Taipei, Taiwan

When the flight from Danang to Hanoi was delayed twice, this made us miss the connecting flight to Hong Kong; this meant spending one more night in Hanoi. During this trip, when things like this happen, we simply turn to each other and shrug; telling ourselves to just go with the flow. It must be the luxury of having time on our hands or we have now learned to take things as they come; we weren’t bothered by it. With no harm done except to allow us even more savings on the cost of lodging, we flew from Hong Kong to Taipei the next day.

In Taipei, we stayed in a place called Hotel Eight Zone, which we found through the internet. Sometimes what you see on the Internet is far from what you get, but when we were led to our room; call it Feng Shui or what, we were totally in tune. The hotel itself was new and clean, a boutique designer style that was centrally located. It didn’t hurt that the room came with a large and modern bathroom fully equipped with a separate Jacuzzi tub and a shower stall with a rainfall shower head and hot steam sauna. We only booked the hotel for one night but we immediately extended our stay.

The courtesy and friendliness of Sophie and Sheena at the front desk was another reason why we extended our stay here to six nights. On the first night, they kindly worked out a thorough itinerary as to what to do and see in Taipei. They even wrote a note written in Chinese to show the local people in order to guide us, in case we needed it.

The hotel also included a delicious breakfast every morning - made to order noodles, rice porridge, omelette, etc.  All this without Joanne having to lift a finger.

The next morning, Tina came to show us around the city.  Tina is a senior in college studying to be a teacher. She is from a small town in the southern Taiwan, attending school in Taipei on scholarship. Joanne met her last summer at Glacier National Park, where she was working for the summer. Despite her busy schedule (she's taking 10 classes and has two part time jobs), she spent a whole day taking us around. She has a bubbly personality with a big bright smile but I think she was afraid to show her braces in this picture.

The first place our young friend took us to was Lungshan Temple which was only one subway station away from our hotel. The temple was crowded with worshippers holding incense over their heads, wishing for good fortune.

In front of the General Chiang Kai Shek memorial building. We noticed Taiwan is politically trying to distance itself away from his legacy. Many places that used to honor his name have been changed recently.

We asked Tina to show us her school.  When we walked in, a celebration was going on. Tina told us this was the traditional freshmen festival.  Students were divided into teams wearing different costumes and were competing for a grand prize.  We got into a festive mood as well.

What to eat is one of the important questions we ask the locals when we first arrive at a new country. Din Tai Fang is a highly popular chain restaurant specializing in dumplings. The restaurant is internationally known and there’s even a branch in Arcadia.  By Sophie and Sheena's suggestion, we ate several times at the home of the dumplings.

In Taipei, MRT subways run very efficiently. They were frequent and fast. All we needed to know was the red line and the blue line; it got us where we needed to go around Taipei.

Other means of transportation is by taxi or bus.  Our direction was to take a bus from Jiantan station to get to the Palace National Museum. Being there during the holiday season, even the drivers were in a jolly mood.

Palace National Museum is a must stop when in Taipei. It houses many of the most exquisite and valuable treasures from Xian, the ancient capital of China.  The treasures were moved by General Chiang Kai Shek when he fled to Taiwan.

A Japanese businessman we met on our plane ride to Hanoi had advised us to spend a whole day in the museum. We only got to spend  half a day and it definitely wasn’t enough.

There are many night markets in Taipei.  This one near the Jiantan station is one of the largest. We stopped here for dinner at Shihlin Food Square, before heading back to our hotel.  It reminded us of Nam Dae Moon ("South Gate") market in Seoul.

As for the menu, a passenger who had been sitting next to Joanne on the bus, wrote down (in Chinese) what to order.  Without speaking a single word, we were able enjoy four different kinds of local favorite dishes. 

We took a half day tour to Yangmingshan National Park which is located about 40 minutes north of Taipei.  One of the highlights of the park is the "flower clock".  The park was pretty, but in our opinion, the name 'national park' should have been bestowed on something much grander.

The other highlight of the park was the hot springs.  The guide took us right to the source of the hot springs; where the natural hot water is piped from.  The water was the smelly kind.  We soaked our bodies in the hot springs for an hour which led to both of us smelling like thousand year old eggs for the next two days.

