese relics. The story behind the place itself, is that when Jiang Jieshi moved the Nationalist party from China to Taiwan, they had taken a large amount of various treasures from the Forbidden City in Beijing before taking off. There were paintings, scriptures, calligraphy, ceramics, you name it. You think it looks good, it’s here. The three of the most impressive works of craftsmanship that I’ve ever seen was also exhibited here. The first one was an imperial gift given in dynastic times; a ball of complete ivory, but carved completely so that there were two more free-rotating balls within the biggest ball of ivory. The second and third works of art are very famous for the National Palace Museum, considered national treasures. The two are a set, both are jade works of art, and crafted to look like a bunch of bok choy, and a piece of seasoned pork. Yummy enough to eat, no?

Last stop for today was at Jiang Jieshi’s private residence. A lot of the place was actually still under renovations, so we couldn’t see the entire estate. However, there were plenty of sites to see even in the portions that we were allowed to wander around. There were literally thousands of roses in the rose garden, a huge tropical like theme, and just huge estates and offices. Hey, if you’re gonna live, you gotta live in style...Jiang Jieshi, knew style.

Oh, and pictures for those who want to see what I'm seeing:

DAMPER BABIES: http://www.chinanews.com.cn/tw/dnjw/news/2008/05-07/U124P4T8D1242159F107DT20080507153415.jpg

IVORY BALL: http://images.johnsontuma.com/jtimg/thailand/ivory-ball.jpg

JADE BOK CHOY: http://images.johnsontuma.com/jtimg/thailand/cabbage.jpg

MMM, PORKY STONE: http://images.johnsontuma.com/jtimg/thailand/stone-meat.jpg

Change: Yes We Can.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/09/obama.stem.cells/index.html

Hell, it's about time.

Never again, will I intern/shadow for 9 hours, and have DotA by Basshunter stuck in my head.