Don’t forget to register at Taiwan Best Trip and vote for team Formosa Adventurers.

The Formosa Adventurers’ final video from their four day trip for Taiwan’s Best Trip has been uploaded to YouTube and their journey is at an end. Day 4 was a long, wet, rainy day, but the guys came through it like champs. Even if they didn’t get to hit any of Taiwan’s wild hot springs, they still did an amazing job in promoting Taiwan and showcasing this beautiful island. I’m really impressed with everything that they packed into their four days here.

Check out their team blog on Taiwan Best Trip for a full update.

The Formosa Adventurers couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to go paragliding. Sunny blue skies make for a beautiful video, too. You can read about their experience here. After their paragliding experience, the guys head to the Bunun Tribe Culture Center to learn about tribal culture.

Stu Dawson

Neil has posted some great comments on his blog: Formosa Adventurers Four Day Trip.

Stu: Hiking Taiwan The Formosa Adventurers

Phil: Doyoupoken blog in Chinese.

Phil Dawson

Our young adventurers were up early on Day 2 in order to board a train to Ruishui for a white water rafting adventure. I chatted with Neil briefly on Monday night via Facebook. He reported that the guys are a bit tired from their river tracing adventure and the aboriginal festival on Day 1.

Really? You’d never know it from their white water rafting video from Day 2, which shows four super-excited and enthusiastic young men having the time of their lives! Check out the video below for some serious adventure travel and watch the guys sample some traditional aboriginal food at Mibanai.

Ross Tweedie

The Formosa Adventurers – Theme: Adventure Sports and Aboriginal Culture.

Day 1: The team reports that they’ve just completed a day of river tracing. Later on, they learned about aboriginal culture at the Harvest Festival. Stay tuned for Day 2.

John’s four-year-old son Caleb has joined us here in Taiwan for the summer. Luckily, he arrived just in time for the 2nd annual Miaoli Cabin Party, which was held last Saturday. This was Caleb’s first trip out of Taipei and we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day or a nicer group of people to spend it with.

We started the day off by picking up David and Catherine. This was also a first for them. Catherine had only been to Miaoli once before, but never to the countryside. David has been looking forward to this day since last year’s party.

It was a beautiful day for a drive. We had the windows down and the music blaring. David brought a number Bingo game for Caleb, so we taught Caleb some numbers while John followed the directions on his new GPS. We arrived in Miaoli just in time to watch MJ and Hui-Chen get the food started with the dutch ovens. Life doesn’t get much more relaxed than a July 4th barbeque with good friends and good food. This is the second time that Becky and her family have invited us to the family cabin. It’s a real treat to visit them. Thanks very much, Becky!

It was nice to see old friends again. Hui-Chen’s mother joined us that day, and we also got to meet Andres’ parents for the first time. Neil Thompson and his family were also there, along with Becky and her family and some family friends. Later on, we were joined by Ashish and his family.

MJ cooked up a beautiful meal of roasted veggies, stuffed peppers, and chicken. He also brought out his famous chocolate and cherry cake, which is one of my personal favorites. Catherine (David’s wife) also brought some real spice to the table by cooking up three terrific dishes before we left Banciao. John and I brought deviled eggs (I’ve been told that no July 4th party is legit without them.) and John made his famous blue cheese burgers.

Kellen-burgers

We all enjoyed watching an interesting game of ball between Caleb, David, John, and Becky’s brother. David would throw the ball over Caleb’s head. The ball would land in a 6-foot ditch. Becky’s brother would climb in and fetch the ball. He’d pass the ball to Caleb, who would throw the in the fish pond. David would fish the ball out; John would try to kick David in the water, and David would throw the ball over Caleb’s head again. (Sorry, David! ) Amazingly enough, this went on for ages and it was a thoroughly entertaining (although pointless) sport to watch. Later, Caleb and Becky played a little football. Well, Caleb mainly just beat poor Becky up. She looked like she was having fun though.

This is what happens when Caleb throws the ball.

Poor Becky. Caleb just LOVED her. This is what happens when Caleb wants the ball…

Then he had to cool off for awhile…

MJ got his karoake system set up and then we sang some golden-oldies, while everyone else fished for shrimp in the stream running next to the cabin. We ended up packing things up around 7:30pm. Our trip to Miaoli this weekend wasn’t just a treat for John and I. Caleb had a great time and hasn’t stopped talking about it since we got back.

Thanks again to Becky and her family. We think you guys are terrific!

Hui-Chen’s Mom

Beautiful moms and adorable babies.

John and MJ hanging out.

