Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Aviaryguild. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Fal’s Travelogue; ...as well as Puma's Adventure in Taiwan...
Topic Started: Jul 7 2010, 05:22 AM (586 Views)
Falcondae
Member Avatar
Death from Above

Hey, you guys! Just wanted to see what you guys are up to, and let you guys know what's going on while I'm here in Taiwan. So, whenever I get a connection, I'll be posting up a blog of the day's events. Hope you guys enjoy these! 8D

Fal’s Travelogue - Day 1

Local Time: July 6, 2010 @ 0905 hours

Wow… Let’s just say that a red-eye flight is not the most fun thing ever, especially when you’re trying to sleep. With the exception of Lupina, who was asleep for over half the flight, between my mom, Puma, and I, we probably only got about 5 or 6 hours of sleep during the 13-hour flight. Unlike last year, we decided to take the business class instead of economy. It is a lot different since there’s more space, far more comfortable, and a few better perks. Like I said, I didn’t get to sleep much, so I’m a bit winded, not to mention that we had a slightly rough landing with some wind blowing about. Not high wind, but enough to make some turbulence.

Touched down at around 7 AM local time, but the temperature reminds me more of a summer afternoon in New York – hot, humid, and quite sticky. Unfortunately, this is the wet season for Taiwan, mainly monsoons and typhoons (though I think the typhoons were earlier this year… Some time in May or June…).

Now, some of you guys are wondering why I’m in Taiwan again this year if I already went last year, because, really… I would rather be spending a week or two with my hunny at his place… >< Anyways, this year’s trip you can sort of be blamed on the pastor of the Mandarin congregation, which started a few months back… First off, under no circumstances did my mom say that we were agreeing to go on the trip when we only wanted information about it. From there, he so happily reported to the senior pastor that we were going for sure. That really ticked mom off… >>;;; So she tells the senior pastor after she gets wind of the news and explains to him what was really going on. For a while, things are quiet until the other meetings begin, again with more information. By now, the pastor is panicking, knowing that he’s made a pretty stupid mistake (for the record, he loves wearing titles but never likes to do the work for them… more like a lazy pastor who is there for looks and not the works…). After some more talk, mom’s going, “It’s out of our budget,” which it really is, not to mention that schedule-wise, they didn’t even prepare that yet! I’m off to the side getting pretty ticked, along with Puma. It isn’t long until a few weeks before Vacation Bible School (VBS – Theme: Saddle Ridge Ranch) that we get a check for $1,000 from the pastor to “help fund for our flight tickets.” Now this has gone far enough.

It’s bad enough that you told the senior pastor and basically ending up empty-handed, but you’re now using the church’s money to try and buy us into doing missionary work?! Mom’s super pissed inside and instantly writes out a check of the same amount to donate back to the church. We manage to tap into some reserves we have and get our own plane tickets after that stupid stunt (not to mention that we paid less for business seating compared to the group going with us, which paid more for economy seating XD). So, here I am in Taiwan, a week (or two…?) early to go on a small tour and get some medical business done.

While in Taipei, we decided to have some lunch at a famous dumpling house, “Dian Tai Feng”. They aren’t really big on having so many chain shops, and I know of one in the US, located in Arcadia, California, and the other in Taipei, Taiwan. Probably their more famous dish would be the “Xiao Long Bao”, literally translated as “Little Dragon Buns”. They’re really little steamed pork dumplings. Puma decided to step it up a notch and ordered the Crab Egg variant while Lupina got a bowl of Noodles in Sesame Paste and Mom a bow of Pork Chop noodles. Me? I ordered some Steam Fish Dumplings (The ginger was really strong in there…) and a trio of Mini Black Sesame Buns (If you don’t know this by now, I LOVE sesame seeds, especially BLACK sesame). Mom also ordered some a Taro variant of the Xiao Long Bao (No, there’s no meat in this one… Just taro, period). Sadly, the US restaurant doesn’t have this particular one, only the red bean paste one. Oh well…

Now, given that Taiwan is really humid around this time of year, everyone is finding a way to cool down, whether it’s buy a ton of drinks to keep hydrated, or go for a more frosty alternative: SHAVED ICE!!! Now, you readers might be more familiar with things like snow cones and the Japanese shaved ice, but this one takes it up a few notches. Taiwanese Shaved Ice, at least this variant we had, is a mound of shaved ice drizzled with some black sugar syrup, then covered in a thick layer of fruits of your choice, and finally topped off with some sweetened condensed milk and a scoop of mango gelato (Or, at least… I think it’s gelato…). Puma and Lupina shared one that had strawberry, kiwi, and mango (I think there was one other fruit, but I’m not so sure…), while Mom and I shared one that was straight mango (Mom loves mango a lot since the fruit is really sweet and soft, not like the ones we have back in the States). We happily ate those up to keep cool, then decided against the weather to not go to the 101 tower in the heart of Taipei. We’ll probably visit that before we head back to the States.

