catherinedaigle.com

Offensive hot sauce bottle

2009-08-17T16:22:00.001+08:00

Strong, medium and what???

(video) Trans-siberian Pt.3 Life with Nomads

2009-08-16T14:58:00.002+08:00

Trans-Siberian Pt.3 Life with Nomads from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

(video) Trans-siberian Pt.2 Ulaanbaatar & Elstei Ger Lodge

2009-08-16T14:43:00.001+08:00

Trans-Siberian Pt.2 Ulaanbaatar & Elstei Ger Lodge from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

Mongolian Nomad baby vs. Goat Baby (video)

2009-08-11T09:54:00.003+08:00

I posted this to facebook awhile back but I'm not sure what took me so long to get it up here.

Mongolian Nomad baby vs. Goat baby from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

Part of my trans-siberian trip involved staying deep in the Gobi with a real Nomadic family. It was probably the highlight of the trip for me since integrating is always the most rewarding experience for me when it comes to traveling. We got to help build a ger, help cook and just hang out.

The baby in the family definitely wasn't quite sure what to think of us and pretty much ignored us or shied away from us until Amanda was able to engage him in playing with some toy cars.

Watching the baby outside quickly answered my questions about how Mongolian children entertain themselves when there's no work to be done. Apparently living breathing toys are a lot more fun than plastic ones.

video fixed

2009-08-04T17:40:00.002+08:00

For some reason the first trans-siberian vid in the previous post was marked as private but it should be viewable now.

Trans-Siberian Pt.1 Beijing -> Ulaanbaatar

2009-08-04T12:01:00.004+08:00

Trans-Siberian Pt.1 Beijing -> Ulaanbaatar from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

In May of this year I spent 21 days crossing the trans-siberian railway from Beijing to St.Petersburg with a friend made in college, Amanda. The whole thing started during a Skype call with Amanda some time last year. At the time she was planning on moving back home to Canada. Amanda lives in Australia and has been there 4 years.. about the same amount of time I've been here in Taiwan. She told me the last thing she really wanted to do before she went home was the trans-siberian. After expressing my interest (ie "Let's do it") it was about 3 more phone calls and 8 months later for us to be headed on our way.

We would meet up in Beijing after 2 years apart to start our journey. After 4 years in Asia and having been to many Asian cities, and using many forms of public transportation, I was feeling a bit cocky. Especially since I've been starting to feel a bit competent in Chinese. I decided to skip using a taxi since the Beijing metro system reached out to the airport. This was a disaster. Having never been to China I had no idea how inconvenient the metro system would be. I was lugging a suitcase as big as I am and probably as heavy through connections with tons of stairs and no escalators.... and then of course I got lost.

It's not entirely my fault. I had a map of my hotel and had asked the information booth at the airport and she had told me with a lot of confidence where the hotel was and where I should get off the metro. This is a common problem in traveling through Asia. People don't like to look dumb or "lose face". Saying "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" is like saying to someone that you don't know anything about anything...or that you're a failure as a human being... so people will tell you with gusto directions to anywhere even if it gets you horribly lost.

My other two favorite experiences at the airport were the security and dumb westerners. While I was waiting in line to go through security there was a handful of bubble gum popping bleached blonds with American accents. One of them thought she had found an "Engrish" gem beneath the security booth. She pointed to the sign and said "Please queue....QUEUE???? OH MY GOD WHAT'S QUEUE???" her jaw dropped down to her chest, she nudged her friend and they both started laughing hysterically (and my palm hit my forehead). This is what I was terrified of spending days on the train with. My prayers began "please please don't let me get stuck with dumb westerners on the train... please please".

I know it's impossible but I still romanticize of having travel experiences that feel authentic. I want to go to places where few other foreigners have trodden. I don't want to be followed around by other white faces with cameras dangling around their necks and fanny packs on their rears. It's not meant to sound snobby and it's totally selfish but it's just a dream that I know this day and age is almost entirely unrealistic. Coming into this trip I knew we would bump into other westerners and I was sure at points it would be a relief. I just didn't want to be stuck with them the whole way. I wanted to enjoy this trip with a good friend and interact with as many locals as possible along the way.

