Pam Does Asia!

Where to begin! Seriously, I have no idea. I have always prided myself on packing in as much as I could into a vacation, but when my mom visited me in November, 2009, I think I really outdid myself. We both spent the entire vacation eating eating eating and traveling traveling traveling. Enough so that the latter outdid the former and we came away from the two weeks lighter than going into them. Well, there's no way to cover EVERYTHING we did in this fortnight, so it's best to hit the highlights!


After viewing some of the necessary components to Taiwan, like Taipei 101 and the golden mountains of Jioufen and Jinguashi, I decided it was time to introduce my mom to some of, not all of, the tea in China. After a day at the zoo seeing the pandas, we took a taxi up a mountain side into the Maokong Tea Houses. I took her to my favorite restaurant, Da Cha Hu, or Big Teapot, which boasts fine tea, excellent cuisine, and stunning views of downtown taipei from a mountainside.


We ordered a local brew, to compliment our foods. While we waited for our meals to arrive, I introduced my mom to the delicate art of pao cha, or brewing tea. After some sips of this intoxicating blend, our first course arrived- tea fried rice! An absolutely mindblowing combination of dried tea leaves and fried rice, this is something that has never been tasted before or since. The second course was some tofu braised nicely in a brown sauce. The tofu was simply terrific- it was like eating diced cream. A nice side order or greens grown in the restaurant's own yard before the main course- the San Bei Ji which translates to Three Cups Chicken. The chicken is served in a sizzling hot plate mixed with herbs, spices, tea, and more ingredients than I could pick out.


Our second culinary treat came just a few days later at a familiar yet special restaurant- Din Tai Fung. This was extra special because my uncle, who was living in Taichung at the time, came up with his wife Clare to join us for dinner. And what made it even more special was that we had reservations to dine with the owner of Din Tai Fung himself.


The evening was a smash! We all sat around the table wining and dining on scrumptious Xiao Long Bao, shrimp Xiao Mai, hot and sour soup, chicken soup, and so much more. The finest array of Chinese food in all of Asia, with the finest company in all the world. After, the owner invited my Uncle and his wife, along with my mother and me, back to his place for a digestif. We sat around the living room, eating imported hams and cookies from Japan, sweet delicious fruits from the mountains of Taiwan, and rich wine from the heart of Bordeaux.

The following day, I took my family to the national palace museum after a delicious greasy bread breakfast. We spent the morning and early afternoon browsing some of the finest examples of chinese art and literature in the world, kept safe during the communist revolution in China. But our time at the museum was short lived as my mother and I had a plane to catch to Honkey town!


That night, as a birthday gift to my mom, we boarded a plane and took off for three days to Hong Kong. We arrived late at night, so after getting in from the airport, we decided it was best to head straight to bed. The next day was an early rise as we took the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Central for some Dim Sum at my favorite little dim sum restaurant. A bit out of the way, but worth it. Then it was up the Peak Tram to the top of Victoria Peak. We were the on a particularly clear day, so all of Victoria Harbor and Kowloon was in fine view. We took a stroll around the mountain (about three kilometers) and then sat for a late afernoon drink on the lookout peak.


Then, it was back up to the flying wok at nighttime for some stunning views of the harbor at night. We took a taxi back down the mountain side, got over to the Kowloon side, and set up shop along the harbor to watch the Symphony of lights where they light up the buildings and synchronize them to music on the central side.


The following day, a little bird called out to us- Macau! Macau! So we hopped on the ferry and took a boat over to Macau for the day. Just our luck that we arrived at the same time as the Macau Grand Prix- it was a thrill to watch the high speed cars zooming through the narrow little streets in this old Portuguese settlement. (Speaking of which, a lot of the signage is still in Portugese and Chinese, with no English translation!)

Our first stop was a quick walk through the Grand Lisboa hotel and Casino to see the high rollers. Then it was onto the old portugese historic district, where it felt like I was transported back to my days in Europe. We ate tasty custard pastries and dined on spicy portugese cuisine.


The highlight was to see the ruins of St. Paul's cathedral and the old fort. From a distance, it looks like the cathedral still stands in all her beauty. But, as one approaches, one notices that only the front facade it left. Still, one can explore the ruins and even enter the old crypt!


After the fort and lunch, we decided it was time to head to Venice! That's right, we went to one of Macau's newest and most impressive casinos, the Venetian! Walking inside is like taking a trip to Italy. Golden idols, studded chandeliers, escalating spiral staircases- it was all too much! But the certainly outdid themselves with the indoor gondola rides with authentic gondaliers!


With that, it was time to say good-bye to Macau and head back to Hong Kong for some more fun. My mom and I had some great dinner and a few drinks before heading back to bed. The following day, we explored the 10,000 Buddah's Monastery and took an open aired bus tour of the city! Had some more dim sum, and then took a plane back to Taiwan for week two of our trip! That's right, that was all only in one week, and I skipped out on a lot of things like the night market in Keelung where my mom tried sugar cane juice and had her first baozi, or the historical searches through Sun Ya Sen and Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Halls, or even over to the ultra hip shopping district of Ximending!

