One our last day in Yangshuo, we decided to split up. Chase, Mandy, and Kalen wanted to ride scooters to a place that was advertised as having "minorities." I on the other hand wanted to relax in the city and explore a couple of the extremely well maintained parks in the town. Before splitting up we had breakfast together at the same restaurant we went to the day before. We were the only patrons there and the whole staff was watch Brittney Spears music videos at 11am. After breakfast Chase, Mandy, and Kalen found the tour guide from yesterday and hired her again. I spent the rest of the day wondering around the town, watching boats as they came in on the river, and looked through all kinds of neat little shops that were hidden. At one point while I was near the pond, one of the local fisherman came out with his birds to catch fish. He had maybe 8 birds that he released into the pond. Each one had their necks partially tied so they wouldn't sallow the fish. These birds swam very well. While floating in the water they would all of sudden duck down into the water and shoot across the pond. Their bodies moved as if they were a seal or some other water mammal. They could stay under water for quite some time and go under and around rocks and crevasses. The fisherman, an old man, would stand on his little bamboo boat and direct the birds. He would tap (or hit) them on their head to make them dive. Then he would bounce up and down on the boat an yell. I'm not sure what that command was but it seemed to help get the birds back. We met back up at around 6pm and then got a quick dinner before having to leave for our bus.
The bus was a sleeper bus. It had three rows of bunk beds with two aisles. The beds were not very comfortable. They were at an angle so your head was above the feet of the person behind you. It wasn't a continuous angle either. It slanted a little then leveled out, then slanted a little, then leveled out. They were short and narrow too. I can't imagine the beds being longer then 6 feet and the bed was about as wide as my shoulders. They also sold the aisles. There were people sitting and sleeping in the aisles where people walk. This was illegal as it was over boarding, but we were in China. At one point we stopped and there was a lot of shouting from the driver. The people in the aisles quickly got up and ran off. We drove for about 20 minutes before picking them up again. Apparently they had a van waiting to drive these people a certain distance. There must have been a security check point or something that the bus was not able to pay off.
In any case, I did not sleep on the ride home. It was suppose to be 10 hours to Shenzhen but it took 11 (everything leaves on time, nothing arrives on time in China). The ride was through the night but I was still able to see a lot of China most people don't. It is the part of China that tourist don't go to. There were rows after rows of concrete slab buildings. All exactly the same which perhaps some Chinese writing on them. Each building had a metal door in the front like a garage door. That was it for the first floor and it wasn't much wider then that door. There were no colors. If I had driven through this place during the day it would have looked the same. Gray is gray. There were some people outside. All seemed depressed and disconnected. The streets were absolutely filthy. Many of the streets could have just as easily been a garbage dump, but the concept of "garbage" seems to have been lost. At one point we stopped for a bathroom break. The place the bathroom was located was disgusting. It was a simple square cement block building with a wall in the center to divide between men and women's restrooms. Inside there was no lighting or ventilation. Instead of toilets there was one continuous ditch with very short walls to create "stalls." There was the sound of water which I assumed was to run through the ditch, but the smell suggested it has been years since it had been cleaned.
The bus finally made it to Shenzhen and it was early Tuesday morning. The problem was the bus basically dropped us off outside of the main city along the highway. They told us this was our stop and we got off and they disappeared. Fortunately we were near a regular bus stop. We walked over to that stop and had Mandy translate the bus schedule. We figured out what bus we needed to get back to the boarder crossing. It was another hour before we were back at the boarder. At that point I was pretty happy to be back in Hong Kong.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Yangshuo: Day Three
We planned on meeting outside the hostel at 11am to head out for breakfast. Since we could only fit four to a room the French were in one room while the rest of us where in another. Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien also were leaving that night since they has classes on Monday they did not want to miss. So they were going to check out at 11am while we gathered together. However, we encountered another problem with the staff at the Yo Yao Hotel. One of the staff members checked them out by looking at the room to see if anything was wrong. They found that part of the toilet seat was broken. The French knew about this but only discovered it late the night before which was the first time they used it. The staff was refusing to return their deposit (50 yuan) due to damages. The real suspicious thing was that when the room was inspected, the staff member went straight to the toilet and looked at nothing else. After a long long session of arguing (mostly through Mandy since the staff could only speak broken English at best) a older man came in. We assumed he was the husband of the lady we were arguing with the most and the owner. He seemed to be more co-operative then anyone else we had dealt with at this hotel. He just said that they should pay what ever they feel like they should. The French decided to split the deposit and take only 25 yuan back. The rest of us decided we should check out too as we have been annoyed enough with this place. After successfully checking out of the Yo Yao Hotel, we went down the street a little ways to a restaurant we saw that had dumplings to get breakfast. It was very good and again cheap (12 yuan for 12 dumplings). While eating breakfast various locals would come by and try to sell us stuff. For the most part we would turn them away. But one local was trying to offer to be our tour guide for the day. Since we didn't have much of a plan yet we agreed to hire her. She charged us 50 yuan for the whole day split between the seven of us (that would be about US$1.10 each). We then rented bikes (ranging from 10 yuan to 20 yuan for the whole day) so we could go out and see stuff in the country side.
Our tour guide, Linda, took us outside of the town.
This was the first time that we had left the few blocks that tourist usually stay in. The town of Yangshuo was a little bit bigger then I had assumed but it was still fairly small (maybe a tad smaller then Orrville). In any case, it did not take us long to get into farming land. All of Yangshuo and the surrounding areas are noticeable richer then most of China. It is still very poor, but at least everything is well maintained and people at the very least seem to have something to do to stay busy. The farming in the area seemed very traditional. 
All the farms were perfectly well kept with everything planted in very nice rows. The amazing thing was that it was all done by hand. There were no tractors, no machinery, just men with simple gardening tools. All the plots were way too small for any modern day equipment to be practical. A lot of the famers were trying to sell their goods either in town or along side the road. The popular one was oranges but it didn't look like much else was in season (a couple of places did have strawberries). The condition of the roads varied greatly, and often had no subtly transition. One minute you would be on recently paved road that obviously had a lot of time and resources put into it (not like the chip and seal stuff we have in the country back home) and the next minute you would be on a dirt road with no gravel. Most of the houses were small two story brick buildings. The brick was the local imperfect hand made type, and the few buildings we saw under construction seemed to be progressing very slowly (I think they were all individuals building the houses). Farm animals seemed to roam about freely. I saw plenty of oxen go between houses and on into fields. They seemed well trained though. At one point we passed a local taking 3 oxen (including a calf) down the road. He walked with one of the oxen while the other two followed and didn't seem to care that we were riding by them on bikes. Chickens were a common sight too. They seemed just as comfortable hanging out with humans as they did themselves. At one point we came to a Buddhist temple, Jianshan Temple. 