Coming out of the Beijing airport I had to pass additional screening to get onto the Beijing airport express line which feeds into the metro. They put my purse through an x-ray machine and when I started to lift my suitcase they said "no no" (or "不用不用"). I found it interesting that they thought I could possibly have something dangerous in my purse but that I wouldn't go through all the trouble of putting it in my suitcase????

Anyway my quick and easy ride into the city didn't end up being so quick and easy. I managed to drag my suitcase through all the necessary places to get to the stop I was supposed to get to but then once I got there my hotel was nowhere to be found. I ended up quickly making friends with two young, and incredibly sweet Chinese girls who were on a mission to get me to my hotel. I couldn't help but feel a little suspicious for awhile. They were going through so much trouble to help me and I couldn't figure out why they would (Taipei has turned me into such a city girl) but they were just genuinely good people. It definitely left me with an extremely good impression of young mainlanders. We walked and walked and tried to find the hotel, eventually one of the girls called the hotel and found out it was much further away than we had imagined. So the next adventure was trying to flag down a taxi.

Taxis are apparently a secret money market waiting to be discovered in Beijing. I can't walk 5 steps without a taxi honking at me in Taipei but in Beijing we tried on a main road for a good 30 minutes (with many others trying to catch their own cab) with absolutely no luck. And it wasn't even raining! We finally caught a bus and the girls saw me safe and sound to the hotel and right into the arms of Amanda.

It was weird how quickly it felt like I'd never been apart from Amanda. She's just one of those friends in a million. In a way I imagined myself being hyper and wound up about it for days but we pretty quickly settled into our regular old selves and it was nice. As soon as I turned the light off to go to sleep we both went "oooooooooooooooooo" (ghost noise) at the exact same time. I knew from that moment that everything was going to be alright.

Overall I wasn't looking forward to going to Beijing but it was incredibly depressing to have to spend 200$CAD for a visa only to go to Beijing, get lost, eat, go to sleep and wake up crazy early the next morning to catch a train leaving Beijing. I didn't even get to see the wall! Our walk to find a food place that was still open was pretty much my only exposure to the (closed) attractions of Beijing.

The video shows pretty much everything else that followed from us leaving Beijing to getting to Ulaanbaatar. As I said I wasn't too excited to spend our long train rides surrounded by other foreigners so when we got to the train station and the waiting area was filled with other westerners I was a bit bummed... and then when we stepped into our cabin and two big guys followed us in I felt a bit defeated but thankfully my first impressions were way off. Eoin and Conar, two Irish boys, were one of the highlights of the trip. It's only a slight exaggeration to say we pretty much laughed for 30 hours (we did need to sleep)... and in the end they ended up being the only westerners who we shared a train ride with at all. There is a good 30 minutes or so of videos of them NOT included in this movie. I'm sure when I finally compile them together in a condensed form I will be able to make the boys famous on youtube.

For more stills of the trip check out my flickr:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Mongolian performance in Ulaanbaatar

2009-07-09T13:03:00.004+08:00

Mongolina performers in Ulaanbaatar from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

My biggest regret of my trans-siberian trip was this performance. Our friend in Mongolia took us to see this traditional performance hours before our train to Russia was set to depart. She said normally camera fees are 5$ and video camera fees are 10$ but when we got there the video fee was 30$

It just seemed like it might not be worth it since it was only set to be a 40 minute performance so I only paid the camera fee. Thankfully my digital still can do video clips but I spent most of my time taking good shots since my still camera's memory was limited. The only videos I have are these.

I'll be back to Ulaanbaatar and I'll pay my 30$ next time to get the full show.

For some photos of the performance (not well labeled or tagged ones at the moment) check out my gallery for this day on flickr:

trans-siberian days 7 - 8 Ulaanbaatar and an amazing performance

Yes that's right, a pizza vending machine.

2009-07-07T00:25:00.003+08:00

I thought I'd seen it all in Japan. In Japan beer and underwear can be bought through a vending machine, but Taiwan threw something new at me or perhaps just something I missed in Japan.

The pizza vending machine...

