Dreaming International

Galápagos

2026-08-24T02:10:00.000+08:00

We arrived the day before our luxurious preplanned itinerary began, so the Trip Master (my father) could ensure we were prepared like “racehorses rearing to go” when we met our guide. That day was mostly spent entranced by the sea lions’ overtaking the town and me begrudgingly translating my mom’s dietary restrictions to waiters. We swam in the ocean at sunset as sea lions occasionally bobbed up next us but mostly just blobbed on the beach. When we did meet our guide, we warmed up with a baby hike from the Galapagos Interpretation Center to Tijeretas along natural trails formed by of lava rocks. The path was surrounded by native plants like Galapagos cotton, palo santo, acacia, and cacti. We spotted frigate birds (called tijeretas because they look like shears), pelicans, herons, gulls, warblers, mockingbirds, and finches in the vegetation and sea cliffs. A kayak adventure took us around (and almost crashing into) the volcanic coastal bays. We snorkeled at postcard-worthy Carola Beach, surrounded by sea turtles, marine iguanas, and of course sea lions overtaking the stairs out.

Watched a sea lion bark in a woman's face here

Playa Cerro Bruno with Kicker Rock in the distance

Our second full day was boat journey to Leon Dormido/Kicker Rock. We swam from the anchored boat to the most serene private beach. We put on snorkels and fins to swim around Kicker Rock with countless reef fish, starfish, clams, tiny stingy jellyfish, and a couple (menacing but harmless) hammerhead sharks. It reminded me of taking a boat trip in Taiwan to swim in the Milk Sea around Turtle Island. We ate a traditional ceviche dinner in a fishing family’s courtyard, surrounded by their fruit trees.

The next day, we left San Cristobal on a small plane to Isabela Island, one of the most volcanically active spots on the planet. Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island was my favorite spot, because we stayed in a gorgeous, private old mansion (Casa Baronesa) right on a vast swatch of white sand beach, perfect for sunrise runs and sunset swims. There were outdoor workout areas, beach volleyball courts (featuring Ecuavolei, which is 3v3 using a soccer ball), and the Pink Iguana beach bar with a slack line.

We rode fat-tired bikes through a wide variety of ecosystems, from white sand beaches, to mangrove forests and brackish lagoons. We came to a screeching halt for the first giant tortoise of the trip. The ride brought us to el Muro de las Lagrimas (the Wall of Tears). When Isabela was used as a penal colony, prisoners were forced to construct this towering wall of lava rocks for no other reason than to keep them distracted from the madness of isolation. After lunch on the beach, we joined on a little boat tour to Tintoreras, a set of small islets filled with hidden coves and beaches, starring the peculiar, endemic Galapagos penguin, blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, and vegetarian white tipped sharks. Massive manta rays lurked below us and baby sea lions zoomed at us as we snorkeled around sparse coral.

Our next day on Isabela Island, we hiked to the rim of the Sierra Negra volcano, for a breathtaking vista when the mist cleared. Sierra Negra is the second largest active caldera on the planet, over six miles at its widest point. On our drive down, we stopped at an idyllic farm for lunch.

Another short internal flight took us to Baltra Island which hosts the airport for Santa Cruz Island, reminding me of the Kansai Airport on an standalone island off Osaka. Santa Cruz is the most populous in the Galapagos with about 15k people and the best touristic shopping. We hiked through a forest of endemic Scalesia trees to Los Gemelos, two deep volcanic sinkholes at the top of the island, with rocky cliffs surrounding the huge pits of empty magma chambers. The trees were covered with ferns and epiphytes and lent the forest a quiet, eerie feel.

El Chato in the Santa Cruz highlands was a surreal giant tortoise reserve. Everywhere you looked, the landscape was dotted with a slow-moving tortoise, some over 175 years old. Other features of the landscape were lava tunnels and toxic manzanillo trees with their little apples of death.

Jurassic Park style dining

We did more sea kayaking, this time in more peaceful mangrove outlets created by lava channels. We spent the afternoon swimming at Tortuga Bay. It’s only accessible by foot, after walking on soft, fine sand past a choppy bay to get to its extremely calm pristine waters. On our walk back, we stopped by the baby tortoises and stuffed Lonesome George at Charles Darwin Research Station.

Muchin de yuca

The Galapagos reminded me in some ways of Costa Rica but even more focused on environmental preservation. Everything required a specialized trained naturalist guide. There was no ziplining through the habitats of endangered animals. There were not even any plastic bags allowed on the archipelago.

Costa Rica

2025-11-18T08:32:00.095+08:00

After flying into San Jose, we drove on the dark one lane roads (the only type of road in Costa Rica, it seems), avoiding pothole after pothole, until we reached Tamarindo, a magical oasis of tourists in the jungle. Of anywhere I’ve been, it most reminded me of the towns in Bali—perfect surfing conditions, diverse restaurants, expats everywhere. On our way, we did stop at a little town to eat at a “soda,” a local roadside restaurant serving typical Costa Rican cuisine: rice and beans, plantains, queso, fried egg, and a meat (or veggies for me). We ate every single meal outdoors, except our very last one at the Monteverde Brewing Company.

In Tamarindo, the weather and water were ideal. In between sunrise beach volleyball and sunset surfing, we enjoyed massages on the beach and runs on the beach. Steve tried unsuccessfully to wade across the river to Playa Grande; then, we learned of the crocodile attacks there, so we took a tiny ferry for a long walk.

River tracing hike to La Leona waterfall

Our second destination was the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We hit the uphill unpaved mountain roads right as the low gas light turned on, barely making it to Santa Elena by the last drops in our tank. A night hike taught me that all scorpions glow under black light, thanks to our guide who could spot a sleeping snake in the trees a hundred feet away or a subcentimeter glass frog perched on a leaf. The next day, we went on our own glorious hike through the cloud forest.

We saw iguanas, frogs, geckos, snakes, tarantulas, other spiders, scorpions, millipedes, grasshoppers, crickets, leaf bugs, caterpillars, butterflies, racoons, coatis, kinkajous, opossums, monkeys, toucans, quezals, and other birds. On one occasion, there was a touch of traffic while cows were crossing the road; on another occasion, it was a tarantula crossing the road. A highlight was a cafe famous for its pavilion full of colorful hummingbirds speeding and hovering around.

The original moss art

I learned that Costa Ricans are called Ticos and that mae is Costa Rica's version of the ubiquitous local term for dude or bro.

Switzerland

2025-08-27T20:43:00.004+08:00

We were looking for a new place to go on vacation that wasn’t going to be super hot in the dead of summer, so we chose Switzerland since I randomly have multiple friends who live there. Turns out it’s still super hot in the dead of summer, but also that Switzerland is famous for its natural swimming spots! Zurich has urban parks where bathers lounge in the grass and then wade into the lake. At noontime, we saw the businesspeople of downtown eating their lunches while splashing in the creek. Supposedly, some workers pack their professional clothes in a dry bag and float with the current of the Limmat to work every day. In addition to this, there’s excellent public transportation for which everyone uses the same app. Locals are more likely to own a bike than a car. Cars stop at all the crosswalks for pedestrians even without a stop sign.

Rentenwiese pictured here, also went to a similar park, called Chinagarten, where we spent a perfect last day in Zurich playing grass volleyball, throwing a frisbee, doing aero, swimming in the lake

My suitemate from all four years of college and her boyfriend live right in the heart of the old city, over a bar that stays noisy all night long. Unlike other countries’ old towns, it felt special that Zurich’s was a place where real locals lived and worked, and there was industry besides tourism. My friends were incredible hosts who took us for gorgeous walking tours. There were tons of thrift stores (brockenhausen) which suited Steve. We ate at Hiltl, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world. Overall, there were excellent vegan options and international food options throughout the urban areas of Switzerland.

