asia – Page 2 – Jen Goes Rogue

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review tagged asia, Buddha, Buddhism, Carol, China, City review, Ferries, Hong Kong, travel

Living Well in Cozy Hong Kong

Swept up, it’s fair to say, in the day to day living of travelling is why it’s been two weeks since leaving Hong Kong and I still haven’t written about it. That and it was a mixed bag of lived experiences, but isn’t that always the way?!

Hong Kong was very special for Jason and I, because my wonderful and sweet Aunt Monica connected us with an old family friend who lives there, Carol, and her husband Andreas. Carol and my Uncle Ed used to ride the train together decades ago into work in DC. During their morning commutes they started talking and became friends. That friendship has transcended the years and still to this day they keep in touch.

Carol moved away from Maryland years ago and eventually landed in Hong Kong with her German husband. She’s raised two children there, who are going to university in various parts of the world, and she herself travels quite frequently. The day after we left she was on her way to Australia for a week to visit the largest rock in the world. It takes three whole days to hike around it and that was one of many planned excursions on her journey. All while nursing an injured knee.

For my older readers who worry about their limitations and perhaps feel they have reached the end of their adventurous years, I’d say see Carol’s example of how to live well, stay active, and don’t stop exploring. Below is the selection of their travel library.

The world is wide, but start small and you’ll see more of it than having never starting at all.

Carol is not only well traveled, she’s also the best host anyone could ever ask for. Hong Kong is quite expensive and we’re budget traveling, so having a place to stay there was wonderful enough, but she provided so much more for us than just that.

img_20161014_105703513 — Breakfast at Carol’s house! <3

In Taipei, as you recall, we were wet and weary. The AirBnB was shitty, it rained literally every day, often pouring to the point that the day was completely shot, and the city itself wasn’t particularly clean or inviting. By the end I grew fond of it’s quirks, and I know we would have had a great time if only the sun would have come out, but circumstances being what they were we were ready to go. While still in Taipei, Carol asked me what we liked to have for breakfast. Goodness, we normally just eat a piece of fruit and maybe a coffee if we’re lucky, or nothing at all, till we stumble hungrily into the streets seeking food. Hangry Jen isn’t happy Jen, but when you carry everything on your backs and must keep the weight down to a minimum you don’t have great food options. We let Carol know that we’re not picky eaters and anything at all she wanted to share is enough for us.

OK, we didn’t eat any of these, just paid to take the picture, and this is actually from Bangkok and not Hong Kong, but just saying, we’re not picky!

We left Taiwan in the rain and landed in Hong Kong in the rain. “What are we getting into?”, we thought. But, our anxiety washed away when we saw Carol. She was gracious and kind enough to pick us up from the airport. Not since we left had we been in someone’s vehicle (not even a taxi), so it was nice to go for a drive around Hong Kong and have a guided tour from an expert. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, so Britain influences much of the island still, including their driving on the “other side” of the road. I tried to climb into the driver’s seat when we got in, not realizing this!

Hong Kong is a hilly land, with curving narrow roads and a network of islands, 263 of them in the 427 sq mile territory. Over 7.2 million people live in Hong Kong, an “autonomous territory”, which boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Formally know as “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China”, it’s world’s tallest city, with the greatest number of skyscrapers. Those tall buildings lay host to a financial powerhouse that offers great tax benefits for corporations and personal tax freedoms for those who live there. If you’re not sure about Asia, but want to visit the region, then I encourage you to consider Hong Kong as a starting point (although Seoul will forever be my favorite).

Nature is surprisingly prevalent in Hong Kong, with less than 25% of the total land developed and 40% being completely reserved for parks and wildlife. That means you’re never more than a few minutes by ferry, bus, or car out from the domineering city and into nature preserves. To get to the wider expanses it’s more of a hike, but well worth it. Unfortunately, given our short stay, we didn’t get to see all of the nature parks that we’d liked, but that gives reason to go back. We did get a good and sweaty hike in on Lamma Island (pronounced like the animal Llama) that offered wetlands, fishing villages, steep climbs, and trail side vendors selling fresh fruits and ice cream. I opted to get a honey lemon drink from a beekeeper while hiking up a particularly arduous hill. You could see his bees buzzing out of the hive and around the surrounding area. Very charming!

Another Hong Kong memory was made at the Tian Tan Buddha, or colloquially known as the big Buddha. It was a journey to get there, taking nearly three hours via a bus, then ferry, then onto another bus that drove with great speeds up steep and curvaceous mountain roads. You don’t realize how prone you are to motion sickness until you’ve been tested like that! But, the nausea was well worth the reward.