So now, we head back to the hotel. The tour starts tomorrow, so we’re staying at the Howard Hotel in Taipei, where I’m writing all this up as I go along. Hopefully, the places we stay at have net connection so I can keep you guys updated with the day’s events, and I can also get some sort of progress report from the officers. Hope that all things go well though!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Tynave
Member Avatar
Guild Healer

sounds like everything is going well now that you are over there. :) hope you have a good time, you need a break from the guild i think. as far as i know, guild matters are going well. i handed some valencia (sp?) manuals and some ore off to hitsu just the other day so maybe that will be used. i heard that maybe a dustin sword sold? ANYWHO! things are going well. :) we all miss you.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Katsuragi
Member Avatar
Purple Haze
:O xiao long bao... *thinks about how good they would taste right now in contrast to this subway sandwich*

i should ask my mom to make some XD

btw fal have u ever tried authentic eel fried rice?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Falcondae
Member Avatar
Death from Above

Tynave
 
sounds like everything is going well now that you are over there. :) hope you have a good time, you need a break from the guild i think. as far as i know, guild matters are going well. i handed some valencia (sp?) manuals and some ore off to hitsu just the other day so maybe that will be used. i heard that maybe a dustin sword sold? ANYWHO! things are going well. :) we all miss you.
Are you serious? The White Dustin Blade that Quiversee told me to sell finally sold? Awesomeness! That leaves one less thing to worry about getting sold. Bet you guys are filling my poor house to the brim with all your wares... xD

And yes, I think this is the best way for me to get away from the guild to rest. But then again, this weekend, I'll be getting in touch with Mika's guild here in Taiwan to see how things are happening here. Well, if I have time next to doctor visits for my knee.

By the way, rumor has it that the Tara Festival is back again... Feels like I'm gonna be seeing a lot of Social 21+ Egos by the time I get back... xD
Katsuragi
 
btw fal have u ever tried authentic eel fried rice?
You're talking about the little yellow freshwater eels, right? If so, yes, I have. I have it on occasion at Dian Tai Feng in Arcadia, but it's pretty pricey, depending on where you get it of course. It's really good, that's for sure! xD Puma loves eating the eels, being the little kitty she is.

Anyways, here's today's blog for HALF of yesterday's happenings. You'll see that I wrote it pretty early, so I don't have the afternoon's events in there yet. I'll put that in the next blog. ;3

Fal’s Travelogue - Day 2

Local Time: July 7, 2010 @ 1025 hours

A few things that I forgot to mention since it deal with the latter part of the evening of the last blog, and I was too tired to write it up upon coming home. Dinner was out at one of those open-air night markets, a really highlight of nightlife in Taiwan. You know how back in the states, the night is usually quiet because we’re all studying and what not, not to mention that it’s the night hours that makes it quite a bit dangerous to go out and have fun? Well, it’s different here. It’s more like the later the night, the more fun it is. They have little booths here people come and open little shops to sell whatever foods they make, some times even foods that some foreigners are a bit reluctant to try (pork intestine sausages and stewed chicken butt, anyone? xD). Once we head to Keelung (where Mom is from and has a brother there, whom we just call “Jo-Jo” for lack of better translation…), we’re gonna head to the night markets there to have a better time, especially since I also have two cousins and a nephew living there (my nephew’s the one that helped me make a Mabi TW account. We call him “Xiao Z” because apparently, according to my cousin, when he sleeps, he snores really softly…). Puma’s looking forward to the night markets back in Keelung because of the chicken hearts, and these aren’t your tiny one-inch hearts – we’re talking ones that are at least two to three times the size of the ones back in the States! (Puma and I LOVE eating chicken hearts since it’s more of a treat back in the States – really rare can you buy them fresh and actually are this big and taste so good). So, that will be something we are looking forward to this weekend, when we head to Jo-Jo’s home.

