Photos by MJ Klein

As most of you reading this blog know, I was at one time, a professional musician.  I have been playing continuously for decades and since living in Taiwan, I’ve had opportunities to perform on several occasions.  Recently I’ve been playing a regular gig on Friday nights and I’m going tell a little about it here.

The venue is the Wild West Chophouse, or 大西部 in Chinese.  The Wild West is located in Zhubei, Taiwan at 新竹縣竹北市光明一路256號.

I’m playing with another guitarist named Van.  He plays country songs and uses an acoustic guitar which blends very nicely with my electric guitar sound.

This is our stage area before we set everything up in the afternoon before the show.

First things to go up are the speakers on their stands.  Notice the amplifier on the barrel table.  You will also take note of the fact that the speakers are in the back, behind where we will be standing.  We set them up this way on purpose so we can hear the speakers and not have to use additional speakers as monitors.  We have to be careful of feedback from the vocal microphones but we don’t play that loud to begin with.

This is a closeup of the Yamaha PA amplifier.  I really like this amplifier because (for one thing) it has built-in effects which make the vocals sound nice.

We also use a Roland DR-880 drum machine, which can produce drums and bass parts.  Many of our songs have programmed drum and bass sounds, so we sound like a 4 piece band.  Often the audience is surprised when they hear drums and bass on songs because they only see 2 guitar players.

I have a footswitch on the floor in front of my microphone so I can start the drum machine without touching it.  Oh, the backlight on the LCD display is burnt out and I use it too often to send it to the shop for repair.

The Wild West has a great outdoor seating area.  They also have a house PA system with a speaker outdoors, so I made a cable that plugs into our record-out jacks so we can feed our sound to their house system.  People sitting outside can enjoy our performances too.

This is the stage all set up, with microphone and guitar stands.  We have a fan on the floor to blow air across the stage area because sometimes it gets pretty hot when we’re playing.

This is what we sound like (you may change the video to display HD):

This video was shot by our friend Keiran Earl

The Wild West has some great food.  Just take a look at some of the dishes they offer (all food photos taken by mobile phone):

Texas Chili and chips.

Chips and salsa.

Combo appetizer platter.

Quesadillas.  These come in chicken or beef.

Nachos with cheese.

Burrito, also in chicken or beef.

But my favorites are the steaks at the Wild West!  They use double-inspected US beef and as opposed to some other steakhouses in Taiwan, they know how to cook them properly!

In addition to our performances on Fridays, they also have other music performers on Saturday, and belly dancers during the week!  So if you get a chance to drop by the Wild West, you won’t be disappointed!

Photos by MJ Klein

We had another grill party get-together this weekend, to say goodbye to long time Taiwan blogger, Jim Boyden, aka Sponge Bear, aka Kaminoge, aka A Curmudgeon Abroad.  Jim and his family are leaving Taiwan rather suddenly because of an unexpected job offer in the USA.  The truth is, I’ve never met Jim before (even though we’ve both been here for some time) and I didn’t want him to leave without meeting at least once.  Our friend Michael Turton drove up with Jim and we met at Xiao-hui’s place for some grilled fare.

Let me introduce everyone, L to R: Hui-chen, Michael Turton, Rashmi, and Jim.

Our friend Van dropped by a little later (seen here on the left).  I had procured a bottle of Manila rum for this occasion, and it went down a little too smoothly I think!

Xiao-hui made some marinated pork, reminiscent of times past.  But being perfectly honest here, this marinade didn’t hold a candle to the ones Xiao-hui did back in the day.  I was very disappointed by the flavor of the marinade this time, but grilling the meat did impart a nice grilled flavor, so it’s not like it tasted bad.  Just not as good as we remember.  Of course, we also got some Thai dishes.

Awhile later, Joanna came by with her family (seen in the background).  Van and I took turns on the guitar.  It was fun belting out some 80′s songs that Jim knew.

Rashmi puts a question to Michael Turton.  Rum tends to bring out the best in conversation!

Xiao-hui came out to join us (seen behind Rashmi)

It was a great time, but everyone agreed that we waited too long – it was only after Jim told us he was leaving that we got together.  I just wish the other bloggers I know could have made it, but honestly this was all put together at the very last minute.

I have one last shot for you: Michael Turton playing guitar!  Who knew?!  I had no idea he could play but here is the proof!  So it just goes to show you – there are talented people all around us!

Thanks for reading.  We welcome your comments below.  Please feel free to use the icons for sharing.  Thanks to everyone who came by and our special thanks to Jim for coming down.  It was great meeting you Jim.  We wish you well on your new adventure!

Photos by MJ Klein

Regular readers of our blog will no doubt recall that last year, we got this home gym, and I started using it on the first week of May, 2011.  This machine has been fantastic, and I can say that in the year I’ve been using it, there has been a big difference in how I feel.  I have more energy and certainly more strength.  When I have to move a piece of equipment or some packages, I have a lot more strength and endurance.  This is all 100% positive.  But, with all the good this home gym has done me, I haven’t lost any weight to speak of.

Since I have the strength training covered, I went looking for a machine that would give me a cardio/aerobic type workout.  Adding a machine with that capability would round out my exercise equipment compliment very nicely.

Hui-chen and I went back to the store where we bought the strength training machine, and took a look at various cardio/aerobic machines.  I used to be a manufacturing engineer for Cybex International, and I worked in their Medway, MA treadmill factory.  I know a lot about treadmills and even though they are fantastic machines, I don’t like walking or running very much.  I wanted a machine that would give me a lower impact, and yet still challenging workout.  I tried some elliptical machines but I don’t really like those either.  That left me with one other style of machine to consider.

Our regular readers will also recall that I have a recumbent trike.  The recumbent position is very comfortable and the exercise achieved is both intense and low impact.  I decided to look at recumbent stationary cycling machines.

The store where we bought our strength training machine had 2 models of recumbent (semi recumbent, actually) stationary cycling machines.   This rather blurry mobile phone shot shows a price tag of NT$ 29,800.  After discussing the price with the boss of the store, and reminding him that we are old customers (having bought the home gym) he gave us a discount of NT$ 6,000!  Hui-chen and I tried out the machine and discussed it over the next few days.  We decided to get this machine.

On March 21, 2012, 2 men showed up with a truck, and like the home gym before, they began the setup by placing this mat down on the floor.  The mats were free gifts for purchasing the equipment.  The mats add a very professional look to any home gym setup.  I’m going to show you various shots of the men setting up the new exercise bike:

These guys brought the pieces upstairs and set to work.  They really knew what they were doing – didn’t talk much, didn’t goof around whatsoever.  In 30 minutes our new machine was ready to be used.

This is the new machine, fully assembled and ready to go.  I like how it looks and am very pleased with the construction and build quality.  The main part of the machine – the pedal mechanism and electronics, as well as the console were all pre-assembled and once bolted to the frame only needed to be connected together with cables.  The machine is fully electronic and uses magnetic braking technology to add resistance to the workout.  It is almost totally silent, and the pedaling action is extremely smooth.  There is a flywheel of course, but unlike those “spinners” that are used in spinning classes, you can stop pedaling and the flywheel will coast to a stop instead of jolting your legs.

If you are interested to check out the model that we purchased, it is the Horizon Fitness Comfort 408.

This is a closeup shot of the console.  This particular model is not backlight, but as you can see, our exercise equipment room is very well lit.  I have the machine next to the window so I can have the benefit of natural light and also look out the window when working out.  In all program modes, the console displays the workout duration (Time), calories (provided you enter your weight in KG) distance traveled (in KM for the Taiwan model)  level, heart rate (by sensors on the handlebar, or with a Polar chest strap) and speed (in KM for the Taiwan model).

If you view the large size of this photo you can see that there are 8 programs.  They are:

1. Manual:  This is a “start and go” program, where you simply get on the bike, press the start button and begin pedaling.
2. Intervals: The machine steps up the level of resistance in steps and then drops back down to the starting level, before going back up again.  The profile looks like a staircase.
3. Rolling Hills:  This program simulates going up and down hills.
4. Weight Loss:  Designed to provide the user with a workout that specifically promotes weight loss.
5. Tempo:  This program prompts the user to increase or decrease the pedaling tempo (cadence) over the course of the workout.
6. Random:  A combination of the above programs 2 – 5 for an interesting workout.
7. Custom:  A blank memory slot for the user to design their own program.
8. Custom: A second blank memory slot for a user designed program.

Now, in addition to all these programs, there are 16 levels!  The upper levels are very difficult and the resistance simulates very challenging hills!  Even very experienced riders will appreciate working out on this machine.

My usual workout duration is 30 minutes, and I do between 3 and 7 sets per week, depending upon my schedule.  Since getting the machine on March 21, I have ridden nearly 200 KM and I have to report that I feel great!  My normal workout routine on Tuesdays and Thursdays is to do a 30 minute set on the bike, and then my regular workout on the strength machine.  On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, my regular workout routine is 2, 30 minute sets on the bike, back to back, with a 10 minute rest in between.  In the short time I have had this machine, I can tell a difference it is making on my health.  I am getting used to the workouts and am at the point where I can start to increase both the duration and level of the workouts.

But, it will be a long time before I’m ready for level 16!

Oh!  I almost forgot to include this photo.  I have  Toshiba Thrive 10.1″ tablet, that fits perfectly on the console.  I get a lot of quality reading time when I’m riding and I hardly even notice that it’s been 30 minutes already.  I’ll tell you about the tablet some other time, but I’m totally sold on this model.

Thanks for reading.  We look forward to your comments below.  Feel free to use the icons for sharing.

Photos by MJ Klein

Continuing with our series about my brother’s visit to Taiwan, follow along with us as we visit the Rift Valley, a first time experience for me.

John overlooks the East Coast of Taiwan for the first time.

People were up early and out harvesting from the ocean.

This is John, towering over the Chinese tourists visiting the “Water Running Uphill” attraction that we’ve blogged about before.  The next photo is a spoiler.

I was discussing the optical illusion with Hui-chen and I took this shot to demonstrate how the water is absolutely not running uphill.

Compare this virtually identical photo taken in 2008.  Too many people, and a bit boring after a few minutes, we headed out to our next destination, the Sansiantai.