There wasn't anything unique to this temple but since we had a guide with us she explained a lot of things, like how to pray. You kneel before the statue and bow three times for good luck. Each time we bowed a monk near by would bang a gong. It was pretty neat to finally understand what was going on. We continued on to look into some water caves near by but ultimately decided to head back to Yangshuo since it was getting late. We needed to grab dinner in time for the French to make their bus. We dropped our bikes off and on the way to the restaurant we checked in to a different hotel. It was not a nice as the night before but we got two rooms with two large beds each and a private bathroom for each room at a cheaper price so it was not that bad. We ended up eating dinner at the same place we had breakfast at since it was so good. The staff there really liked us as we were able to talk to them about celebrities (they really liked Brittney Spears and Michael Jackson) and we helped them with some English translations. After dinner Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien left while Kalen, Chase, Mandy and myself wondered around town to enjoy Yangshuo at night. 
Night is when the markets become real active and the street is accented with all the neon lights. After a couple of hours checking out different places were went to bed.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282959&id=7725102&l=8c380
I also added video to the last post. I have been experimenting around with it on my camera and by no means is the video that amazing. I missed videoing a lot of the cool stuff.
Our tour guide, Linda, took us outside of the town.
This was the first time that we had left the few blocks that tourist usually stay in. The town of Yangshuo was a little bit bigger then I had assumed but it was still fairly small (maybe a tad smaller then Orrville). In any case, it did not take us long to get into farming land. All of Yangshuo and the surrounding areas are noticeable richer then most of China. It is still very poor, but at least everything is well maintained and people at the very least seem to have something to do to stay busy. The farming in the area seemed very traditional. 
All the farms were perfectly well kept with everything planted in very nice rows. The amazing thing was that it was all done by hand. There were no tractors, no machinery, just men with simple gardening tools. All the plots were way too small for any modern day equipment to be practical. A lot of the famers were trying to sell their goods either in town or along side the road. The popular one was oranges but it didn't look like much else was in season (a couple of places did have strawberries). The condition of the roads varied greatly, and often had no subtly transition. One minute you would be on recently paved road that obviously had a lot of time and resources put into it (not like the chip and seal stuff we have in the country back home) and the next minute you would be on a dirt road with no gravel. Most of the houses were small two story brick buildings. The brick was the local imperfect hand made type, and the few buildings we saw under construction seemed to be progressing very slowly (I think they were all individuals building the houses). Farm animals seemed to roam about freely. I saw plenty of oxen go between houses and on into fields. They seemed well trained though. At one point we passed a local taking 3 oxen (including a calf) down the road. He walked with one of the oxen while the other two followed and didn't seem to care that we were riding by them on bikes. Chickens were a common sight too. They seemed just as comfortable hanging out with humans as they did themselves. At one point we came to a Buddhist temple, Jianshan Temple. 
There wasn't anything unique to this temple but since we had a guide with us she explained a lot of things, like how to pray. You kneel before the statue and bow three times for good luck. Each time we bowed a monk near by would bang a gong. It was pretty neat to finally understand what was going on. We continued on to look into some water caves near by but ultimately decided to head back to Yangshuo since it was getting late. We needed to grab dinner in time for the French to make their bus. We dropped our bikes off and on the way to the restaurant we checked in to a different hotel. It was not a nice as the night before but we got two rooms with two large beds each and a private bathroom for each room at a cheaper price so it was not that bad. We ended up eating dinner at the same place we had breakfast at since it was so good. The staff there really liked us as we were able to talk to them about celebrities (they really liked Brittney Spears and Michael Jackson) and we helped them with some English translations. After dinner Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien left while Kalen, Chase, Mandy and myself wondered around town to enjoy Yangshuo at night. 
Night is when the markets become real active and the street is accented with all the neon lights. After a couple of hours checking out different places were went to bed.Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282959&id=7725102&l=8c380
I also added video to the last post. I have been experimenting around with it on my camera and by no means is the video that amazing. I missed videoing a lot of the cool stuff.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Yangshuo: Day Two
Despite being scheduled to arrive in Guilin at 6am we pulled into the station at 7am. It was somewhat annoying as the staff on the train kept waking us up telling us "20 minutes" about every 30 minutes starting at 5am. While getting ready to leave we realized that the cabin next to ours was occupied by three French exchange students from CUHK: Nolwenn, Marie, and Adrien. We had known that there was a possibility of running into them in Yangshuo but we had no idea they were in the cabin next to us. So all seven of us decided to sick together. When we left the station the first thing we had on the agenda was to figure out where the docks were so we could catch a boat to Yangshuo. That was solved rather quickly since there were people just outside of the station wanting to sell us tickets. Mandy was able to negotiated the price as she spoke Mandarin. After they refused to accept our price we left, and about 2 minutes later they came back and agreed to the price. They took us to this makeshift box office set up inside the lobby of a hotel where we paid and got our tickets. The lady then took us around the corner to a restaurant where we could get breakfast. It was 3 yuan (US$0.40) for a big bowl of rice noodle soup with chunks of pork (they were tender and legitimate parts of the pig). We were then taken to a small bus which picked up a bunch of people to be taken to the dock.
The docks were about an hour drive away and a tour guide talked every second of the trip. I didn't pay attention to the tour guide at all since it was all in Mandarin. We were then dropped off at the shop area near the docks while we waited until our boarding time. Here we noticed Guangxi is much colder then Hong Kong. It was not freezing but jackets did make a difference. After waiting for a while it was time for us to be rushed to dock where our boat was waiting. The boat was not too big. Inside were seats and tables, while a stair case lead up to an observation deck. We were the only group of Westerners and every now and then there would be a tour guide making an announcement about something we were passing but it was all in Mandarin. We headed down the river in a convoy of three. The mountains were quite amazing and really only pictures can describe (unfortunately it was hazy that day). Along the way we saw lots of rural Chinese going about their daily lives. Some were washing their clothes in the river, others were herding oxen, and some were making bricks. Bricks seemed to be a common industry in the area and it was all done by hand. They were digging with shovels, backing in wooden shacks, and just stacking the bricks (all imperfect by our standards) along the river side for someone to pick up later. Every now and then a merchant would attach himself to our boat and try to sell us stuff. They had simple bamboo boats (4 or 5 long pieces of bamboo tied together) and would row out to us and tie their boat to the side of ours. They would then walk up and down the side of the boat just outside the window and try to sell us things ranging from fruit to fans to jade. None of the crew of our boat seemed to care that merchants kept boarding the ship. At one point there was a merchant on each side of the boat selling the same things. It looked like a couple of the passengers were having fun playing them off each other. The boat ride was suppose to take 4 hours but it ended up being well over 5.