Now, what are we doing now? Well, as I’m writing this blog, we are on a Bullet Train to the station in Taichung for the first day of the tour. Wake-up call was around… 5 AM, I think? Oy… Let’s just say that 5 AM here in Taiwan is like 9 AM back in Cally… Yes, the sun is already up, and me, being someone who gets woken up by any source of like, was already conscious despite the fact my body wanted to stay in bed. Puma, on the other hand, was a really hard-to-wake kitty… lol… By the time I was done, she was finally awake, and we packed up what we had for the tour (We left most of our luggage with our aunty since it’s mostly the VBS and teaching materials we need for next week). Breakfast was really interesting since they had Norwegian smoked salmon, as well as meats and cheeses from all over Europe as part of the course (buffet style too!). Managed to take in quite a bit of food without any problems (Ever since my surgery on Christmas Eve of 2008, I’ve had some eating issues, mostly of things that have a lot of oil in it… That’s why I’m a little iffy about the foods here, but so far, I’ve had no issues), and a lot of the cheeses, even one with shrimp bits (go figure! x3).

We wait for the rest of the group to meet up and head to the train station in Taipei (You can think of it as the Grand Central Station of Taipei) and boarded a bullet train, now heading south to Taichung. I’ll have to continue this a little later… All this speed rush in the bullet train is giving me a headache while I’m trying to type, not to mention that I missed several picture shots. Puma’s busy with her AP Art assignment (color pencil landscape drawing right now) while Lupina’s writing her story (I have no freaking clue what she’s writing about, nor do I want to know… Her ideas are just… Way out there…). Mom’s sitting next to me, looking at the catalogue (by the way, Mom also says “hi” to you guys), while I’m sitting here typing away while trying to figure out these nifty sunglasses Mom bought while we were in the plane. Oh well, I’ll have to look over the instruction manual again at the next stop, but hey, it’s really interesting to use these, once I can get them work… x.x;;;

Off for now until the next entry!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Tynave
Member Avatar
Guild Healer

Falcondae
Jul 7 2010, 03:09 PM
Tynave
 
sounds like everything is going well now that you are over there. :) hope you have a good time, you need a break from the guild i think. as far as i know, guild matters are going well. i handed some valencia (sp?) manuals and some ore off to hitsu just the other day so maybe that will be used. i heard that maybe a dustin sword sold? ANYWHO! things are going well. :) we all miss you.
Are you serious? The White Dustin Blade that Quiversee told me to sell finally sold? Awesomeness! That leaves one less thing to worry about getting sold. Bet you guys are filling my poor house to the brim with all your wares... xD

And yes, I think this is the best way for me to get away from the guild to rest. But then again, this weekend, I'll be getting in touch with Mika's guild here in Taiwan to see how things are happening here. Well, if I have time next to doctor visits for my knee.

By the way, rumor has it that the Tara Festival is back again... Feels like I'm gonna be seeing a lot of Social 21+ Egos by the time I get back... xD
the tara festival is back, but also there is another event out, the lorna vs. pan capture the flag (watermelon) event. a special prize from this is a pirate outfit thingy, but ive heard it's not tradeable, so it's no good i guess. it's a very laggy event and made me dc, so i guess i'll skip this one. along witht he events, the black and the white seal pets are out for a limited amount of time. so is a perminent seal mini pet that is dressed in a shark costume (very cute). along with this is the summer premium card. basically it's swim suits. (trunks for male, bikinis for female).
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Katsuragi
Member Avatar
Purple Haze
I had my eel fried rice in mainland china. It was super cheap, but super delicious.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Falcondae
Member Avatar
Death from Above

To tell the truth, I'm not too fond of mainland foods, Katsu... Gets me really sick for some reason or another... And yes, I have heard about the event, but it doesn't seem so pleasing since it's one of those lag-fest events Tynave. I'm not surprised that you're not participating in it due to the lag.

As for the 'limited' cards, I guess it's the same swimwear that was given out during the watermelon and owl events...? Oh well... I have the suits I want in the bank, so I'm not worries about that... x3

Just tell the guild I said hi, and that Shimoyake better be nearing the end of his WM training! xD Can't wait to hear an updated report next time I get on~ <3

Oh, and a small side rant...

I HATE THE FREAKING WEATHER AND MOSQUITOES!!! If there's anything I don't like about Taiwan, it's the muggy, super humid weather and the mosquitoes... They hurt like hell... x.x;;;

Fal’s Travelogue - Day 3

Local Time: July 8, 2010 @ 0850 hours

Oy… Sun-Moon Lake was the stop for yesterday, but getting back pretty late to the hotel was certainly something that one would have to blame for the sudden cutoff of the previous entry. Anyways… To continue from the last blog entry while we’re on the road to Tainan (three-hour road trip, ftw…), we ended up in Taichung HSR station, with a nice half-hour ride to Lipu, a very rural village known for their agricultural products, namely the sugarcanes. Lipu is located in the only land-locked region in Taiwan, the Nantou region. If you look at a political map of Taiwan, you’ll see that almost every single region is touch by the ocean except for Nantou. Then again, with Taiwan being such a small island and in a highly strategically mapped location for military use, no wonder we’ve been invaded so many times, not just by the Dutch and Spanish, but also Japan and China… x.x;;; At least the Portuguese were nice enough to not invade, but also give the island a nice name, the name of Formosa, which means beautiful. If you think about it, the island of Taiwan is beautiful with the amount of vegetation and the abundance of life you see when just looking outside towards the mountains and the sea. Much more life than that back in Cally… xP