The public fountains all provide fresh drinking water

We tragically arrived one day too late (due to me working a 24 hour shift at the hospital) to experience Zurich’s Street Parade (an open air EDM music festival). My friends were embarrassed that the city streets had a minuscule amount of trash as a result. The next Saturday in Zurich was the Limmat float where swimmers all got inflatable axolotls and sent down the river on a section normally reserved for boats. It was reminiscent of the Sun Moon Lake swim I’d done in inner Taiwan.

Lindt chocolate factory

Seebad swim club in Lucerne, view from the bar

After Zurich, we spent a day in nearby Lucerne. It also had a picturesque old town with winding cobblestone streets and a covered bridge crossing the river. Walking down the tree-lined path by the river (wishing we had our rollerblades), we happened upon an amazing swim club. It was full of Swiss people sunbathing on the elevated deck, drinking Aperol spritzes, and cooling off in Lake Lucerne. Afterwards, I was on a hunt to try raclette, the Swiss specialty of cheese melted over veggies and bread (suspiciously similar to fondue, the Swiss specialty of cheese melted over veggies and bread). However, we only emerged for dinner at 8:30pm when every restaurant seemed to be closed, Switzerland being an exception to the European habit of eating late. A bar owner ended up making us raclette pinsa while we sat at the tables of people having wine in a quiet plaza with a fountain.

Lucerne Lion Monument

We took a train then a bus then the steepest funicular in the world to reach a village called Stoos, that cannot be reached by (nonlocal) car. The first afternoon, we did a stunning ridge-line hike between two cable cars. The whole hike was soundtracked by the clanking of cowbells. The heatwave with no cover from the sun made it sweltering. We spent the night at the cozy Stoos Lodge, in a modern, wood-paneled room with floor-to-ceiling views of the mountains. Opening the windows at dusk for the first cool air of the whole trip, we heard the eerie alphorn calling through the valley for the cows to come home. The next day, we rented e-bikes to take around mountains that we otherwise would not have been able summit. Regardless, we were barely able to descend; the trails were so steep with loose rocks.

Rösti (traditional Swiss hash browns)

Our next destination was Bern. It is a fairytale of a city, with the glistening blue river wrapping around the old town. There’s even a park incorporated into the city that has bears.

Rosengarten lookout

As soon as we saw people zooming along the fast-flowing river Aare, we knew we had to join too. After hunting down a dry bag in the city, we walked along the river side path, passing bars and a beach volleyball court shaded by an overpass, until the launching point. Steve held our matching popsicle floaties while I jumped off the bridge. We bobbed along at high speed with everyone else until there was a sign in German at a fork in the river. We reluctantly got out at the Marzili swim club with everyone else. Afterwards, we asked a lifeguard and learned that if we hadn’t, the river would’ve carried us over the dam of death.

There are bears hiding in those trees

Eating local fondue despite it being 90 degrees outside

Bern was also extremely cool because the main streets of the old town all had cellars. In front of every aboveground storefront, there was another entrance leading to an underground storefront. There were extremely few cars, just occasional trams speeding between fountains along otherwise old fashioned streets. The week prior the city had hosted a buskers street music festival. Passing an old bridge over the Aare, we saw people doing parkour in the streets. Then, we stumbled upon the Movement Park, which hosts regular yoga, acro, juggling, and slackline jams, and I decided Bern would be the Swiss city for me.

Sicilia

2025-05-20T00:05:00.003+08:00

The Lombardo family tour of White Lotus sets (trip-mastered by my dad who hadn’t even seen White Lotus and was annoyed by our trilling of the theme song in the rented van) began on the beaches of Cefalù.

What my dad had planned as a sunrise hike to the cliffs over the city, we managed to delay until mid-morning, only to discover Parco della Rocca only opened at 8:30am anyway. We also discovered a bag of Italian chocolate-filled cookies left on a crevasse just for us. That tided us over until a lunch in the main plaza shadowed by the cathedral.

Tripi

Next stop on the tour was the Lombardo ancestral hometown—although the reception was surprising given the expectation set by White Lotus. Tripi is a village terraced into the mountains of Sicily, now with population of only 108 people. Its little plazas look out over green mountains, and its streets wind between abandoned houses. Thanks to the work my genealogy- and Italy-obsessed boyfriend had done, we were greeted by the mayor, the archivist (Giuseppe), and the archeologist upon our arrival. We were also immediately greeted by the first of many Lombardos we’d meet—Pippo, a strabismic man with unfortunate unmet need of his long-lost relative’s ophthalmologic services. We couldn’t directly find any living town members on our family tree, but many with the same names as our ancestors. The shopkeeper at the local store was a Lombardo, and the chef a the one local restaurant was a Lombardo. When the mayor heard we were descended from a Lemmo, he called up multiple of his older relatives to see if any remembered the common person. Giuseppe and the archeologist took us to the house where we think my dad’s grandfather lived, now with a tree growing through the roof and only 4 people remaining in the neighborhood, including Giuseppe, his mom, and his grandma. They unlocked the neighborhood church where my grandparents (and many ancestors before) were baptized, confirmed, and married. Additionally, they unlocked the crown jewel church at the very peak of the town. Every year, on March 22, the area is packed with visitors for the festival of San Vincenzo, namesake to my great grandfather and many others. Next, they gave us a tour of the tiny museum and developing Ancient Greek ruins of Abakainon.

When aforementioned boyfriend had to have urgent finger surgery and miss out on the trip, I was promoted to chief interpreter. At first I was worried I wouldn’t be able to fill the role without any preparation, but then I ended up being able to understand 90% of the tour and really enjoy the language.

A highlight was the lunch at Trattoria Papa. The only seating was a picturesque balcony with a perfect view. Chef Lombardo brought out a set menu of bread with olive oil, charcuterie, antipasti of sautéed greens, caponata, parmigiana di melanzane, arancini, and a first main course of pasta alla norma. We couldn’t even accept the second main course of fish. There were Sicilian red wine, orange-infused amaro, espresso, and finally local cookies with swirls mimicking Greek columns.

Next stop was an unreal villa in the foothills of Mount Etna, owned by an Australian couple, Steve and Alexandra. The outdoor space included a private tennis court, multiple patios and dining spots, a pizza oven, a wood-fueled hot tub, a hammock, a fruit tree orchard, and fantastic subtropical plants. The White Lotus ceramic Moor's heads were everywhere.

After driving through fields of lava rock, we took a cable car over swaths of finer lava rocks towards the summit of Mount Etna. We hiked on lava pebbles before nearly being blown away. Grandma stole a rock while waiting for us at the cable car station.

The prettiest city was Taormina. There’s a reason all the resorts are there, including the Four Seasons hosted in an old palace, AKA The White Lotus. Every town in Sicily had cobblestone streets, carved stone archways, alleyway lookouts to the sea, balconies heavy with dangling flowers and overgrown succulents—but Taormina was to the max. Driving around said steep, narrow streets in the oversized manual van nearly killed my father.

Teatro Antico ruins allowing a picturesque view of Taormina and the Mediterranean below

Isola Bella was my absolute favorite. It is a tiny island only reachable by walking over a shallow sandbar, after hiking down to the main beach. In the 1960s, all the components of a house were built into the rock, with rooms and pools nestled into different alcoves of the island, separated by little paths through gorgeous plants. I liked imagining residing there and hosting parties in the botanical gardens.

Arancini

Pistachio pasta

In Siracusa, we stayed in an adorable apartment with a balcony (always) above the fish market on the little peninsula of Ortigia. I loved swimming in the ocean and running along the outer wall of the peninsula. We visited more ruins: Apollonion casually in the center of the city and the Parco Archeologico Neapolis further out. The Neapolis was super cool park that you can roam around, sometimes coming upon ancient ruins, sometimes coming upon modern sculptures and caves.

Ear of Dionysius cave

Next White Lotus day trip was Noto, a luminescent baroque masterpiece. We sat on the cathedral steps at golden hour listening to a street trio’s music, then walked to an outdoor dinner of mostly tagliere, wine, bread, and valerian (tender Italian green) under the hanging street lights. We missed their flower festival by only one week, where flower petals form intricate sidewalk designs.