By the time we got to Yangshuo we were all ready to find a place to put our bags and rest a little bit. The problem was the dock was some ways from the town. The one street that went to town was packed with vendors trying to sell all kinds of things. At the docks there were a couple ladies trying to sell us rooms for the night at different hotels. They followed us all the way down the street before we agreed to check one of them out. It was the Ya Yao Hotel. It was pretty nice inside, looked a lot like a nice hotel back home. We had our own beds and our own bathroom, all for about US$4.10 each per night. Once we got settled in and took a little break we decided to go explore the town. Before we left the lady who had brought us to the hotel tried to sell us tickets to all kinds of stuff locally. We were not sure what we wanted to do yet and it took some convincing to get her off our back so we could go out and explore the town. Yangshuo seemed like a festive town that was very well maintained.
The streets were stone and the buildings were all very clean. A couple of streets down from our hotel was West Street which was where all the bars, restaurants, and shopping are. It reminded me of Park City or some other American mountain resort town, but with a strange Chinese feel. It had all the nice quaint buildings but with neon signs out front.
One of the first things we did was to buy tickets for the Impressions Light Show that evening. This show is famous across China as it is directed by the same guy who directed the opening show at the 2008 Olympics. We went to a travel agency called "Panda Travel Service" to buy the tickets. Before we could we were asked a strange question "Do you have a tour guide?" We said no. Apparently if you have a tour guide you cannot purchase the tickets from them. After eating dinner at a brick oven pizza place (I know sounds strange in China but it was very good) we wondered around some of the shops. They had lots of art work, clothing, trinkets, and pretty much what ever else you may be interested in. We then met back up at the Panda Travel Service building to board the van to the show, but there was a problem. Apparently the lady we bought the tickets from had called our hotel to make sure we did not have a tour guide. The lady at the hotel claimed we did. After a bit of argument it was finally figured out that the lady at the hotel had lied (the travel agent said that she has done this before) because she was upset we did not buy the tickets through the hotel. We were a bit annoyed but in any case the van was leaving and we could go. The show was just outside the town. The stage was the river with the back ground being the mountains which were lit up. The show is hard to describe. There were a lot of performers singing and dancing, but all accented by light. Most of the performance was on the water, either on rafts, along the edge, or on this platform that was like a dock that could pivot across the water. Afterwards the van took us back to town and we grabbed a quick snack before bed. Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282957&id=7725102&l=7b9f9
The docks were about an hour drive away and a tour guide talked every second of the trip. I didn't pay attention to the tour guide at all since it was all in Mandarin. We were then dropped off at the shop area near the docks while we waited until our boarding time. Here we noticed Guangxi is much colder then Hong Kong. It was not freezing but jackets did make a difference. After waiting for a while it was time for us to be rushed to dock where our boat was waiting. The boat was not too big. Inside were seats and tables, while a stair case lead up to an observation deck. We were the only group of Westerners and every now and then there would be a tour guide making an announcement about something we were passing but it was all in Mandarin. We headed down the river in a convoy of three. The mountains were quite amazing and really only pictures can describe (unfortunately it was hazy that day). Along the way we saw lots of rural Chinese going about their daily lives. Some were washing their clothes in the river, others were herding oxen, and some were making bricks. Bricks seemed to be a common industry in the area and it was all done by hand. They were digging with shovels, backing in wooden shacks, and just stacking the bricks (all imperfect by our standards) along the river side for someone to pick up later. Every now and then a merchant would attach himself to our boat and try to sell us stuff. They had simple bamboo boats (4 or 5 long pieces of bamboo tied together) and would row out to us and tie their boat to the side of ours. They would then walk up and down the side of the boat just outside the window and try to sell us things ranging from fruit to fans to jade. None of the crew of our boat seemed to care that merchants kept boarding the ship. At one point there was a merchant on each side of the boat selling the same things. It looked like a couple of the passengers were having fun playing them off each other. The boat ride was suppose to take 4 hours but it ended up being well over 5.
By the time we got to Yangshuo we were all ready to find a place to put our bags and rest a little bit. The problem was the dock was some ways from the town. The one street that went to town was packed with vendors trying to sell all kinds of things. At the docks there were a couple ladies trying to sell us rooms for the night at different hotels. They followed us all the way down the street before we agreed to check one of them out. It was the Ya Yao Hotel. It was pretty nice inside, looked a lot like a nice hotel back home. We had our own beds and our own bathroom, all for about US$4.10 each per night. Once we got settled in and took a little break we decided to go explore the town. Before we left the lady who had brought us to the hotel tried to sell us tickets to all kinds of stuff locally. We were not sure what we wanted to do yet and it took some convincing to get her off our back so we could go out and explore the town. Yangshuo seemed like a festive town that was very well maintained.
The streets were stone and the buildings were all very clean. A couple of streets down from our hotel was West Street which was where all the bars, restaurants, and shopping are. It reminded me of Park City or some other American mountain resort town, but with a strange Chinese feel. It had all the nice quaint buildings but with neon signs out front.One of the first things we did was to buy tickets for the Impressions Light Show that evening. This show is famous across China as it is directed by the same guy who directed the opening show at the 2008 Olympics. We went to a travel agency called "Panda Travel Service" to buy the tickets. Before we could we were asked a strange question "Do you have a tour guide?" We said no. Apparently if you have a tour guide you cannot purchase the tickets from them. After eating dinner at a brick oven pizza place (I know sounds strange in China but it was very good) we wondered around some of the shops. They had lots of art work, clothing, trinkets, and pretty much what ever else you may be interested in. We then met back up at the Panda Travel Service building to board the van to the show, but there was a problem. Apparently the lady we bought the tickets from had called our hotel to make sure we did not have a tour guide. The lady at the hotel claimed we did. After a bit of argument it was finally figured out that the lady at the hotel had lied (the travel agent said that she has done this before) because she was upset we did not buy the tickets through the hotel. We were a bit annoyed but in any case the van was leaving and we could go. The show was just outside the town. The stage was the river with the back ground being the mountains which were lit up. The show is hard to describe. There were a lot of performers singing and dancing, but all accented by light. Most of the performance was on the water, either on rafts, along the edge, or on this platform that was like a dock that could pivot across the water. Afterwards the van took us back to town and we grabbed a quick snack before bed. Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282957&id=7725102&l=7b9f9
Yangshuo: Day One
Over the last weekend I decided to take a trip into south China to a town called Yangshuo in the Guangxi Province. I went with Chase, Kalen, and a local Chase knew, Mandy. We left CUHK on Friday to go to Shenzhen to catch the train to Guilin. The train was a night train meaning that most of the trip was done through the night. It was scheduled to leave at 5:50pm and arrive in Guilin at 6:00am the next day. The train station was very busy and had to wait in line for a while before we could purchase tickets. We got the highest class of seats, soft sleeper. This meant that the four of us would get a cabin to ourselves and each of use had a bed. It was a very small cabin and the beds were bunked but it was a lot more comfortable (and safer) then any of the other classes. On the train there were a few other foreigners but it was mostly locals (and a lot of military officers) traveling. There was a restaurant car on the train which we spent some time in the evening in. The food was cheap but questionable. All of us tried to go to bed pretty early but it was difficult on the train. One thing that was obvious while taking the train across the country was how many people there are. We rode for several hours outside of the city before I lost sight of a high rise. There were also numerous slum villages of just shacks which I did not see much of since the sun set soon after leaving Shenzhen. Many famers had plots of land that were just the space between the nearest building or road to the rail track, often being only a few feet wide. I saw very little space being wasted.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
French Dinner?
