Asia Trip 2023

We are nearing the end of this trip, and today we traveled from Taipei to Hong Kong. Fortunately, we were able to spend the first part of the day with White in Taipei--until mid-afternoon--and then onto the Taoyuan airport we went...to Hong Kong. We woke up and Taipei, making sure we had enough time for breakfast in the Midtown Richardson Hotel (did I mention what a crappy hotel this is?). The breakfast buffet was jam-packed, with at least 100 people there at the time we went down. They were out of watermelon, my favorite, and I had to have my mango juice in a coffee cup. However, I did like the noodles, and pineapple is always tasty. In our hotel room, we finished packing and listened to both Teen Titans and a period drama of some sort, both in Chinese, of course. After packing, we left our bags in the lobby and waited for White to show. White took us to a nearby restaurant for lunch. She had to write what we wanted on a piece of paper and hand it in. I was amazed that we got a table...

Today was our second day in Taiwan. We wanted to sleep in, so we tried calling Logan to let him know that we were going to be late, but he didn't answer the phone. Turns out that I put his phone number in wrong: there was not only a "country code" but a "2" for Taipei--it's complicated. He seemed to take our laziness in stride though; we were a half hour late. We began the day with a trip to Yehliu Geopark. Kerry wanted to stop at a 7-Eleven (they are EVERYWHERE in Taiwan along the way, so we could get some grub). It was a gorgeous place: beautiful mountain formations, gorgeous skies, lots of trees. We saw this one statue called the "Cute Princess" who actually wasn't cute at all. "She needs cosmetic surgery," Kerry commented. Apparently, she is the heir apparently to the main attraction at this park, The Queen's Head. We took quite a walk to get there, but we made it. It felt like being on the beach: lots of water around, ancient...

So we spent today touring Taipei. After breakfast at Kerry's new favorite restaurant of all time (ha ha--the buffet that he hated from last night), it was time to begin. Our guide's name is Logan; he dressed in a pretty funky way. He had a multi-colored shirt and multi-colored hair to match. I immediately felt relaxed and comfortable with him.  Logan began by taking us to two temples. First we went to the Bao'An temple, which, as Logan explained, was a Daoist temple in Taiwan. It was incredibly beautiful and colorful, and probably the most stunning temple I've ever seen. Bright, shining statues everywhere, the smell of incense, and gold, dragons, and tigers everywhere. I noted that some of the gods in the temple were women, such as one fertility goddess. You could also throw two red rocks and then ask a question to get an answer from the gods: one up and one down means "Yes," both up means "Maybe" ("or a smile from the gods," Logan said), a...

The day today focused on travel. We had to take two flights: one was Shanghai to Hong Kong, and the second was Hong Kong to Taipei. We had our final farewell breakfast at the Westin and then left Kerry's gift card that he won at the brunch at the concierge desk. (I hope Blair picks it up soon.) Then our new and final guide in China, Rong, joined us on a taxi ride to the airport that took about an hour. He really didn't say much at all to us on the trip, and, while he did help us check in, I frankly think we really didn't need his services to do so. The airline agent spoke English pretty well.  Once we went through the lines in China, the fun REALLY began. First, we realized that we were supposed to show another "health declaration" form that generated a QR Code UPON EXIT. We had no idea we were supposed to do this; we thought it was just an entrance requirement. So I hurriedly tried to fill it out on WeChat, but my Internet was not functioning properly. I tried to...

Today was a pretty low-key day: it was really all about the Westin Brunch, which I've looked forward to for YEARS. We went down to the lobby: they serve drinks first, so I had an orange-flavored spritzer and a white wine spritzer. When it was time to eat, I began by indulging in the seafood: scallops, shrimp, mussels. During the meal, I had goose livers, lamb chops, and medium rare prime rib. All great stuff! I also had some fruits (especially watermelon, which I've been stuffing my face with in Asia) and salad. They didn't appear to serve hummus anymore, but I did have some chicken shwarma in a pita and some guac and chips. Close to the end of the meal, I had coconut ice cream with chocolate chips and nuts. While we were eating, the DJ (who'd been playing since the beginning) stopped and the orchestra began. Then they had a male opera singer followed by three entertainment acts: two female drummers, a male and female acrobat, and then a stuntman who could climb high he...

 We took a train trip from Suzhou to Shanghai today. It wasn't long--it only took about 20 minutes or so. Then we met up with Mulan once again, who took us to a lunch with my former students that she helped to arrange. I was excited but nervous to see them again; I hadn't seen them in about 4 years. Yiming was the first to walk in the room we had reserved, and I thought she was Cora! Cora arrived next, fortunately, then Katniss, then Blair. We had a lovely lunch: my favorites were the fatty Shanghai pork and the fried eggplant (to DIE FOR!). I learned that Blair had gotten married; Cora was teaching middle school and felt frustrated with it; Yiming had a boyfriend and was working in Nanjing; and Katniss was working as well. It was so nice to catch up with them. We talked about Chinese vs. American culture and politics, too: those are always fun, fascinating conversations to have.  Afterwards, we went to SISU--two of the students came in the car with us, and two took a cab.We a...