The enormous bronze Buddha was erected in 1993 and is a major tourist attraction in Hong Kong. There’s a little village situated by the bus station that reminded me of Disneyland, as it felt very sterile and new. In the village, you can take a gondola up the mountain for sweeping views (which we did not do, but you could!).

We opted to skip the touristy bit and head straight for the 112 ft. Buddha. Along with the Buddha there’s a Buddhist monastery that was founded over a century ago, which is absolutely stunning. When we were there they were performing service and the chanting swept me away. All day long I could listen to the monks rhythmic voices harmonizing prayers. Every opportunity I’ve had to stop and take in their chanting throughout this trip I’ve done so. Prayer by chant is music made sweet and savory at once, with words I’ll never understand that surely ask to fulfill the desires that all humans have, for love and compassion, forgiveness and peace.

Carol always had great ideas for us on what to do and where to explore next. She also took us out for a night on the town with Andreas when he came back home for the weekend. Andreas works from China 1/2 the week, often flying out from there to all over the world to do business, so his time at home is short and precious. Still, they spent some of it with us and took us to a great Mediterranean restaurant and then for drinks in Lan Kwai Fong, where teems of people filled bars and the streets. Women held up signs advertising specials on 12 shots at a time to bring in patrons. We opted for a German bar celebrating Oktoberfest and drank German beers with the German who prefers Japanese beers instead; go figure! Carol and Andreas had fully intended on leaving us out to party it up, but we are old folks with little wallets and little interest in that scene any longer anyway, so we headed back in a taxi with them and had a nightcap at their home instead.

Carol and Andreas took us out for one other memorable meal of Dim Sum with two of their close friends. Dim Sum is like Chinese tapas, little plates of dumplings, meats, tarts, puddings, and other tasty treats. On Sunday morning, for traditional Hong Kong brunch, we went to Maxim’s Palace. Located in City Hall, with chandeliers lining the ceilings, this beautiful restaurant takes no reservations so you either come early or wait hours for a table. We came early, arriving right about 10:00 a.m. and didn’t have to wait at all, but the huge crowd out the door after we left must have been hungry.

Their international friends were another German and a Brit. They’d also lived in Hong Kong for a few decades and really loved the place. While we talked with them of travel, their city, their children, and their lives, the conversation ended up focusing on the US and our upcoming election. They were baffled, as Jason and I also are, about what is going on in America today. I had little consolation for them, other than to say we’re not voting, but if we were it wouldn’t be for Trump. Their level of nuance for American politics from people who have never lived in the US is stunning. What do you or I know of British or German politics? What about the entire continent of Asia? I myself am woefully ignorant, even with my college education and desire to be a globally aware citizen. They’re not, so as I’ve noted before, the world is watching and from what I can tell it doesn’t like what it’s seeing.

Moving on! Jason and I share a deep gratitude to Carol and Andreas for hosting us. We wouldn’t have had nearly as great of a time in Hong Kong without them and being in their home felt so cozy it was almost like we were transported back to our homes in the states. I definitely said to Jason more than once, “Do we have to go?” to which he replied, “Well, Carol’s going to Australia a day after we leave, so yes, we do.” Fair point, but my goodness her heart is so warm and she’s so caring that we couldn’t be more thankful for her hospitality. We just wish we could find a way to repay her for her kindness. I think we’ll aim to be the best hosts we can be and live by example when we return back to the states and have a home of our own. Carol, you and Andreas are always welcome to stay with us! We took this shot on our last night in Hong Kong after Carol’s helper, Cherry, made us a traditional Filipino meal of chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and rice. Simply mouthwatering!

Their doggy Shiba and I became fast friends too. Loved this little lady!

There’s so much more to say about this magical week, but we’ll leave it here for now. Thanks for following along the journey!

16 Oct

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review tagged asia, rain, rtw, taipei, taiwan, travel

Torrential Taiwan: The Country That Wouldn’t Stop Raining

Talk about a downpour! In Taiwan, we slogged through the rain each and every day. Truth be told, we hadn’t had a truly sunny day since Tokyo. All through the end of our time in Japan it was fairly cloudy and rainy, then into Taiwan the rain continued. Yes, we dodged two typhoons, but rain didn’t care.

We’re troopers, we’re still new to this travel adventure and eager to explore the big and small parts of the world we’re living in, but rain made it tricky. Nonetheless, we preserved and both of us certainly learned a thing or two about Taiwan. When I left you all in the blog we had just arrived, one day in, and had explored a night market that was pungent and overwhelming. My impression was that every area of Taipei would be like this: smelly, crowded, and too compact for comfort, but I was wrong in the best way.