Earlier this week I was invited by Pierre to his French dinner night. He and some of the other French exchange students were cooking French food and had invited some non-French exchange students such as myself. We had baguette, ratatouille, red wine and crepes for dessert. The French students claimed it was not as good as the real thing due to the limited choice in supplies but it was still very good.
I did realize a cultural phenomena that I had not considered before. In terms of understanding culture I have been focused on how Westerners relate to the Chinese. I had not considered the difference among Westerners themselves, let along the dynamic of a multicultural group trying to survive in a culture not represented by the group itself. That night countries represented were France, United States, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Canada and China. All of us were getting along and exchanging stories of their home country.
This night also led me to another realization, perhaps even more practical. The world is very much globalized. There are all these students of many nationalities at one school. Furthermore, we all know that we can go to Hong Kong and find multinational business men. We can shop at IKEA or get food from McDonalds. Despite the dinner theme being French food, there was nutella from Germany, the wine from Australia, and the jam was Smucker's, right down the road from my home in Wooster. A very small big world we live in.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
NAFTA across Lamma Island
I spent my Saturday hiking on Lamma Island, which is just south of Hong Kong Island. The group was Chase, his friend who was visiting Kalen, Chris, Antonio, and myself. Chase dubbed it the NAFTA hike since he and Caleb are Canadian, Chris and myself are American, and Antonio is Mexican. We left at around 11 to get to the piers in Central in Hong Kong. After we found the pier with the ferry we needed we had about 20 minutes to eat so we grab something quick from the nearby Subway. We then just barely made it back to the ferry in time. The boat was decently fast but the trip still took about 45 minutes. We docked at Sok Kwo Wan, a little village on Lamma Island.
There was one "street" which was more of a very narrow path. All down this walkway were restaurants with the building containing the kitchen on one side of the street and the seating area on the other. Awnings hung from the building across the walkways and connected to the tent like structures making the eating area. It was all very lively with some many people walking up and down the path and all kinds of sea food still alive waiting for someone to pick them for lunch. We did not spend much time in Sok Kwo Wan as we wanted to get our hike underway. Not too far from the village were some Kamikaze caves.
During WWII Japanese soldiers would hide in these caves. We wandered through one but it did not go too far. We then continued on our way. We walked for a while before coming to a point on the path where a smaller trail split off. We decided to go see what was down there. After walking quite away from the main path we eventually came to a beach.
There were only a couple of people on the beach and it was very clean so we rested for a while. Around the beach were squatter huts that the government had posted signs that they were going to remove. This did not stop one man from sitting at the door way and stare out to the sea. Once we realized that we spent too much time on the beach we headed back to the main path. It was not too long before we came to another little village, Hung Shing Ye.
This seemed to be the place people wanted to go. It was a much bigger beach and had lots of trees that provided nice shade. We stayed there long enough for a bathroom break as we were not interested in all the people. The path continued on through a more forested area until ending at Yung She Wan. Yung She Wan was like Sok Kwo Wan but a little bit bigger.
There were a few "roads" but most of type of stores were the same, sea food. There were a couple of bars and the only motorized form of transportation was a golf cart like vehicle so it seemed like the Chinese version of Put-In-Bay. We made it into Yung She Wan just in time to catch the ferry back to Hong Kong. All in all it was a good hike, even if the day was a bit hazy.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2280725&id=7725102&l=0e542
There was one "street" which was more of a very narrow path. All down this walkway were restaurants with the building containing the kitchen on one side of the street and the seating area on the other. Awnings hung from the building across the walkways and connected to the tent like structures making the eating area. It was all very lively with some many people walking up and down the path and all kinds of sea food still alive waiting for someone to pick them for lunch. We did not spend much time in Sok Kwo Wan as we wanted to get our hike underway. Not too far from the village were some Kamikaze caves.
During WWII Japanese soldiers would hide in these caves. We wandered through one but it did not go too far. We then continued on our way. We walked for a while before coming to a point on the path where a smaller trail split off. We decided to go see what was down there. After walking quite away from the main path we eventually came to a beach.
There were only a couple of people on the beach and it was very clean so we rested for a while. Around the beach were squatter huts that the government had posted signs that they were going to remove. This did not stop one man from sitting at the door way and stare out to the sea. Once we realized that we spent too much time on the beach we headed back to the main path. It was not too long before we came to another little village, Hung Shing Ye.
This seemed to be the place people wanted to go. It was a much bigger beach and had lots of trees that provided nice shade. We stayed there long enough for a bathroom break as we were not interested in all the people. The path continued on through a more forested area until ending at Yung She Wan. Yung She Wan was like Sok Kwo Wan but a little bit bigger.
