Two weeks in China, Part 2

After my first week traveling through China I made it to the ancient city of X'ian. Surprisingly, X'ian was actually a very developed city. I say surprisingly because when I asked people about traveling to X'ian most people either said it wasn't worth seeing or that the Terra Cotta Warriors were the only thing worth seeing. I disagree. In my opinion, X'ian had the best food of all the cities that I traveled to, had some very interesting markets and a good number of historical sites other than the Terra Cotta Warriors.

With that said I will say that the Terra Cotta Warriors are not to be missed. They are a pretty amazing scene. The admission was a bit expensive but worth it for a one time experience.

From X'ian I took an overnight train to Beijing. Beijing was much less crowded than I expected. It was a large city but from the stories I heard from other travelers and people who are from Beijing I expected to see people shoulder to shoulder everywhere I went. It was pretty manageable even on the subways. I took the typical tourist route through the city. I went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and of course the Great Wall of China. All these places have so much history and it was really cool to finally see them in person. The most surprising of all was the trip to the Great Wall. I expected to take a long hike up to the Wall and a long one down but this is 2013 so that wasn't what I experienced. I took a cable car up to the start of the section of the Wall that o visited. I spent about two hours walking the wall and and taking in the scene. It didn't hurt that about every few hundred feet there was a nice old lady selling drinks and snacks. It is truely a great site and is daunting to think how much work it took to build. After the trip was over I didn't hike down the hill, I didn't take the cable car down the hill. Oh no, I took the roller coaster down from the wall to the base where my tour bus was located. It was quite the experience. 

Although Beijing was cool the next city I traveled to was probably my favorite, which was Shanghai. Shanghai is a very modern and clean city. Although other told me the food was somewhat bland, I actually liked most of the food I had in Shanghai. A for flavor is doesn't compare to what you'll find in Chengdu but it pretty tasty. Also, it's a super young city with a lot to do and great public transportation. The things people say about the smog is very true. The first few days I was there, the smog was so thick that I could take picture of the city because I could see anything more than 100 feet in front of me. This is so prevalent that the city has cardboard cutouts of the skyline set up downtown so you can take a picture with the skyline in the background even on the most smog filled day. 

My trip to China was great and I really look forward to going back.

Two weeks in China, Part 1

I finally made a trip to China. Since there is no Chinese embassy in Taiwan I had to use a travel agency to get my Visa. It cost about twice as much as it would have cost if there was an embassy. Unfortunately, that was my only option once I arrived in Taiwan and the Chinese embassy in the US wouldn't give me a Visa until I purchased plane tickets for China first and I didn't have my trip planned before I left for Taiwan.

I flew from Taipei to Hong Kong and then took a ferry to Shenzhen. From Shenzhen I took a 12 hour overnight bus ride to Yangshuo. This was no ordinary bus. It was a sleeper bus with beds instead of seats. When I first got on the bus I thought it would make for a comfortable ride because only about half of the beds were taken. My friend and I moved to the back where five beds were spread out and we took two each. This lasted about an hour as the bus stopped every few minutes to pick up more people. By the end of the hour not only was every bed taken but people were sleeping in the aisles and stacked on top of each other. The back section with five beds now had 8 people sharing the same space. My friend had some random woman using him as a pillow and her friend's kid kept kicking me in the ribs. I ended up in the shortest bed, which was only about 5 feet long so there was no stretching out on this ride. Needles to say, I didn't get much sleep on this bus ride.

After 12 hours on the bus we arrived in Yangshuo. We went to the hostel where we were staying, got some food and headed out for a boat tour of the area. It's was pretty awesome. There are lots of limestone rock formations that are really cool to look at. Later that night we went to check out a show on the water a called Impression Liu Sanjie. It was a really cool performance put together by Zhang Yimou, the same person who developed the performance for the Beijing Olympic's opening ceremony. I really enjoyed the performance but others told me that this show isn't Zhang Yimou's best work.

The next day I headed to Guilin, which was an hour bus ride from Yangshuo. In Guilin I had the chance to check out some caves and some of the old parts of the city. More limestone formations can be seen in Guilin as well. It's definitely a place worth visiting.

After a few days in Guilin I took a flight to Chengdu. While I was there the Fortune 500 Forum was going on and coincidentally the president of my University and the Dean of my Business School were attending the forum at the same time. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to meet with either one of them. Chengdu was cool. The food was really good, the markets full of interesting things to buy and it was cool to finally hear what the local dialect, Sichuan hui, sounds like. Chengdu is a very developed city and I had a great time visiting the historical sites and checking out the Panda Reserve. All of these destinations are place I would definitely like to visit again when I have more time.  