CI Boys

The 6^th Annual 2009 Taipei Toy Festival is here again. This year the show is being hosted at Huashan1914 Creative Park.

The show runs from July 9-12^th and it is expected to draw over 20,000 toy fanatics of all ages. Festivities kick off today and will host famous toy designers from around the globe. The doors open at 10:30am and close at 8:30pm. Tickets can be bought at the door. (NT$150) All your favorite designers will be there. C.I. World, Medicom, Crazy Label, Kennyswork, and Tokidoki are a few of my personal favorites. Check out the goodies I picked up at last year’s event.

The show’s organizer, Monster Taipei, has arranged several special events and activities for the next four days. Toy enthusiasts can expect free daily toy giveaways, auctions for rare limited edition toys, and a chance to meet their favorite artists and exhibitors. Make sure you check the website to find out when autographing sessions take place and don’t forget to pick up your Taipei Toy Festival exclusives while they are available.

2009 Taipei Toy Festival Poster

Taipei Toy Festival

Huashan1914 Creative Park

East 2 Room. (No. 1, Sec. 1, Bade Rd., Taipei City)

MRT: Chunghsiao Hsinshen exit no.1 or Shandao Temple exit no.6

Poster design by Simone Legno (Tokidoki)

There’s a reason why Singapore Airlines was ranked 33^rd this year in Fortune’s World Most Admired Companies in 2009. It’s an airline that has excelled in safety, service, and innovation for years and is well-known amongst travel enthusiasts as being the very best of the best. We wholeheartedly agree.

This was our first experience flying with Singapore Airlines. Our business class tickets on Singapore Airlines were purchased with our air miles. We didn’t spend a cent. Check out Fly For Free With Air Miles if you’re interested in finding out how we did it.

Mixed Satay Appetizer and Seafood Salad

We each enjoyed a spacious fully reclining and adjustable seat, personal television, in-seat power supply, and USB port. From Taiwan’s KrisFlyer lounge to Singapore’s Changi International Airport, John and I were pampered with food, entertainment and the ever-charming demeanor of the airline’s famous Singapore Girls.

The airline serves gourmet cuisine in all three classes. We enjoyed a full five course meal, which kept us preoccupied for the duration of our short flight. However, we still managed to take full advantage of the complimentary Singapore Slings and the in-flight entertainment system, KrisWorld. Introduced in 1997, Krisworld offers on-demand movies, free language lessons, audio, and Nintendo games in all classes. All in all, we were really happy with our journey on Singapore Airlines. In our opinion, flying doesn’t get much better than this.

Our main entree was steak with roasted vegetables, with vanilla ice cream and fresh mango sauce for dessert.

Finally, an assortment of cheese, grapes, and wine. The staff came pretty close to having to roll us off the plane.

Hip Compass Escapes

Over the past few months, I’ve been branching out with my freelance writing and photography projects. My latest assignment is with a brand-new online travel magazine called Hip Compass Escapes. The summer issue was released just over a week ago and can be previewed here.  My article and photography can be found on pages 42 and 43.

The magazine is the brainchild of Michelle Strashoon, author of the successful travel tidbits blog Hip Compass. Michelle also writes a popular weekly column called The Hip Compass Travel Guide, which is published every other Friday by The Daily Sound in Santa Barbara. As editor-in-chief, Michelle has pulled together a diverse and talented team of popular travel writers from the blogosphere. Subscribe and have the next issue delivered right to your inbox.

An American in the Far East

This month’s guest author is Graham Woodring, writer of the beautifully-crafted blog, An American in the Far East. Although Graham is a relative newbie to China – he just moved to Asia in February 2009 – he writes as though he’s an old-hand at teaching, traveling, and keeping the rest of us informed on life as an expat in China. Graham is one of a few bloggers writing about his couchsurfing experiences in China, which makes his blog very unique. His most recent post on the techniques he uses to stay safe while couchsurfing is especially useful to anyone thinking of taking part in a couchsurfing experience. Today, Graham takes us on a tour of his favorite city in China.

The train slowly pulls into the station. Amid the river of disembarking people and the muffled grunts of exertion and unintelligible cries, you step out into the afternoon light in a new city.  Where you came from doesn’t matter any more; you’re moving on.  Where you are going next doesn’t matter either; you are living in the moment.  The sun beats down on your neck and shoulders as you huddle over your guidebook, searching for clues to the next step in the chase: the chase of adventure, something new and exciting, of living the life outside the cubicle and free from the shackles of your daily life.