So by the time we arrive in Lipu, it’s lunch. The courses look iffy at first, especially with some of the vegetables. Good thing is that I’m used to most of the native vegetables here in Taiwan, so eating these things were rather natural for me. Maybe there were a few things that I was a bit weirded out about, like the Mexican Snowball plant, which is somewhat in the aloe/cactus family (Hitsu might be a little familiar with it…?). For the most part, it has no taste, so you have to dip a little bit of honey on it sweeten it. We also had some water bamboo shoots, along with some cattail plants (I think that’s what it’s called… They have these buds on the ends of the shoots that curl up and look really fluffy, like a puffed up cattail) under a bed of mustard greens and slices of fatten pork (I picked off the fat layer). There was also some freshwater shrimp, some sort of trout (really gamy), sweetened pickled peeled tomatoes, sliced cold meat (I think it’s pork…), a soup made of wild mushrooms (sorry, Hitsu… xD), and some slices of watermelon to finish it off. There’s a family also with us that has a son who is a complete chicken when he saw the food. He just whipped out his DS and ignored the food, saying he wasn’t hungry. You can guess that the three of us were sort of laughing at him inside for being quite the pansy in front of us girls…

Now, Lipu is known for a particular plant product here called Binglang (for some reason, the English translation is “beetle nuts” because of the way the but looks, which literally looks like a green beetle with a brownish head. The thing is that these nuts are a drug, a stimulant to be exact. They’re mostly used in the same way chewing tobacco is used. Of course, there are risks to it, namely mouth cancer. It used to be that it was really easy to make money with these trees, which are very similar to the palms back at home, but with the cancer warning, they aren’t sold as often, but still are.

After lunch, we decided to get some dessert (Granted, despite how much I ate, I was still pretty hungry, namely due to the fact that there is little to no animal oil in the food, except for that of the pork). As mentioned earlier, Lipu has a lot of farmers, and one of the items that is known here is the sugarcane. The best way to enjoy sugarcane is to drink it, and so, there was a farmer just outside the restaurant with his own little stand selling fresh sugarcane juice. So, we decided to buy a large bottle and split that between the four of us. In hot, humid weather, you can expect that we were really glad for it. The cane is placed into a juice press, something that looks like two metal wheels stacked on top of each other with rows of tiny holes in on the surface. Well, the cane is fed into the press, where it is squeezed into thin sheets of the fibrous core while the juice drips into a tray below, collected into a tube which leads to a bottle. Not quite sanitary since it’s done in the open air, but nothing beats freshly made juice!

We begin our drive towards Sun-Moon Lake, where there are plenty of points of interests to see along the way, including the Pagoda and Shrine that overlooks the lake, and the shrine of Confucius. There are plenty of pictures of these places, and a few doodles by Puma about these two places that we’ll put up, if not coming back to the States then when we head to the hotel room and I snap them with the camera. In the middle of Sun-Moon Lake is a very tiny island where the aboriginal tribe of Thau says the spirit of their ancestors originated from. It is a very beautiful place that was one a place where many people got married at the shrine here. However, after in earthquake in the early 1900’s, the shrine was moved to the coast while the tribesmen planted one of the native trees there, hoping it would appease their deity whom they thought had sent the earthquake. To this day, Sun-Moon Lake is still popular with young couples, and has been nicknamed “Lover’s Lake” as such (I really need to take you here, hun… You’ll love it… :3).

In the tourist village near the lake, we found a nice little glass shop, where they have these really cute glass persimmons, apples, and puffer fish. We even saw a cute little glass pig, which Mom bought just out of the sheer cuteness of it. So we bought a few glass persimmons to go with it, just out of the cuteness (I bought a small green persimmon, which glows in the dark 8D). We also played a bit by the lake, listened to a few songs, and had some black sugar pudding ice cream~ <3 If anything, I love eating black sugar whenever I have the chance in Taiwan. It’s freaking expensive in the States (even hard to find a ttimes when I need to use it when I’m sick…), but here, since there’s plenty of it, I take advantage of it and eat it whenever I can. It’s not very sweet, very fragrant, and a lot healthier than that of normal white cane sugar.