Finally, we ended in Palermo. Palermo felt the most like a real city. Still, every corner to which we wandered on foot was gorgeous and historic. Sicilian architecture was mostly like northern Italy but with palm trees interrupting the skylines and cacti the sidewalks— and with a countryside marked by old abandoned houses. We hit Via Maqueda perfectly on Saturday night to see its packed chaos, the Bourbon Street of Sicily.

View from the Airbnb

Cattedrale di Palermo

Mercato di Ballarò, crazy at lunchtime

Via Maqueda, crazy at evening time

Quattro Canti intersection

Piazza Bellini

Teatro Massimo

Dublin

2025-05-12T01:33:00.019+08:00

In classic Alexandra style, I took the opportunity of cheaper flights (on my way to Italy) with a layover in a country I’d never been before, spending a 9-hour layover in Dublin. The city felt quaint and friendly. It looked like how I see London suburbs represented on British sitcoms.

I toured Trinity College, during which I recalled avoiding tourists while a student on Yale’s campus. I saw the famous Book of Kell. I tried to bring myself to drink Guinness (my taxi driver recommended a half pint with black corn syrup, saying Irish doctors used to recommend pregnant women drink once a week to increase iron during pregnancy) but still couldn’t drink beer. I popped in St. Patrick’s cathedral. I did not see a single living three-leaf or four-leaf clover but did see several living redheads. I ate an Irish meal which tasted just like an American meal but the waiter said “thanks a million.” I read my Kindle in a bunch of different parks while Irish kids played football around my feet. I walked 20,000 steps, including over the Ha'penny Bridge.

First Vacation of Residency

2024-08-27T01:51:00.144+08:00

The first couple days of my vacation, we spent beaching, disc golfing, and rollerblading around Cape Henlopen, a marvelous state park in my new home state of Delaware.

I had already been sailing around the Spanish Virgin Islands, but this trip I wanted to dedicate to San Juan. We stayed in an Airbnb condo with massive windows overlooking the neighborhood of Condado, specifically the lively strip right before the beach. It felt like Miami with even more Latin culture. The whole time I fantasized about being able to live there, and still be able to practice medicine with my American license since it's technically the US.

We spent a lot of time on the beach: swimming in the deliciously warm water, watching kitesurfing while sipping mimosas under an umbrella, playing some volleyball, and walking barefoot in the evening. I liked Anita Gelato so much, we had to go multiple times. We went dancing at La Placita, which is a whole quadrant of nightlife. We danced with crowds in the street to Bad Bunny and then ducked into a side bar to dance bachata.

We tried to go to El Yunque National Forest, but recent hurricanes had caused destruction such that cleanup was still needed to prevent avalanches. While turning away our rental car, the park ranger happened to mention a waterfall in Luquillo. We followed spotty navigation until we found a trailhead with locals renting parking spots, leading to a waterfall slide, a rope swing, and serene ponds with Bad Bunny playing in the background. Back on the coast, we then stumbled across the kioskos de Luquillo for food, with yet another gorgeous beach.

We shared an electric scooter to Viejo San Juan (the oldest city in the United States territory). It has one side that is painfully full of tour groups fresh off the cruise ship, and the rest is colorful old buildings and cobblestone streets. We were doing acro in a grassy patch in a plaza when a camera crew filming a commercial for a cruise ship featured us.

Finding flan in a packed yet quaint old diner

Throwing a frisbee in the peninsular lawn of Castillo San Felipe del Morro

Cementerio Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis

Our most romantic night was in Viejo San Juan. We had dinner in the plaza of the Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Batista, once again had gelato, and then went to Steve's favorite cigar bar. We ended the night with salsa dancing at La Factoría -- a bar with multiple rooms of dancing from EDM to Buena Vista Social Club. The Despacito music video was filmed there and in the nearby barrio of La Perla.

I ended the vacation by returning to the mainland US and immediately taking a one night trip to the Jersey shore to visit my friend Charlie who was briefly back from Taiwan. We stayed at his family's seaside house in Sea Girt, ate Italian American food, and experienced the classic Jersey shore party that is Parker House. I returned to the hospital having spent the last 10 days straight on the beach.

SD & CDMX

2024-06-14T00:31:00.001+08:00

The fourth-year-medical-student-already-matched-new-boyfriend impromptu trip started in San Diego. It's a peculiar enclave of SoCal marked by a busy airspace and the coexistence of hippies and the military. Learning San Diego was actually in the depths of "May gray, June gloom" did not stop us from achieving our goal of daily beach volleyball on a real beach.

Instead of going to Balboa Park (walking distance from our hotel) for the purpose of visiting the San Diego Zoo, we went there to play disc golf on a course with landscapes otherworldly to an East Coaster, including a true Californian offering us weed gummies for letting him play through.

We did have one classic San Diego morning of gelato and seals in La Jolla. Our nights varied from alien-themed drinks at MOTHERSHIP to stumbling into a pool bar with a live reggae band.

Representative of each neighborhood in which we stayed, we enjoyed excellent meals and Aperol Spritzes in Little Italy, a cold ocean plunge and an unplanned acro jam in Ocean Beach, and farmers' markets in both (but the kind of hip city farmers' markets where there's no vegetables but yes organic candles you can melt on your own body).

Brunch at Morning Glory

The best Type 2 Fun was waking up in the middle of the night in our hostel on the main drag of Ocean Beach realizing we'd left the car in a no overnight parking zone—and Steve getting up to move it.

The best Type 1 Fun was hiking to Black's Beach, but rather than taking the proper Ho Chi Minh Trail, accidentally forging our own path through the crevasses of sandstone.

To begin stage II of the fourth-year-medical-student-already-matched-new-boyfriend impromptu trip, we WALKED across the border to Mexico—at the Tijuana airport, just an Uber ride away from San Diego.

Going back to Mexico as an adult had me realizing what a fantastic country it is, hiding right next to the U.S. I can envision with perfect clarity coming back to live here someday (medical practice being the only blurry spot)—a feeling that I've similarly had in Taipei and Amsterdam. We stayed in Condesa, an amazing neighborhood with tree-lined walking paths down the middle of every boulevard.

Jogging to the dream-come-true Parque México

The dog:walker ratio is a phenomenon of the upper-middle class neighborhoods of CDMX

The food was spectacular, from street tortas to Taquería Orinoco, from the Secret Donut Society to our nicest meal at Ling Ling by Hakkasan on the 56th floor of the Ritz-Carlton, where I pretended I wasn't wearing dirty Tevas.

Castillo de Chapultepec

Plaza de la Constitución

The trip peaked in the evenings with a night of barhopping from neighborhood bar to neighborhood bar, a night of salsa dancing to live music at Mama Rumba, and a night of a backroom jazz jam at Parker & Lennox. The trip allowed (forced?) me to discover within myself a love of mezcal cocktails. It also rekindled my love of Frida Kahlo.

A gross miscalculation meant that we did not tour Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul, although we enjoyed the neighborhood of Coyoacán, whose plaza was hosting a book fair and whose side streets hosted art markets. We did successfully tour Diego and Frida's Museo Casa Estudio, a bauhaus impracticality with a catwalk connecting her room and his studio. The surrounding old San Ángel neighborhood was also gorgeous to stroll (and do acro in). I marked my visit to Coyoacán with flan and to San Ángel with churros--Steve to both with coffee.

Comida Colombiana

2024-04-25T21:17:00.002+08:00

Colombia is such a large, diverse country, and the only Latin American country with a Caribbean coast and a Pacific coast. Cartagena on the Caribbean coast had lots of fresh seafood like ceviche, whereas the mountainous areas are known for their parrilla, or grilled meats.

The Antioquia region is known for the lunchtime staple of bandeja paisa. In Medellín, I was able to get a vegan version (on the right). The food there was the best with tons of affordable plant-based options, probably influenced by expats and what felt like a larger young middle class.

