==========================

1) The 3rd typhoon would have arrived while I was staying at my Auntie’s house. According to Auntie, the 3rd typhoon flooded the entire first floor. With the first floor flooded, I would not be allowed downstairs to use the shower or watch TV. The flood waters contains backed up sewer water and God knows what else, so my Auntie would never risk it. After all, I had no health insurance in Taiwan.

2) I would have missed the Computer Expo by a week.

3) I would have missed the opportunity to visit the Presidential Palace by a week.

4) I would have experienced a 4th typhoon. This 4th typhoon would have arrived during my stay with my cousins in Taoyuan. Which means it would be too rainy for me to go out shopping and sight-seeing.

5) Typhoon Sepat (category 4) would have arrived during my flight back to the US. Typhoon Sepat touched land on August 18, 2007. My flight would be cancelled due to a category 4 hurricane.

6) With my flight cancelled, my visa would have expired. An American passport is automatically allowed a 30 day stay without an official visa. If my flight is cancelled, I would be staying in Taiwan for 31 to 32 days. Immigration would be very complicated. If I get lucky, they might overlook those couple of extra days. If not, I would have to pay $100US to get an official visitor visa.

7) If I actually make it back to LAX International Airport, the freeway William takes to pick me up would be shut-down. The 105 Freeway is closed for a movie shooting beginning August 18, 2007. The movie shoot is suppose to go on for several days. The movie title is unknown, but Will Smith plays the lead role.

It’s amazing how one week would have changed my experience in Taiwan forever. When I was there, I dodged all typhoons, had no problems with traffic or rush hour, and the weather was nice (sunny when I needed to go shopping and rainy when I wasn’t). The sporadic rain really helped cool down the temperature. Plus, the Computer Expo was open and admission was FREE to the public for the first time. Also, the Presidential Palace was suddenly open to the public. To top it all off, my flight was on-time and I arrived back in the USA to a lovely week of high 70’s weather.

What a difference a week made.

=========================================

As for today, August 18, 2007, I was able to enjoy a great day at the Tofu Festival in downtown Los Angeles. I had lots of fun browsing all the booths. I ate the following:

1) Strawberry shaved ice
2) Okonomi Yaki (aka: Japanese Pizza) (it looked like: a tofu veggie omelette)
3) Tofu poke bowl (a tofu with tuna sushi dish)
4) Tofu cheese cake
5) Ice cold Barley Tea drink

Then we ended the day with browsing the shops of Little Tokyo. I also got to play a keyboarding game called “Type or Die” in a Little Tokyo arcade. Life is good.

In the meantime, I just saw an ad for Survivor: China that will air September 20, 2007! This will be the 3rd Survivor that I’ll be watching. The other two survivor shows I’ve seen are: Survivor: Season 1 and Survivor: Cook Island.

Click here to see a video of Survivor: China.

Uncle’s wife set up a facial appointment for me a while back.  So at 10AM today, I arrived at the lady’s home and spent one and half hours getting a full back massage and a facial.

Rudy then came by lunch-time to take me home.  The rained poured during the 5 minute scooter ride back.  I had to quickly change into dry clothing.  Then we decided to go to the mall to eat lunch.  Everyone else was at work or at school.  So it was just Rudy and I taking a taxi to the mall.

There wasn’t much at the mall for me to buy, so Rudy suggested that we headed to the 3 biggest malls in downtown Taoyuan.  We took another taxi and after 30 minutes, I was surrounded by 3 very big and tall malls.

Rudy took me to the most expensive one first, which I didn’t find to be THAT expensive.  I did a lot of damage here at this mall.  They were selling UCLA hand-bags and wallets at 50% discount!  My visa card also worked VERY well here.

Then I saw jewelry vendors.  Rudy told me that these rings were meant for Valentine’s Day, which was coming up in August.  So I asked the lady if all these rings were all meant for Valentine’s Day.  She showed me some pinky rings.  All the rings here fit my fingers perfectly!  I don’t need to spend time and money resizing!

