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Fal’s Travelogue; ...as well as Puma's Adventure in Taiwan...
Topic Started: Jul 7 2010, 05:22 AM (585 Views)
Falcondae
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Death from Above

Well, I have some good news: I went to the doctor and got my leg checked.

Got the treatment for it (Probably after 15 minutes of getting lost and driving in circles because the shop was practically [in Puma's words] a whole in the wall in a tiny ally). The main doctor wasn't in, but his two daughters were. So, the oldest of the two took action and worked on my leg, ending up with her younger sister and (I guess) another relative to help pin my leg at certain points around the knee while she pulled on it to bring the tendons and ligaments back into alignment. I have to go in for another one or two visits in order to get everything completed. Lupina is also in the same boat, though her injuries are a bit more severe since she also does weight-lifting, which means more pressure on

Bad news is that Mom just got her teeth checked, and it seems that she needs two of them pulled out... Dx;;; She'll have one taken out, I think, tomorrow, while the other will be taken out some time a little later... Other than that, she's also going in for a physical since Western medicine doesn't seem to take effect on her too well...

And don't worry, Dea. Once I get back, I'll be sure to show the guild quite a bit of TLC while I try to get my bearings back probably a day or two after I land back in the States. I know it's gonna be a day or two before I recover slightly from jet lag, and perhaps a full week for complete jet lag recovery.

Anyways... Here's another travelogue from the tour. Keep in mind that I'm now staying at Jojo's place, so I won't be doing that much sightseeing or anything that is considered a vacation thing since I'm mostly in Keelung for business. So, I'll probably post the next blog tomorrow.

Ciao for now since it's now 11:30 PM!

Fal’s Travelogue - Day 4

Local Time: July 9, 2010 @ 0820 hours

Wake-up for today was scheduled for 6 AM, but we were already up by 5 AM due to the fact that there were some mainlander tour groups, who have no sense of mannerisms. Eat and leave is what we say when we see these tour groups. Really annoying since they’re really loud… Anyways, it’s gonna take two hours to reach our next destination at the southern-most tip of Taiwan, so I’ll recap what happened after the last blog.

Arriving at our next stop in Tainan, we come to one of two shrines, Koxinga’s Shrine, where poor Puma was suffering from the incense that they were burning (She’s pretty sensitive to the smell, and will flee quickly once she takes a wiff…). It is beautifully designed, not to mention that they had a mini museum nearby that had some history of the ancient naval ships used back then, even going as far as reconstructing one. They even had two cannons outside the museum, both of which Puma has a very interesting pose… lol… It was really hot, too, to the point that we were really soaked with sweat. Took a quick stop at the restroom to wipe the sweat, then ran to the museum to cool off before heading back to the bus and off to the next shrine.

From Koxinga’s Shrine, we move off to another shrine but somewhat like a shrine, which is also the site to an uprising against the Dutch, Fort Provintia. Some of the writings on the door post that hangs inside the shrine are also quite different from our modern-day writings. There are seven stone slabs on the outside in front of the shrine, which are awards that are given to people for their deeds. Two of the slabs have already been damaged and partially restored, all seven standing straight up on the backs of seven stone turtles. They even had a lot of koi fishes in the pond/moat, which Puma and I happily fed with fish food we got from one of those dispensers. It was really amusing to see them fight for the food, since there were a ton of fish in the moat.

Lunch was at a noodle house, eating a dish that is famous in Tainan – Dandan Mien (Um… Egg Noodle with garlic and meat sauce… I think…?). Lunch was rather interesting since we were picking on a bout who is also hear with his parents and refused to eat (He’s really childish, and has four girls teasing him for not eating… xP). What was even more interesting was that our 2nd sister and her husband also took some time off of work to come see us (I’m actually not the oldest in the family… I’m actually the 4th of 6 daughters. I’m only considered the oldest when in the states. In Taiwan, I’m considered the 4th). It was a quick reunion before they had to leave and get back to work (They have their own restaurant to manage, so trying to visit us during the lunch hours was hectic…). The food itself was pretty good too since there was barely any oil at all. The food itself was prepared in vegan style, save for a few meat dishes or two. After that, it is off to another museum, which is really interesting.