Ajíaco soup with the traditional pairings of avocado, rice, and capers

Colombia has numerous variations on cheese-inside-fried-bread: pandebono (my favorite), empanadas, almohabana, palito de queso, carimañolas, etc.

Palito de queso

Carimañolas, made from yucca and cheese

Buñuelos, can be stuffed with arequipe (like dulce de leche) or other flavors

Chocolate completo, the cheese goes inside the hot chocolate

Tamal

Cheese with fig and arequipe or guava paste,
sold by street vendors on a thin round wafer called oblea

Chicha is a fermented, alcoholic drink, seen on the streets of Bogotá,
originally made by indigenous people chewing corn mash and spitting into an earthenware jar,
outlawed in 1949 because of neocolonialist campaigns associating it with poverty and crime

Colombia

2024-04-25T05:27:00.275+08:00

My friend and I started the two-week trip in Cartagena. We ate ceviche and paella outdoors, danced salsa to a live big band, danced bachata on the beach, surfed in the Caribbean, and took sunset walks on the fortified wall of the old city that's stuffed with colorful quaint houses. What Cartagena most seems to lack is actual locals.

Acro at the Castillo San Felipe

Santuario de San Pedro Claver

Salinas de Galerazamba,
where the salinity is so high, there's salt instead of sand,
and sometimes the water turns pink

Volcan de Lodo el Totumo,
touristy but fun to float on mud at the mouth of a bottomless volcano,
then be rinsed off in the stream

We took a ferry to spend a couple nights on a remote island in Islas del Rosario.

Next stop was Minca in the mountains, where we hiked to a waterfall swim and rode motorcycles to a coffee and cacao farm.

All day hike in Tayrona Park

All day hike in Tayrona Park, I loved swimming in the waves and bright sun

Bogotá reminded me of Spain, with cobblestone streets, old buildings, grungy cafes, university neighborhoods, and overall more livability compared to Cartagena.

Plaza de Bolivar

Santuario Nuestra Señora del Carmen

Museo de Oro

Museo de Botero, loved!

Stations of the cross overlooking Bogotá from Monserrate sanctuary
We rode the gondola up the hill, but some people climb the steps on their knees

Stations of the cross and cathedral carved into a salt mine at Zipaquirá
They have to use sea water in the baptismal font so it doesn't disintegrate

Hiked to the Laguna de Guatavita, important for local indigenous culture

Sailing nearby

Our final destination was Medellín. A highlight was joining a local acro jam in a riverside park that comes alive at night--reminding me of Taipei. The botanical gardens of the city reminded me of Singapore. There's a lively nightlife scene, dominated by expats in some areas, but we also discovered a fantastic underground salsa club.

Parques del Río

Plaza Botero

Cementerio Museo San Pedro

We took a local tour of Comuna 13, a neighborhood that embodies Medellín's shedding its 1991 title of most dangerous city in the world in 1991. What used to be a highway for drug trafficking was transformed by education, tourism, hip hop culture, and community infrastructure--most famously the escalators of Comuna 13 but also public transit cable cars connecting slums to the city center.

On a final day trip, we climbed up the Peñón de Guatape for gorgeous views of the waterways, then enjoyed a coffee in the town of Guatape before running off the side of a cliff to go paragliding.

Plaza de los Zócalos (the colorful baseboards around the town of Guatape)

Iceland

2023-10-23T10:19:00.007+08:00

Djúpalónssandur, black sand beach with lifting stones, ship wreckage, and Elves' Church rock

My dad, brother, his college best friend, his son, and I spent ten days living in a van and driving the Ring Road around the perimeter of Iceland. It was one breathtaking natural landscape after another. Some landscapes were reminiscent of Hawaii with lava fields separating the ocean and the mountains. There were almost no trees, just shrubs; as the Icelandic saying goes, "If you get lost in the woods, stand up." The entire country was so sparsely populated. I was expecting Reykjavik to be a hip European city for all the EDM it produces, but in reality it was a quirky seaside town. There were more sheep than people. This trip was all the more intense for closely following two years of the opposite weather in Taiwan (cloudy subtropical heat and humidity). Even in the dead of summer, Iceland is sweater weather. Despite going to glaciers and ice caves, I never saw a single local tour guide wearing gloves, and the al fresco dining scene was probably larger than in Taiwan.

Whales of Iceland museum

The weather became suddenly snowy on a steep mountain overpass

One highlight was slipping, sliding, and crawling into a lava tube filled with ice, including stalagmites that had taken 500 years to form. It was a surprisingly physical spelunking expedition that tested our claustrophobia limits.

My only regret was it was too cloudy to see the Northern Lights. Our visit was right around the time of the autumnal equinox, so the days and nights were fairly even, unlike the drastic daylight imbalances of the summer and winter. Just over the ten days we were there, the daytime shortened by over an hour, as sunrises got later and sunsets got earlier. Being so far north, the sun is always lower in the sky than we're used to. There was an eerie feeling of my sense of time being off, because the midmorning was marked by the intense sideways light of an Indiana summer evening.

Dettifoss

Gullfoss

Skógafoss

Svartifoss, with naturally formed hexagonal patterns of dark lava rock

After a gorgeous super-Jeep ride from the green plains at sea level, through the lava fields, up past the mountains, we arrived at the third largest glacier in the world (after Greenland and Antarctica) to drive snowmobiles. In addition to playing on top of the glacier, we also rode a Zodiac boat through the iceberg lagoon, where the glacier is slowly calving and melting. In this lagoon and on every hike, locals would point out how much the glacier had receded in even just the past decade or two, unearthing enormous swaths of land. A glacier is defined as ice so massive it moves under its own weight. The ice is so densely packed that it refracts light differently to produce the beautiful pure blue color seen in fresh icebergs.

Seal

A hidden gem of the trip -- Petra's Stone and Mineral Collection

Fumaroles

Geyser that exploded every 8 minutes

When we weren't cooking in the van, we enjoyed meals at quaint restaurants often repurposed from farmhouses. Local fare included arctic char, reindeer, beef, cheese, butter, bread, jam, yogurt, ice cream, chocolate, beer, and vodka.

A final treat of the trip was going to the famous-among-tourists Blue Lagoon the morning before catching our international flight home. We enjoyed green juices, beers, face-masks, and waterfall massage in the spa-like complex of pools, naturally heated to 38 degrees Celsius, colored blue by algae, and surrounded by lava rock. We got the more local experience earlier in the trip when we visited a community center for a much cheaper dip. While the Finns appreciate a dry heat sauna, Icelanders love a hot tub. The custom is to first scrub down nude in the hot showers of the heated locker rooms, then go outside in a bathing suit to sit in a mostly non-chlorinated hot tub. All the outdoor pools at the community center were heated, so despite freezing cold, kids can go down the water slide or swim lengths in the the lap pool.

Taiwan 1SE Video

2023-06-21T08:00:00.001+08:00

Looking back at first months in Taiwan

Reflections upon leaving Taiwan

2023-06-19T07:23:00.005+08:00

Some reflections on Taiwan written from my yoga mat (aka 'my personal item') fully unfurled in the middle of the gate: I’m wearing the same outfit as when my parents sent me off from the Indianapolis Airport. It feels like nothing has happened since then, but also that I’m an entirely different person. Moving abroad is something everyone should do at least once. It teaches you what you value about a community, what you value of your material possessions, what you value in friends.

I didn’t realize how homogeneously academic my circles were until I came here and met teachers, billionaires, make up artists, yoga teachers, dancers, ping pong coaches, painters, chefs, unemployed travelers, people with foot fetishes, etc. I feel like I can get along with any sort of person, after I’ve met so many new ones over the past two years. Some transient, some very meaningful, like my acro community. They surprised me with matching customized shirts during our last jam and made a circle to all base me without me touching the ground. I was really touched.

Taiwan is an extremely special place, not only in my heart but also as a model of a successful transition from a military state to a vibrant democracy, over the 80s and 90s becoming so safe it now feels utopian.