You read each word of your book deliberately, carefully pouring over each entry in an attempt to divine the optimal route on your journey.  But there’s no time for that; you have to keep moving.  As you break away from the throng of people jostling for a way into or out of the station and hail a taxi, only one thing echoes in your mind:  You are in Xi’an, and you have 48 hours.

Day 1

Photo by Graham Woodring

The Great Mosque of Xi’an: Nestled deep in the Muslim Quarter, the Great Mosque is one of the oldest and most well known mosques in all of China.  Within the walls of the mosque it is eerily quiet, providing a great retreat from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding area. The construction is completely Chinese in style and architecture, but there are some Muslim influences scattered about if you look; there is even one stele with both Chinese and Arabic characters on it.  The massive prayer hall is still in use today (mostly by the Hui people) so it  is barred from the public, but even from the outside it is an impressive sight.

Sha’anxi History Museum: Construction began in 1983 on this Tang style museum that opened to the public in 1991. With an area of 55,600 square meters and a collection of 370,000 objects, there is something for anyone interested in the long and culturally rich history of China.  The museum is actually free to the public, but tickets are limited to prevent over-crowding.  Make sure you show up early or you will miss out on what is generally considered the second-best history museum in all of China (after the Shanghai history museum, of course).  The museum is closed on Mondays. Address: 91 Dong Xiao Zhai Road

Food: Yangrou Paomo The most famous dish in Xi’an can be found almost anywhere.  Yangrou Paomo is a mutton soup with vegetables, noodles, and the distinctive flat bread that is so common in the city.  As Xi’an is situated at the beginning of the Silk Road, obvious Arab influences abound in this culinary delight.  The flat bread is broken up into pieces and dropped into soup, and is then eaten with pickled cloves of garlic.  This dish is a hearty, filling meal that is usually not very expensive.

Photo by Graham Woodring

Big Wild Goose Pagoda:  Originally built in 652 during the Tang dynasty, the pagoda has suffered much damage and has been rebuilt and renovated many times over the years.  The last time being in 1964 so that it now stands at 210 ft (64 m) tall and is one of the most recognizable symbols of Xi’an.  Regular visitors pay 25 RMB to enter the Temple of Great Maternal Grace, which surrounds the pagoda, and another 25 RMB to enter the tower itself.  Some consider the double tickets a cheap scam to get your money and the views from the top are less than spectacular.  The novelty factor of climbing to the top is what gets most people inside.

Dinner at Delhi Darbar – Cuisine of India: This little restaurant can be found just across the street west of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.  Though I have never been to India, this place has the best Indian food I have ever eaten.  But the icing on the cake here is that the beer is guaranteed to be the coldest in Xi’an.  Anyone living or traveling in China knows how hard it can be to find ice-cold beer. The food is excellent, the beer is cold, and the owners are friendly and more than capable of helping people of all nationalities.  What more can you ask for? Address: Huan Ta Xi Road and Da Tan Tong, Yi Fang

Park Qin Bar: Unless you are looking for a nightclub to spend your evening, then this bar is the perfect place to take a load off from your long day and have a cold beer.  Park Qin offers many different beers (imported and domestic) on tap and from the bottle, as well as a wide variety of liquors and mixed drinks.  The beer tower is a favorite, which is a long tube that holds about 7 liters of beer and has a spout at the bottom.  It’s not really cheaper than buying individual beers, but it is ostentatious enough to have a good time with.  As far as patrons, Park Qin mostly hosts foreigners and occasionally some Chinese.  The number of people from all different walks of life with all different stories of travel and adventure can make for a long, long night.  If you’re up to it, of course.

Accommodations: Shuyuan International Youth Hostel If you went to Park Qin Bar for drinks, you won’t have to worry about a long  journey back to your hotel. The Shuyuan IYH is right upstairs and definitely on my top list of best hostels.  Sitting right inside South Gate and next to a major bus stop, it is in a perfect location to allow you to explore south of the city-the museum and the pagoda­-as well as take a short walk up to the Bell Tower and the city center.  This hostel boasts the quality, standards, and amenities one can expect from Hostelling International-accredited lodging.  All of the staff speak English and they can help you find a guided tour, book a trip or arrange for a hostel in another city.  They even provide free pickups from the train station!

Photo by Graham Woodring

Day 2

Breakfast at the South Gate: Just to the East across the street from Shuyuan hostel is an area packed with art shops, trinket sellers and travel souvenirs. The area is lined with small food carts.  Popular breakfast foods in Xi’an include Baozi (steamed dumplings) or Bing Guo (flat pancake-like wraps with food stuffed inside).  The Bing Guo is particularly good because you can pick and choose which ingredients you want.  The base stuff is normally a fried bread or cracker topped with scallions and shredded potato and some kind of peanut sauce.  From simple scallions and potato to pickled cabbage, seaweed, or sausage, there will always be a great selection to choose from.  The Terracotta Warriors can be a long trip and you might miss lunch, so I suggest that you stock up on some extra food and snacks here (the flat bread and baozi are great for this).