Rudy then decided to tell me that this is the most expensive mall in Taoyuan.  But by then, I already purchased 2 rings.  Oh the glory of the visa card!

Next we visited the other two malls.  They weren’t as much fun as the first one he took me to.  Then we visited a few music stores and purchased a few more cds for me to take back.

It was then nearing 5PM and I told him we needed to head back home so we don’t hit rush hour.  Rudy offered bus or taxi.  I chose taxi because I don’t have time for the bus to make all those stops.

We got home by 5:30PM and I quickly jumped in the shower so I could be prepared for my 11 hour and 40 minute flight back to the USA.  Then everyone came home from work or school.

Uncle’s wife quickly made dinner for us to eat.  By 8:30PM we were trying to figure out how to fit all my luggage into the Camry.  Also Rudy and Wendy both decided to come with me to the airport.  So the Camry had to fit:  2 pieces of check-in luggage, 2 carry-ons, Rudy, Wendy, Uncle’s Wife, and I.  Of course, my Uncle was the driver.  It was a tight fit.  But it all worked out and I was checked in at the airport by 9:30PM.

We said good-bye and I went through a very loose airport security who didn’t even care if my laptop was taken out of my carry-on to be scanned.  Immigration was also a breeze.  I stayed 3 weeks on a US passport with no visa in Taiwan.

I had no idea what time it was because I gave my temperature sensor/clock to Rudy.  He really liked that thing.  I decided to start rolling my way to the terminal.  I stopped by every currency exchange station, but they were all the same.  I swallowed the horrible exchange rate and had all my left-over money converted back into US dollars.  33.14 NT = $1.00US

Then I headed towards my terminal because boarding was at 10:10PM.

My flight was CI 008 (China Airlines, flight #008, at 10:50PM on August 8th). They were on-time for boarding, which is something that I can’t say for China Eastern.

I had a wonderful flight back to the US.  The food was good, the bathrooms were spacious.  The two girls I sat next two were very kind.  I think they’re students studying at a university in the USA.

I also purchased an airplane replica set from the SkyMall.  I tried to play multi-player mahjong, but no one wanted to join the game.  I plugged in my Shure noise-cancellation earphones and listened to music for 5 hours while dosing off.

Then I decided to watch 3 movies instead: 1)  Pathfinder, 2) Perfect Stranger, 3) 300.  But my last movie was cut off because the plane was about to land at LAX.  My plane landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule at LAX!  The one time I wouldn’t have minded if the plane landed late!

Anyhow, I was back in the USA on CI008, on August 8th, at 8PM.  How auspicious is that?!

William and I coordinated my pick-up at the curb at LAX so he wouldn’t have to pay for parking.  Thank goodness for cell-phones!

====== Click here for Pictures =====

]]> http://www.designcove.com/travel/archives/305/feed http://www.designcove.com/travel/archives/304 http://www.designcove.com/travel/archives/304#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:23:37 +0000 Sunyee http://www.designcove.com/travel/archives/304 Uncle = My Mom’s youngest brother
Uncle’s wife = Mom to Rudy, Grace, and Wendy
Rudy = My cousin (Uncle’s son)
Grace =  My cousin (Uncle’s 1st daughter)
Wendy = My cousin (Uncle’s 2nd daughter)
Oliver = Cousin to Rudy, Grace, and Wendy (from their Mom’s side)

Rudy spent the night at cousin Oliver’s place.  So it took him a while to return home this Tuesday morning.  Which means I got to sleep in!  However, no one told me about it, so I woke up at my usual time.

Rudy came home and he immediately jumped in the shower.  This gave me an opportunity to do some blogging and extracting some music cds.  By 11AM, my uncle had us sitting in his Camry heading towards CKS Memorial in Tsu Hu.  (CKS = Chiang Kai Shek)

It was raining the entire way because a typhoon just touched land.  This is the third typhoon that headed towards Taiwan since my stay.  The first two luckily decided to head North towards Japan at the last minute.  But this one decided to make its way to Taiwan.  But most of it hit the southern part of Taiwan (which is where my Auntie lives & where I WAS STAYING).  This third typhoon also touched land one day earlier than predicted, so it will not affect my flight in any way tomorrow.