We were here in 2008 with our friend David, and we had to stop and show the famous 8-arch bridge to John.

Last time though, we didn’t show you the trail from the parking area down to the waterline.  So here goes!

Lush with vegetation, this area is very obviously volcanic.

Tidepools abound and if you look closely, you can find all kinds of interesting creatures.  Notice the driftwood.

One rounds the corner and gets a glimpse of the bridge.

Yes, John and I both stood in this place and had our photos taken, just like a local.

John wanted to walk down to the rocks for some photos.

Hui-chen pointed out this fruit (which I believe is from the saw palmetto).  I had never seen this before.

Now for some closer shots of the bridge.

This is the view from the top of the first arch.

The “3 fairies” as they are called in Chinese, are those peaks we see in this photo.

Believe it or not, there are people down by that tide pool.  Btw, I was using a polarizing filter on these shots, and occasionally I got my big fat finger in the frame too.  Just so you know.

Offshore we could see rain falling.

We got back in the car and drove north, taking the Rift Valley route instead of sticking to the coast line.  It started to rain, and as we gained elevation, the visibility decreased significantly with the rain and fog in the mountains.  So there aren’t any photos from this part of the trip.

After negotiating several tunnels and climbing up, we came to a senic overlook and stopped for a few minutes.  This is Yuli, down in the valley where we are headed (telephoto shot).

The sky had decided to clear up a bit for us.

That is Yuli in the distance.

If you’ve never been to the Rift Valley of Taiwan, I highly recommend it!  We were very happy we took this route because the scenery was unbelievable.

These food shots were taken at the Princess Coffee, a shop we saw signs for on the highway.  Waffles, believe or not, are a staple Taiwanese food.

Similar to the billboards, this is the sign inside the Princess Coffee shop.  Notice that “Princess” is wearing aboriginal clothing.  Hui-chen talked with her, and it turns out that she is not aboriginal.  Her husband is, however.  Go figure!

Here is Ms. Princess with a shop employee, working some kind of black tea.

Outside the shop we saw some coffee beans drying in the sun.

Taiwan sits on the Tropic of Cancer, and there at least 3 different markers that commemorate it’s location.  This is the second marker that I’ve personally seen.

You can click on this photo and visit the Flickr page where you have to option to view the larger sizes (under “Actions”).  This park has some very well done documentation.

Some scenic spots in the Rift Valley.

All around the park were these signs, explaining various aspects of astronomy.

The weather was kind of strange.  As you can see, the dark clouds were threatening rain, but the high mountains kept the clouds from freely moving.  So, in places it was clear, and other places dark.

On of the plaques that explain about the meridian, but only in Chinese.

I like sundials.  I have one at home but I have yet to install it on the roof.

I stepped back and took this overview shot from the center of the park, looking towards the road.

This is the very small train station for the town of Ruisui.  Later on we would return to this little square and have dinner at a place on the left side.

Let’s take a look at where we stayed in Ruisui.  We stayed at a hot springs hotel (again).

I don’t know why, but they put the commode in this little room by itself!

The sink is over here.

Behind the sink is the shower.

Past the shower (on the left) the room opens into a small courtyard, with an open roof in the center.

This is our private hot spring tub.

Directly across from the tub is this little sitting area for tea.

This is a better view of the tub, taken from the tea area.

Later we went to a Japanese style place near the train station.  This is their menu on the wall.

The food was better than I expected, given how the place looked and where it was.

A staple: miso soup.

Fried noodles.

Fried rice.

fried Spinach.

Grilled Mackerel.

Grilled chicken.

After dinner, we retired to our room where we spent the rest of the evening in the hot spring tub.

I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening with my wife.

At night, this courtyard takes on a very nice perspective.

The next day, we set out for Taroko Gorge.  We will show you this beautiful national park in Part Five of this series.

Thanks for reading!  Please leave us your comments below.  You may use the icons below for sharing.

Photos by Hui-chen, except where noted

UPDATE 03/19/2012: new photo at end.

UPDATE: 03/22/2012: 3 new photos:

My doctor knows about our blog, and during my checkup today, I mentioned that our readers are disappointed that there isn’t any photo showing the lesion that was removed.  I had seen it myself, but I wasn’t allowed to bring anything in the operating room with me, so I couldn’t photograph it myself.  My doctor kindly browsed his iPhone and emailed me a photo of the lesion in a laboratory jar!  Also, he emailed me a photo that he took of my thumb in the operating room, with the skin pulled back, fully exposing the lesion, right before he began the surgical procedure to remove it!  If you are squeamish, you might want to not look at the last photo in that particular update.  Scroll down through this article for the updates.

UPDATE: 03/26/2012: I got my stitches out.  Photo at the end.

Surgery yesterday took longer than expected.  The doctor said that was the first time he removed a growth and had no idea what it was.

If you are squeamish, then stop right here and do not look at the next photo!

The little tube thing at the lower end at the incision is a drain, which will come out on Saturday.  Due to my doctor’s high skill level, there is very little pain and I am not taking pain medication.  It does however, hurt to type.

03/19/2012:

This shot was taken immediately after the drain was removed.

03/22/2012:

This is how my thumb looks today.  The doctor said he will take the stitches out on 03/26/2012.  After that I can play guitar.

Photo by Dr. Jenq-liang Kung

This is the thing that was in my thumb and causing all the pain I’ve been experiencing for the last few years.  The pathology report stated that there was no sign of malignancy and the mass was totally benign.  That’s good news.

Dr. Kung did our readers a real favor with the next photo (giving me full permission to post these photos).  For some reason I can’t stop staring at it!  Click on the photo (any photo) to visit the Flickr.com page with the option of viewing it larger.

Photo by Dr. Jenq-liang Kung

What a nasty looking thing!  I’m so glad it’s out.  I still haven’t taken a single pain med, and the post-surgery recovery hurts less than the lesion did.  Thank you, Dr. Kung!

03/26/2012:

The stitches came out today:

Slightly out of focus (it is a mobile phone photo, after all), but you get the idea.  So with this photo, I’m going to call this article closed.  From time to time, I’ll update my progress at getting my range of motion back to where it should be.

Thank you to everyone who read this article and also many thanks to those who commented.

Photos by MJ Klein

Continuing with our series, this is the last installment of my trip to the Philippines.  I had a wonderful time there, and the last few days was spent in an area of considerable beauty, populated with fantastic people.

The author standing in a corn field

Sonny took me on a walk down to the river bank.  This is the road in front of his house.

At the end of the road are the village markers.

We took a right and went down past the corn fields.

The river is dead ahead at the end of this dirt road.

These people are on the way to the ferry (we’ll revisit the ferry in at the end of this article).

This is a great place for kids to play.

Some ruins down by the river on the far side of the river (telephoto shot).

This is where the dirt road leads….

We took a walk down the bank of the river.  There is a lush carpet of grass along the riverside, and I got a very peaceful feeling being there on that afternoon.

If memory serves, these are peanuts.

This flat, grassy area is perfect for playing games and running around.

Sonny demonstrated how tame the Filipino buffalo is.  You can see by the way his rope is lying on the ground that he isn’t trying to run away from Sonny.

A fisherman on the river.

With an abundance of grass, this is where people feed their grazing animals.

The rolling hills in the background were lovely.

I just had to take a few moments to enjoy the scenery.  Notice the kids.  They were curious, but shy.

That’s Greg with the red hat.  As you recall, Greg was our driver in Manila.

There is a small footpath that leads back to Sonny’s home via a different way, and we took that back to the village.

These were some of the finest crops I’ve seen anywhere.  I ate this corn during my stay and I cannot describe how good it was!

Turning around and looking back towards the river….

This is water damage.  Sonny says that during the rainy season the river floods, and the flood waters can reach inland up to a kilometer.

Look closely….

…. and you will see evidence of the flooding.

Another farmer’s footpath through the crops.

Yet another one.

Along the path are some small crops that have been planted.

Walking along with Sonny, I was astonished by his knowledge of all the local plants and their medicinal uses.

Finally we came to the bottom of the hill behind Sonny’s home.

Once you make it to the top of this hill, you’ll find yourself in the back of Sonny’s land.

One last look down towards the river.  Sonny told me that this entire field often floods during the rainy season, and the loss of the crops is devastating to the village.

After spending the evening playing some songs on guitar, I got up early the next morning to catch the Jeepney back to Manila for my flight back home to Taiwan.  By the time I got up, everyone else was already hard at work in the morning light.

Now I’m in the front seat of the Jeepney and we’re heading down to the river for the ferry ride back.

As you recall, this is the locally built ferry boat.

The Jeepney goes aboard….

Then all the passengers embark.

I took this shot so you’d get the feeling of what it was like to walk the plank!

This motorcycle-sidecar showed up….

…. and this is how they loaded it on the ferry.  Scary, if you ask me!

As we near the opposite bank, people start to gather near the dock area.

With a few adjustments, the Jeepney can disembark.  Fancy word for driving it off the ferry across a couple of planks!

This is a shot of the side mirror, showing passengers getting off the Jeepney at one of the many stops out in the middle of nowhere….

On the way back to Tuguegarao City we saw the same arrangement for drying corn on the road as we did on our way to the village of Santo Nino.

This is our last shot for this article, and the last shot for the series.   This shot is typical of the lovely countryside in northern Philippines.

I’d like to thank the wonderful people of the Philippines for their hospitality during my visit.  I can honestly say that I have never encountered such polite and considerate people before, anywhere that I have traveled.  I hope I can visit again someday soon!

Thanks for reading.  We welcome your comments below.  Feel free to share this article by using one of the convenient icons before, and be sure to subscribe to our content using the icons in the upper left.

Photos by MJ Klein

Be sure to read the sequel to this story!

Long-time readers of our blog will know that not too long ago, I attended a local university to study Chinese.  It was during that time that my right thumb started to hurt from all the writing I was doing, practicing and memorizing the language.  Now, what started out as a minor inconvenience has developed into a problem requiring surgery.