The Chimei Company has a very modest starting, the president beginning his company by creating little plastic toys. Now it has expanded so much to the point that it makes LCDs and edgings for certain TV companies. The fun thing about the Chimei Company is its office building. While the main office is the base of operations with its own factory nearby, it also has its own museum. The founder of the company, using his resources, put together a four-floor museum on top of the already existing office building. The museum is full of different things, all owned as a private collection and opened to the public to see.

The main lobby has several oil paintings on its own, along with a marble statue. The 2nd to 4th floors are all office floors, but there are also some art pieces here and there along the way so that people who wanted to take the stairs instead of the elevator could be amused with art along the way up and down.

The 5th floor is full of paintings, mostly oils, along with antique furniture pieces from Europe and Asia. He even has some artifacts that have been unearthed from India and Egypt, one of them a well-preserved mummified falcon (I guess it was a tribute to Ra, the falcon-headed Egyptian god…). The 6th floor is a plethora of collections, from musical instruments (Rin would have definitely loved seeing a cello without its resonance box…) to weapons from various countries from the Medieval Ages to stuffed animals, which extended to the 7th floor. I was really quite amazed at how vast his private collection was, especially with some of the animals he had on display.

With the tour of this area over, we head to Kaosiung for the night.
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Katsuragi
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Purple Haze
Hmm that's too bad about the mainland food Fal... but maybe it's about where you look? Iunno my family over there seems to know the good places.

And sugarcane!? I haven't had that forever XD...
I usually cut out a small piece of it and chew it like gum.

As for your knee. You wouldn't happen to have Osgood-Schlatter Syndrome would you?
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Falcondae
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Death from Above

Hahaha... Forgot I had an entry or two left in the tour travelogue. Anyways, I'll fill you guys in on what happened a few days back to catch you guys up to speed.

First off, I'm now on herbal medication to help with my minor weight problem. According to the doctor (Who kept insisting on talking to me in English even though I can understand the local dialect...), I have a slight water retention problem. Dunno where that came from since there is no known family history of it from either side, but apparently I have it. Oh well...

The medication is taking two herbal capsules twice a day while taking a packet of ground herbs three time daily. I'm restricted from drinking teas and anything cold (Which is hard if you think about it because it's really hot and humid, and nothing beats the heat more than a cold glass of iced tea... x.x). Lupina's on the same prescription, and let's just say that the ground herbs are really hard to take down...

As for my leg, it's much better now after some chiropractic sessions, both of which were done by two young women. The older one has more experience while the younger is still learning. I can't exactly do any running around yet, but after about a month of some rehab back in the States, I should be able to ride my bike again. No more swimming kneecap, that's for sure! 8D

Food here is so much safer for me here than back in the States. For starters, I had some sliced stewed goose gizzard, green bean soup, balls made from squid that's slightly fried, stewed pig intestines, and, oddly enough, some seafood ice-cream oO;;; I just told Mom I'd stick with the seaweed mango slush while Lupina got the squid ice cream (It's black, too... xD). Mom and Jo-Ma got the specialty, which looks more like a sashimi platter than an ice-cream sundae. It has flying fish eggs sitting on top of a ball of shrimp ice-cream, which is on top of a bed of shaved iced seaweed, topped with some shrimps and some fruit. Sounds trippy, isn't it? xD

Well, I won't talk about any more foods for now since it might be making you guys queasy right now... lol...

Enjoy the travelogue!

Fal’s Travelogue - Day 5
Local Time:
July 10, 2010 @ 1120 hours

Ouch, ouch, and ouch… That was a bit painful getting off the bus… Stepped wrong and landed on it funny when we left the hotel we stayed at last night… Right now, I’m in Hualian, namely in the Northeastern Toroku Gorge National Park… And… Um… It’s really hard to type since we’re in a bus that’s trekking a mountain trail… x.x;;; Ok, to start things off, my knee is in pain, and it doesn’t help that I’m trying to stay quite awake due to some lack of sleep since wake-up call was at 5 AM… So, let’s quickly recap what happened yesterday before I forget.