We found this beauty at a batting cage in XinJuan where Han was having a fun practice day with his teammates.

Overall not very bad for a 3$ pizza. A little too cooked on one side, a little under cooked on the other.... but it's a PIZZA VENDING MACHINE!! Who can complain?

The dancing grasshopper

2009-07-06T23:44:00.004+08:00

Han and I went driving in the mountains past Muzha up towards his old university (Huafan). Along the way there is a really sweet little roadside cafe in Shiding. We stopped for a drink while we contemplated a hike and this little dude started inching in on my latte. It was a great little test for my new favorite toy (the Sanyo Xacti HD 800).

The dancing grasshopper from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

I lurv this camera.... and this grasshopper.

Stop talking about it and just do it....

2009-07-06T23:09:00.002+08:00

For something that in the past has given me so much joy, I'm really depressed at how little work I've put into this site. It hasn't been because a lack of content, maybe the opposite. I only touched the tip of the ice burgh with Japan posts from my month in Japan, haven't posted anything from a trip to Hong Kong last October, and just this past May I spent a month doing the Trans-Siberian from Beijing -> Ulaanbaatar -> Irkutsk -> Moscow -> St.Petersburg with a friend...

So I don't care anymore. I don't care if things are in a messed up order.... sporadic... poorly written... I love this site, I love that some people pay attention to it and it's stress relief doing it.

This summer I have a lighter schedule and I've asked my boss for less hours in the new school year so I can have more of a life. The goal is more writing, more creativity, more exercise, and more Chinese classes. Enough talking and daydreaming about it. Time to do it. Middle of the year resolutions.

Taoist gods' birthdays

2009-04-28T22:33:00.005+08:00

This month, along with having Tomb Sweeping Day, there has seemed to have been at least half a dozen taoist gods' birthdays. There have been 2 or 3 times this April when Han and I have been en route to some weekend fun and have gotten held up in traffic by the gods walking across the street... .... and there have also been many noisy mornings, the very few where I get to sleep in, where I've been woken up by firecrackers, drums and horns. The parade in the following video is one we caught (or got caught up in?) while driving to Sanxia to see a photography exhibit at the Hakka Museum.

Goings-on around the Tomb sweeping holiday. from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

Pencil Crayon Chopsticks

2009-01-05T20:20:00.006+08:00

My cute new chopsticks.

All the way from Sugar Land.

I <3 Tokyu Hands.

Both the cheapest and most fun day I had in Japan

2008-09-29T02:09:00.003+08:00

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

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

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

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

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

photo slideshow

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

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

video

Sumida boat cruise from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

photo slideshow

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

video

Subway ride to Odaiba from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

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

photo slideshow

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

video

Tokyo Megaweb fun from Catherine Daigle on Vimeo.

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

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

Japanese Food

2008-08-21T00:59:00.007+08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not to mention great ambiance!

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

Taiwan is a long ways away from this!

baseball in Japan from one who is not so much into the baseball

2008-08-20T23:49:00.001+08:00

Han and I are a bit of an odd couple. Aside from the obvious, our rare Western female/Taiwanese male combo, and the fact that I'm 4 years older than Han we're an "opposites attract" kind of couple. Han could be explained as a sports loving jock who thinks he's a comedian, and I guess I'm the artsy film loving techie geek who's too serious most of the time.

What binds us, I think, is that both of us are not stereotypical for our cultures and we both enjoy trying anything once even if it isn't something we wouldn't do on our own.

One of the things I've had to endure for him has been baseball. Thankfully, Asian baseball is something completely different. It's like being at a rock concert filled with the most die-hard fans. The cheering, chanting and hollering does not end, ever, E V E R!!! and baseball games are freakin' long!

Han and I saw games I'm sure some baseball fans would drool over on our 3 week trip in Japan. We went to Tokyo Dome (Yomiuri Giants vs Yakult Swallows), Chiba Marine Stadium (Chiba Lotte Marines vs Orix Buffaloes), Meiji-Jingu Stadium (Yakult Swallows vs Yokohama Baystars), and finally the Japanese All-star game at Yokohama Stadium (the best from both the Central and Pacific Japanese leagues).