Nightlife in Taipei

Taipei has a lot of options in terms of nightlife. There are a number of clubs, bars, lounges and live music venues. If you're an ex-pat and want a more western style bar you have options such as Carnegies, On Tap, Brass Monkey, Roxy 99 or Roxy Rocker to name a few. If you like more upscale bars and lounges places like Brown Sugar Lounge, Fourplay and Mod are good options.

If you're more into clubs some good options are Luxy, Myst, Spark, Babe18, Room18, or Wax. People hit the clubs Friday through Sunday but Wednesday is ladies night so the clubs are also packed on Wednesday nights. Most have a cover charge that ranges between $300-600NT, about $10-20 USD. That isn't bad considering that the cover usually includes two drink tickets so you basically get in for free if you were planning on buying at least two drinks anyway. Some of the clubs such as Babe18 and Wax have a $600NT all you can drink cover. There isn't really much of a dress code at any of these places. The only thing you can't wear is flip flops but for the most part anything else goes. Some people will have suits on while others will be in a t-shirt and shorts.

My personal favorite is Luxy. Luxy is actually one of the older clubs so most people will say Luxy is old news but I think it has the best music and layout. The odd thing about the clubs in Taipei is that they are all inside large shopping centers or malls. I guess if you show up and feel underdressed you can quickly style up at the mall the club is inside of. One really annoying thing that happens often is the police will come through the clubs around 1am, shut the music down and check everyone's ID. I don't understand this, especially considering that everyone's ID gets checked when they entered and by 1am the night is almost over anyway. If you show up at the club and the music is abruptly shut off and the lights come on around 1am you know why.

Hualien and Toroko Gorge

Last weekend was my final full weekend in Taiwan before I head out to China and Thailand so I decided to visit another part of the country. I headed down to Hualien on the east coast of the country and spent some time there and in Toroko Gorge. Hualien was a cool laid back town with more Beatle Nut shops per square mile than I have seen anywhere else in Taiwan.

Toroko Gorge was the highlight of the trip. It's about a 40 minute bus ride from Hualien and then the Gorge has a number of places to explore. It's a great place for hiking, to see nature, get some fresh air and get to get away from all the hustle of the city.

Danger in Taiwan!?!?!

I have to admit, for the most part Taiwan is safe but there are some dangers to be mindful of...and no, armed robbery is not one of them. This is one of the safest places I have ever been in my life. I think I could leave my wallet sitting on the ground in the middle of a busy market and come back in an hour and either find it sitting in the same place or find out that someone has picked it up and is frantically looking for the owner. With that said there are some dangers worth noting.

Before I arrived I was warned that there were a lot of mosquitos in Taiwan but I had no idea how serious I should have taken that warning. I expect to see mosquitos in the summer time and I expect to be bitten a few times if I stay outside for a long period of time without wearing mosquito repellant. First of all, mosquito repellant doesn't work on these mosquitos. They drink Off! for breakfast. Secondly, not only do you have to worry about being bitten by a mosquito outside but you're not even safe inside. They are everywhere. In the apartment I am staying in I find mosquitos in every room, including my bedroom. Even places like restaurants and coffee shops aren't safe. I can't tell you how many times I have been lit up by mosquito bites while studying at a coffee shop...and yes, I was inside.

Next on the danger watch list are the scooters. I find that in many countries scooters are the preferred transportation. They are cheap, take up little space and can be parked almost anywhere. Because they are so small they can also be riden almost anywhere, including the sidewalk. Watch your back because some of these people will fly full speed down the sidewalk and dare you to get in their way.

The next danger hasn't resulted in anything too bad recently but it has in the past and could in the future. This danger is the earthquakes. I have only been in Taiwan about four months and I have felt at least 5 earthquakes. Now, these weren't massive 8.0 quakes. They were more in the 4.0-5.5 range but they happen so often that I feel on edge like very soon the big one is going to hit. A 5.0 earthquake will not destroy a building but whenever the ground is moving under your feet, that event doesn't produce a feeling of security and it will make you spill hot coffee on yourself so watch out.

Warning! For the most part people in Taiwan are very friendly but make no mistake, the Grandmas have sharp elbows and they will elbow you to death. On many occasions I have had an older lady elbow me in the ribs in order to move me out of her way. This is usually not followed by an "excuse me" but rather a look of scorn, which says "how dare you be in my way". Hide your wife, hide your kids!