The trip was mostly around the southernmost tip of Taiwan, the only place where it is touched by three oceans. First stop for yesterday was to a place called “Cat Nose” Rock, which really does look like a cat’s nose if you look at it from the right angle. Puma was giggling with glee since while so many people only see one or two cats, she saw several. We’ll post up those pictures and see if you guys can see it… xP This area is also the most prone to typhoon damage since most of those storms come from the south towards the north. They have a ton of wave breakers along the coast to help with the water that rushes up to the shore. There are even some areas that are still damage from the last typhoon earlier this summer, most of which the workers are working as fast as they can to fix the damages.

The second stop is to an old lighthouse, which now stands as a monument. According to Mom, the place used to be opened to the public so that people could go in and out of the lighthouse. Now it’s not, but people still can go around in the smaller buildings. It’s up on a really nice hill overlooking the sea with groves of, I guess, wild shoots growing about. As we were hiking down the hill, we heard a pack of wild dogs chase after a poor visitor, and they were the really mean black, doggies, too… x.x;;; Yeep… Looks like we’re having some traffic problems heading down the mountain trail to the Eternal Waterfall about halfway into the park, and driving down the road after having lunch is not the best of ideas… @.@ I swear, these roads are extra treacherous with winds… It wasn’t like this last year either! Dx

We had lunch at the Caesar Hotel not too far from the lighthouse, where Puma somehow got a pair of geese staring at her because she gave them a scare when we went in to be seated. Food was really good though. Several cold dishes, but all of us wished that they put the Mabo Tofu first before the other things! We also had some steamed local fish (Mom says it’s flounder; I think it’s some sort of bass or carp), cabbages (Just about every lunch I’ve had so far has cabbages… xP), wild mountain pig (dang the meat is good!!!), and a lot of pineapples, watermelon, and grapes (sorry, Von… xP). I swear, looking over my meals these last couple days, I’ve had more veggies and fruit in Taiwan just these past four days than I had in three months back in the States! Now that’s saying something! I guess I can think of this as my yearly detox trip since, technically, I am eating a ton healthier here with all the season fruits and vegetables available (Keep in mind that Taiwan is rich in seafood, vegetables, and fruits).

Let’s see… Last stop was basically the hotel, which rests in an aboriginal village not too far from the beach. I injured my leg earlier that day (…again…), not to mention that my feet were swollen (…ouchies…), but there were plenty of things to do in the hotel. Now, we had heard that there was an arcade here, so we decided to head there to check. Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly what we had thought it would be, not to mention that they have slot machines for the kids to play with, even one that was Mario-themed… >>;;; Disturbing, no? Puma and Lupina decided to head to the pool after watching an aboriginal dance segment with Mom (Again, I was up in the room taking care of my leg…). So, while resting, I manage to check a few things until Puma gets back. She told me that there was a weird guy who ‘ran into her’ while they were swimming. Apparently, the guy was trying to get her attention by swimming when she was about to pass by. She was rather disturbed by it and was thinking about dragging him underwater… xD;;;

Off for now~
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Katsuragi
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Purple Haze
Hmm... I seem to be talking alot about food in this thread.... SO I'LL CONTINUE THE TREND! : D

For that foods you called weird, that's actually pretty normal O.o

Fun Facts: Viewer Discretion is Advised
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Falcondae
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Death from Above

Oh... The agony of my feet and right knee... Remember how I said that we'd do VBS here in Taiwan too? It was a lot more challenging than we had first thought because
  • Language Barriers
    Unfortunately, we have some who don't know how to speak the local language. We do have those who are multilingual (such as myself and Puma), those who understand but don't know how to speak it (Lupina and Johnathan fall into this category), and then there are those who have no understanding of the language whatsoever. It's quite challenging, but it's quite interesting at the same time.
  • Educational Levels
    This is probably one of the bigger ones, especially when it came to Lisa, who's in charge of the middle group's ESL lessons (Mom helps her translate since she's one of those who has no understanding of any Chinese dialect. Well... Perhaps a bit...
  • Student Behavior
    Oh jeez... This was the hardest one for me. If you know me well enough, I am one of the strictest counselors known in my church back in the States. I will bring about order in the quickest of ways (Usually a good yell will teach them who's boss), but here, since the kids are given more freedoms than back in the States (I was a bit scared when I saw my 13-year-old nephew play Counterstrike, which, oddly enough, has been made into an online community by Nexon TW). And you have those students who are just plain stubborn and will walk all over you if you don't have a firm grasp first day.