Although I have an increasing tolerance for baseball the best part is still the people watching. Each team seems to have half a dozen chants that each fan knows by heart as well as some kind of "gimic" when their team has a run.

The swallows do an umbrella dance.

The giants swirl orange towels over there heads.

The Marines wave checkered flags around.

....and my favorite, they also start a polite mosh pit :) jumping up and down while chanting.

It seemed during the allstars game some people were torn in two and were singing the half dozen chants for their home team as well as the half dozen for another favorite team.

One of my favorite things in Japan was seeing girls in Kimonos. Like the Indian sari I'm so glad the Japanese girls haven't completely abandoned this beautiful and feminine way of dress. Surprisingly I probably saw the most kimonos at the sporting events I did attend. Han and I also, unfortunately, saw a wrestling match by the Japanese "NOAH" league. It was horrible, fake and noisy.... although he loved it (sigh) but that doesn't get its own post.

At Japanese games there are a bunch of young people who walk around selling beer or bento boxes, they're kind of like walking concession stands. Probably the most entertaining moment of all my baseball experience was watching this guy (and having my ear drums burst) who loves his job just a little too much. I promised Han I'd try to make him famous.

The most hilarious thing is I was trying so hard to get him on video, his big loud scream followed by his arm swirling the cup above his head. I didn't want him to know I was filming him so I tried really hard to be discreet and act like I was just filming the crowd... but I think he caught on anyway so he wouldn't give it as much gusto when he passed me or would wait until he was far away to do it. Finally after awhile I'd gotten bored taking pictures and videos so I tucked my camera away. The next time he walked by he gave it his all and mid-way looked down at me from the corner of his eye with a little glint of "ha ha ha! You're plans have been foiled!" . I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing.. but I did catch him anyway even though the arm swirl in the video isn't as dramatic as it was when he wasn't on guard. Thank you concession guy for making my baseball night less boring. I'm not being mean, I truly think this guy is awesome. I'm sure he sells more than the whole bunch. Even more than the cute girls.

Anyway, whether you live in Japan, Korea and Taiwan.... even if you hate baseball and sports...try to hit one game at least. It's a unique experience.

Anyway here's a compilation of all of my baseball clips:

First day in Tokyo (in pictures)

2008-08-17T01:58:00.001+08:00

Question from a 5 year old

2008-08-17T00:58:00.003+08:00

Since I've come back from Japan I've dove back into work and straight into our school's summer camp program. It's a lot of extra work since we aren't provided with any materials but we are given complete "creative control". Basically pick a weekly theme and go from there.

Last week I chose to do the 5 food groups with my kindy class. Their food vocabulary is really good so I started to teach them the difference between fruit, vegetables, dairy, grain and meat. Mid-week I started the morning by showing them coloring pages I'd taken off the net and getting them to shout out which food group it is from. The kids have become naturally chatty which is awesome for an ESL class. So as I flashed the picture above one of my 5 year old students, who I've taught since he started learning English a couple years ago, tilted his head and with complete seriousness and curiosity asks "Teacher, that one is very stinky or very hot?" The absolute seriousness in his voice and "thirst for knowledge" on his face is what really killed me.

I nearly fell off my chair laughing followed by him and the other students. He didn't mean it as a joke but was pretty proud of himself after when I told the other teachers what he asked.

The image is from first-school, a really great resource for any kindy teachers out there.

Japanese Male Hosts - Review of "The Great Happiness Space - Tale of an Osaka Love Thief"

2008-07-20T15:04:00.003+08:00

Last year I watched an amazing and odd documentary on moviesfoundonline about the world of Japanese Male Hosts named The Great Happiness Space - Tale of an Osaka Love Thief. The movie was eventually taken down because it isn't free domain so it's no longer available to watch free online. It's available here on netflix and unfortunately only on amazon at a ridiculous price. Unfortunately it seems impossible to find even a trailer online now but there are quite a few great review.

The Japanese male hosts stand outside in the early evening trying to lure females into their clubs. Girls can also go to these clubs and flip through books of pictures of the male hosts and pick the one they like the best. Different hosts have different "prices" but their price is the price you must spend on a bottle of champaign in order to buy some of their time and attention.