There were a few "roads" but most of type of stores were the same, sea food. There were a couple of bars and the only motorized form of transportation was a golf cart like vehicle so it seemed like the Chinese version of Put-In-Bay. We made it into Yung She Wan just in time to catch the ferry back to Hong Kong. All in all it was a good hike, even if the day was a bit hazy.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2280725&id=7725102&l=0e542
Thursday, February 12, 2009
To the Horse Races
Last Wednesday I decided to go check out the horse races. In Hong Kong they do not have major professional sports, but the closest equivalent are the horse races. There are two stadiums in Hong Kong, one on the island, Happy Valley, and one just down the road from the university near Fo Tan. Happy Valley has races every Wednesday night while the Fo Tan races are on Sundays. Happy Valley was a bit of a walk from the train station but it was pretty packed. The vast majority of people there were Westerners and the announcer had a distinct British accent. My guess is that most of the people there were businessmen as a lot of people were dressed well (in suits). There were about 3 races a hour and everything was pretty relaxed. The thing that really surprised me was that all the food and drinks were priced the same as what you would find outside the race track. I guess I am just used to price gouging. I did not bet at all but one of the Europeans I was with did win a 1 to 50 odds. The race tracks are a popular place to relax and socialize, not too many people were real intense about it.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Ping Shan Heritage Trail
Yesterday I went on the university sponsored Heritage Trail in Ping Shan. It wasn't a big group who went (less then 30). I must admit that there aren't too many good pictures so I am only posting the link to the album. Ping Shan is a small town (by Hong Kong standards so the high rise apartment buildings were still there) in the northern part of the New Territories near the boarder with Shenzhen. It was basically a walk with several historical buildings led by a tour guide. It started at the top of the hill at the old colonial police station that the British built shortly after first taking control of the area. Today it is the Tang Clan Gallery with artifacts dating back to the beginning of British occupation. Then we headed down the hill to a restaurant to have a hot pot. A hot pot is essentially a pot with all kinds of food (mostly meat) in it over a hot plate. Most of the meat was cut traditionally (no bone removal). A lot of it was unidentifiable. At one point I ate something a Singaporean just described as "skin." It was not very good. After lunch we visited the Hung Shing Temple. It was in honor of a water god and was very small and very old. It was neat to see something smaller and less worn. Next on the trail was the Kun Ting Study Hall. Attached was the Ching Shu Hin which was the guest house. Both were mainly stone and brick and had lots of nooks and oddly shaped rooms. All the rooms were very small by modern standards. We then came to the row of ancestral halls. The most prominent was the Tang Ancestral Hall which was about 800 years old (but restored in the 90's and the vast majority is modern that looks old). Only two of the halls were open to the public (Tang being one of them). The Tang Ancestral Hall was a few inches taller then the neighboring ones. Since it was the first, each additional hall had to respect the oldest by being shorter. Inside there was three chambers in succession. The first two were open court yards used for meetings, celebrations, and classes. The third had the shrine to the ancestors. Only the first born son could be added. Next we walked to the original well. It was about what one would expect, a hole in the ground. However the water was very polluted. Then we walked to the Yeung Hau Temple. This, again, was a small temple. It was interesting because it wasn't near any buildings and was only a few yards deep. We then walked through a walled city. Very very tight walkways and most of the city has been removed or crumbled beyond repair. The final stop was the Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda. It used to have 8 sections but it was knocked over about 100 years ago by a typhoon so now there is only 3. We were disappointed because we could not climb it. It was then late in the afternoon and we headed back to CUHK.
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2278962&l=9964c&id=7725102
Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2278962&l=9964c&id=7725102
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Taipei: General Impressions
First of all, the week I was there was the beginning of Chinese New Year. This meant that there were fireworks everywhere. While landing at night in Taipei I saw quite a few fireworks. It was pretty neat seeing them explode at eyelevel all across the city. During the week we heard sporadic fireworks. I am not sure if Taipei had any organized fireworks show, but the locals set off plenty on their own. They would set them off at night and during the day and it didn't matter where they were. Back home I am sure setting off fireworks in the middle of the city with lots of people around would land you in jail pretty quickly. There were even kids running around shooting them off. No one seemed to mind. Things would be exploding the street and bystanders would keep on walking as if nothing was happening.
Secondly, there are no westerners. I didn't expect to see many, but I figured there would be at least some since the west does a lot of business with Taiwan. Out side of the hostel, I don't think we saw any. The locals took notice. They weren't as obvious as the Mainland Chinese in Shenzhen but we were paying enough attention to notice. While on the train ride back to Taipei, there was a Taiwanese who took a picture of me. She tried to do it discreetly but we saw my picture on her camera screen as she was proudly displaying it to her travel companions (I think family). Chase complained a lot that the locals gave me a lot more attention then him. Pierre didn't seem to care at all, but it was probably because I was the only one with curly hair and facial hair.
The food in Taiwan was also very good. Before I left, everyone who had been there before said the food was great, but I the food surpassed all of my expectations. Everywhere we went, from Taipei to the costal villages, the food was unique and cheap. They even had milk as a common drink. A bottle of Dr. Milker brand milk costs about US$0.75.
Another thing that stood out to me was the police presences. Having been in Mainland China only a few days before, the difference stood out even more. There were few cops and security guards. I only say one group of them bigger then two and they were directing traffic. We approached them to ask for directions and they were very friendly and helpful. They seemed to make it their mission to help us out. Westerners are rare in both Shenzhen and Taipei, but in Taipei the cops where much more accepting of foreigners whereas the Shenzhen cops seemed paranoid of us.
One odd thing I noticed was the placement of some buildings. Along paths there were a decent amount of abandoned (or looked abandoned) buildings. While walking up a mountain to a park in Keelung, the path went through a restaurant. As far as I could tell the restaurant had not name (there was nothing posted in English or Chinese) and the building looked like it may have been abandoned at one point. There was quite a bit of activity with a woman singing and a couple of chefs cooking things for the handful of patrons. You had to walk through this place to get to the top which was kind of odd. Then when we went on our hike we pasted many private homes (some more of shacks). We were no where near a named road, just people living out in the forest along a national park path (or what ever the Taiwanese equivalent is). I was interesting to see a society that was so backwards they didn't even have a mailing address.
The weather for the most part was somewhat depressing. I think we had one clear day. The forecast called for rain everyday that we were there, but fortunately it was only a real issue once. It typically rained at night or while we were on the bus.
And finally, I must note the sanitation. It was pretty bad. There was trash everywhere. Garbage bags were not put in a central location, they would just put it where ever on the street when ever they needed to. Sometimes they would just leave the bags in the elevator. The beach in Daili was just plain disgusting. All kinds of stuff washed up on the rocks and no one ever cleaned it. Some places look more like a landfill because the beach was not rocks or sand, it was just garbage. However, the drainage was pretty good. Despite all the rain, there were hardly any puddles and on the streets caught a whiff of sewage about as often as any major American city.
Overall, it was a very good trip. We saw a lot and experienced a lot that westerns don't. Taiwan is quite a unique place.
Secondly, there are no westerners. I didn't expect to see many, but I figured there would be at least some since the west does a lot of business with Taiwan. Out side of the hostel, I don't think we saw any. The locals took notice. They weren't as obvious as the Mainland Chinese in Shenzhen but we were paying enough attention to notice. While on the train ride back to Taipei, there was a Taiwanese who took a picture of me. She tried to do it discreetly but we saw my picture on her camera screen as she was proudly displaying it to her travel companions (I think family). Chase complained a lot that the locals gave me a lot more attention then him. Pierre didn't seem to care at all, but it was probably because I was the only one with curly hair and facial hair.
The food in Taiwan was also very good. Before I left, everyone who had been there before said the food was great, but I the food surpassed all of my expectations. Everywhere we went, from Taipei to the costal villages, the food was unique and cheap. They even had milk as a common drink. A bottle of Dr. Milker brand milk costs about US$0.75.
Another thing that stood out to me was the police presences. Having been in Mainland China only a few days before, the difference stood out even more. There were few cops and security guards. I only say one group of them bigger then two and they were directing traffic. We approached them to ask for directions and they were very friendly and helpful. They seemed to make it their mission to help us out. Westerners are rare in both Shenzhen and Taipei, but in Taipei the cops where much more accepting of foreigners whereas the Shenzhen cops seemed paranoid of us.