There seems to also be some sort of unknown plaque rolling through the country as everywhere you go you see people wearing surgical masks. This is so prevalent that fashion designers have created their own lines of surgical masks for the ultra trendy yet still cautious. Most people just have a basic reusable mask that they keep with them but I am always amused when I come across the woman with the Chanel handbag and Chanel surgical mask to match. Anything less would be uncivilized.

The last danger is the danger of playing chicken. I'm not sure why this is but I feel like the way people drive on the roads, or the sidewalk for that matter, walk down the street, gather into lines and really any interaction, which requires one person to yield to another in order to avoid a collision, always turns into a game of chicken. If you're walking down the side walk people will walk toward each other until the very last second and then someone will move just enough to avoid a collision. Many times people will walk in front of you or pass you so closely that they almost (and on occasion do) knock you over. People will try to squeeze through the smallest gaps in a crowd or line to get around someone else. If your standing in a line waiting for the train and there is any space in between you and the person in front of you in line or you are at the edge of the train platform, rest assured that someone is going to jump in front of you and fill that gap. This is the case in any line. People will see you standing in line waiting to order food and will just step right in front of you or if they see you walking toward a line that they also want to get into will sprint full speed to beat you to the line. I guest I could look at it in a more glass half full way and see this as a more efficient use of space. Why let a perfectly good gap go to waste, right?

What's worse is that many people drive the same way that they walk, which makes for some very close encounters for pedestrians and other drivers. I have witnessed my fair share of scooter accidents but I'm actually surprised there aren't more. To put things into perspective, the close calls aren't nearly as bad as what I've seen in India or Indonesia but it's still something you should be very aware of. Watch your back...and your front and side.

A week in Seoul, South Korea

I had a break from school for a few days so I decided to take a trip to South Korea. This was also right before North Korea vowed to preemptively strike the United States with a nuclear weapon. Although the western media was all over this issue, no one in South Korea seemed to be the least bit concerned so I didn't let this issue stop me from going.

I took off from Taipei and landed in Seoul 2.5 hours later. The metro in Seoul was a bit more complicated than the metro in Taipei but I figured it out and made it from the airport to the Grape Garden House where I would be staying for the next week. This place was run by some great people but definitely had some interesting characters staying there. The first one I met was a guy from Finland who had a Mohawk and introduced himself as Lunatic. He later went on a rant about how he was going to throw Molotov Cocktails through the window because the owner told him not to turn off the lights in the living room at night. I think the nickname was appropriate.

While venturing around the Hongdae area where I was staying I came across a number restaurants that had murals of various artists and historical figures. Two of the most common figures were Michael Jackson and Hitler. Why those two you might ask. I asked the same thing but have no idea. Among other things, one thing that I liked about Seoul over Taipei is that everything stays open very late. Many places seem to never close. My first night there people were just starting to go out to the bars and clubs at 1:30am and it was a Tuesday night. In Taipei, it is a ghost town at 12am unless you're inside one of the clubs on a Wednesday night (ladies night) or on the weekend.

The first few days were spent visiting many of the historical sites and trying to learn what there was to do in Seoul. With the help of a friend I was able to get a sim card for my phone so I could use Google maps and I guess make an emergency phone call if I needed to. Seoul, like I expected, was much colder than Taipei so I was glad that I brought some cold weather cloths with me even though I haven't had much opportunity to wear them in Taiwan. The city is pretty easy to get around, clean and the people didn't seem to be as willing to hit you with an elbow in order to get in front of you in line as they are in Taipei. Also, you can cross the street in the crosswalk without worrying that a car or scooter will run you over like you have to worry about in Taipei.  

The areas that I spent the most time in were Myeongdong, Hongdae, and around city hall. It is a fun city that is very developed and has a lot to do. Good food is easy to find, the people are nice and you can get by with some basic korean phrases or even the point and grunt method of communication. Not as many people speak English as I expected but that gave me the opportunity to learn some korean phrases. Most of the time I pronounced the phrases so poorly that I had to pull out my phone and use my Korean Phrases app and my Learn Korean app. Both have a list of words and phrases categorized by situation and you can click on the word or phrase to hear it spoken. I often found myself turning the volume up on my phone and pressing play, :-P.

Of course I had to check out a number of Korean BBQ places and kill multiple bottles of soju. The place above was recommended by a friend and was really good. I have to say, even though many people told me that all the Korean BBQ places are about the same, I would have to disagree. I went to some crappy BBQ places that I would never go back to and some great places that I want to move into.