Back when it first began, I went to the hospital where x-rays were taken.  The doctor advised me that I had cracked the bone and that immobilization for a month would solve the problem.  At that point I couldn’t bend the first joint (closest to the end of the thumb).  After a month, the splint was removed and I could bend the joint normally.  The pain was gone.  A subsequent x-ray revealed that the bone had healed.  But, another doctor examined the previous x-ray and proclaimed that my bone had not been broken in the first place, and that what was diagnosed as a crack in the bone was an artifact on the x-ray.

Some time after, I had experienced a return of the pain and discomfort when bending the thumb and I went back for another look.  This time, I was diagnosed with gout, but a uric acid test did not confirm that diagnosis.  I was told that the gout would go away and so would the pain.  But the pain never did go away.  Until recently I’ve just lived with the pain and limitation of the joint.  But in the last few months the pain has become unbearable.

This time, I went to a different hospital and showed them the visible lump on my thumb, clearly seen here.  Another x-ray was taken and it was determined that some kind of tumor has been growing under the skin.

The solution is to cut the thumb open and remove it.  The doctor said that he can accomplish this in 30 minutes under a local anesthetic, with no use of blood.  The surgery will take place on March 14.  I will of course, have updates after the procedure.

For reference, this is what my left thumb looks like.  The good news is that the tumor has never interfered with my ability to play guitar.  I only sought medical attention when the pain became so great that it interfered with my sleep and normal activities.

Thanks for reading and I’ll keep you posted.

Photos my MJ Klein, including FOOD PHOTOS!

As you recall from our last installment, we ended up in Kaohsiung.   We took John on the Dream Mall Ferris wheel.

The view from the Ferris wheel is impressive.

This is John at the food court, about to have his first “bubble” milk tea.

John had never been to a Chinese medicine store before, so we took him inside to show him how they fill the prescriptions.

Later we went to eat, and I took this mobile phone photo of the food on the table.

That evening we showed John the famous Love River.

There is a new artist community in Kaohsiung and I had never been there before.  So we took John and walked around the complex.  It’s built along this bike path.

To me personally, this was by far, the most interesting thing there.

A genuine World War II Japanese warplane!

Remember, Taiwan was part of Japan back then.

Of course, being a weekend, it was totally packed.

This is an animation company.  They weren’t open for looking though.

I liked this wooden structure, but it wasn’t high enough for John or I to even walk under.

A living sculpture.  It sure was hot that day!

Everyone likes this sculpture!

We walked past the artist area, and down towards the port.

These are Japanese-era sugar warehouses.

And this is part of what’s left of the old train depot.

We saw the strangest red temple nearby.

The ends of the tracks are still there.

This plaque tells the history of the area.

Yes, that is the name of the pier.

Now we’re entering the port area.

HC and I haven’t been here in a long time.  One of the things that I like about Kaohsiung is the fact that it’s a port city.

Of course, we sat down at some place and got something to eat and drink.  This is my chocolate Black Forest cake.  It was quite good.

One of the many tour boats going around the harbor.

The next day, we all went to lunch at a nice little place that HC’s mother likes.

This is my won-ton soup.

As usual, we covered the table with dishes

The 85 building is not far from HC’s parent’s home.  John and I went there and up to the observation floor.  From here you can see Ikea, and also Costco across the street.  Those high rises in the background are where HC’s parents live.

We spent the day relaxing, in preparation for our East coast tour.  Later that evening we visited the famous Liuhe tourist night market.

This is a family shot just before we left to visit the East coast of Taiwan. L to R is Hui-chen’s father and mother, HC, John and Hui-lien (HC’s sister).

We don’t have any enroute photos because it was raining and foggy but this shot was taken with my mobile phone as we found this small place open for dinner.  It was quite good and the people there were cool.

We stayed in a hot springs hotel in the Taidong area.  This is the hot spring bath that was located in our private room.

This is the shower stall.

This was the second time we stayed in this room and I really enjoy it here.

The next day we set out on our journey up the coast of Taiwan.  This shot is just the beginning of what we saw along the East coast.  We drove through the famous Rift Valley of Taiwan.   You won’t want to miss the next installments!

Thank you for reading.  Please leave us your comments below.  Feel free to use the icons for sharing below, and in the upper left, for subscribing to our articles!

Photos by Hui-chen, MJ Klein and John Klein

Welcome to the second installment of my brother’s visit to Taiwan.  We apologize for the delays between articles, but it appears that the technical problems that were interfering with our posting are now cleared up.  So, here we go:

Like any good host, I started off the next morning by introducing John to some of Taiwan’s famous breakfast foods.  That’s an egg pancake on the left, with 2 pork patties and fried eggs destined to become “Taiwan hamburgers” (anything on a hamburger style bun is called a hamburger here, regardless of composition).  This photo was taken with my Samsung Galaxy S phone.

After breakfast, we headed out on a week long journey to circumnavigate the entire island.  We left Hukou and headed south, toward Lukang.   The first thing we did was visit a tourist information center.  Notice the cards with the QR codes on them.  If you click on the photo above and view the larger size on Flickr.com, you can actually scan the QR codes yourself (provided your phone as an appropriate app) and view the website information (in Chinese).

This is the main street of Lukang.

Lukang is famous for old temples, and since there aren’t really any temples like this in the US, John found them very interesting.

The name of this temple is “Tienhou” and it is dedicated to Matsu.

This is the view from the balcony in the previous shot.

John officially becomes Taiwanese by having his photo taken in front of something (although he didn’t give the “Asian Sign Of Picture Taking“).

John wanted to get a cute outfit for his (our) great-niece.

Of course, before long it was time to eat!  This is one of the many seafood restaurants common to the area.

Oyster soup.

One of my all-time favorite Taiwan dishes: deep fried oysters.

Fried rice.

After I post this article, my wife will read it and then tell me what this is.  It’s some kind of meat, fried.  It was good.

Sweet potato leaves.  Yum!

Some kind of fried pancake thing with scallions and oysters in a brown sauce.  It was great!

This is a shot of the outside of the restaurant, featuring many of the fish and crustaceans they serve.

After lunch, it was back to walking the old streets, and more temples.

We went into this artist’s shop.  He had some nice stuff.  He’s very talented.

He asked John to sign his guestbook, which he did.

I thought this sign was very interesting….

…. as it showed construction details about the old houses in the neighborhood.

I wish we could have toured the inside of some of them!

A famous part of the old street….

A rich family, surnamed “Wang” had a well built on their property that was constructed half-inside, and half-outside their home’s wall.  They shared the water with the neighborhood.

This is the front gate to the Wang family home.

This plaque details the history of the well.

We continued onto this very old temple.  Out of all of them, I like this one the best.

Whenever I’m here, I expect to hear a movie director say “cut!” because this certainly feels like a movie set.

Recently the temple was renovated, and these sign boards document the reconstruction process in great detail.  There was earthquake damage that was repaired, and that alone was quite impressive.

The inside of the very front gate.

As I was shooting this photo of the very front of the temple, this girl decided it was time to start jumping and dancing right into the frame.  If you improved my photo, I suppose I should pay you.

Not far from the last temple is the famous “Gentleman’s Alley” also known as “Breasts Touching Alley” which is so narrow, that women passing back-to-wall on both sides, literally touched breasts, so the story goes (I didn’t name it, so don’t blame me!).

John demonstrates just how narrow it really is.

After Lukang, we headed down to Kaohsiung to meet Hui-chen’s family and hang out there for a few days.  This is John and HC at the famous Western Cowboy’s Pub.

The food at the Western Cowboy’s Pub is always delicious.

Western diners may recognize this dish as “Sweet & Sour Chicken” and except for the fact that there isn’t any thick red sauce, the flavor is basically the same as the version typical of US Chinese restaurants.

When we return for the next installment of John’s visit to Taiwan, we’ll be heading down to the bottom part of the island, then across to the east coast.  You won’t want to miss the upcoming installments as we guarantee that you’ll fall in love with the beauty and majesty of Taiwan, just as we have!

Thanks for reading!  Please leave us your comments below.

Photos by MJ Klein, including FOOD PHOTOS!

Recently my brother John visited Taiwan, but we weren’t able to blog on his visit in real time due to a couple of technical difficulties that are now resolved.  So, without further delay, we bring you installment #1 of his visit!

This is John arriving in Taiwan at the Taoyuan International Airport.  It was at night and we took him out for some food of course, but no photos.

The next day we started off getting John acquainted with our local area and giving him a chance to get oriented a bit, since this was his first trip both to Taiwan, and Asia itself.  So, we took him to the Hukou Old Street area.

Hui-chen took some time to explain some of the rituals that people perform at temples in Taiwan.

This is the temple at the end (or beginning of, depending upon your viewpoint) of the Old Street.

A cold, windy day for a walk down the Old Street.

After the Old Street, it was time for lunch, so we took John to Xiao-hui’s!  Now it was time for food orientation!

All of our favorite dishes were in attendance.

This overview shot tells the story: we covered the table with dishes.

John sang many of the few English songs in the karaoke machine.

The next day, we introduced John to downtown Hukou.  Most foreigners go to Taipei on their first trip and most of them stay in Taipei (where they can speak English).  I was determined to give my brother a more genuine Taiwan experience by spending very little time in Taipei and going around the island, showing him how everyday people live.

Here we see John checking out the Hukou day market.

This was our lunch, from a little corner restaurant in downtown Hukou.

Later, I took John over to meet the only other US citizen in the area, The (pronounced “tee”).  This is a shot of a nice beef salad the chef prepared for us at The’s place.

Later in the evening we enjoyed hotpot.  This was John’s first hotpot experience, and we picked a nice cold night for it.

Hui-chen and I took John around on our normal routine.  We went to Hsinchu city the following day and I showed John this government building (city hall) which dates from the Japanese colonial era.

Not far from the city hall building is Hsinchu’s oldest temple, Cheng Huang 城隍廟.  We took John to check it out.

Outside, someone was selling these odd snacks.

They have a layer of taffy inside, some peanut powder and cilantro.  We got a couple to check them out.  They’re “different.”

More local offerings.

We stopped for lunch at this duck restaurant.  Enjoy the photos of what we had.

In the evening, we got an invitation from Shawn, owner of Titty Tea, to join him at the Ikki Grill in Zhubei.