We didn’t give up on night markets after the first one; no sir! Night markets were in fact the top reason I wanted to go to Taiwan in the first place. Food of all sorts is my cup of tea, and Taiwanese/Chinese is no different. When you think Chinese in the states you imagine sticky, fatty fried rice with the chopped up dried pork bits and nearly dehydrated carrots and peas. It’s a sad state and it’s not how Chinese food should be viewed because it’s truly so much more than that.

Night markets give you a chance to try a bit of everything for an incredibly reasonable price. We would spend $5 – $10 tops, collectively, feeding ourselves dinner. That’s eating a bit of fresh fruit, meat on a stick, a pancake of sorts, cream filled pastries, and more. I never knew I’d like pork floss, but I love pork floss omelettes! Heaven.

The variety at these markets would go on and on and into areas that I wouldn’t touch, like dried squid, chicken feet, and various pork products sold in carts that were in unknown stages of jerkying or other transformation. I didn’t ask, they couldn’t tell me even if I did, we left it alone.

Despite cooking and washing out in the open the night markets Jason or I didn’t get sick (a welcome surprise!). I’m now a little shaky about food borne illness and trying to be more cautious, but it’s difficult to be cautious when there’s so many abundant and tasty goods. We made sure to get our water from only clean sources or bought it sealed from the convenient store at least. It was about $.30 USD for a litre of water.

Prices were great in Taiwan, and the dollar took us very far. The conversion rate was a little screwy, but we eventually figured it out. $30 Taiwan dollars = $1 USD. So, sometimes prices looked very high, but you divided by 3 and moved some zeros around and you could figure it out fairy quickly. $60 for some Pringles! Oh, no, that’s just $2, no problem! Hong Kong is about 8/1 HKD to USD, so a soda costs $8 HKD, but it’s really only a buck. Currency conversions are a great way to exercise your brain muscles! Currency exchanges are a way to frustrate them. We lost about $1 when we converted our Japanese Yen to New Taiwan Dollars. When we converted from Taiwan to Hong Kong dollars we lost about $8. A bigger sting! We’re trying to spend all the cash we get out in every country to avoid these fees, but sometimes you can’t, and so we’re learning the hard way how to properly convert our cash.

Moving on, while we were in Taiwan they celebrated Double Ten Day (October 10th), the day the uprising against the Qing Dynasty began, which lead to the Republic of China being formed. It’s a Taiwanese national holiday. We stayed about a block from the Taiwanese president’s palace and on October 9th we visited the Chiang Kai-shek memorial, which is a sight to be seen. The memorial itself has a museum and art gallery inside of it and is a monolith of a building. Incredibly beautiful and clean. A big tourist attraction. We witnessed the changing of the guard (picture below). I won’t get into politics here, but Chaing Kai-shek was a prominent figure in Taiwa. It’s controversial which country owns the island or not.

When we’re visiting a place we want to dig into the culture and experience the why and how of the location. We are history museum lovers (I also enjoy art museums, Jason not as much). In Taiwan, we tried to go to two museums that were either closed for the day or permanently closed. Big bummer! Jason wanted to see the Miniatures Museum, but if there’s a government holiday on a Monday then museums are closed the following Tuesday. Whoops!

Taiwan had a World Religion Museum, which I was very interested in, but when we trounced through the heavy rain to the museum’s destination we discovered its doors were shut and signs in Chinese out front seemed to say, “Closed!” OK, not great, but we got some lunch and then visited a beautiful temple where we did our own world religion studies in Taoism before heading home. Taiwan seemed to have the most active religious community thus far, with worshipers chanting and lighting candles while we were onsite. It was a sight to see!

The museum we did get to see was the National Taiwan Museum, established in 1908, and considered the Louvre of the East because of its extensive art collection. We wanted to see a piece of jade carved into the shape of pork belly. A pork fat tribute! We didn’t find this piece, but we found so many other treasures that it didn’t matter. The museum has a garden attached where you can feed coi and birds food pellets. The continuous dreary rain didn’t keep us from playing in the park! Fish and waterfowl don’t mind a little downpour, so why should we? While there I saw my first black swan pair. The mother was clearly nesting and unpleased that I wanted to feed her. The father was ungrateful for my food as well. Suit yourselves, the ducks and coi like it! Check this out!

