First, this is a great jumping off point. Think about it. If planning a vacation from US soil, would you really want to spent 16+ hours in an airplane to see Cambodia? Well, yeah, you might. But in that case, it's going to be a big thing, a big costly thing. From Hong Kong, it's a puddle jump. Two, three, four hours and welcome to (insert name of Asian country here)! You can do it, just like that, easy. Kids have a 3 day weekend? Perfect! In the States you might head to the Outer Banks for a get away, here Singapore.
Second, for the most part ex-pats are living on ex-pat packages from their companies. So, free from the ties of mortgage and automobile loans, there might be a little extra bank here and there to pull together for get aways.
Third, it's a get away from Hong Kong. It's a time filler. It's something to do, to occupy your mind so you're not sitting around missing home, your "real" home, the place with grass, and top 40 radio stations and supermarkets that carry Rotel and Suddenly Salad.
And lastly, you only live once, right? See the world.
So, with all that said, as my 37th year approached my husband asked me what I wanted to mark the glorious day of my birth. I showed him a flyer. A flyer for a group trip to Taiwan. And I wanted to go.
The thing is, how could I not go? Sponsored by the American Women's Association, the trip was reasonably priced and all inclusive. Did I have a deep, burning desire to see Taiwan? No. But the trip fit. Many of these sponsored tours are days and days and weeks long. With two small kids, I can't do that. Taiwan was scheduled as a 3 day weekend trip that left early on a Friday and returned on Sunday evening. Couldn't be a more perfect fit! So, Gene being Gene, he said "ok" and "have fun". And just like that, I was registered for Taiwan.
So without further ado, here's my Taiwan trip in photos:
We travelled and toured mostly outside of Taipei, in the lesser know areas of Danshuei and Keelung.
Main mode of transportation here was the motor scooter. I was never camera quick enough, but I saw men riding with multiple children on scooters and even dogs sitting on the "floor" of the bikes as they sped down the street.
We went to a temple. Not entirely different from the many I have visited here in Hong Kong. A temple is a temple. Very smokey with multiple altars to multiple gods and lots of food offerings brought for the gods. Our tour guide explained to us that at days end, the offering where usually gathered up and distributed to the poor.
.
This is some kind of fort. Had we skipped this part of the tour, I would not have lost any sleep over it. Fort, yay, whoopie! Just in my opinion. Some people may really dig forts, just not this girl.
There were two things I especially enjoyed on this trip. The first was our visit to Yeliu. It's an area on the Pacific where erosion from wind,water and rain have carved out these really cool rock formations. When I saw it I thought it looked like the surface of the moon. When Gene saw the pictures he said "it looks like the surface of the moon!". Great minds, right?
My other fav? One evening we had a couple of hours free before dinner so six of us ladies wandered down to the night market. There are lots of markets here in Hong Kong, but I daresay they are mostly shopping markets. Though this market had it's share of stalls selling socks and toys and dog sweaters, the majority of it was food vending. So interesting to see the cuisine of other cultures! I'm not a crazy adventurous eater, but I am not afraid to try things, within reason. The frogs stewed in some kind of crazy gravy in a huge vat? Not my thing. But bubble tea? I'll try that! Look at this picture. See the cup on the right with the black beads in the bottom?
That's bubble tea. It was described to me as a cold, sweet, milk tea with "bubbles" at the bottom, kind of like tapioca. Well, tapioca isn't black (last time I checked), but I'll try it anyways. What's the worst that can happen? It tastes like funk, so you toss it, right?
It was actually good. And loaded, I mean loaded, with caffeine. Talk about a pick me up! But the bubbles, not sure how I felt about them. They give you a big, fat straw so you suck the beads right up with your drink. After my first sip, one of the ladies looked at me, "well?". "I feel like I'm chewing an eyeball," was my reply.
I made it through 3/4 of the tea before I pitched it. I just couldn't decide how I felt about chewing my drink. But if you ask, at least now I can say "why yes, I have had bubble tea".
Here's some shots of the food stalls in the Keelung night market.
This is the froggie place. Now tell me, would you eat that?
I must say, after this trip, I've come to appreciate one thing about Hong Kong even more. Here in Hong Kong, you can get by with English. Most signs are written in both Cantonese and English. It's easy. Most people speak English, at least enough to relay basic messages and if they don't, it's easy enough to grab someone nearby who can transfer.
In Taiwan, use of the English language is few and far between. At the night market, 99% of the vendors signage was written in Mandarin. It was hard to sample anything when you don't know exactly what they are selling. Gross food items aside, I have a nasty shellfish allergy so in order to avoid becoming violently ill, I had to avoid most of the street food. But I did try some skewered, candied strawberries and they were the kind of sweet yummy goodness that makes your belly ache.
Friends and family have asked "how was your trip to Taiwan" and with a bob of my head, I give them a half-hearted "good". And this is why. They trip, though very well planned, organized and executed, was group travel. The last time I did group travel, I was seventeen, a senior in high school, and, yes, filling condoms with water and tossing them out our hotel room window. It was a lot of on the bus, off the bus, be back here in a half-hour type travel. And it was Taiwan, a nice place to visit, but no major sites to see, no picture postcard material.
But the main reason the trip was just good and not GREAT!, was because this guy was missing
And these guys too
Because without them, life's journeys just aren't magic.