Everything at the Ikki Grill is great.

This woman grilled the stuff for us, right on the bar in front of us.  It was a nice dining experience.

On the way back to our car, we stopped by the local pet store, where we found a tank containing a pair of Nautilus.  This was my first time seeing one in the flesh.  They are very interesting creatures!

Near our home is a coffee shop on the side of a mountain.  We took John there to enjoy the view.  Since John’s visit, this place has been torn down and a new viewing platform is being built.

In Sanyi, there is an old broken bridge from the Japanese era, called the Longteng Bridge.  It’s really something to see in person – photos don’t do it justice.  We were in Sanyi, checking out the wood carving places and decided to drive out to this bridge.

Notice the lights in the foreground.  We didn’t see it all lit up but I bet it looks cool.

We took a little footpath to this pedestrian bridge for some photos.

There are 2 more abutments nearby.  These can’t be seen from the main part of the bridge because they are on the other side of the river.

You can walk up a path to the top of the ridge, and we did so.  I wanted to see if there were remains of rails, and sure enough, there were.

This is the view of the top of the abutment remains.

As you can see, something is being built beside the broken bridge.  Some kind of park, presumably.

That evening, we went to Chubby for dinner.

Delicious!

Thanks for reading about John’s first 4 days in Taiwan.  Later, we’ll show you our trip around the island and the beautiful East coast and parts of the Rift Valley.

First, it was a problem with the update that broke a vital plugin.  Now my main computer has broken and is in the shop for repair.  My brother was recently in Taiwan for 19 days so we have a lot of things to show you, so please be patient with us.  Thanks!

Mobile phone food photos by MJ Klein

Well, dear readers, we apologize for the time interval between posts of late.  There is lots going on that has been demanding our attention, but not much going on that is blog-worthy.  However, as we’ve said before, Hui-chen and I photograph nearly every meal we have, so I think we should do more food posts since people really seem to be interested in the food we have in Taiwan.  We intend to make this more of a regular feature so please do let us know if you like it.  Now, onto the food!

Before we get into the actual week’s food offerings, I just wanted to start things off with a shot of a wonderful Vietnamese style beef salad.  Not totally unlike similar offering from other Southeast Asian countries we’ve visited, this dish was definitely Vietnamese flavored and every bit as good at it looks.  This was made right in my neighborhood on the next block at a little place called 乾杯小吃.

Because we didn’t have a food article for last week, I’m going to show you a few teppanyaki dishes we had in nearby Zhubei.  This is fried cabbage.

Fried egg, and it was a lot better than it looks in this photo.

Oysters, teppanyaki style.

Teppanyaki beef.  Cooked perfectly.

The same can be said for the teppanyaki pork.

We almost didn’t get a shot of this teppanyaki chicken before it was gone!

Most Western diners will recognize this classic Chinese restaurant dish: Kung Pao Gi Ding, at the famous 11 Street in Zhubei.

These are sweet potato greens, and if you haven’t tried them, you don’t know what you’re missing!

Not sure what they call this in English but it’s “mainland beauty” in Chinese.  UPDATE: my wife corrected me.  This dish is “mainland sister.”  Could have fooled me.  When people say this vegetable name it sounds like the 3rd tone to my ears.  Nice, crisp, clean flavor.

Boiled dumplings, always a favorite of mine.  Delicious!

Pumpkin soup.  Better than most places, and quite good.

Next, we went to Friday’s in Zhubei UPDATE: Hsinchu.  I knew this already.  Don’t know why I wrote Zhubei.  This is Hui-chen’s Walnut Salmon with Couscous.  She like it very much.  UPDATE: HC says this is rice with Saffron.

I know, I know, how stereotypical of me to get the burger, but that’s what I felt like getting, so I did!  I didn’t care for the Jack Daniel’s sauce (too sweet for my taste) but the burger was great without it.

Last but not least, is the dessert at Friday’s.  Fresh fruits, caramelized sugar and ice cream.  Delicious!

Thanks for reading.  Please leave us your comments below.  Feel free to use the icons below for social media sharing!

Photos by MJ Klein

Recently more work went on behind our house and on the main roads in the area.  This time, the traffic island was jack-hammered to pieces, removed and replaced.  I have no idea what was wrong with the old traffic island and why it needed to be replaced, but I was fascinated to see how fast the new island was created.

Here we see debris from the old traffic island being removed….

The backhoe changed tools and is now digging the trench, clearing it of concrete debris from the old island.

The entire main road got this treatment.

A couple of days later, concrete forms were assembled and concrete was poured into the molds.  Yes, we are actually seeing a traffic cone being used as a funnel!

More mold forms.

This is the end, or nose of the island.  These get formed last.

Notice the new, smooth concrete, recently poured.

The new island sure does look good.

On the sidewalk are pieces of wood that (I assume) were used as shims in the form assembly procedure.

One side of the road was shut down during certain operations.

The junctions where light poles occurred were also left for later.

Notice the reinforcing bars (buried in the concrete, foreground) and the wire conduits in the center.  At first, I thought that the city was running new cabling in the islands, but I didn’t see anything new being laid.

This section was recently poured and the forms are being removed.

Concrete forms on the sidewalk.

If you look at the ends of the concrete forms you can see the general shape of the island.

These men are removing the forms from a recently poured section..

I turned the corner and observed the actions on a side street.  These men are surfacing a nose.

This is the section behind the nose in the above photo.  This section is almost finished.

The nose at the opposite end.

I went further down the road to see the operations on a new section.

These men are assembling a rebar “cage.”  We’ll get back to this in a minute.

Meanwhile, this man is assembling the concrete form for the nose of the island.

A small bulldozer is used to pick up and carry the forms while being positioned into place.

This shows a section that has the rebar cage ready, with forms being installed left-to-right.

Forms waiting placement.

This is a pile of rebar used to make the cage.

While it looks like there is a lot more to be done, this work went along very quickly.

The trench was covered up while waiting further work.

Now for the details about this wire rebar cage being built.  Notice the angle-iron frame that is being used as a form to shape the cage.

This is how the cage is assembled: by using small wires that are twisted around the rebar pieces to hold them in position.  Once finished, the cage is lifted off the angle-iron form and placed in the trench.  The cage will be embedded in the poured concrete and will give it the necessary strength and flexibility.

Our last shot is a finished nose.

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Photos by MJ Klein

Warning:  In this installment, I documented the preparation and roasting of a pig in the local village.  If such images disturb you, I recommend that you do not view them.

I talked with my friend Sonny, and we decided to throw a barbecue party for his relatives and friends in the village.

On the land behind Sonny’s home, he has a piggery.  We selected one of his pigs to roast, Filipino style, over an open pit.

A mother sow and her piglets.  Dont’ worry, we didn’t harm a hair on any of their heads.

In the village that morning, there was a dense fog.

Before we get into the actual pig roast itself, I wanted to show you a couple of other things first.  This is the inside of Sonny’s store.  There is a small kitchen where food can be prepared.  That way the person running the store doesn’t have to close up to get lunch.

The orange liquid in the bottles up front is gasoline.

This is where I slept in Sonny’s home.  The mosquito net is a requirement in this part of the world.

Some men in the village (Sonny’s relatives) had gathered some wood, dug a pit and started a fire.

They are boiling some water to be used to clean the pig before roasting it (after it’s been killed of course!).

Here we see the men leading the chosen pig out of the pig pen and over to the area where they will dispatch it, and prepare it for cooking.  If you are squeamish, I recommend that you stop looking at the photographs now.

One thing that surprised me is that while the pig screamed, it did not try to bite anyone.

If you look at the pig’s mouth you can see that it is screaming for dear life.  Pigs seem to know that they are food animals and when you take them out of the pig pen they scream wildly.

The men dig a hole in preparation for bleeding the pig (to catch the blood).  Notice that they have the pig’s feet bound; otherwise it would run away obviously.

The gentleman who took charge of the barbecue is now going to bleed the pig.  This is your last warning about the content of these photos!

Bleeding the pig is fast.  The whole thing was over in about a minute.

Once the pig expired, the men began the cleaning process, which started with a hot water bath.

Next, the men shaved the pig.

I had never seen this done before.  The men removed the pig’s toenails, which are like a cap that fits over the foot.

The men did a very thorough job of cleaning the pig.  Notice one man cleaning the pig’s ears.

In the meantime, some of the village women began to arrive and start other cooking projects.  These brightly colored hot dogs were an addition to our barbecue party this afternoon.

Also present was fish.

Finally, the outside of the pig was pristine.  Now, for cleaning the inside:

Some men had cut down (what I think are) banana leaves and placed them on the platform.

Now it was time to open up the pig and clean it out.

The barbecue master cut around the genitals, and then made a small slit in the stomach.

The idea is to loosen where the intestines attach to the body and be able to pull everything out without cutting into the bowel itself.

Here, he’s pulling the intestines out through the slit in the belly.

The bowels should come out all together.  The inside of an animal is clean and once the blood has been removed (as in this case) gutting it is not such an unpleasant experience.

Now, he’s reaching up inside to pull out the heart, lungs and other upper internal organs.

And they come out all together, quite easily.

All the organs go into a pan for cleaning.  Nothing is wasted.

Now and incision is made in the front of the pig, to facilitate the next operation.

In the meantime, a crew has started working on the organs and entrails and is cleaning them.

Filipino style pig roasts turn a pig on a spit (but without the cross members), over a fire.  The pig is attached to a bamboo pole running through it’s core.

Now we see the men fitting the pole through the pig’s body.

Eventually the pole exits the pig’s mouth.

Once the pole is through the pig, it gets another washing.

Now back to the clean leaves on the platform.

When you roast a pig on a spit, it moves.  So you have to secure it to the pole.  Here we see the barbecue master nailing the pig to the bamboo pole.

After nails are put in the front, middle and rear, a nail is hammered into the pole for an anchor point so the feet can be wired in place.

More guests arrive.  It was hot that day!

More wire treatment on the front of the pig.

Once the pig has been secured to the pole, it can be stuffed.  Sonny made a stuffing using a local cactus plant and spices.  This stuffing was fantastic!

After stuffing, the pig was wired closed.

Now it’s time to get roasting!