One odd thing I noticed was the placement of some buildings. Along paths there were a decent amount of abandoned (or looked abandoned) buildings. While walking up a mountain to a park in Keelung, the path went through a restaurant. As far as I could tell the restaurant had not name (there was nothing posted in English or Chinese) and the building looked like it may have been abandoned at one point. There was quite a bit of activity with a woman singing and a couple of chefs cooking things for the handful of patrons. You had to walk through this place to get to the top which was kind of odd. Then when we went on our hike we pasted many private homes (some more of shacks). We were no where near a named road, just people living out in the forest along a national park path (or what ever the Taiwanese equivalent is). I was interesting to see a society that was so backwards they didn't even have a mailing address.
The weather for the most part was somewhat depressing. I think we had one clear day. The forecast called for rain everyday that we were there, but fortunately it was only a real issue once. It typically rained at night or while we were on the bus.
And finally, I must note the sanitation. It was pretty bad. There was trash everywhere. Garbage bags were not put in a central location, they would just put it where ever on the street when ever they needed to. Sometimes they would just leave the bags in the elevator. The beach in Daili was just plain disgusting. All kinds of stuff washed up on the rocks and no one ever cleaned it. Some places look more like a landfill because the beach was not rocks or sand, it was just garbage. However, the drainage was pretty good. Despite all the rain, there were hardly any puddles and on the streets caught a whiff of sewage about as often as any major American city.
Overall, it was a very good trip. We saw a lot and experienced a lot that westerns don't. Taiwan is quite a unique place.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Taipei: Flight Home
We did not have much time on our final day in Taipei. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8am so we got up around 5. We checked out of the hostel and went across the street to catch the bus to the airport. It was another long bus ride, about an hour. When we checked in at the airport they told us that the flight we were on was overbooked so they were offering us business class seats on a Cathy Pacific flight that left 25 minutes later. We decided to take it and they gave us an additional NTD200 to spend on food in the restaurant. This made us very happy because the extra 25 minutes gave us time to eat breakfast and since we had used up all our NTD, the extra 200 gave us enough to buy breakfast. We then boarded the Cathy Pacific Airbus 330 and found our seats. There was very few people in business class and the configuration of the plan had no first class. Cathy Pacific has been given service awards and it really showed. The treatment we got in business class for that hour and half flight was better then first class in the states. All the flight attendants memorized our names and always addressed us by our last name. We were given a selection of fresh food which was also very good. It wasn't long before we were back in Hong Kong. I got back to my room at about noon and spent the rest of the day resting.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Taipei: Day Four
This was our last full day in Taipei. We decided to spend it doing some miscellaneous things in the city that we were not able to do earlier. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard so that limited what we could do. We first went down the street from our hostel to the Taipei Handicraft Market. It was actually more of a store that sold craft things relating to Taiwan and Chinese culture. It was mostly art and jewelry. After buying a few items we headed out to what is nicknamed "The Golf Ball Mall." (I don't remember the actual name, everyone there calls it The Golf Ball Mall). This was a very large mall that had a 10 story sphere on one side. Half of the sphere was on in the inside, half was outside. 
The stores inside were not anything unique but the architecture was. We got lunch in the mall and then headed back to our hostel for a while. We stayed there until dinner, which we decided to look for those famous soup dumplings (called xiao long bao). The restaurant that everyone recommended was Din Tai Fung. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was three stories high but very narrow. They gave us a number and told us it would be about an hour (we were 50 numbers away). We decided that was fine and looked at a menu to figure out what we wanted. While waiting an Italian man noticed us and started a conversation. We were the only Westerners there, which was probably why he was so excited. He said that he loved Din Tai Fung so much that he ate there everyday. He gave us recommendations on everything on the menu. He then introduced us to the owner, who has set up restaurants all over south Asia and has become a multimillionaire from his soup dumplings. He didn't speak much English but he was very nice. As soon as this happened we some how got a table despite having over 20 more numbers to go. Inside the restaurant was pretty nice. It wasn't over the top fancy but it was just a nice Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were very well trained, doing most everything for us in a very perfect form. They then started bringing out our orders. We got one order of pork, one of vegetable, one of pork and crab, all with soup in them. Additionally we had an order of pork and fried rice. Each dumpling order had probably around 8 dumplings. We also got a free order of spicy shrimp. When it was delivered we just looked at it and asked "Did we order that?" The waitress just said "It is free," bowed, and walked away. At this point we were all very confused but then a different waitress can over and explained that it is a new dish and they want feed back. After we had finished it, the owner came back with another waitress who asked how we liked it. We told her we really liked it and the owner seemed very pleased (he didn't say anything while at our table, but just smiled). There is no other way to eat xiao long bao then with chop sticks. They are relatively small dumplings so I could eat them in one bit, but barely. You pick them up with the chop sticks and then dip it in sauce (1 part soy, 3 parts vinegar, and some strands of ginger). You then hold a soup spoon under the dumpling when you bit into it so you can catch the soup that falls out. The xiao long bao (with pork) was probably the best meal I had ever had. There are no words to describe it. For desert we had these little dumplings filled with sesame. As odd as it may sound, it tasted just like chocolate. For all that amazing food our bill turned out to be about US$10. Afterwards we looked for a jade market, but it was not open that night. We headed off to bed since it was starting to get late and we had to get up the next morning really early to catch our flight.