Surprisingly the male host world, at least from the Osaka club covered in the documentary, has little to do with sex. The men mostly woo the women and make them feel special and even though they may be sharing a table with 5 or 6 other women competing for the hosts attention by buying more and more expensive champaign the hosts still manage to make each woman believe that she has the special relationship with him and that if she just keeps coming back and spending more and more money that maybe she will actually have a chance someday to really be his real girlfriend.

Of course it's all a lie and the moment a woman stops spending money the attention she had is taken away from her and poured on some other woman. Behind the scenes the hosts shuddered and talked about how gross our crazy they found the women minutes after they had been lifting up the women to believe they are so special and valuable. The guys talk about how if they break the having sex barrier then it will quickly be over. The women have gotten the trophy so their interest will dissolve.

The saddest part of the whole documentary is when you started to find out that most of the women who are patrons at the clubs are actually female prostitutes who work at "massage parlors". They crave love and attention so badly that they have to buy it because their profession is so shameful they can't have a real relationship. It's a vicious cycle, they make their money by doing degrading work but then spend all their money on fake acceptance that becomes addictive so they have to continue doing what they do to pay the high host fees instead of spending the large amount of money they make on improving their life in a different way.... either by spending the money on themselves or by bettering themselves to be able to escape their field of work. The women really seemed like sad empty souls with vampires feeding on what little light was left inside them.

Still the hosts interviewed in the documentary were strangely charismatic and parts showed their own depression over what they were doing.

Han and I walked down one street which seemed to have these kind of male hosts and there were posters everywhere. The guys seemed to have an otherworldliness about them that is hard to explain.

I definitely recommend seeing the documentary if you can get your hands on it.

Shameful confession

2008-07-20T14:33:00.002+08:00

My 2nd meal in Japan was Wendy's.

Taiwan has all sorts of Western fast food but what they don't have is my favorite burger joint. Han and I were walking around on our first full day in Tokyo looking for some brunch. We turned a corner and I screamed "WENDYS!!!!!!!!!"

Han has the metabolism of a teenager so he has not problem eating junk food at any hour.

Wendy's was my "last meal" before I left Canada last time too (thanks Louis!). I promised myself I'll only do it once more before I leave.

Japan - the good

2008-07-20T14:21:00.003+08:00

So what's good about Japan?

- Everyone here is SO polite. Just ridiculously polite.

People smile when they talk to you, they apologize profusely over nothing and if they see you stopped looking at a map with a puzzled look on their face they'll come over and do their best to help you.

The foreshadowing I experience for how polite Japanese people are was when our plane was about to take off from Taipei. The plane was backing out of its parking space (sorry I don't know the technical terms) and all of the ground workers who prepare the plane for take-off were waving. At first I thought "wow, the pilot must be a really nice man, all the workers are waving goodbye to him" but then as the plane moved away more I realized, "hey they're not waving at the pilot, they're waving to us!!!". I guess I'm a big mushy dork but that made me melt a little and I waved enthusiastically back. Then on landing the same type of workers bowed upon or landing. It gave me an instant love of Japan.

A few times I've been taking pictures in the wrong place of things I haven't been allowed to take pictures of. Of course it's embarrassing to do something wrong and potentially culturally "incorrect" but every time this has happened I've been approached by a big genuine smile and a little bow telling me that pictures aren't allowed or where I am allowed to take pictures from.

- Transportation is futuristic.

As much of a nightmare as the subway/train system is, it is also awesome. I can leave from Uken's little area of Hashimoto and go all the way to the other end of Japan without ever having to leave the train system. The tickets are a bit pricey but if you enter Japan with a JR pass it's really convenient.

- Capsule machines are everywhere.

The capsule machines that we had growing up would pop out little plastic happy face rings that would break as soon as you put them on your finger but Japanese capsule machines are small toy stores. Everything you can imagine from small guns that fire little pellets, scantly dressed women, poop themed toys, and lots of nostalgia. These have been my biggest souvenir so far and even though we have a lot of these in Taiwan, Japan is the land of capsule machines. Everywhere we go they have them... Han even got a boat capsule on the boat tour we where on. There will definitely be more pictures of these to come.