The men haul the pig over to the pit and set it down on the “Y” shaped stakes that were prepared earlier.

The height of the stakes had to be adjusted to get them just right.

Sonny himself checks out the arrangement with a few turns of the spit.

In this photo you can see the cross member installed at the end of the spit, used for turning the pig.  People took turns handling the spit over the 4 hour period the pig was roasting.

Very tiring, the spit must be continually turned over and over, thousands of times in order to evenly roast the pig.

Now the fun begins.  One man brushes on a sauce while another man turns the spit.

This operation went on for hours….

Other things were being cooked at the same time.

Looking good!

Several people took turns turning the spit.

Sonny whips something up here.

Most of the men were interested in the pig roasting operation.

Here we see the pig nearing the time to take it off the fire.

During the cooking operation, the height of the spit had to be adjusted as the fire burned down.

By now, smells of different things cooking filled the air.

I like the cooking stands made of rebar.  Very practical.

Once it was determined that the time had arrived to take the pig off the fire, these men set up a table.

More clean leaves….

Then the entire spit was placed on the leaves for carving.

Here is the finished product!

And this is what we had to drink for the afternoon!

Sonny undoes the wire stitches holding the belly closed.

Somehow, I missed Sonny having placed to large soda bottles in the body cavity with the stuffing!  When he pulled them out I was very surprised!  The bottles were a filler and kept the body cavity open, otherwise the skin would have shrunk during the cooking process.

Now the carving begins!  The barbecue master used 2 knives, often hitting one on the other to cut through sections.

As you can see, the deeper parts inside the pig were undercooked.  The outer layers were just right.  The inner layers were further cooked before being served.

The Filipinos use a type of sauce for this style of BBQ, and here you can see plates of meat with the sauce applied.

More sauce going on….

And what self-respecting Filipino would eat spit roasted pig without some hot sauce?

As you can see, we had quite a nice crowd gathered for the party.

Filipino people eat a lot of rice, so naturally rice was a part of this BBQ party.

This is a show of my plate.  Clockwise from the top left, we see boiled cabbage, fried chicken, and a hunk of that roasted pork with sauce on it.  You already know the pork was fantastic, but that chicken was also killer, and the cabbage as well.

Everyone formed a circle and it was nice being able to face everyone while we ate. (Photo by Salvador Rivera)

This area is known for corn, and I was served this wonderful puffed corn.  I loved it!

Even descended and we put more wood on the fire.

I enjoyed a relaxing evening talking with the men.  Of course, we were drinking.  It was a perfect night.

We hope you have enjoyed our Filipino style barbecue party!  We look forward to your comments.  You may use the icons below, or the Apture bar above for social media sharing.  Thank you for reading!

Mobile phone photos by MJ Klein

UPDATE: See the end of this article for photos of the car, cleaned up.

One of our cars was taken from in front of our house, in broad daylight, a week ago today.  We got a call yesterday from the police in Yong An that our car had been recovered.  Hui-chen and I went over to take a look at it, and the first thing we noticed was that one of the turn signal housings was hanging from the wire.

Our first impressions were bad.  Looking through the passenger-side front window, we saw a bunch of junk in the front seat.  Notice the rope on the floor, and also the weird colored tool bag on the seat.

The rear seat was even worse.  There was scrap metal covered in oil, plus a lot of broken material scattered everywhere.  At this point we didn’t dare touch the car as the forensic investigators were on their way to examine the car for clues.

Here we see the investigation team starting their work.  These guys were great, coming out on a Sunday, and taking this case very seriously.  They were quite thorough.

The trunk was a disaster.  The thief had stolen wire, and then made a fire to burn off the insulation.  He later put this burned-off wire in the trunk, and it was trashed.

The thief had also removed the taillights on one side, throwing away the cover (naturally).

This investigator is looking for fingerprints.

The other investigator looked at every piece of junk in the car that was put there by the thief, including the black electrical tape used to bundle these stolen metal strips.

Next, the investigators dusted for fingerprints.

After digitally photographing a few candidates, they were finished.  Unfortunately the thief wore gloves and didn’t leave many clues behind; he even took his cigarette butts with him (yes, he smoked in our car).  Every single thing that we had in the car was gone, including my Bluetooth headset for my phone, my double lighter plug, change for parking, and of course, my dashcam.

The towtruck arrived and prepared to take the car back to our hometown.

This is a closeup of the 2 candidate prints.

The right front tire was flat.  The thief had apparently hit some stone object (according to eye witnesses who were chasing him for stealing at their construction site) and the tire went flat.  He then abandoned the car and fled on foot.

Today, our mechanic took the car and is now going over everything to give us an estimate of what it will take to reverse the damage the thief did to it.  Right off the bat we noticed that the steering wheel is not straight when the wheels are, so it needs a front-end alignment at least.  The mechanic is going to check to see if the impact did any permanent damage to the unibody frame.

One thing we know has to be fixed is the ignition keylock.  The thief broke this in order to get the car started.  A kill switch would have prevented this theft.  We are going to have a kill switch installed on our other car, and this one, if we decide to keep it.

One last shot to finish out this article.  The police think they will catch this guy and when they do, we can sue him personally for the amount of money he cost us.

UPDATE:

Compare this shot with the one above, now that the car is all cleaned up.

We had the mechanic install a kill switch to prevent this car from being stolen again.  Of course if someone wants it bad enough they’ll just pull up with a truck and haul it off; but the kill switch makes it harder to steal.

The back seat is now nice and clean, and the oil came off, thankfully.

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Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen, including FOOD PHOTOS!

Recently Hui-chen and I were invited by a television production company to participate in a new show they were shooting in Taiwan.  The show stars Bob Blumer and will air in Taiwan on a yet-to-be-determined network.  It’s called “World’s Weirdest Restaurants” and it sounds like a fun show!  The show has been confirmed for the Food Network Canada.  Be sure to look for it!

Hui-chen with host Bob Blumer

The shoot took place at the famous Five Dime restaurant in Taipei.  HC and I had gone there before with our camera to take some photos for the blog, so we’ll show you what it looks like and then tell you about meeting Bob and doing the TV show.  It was a blast!

This overview shot of the outside of Five Dime tells the story.  Diners are in for a new experience here.  This article is geotagged with the location of the Five Dime so you can find it on our Geotagged Articles Map.  By the way, if you call them to make a reservation, you must speak Chinese.  The staff doesn’t speak English on the phone. Their phone number is: 02 8501 1472

Detail of the upper portion of the building (with the Chinese name of the restaurant: 伍角船板).

The first time Hui-chen and I went there, we had no idea what to expect.

The entrance is in the front on the right side.

One has to go up a ramp….

…. and through a short tunnel.

This is the entrance to the restaurant.

Once inside, it’s a bit dark, but after your eyes get accustomed to the ambient light you will find yourself in an amazing space.  Five Dime has 3 floors, with a very interesting staircase.

We were seated at one of their large tables.  Five Dime is a great place for group dining.  The menu features a fusion cuisine (more on that later) that has elements from other Asian influences.

Although somewhat difficult to photograph due to the low light, you should bring your camera anyway, as the place certainly is interesting.  The decor is somewhat of an input overload!

This dish is a soft shell crab roll.  This dish reminded me of Vietnamese fresh spring rolls (as opposed to the deep fried kind).  The flavor wasn’t specifically Vietnamese however.  I would call this a fusion dish because this type of roll wouldn’t ordinarily use deep fried soft shell crab.

I ordered a banana shake, and I never expected it to arrive in a chilled stone mug!  The small bowl on the right contains a locally made Taiwanese dessert using sticky rice powder.  The English name is “mochi” (麻糬).

The view behind our table

One of my all-time favorite dishes in Asia, sweet potato greens (炒地瓜葉).  I’ve had this dish many times in Taiwan and this was one of the nicest versions I’d experienced.  The burnt garlic added a sweet flavor.

Hui-chen’s drink, kiwi juice, with the local dessert in the small bowl (麻糬).

The Five Dime menu lists dishes in Chinese, with English underneath.  I found a few of the dishes said they were Thai style in Chinese (泰式) but not mentioned in English.  It seems that Thai is a big influence in Five Dime and Hui-chen and I have a great deal of experience in Thailand and with Thai food.  This is sliced Thai style chicken (泰式椒麻雞).  The dish was great, but it wasn’t totally Thai style.  We’ve had grilled sliced chicken in Thailand, but not deep fried as is this dish.  The treatment of the chicken was more like a Japanese pork tonkatsu don.  So again we see the fusion theme in this dish.

Korean style pickled vegetable with “New Year cake” (韓式泡菜炒年糕).  This dish was hard to place, as it was totally unlike anything I’ve had before.  Even the picked vegetables were unique.  It was good!

After dinner Hui-chen and I walked around to take some photographs for the blog.

This is the main section of the restaurant, right next to the staircase.

I went up to the top of the staircase and took this photo looking down.  It’s much more impressive in person.

The detail is mind-boggling.  There isn’t any comment I can make that adequately describes the decor.

One final shot of the lobby.

Outside at night, the Five Dime takes on an entirely different look with the yellow sodium vapor lamps illuminating it.

The TV Show Shoot

The big question that everyone wants to know is: “What’s it like to meet Bob Blumer?”  The answer is just what one would expect from watching Bob on TV.  Bob is very polite and personable, and super-professional.  Bob was busy of course, so we didn’t have time to chit-chat.  Hui-chen and I sat at our table and watched him work.

Here we see the crew scoping things out.  That’s Bob in the red shirt, with producer Vera in the blue shirt.

If you’ve ever wondered how they get those overhead shots, now you know.

This is the cameraman (unfortunately I did not get his name).  He explained what was going to happen and how he would be shooting the scene.  Bob would be sitting in the seat on the left, next to where I was sitting (I took this shot).  Hui-chen was a bit nervous because she’s never been on television before, and she told me she would rather not do any speaking, which is understandable.  Frequent readers of this blog know that television isn’t my usual performance gig, but I’ve been interviewed for news stories before, and I wasn’t apprehensive about being on camera.