Taiwan was tough. I came in not feeling well, with little sleep and a bad attitude, and walked into a smelly situation and a crappy AirBnB. There was little bright side that I could see, but I just wasn’t looking properly. In the end, I loved Taiwan’s character and how the people were more real than Japan and Korea. The rules were looser and so were the people’s attitudes. The food was hit or miss, but when it hit it was a hit out of the park! No middle ground here. And, despite the rain, I learned that you can’t let a little weather get in the way of your adventure. Live once, live it well, and if it takes you a little longer to get up in the morning to make sure you live it, then so be it.

A few more pictures for the road from Taiwan!

6 Oct

By Jen Hawse on Asia, Travel Philosophy, Uncategorized tagged asia, flying, food, food porn, japan, kyoto, nintendo, osaka, taipai, taiwan, tokyo, travel

The Rising Sun Has Set: Departing Japan

For those following along at home, here are some stats about our journey. We’ve been traveling now for 23 days and thus far we’ve had:

7 Accommodation locations
5 Cities visited
5 Flights
5 Museum visits
3 Countries visited (not counting China since we just had a layover there)
2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited
2 Typhoons missed, but several days of rain
2 Illnesses for Jen
1 Checked bag, everything else has been carry on

Travelling for the long term isn’t like going on a week long vacation. When you’re on a quick vacation you pack whatever you want, spend money like it’s no big thing, and generally just live it up hard seeing the sites, eating and drinking, and having fun. At least, I do! But, this long term travel requires a much more measured pace when possible and much more planning to save money along all available points while also trying to get the most out of every location you visit. Talk about balance!

Yesterday, we flew in from Japan after two weeks there. We visited three major cities, Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Each city has it’s own history and personality, along with pleasure and pain points. Getting to Tokyo itself was a bit of a struggle. Our flight was delayed by a few hours from Seoul and the train ride itself from Narita airport to Tokyo took 80 minutes. We had thought we’d arrive around 8:00 p.m., but it was nearly 11:00 p.m. when we got to the AirBnB. The directions we had weren’t “enter this address and walk there via Google maps”. It was a bit more complex than that. Thank goodness we printed out the four page picture directions our host provided!

When we finally made it, dropped our stuff, decided we should eat, and headed out for the night it was nearly midnight. Outside, there was a construction crew still working on a tall building. We were staying in the busiest nightlight district in the city, Shinjuku, so that was quite a trip to see not only this entire neighborhood electric and drunk and bright as day at midnight on a Wednesday, but a construction crew soldering and hammering and working their butts off in the middle of the night. First Japanese culture shock.

My camera phone can't capture the madness — My camera phone can’t capture the madness

Tokyo itself was a bit much for Jason and I, we have to admit. While we’re so glad we went, it was like placing NYC on top of NYC and then in some places putting another NYC on top of that. Overwhelming is the right word, expensive is another good one, delicious works too, but crowded is probably most appropriate. Every shot I took that tried to capture the scope of people failed. 13.4 million people live in Tokyo and over 19 million tourists visit Japan each year, many going to the capital to see the craziness of Tokyo themselves.

Overwhelming, but well worth it. Going to the world famous fish market, navigating the swarms, trying free samples of who knows what, and getting a big platter of the best sushi we could find was a memory we won’t soon forget. Neither is eating lean to mid to fatty tuna from a street vendor for a few dollars that melted in your mouth and required not a drop of wasabi or soy. Heaven. Getting a vending machine beer was a hit too! Bowls upon bowls of ramen will keep swimming in our minds for months to come. I hadn’t eaten much ramen before. Everyone’s had their share of Cup Noodles in the leaner times, but true Japanese style fresh ramen is different and something I began to crave after a while. One of the chain restaurants has a sign that says, “Try three times then you’re addicted!” and, they’re right! By the end I could have eaten ramen every day and will probably carry that love with me for a long time coming.

Navigating Tokyo is an art. It takes practice. They have ticket attendants at automated machines that help poor tourists such as ourselves find the right line and pay the proper fees. There are three organizations that operate lines in Tokyo, so it’s not one integrated subway system like we would have anywhere else. If you’re on the JR line you can’t just transfer to the IC line without getting off, going out, getting a new ticket, then going back in again. It’s a hassle. There are 158 transit lines in Tokyo and, according to Wikipedia, “40 million passengers use the rail system daily at 14.6 billion annually”. We stayed in Shinjuku, and again according to Wikipedia, ” Shinjuku Station is the busiest train station in the world by passenger throughput.” If you’re going to dive in, DIVE DEEP!