- The food is amazing.

This is no surprise. I've always loved Japanese food. I think Han and I eat Japanese at least once a week but of course, in Japan, the Japanese food is SO much better. I'd been warned so many times before I left and heard SO many people complain about how expensive everything is and how expensive the food is but what a co-worker told me is true, if you eat like a local the food is not expensive at all. Of course Taiwan is much cheaper and it's possible to eat a huge meal in Taiwan for only a couple of dollars but still Japan is much better than I expected.

One kind of place we've really enjoyed in Japan has been the restaurants where you buy a ticket for your food from a machine that has pictures of all the food on buttons. These are great because most of the time it's fairly easy to figure out what the food is and avoids us having to deal with the language barrier, plus the food is usually cheap and yummy!!

- There is SO much to do here.

It takes no imagination to find something to do here. While we're in Japan we're going to spend one week traveling outside of Japan and about 2 weeks in Tokyo. I thought 2 weeks in Tokyo was going to be way too much but so far we haven't even been here a week and we've seen such a small amount of what can be seen.

As much as I whine and complain about having to do some of the things that Han wants to do like baseball games, wrestling matches, motorcycle races.... I have to admit that it's given me a much fuller experience of Japan. Usually I travel alone and do what I want to do but it ends up being the same kinds of things (temples, beaches, anything with animals) but I kind of burn out on it and feel a bit bored. Even though it felt like a waste of time at first it has been a great way to experience a different part of Japanese culture to go and people watch at some of these sporting events. Although I'll never admit it to him one of the most fun things I've done so far was spend an evening at Toyota City. There were all kinds of simulators, cars to sit in, things to play with, and all free!!!

I guess I'll buy that opposites attract since doing things I didn't want to do and would've never done if I had come alone have given me a much fuller and rewarding experience in Japan.

-Japan loves Nintendo.

I see people playing DS in Taiwan and some back home but PSP still seems to be the winner. In Japan Nintendo is EVERYWHERE. We've walked into game stores that had more DS games than I could've ever imagined existed and probably half of which will never exist in the western world. Games that haven't even come out yet in the west. Then of course weird stuff. They have DS "games" that teach parenting and how to cook, no not mama's cooking, actually cooking instructions and recipes. My favorite so far and I think I'll buy it for the novelty alone if I see it again was "ENGLISH OF DEATH"! There are a plethora of English teaching games here but this one had a very goth horror theme. Hilarious.

- Japanese is easy.

I can say a word for the first time from my phrase book and Japanese people will instantly understand what I am saying. Mandarin I can say something I know how to say and repeat it 10 times without the Taiwanese person I'm speaking to understanding what I'm saying. Unlike Chinese Japanese doesn't have different tones to worry about and Japanese words seem to roll off the tongue easily. A co-worker explained that the actual amount of sounds in the Japanese language is very few so it is less complicated to learn compared to other Asian languages.

- Japanese women look "healthier" than most Taiwanese women.

Since Japan is a fashion capital and so many Taiwanese seem to want to "look" Japanese I kind of thought the weight obsession had come from Japan but mostly Japanese women seem to have a healthier weight and shape. Han and I were eating in one of the ticket machine restaurants I mentioned above and saw a girl walk in who had legs thinner than my arms and I thought "wow, ok, finally I've seen an overly thin Japanese girl" then she started speaking and Han said "she's from Taiwan, I can tell from her Mandarin". I'm not generalizing and saying Taiwanese women are unhealthy. There are just a large number of weight obsessed young girls and women.

- Japanese people do this at baseball games:

- I think I'm going to lose 10lbs here.

I walk a fair amount in Taipei but Han and I have been walking almost 12 hours a day. Transportation is very good here but sometimes even making it from the place where you bought your ticket for the subway to the actual train is a 15 minute walk. Then walking around outside and going anywhere takes a long long time. I'm sure I'd complain if I lived here but as a tourist it's great. I'm really getting to see a lot of the city. I'm not skipping any meals. Who would want to here?? but I think my pants are getting looser already.

In Japan!!! Why I love Taipei more still....