After the cameraman explained what was going to happen, Bob sat down next to me and we went to work.  I did not take any photos during this time because we were too busy.  Bob was very easy to work with, and quite patient with me.  We talked about the restaurant, the decor, the ambiance, and also the food.  Later on I’ll show you some food photos and tell you what we talked about.  It seemed like we were shooting for about 15 minutes.  It will be interesting to see the edited final version.

After we were finished, Hui-chen and I continued eating and watching the crew work.

Now, for the dishes.  This is sliced roast pork (香烤豬里肌肉) and as I told Bob, it tasted like dishes we’ve had in Hong Kong.  We liked this dish very much.

This is water lotus (清炒水蓮).  Normally in local restaurants, it’s cut a bit shorter and it normally does not contain mushrooms or carrots.  So they added their own flair to the dish.  A good dish.

Chopped garlic greens (蒼蠅頭), also known as “Fly Heads” because of the fermented soy beans that look like fly heads.  Notice the concentration of hot red peppers.  This felt like a Thai dish to me.  It was very good but almost too spicy.

This dish looks like some kind of fried tofu, but it is mushrooms (幸鮑菇燴鹹蛋), made with a salty egg yoke on the outside.  A very Taiwanese treatment, this dish was quite good.

Before we left, we got a few more daylight shots of the exterior of Five Dime:

This is the view just outside the main entrance door.

Another shot of the tunnel.

Thanks for reading!  We hope you enjoyed this article about our experience with Bob Blumer’s new TV show.  We’d like to thank Bob, Vera, Leanne, Stephanie and the crew for making it possible for us to be on the show!

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Photos by MJ Klein

In this article, we’ll travel from Tuguegarao City to the village of Santo Nino.  My guide, Sonny is from that village and I wanted to visit his family and friends there.  Please note that many of these photos were taken from a moving Jeepney without looking through the viewfinder, due to circumstances.

This is our Jeepney driver, who spoke excellent English and was very polite, calling me “sir” throughout the entire trip, lol.

We made our way out of the city and headed to the village.

We stopped at this grain warehouse to pick up some bags for the village.  I snapped this guy spreading out some kind of grain for it to dry in the sun.  We’ll see more of this later, so follow along with me while I figure out what this stuff is.

This is the local chicken store.

They bind the feet of the chickens and you simply grab them and throw them up onto the Jeepney.  It doesn’t get any fresher than still alive.

Some of the road sections are in bad shape because of the big truck traffic.

I saw these bags alongside the road.  At this time I didn’t know what they were for.

Notice that the road has this golden hue to it.

It was only after we got really close that I realized this was corn placed on the road surface to dry!

Then I saw these farmers sweeping up the dried corn and bagging it up, leaving the bags at the roadside to be picked up later.

No one drives on the corn.  Most of the local people are farmers themselves and they respect the crop of the other farmers, too.

This might seem like an unsanitary method of drying corn, but honestly, what else can the farmer use?  The road is the only flat surface that’s relatively free of debris and has the vast area required to dry a large crop.

No corn can be dried on this gravel part of the road, however.

Soon we approached a body of water.

It turned out to be a large river.

What is this thing out on the water?  Believe it or not, it’s a locally fabricated ferry boat made from 3 boat hulls!

This ferry was carrying a fully-loaded Jeepney and it’s passengers across the river!

I walked around to the other side to get a better look at the loading procedure.  The shack-like structure is for passengers to get out of the hot sun while they cross the river.

The Jeepney is going to board the ferry.  I’m glad that I took the driver’s suggestion and got out of the Jeepney for this procedure!

I walked aboard following Sonny, in the black shirt and ball cap.  Notice the wide gaps in the deck planking!

This is the car engine that drives the beast.

This small gasoline powered pump keeps the bilge water at a manageable level.

This is the “captain” steering the boat with a home-brew tiller arrangement.

Yikes!

I shot a short video of the ferry ride with my Samsung Galaxy S phone:

Even in this remote area, there is cellular telephone service.

Sonny told me that the river’s peak depth is about 25 meters!  Considerable in volume, this river often floods its banks inland to a distance of more than 1 KM and that it washed out the bridge (which is why there is a ferry).  The government isn’t going to rebuild the bridge because the river will wash it out again.

This is our destination dock up ahead.

Notice the cut log sections.  These are used to manage the height of the planks to match the ferry as it docks.

This guy man-handled the ferry into position with a rope and his back.

As soon as the ferry was tied up, we disembarked.

The people came across first and then the Jeepney.

I asked one of the men if there had ever been any accidents, and he told me that recently (a “few months ago”) a Jeepney had fallen off the ferry.  He didn’t go into detail, but it sounded bad.  I didn’t ask any more questions.

Once back on dry land we headed to the village.

This area has some of the finest corn I’ve ever seen, or eaten!

Soon, we turned down the main road of the village.

I got off the Jeepney and went around the back to say goodbye to my fellow passengers.

This is our destination – Sonny’s store.  His home is behind the store.  In Part 2, we’ll show you the BBQ party we had for the village, with a roasted pig, Filipino style!

Thanks for reading!  You may use the icons below for social media sharing.

Mobile phone photos by MJ Klein

Recently the almost year-long project on the corner near my house was completed.  Now they’re really tearing up the road again and I have no idea what it’s all about this time.

I did see a guy with a metal detector, but I’m unsure about what he was looking for (or even if he found what he was looking for).  In this photo you can see they’re tearing the pavement up.

You don’t see this machine every day.

The part in the center/bottom of the machine grinds up the pavement and then a conveyor brings it forward to where a truck would be driving along in front, to receive the debris.

The path of destruction is considerably long.

Anyone have any idea what they’re doing?

Photos by Hui-chen and MJ Klein, including FOOD PHOTOS!

A few weeks ago, Titty Tea hosted a cookout for their regular customers.  We’re going to show you what we cooked.

Now you know that anything that begins with charcoal and a torch is going to be good!

Notice the round aluminum grill.  I’ve been wanting to get one of these to use with the Dutch oven, and finally I did.  This one fits my 12″ Dutch oven like it was made for it.  Using this grill meant that I didn’t have to build the fire on the ground and I didn’t lose much heat.

Most good meals begin with garlic….

To which I added the meat – in this case Australian shin muscle.

Next to me, Marcus had a grill set up and was doing various kinds of meat, these bratwurst being some of what he was grilling.

Once the meat was browned nicely, it was time to add more ingredients to the pot.

Sliced white onions went in next.

Followed by potatoes and carrots.

Regular readers of this blog know that I like to cook with oyster sauce.  It adds a great flavor element and also negates the need to add additional salt to the dish.

Our friend Marcus brought some rosemary that he had grown in his herb garden, and it made a very nice contribution to our pot.

This is the scene beside where Hui-chen and I were set up.  The closest 2 grills are for cooking vegetarian food items.

Once the 12″ Dutch oven was going, I started another dish in the 8″.  Here we see bacon and sliced onions being sauteed.

A quick check on the contents of the 12″ and we’re back to the 8″.

In a local baking goods store, I found several varieties of beans, which I added to the bacon and onions.

This slightly-out-of-focus shot shows the 2 kinds of beans in the pot, stacked on the 12″.

This is the second type of bean I used.

And this is the brown sugar that went into the dish also.

In the meantime, Hui-chen had our other grill going, with these ribs (and something else in foil that was cooking for someone else).

That’s Bootsy BBQ Sauce that Hui-chen is brushing on the ribs.  They were very popular with everyone.

Now it’s time for grilled corn!

This type of grilled corn is virtually unknown to local people in Taiwan.  But once our Taiwanese friends tried it, they agreed that it is much better than the dried-out-to-death grilled corn that is served in night markets all around Taiwan.

Marcus surprised everyone with some of his home-baked sourdough bread.

Here is a closeup.  I can’t tell you how good this bread was, but it was some of, if not the best bread I’ve ever eaten.  Honestly!

We settled into evening as I got the last dish ready – a Dutch oven cake that I baked in the 10″.

Now, Marcus really outdid himself on this one – a tiramisu that was outstanding!

Hard to see, but this is a close up of the inside of the tiramisu.  I have no idea how he did it, but Marcus managed to balance the flavor elements perfectly, creating the best tiramisu that I have ever tasted!  Marcus is some kind of culinary genius!

Most of the Dutch oven fare was gone….

Here we see the 10″ with the cake baking.  It came out OK.  The fire was a tad too hot I think but overall it was pretty good.

Everyone was having a good time, with English, Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese being spoken throughout the day.

Our last photo of this article is Bella posing with Hui-chen.  A fitting end to the story of a great day.

Thanks for reading.  Please leave us your comments and recommendations below.  You may use the icons for social media sharing!

Photos by MJ Klein, except where noted

Dear readers, we sincerely apologize for the long interval without a new article.  With the recent passing of my father I wanted to leave his obituary at the top of the blog for some time; I’m sure you understand.  But now we must move forward with our next installment of my trip to the Philippines, and my visit to Tuguegarao City.  I was fortunate to be able to visit this city 2 times.  Once when passing though on my way to the Cayagan Valley, and then on my way back, so this article will be a composite of both visits.  I liked the city very much and I already want to go back there.  Here is what it’s like to visit Tuguegarao City:

This hastily framed photograph is of the terminal building at Tuguegarao Airport.  This is one of the smallest airports I’ve been to, but perhaps not the smallest.

This was our plane.  Notice the figures surrounding it.

There were Philippine military guards placed around the plane because apparently our passenger plane was also carrying a lot of Philippine currency that was being transferred.

Here is the armored truck that was being loaded.  The boxes are currency.  If you click on this or any other photo you will be taken to the Flickr.com page where you may view the large size and see more detail.

Apparently Filipino people are so used to security guards that having soldiers around, carrying fully automatic weapons didn’t bother anyone.

More currency coming down the conveyor.

Now you see bags coming down the conveyor.  These are bags of coins being transferred.

Finally, after about 45 minutes (where nothing was explained, at least in English) I see my bag coming down the conveyor (the blue one).

Now it’s time to leave!  But how will we be getting to our destination?

By the standard mode of transportation in the Philippines – Jeepney!

This is Sonny (my guide in the Philippines) and his wife making their way to the Jeepney that will take us to their village (another article).