After a week in Tokyo we were ready to put some breaks on the madness and go to a calmer place, Kyoto. We jumped on the plane and headed first to Osaka, the second largest municipal city in Japan and still on the mainland. It was a 2 hour flight, nothing too crazy, and we fairly quickly made it to our AirBnB for the night. This place was hilariously small. Like, there was no floor space at all. The only floor space we had was in the bathroom and right at the entryway. The bed took up the entire room, and it was a double. People live here! People cook in these apartments and they have physical belongings and even raise children. They spend their lives in apartments that we’d call closets. Physical space constraints might be tight in NYC, but I can’t imagine they’re near what this was in Osaka. It was only one night, but it was illuminating to see how people there live.

Osaka is fun, hip, and artsy. We had two nights in there, sandwiching our Kyoto trip, and on our second night we stayed in a capsule hotel in Little America. I don’t know if it was actually called that, or just embodied it with the pint sized Statue of Liberty on top of a tall building, rap music, and endless streets filled with American fashion and plethora of English, but it felt like Little America. Unfortunately, I was suffering from a bout of traveler’s diarrhea, something I am afraid is about to become far more common with me, and so I had a pretty shitty time, no pun actually needed.

The capsule hotel was something I really wanted to check off our list. It’s this crazy concept where you sleep in shipping container sized room with people on all sides of you. It’s strictly in Asia, as far as I know, and I figured one night to see what all the hype is about should be fun. If I’d know I was going to be ill I’d have went for a real hotel, but you can’t predict the future. Regardless, it reminded me of staying in a hostel, only a little nicer actually. You had your own space and walls at least. In a hostel it’s bunks and curtains if you’re lucky. Much like a hostel, the women above me was loud and her alarm wouldn’t stop beeping at 5:30 in the morning. We were getting up at 7:00 so… not feeling well + annoying person above + having to catch a train to a flight = bad night’s sleep. Almost two days later and I’m still not fully recovered, but feeling much better than before at least!

Ground control to Major Tom. In the capsule hotel (double waters for the belly) in my Japanese pj’s.

Last location update is for Kyoto, the culture capital of Japan. Kyoto is temple town. There are 1,600 + temples in the city, in fact. Kyoto is shrines on every corner. It’s bamboo forests and endless orange gates. It’s hip and artsy, but not as stuck up as Tokyo. It’s peaceful while still being rather touristy. Our AirBnB in Kyoto was one of my favorites. We had sleeping mats instead of a bed, so every night we pulled down the mats and put them back in the morning to open the room up. There were no chairs in the apartment, just floor cushions that you put on legless chair seats so you could sit back. We had a kitchen, which we used to make PBJ for breakfast most of the week, and free coffee and tea, which helped us save money. There was no burner, so we couldn’t cook, but we didn’t expect to. The shower was big enough to have a curtain! What voodoo! The room felt homey and the city, the former capital of Japan (To-Kyo, Kyo-To), was lush with green.

img_20161002_180550785 — Fushimi Inari Taisha first temple lite up at night

We loved Fushimi Inari-taisha, the golden orange arch walk way leading up a mountain to a city vista. Once you get past the hoard of visitors in the beginning it’s quiet and less crowded and full of kitties! Many kitties live on the mountain, a happy surprise. Keeping with the animal theme this particular area has dozens of fox sculptures, who are regarded as messengers. Foxes holding scrolls and keys are found throughout the shrine and look mischiefly adorable.

One our last full day we went to the bamboo forest Arashiyama for a rainy walk amongst the tall, green stalks. I was feeling poorly so it was very difficult to get me motivated to move, but I’m glad we went. The sunset alone was worth the effort. If we’d arrived earlier we’d have done more, but the thing about long term travel is you do what you can, when you can, and you don’t push yourself to the limit because you are always moving and you need to preserve yourself while doing the best you can to do it all.

Today, we’re in Taiwan, a place I was feeling enamored with prior to our arrival and now am striking less so. It’s dirty. I know I’m going to see dirtier places soon, but this is the dirtiest place I’ve ever been. Last night we went to a market that smelled of very fresh sewage. Mix that with garlic, fish, and general rubbage and that’s been Taipei so far. I’m very nose sensitive, plus stomach is still crampy, so it’s taking some getting used to. I’m positive we’re going to find the bright side of this island. We’ll discover the places I know exist from my studies. But, for today, we’re resting up, getting my stomach back in order, and doing laundry (something else you do on long term trips!). Then, later on, we’ll hit another night market and wish for the best!

Sayounara for now, my friends!