Several of the other student helpers they called in were a bit lacking in terms of discipline. It was like we threw them into a war zone and they didn't know what do do. It took a good bit to get them to do things that we needed, like getting the kids under control (Puma had the youngest class, so she was quite tired at the end of each day. You can only imagine the energy it takes for us to get these guys just to sit down).

I'm actually surprised that their English isn't that good, especially with the simple greetings of "Hi, my name is..." and "How are you?" William was happy enough to keep them occupied by teaching them the Texan way of greeting while I prepped the crafts (I have craft duty here for Group 2). So, Saddle Ridge Ranch with some mock cowboy motifs and a few country-style songs here and there leads to some interesting fun, especially when it came to them singing the theme song and a few other kid songs.

What really touches me the most is how hard some of the kids worked, especially those who are the local natives (Keep in mind that the students in this VBS are from the other churches that are further south, which means more natives). They treasure each and every little thing you teach and give them. It makes me rethink of the things I have and how I have taken them for granted. I mean, yes, we are all greatly blessed, but as I look as these kids and just think of their living conditions, I feel really sad inside... I don't know how else to explain the feeling but it really tears me up inside... even as I type this up... Some times even the strongest of people have a heart so soft that it breaks at the slightest of touch... Bleh... I'm gonna post up another past blog while I go clean myself up...

Hate getting too emotional some times... I'll probably continue the travelogues in a different format, but I'll post up updates as I go along, especially recording them while in Nantou, where I might get little to no time to get online.

Until next time~

Fal’s Travelogue - Day 6
Local Time:
July 11, 2010 @ hours

Aroo… I’m writing now from Jo-Jo’s home now, waiting for the FIFA World Cup 3rd place game to start at 2 AM. Yeah, I’m crazy… Might fall asleep… xD;;; Anyways, we headed to Toroku Gorge, a place that we visited last year. Granted, it’s not as interesting as it was last year, but it was a little better in terms of the weather. Unlike last year, which was too cloudy with some rain, we had rather clear weather, with it misting just in time at the end of that little tour.

Now, something that we didn’t really go to last year was a marble factory, which gave us a tour of the factory (Unfortunately, most of the workers were out since it is the weekend). After that, we ended up going into the museum, which is really nice since they had large pieces of natural marble and even the most prized stone for any Chinese person to have – jade. They heven have different version of the cat eyes, one of them even familiar since we find them quite a bit when it’s night time on the beach – the star sapphires. Apparently, this is a type of cat’s eye stone, of which I did get a silver braded bracelet that has 5 of these large stone embedded into it. According to the seller, the blue star sapphire is a symbol of power, which is really interesting. They even had a ruby cat’s eye and an emerald cat’s eye, a deep pink and a deep green respectively. Puma got herself a coral bracelet braided in silver while Lupina got the same thing as me, though hers is a bit lighter.

After that, we had towards the train station, but not before stopping at a mochi shop for a quick fresh treat. Mom got some ice-cream mochi in the taro flavor, which was really good considering the hot weather. Taking the bullet train to Jiudu (9th-something… I have to get Mom to translate that when she’s more awake), we took the taxi into Keelung, bunking down at Jo-Jo’s place, but not before having dinner at one of those night markets. Definitely had my fill there, especially Puma since she had her chicken hearts. We had some really interesting seafood, including liver and skin from local fish, and a very strange clam, aptly called the Marble Clam because of its colorful button-like shell. There was also shrimp, Mo-Gua (A type of squash), some sliced squid in a hotpot, and drinks galore of orange juice and teas. At the end, we finished up with something similar to the Slurpees from 7-11, only they are made fresh with different flavors. Mom and Lupina both got taro flavor, Puma got her passion fruit flavor (she loves eating passion fruit), and I got lemon (Oddly, it’s sweet too).

Don’t know what we’re gonna do later in the day, but for all I know, we have some business we need to take care of while here in Keelung.
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