In my last few weeks in Taiwan, when I thought I was done adding people to my life, I befriended a Taiwanese guy (he came up to me on the street in Wanhua) who is a basketball agent. He specializes in bringing Taiwanese American college players, who could never dream of making pro in the US, to Taiwan where they’ll become MVPs. As a result, he’s an expert in Taiwanese immigration policy and uses KMT historical records from when the party was still in mainland China. He can spot Chinese heritage by the chunkiness in a player’s calves—Taiwanese people have often praised me for my slim calves (actually they’re quite muscular, thank you very much), another beauty standard based on the colonizer. “Imports” or foreign players, i.e. Dwight Howard, are otherwise tightly controlled in the two Taiwanese professional leagues because they have such an influence on the play. Only two from each team are allowed on the court in the first three quarters, and only one in the last quarter. My new friend got us VIP passes for a game which only when I got to the stadium (和平籃球場 right across from my dorm building) did I notice that it was THE FINALS. Jeremy Lin’s team had already been eliminated, but I got to see his little brother play, a contender for MVP.

In my last few days in Taiwan, my friend who is a semi-professional table tennis player took me to the ping pong dungeon, where I got free lessons all night. Ping pong is so dominated by Asians, that my friend learned Chinese as an adolescent to better communicate with his coaches and as he was traveling to Asia for competitions so frequently.

My friend also happens to be opening a chicken & biscuits restaurant in Taipei

My last day in Taiwan, I wanted 刮痧, an anti-inflammatory scraping technique of Traditional Chinese Medicine. My friend and I ended up at a stall inside a traditional market that had one massage table and a curtain. My friend got too scared, but I had a great scrape. First was a warmup of vigorous massage. Then the masseuse used a glass jar suction-cupped to my skin to rub along my back. He used oil and a bilobed wooden disc to scrape my neck. Finally, he cracked all the bones in my spine. It didn’t hurt as much as I was expecting; he said I have good pain tolerance and that men are more scared of the pain. The redness supposedly indicates that your muscles needed this detoxifying anti-fatiguing process, but I think it indicates you’re an extremely pale person.

I had a last lunch of 小籠包 soup dumplings and with T and Juliet (she brought me a matcha mochi doughnut as a going away present). After a last dinner at Din Tai Fung with April, Ryanna, and Charlie, my friends accompanied me to the airport. I’m excited to be moving on to the next stage in my life. I have a lot that I’m looking forward to.

MS Graduation

2023-06-08T00:54:00.004+08:00

The last weekend in May was NTU commencement. In Taiwan, university graduation festivities occur before final exams start. In fact, Taiwanese students order their graduation gowns at the very beginning of their senior year so then they can take graduations photos on any good weather day or vacation they may take over the next year.

Another major difference from the United States is that Taiwanese universities are rather siloed into departments. Instead of picking a university, high school students pick a specific department based on which ones they qualify for with their test scores. Almost every single class they take in college is determined by their major. Clubs and extracurriculars are sometimes within the department too, for example the College of Public Health badminton team I played on for a year. This loyalty is reflected in commencement ceremonies. The departments all had their own graduations, where each undergraduate, Masters, and Doctorate student’s name is read as they cross the stage. For graduate students, our research advisor turned the tassel on our graduation cap for us. I was honored to give the valedictorian speech—the one part of the ceremony in English and thus understood by my mom watching the livestream in the middle of the night on the other side of the world. Everyone clapped just because I did a very simple intro in Chinese and then later because I mentioned stinky tofu. Since the departments have more limited space, it is standard that not many family members are able to attend in person but may watch the livestream from a designated nearby auditorium or join for photos after. That evening, my class went out for a celebration dinner in Yangmingshan with scenic night views.

The overall NTU graduation was the next day in the light filled gymnasium but was not as well attended as the respective departments’ graduations. It still felt huge to me and reminded me of my cousin’s commencement in Alabama. The commencement speaker was a Taiwanese American corporate tech billionaire. At the end, all the students stood, removed their caps, and bowed deeply to the faculty and then again to the parents. There was an exit procession to the ominous gongs of the Fu Bell and a startling confetti explosion.

My mom and I both graduated with our Masters degrees within one week of one another. While my family could not attend, my roommate’s mom was visiting from the United States, and some non-student friends joined me for an international students party, making the day feel very special.

The next week, after successfully receiving a grant to organize an event, I hosted Vivi Lin, the CEO of Taiwan’s only menstrual health NGO, With Red, to speak at the College of Public Health. It was exciting for the research and advocacy worlds of my academic interest come together. The very next day, I successfully defended my Masters thesis. I had three very cool professors on my defense committee.

That weekend, to celebrate before starting on my thesis edits, I went swimming in a natural geologic park called 和平島 with one of my best Taiwanese friends, Eroo. It was my first time walking around Keelung and its night market 廟口夜市. It was a much more bustling harbor city than I was expecting.

Eating 石花凍 (local speciality: algae jelly)

廟口夜市

Taiwanese Baseball Game

2023-05-15T14:29:00.002+08:00

With one month left before leaving Taiwan, I organized some of my friends to attend a Dragons baseball game at Tianmu Stadium. It felt full circle since right before leaving Baltimore, I’d gone to my first Orioles game with all my local friends at Camden Yards. Baseball in Taiwan is a legacy of the Japanese colonialism period. In the past, teams had been disbanded due to game-fixing by gangs, but now there’s 6 major league teams around the island that all play each other. The biggest difference between MLB and the Taiwanese league is that the fans dance and sing the whole time. Starting from the first inning, fans were on their feet dancing along with the renowned cheerleaders of Taiwanese baseball. Even while the home team is up, the stadium is blasting the batter’s walk-up song, and everyone is singing that batter’s specific chant and dancing their specific dance. There were fewer breaks between innings so the game overall went a lot faster. The stadium allowed you to bring your own food and drink, so rather than eating overpriced hotdogs we were eating 滷味 (night market stewed veggies) and guava with plum powder.

"The Hot Zones" are the sections right in front of the cheerleaders on either side,
infamous for being full of men taking photos of them

Also, I recently went outdoor climbing for the first time (besides via ferrata in Kentucky). This time, it was in 龍洞 Longdong right by the ocean. After bouldering indoors frequently over the past year, it was exhilarating to climb on real rock with birds flying around me and waves crashing below me.

Finally, I visited the Water Treatment Museum, which is a popular wedding photo destination but otherwise a bit dry. They do have a children’s water park that opens later in the summer.

Early Springtime Activities

2023-04-09T20:26:00.003+08:00

Solo hike up 茶壺山 Teapot Mtn

Almond tofu pudding with black sesame sauce afterwards in 九份老街 Shifen Old Street
(always overpacked with tourists and drizzly weather)

Attending an exclusive tea tasting party...my favorite part was the unlimited homemade vegan ice cream

Swimming, acro, and beach volleyball at 萬里 Wanli Beach for a friend's birthday on Tomb Sweeping Holiday (like Memorial Day in that it’s a random Monday off right when the weather is good enough for the beach, but not like Memorial Day in that it’s when male relatives all go to care for their ancestor’s graves)

My first ever Passover Seder! Kosher lamb shanks not available in Taipei hence the large carrot. A few very fun Jewish friends were hosting; the traditions called for drinking four full glasses of red wine, playing hide-and-seek for a hidden matzah, singing while pounding the table and playing bongos.

My friend took me on a night hike to 老地方 which just happened to overlook 大甲 park where an EDM festival was taking place, right as we were summiting the Chainsmokers performed their hit Closer

Seoul

2023-03-25T18:30:00.001+08:00

Biking along the Han River

This past week I was able to make a quick trip to Seoul to visit my college suitemate who lives there. It was such a meaningful visit as she was a generous and dedicated hostess. I was really impressed by the food. Otherwise, I’d say the biggest difference from daily life in Taipei is the colder weather and the size.