The end of the MRT red line is Danshui where we were told the sunset is the prettiest. This is the view from the station where you get the best view, high above this small city.

After having spent a restful afternoon I told Joanne we couldn’t have timed the sunset better by arriving at the station in nick of time to see the sun go down.

It was Friday evening and a lot of locals came out to enjoy the Danshui Wharf, strolling, shopping, and eating. The temperature was balmy for late December night. In fact, Taiwan had the perfect golf weather, mid 70 F, all the while we stayed there.
National Taiwan University was where a few of my friends and colleagues went to get engineering degrees. Since I heard that it was the best university in Taiwan,  I decided to pay NTU a visit.  

We walked in thru the gate from the main road and it led us to the university library.  It looked like the university was celebrating its 80th anniversary.

We asked this student for the directions to the engineering building.  Her name is Han-Chen, a graduate student majoring in physiology.  She couldn't tell us the way to the engineering building, but led us to a good waffle sandwich place to have lunch. We invited her to eat with us and spent a good hour sharing each other's company. 

Taipei 101 is a landmark building sitting next to the city hall. It was filled with high-end shops and many people doing Christmas shopping.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It has almost been three months since we left home and started traveling abroad. What we miss most are our families and friends back home, not to mention a washer and  dryer.  This time of the year is when we especially wish to be with our kids, families, and friends. We miss all of you! We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

From Brian and Joanne 

Hello, Vietnam!

My images of Vietnam were largely from scenes that were implanted in me a long time ago, from watching TV news reports and movies like “Deer Hunter”, “Platoon”, and “Forest Gump”; the footages of war, jungle gun battles, and fleeing of innocent people and refugees. Since then I had many friends and colleagues from Vietnam who also showed me the side of hard working, competent, and striving individuals in pursuit of that illusive “American dream” – whatever it may be. With a single call into Hanoi from Hong Kong the night before, we were about to find out, first hand, the new images of Vietnam.

My first encounter with Hanoi's pho.  I was nervously waiting to see what would come out.


We landed in Hanoi and were promptly greeted by a driver holding up my name. Hanoi was to be our hub during our stay in Vietnam, which was to last 9 days. We chose Hanoi over Saigon (Ho Chi Min City, HCMC), because we read that culturally, there’s more to see around the northern side of Vietnam. Hanoi was also closer to Hong Kong and if we wanted to, later on, we could visit HCMC from Thailand. As soon as we got to the hotel, after learning to say “xin chao” – hello, how are you, “cam eun” – thank you, and “mot bat pho bo” – one bowl of beef pho, we dashed out to the streets of Hanoi and was able to order a bowl of Hanoi pho. While Joanne could not stomach the thought of eating in this seemingly unsanitary “hole in the wall” restaurant, I gulped down a bowl; good to the last drop. She later declared that I must have an iron stomach.


I didn’t know until we got to Vietnam that Pho is a local dish of the city of Hanoi. Needless to say, it was really good – the soup especially was excellent. In this birthplace of pho, I had them five times to my iron stomach’s content. With inflation, the price had gone up to 20,000 dong or $1.18. Joanne told me I could eat as many pho as I wanted.

The streets of Hanoi – they were filled with motorbikes, bicycles, honking cars, tri-cycle taxis, pedestrians, and lots of dust. There was not much space left on the sidewalks to walk on; so most of the time, we dangerously mingled with the rest of the vehicles on the road.

Once built as the French governor’s mansion, it was used as an official government building when Ho Chi Min was the president.

Ho Chi Min, fondly called “Uncle Ho” by many Vietnamese people, preferred this simple structure, next to the official building, as his living and working quarters. Born into a poor farmer’s family he connected with and won hearts and minds of the nation.

Joanne has taken over the operation once again, even in Hanoi. She booked all the tours with the help of the hotel staff. When we booked locally, we saved 80% of what we would have paid if we had pre-paid before entering the country.

In two nights that we stayed in the Hanoi Palace Hotel, we quickly became friends with all of the staff in the hotel, Lisa, the general manager, Alex (pictured left), Kien (holding the phone), Henry, Khem, Huey, Ang the driver, including Mama Choy in the kitchen. To anyone wanting to visit Vietnam, we would recommend all of the friendly staff and especially Kien, who was most helpful in making all of our travel arrangements. Unfortunately, the hotel does not get our nomination.