Each Jeepney runs on a fixed route (but not necessarily on a fixed time).  Written on the side and front of each Jeepney is the route it will take.

Horse drawn carriage is a common way to get around Tuguegarao City.

Seen in our last article, these tricycles are sitting idle, awaiting passengers.  

Unlike some places we’ve been before, water buffalo in the Philippines are tame and friendly.

We’re heading into the main city (on our way back from the village).

We visited a newly-built mall area.  Gotta love the green color!

Sonny took me on a walking tour around to check the place out and do some shopping.

This is a fairly typical Southeast Asian street scene.  Tuguegarao City reminded me of places in Thailand and Laos, but the signs were in English!

Photo by Salvador Rivera

The people that I met on the street were exceedingly nice.  These girls came over to Sonny and asked if they could have a photo with me.  Sonny said “sure” and he took this photo.

The number of tricycles is amazing.

I had to photograph this mass of wiring.  This must be a real nightmare for service people to deal with!  Don’t worry though, that bundle is all telephone and cable TV lines, nothing hot.

We went to this store to buy something for my wife.

Back on the street, we continued walking around, checking out the place until it was time for my flight back to Manila.

I didn’t try the horse-drawn carriage, but perhaps next time.

Some overhead shots taken from the second floor of that green mall building.  

Overall, I had a great time in Tuguegarao City, and I want to go back there.  The people there are fantastic, so warm and friendly.  The shopping is a lot cheaper there than in Manila and if you want to buy a watch or have one repaired, or buy some good shoes, I can recommend going to the City. Thanks for reading!  You may leave us your comments below, and please use the icons below for social media sharing.

I’m not sure how to put this, but my father James E. Klein (seen on the left in the above photo) passed away on July 3rd, 2011.  Many of our readers will remember the good times we had with him on our most recent trips to the USA.

“Jim” was born January 30, 1923 in Canandaigua, New York, the 4th child of Fred and Mildred Simons Klein.  His father was manager of I.J. Newberry’s stores so the family lived in many places in New York State and eventually settled in Buffalo.  He was a Veteran of World War II and served as Second Lieutenant in the Pacific Air Zone in the 373^rd Bomb Squadron, 308^th Bombardment Group.  Stationed in China, Jim served as navigator/bombardier aboard a B-24 Liberator named “Little Egypt” until the cessation of hostilities.  He was awarded the following honors:

1. Presidential Unit Emblem
2. Honorable Service Lapel Button
   
3. World War II Victory Medal
4. American Campaign Medal
5. Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, with 4 Bronze Stars (each star represents an addition qualification for the award).
6. Good Conduct Medal

After the War, he trained to become an electronic engineer with RCA. He owned and operated Television Laboratory Sales & Service in Buffalo, NY for many years, before moving to Florida in 1959 where he became the first certified color television serviceman in the entire state. He joined the staff at Honeywell in 1963 and was employed by them until his retirement in 1988.  Jim moved to North Carolina in 1973 to join the Greensboro office of Honeywell, and later became a private contractor for Honeywell and other companies when he started his own company, Jimboco, Inc. after his retirement from Honeywell.

He is survived by his wife Wanda of Walkertown, brother Frank, and niece Diane Palmero of Cheektowaga New York.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Mildred Simons Klein, brothers Clifford and Thomas, sister Mildred and two infant children Ellen Ann, and James Allen.

He was the proud father of son Michael and wife Hui-Chen of Taiwan, daughter Janet Hunnicutt and husband Michael of Stokesdale, NC; daughter Nancy Landi and husband Tom and grandson Josh of Fort Collins, Colorado; and son John Thomas Klein of Greensboro, NC. He is survived by grandchildren Adam and wife Christin Hunnicutt and great granddaughter Madison, and grandsons Casey and Elliot Hunicutt all of Stokesdale NC.

He was a devout man, a loving father to his children, and took great joy in his grandsons, music, fishing, golf, and swimming anywhere and anytime. He was know for a sharp sense of humor and his ability to repair nearly anything.

He will be greatly missed….

Photos by MJ Klein

Driving around recently, we noticed that some names on highway and road signs have changed:

Take a close look and you’ll see the entire name on the left has an overlay, and “Zhu” on the right is overlaid on the sign.

But not just in that one spot – it seems that every sign we saw within a certain radius has been changed too.

“Zhudong” got a makeover too.

But on certain highways, the changes haven’t caught up yet.  In case you’re wondering, “Cyonglin” is the former spelling of the new “Qionglin” seen at the beginning of this article.

Several words on these signs will eventually be changed.  The reason they are changing is because the government of Taiwan has adopted the standard Hanyu Pinyin for all place names in the country (back in 2002).  Now I’m all for standards, but personally I dislike Hanyu Pinyin because it’s hard to tell the actual pronunciation from the looks of the spelling – it’s not instinctive.  Hanyu Pinyin uses the English letter “Q” without the following (and necessary) “u” which violates the rules of English.  Another hair-brainer is the use of “X” for the “sh” sound.  So, instead of using the easy-reading “shiao” (for 小) they use “xiao” which also makes no sense in English.  One may as well learn BoPoMoFo.  I did 3 semesters of Chinese at NCTU in Hsinchu and I’m still not sure how to pronounce certain Hanyu Pinyin spellings.

I do understand the need to adopt a standard, and I also understand the reason behind choosing Hanyu Pinyin.  I just think it gives a “PRC” feel to the island’s names.

Now this just looks weird.  Take a look at the Chinese words in these 2 green signs.  You don’t have to read Chinese to be able to see that the second word in “Hsinchu” is the same as the first word in “Zhubei”  (竹 which means “bamboo”).  Eventually “Hsinchu” will become “Hsinzhu” if the standard is to be held.  Also, the second word “bei” in “Zhubei” (北 “north”) is the exact same word used in “Taipei” (台北) which means that someday Taipei will become “Taibei!”

This is the worst example of Pinyin I have ever seen!  I have no idea what system this is, and it almost looks like Cantonese.

This sign was shot across the street from the previous one and shows the correct Hanyu Pinyin rendering of 中山.

Have you noticed any signs changing recently?  What are your thoughts and reactions to them?  Please leave us your comments below.  You may use the Apture bar above or the icons below for social media sharing.  Thanks for reading!

Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen

Last Monday was a holiday in Taiwan, and our friend Xiao-hui (also spelled “Shao hui” in some blog articles) invited us to join her party at Neiwan, a touristy town in the mountain region.

We made our way down under this bridge to a flat area beside the river.

I could hear karaoke music coming from the place beside the far end of the bridge.  Sometimes, there is just no escaping it….

Making my way down to the riverside, this is where all the people are gathered, doing their thing….

These days, Xiao-hui’s staff is Vietnamese, since nearly all the Thai people have gone back home.  These guys (who are with us) were scouting out a good place to camp out.

You can see how crowded it is in this place.  So naturally we were looking for a clearing.

The black hose in this photo comes from the far end of the bridge and brings water to this side.

Beside the automobile bridge is a pedestrian suspension bridge.

We decided to go down a trail to find a place with less people.

Part of the trail involved walking under this trellis.  At my height it wasn’t pleasant.

Then, the trail required us to walk over these boulders.  Not pleasant either.

Finally we reached the river, a few hundred meters upstream from where we began.

That’s Hui-chen with the hat, scoping out the river.

The young Vietnamese guys suggested that we cross the river at this point and end up on the other, less populated, side of the river.  I took a few steps on the very slippery rocks and decided that with a Samsung Galaxy S mobile phone in my pocket, a camera bag on my shoulder, and a wife on my arm, it couldn’t safely be done.  The Vietnam contingent and Xiao-hui pressed on, while Hui-chen and I turned around and went back on the trail.

The plan was for us to cross the pedestrian bridge and somehow catch up with everyone on the other side of the river.

I want you to notice one thing….

The amount of trash that people just left at the bridge (like it’s going to clean itself up) was appalling.  Note to local people:  Do NOT do this unless your Mother is around to clean up after you!

Anyway, here we are on the other side of the river, on the suspension bridge, looking for a way to get down to the water.  There wasn’t one.  So, eventually everyone decided to go back to the place we originally went to.  We wasted about 45 minutes on that exercise.

Here we see some of our group trying to cross the river again, to get back to the original place we started.

Everyone was soaked (except Hui-chen and I) as they made their way back.  The blue cooler is ours.

Finally, the young guys got down to the business of making a fire, which they were very good at.

After the fire got going, they placed a couple of those famous Taiwanese scrap metal grills on top of the rocks.

And, before burning off the plating (which I believe is cad-chromate and therefore, poisonous) they started grilling.

In this shot you can see how shiny the plating is on the grill.  These are made from welded scrap pieces left over from stamping processes.  It’s an ingenious use of scrap material but i wish it wasn’t plated with that stuff.

This is the meat that Xiao-hui brought.  She seasoned it with Thai spices and it’s been marinating for quite some time.  We’ve featured this marinade before.

Xiao-hui had a few pieces of pork, a mountain of beef, followed by goat. I ate mostly beef and it was out-of-this-world!

The sun was out and it was hot!  Being under the bridge only helped until the sun moved enough that the shadow was no longer covering us.  My arms got a bit red.

The Vietnamese contingient was drinking Heineken, absolutely the Worst Beer Ever!  They were also smoking a lot.

Xiao-hui’s son played in the river, under the watchful eye of one of the young men.

In the late afternoon people were sitting with their feet in the water, trying to cool off.

When it was time to go, we packed our gear and headed up the stairs to the street level.

But not before picking up all the trash.

I acquainted everyone with the American practice of “leaving the place better than we found it” by picking up other people’s trash too. Sometimes I wonder how Taiwanese can be so sophisticated and yet leave their trash all over the place like animals.  It’s baffling.

We hauled our trash out of the area.

We left our cooler and other stuff outside this 7-11.

It sat there for over an hour while we walked down the main street, checking out the shops.  No one even paid attention to it.

We’ve been to Neiwan before and we like this street a lot (but we never blogged on it before).

The late afternoon sun made for a nice time to take photographs.

We hope you get a chance to visit Neiwan yourself sometime.  We’re sure you’ll like it too!