The Terracotta Warriors: A trip to Xi’an is not complete without a visit to the world famous Terracotta army.  Commonly billed as the eighth wonder of the world, the sheer size of the army and the unique detail of each soldier are simply mind-boggling.  To stand in front of the hundreds of warriors and breathe in the cool, dry air permeated with thousands of years of history is an experience one does not soon forget.  There are three hangars where you can view the warriors.  Though you can go in any order you want, the best path is to go in reverse; that is, first to #3, then #2, and then #1.  #1 is the biggest and most impressive of the bunch, so saving the best for last makes the experience more enjoyable.  There is also a small museum adjacent to the hangars, which gives you some history of the warriors and a short film on Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China and for whom the army was constructed.  From the train station, you can take local bus #306 or 307 for a mere 7 RMB and the ride is about 45 minutes to an hour.

A Bike Ride on the City Wall: The city walls of Xi’an are some of the oldest and most well preserved specimens in all of China.  What better way to explore this massive structure than to ride a bike around it?  To get onto the wall you enter at the South Gate and it costs 40 RMB, and to rent a single bike for 100 minutes is 20 RMB (40 RMB for a double).  The people renting the bikes speak English so there is no problem there.  But before you leave, make sure you check out the bike: the tires, the breaks, the seat, etc.  Also, bring some extra water because the people selling cold drinks and snacks will try to charge you exorbitant prices (5 RMB for a bottle of water in my case!).  The walls are about 14 kilometers around so you will get plenty of different views of the city.

Photo by Graham Woodring

Food: Hot Pot is one of the most popular dishes here in Xi’an.  There are a seemingly endless number of hot pot restaurants in all parts of the city.  Anywhere you go in Xi’an, you will find one of these eateries.  The best place for hot pot is in the Muslim quarter.  The Muslim quarter offers all sorts of restaurants and many styles of food, hot pot being the most prominent.  A hot pot meal involves picking your meats and vegetables to go into the soup.  At some restaurants, you can choose from a few different varieties of broth as well as a couple different dipping sauces for your cooked meats and vegetables.  Or, you can just get a mix of everything!   Sitting at an outside table around a bubbling pot of hot pot, sipping ice-cold beers or hot tea, all the while watching the chaos of the Muslim quarter at night pass you by is an experience you won’t soon forget.

Photo by Carrie Marshall

The Muslim Quarter: After eating dinner in the Muslim quarter, you will have the perfect opportunity to explore this fantastic area.  This nighttime experience is a highlight of any trip to Xi’an and comes highly recommended.  Even if you can only squeeze this into a daytime visit, it should not be left off your list.  There are an endless variety of goods to look through to keep you interested: fruit, candy, snacks, toys, chopsticks, art, clothing, and much more.  The seemingly infinite number of lights strung up from building to building and across the streets really adds a magical effect to the night.

Photo by Ajari on Flickr

Summer is finally here and we are busily researching our favorite travel destinations and making travel plans for the rest of the year. Luckily, I stumbled on a gem of a site called Travelgrove a few months ago that has facilitated the process. (Travelgrove would be a GREAT option for you, Dad!)

Travelgrove uses a powerful search engine to search major travel search engines like Priceline, Kayak, and Travelocity for deals on cheap flights, hotels, cars, vacation packages, cruises, and even theme vacations. A basic search shows results from Hotwire and C-Trip. By checking the boxes underneath the search box, users are able to add additional search engines like Travelocity, Priceline, and Kayak. Results from each search engine open in separate windows, which easily allow you to compare prices.

There’s also a section for Recently Found Flight Deals, which lists the best deals of the day. Last week, I found a cheap flight to Honolulu from Los Angeles for $262US. These tickets are usually $600US and up! John and I decided against getting married in Hawaii because it wasn’t within our budget. I wish I’d found this deal before we got hitched.

Travelgrove also offers World Travel Guides which can help you get acquainted with your next travel destination. These are also a great source of information if you’re looking for hot deals and vacations.

I mentioned earlier that Travelgrove offers cool social networking features to registered users. Users can become part of a unique online travel community by joining. You can make new friends; ask questions, share travel experiences, and exchange information with other travelers. You can even upload photos, stories and handy travel tips. Don’t forget to add me when you register. You can find me under globetrotteri at Travelgrove.