We had afternoon tea at Hotel Sofitel Metropole. We wanted to look for ourselves how they could be charging $300 a night for a standard room when other hotels (of course with less stars) were charging from $30 to $100. A cup of espresso with all you can eat assortment of fancy French pastries was worth it but we thought the lodging was not. It seemed a crime to pay that much when we’ve seen other travelers pay as low as $15 for a room for two.

In Hanoi, we took a half-day tour to visit different places. This picture was taken with musical performers in Temple of Literature. Oddly, they were playing ‘auld lang syme’ instead of traditional songs.

This dish is called Cha Ca. We had it at the restaurant Cha Ca La Vong which is listed in “1000 Places to See Before You Die”. The restaurant is so old that the street was named after it. This was one of the many delicious Vietnamese traditional dishes that we tried.

Lake Hoan Kiem is located in the central part of Hanoi near the Old Quarters. You would never know it, but in the midst of busy streets and crazy traffic, there was this placid scene of a happy bride. I missed my best man’s daughter’s wedding, which took place in L.A., but witnessed this beautiful bride getting her picture taken.

Sapa

Sapa is located about 250 miles northwest of Hanoi and it takes about 9 hours by train. Yes, that’s how slowly the trains run in Vietnam. At first, I thought the train was going slowly because it was still within the city, but it never picked up speed the whole way through. It was nothing like the smooth & super fast Shinkansen ride in Japan; it creaked and groaned the whole way. At least we went on a night train in a sleeping cabin just for two; other cabins sleep 4 to 6. We left around 9PM in the evening and got there around 6AM the next morning.

The scene of Bac Ha’s Sunday traditional market – ethnic minority women of Flower H’Mong came out in traditional clothes. They were trading live stocks and selling handicrafts.  To get to this place we had to go on a two hour van ride through very bumpy and dusty roads.  We questioned if it was worth it, but since it's open only on Sundays, we didn't want to miss it.

Instead of “mooing”, I swear the water buffalos here seemed to cry “pho~”. One near our hotel in Sapa kept us awake one night “pho~ing” all night long.

Being up  in high altitude, their skin looked rather harsh for their age.  When I told them my age, they didn't believe it.

As a part of the tour, we visited the house of a local ethnic minority. We saw only men (rice has already been harvested) and children in the homes; the women are out trying to earn some money from the tourists. The living conditions were primitive, lacking in everything except the satellite dish and a small TV. The people seemed content with their daily lives. The guide told us that they lived day to day – a good lesson for all of us.

The living conditions inside their house.  Imagine trying to remodel this kitchen (Joan & Steve?, Mike & Connie?).  I would think that's a tall order even for Joanne.

We saw many young westerners, especially from Australia, in Vietnam. I am sure it is because things are still cheap here. They were out on the streets of Hanoi drinking 3000 dong (18 cents) draft beer and I was told that if they ate where the locals ate, they could even get by on one US dollar a day for three meals. This picture was taken in Sapa, one early morning, they were having  breakfast - sweet potato; one of my favorite foods.

One of the fifty four ethnic minorities in Vietnam, called black H’mong.  Twenty seven ethnic minorities live in the mountainous region of Sapa. 

Since harvest season for rice has ended, almost all of the women living in the village walk up the steep hill every morning to Sapa where the hotels are.  This is where all of the tourists start "trekking".  She followed us all the way down to the village. Later on, she wanted to sell us a hand made pouch for $1.20. We just gave her a dollar without taking the pouch and she was happy.

The trek down to the village took about two hours. This region is called the “Swiss Alps of Vietnam” and the guide said Sapa was becoming more and more of a popular  destination to the visitors who come to Vietnam.

Our trekking partners - they only knew how to say “hello” and “what is your name?” but they smiled easily and kept us company all the way to the villages. They even helped Joanne cross the river.

We had a delicious  hot lunch here that our tour guide especially prepared for us, towards the end of trekking.   After another hour of walking through the villages,  we were picked up by a Jeep that was awaiting us.

A sweet looking village girl baby sitting her brother. When Joanne handed her two oranges she flashed us a big innocent smile.

I thought this bridge was about to fall apart at any moment. I was being chivalrous and let Joanne cross first, just in case.