Now, Sun-Moon Lake is also know for a type of fish, justly called the “President Fish” because of how Chiang-Kai Shek really loved to eat it whenever he came up here (Not to mention that he has his own private church, which I might be able to see when I come back to this area for the second half of the missionary journey). The fish, somewhat of a freshwater version of a small cod, looks much more like a trough, or at least the size suggests so… lol… It is extremely boney (They have a saying here that if you are of Taiwanese decent and don’t know how to pick a fish clean off the bone, you should be ashamed since Taiwan is an island country and very well known for its seafood, in particular, the massive amount of fish in and around the island… xD) but the flesh is super soft with the way they made it, which is filleting one side, steaming it, then sautéing it soy sauce and topping it off with green onions and ginger. We had this for dinner, which was really good with the squash vine sprouts, braised shrimp in herbal soup, sautéed ostrich with bell peppers and onions (Yes, they actually have that here… xD), and a soup made of wild mushrooms and chicken (Don’t ask, but when you’re in the mountains, mushrooms are a very common ingredient in soups…). Puma wasn’t feeling too well during dinner, most likely due to the fact that she over-burned herself during the hike to the Pagoda with Lupina (I stayed back since the hike was a bit strenuous on my knee and Mom wasn’t feeling too well to hike that’ far. We stayed at the bottom of the hill, looking at the wars some of the shops, of which one of the wares was really… disturbing… x.x;;;). Then it’s back to the hotel and sleeping the rest of the night. Poor Puma fell asleep on the floor, so I had to nudge her awake and help her to bed. She was quite dead, but slept well while I checked a few things on the net. After that, snooze to daylight.

Wake-up call was 6 AM with breakfast at 7 AM. Had a little trouble waking Puma, but she woke up all right. Packed up and went to the Juniper Café for breakfast. Ooh… All our favorite dishes were there, from the seasoned seaweed to soba noodles to the preserved bamboo in chili oil to even salted duck eggs with yam congee (or yam porridge in more familiar terms… It’s basically rice that’s been boiled with extra water to a thick soup-like meal). They even had fresh dragon fruit, but this variant is the white variant, something that is less sweet (had to use some honey to taste) and a bit lower in value (The higher valued on is the red-flesh dragon fruit, which is very sweet and higher nutritional properties). There was even some of the Mexican Snowball leaves too, which Puma reluctantly tasted and quickly learned to dislike… I, on the other hand, enjoy them quite a bit.

After breakfast, while everyone else is still eating, we headed to the lobby with our stuff and decided to look at the tea shop, the Ten Ren Tea House for those who are familiar with teas. They had some really cool pots, a few shaped into animals while others were given these really neat designs. The lady let us sample some of the teas, namely the black tea, which is really famous in the Nantou area. Mom bought a few to use as gifts for friends back in the States, and now, we’re on the second half of our ride to Tainan. We stopped at a rest station about 20 minutes back at the time of writing this part, and while I was in here, Puma, Lupina, and Mom decided to go shopping after a quick relief, returning with some black sugar mochi (WHEE!!!! <3) and a few giant Gachapon balls. It was mostly Puma’s idea since they had cats inside them… lol… Well, I’ll write more of the second half when it does happen. For now, I’m getting a little carsick typing while the bus is moving on a road that isn’t very flat… x.x;;;
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Deleted User
Deleted User

At least you're having fun, hun....

But do be wary of mosquitoes, I know they were a pain last year, this year should be no different.

I cannot wait for you to come home, though. I miss you and really hope I can see you before summer's end...
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Tynave
Member Avatar
Guild Healer

haha, will do. btw, im not sure if i have the right person, but i beleive shoukai is back. (hes been gone for about 2 years?)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Demonwolf141
Member Avatar


Looks like your haveing a good Time Dae, sadly i wish it was on better terms that you took this trip but then again good things come in mysterious ways. who knows, Maybe you'll Enjoy the vacationing if you can settle in well enough to see it as that.

The news about your knee on the other hand is sorta disturbing, I never knew you had any physical ailments let alone one serious enough to require medical attention, If at all possible i'd like to learn more about that, but thats your call.

this will likely be my only post because i have a hard time keeping up with forums so, best of luck Dae, love ya and wish you have a good time while your there.

Btw other then your absence nothings realy any different in the guild, i sense a subtle longing for your presence but other then that, all appears well and good thus far. so in my opinion you should stop worrying about the guild, she'll hold while your away, and get some well deserved TLC while you can.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Main Hall · Next Topic »
Add Reply