The stores inside were not anything unique but the architecture was. We got lunch in the mall and then headed back to our hostel for a while. We stayed there until dinner, which we decided to look for those famous soup dumplings (called xiao long bao). The restaurant that everyone recommended was Din Tai Fung. We showed up around 7pm and the place was packed. The restaurant was three stories high but very narrow. They gave us a number and told us it would be about an hour (we were 50 numbers away). We decided that was fine and looked at a menu to figure out what we wanted. While waiting an Italian man noticed us and started a conversation. We were the only Westerners there, which was probably why he was so excited. He said that he loved Din Tai Fung so much that he ate there everyday. He gave us recommendations on everything on the menu. He then introduced us to the owner, who has set up restaurants all over south Asia and has become a multimillionaire from his soup dumplings. He didn't speak much English but he was very nice. As soon as this happened we some how got a table despite having over 20 more numbers to go. Inside the restaurant was pretty nice. It wasn't over the top fancy but it was just a nice Chinese restaurant. The waitresses were very well trained, doing most everything for us in a very perfect form. They then started bringing out our orders. We got one order of pork, one of vegetable, one of pork and crab, all with soup in them. Additionally we had an order of pork and fried rice. Each dumpling order had probably around 8 dumplings. We also got a free order of spicy shrimp. When it was delivered we just looked at it and asked "Did we order that?" The waitress just said "It is free," bowed, and walked away. At this point we were all very confused but then a different waitress can over and explained that it is a new dish and they want feed back. After we had finished it, the owner came back with another waitress who asked how we liked it. We told her we really liked it and the owner seemed very pleased (he didn't say anything while at our table, but just smiled). There is no other way to eat xiao long bao then with chop sticks. They are relatively small dumplings so I could eat them in one bit, but barely. You pick them up with the chop sticks and then dip it in sauce (1 part soy, 3 parts vinegar, and some strands of ginger). You then hold a soup spoon under the dumpling when you bit into it so you can catch the soup that falls out. The xiao long bao (with pork) was probably the best meal I had ever had. There are no words to describe it. For desert we had these little dumplings filled with sesame. As odd as it may sound, it tasted just like chocolate. For all that amazing food our bill turned out to be about US$10. Afterwards we looked for a jade market, but it was not open that night. We headed off to bed since it was starting to get late and we had to get up the next morning really early to catch our flight.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Taipei: Day Three
The third day in Taiwan we set completely aside for a long hike. Just east of Taipei are lots of trails. The one we picked to do was from Fulong to Daili which was about 10km long. We woke up early (8am) to get a quick breakfast and head out on the train. The train ride was about an hour and half and there were no seats left. The train, unlike the metro system, was not designed to have people stand. There were no bars to hold on to, we just stood in the isles. The train was packed with lots of other people also standing. Needless to say, it was a long train ride. The scenery did make up for it as most of the train ride followed a river out in the country side. When we got to Fulong we immediately started looking for the beach. 
Fulong was pretty small (one road) but had lots of people visiting due to the popular beach. We never figured out how to get to the beach but we kept seeing it while standing behind a fence. We really were more interested in finding food. We stopped in the visitors' center hoping to find a café but the only food they served was expensive desert (and oddly enough "Fried Toast"). We talked to the equivalent of a park ranger who was very helpful in showing us where we could hike and how to get to the trail head. We were given about 5 different maps all with different details and none of which were in English. We then walked down the one and only road in Fulong to look for food. We picked a small family restaurant and had the most amazing fried rice with pork. I got what I thought was just apple juice that turned out to my surprise to be sparkling. I was excited about it but Pierre thought I was crazy (it must be common in France). After paying for the meal (it came out to be about US$3) we started to walk the trail. The trail started off nicely paved with white lines drawn on both sides. It didn't take long for us to get into rural Taiwan. 
We saw lots of farms and run down shacks. There were not too many locals outside, but the one old lady we did pass eating a bowl of rice on her porch did seem friendly. As soon as we started going up the hill we saw the layered rice patties (I am assuming they were for rice, but nothing was growing in any of them at the time) along the hillside. 
The paved path then ended in what we first believed to be a dead end. It just became some ones parking area adjacent to a house with a wall then cliff. Thinking we missed a turn we walked back to the next intersection. There it seemed clear that the direction we were originally going was the correct one. So we turned around and went back the same direction again. We investigated the area around the dead end for a while until figuring out that what we thought was the gravel path to a different house nearby, was actually the path. The path literally went through some ones front yard. From there it started to become forest. I would describe it as semi-tropical and dense. 
The path then became a road as it passed a park. This park had rice patties separated by stone walls on flat ground. We didn't stay too long as there were lots of people. The trail then followed a stream which had waterfall after waterfall. At one point the stream joined another stream, both having a waterfall at the joint. 
The path left the river at a set of stairs. These stairs were really steep and went up quite a ways. There was easily a thousand steps which we had to take a break part of the way up. We passed a stone inscription. Apparently the popular thing for ancient Chinese generals to do was to inscribe things on rocks in hard to reach places. 
At the top of the climb the forest ended and the scene looked like a hilly meadow. 
Where the path starts to descend again was an observation point that overlooked the small ocean side village of Daili. After spending some time resting and looking out over the ocean we began the decent which took a lot longer then we had expected. The path cuts back and forth all the way down the mountain side. At the bottom was the ruins of an ancient inn that didn't look like much other then two squares of stone, but it was interesting. The trail ended in Daili at a temple. We didn't look at the temple since we had spent some much time at several the other day and this one didn't look that unique. In stead we went to the beach front. It was mostly stone and very very polluted. Trash was everywhere. We then got on the train back to Taipei. The train station was incredibly small and the train wasn't that big either. It was a long train ride home (I think about 2 hours but we were stuck at one station for a while). We were so exhausted we got some pizza and went to bed.
Album:
Fulong was pretty small (one road) but had lots of people visiting due to the popular beach. We never figured out how to get to the beach but we kept seeing it while standing behind a fence. We really were more interested in finding food. We stopped in the visitors' center hoping to find a café but the only food they served was expensive desert (and oddly enough "Fried Toast"). We talked to the equivalent of a park ranger who was very helpful in showing us where we could hike and how to get to the trail head. We were given about 5 different maps all with different details and none of which were in English. We then walked down the one and only road in Fulong to look for food. We picked a small family restaurant and had the most amazing fried rice with pork. I got what I thought was just apple juice that turned out to my surprise to be sparkling. I was excited about it but Pierre thought I was crazy (it must be common in France). After paying for the meal (it came out to be about US$3) we started to walk the trail. The trail started off nicely paved with white lines drawn on both sides. It didn't take long for us to get into rural Taiwan. 
We saw lots of farms and run down shacks. There were not too many locals outside, but the one old lady we did pass eating a bowl of rice on her porch did seem friendly. As soon as we started going up the hill we saw the layered rice patties (I am assuming they were for rice, but nothing was growing in any of them at the time) along the hillside. 
The paved path then ended in what we first believed to be a dead end. It just became some ones parking area adjacent to a house with a wall then cliff. Thinking we missed a turn we walked back to the next intersection. There it seemed clear that the direction we were originally going was the correct one. So we turned around and went back the same direction again. We investigated the area around the dead end for a while until figuring out that what we thought was the gravel path to a different house nearby, was actually the path. The path literally went through some ones front yard. From there it started to become forest. I would describe it as semi-tropical and dense. 
The path then became a road as it passed a park. This park had rice patties separated by stone walls on flat ground. We didn't stay too long as there were lots of people. The trail then followed a stream which had waterfall after waterfall. At one point the stream joined another stream, both having a waterfall at the joint. 
The path left the river at a set of stairs. These stairs were really steep and went up quite a ways. There was easily a thousand steps which we had to take a break part of the way up. We passed a stone inscription. Apparently the popular thing for ancient Chinese generals to do was to inscribe things on rocks in hard to reach places. 
At the top of the climb the forest ended and the scene looked like a hilly meadow. 