Seoul's metro map makes Taipei's look like child's play

Training from Incheon Airport to my friend's nice 2-bedroom in Hyehwa (an artsy central neighborhood)

Climbing an amazing peak at Bukhansan National Park just north of the city

Hip area of Hongdae

Changgyeonggung Palace

The king who invented the systematic alphabet for Korean

Myeongdong area, reminded me of Ximen in Taipei

Tons of self-service photo booth stores

Cheap jewelry stores also abounded

Gimbap for breakfast

Jajangmyeon for 3000 won, probably my favorite meal

Bulgogi

Korean bingsoo was similar to Taiwan's shaved ice

Injeolmi nut powder shaved ice

Pouch ice cream milkshake, similar convenience store culture as Japan and Taiwan

Dakgalbi

Gwangjang Market

Still moving raw octopus tentacles

Fried mungbean cakes

Donut twist

KBBQ with personal stove and fume head

Steamed egg

Street vendor crisped sugar cookies with different shapes

朱銘美術館、野柳地質公園 Juming Museum & Yehliu Geopark

2023-03-12T19:47:00.001+08:00

Taichi Series on the beautiful grounds of the museum about Taiwanese sculptor Juming

Hiking around Yehliu Geopark felt otherworldly; all natural rock formations from ~25 million years ago

Queen's Head Rock

Bali & Singapore

2023-03-11T20:39:00.001+08:00

Lured by an acro yoga festival (more photos from that to come) in Ubud, I traveled to Bali for the first time. I think it’s cute that my brother and I independently both went to Bali, Singapore, and Bangkok for the first time over the past year. One of the best parts was that my high school best friend joined me in Ubud, after visiting me in Taipei for a couple days.

I had a fantastic time surfing the big rolling waves of Canggu, but Bali was not what I was expecting. It is extremely touristy, with very little meaningful interaction between locals and expats, which I’ve come to treasure in Taipei. I learned 50% of Bali’s GDP comes from tourism. There’s also quite a bit of pollution; the beach at Kuta was so dirty we didn’t even swim. Even to reach the nice natural escapes, it’s crushing to maneuver through all the dangerous traffic.

Offerings placed before every doorstep daily

Uma Andar Waterfall

Besides an insular trip to Jakarta (on a different island) in 2016, my main contact with Indonesia has been my Indo friends studying at NTU. They all look just like Taiwanese people (but don’t speak Mandarin), so I assumed most Indonesians looked East Asian. The reality is that Balinese people are darker skinned and Hindu—making Bali a destination if you’re looking to eat pork in mostly Muslim Indonesia. The Indonesians who do go to Taiwan end up being wealthier Chinese diasporas. I also didn’t realize how far Indonesia is from Taiwan. I had to transfer planes in Singapore and cross south of the Equator to get there, but the tropical weather was worth it.

Monkey Forest was FILLED with monkeys

While my travel buddy was felled by Bali belly and unable to leave the hostel, I fell head over heels for Singapore during a one-day layover on the way home. It’s extremely diverse but in a different way than the American melting pot. From the mix of Chinese, Indians, and Malays who immigrated there, Singaporeans have a charmingly unique English accent. I didn’t witness much mixing between the communities, however. The neighborhoods even smelled different, the food in each was so authentically distinct. It was SO different than the flat version of the city depicted in Crazy Rich Asians, but I suppose the movie does effectively communicate the disproportionate purchasing power of the lighter skinned residents.

Sultan Mosque

Sri Mariamman Temple

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Singapore reminded me a bit of Hong Kong, less posh but still an Asia metropolis that has benefited from the free trade economic growth of its colonialist past—i.e. both places my grandma loves to go for shopping. Raffles’ name is still everywhere around the island. The urban architecture seems inspired by the tropics, with fantastical skyscrapers heavy with jungle plants.

Apple Store at Marina Bay Sands Mall

Gardens by the Bay

World's largest indoor waterfall (only runs for a few hours every day) inside the airport

Lunar New Year Festivities

2023-02-12T13:05:00.000+08:00

On the sixth day of the lunar new year, my best Taiwanese friend invited me to attend her hometown's annual parade of 神豬 holy pigs-- featuring three freshly slaughtered and skinned pigs, ranked according to size, paraded around town with the instantly recognizable cacophonous religious music before being brought to the temple of the local god. Afterwards, it was an honor to be invited to her family's house, even briefly.

三峽 Sanxia District of New Taipei City

米苔目 for breakfast

山藥 purple "mountain medicine" cakes

豬血糕 pig's blood cake

Buying 金牛角 golden cow horns, or Taiwanese croissants sold locally

Hiking to a lookout spot with her family

On the fifteenth day of the lunar new year, I went to Shifen for 元宵節, the Lantern Festival. My friends and I wrote our wishes on paper lanterns and released them along with thousands of others. All around the city of Taipei, there's been other immersive LED light exhibits with ongoing celebrations.

That same weekend was 蜂炮, the Beehive Fireworks Festival in 鹽水 Yanshui District in the southern city of Tainan. Millions of fireworks are exploded directly at participants, who wear protective gear. I didn’t go, but a friend sent me her video.

Tokyo

2023-01-26T17:28:00.000+08:00

Shinjuku, the red-light district

After staying at a classy hotel with my parents in the historic Kyoto, I spent a few days by myself in the liveliest late-night district of Tokyo, in a capsule hotel. I wasn't expecting the capsules not to even have doors, just a pull-down privacy shade, but I slept like a princess. Japan is an ideal place to be a single female traveler because it is extremely safe--so much so that even Taiwanese people are impressed. The culture in Taiwan and Japan is very anti-theft. I'm not sure if it is because of a relative economic prosperity paired with the influence of Buddhism, but unattended property is always left undisturbed. When my friend goes for an evening jog in downtown Taipei, she leaves her backpack on a park bench.

The first day I spent with some Japanese friends of a friend, both single men who had very niche hobbies and worked long hours in Tokyo, both named Keisuke. They were really gracious, welcoming hosts to the city. We met up in Asakusa for yakitori (grilled meat skewers) and tofu (tastes so much softer in Japan!! melts in your mouth) at a lunch place overlooking the river, as well as red bean, matcha ice cream, mochi dessert at a traditional teahouse. Walking through the Thunder Gate to the Senso Temple, we were packed next to people coming to pray after the New Year (celebrated with the Gregorian calendar in Japan, not the lunar calendar). Much like in Taiwan, religion is fluid and polytheistic, and my new friends couldn't name any differences between Shinto and Buddhism, except that Buddhism was imported from India via China, whereas Shinto is inherently Japanese.

Kaminarimon, Thunder Gate

When I walked to Meiji Shrine on my own the next day, I was unexpectedly swept up into a tide of worshippers as soon as I entered the huge surrounding park. I learned the second Monday of January is Coming of Age Day in Japan, celebrating those who have reached or will reach adulthood that year.

Young women in kimonos to celebrate the occasion at Meiji Shrine

I was amazed by how huge and urban Tokyo was. The street fashion was unparalleled (think platform shoes and dyed hair). Skyscrapers and designer stores were innumerable. The Japanese public transit system was a pioneering and remarkably vast system, but it felt outdated and confusing compared to Taipei's. Much of it is above ground trains connecting districts, rather than subterranean metro. The train cars were often wood paneled with velvet seats, and extremely loud. The trickiest part was that multiple lines with different destinations would come to the same track. Despite its extensiveness, the system is still overtaxed by the dense urban population; while I was there, a new policy was announced offering incentives for citizens to move out of Tokyo.

The famous Shibuya crossing (at mid-morning)

Moat surrounding the Imperial Gardens and Palace

Business district near Tokyo Station

I was surprised by the popularity of pachinko parlors, a specific style of Japanese gambling that exploits a loophole in the no gambling law. Similarly, there is a thriving sex industry that creatively skirts a prostitution law officially outlawing intercourse in exchange for payment.

Secluded gardens of the Nezu Museum

Shiba Park with a view of Tokyo Tower

Mount Fuji

Another day I spent with a friend visiting from Taipei. We went to the Yaushukan Museum of military history. Museums are always intriguing for their local revisionism, but particularly so a military history museum in a country with a history of militarism ideology.