2008-07-20T13:08:00.006+08:00

Monday night Han and I left Taipei for 21 days in Japan. We're lucky enough that Han has a (wonderful, beautiful, and cool) sister Uken who lives in Tokyo who is housing us for most of our stay. I find every day in Japan I'm constantly comparing things to Taiwan. I've always wondered if I could, or would want to live here . So far Japan seems to be better than Taiwan in about a million different ways. Strangely some of the reasons that make Japan "better" make me love Taiwan more. Maybe I could stand to live here for a year when Han eventually has to do his mandatory military service but I am pretty sure now Taiwan is home.

I'm not sure if I want or need to have the choice of 1000s of different vacuum cleaners in one building, or as many different kinds of toilets, watches, or cellphones. I love public transportation but having the train and subway system so interconnected creates this monster spiderweb that makes every day feel like I'm living in some kind of complex video game labyrinth. I have to find the right ticket booth for the right gates for the right trains and figure out whether the train or subway is cheaper or faster. Just to illustrate what I'm talking about here is the Taipei metro map:

Here are two different systems for Tokyo that don't even show all of the stations that belong to the Tokyo area:

Taipei's metro has 8 lines and 67 stations. Tokyo has 13 lines and 282 stations.

In all fairness Tokyo boasts a population of 12,790,000 to Taipei's 2,630,515 but that's just one more reason why I love Taipei more.

The malls are nearly as bad as the subway system with so many interconnected buildings and endless levels of stores for everything you could ever imagine and some things that you would never imagine (humping dog USB anyone?? note: Uken has one of these):

It's a love/hate relationship with me and the malls.

Something else I didn't expect is that Tokyo doesn't share Taipei's love of convenience stores. It's hard to make anyone believe how many convenience stores are in Taipei unless you've been there and I have a hard time believing there are any countries that rival it. Between 7-11s, Family Marts, Hi lifes, Nico Marts, and some more I'm sure that I'm forgetting I feel like there is a conveniences store for every 10 people in Taiwan. It's not weird to see a conveniences store next door to a rival convenience store with another across the street. Two 7-11s can sometimes be on opposite ends of the same blocks. According to Wikipedia there are 7000 7-Eleven locations in Taiwan giving it the 3 largest amount in the world... keep in mind that's ONLY 7-Eleven.

In comparison in Tokyo the convenience stores seem almost scarce but in place are vending machines EVERYWHERE. I still haven't seen any of the famous beer vending machines but Soda, juice, and cigarette vending machines are everywhere.

Oh and my last observation of something I don't like about Japan so far before I get into what I love. People smoke here, it seems a lot! I'm actually really surprised. I hadn't imagined this as a smoking culture. In my own life I've had less and less exposure to smoking and smokers. In high school it seemed like EVERYONE one smoked, and my closest group of friends and I, excluding a couple of people were the rare ones who didn't. Then as laws were passed to prohibit smoking in more and more places smoking almost became invisible. I guess not being into the clubs is part of the reason why I haven't been so exposed to it. In Taiwan it seems more similar to Canada, there are smokers but it seems on my beaten path,it's a much smaller percentage of the population. Rarely do I see smokers in front of buildings or in parks. Sometimes flying by on scooters (smoking + flame seems like a bad idea but I see it) and sometimes in smoking sections of cafes or restaurants. I actually saw a propane delivery man (on a scooter with propane strapped to the back) with a lit cigarette before we left Taiwan. Yikes.

a little drive to Heping Dao 和平島

2008-05-04T01:48:00.005+08:00

A little road trip to Heping Dao 和平島. Ocean, bare-handed fishing, crabs, "sea cockroaches", bumper boats, beautiful views, cliffs, mushroom-shaped rocks, cute kids, good day.

I love that this sign is necessary....

2008-04-27T23:49:00.004+08:00

While biking along Taipei's beautiful riverside bike trails this afternoon I spotted this.

No vendors, ok.
Don't throw trash on the ground, ok.
No bonfires, ok.
Don't make a farm... huh??

Apparently there's a big issue with farmer-squatters in Taipei :)

That's horrible! Candy advertising.