It was lunch-time so we decided to eat first.  I had a taste of Taiwanese style pot-stickers and dumplings.

Then we arrived at the CKS Memorial and the rain (from the 3rd typhoon) stopped just in time for us to check out the sights.  This CKS Memorial is where Chiang Kai Shek’s coffin lies.  There’s no pictures allowed in the memorial.  However it was a very large black coffin covered with flowers and a big white Christian cross in the front.

Then we headed to where all his statues and busts are now being kept.  They are no longer placed in cities or schools, all statues made of Chiang Kai Shek are placed here.  I had no idea how much the political winds have changed in Taiwan until my visit to this CKS Memorial.

Now it’s time for Ying Ge.  This little town is well-known for its pottery.  Supposedly the earth here makes for great clay.  I saw lots of tourists here.  I also took some time to make a little clay pot of my own.  It took 2 weeks for them to fire up the clay, so I just took mine home and left it in Rudy’s room.

We arrived back home by late afternoon.  My uncle took a nap.  I decided to eat some Taiwanese tamales. Wendy came back from school and she joined me in eating the Taiwanese tamales.  Rudy was on his laptop catching up on his MMORPG games.

I decided to continue watching the soap opera they let me order on cable.  Then the fun began on packing up all my stuff because my flight back to the USA was tomorrow.

===== Click here for Pictures =====

Today we’re heading to Taipei again. This time it’s my Uncle’s wife, Rudy, and I that went to Taipei.

1. Woke up at the usual time to take a taxi to the bus station (it’s Monday, Uncle had to work)
2. Took bus to Taipei (no traffic again, very lucky)
3. Walked to metro subway station (I have gotten really good at understanding the public transit system around Taipei.)
4. Exited at the nearest Computer Expo Convention Hall exit. Saw a sign for FREE shuttle service to the Expo (what luck!)
5. Waited in line at shuttle service. We can see Taipei 101 from where we stood.
6. Shuttle arrived, by the time we got on, it was standing room only. Along the way, one of the bars broke from all the weight being placed on it (oops!)
7. Arrived at Computer Expo (FREE admission!) - the computer expo generally charges an admission each year, but for some reason, this year it was free!
8. Lots of American and Japanese companies showcasing their products. Lots of beautiful girls dressed up to showcase the computer products. I helped Rudy take pictures with the girls. (Hmmm, who does this remind me of back in the USA?)
9. Ate lunch at Taipei 101’s dining area. (The dining area was a HUGE dining area with lots of different eateries to choose from.)
10. Rudy’s cousin from his Mom’s side of the family came to meet us at Taipei 101. His name is Oliver.
11. Oliver took us sightseeing around Taipei 101
12. Had an adventure inside the Gucci store in Taipei 101 (it was so adventurous that I need to borrow Oliver’s cell phone to call Chase Credit Card to clear up the mess)
13. Oliver, Rudy, Rudy’s Mom, and I went back to the Computer Expo (which happened to be right across the street from Taipei 101)
14. Oliver had to leave us to meet another friend at Taipei 101, while Rudy, Rudy’s Mom, and I ventured on to Xi Men Shopping Plaza
15. After we exited the metro subway, I saw a huge shopping area. So this is what Xi Men Shopping Plaza was about! (Xi Men = West Door)
16. By dinner-time, Oliver arrived to meet us to help recommend good eating places
17. Continued our shopping after dinner
18. By 9PM, Oliver and Rudy went back to Oliver’s home, while Rudy’s Mom and I took the subway and then bus back home.
19. Along the way, Rudy decided it was better than he stayed at Oliver’s home for the night and come back the next day. (All public transit ends at 10PM and Rudy did not want to risk being stranded in-between stops)
20. I arrived back at my Uncle’s place at 10:30PM, where Wendy was busy studying.

===== Click here for Pictures =====