Yasukuni Shrine for fallen warriors

Omoide Yokocho alleyway, where we chose a tiny local BBQ place
with a single counter of seating but no English menus, turned out the owner was from China
and visibly taken aback when I spoke to her in Chinese

Japanese style souffle pancakes

Finally, my friend and I went to Akihabara, AKA anime central. In addition to an enormous shopping mall of all electronics, a Don Quixote (claustrophobia inducing general merchandise store), and a seven floor Tenga sex store, we also went to a maid cafe. The staff was all young women dressed to the nines as maids, and the clientele was mostly Japanese men. To get the waitress's attention, you were supposed to say nyan nyan (the Japanese onomatopoeia for meow meow), and the bathroom was referred to as the flower garden. The food was all in line with kawaii cuteness culture, and the waitresses performed very impressive K-pop style dances in their stockings and platform shoes. There were tons of add-on offers to buy a photo of a waitress or other memorabilia.

Kyoto

2023-01-25T21:08:00.001+08:00

After visiting Taiwan, my parents and I went to Kyoto for a few days, our first ever time in Japan. It was fascinating to see where certain aspects of Taiwanese culture originated. Every place is unique, but Japan almost didn't feel like Asia. The small neighborhoods with quaint houses and extremely clean streets with sidewalks with no curb almost felt European. The sidewalk traffic was not as politely orderly as in Taiwan, but maybe because we were constantly forgetting to walk on the left.

Visiting the Giant Buddha of Nara, a temple complex roamed freely by deer

Our first full day in Japan, we did a self-guided bike tour (with my mom on an electric bike) to various sites. Every time we hit a hill, my mom's pedal assist would suddenly engage and she would zoom past us. The climax of the day was a climb to Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. It glowed in the sunshine of a chilly day. I was struck by how the weather was opposite that of Taiwan; Japan was dry, sunny, and cold. It was comforting to once again be around locals who react nonchalantly to chilly weather. On a 65 degree day, you could expect Taiwanese people to be wearing parkas, hats, and gloves, whereas Japanese people wore less on a 45 degree day.

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest

Kinkaku Temple, covered in gold leaf

Ending the biking day at a nice teahouse with traditional desserts

New Year's miso soup with mochi balls

The next day, we went to Kiyomizu-dera, the most striking temple complex of the trip. To reach the temple at the top of a hill, you walk up winding cobblestone streets (including one claiming to be the most beautiful in all of Kyoto) packed with tourists in kimonos and vendors selling snacks and souvenirs.

Attending a Japenese tea ceremony was radically different than drinking tea in China or Taiwan. Part of the experience is the aesthetics of the flowers and the painting chosen for decoration in the tatami mat room. The tea leaves are ground into a powder called matcha, whereas Chinese tea is the leaves steeped and then filtered out. The tea is drunk from bowls rather than cups, and there is an emphasis on purity, or everything being clean. Since being in Taiwan, I'd already become obsessed with matcha so I enjoyed every tea, ice cream, crepe, cream puff, waffle, mochi, cocktail I could find in matcha flavor.

Kodai Temple

For dinner, we had kaiseki, a traditional meal of small courses, at Roan Kikunoi, my first ever two Michelin star restaurant. It was a spectacular feast. The first course was a small saucer of sake with gold flakes. It did feel very different than Western haute cuisine. There were quite a few cold, mushy dishes--as my mom said, even in Taiwan after having too much mochi and boba, Westerners like more crunch. A lot of emphasis was placed on the aromas, the variations of umami flavors, and how the handcrafted pottery paired with the dishes.

The next day, we hiked all around the one-of-a-kind Fushimi Inari shrine. The tunnels of red tori were stunning to walk through in person; just like the bamboo forest, there was a special ambiance that couldn't be captured in photos.

As we decided to hike all the way to the summit all the other tourists disappeared. We ended up following an abandoned path through a cemetery (where my dad managed to suddenly get lost) down the backside of the mountain to another temple, this time in the middle of a private residential community.

Tofuku Temple

Nishiki Market

None of the restaurant portions were ever big enough for my mom, so one night on our way home from dinner we stopped at an Ichiran Ramen. Only Japan could have created a dining concept where you order from a machine, are seated in an individual booth, and delivered your food under a curtain. The only time you saw your server was when they lifted the shade just enough so that you could see their deep bow. If we heard arigato gozaimasu once that trip, we heard it five hundred times.

Lombardos Come to Taiwan

2023-01-19T11:34:00.002+08:00

As soon as winter break began, my brother came to visit me for a special Christmas in Taiwan--to be followed several days later by my parents. My brother and I went to Midnight Mass near Da'an Park with a few of my friends. We kept the tradition alive of going to IHOP afterwards to make New Year's resolutions by going to a 豆漿 (a Taiwanese breakfast restaurant that stays open late).

We flew down south to Taidong Province for a few days to surf in Dulan and bike around Chihshang 池上, whose open fields were made famous by an Eva Airlines tourism commercial. We also hiked into a riverbed to soak in the 紅葉橋 natural hot springs.

Having my brother here reminded me how far I'd come in my Chinese language journey, and how different immersion is to any other language-learning experience. I've grown so accustomed to life here that it was funny to accompany my family as they processed everything for the first time. My brother read the Mass Rapid Transit sign as the Mr. T. I forgot that it's not normal to be the tallest everywhere I go or have strangers secretly take photos of me on the street. My family made me realize how little/cheaply I eat normally, how much I walk daily, and how stinky stink tofu is. They were most shocked by how orderly and reserved everyone is in public.

Passing stinky tofu stall in night market

At a teahouse in Maokong

We took a short, incredible trip to 小琉球 Lambay Island, a new place even for me. As predicted, my brother loved getting to drive a moped around the circumference of the small island (my parents were reluctant passengers), and I loved snorkeling in the surf with a bale of huge sea turtles. We hiked through caves and played mahjong as a family.

We stayed at a hot springs resort in Beitou

For New Year's Eve, I took them to the party inside the 101 observatory deck, from which the fireworks are launched. It is meteorologically impossible for Taipei not to be cloudy in the last hours of a calendar year, but we probably still could see the fireworks better than anyone on the ground or surrounding hillsides. As the only foreigners at the party, we were the only ones dancing--and probably drank more Taiwan Beers than any one else. My family was shocked by how everyone was sitting to listen to the live performers. Afterwards they got to experience Taiwanese excellence in crowd control firsthand as we took the MRT home on the one day a year it runs all night.

香港 Hong Kong

2022-12-20T18:11:00.004+08:00

Hong Kong is the dense megalopolis I thought Taipei would be before I came here. While there are plenty of aspects I prefer about Taipei (YouBikes, Mandarin Chinese, clean streets with orderly pedestrians, etc), Hong Kong is simply magnitudes more metropolitan. It felt like an Asian NYC. It felt like a sudden abundance of high-end dining and classy cafes/bars. We managed to eat at two separate Michelin star restaurants in the less than 48 hour period we were in HK to renew my friend's Taiwan tourist visa. Some aspects felt especially British (double decker buses, red taxis, a tram), while other aspects felt especially Chinese (public housing skyscrapers, knockoff goods), but overall it just felt more cosmopolitan (more foreigners, more English, more athleisure clothing). The hidden staircases that acted as alleyways between hilly streets were particularly charming--I have never lived in a city with so much elevation change before.

Start of the Central--Mid-Levels, the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system

The walkways and escalators traverse over 2,600 ft of distance and 443 ft of elevation

After taking the escalators as far as possible, we hiked up several trails to get a view of the city from Victoria Peak.