2008-04-22T01:44:00.003+08:00

I can hear my friend Amanda's voice in my head "That's horrible". Ok if you have never seen the Japanese anime "Grave of Fireflies" and plan to at some point you should probably stop reading here because the rest of this is going to contain spoilers.

It's really hard to disguise what a geek I am when so many things in Taiwan cater to my inner geek. There was a time when I was a huge fan of anime. I haven't watched any in a long time but to me the master is and always will be Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is well known for Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away (won an oscar) , Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle (oscar nominated), and my favorite Nausicaa.

Miyazaki's heaviest work is a movie called "Grave of Fireflies". It's set in Japan during WWII. Setsuko and Seita are a brother and sister who are left homeless after losing their mother in an air raid. They temporarily live with an aunt's family but after she starts to steal their food, supplies and manipulate them they leave and live in an abandoned shelter.

The movie ends up being unbearably depressing. It's pretty amazing for an animated movie to be able to steal the award for "the most depressing movie I've ever seen" considering I watch hundreds and hundreds of movies but I've never watched anything that has left me with such a lasting sick stomach and broken heart. I've seen all kinds that gave me a few hours of feeling in need of a Xanax but NOTHING and I mean NOTHING can ever top the pain of this movie.... and if it can I don't ever want to be exposed to it.

*BIG SPOILERS START HERE*

So if you haven't seen the movie and never intend to, basically here's how it goes: due to lack of support and a country in disarray from war Setsuko and Seita are unable to properly nourish themselves. They have a meager amount of food. The big brother does all he can to comfort his little sister and keep her spirit light. He captures fireflies and puts them in a jar so she can have some light at night and something beautiful to look at. He tries his best to find what food he can. One of the items that his sister Setsuko has aside from a ragged doll is a tin full fruit candies. We've all had these before. Hard as rock and they taste more like fruit flavored cardboard than anything else.

In the end Setsuko begins to starve to death. She sucks on her candies for comfort and when they are gone she fills the tin with water and drinks the colored water flavored by the candy residue. Finally when delirium takes over and she's dying her brother finds her sucking on small marbles that she had put inside the tin:

So knowing all this, and having seen the movie. Who in their *right* mind would think that this is a great advertising scheme????? I laughed in awe and horror and then (of course) had to buy them when I found the tin.

That's right kids, for just 50NT you two can enjoy fruity flavored treats in our cute little tin, but unlike Setsuko there is no reason to starve, just ask your mom to buy some more! Har har har.

Or like someone is going to be watching the movie and at the end think "Wow, those candies sure looked delicious. Man, where can I get those???"

It was painful just searching for videos on youtube to demonstrate that this is the same tin and the same candies that Setsuko had for the purpose of the entry. I can't believe anyone thought this was a cute way to advertise candy. But I guess they made me buy it, didn't they?

Movies this traumatizing really should come with a warning. Regardless it's a piece of art and Miyazaki is a master.

logic defying sighting

2008-02-17T16:12:00.005+08:00

I exited 7/11 one morning this week and started on my way to work. As I was walking I noticed a blind woman walking in front of me. From what I could tell she was completely blind. She was walking slowly but efficiently with a cane like the one pictured above. Something was puzzling me and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then the fog lifted and I noticed she was wearing high heels.

First of all high heels aren't easy to walk in. I can imagine being blind, and especially in Taiwan, where the roads are bad, people are pushy, and people are stupid enough to drive their scooters at high speed on the sidewalks that you would want to at all times ensure your physical safety and prevent yourself from falling however possible. Secondly, no matter what anyone says heels are NOT comfortable and there is absolutely no reason to wear them except for aesthetics.

I'm not trying to be politically incorrect here, I have a deaf sister and I'm sensitive about these things but I still found it baffling.

I told one of my co-workers the story and he chuckled with an "only in Taiwan" response and shared with me how when he was in the Philippines over the (lunar) New Year holidays he saw a Chinese girl walking down the beach with an umbrella and wearing stilettos on the sandy sandy beach.

My only guess is she wasn't completely blind but the way she was using the cane makes me she think she was, or it's just a simple desire of normalcy in someway?