I haven't experienced this in Korean BBQ places in the States but in Seoul most places will give you a plastic bag to place your coat into so it doesn't absorb the BBQ smell. That's all well and good but since the rest of your cloths will absorbed it, I don't know that saving your coat is doing much good.

Aside from the awesome BBQ to be found, I as enjoyed the food at Myeongdong Gyoja. This place is in the center of the Myeongdong shopping district and is much smaller than I expected. I went with a guy that I met at my hostel who is from Japan but is in Korea studying Korean. His English was very limited and my Japanese and Korea were non-existant but we both understood good food. Also, he could order the food with much more human like qualities than I could given the fact that he had been studying Korean for few years, so I let him work his magic.

I checked out the Korean War Memorial and went to a few museums about the war. It is pretty amazing to see how far South Korea has come in the 50 years or so since the war. I went to a few night markets but they weren't much different from the ones in Taiwan so I just grabbed some food and bounced.

I think riding the metro and bus in a city is always an interesting experience. I still remember all the people who would get on the trains in Mexico City with modified backpacks, which had a stereo system or dvd monitor in them and these people would play music or a movie from the backpack and try to get everyone to buy a copy. This wasn't on one or two trains but on every train. In Seoul I didn't see any modified backpacks but they have the same hustler spirit. People are constantly trying to sell you things but most of them are pretty polite about it if you tell them that you aren't interested. There are few things more annoying than a pushy salesperson. Although most rides on the metro were uneventful, I did have two occasions of entertainment. The first was when I entered the station and noticed a man lying on the floor talking on his cell phone. At first I couldn't tell if he was injured and needed help or not. An attendant from the metro station came over to help the man only to realize that he was not injured but rather just too drunk to stand up. After this realization the attendant's compassion disappeared and he stood the guy up and pushed him onto the next train. I don't know how that guy will get off the train but I guess the attendant figured now it's someone else's problem.

The next entertaining bit came when I was on the train and a different drunk guy got onto the train carrying two large, empty jugs of water. The man had a portable radio with him that he was blasting music from at full volume. One of the other patrons on the train started talking to the drunk man. Although this was all in Korean, based on the situation it appeared that the other patron asked the drunk guy to turn his radio down. The drunk guy responded with "go f$%k yourself". They got into an argument to the point that I thought they were going to throw down right there on the train. Finally the drunk guy stood up and tried to pick up his water bottle. He was so drunk that he was unable to pick it up so he punted one of the jugs across the train car into a group of women standing on the other end of the train car. He sat back down for a bit and then he finally reached his stop. Before leaving he stood up, looked around, and yelled what I can only assume was the Korean equivalent to "f#@k all you'll" and bounced.















While I was in Seoul I knew I had to take a trip to the DMZ so I booked a tour for my last day in the city. When I was booking the tour every review I read said that the Joint Security Area at Panmunjon was the highlight of the tour. Unfortunately, I didn't know that those tours fill up fast and have to be booked five days in advance. All in all the tour was still interesting. Photography wasn't allowed in most places so I don't have many pictures but I was able to see one of the tunnels North Korea dug underneath South Korea to prepare for an invasion, a museum about the war and was able to see parts of North Korea from the train station that leads to Pyonyang. Interesting experience.

Outside of the Grape Garden House in Hongdae.

Myeongdong shopping district.

Itaewon

Near city hall.

Markets

Korean war memorial.

Using the Bathroom

This may seem like a trivial topic but if you haven't experienced going to the bathroom in Taiwan this knowledge might save your life...or at least your pride.

The first and most important thing to remember is that many bathroom do not come equip with toilet paper, paper towels or soap so be prepared and bring your own. There are few thing worse than finishing up in the bathroom only to realize there is no toilet paper to be found.

Next, many places have western style toilets or a mix of western and squat toilets but some will only have squat toilets. If you haven't used a squat toilet before you don't want to start when your stomach is begging for relief and you are inexperienced in the squatting procedures.

Last, once you have finished doing your business you will notice a trash can inside the bathroom stall. This is not for your gum or the wad of receipts in your pocket. It's for....drum roll please....the used toilet paper. I still haven't figured this one out but for some reason flushing your toilet paper down the toilet is forbidden so you must place it in the waste basket full of other people's used toilet paper. One person told me that Taiwan has different toilet paper than other places and the toilet paper will clog the toilet and cause it to over flow. I feel sorry for the old ladies with the rubber gloves who are often the ones cleaning out the bathrooms.

For learning how to used a squat toilet you can reference this video http://youtu.be/ao92t6_lvKE ...or do your best to avoid them as I do. Happy squatting.