Man Mo Temple with extraordinary amounts of incense burned inside

Nan Lian Garden

Chi Lin Buddhist Nunnery

Kowloon Walled City Park

Ladies' Market

Garden Hill

Salisbury Road

Cafe near the Avenue of Stars

Symphony of Lights after taking a ferry across Victoria Harbor

台南 Tainan

2022-12-03T11:32:00.001+08:00

Last weekend, I visited the sunny southern city of Tainan with my MUA Taiwanese friend who grew up there. First, we visited the Chimei Museum, which is a private museum established by a Taiwanese donor who felt that more of his countrymen should have exposure to classical Western art. The obsequious imitation of Western culture, and on such an extravagant scale, could only exist within Asia. With the Christmas tree out front for the holiday (which Taiwanese people do not even celebrate), it almost looked like the White House. I most enjoyed the visiting portrait exhibition.

Exhibit of Rodin imitations

My friend making her dad take videos of her dancing at 漁光島

The whole trip, my friend’s parents generously drove us around and paid for everything, including meals and entrance fees. They even put us up in a luxurious hotel. Once again, I was blown away by Taiwanese hospitality. They said they were so excited to have foreign friends to show off, as foreigners are much less common in Tainan than Taipei.

The landscape reminded me slightly of Florida. We did two boat tours, highlighting the egret habitats especially.

四草隧道

國華街 a shopping and snacking old street in Tainan center

樂活廣場 plaza in Tainan center

My favorite place was 安平樹屋 the Anping Tree House, where a banyan tree and ancient house were living in symbiosis. Anping is an old fort that was the hub of defense and trade in early Tainan history.

安平古堡

赤崁樓 Chihkan Tower

My friend really likes to pray; anytime we pass a temple together, she’ll stop briefly. Tainan seemed to have more large, multi-courtyard inner city temples than Taipei, which is more likely to have small single-altar, local god temples. When we reached the altar for 月老, the matchmaking god, my friend waved her phone three times clockwise over the incense. Usually this is done with an amulet you want to carry a god’s protection, but she said since she meets partners over apps and texting, she wanted her phone to have the blessing. As per usual, the Taiwanese parents parked me in front of 文昌, the god of scholarly examinations.

武廟

武廟 across from 赤崁樓

Our last stop in Tainan was 林百貨, an original Japanese-era department store. Her mom sweetly bought us each a very nice box of pineapple cakes, a Taiwanese specialty. Because gift-giving culture is so prevalent here, stores frequently sell 伴手禮, an edible present in excessive packaging announcing it as a specialty of whatever locale you most recently visited, that you bring home when traveling or gift to guests and hosts.

Any time I told a Taiwanese person I was going to visit Tainan, they always said the food there was the best.

牛肉湯 beef soup with bone broth

擔仔麵 noodles with seafood

蝦卷 fried shrimp rolls

棺材板 coffin bread

蛤蜊煎 oyster omelette, made sticky and thick by sweet potato starch

芋粿 savory taro cake with meat on top

蝦仁肉圓 shrimp and pork in wontons

四神湯 "four gods soup" with intestines

碗粿 savory sticky rice pudding with soy sauce

the same traditional dish but made into an alcoholic drink
when we went to a bar with their family

東北酸白菜火鍋 sour cabbage hot pot

picking raw veggies, meat, seafood, tofu, and mushrooms
to cook in the big pot of sour broth; pay based on the plate color

It happened to be Election Saturday when we were in Tainan. In Taiwan, you have to go physically to wherever your 戶籍 household registration is to vote. For most people, this means returning to one's hometown, unless one has managed to buy residential property in a new city. Homeownership is quite expensive, particularly in Taipei, and condos are passed down through the generations. My American friend and I were excited to be with our friend in her hometown to accompany her to vote, but she said she was usually too lazy. Admittedly, the Tainan elections are not nearly as important as the Taipei elections, where the mayoral seat is a feeder for the presidential office. KMT's Chiang Wan-an won the Taipei mayoral race this year; he is the great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek, a revolutionary who led the KMT to Taiwan during the war against the CCP and then ruled the island with brutal military law. Overall, in this election, the Kuo Min Tang triumphed over the more liberal Democratic Progressive Party--the party of the current president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is halfway through her second 4-year term. Taiwanese politics have long been dominated by the single question of stance towards China, but it was said this year's results were more due to the pendulum of popular sentiment away from the DPP, who held office during the pandemic.

補習班 Cram Schools

2022-11-06T22:45:00.001+08:00

Cram schools are extremely popular in Taiwan; they are private academies that host tutoring and classes in the afternoons and evenings, after students are dismissed from their regular school. This is especially popular among the urban upper and middle classes, and is seen as necessary to ensure a child will perform well in school and score high on their college entrance exams. The college entrance exam is especially important in Taiwan compared to America, because the score determines what majors (and thus career paths) are available to a high school senior. Admissions are generally much less holistic than in the United States. A major component of cram schools is English classes. This is also seen as very important for getting a high-paying job in Taiwan, or if parents are hoping their children will apply to western universities. As a result, there is a massive market here for English teachers. While foreigners hired by a Taiwanese company in any other field besides teaching may wait months for their work permits, foreigners hired by cram schools can get theirs immediately. The demand is so great that, any native English speaker, even if entirely lacking teaching experience, can be paid a higher salary than what a typical Taiwanese teacher might make. This creates an entire community of young foreign expats who teach English during the day to enjoy a relatively high quality of life in Taiwan.

Sometimes this subculture can perpetuate racism and ethnicism. It's been harder for my American roommate (adopted from China) to find a job, because many families are eager for non-Asian appearing teachers. My Filipino friend with fluent English was told by his boss to lie to the parents at the cram school to say he was from the USA. White privilege exists here too, and I have had more requests to teach, tutor, and even just play with children than I could possibly ever agree to. Taiwanese society extremely values prestigious degrees, evidenced by politicians doing a Masters degree from NTU specifically to enhance their campaign (and sometimes get caught in scandal for plagiarizing their thesis). The ease of obtaining a Taiwanese work permit is highly influenced by how highly ranked the applicant's alma mater is.

Many of my Masters program classmates are part-time English teachers, usually paid under the table. I had the opportunity to experience this life when one of my friends was sick for a week and needed a substitute. I taught kindergartners, 2nd graders, and 5th graders, in classes of 20 students each. After the fact, I learned that it is actually illegal to teach kindergarteners English in Taiwan because of an often ignored law, created out of concern that bilingual education would be detrimental to young children's Chinese. The kindergarteners actually had the best English of all the classes, but they were also the hardest to keep under control. They asked me why Teacher Alexandra's hair was so long and messy. A 2nd grader asked me if I was a boy or a girl, and another asked if I had a baby in my belly. It was interesting that the kids all struggled with sounding out words, because this concept doesn't exist in the logographic Chinese language (just like verb tense and capitalization). When taking a spelling test, if they couldn't remember a word they would simply leave it blank, even if I pleadingly encourage them to guess at just the first letter.

I see this even in my university classmates here--they often leave entire questions blank on exams! Apparently giving your best guess aligns more with American pedagogy. I've also noticed way more group assignments in my Masters classes here, even group essays. Here it is normal that only one person from the group might actually deliver the presentation in front of the class, with other team members being responsible for preparing the slides. Overall, willingness to speak in class is on the floor among Taiwanese university students.

Upon entering the cram schools where I taught English, usually on the second floor of a tall building on a bustling street, everyone takes off their shoes. All the students and teachers then put on house slippers (of course the 2nd graders' slippers were all over the classroom by the end of a board race game). I am so inculcated in the Taiwanese culture of taking off shoes (in schools, offices, temples, cafes, some restaurants, absolutely all homes), that now when I watch American TV I am horrified to see them walking in their own homes in shoes or even sitting on the couch in shoes!

For all of the classes, I also had a Taiwanese co-teacher who was mainly responsible for grading and discipline. Some would not hesitate to yell at or lightly hit the kids to maintain classroom order. Getting bad grades could also precipitate being yelled at by the co-teacher. If I needed help separating the students for a game or activity, I was amazed that the co-teachers would always separate the kids by gender. They would rarely pair boys and girls together. On a separate occasion, my friend's parents had asked me if my own parents weren't worried about me hanging out with boys growing up. They wanted to know if prom, like they saw on American TV shows, was real.