Where the path starts to descend again was an observation point that overlooked the small ocean side village of Daili. After spending some time resting and looking out over the ocean we began the decent which took a lot longer then we had expected. The path cuts back and forth all the way down the mountain side. At the bottom was the ruins of an ancient inn that didn't look like much other then two squares of stone, but it was interesting. The trail ended in Daili at a temple. We didn't look at the temple since we had spent some much time at several the other day and this one didn't look that unique. In stead we went to the beach front. It was mostly stone and very very polluted. Trash was everywhere. We then got on the train back to Taipei. The train station was incredibly small and the train wasn't that big either. It was a long train ride home (I think about 2 hours but we were stuck at one station for a while). We were so exhausted we got some pizza and went to bed.Album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2277391&l=412f8&id=7725102
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Taipei: Day Two
On the second full day in Taiwan we decided to go to one of the outlying cities, Keelung. We went to the train station, which was conveniently located across the street from our hostel, to figure out how the train system works. The station was pretty simple but had a sense of grandeur at the same time. The board displaying the train times seemed out dated as panels flipped rapidly to change information. We eventually bought our tickets and went to the platform to wait for our train. All the platforms were underground, and after our train left we were still underground for quite some time. When we emerged, we were in a much more rural part of Taiwan. I saw shacks with small vegetable gardens around them and lots of other rural poverty. Probably the strangest thing I saw was a half completed high rise that seemed abandoned for some time. Surrounding the building was shacks and lots of vegetation. The exposed steel framework looked rusted and it was clear construction stopped long ago. We reached Keelung after a little more then an hour train ride. Keelung is a shipping port on the northern tip of Taiwan. It seemed small for a city but there was plenty of activity. 
We wondered around for a bit. We went through a very crowed street market that sold mostly food. A scoop of snails or a tentacle on a stick were common items sold. We then went to lunch at a very small local restaurant. None of them spoke English and there was no menu so it took some creative communication methods to order. After trying to talk to each other in our native languages we ended up going to another patrons table and pointing at what we wanted. We each got a bowl of rice with minced meat (I'm fairly certain it was pork). It was NT20 each which is about US$0.60. It was very good. We then headed up the hill to a park that overlooked Keelung. It was an interesting view but nothing sensational. We didn't stay too long before deciding to try to go to the limestone cape in Yeliu. We had no idea how to get to Yeliu. We assumed by bus but all the bus schedules were in Chinese. After spending some time trying to figure it out we eventually just got on a bus that had a destination in English written on it that seemed close to Yeliu. The driver didn't speak English either so we looked at a map posted in the bus. That map was also not English so we tried to match it up with ours which was in a language we could read. We didn't make any progress as the map posted didn't have enough features for us to identify where we were going. Fortunately there was a woman on the bus who spoke English and recognized our problem. She told us that we got on the right bus and then told the driver to alert us when we got to the Yeliu stop. The bus traveled through the country side and stopped at all kinds on little towns. I wondered what it would be like if buses ran regularly through the country side in Ohio. It was about an hour before the bus driver started shouting to use in Mandarin that this was where we wanted to get off. 
Yeliu is a small harbor village. It only had a couple of streets but they were long and followed the shore line. It took us a little time to figure out how to get to the limestone cape. It's official name is the Yeliu Geological National Park. There was a long building that was a market we walked through. It turned out that was a mistake. It was a lot longer then it looked, poorly ventilated, smelled like fish, and at the end was the exit to the park. So we walked back around the building and found then entrance and paid the small fee it get in. Inside there were a ton of people walking around the strange limestone formation. The limestone formations are rather hard to explain. They seemed like giant mushrooms. 
I wondered around a bit looking for places there were not a lot of people and just generally relaxing by the ocean side. We stayed until dark at which point we walked back to the bus stop to figure out if there was a way to go straight from where we were to Taipei. The few signs were in Chinese so that didn't help. I managed to find an Indian man how spoke English and he seemed pretty confident that where he was standing was where the bus to Taipei stops. It wasn't long before a bus came but it was too full for Chase, Pierre and I to all go. We waited about 10 minutes before two buses came at once for Taipei which we had no problem getting on. It rained the whole way back to Taipei and took well over an hour. The bus stop we got off at was right by our hostel and we ate a quick dinner at Burger King since it was so late and then went to bed for the night.
(second half)
We wondered around for a bit. We went through a very crowed street market that sold mostly food. A scoop of snails or a tentacle on a stick were common items sold. We then went to lunch at a very small local restaurant. None of them spoke English and there was no menu so it took some creative communication methods to order. After trying to talk to each other in our native languages we ended up going to another patrons table and pointing at what we wanted. We each got a bowl of rice with minced meat (I'm fairly certain it was pork). It was NT20 each which is about US$0.60. It was very good. We then headed up the hill to a park that overlooked Keelung. It was an interesting view but nothing sensational. We didn't stay too long before deciding to try to go to the limestone cape in Yeliu. We had no idea how to get to Yeliu. We assumed by bus but all the bus schedules were in Chinese. After spending some time trying to figure it out we eventually just got on a bus that had a destination in English written on it that seemed close to Yeliu. The driver didn't speak English either so we looked at a map posted in the bus. That map was also not English so we tried to match it up with ours which was in a language we could read. We didn't make any progress as the map posted didn't have enough features for us to identify where we were going. Fortunately there was a woman on the bus who spoke English and recognized our problem. She told us that we got on the right bus and then told the driver to alert us when we got to the Yeliu stop. The bus traveled through the country side and stopped at all kinds on little towns. I wondered what it would be like if buses ran regularly through the country side in Ohio. It was about an hour before the bus driver started shouting to use in Mandarin that this was where we wanted to get off. 
Yeliu is a small harbor village. It only had a couple of streets but they were long and followed the shore line. It took us a little time to figure out how to get to the limestone cape. It's official name is the Yeliu Geological National Park. There was a long building that was a market we walked through. It turned out that was a mistake. It was a lot longer then it looked, poorly ventilated, smelled like fish, and at the end was the exit to the park. So we walked back around the building and found then entrance and paid the small fee it get in. Inside there were a ton of people walking around the strange limestone formation. The limestone formations are rather hard to explain. They seemed like giant mushrooms. 
I wondered around a bit looking for places there were not a lot of people and just generally relaxing by the ocean side. We stayed until dark at which point we walked back to the bus stop to figure out if there was a way to go straight from where we were to Taipei. The few signs were in Chinese so that didn't help. I managed to find an Indian man how spoke English and he seemed pretty confident that where he was standing was where the bus to Taipei stops. It wasn't long before a bus came but it was too full for Chase, Pierre and I to all go. We waited about 10 minutes before two buses came at once for Taipei which we had no problem getting on. It rained the whole way back to Taipei and took well over an hour. The bus stop we got off at was right by our hostel and we ate a quick dinner at Burger King since it was so late and then went to bed for the night.Album:
(second half)
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