Thanks for reading!  Please leave us your comments below.  You may use the Apture bar above or the icons below for social media sharing.

Photos by Hui-chen

Saturday night was the first in a series of Open Mic nights at Titty Tea in Jhubei.  I was one of the hosts for the event.  Let us take you through the highlights of the evening:

The event was held upstairs in this beautiful room.

Mimi started the show off with a reading of Shakespeare.  Her English is really great and she did a very nice reading for us.

Next, our co-host of the evening, Van Stokes, played some country songs.  The audience loved them!  Hearing those kinds of songs in Taiwan is a rare treat!  Van will be playing more country songs next weekend!

Our good friend Michael Turton told some jokes in Chinese.  He had the audience roaring with laughter!

This is Allie, singing a local favorite.  She was quite good.

Van and I played a few songs together, in-between the other performers.

This is Joe, who decided to play a few tunes for us, without any preparation!  Later his brother joined him, singing a song while reading the lyrics off his iphone!  They said they will be back next week with some songs prepared.  We can’t wait!

Towards the end of the night, Shawn (the owner of Titty Tea) and Van did a cool ditty that everyone enjoyed.

Pauline came in at the end of the night and played several tunes of her own composition.  She sounded great, and she said she’ll be back again, so we’re looking forward to that!

Titty Tea is hosting Open Mic Night, every Saturday in the month of June.  You’re all invited to join us and you’re also invited to perform!

This article is geotagged with the location of Titty Tea, so take a look at our Map to find it.

It seems like it was yesterday when we were talking about the 5th anniversary of TheNHBushman.com, but now it’s been six years since we started!

Hui-chen and I would like to thank all of our loyal readers who have stuck by us and faithfully read our articles about our personal travels and experiences.  This website would be nothing worthwhile at all without your readership and especially your participation in the comments sections.  We’ve very much enjoyed sharing our travels with you and we hope to bring you much more in the future!

Thank you all!

Photos by MJ Klein

I thought I would talk about how I’m doing with my exercise routine, since I got the new machine a few weeks ago.

This is my home gym/music room.  Having the Yamaha PA system directly across from the exercise machine makes it nice when listening to music while working out.

This is a shot of the room from the opposite corner.  I was standing in the doorway for the previous shot.

I have a Total Gym 9000, and I use it in conjunction with the Johnson gym.  The Total Gym can’t bulk you up but if you use it for certain exercises, it can decrease fat and tone you up.

And this of course, is the Johnson home gym I recently got.  The preacher curl is the last exercise I do, so the preacher curl pad is on the machine between workouts.

Now, for the workout routine that I am doing:  I used to spend hours in the gym several times a week, in my youth.  I know that many people work out for under and hour and they break up their workouts into body segments, such as chest and back on Monday, abs on Wednesday, arms on Friday, etc.  But I’m used to doing a full workout starting with the large muscles first, and working down to the smaller muscles, and all in one routine.  The total time it takes for the entire routine is about an hour and a half.  So that’s what I’m doing, 3 times a week.  Here is the routine as defined on Jefit:

ANY	Full		Add/Edit | Delete
Body Part	Exercise Name	Rest Time	Reps	Sets	Track
Abs	Cable Crunch	60 Sec.	8	3
Abs	Cable Seated Crunch	60 Sec.	8	3
Chest	Bench Press Machine	60 Sec.	8	3
Chest	Machine Fly	60 Sec.	8	3
Chest	Cross Over With Bands	60 Sec.	8	3
Shoulders	Cable Shrug	60 Sec.	8	3
Back	Cable Incline Pushdown	60 Sec.	8	3
Back	Cable Seated Row	60 Sec.	8	3
Back	Close-Grip Front Lat Pulldown	60 Sec.	8	3
Back	Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown	60 Sec.	8	3
Back	Wide-Grip Pulldown Behind The Neck	60 Sec.	8	3
Triceps	Cable Lying Triceps Extension	60 Sec.	8	3
Triceps	Cable Triceps Pushdown	60 Sec.	8	3
Triceps	Tricep Pulldown Over Bench	60 Sec.	8	3
Biceps	Cable Lying Bicep Cable Curl	60 Sec.	8	3
Biceps	Preacher Curl	60 Sec.	8	3

I do 5 exercises on the Total Gym and the rest on the Johnson machine.

Jefit is an excellent Android application for defining and tracking your workout progress.  I have a Samsung Galaxy S and it performs flawlessly on that platform.  I recommend Jefit for anyone trying to get back into shape.  It certainly helps me to stay motivated.  The app is fun to use, and very easy.  Check it out!

Thanks for reading.  Please leave us your comments below, and your retweets using either the Apture bar above or the icons below.

Photos by MJ Klein

Recently, I was in the Philippines on business.  I spent a few days in Manila and then I went up north to the Cagayan Valley.  First I’ll show you what it was like in Manila.

Greg (on the left) was our driver, and Sonny was my guide in the Philippines.  Greg is a former Manila taxi driver and he knows the city like his own backyard.

Everyone I met in the Philippines was exceedingly polite.  In general, the people that I came into contact with were perhaps the nicest people I’ve encountered in all my travels.  This photo is one example of a “Jeepney” vehicle, the main form of public transportation in the Philippines.

We went out to eat and pulled into this area, known for seafood.  Notice the touts running around trying to get our attention.

Very persistent, the touts compete directly against each other for customers.  They are paid by the various places, and I assume it’s on a commission basis but I’m not really sure.  I just know that they are rather annoying when you’re trying to negotiate the street without hitting them.

Like many countries around the world, the Philippines has it’s share of political turmoil.  As a result, there are armed security guards in most places.  Even though at first it seems strange in the presence of people carrying guns (and sometimes automatic weapons) I felt entirely safe while I was visiting.

Everywhere I went, the security personnel were very professional, polite and approachable, unlike security forces I’ve seen in other countries.  The guards held doors open for me on many occasions and always had a nice warm greeting for me, never failing to call me “sir.”  That’s a tactical shotgun this guard is sporting.

As we neared our destination, we saw touts along the way, beckoning us into their establishments.  It wasn’t unlike visiting a fish market in Taiwan, for example.

I’ll be showing you some choice examples of the food I enjoyed in the Philippines in separate articles at the end of this series.

One tout makes a final desperate attempt to get our attention!

We had to visit several companies in the metro Manila area.  So we bought a large map of the area and laid it out on the restaurant table and located the places we wanted to visit so we could set up a logical route.  The greater urban area of Manila is the 5th largest in the world with an estimated population of 20.6 million people!  It was a good thing we had Greg driving as I would never have been able to manage getting around so efficiently without him.

Here we see Sonny, Greg and one of the girls from the restaurant trying to locate a place on the map.

Driving around, we saw lots of Jeepneys.

Just like Thailand, there are lots of street vendors who walk in between the lanes of cars stopped at traffic lights.

At night time, Manila has some great places to eat and hang out.

This is another very common form of local transportation in the Philippines – called the tricycle.  It’s a motorcycle sidecar.  Yes I did ride in one, and no, I did not fit.  I couldn’t raise my head enough to look out the window!

In some places the number of tricycles is considerable.  We’ll see more of them in the next installment.

Some tricycle owners have a sense of humor.

This is our hotel, the Aloha.

Since firearm carry is legal in the Philippines, many places aks you to check your firearms with security upon entering.  Our hotel was no exception.

This is the vehicle we used.  It was very comfortable inside, with sliding doors on both sides.

Our driver, Greg, poses for a shot.

Thanks for reading.  We look forward to your comments.  Please feel free to use the Apture bar above, or the ShareThis service below for social media sharing.

Photos by MJ Klein

Today I snapped a few photos of the more recent work that’s been done near our home:

All that’s left of the work that was being done at night, is this “L” shaped hole, now all patched.

Behind where that hole is,

we see a big pile of dirt and some plastic pipes that have yet to be installed somewhere.  The dirt pile is where a big hole was last week, which presumably connected underground with the big hole directly across the street (detail shot below).  I have no idea where those pipes are going.

The big main site hole is now covered.  Taking months to complete, and with many pilings having been pounded into the ground, I assume that there is now a large room below ground where people are working.  One thing that leads me to that conclusion is the air pump (with the orange duct) seen here, presumably pumping air down into the work space.

The information sign that accompanies every construction site in Taiwan, has been removed.  They were behind schedule according to the last time I looked at the sign.  Hui-chen heard a rumor that this construction project has the main goal of eliminating some of the power poles in the neighborhood.  That certainly would be good for us, as there are 2 poles adjacent to our carport.

If I find out anything more, I’ll let you know!

Photos by MJ Klein

One of the great things about living in Taiwan is all the great deals you can get on locally made items, like this Johnson Home Gym.

I have been looking for something like this for quite some time, and then stumbled across it at an exercise equipment store in Hsinchu.  The price included delivery and setup.

The factory sent out 3 men in a truck, and they spent about an hour and a half on setup.  I don’t know how they can do it for that price.

Here are some of the components on the floor prior to setup.

They gave us a few gifts and one of them was this cool floor mat for the gym to sit on.

The guys didn’t mess around and got right to work putting it all together.  That’s my Total Gym 9000 in the background.

Adding the weights to the stack.

The pad in the very front is for supporting your arms when doing “preacher curls.”  Very useful for focusing on that exercise, most of the the time this pad will be removed from the machine.

The weight stack is shrouded with these nice black curtains.

And there you have it.  The complete machine, with the preacher curl pad removed so you can see more details.  The machine does bench press, flies, pulldowns from the top bar, pullups from the bottom bar in the front.  The front bar is used for the curls.  With those options the machine can do a full exercise routine up to 120 pounds on the weight stack.  This machine is just what I was looking for.  Now, get ready for the price.

Delivered, assembled and setup for use, including the floor mat and one other gift (an isometric dumbell) the final price was NT 14,000, or USD 488!  What a bargain!

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Mobile Phone photos by MJ Klein

Last night Hui-chen and I came home to find more road work outside of our home.  Here we see that the local DPW has dug a huge hole in the middle of the road.

They’re in the process of digging it out.

This went on all night long.  Today, the work continues.  We have no idea what they’re doing but it looks major.