Week two started with a high-speed train ride down to Taichung to meet with my Uncle Donnie and Clare. They picked us up bright and early at the train station and we took a car to one of the more attractive locations around Taiwan- Puli. Known for it's wistful mountains and sunny weather, this was not a day to disappoint.


We started our tour with an introduction to the an old fashioned winery where, sadly, they no longer produced wine. Some of the highlights included:

The Ten Commandments of Drinking (my personal favorite is number ten: "When feeling for another one means you are about to be drunk. Stop immediately."

The Drunk Simulator

After the brewery, we moved our way over to a paper factory where we learned the time honored tradition of paper making. Here, my mom got to make some of her own paper followed by producing a printing on the paper.


After that, it was over to the paper dome- a reinvented catholic church constructed entirely out of paper. It was a unique and leisurely afternoon at this "religious" site.


Returning back to Taichong, we had some delicious hot pot followed by a nice stroll around the city's night market.


Perhaps the best part of the evening was when my mom tried Chicken Butt, and actually enjoyed it!


The following morning, after a visit to the science museum, we hopped back on a train and were back in Taipei for dinner with Vivian (my cousin Yuhsin's sister) and her two daughters, Zoe and Lily. The dinner was just perfect.

However, we still had a full week of sightseeing ahead of us, with journeys to the Lin Family Garden, then up to Danshui along the pier, over to Yeliou to see the moon rocks, back to Din Tai fung for some lunch and shopping. However, I ensured that we set aside one day to visit the famous Taroko National Park.


We took a fast train down to Taroko and upon arriving, hired a taxi driver to tour us around the gorge. This ended up being an excellent option as it got us into the gorge quickly for a relatively good price. He took us to see some of the most spectacular sights along the trail, along with some unique stories about how he climbed the fascinating high trails or rocks that resembled King Kong or Jumping Fish. This was also a tremendous visit for me as some trails reopened that were originally closed that last few times I visited the park. This afforded me some fantastic views of mountains I had yet to witness.


After the Gorge, I took my mom into downtown Hualien to try some famous Bianshi, a type of wonton noodle mentioned before on my blog. I took her to the two best spots for this dish to compare and we unanimously agreed that the first, smaller shop was our favorite. While there, we met a nice couple who told us about a famous bakery to buy some great tasting tiramisu. So after a little shopping (we bought an engraved rock) we got some italian cake, boarded the train, and made our way back home.

Upon returning to Taiwan, we still had quite a bit of sightseeing to do. Our primary focus was on getting out to the moon rocks in Yeliou, where minus the gravity, is nothing short of an extra terrestrial experience.


After Yeliou, we also ensured a nice day trip to the aboriginal locations around Wulai, complete with Muaji, logging train rides, alpine gondola lifts, archery, and stunning waterfalls set among Taipei's rugged wilderness.

In the evening, we had a rather unique experience. I took my mom over to the Longshan Temple area where we explored the mysteries of snake alley. The temple itself was exotic and mysterious while the snake soup we dined on was equally exotic and mysterious. However, and I will agree with my mom on this, the soup itseld is putrid. I tried explaining that it wasn't the snake that tasted bad (as I have eaten snake before and quite enjoyed it) but rather the herbs the put into the broth.


After snake alley, it was a quick jump over to the Wisteria tea house where we joined a fine historic culture of Taiwanese cultural heroes as they performed the fine tea culture Taiwan is known for. This is a particularly important tea house as it is the location where former political dissidents met during Taiwan's White Terror.


The following morning, we had a day left of shopping to do. One of the items on our list was purchasing a new cage for Zeke. While at the pet shop, I got a strange call from a friend wondering where I was. I told her I was at the pet shop. Turns out she was on my balcony with a pot of Mash Potatoes (it seems like all my stories involve potatoes or women on my balcony). You see, I was to have a Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday night, but she got the dates wrong and arrived a day early with her boyfriend.

Not to throw the night away, and since I knew they had no plans, I invite them out with my mom and me. That night we dined at a great little hole in the wall that has no menus, they just bring a set dish of traditional Taiwanese food. After dinner, we took a stroll through the famed night market up in Shilin before we settled in for some Shrimp Fishing up in Tienmu.


Our last day pretty relaxing, strolls around the city, some shopping, some KTV singing, and finally preparations for Thanksgiving dinner. That night, we had about 50 guests arrive at my apartment, all with food in hand, to celebrate this wonderful holiday with my mom and me. The next day, it was an early flight home back to the old US of A, where a loving husband was waiting for her to tell the tales of her mysterious journey to Asia.

And this was only just a snap shot of Asia- it doesn't include stories about our bus rides, going to my Chinese school and meeting my Chinese Professor, eating beef noodles and meeting the owner of the best beef noodle shop in town, going to Sababa, visiting the school where I used to teach, shopping at the fashionable Wufenpu clothes market, trying delicious japanese cookies, the ten thousand buddhas monastery, and oh so much more!!!

From your loving mother and dutiful son mountains, Michael.