Riding up to Jiuzhaigou

The tale of my Sichuan travels is written as a continuous story and starts on the entry "In Chengdu" on Nov. 5th, 2008. For context and continuity, feel free to start back at that point and read on forward first if you have not already done so.

Alright, so I admit the last post ended in a rather weak cliffhanger, as nobody (including the people in the story) actually cared that much whether or not we were going to catch the bus. Moving on...

"It'll be no problem," said the taxi driver. "We should be at the bus station in 10 minutes." And so we arrived at there at 7:50am, well in time before the 8am departure. We took the back two rows of the bus, which was almost full. In fact, by the time the last passengers, three girls from Shenzhen, got on the bus, they had no choice but to sit next to us.

Larry whispered to Baba, "Are you ready to sing with me?"
"Sure. What songs do you know?"
"More songs than you!"
"Perhaps... but mayby only 3 more songs than me!"
"Ha! Anyhow, let me ask the driver if it's okay."

And so Larry checked up front for permission from the driver. He came back to his seat gleefully with a thumbs up. Turning to one of the Shenzhen girls sitting next to him, he remarked, "Prepare your hearts. In a little bit, you're going to hear us make some very... strange noises in the back."

Already slightly uncomfortable due to having to split apart and sit in different seats, the girls looked even more so as Larry heightened their anxiety, but anxiety gave way to curiosity and amusement as their interest was piqued.

And so we were off. Given I failed to sleep an appropriate number of hours the night before, I tried dozing off against the side of the window, but I had picked the wrong side of the bus to sit on, and the merciless morning sun constantly disturbed my nap. Meanwhile, the "strange sounds" started coming out of the back seat, as Larry and Baba started singing away their mountaineering songs:

銀色的渡木舟﹐
飄蕩在綠波上﹐
對岸是我家鄉﹐
美麗安詳﹐
山上麋鹿成群﹐
路旁百花齊放。
硼地地來的﹐硼地地來的﹐硼地地來的﹐硼嘿﹗

My silver wooden boat,
Bobbing above green waves,
'Cross the shore's my hometown,
Nice and serene,
On the hills are some deer,
By the road flowers bloom.
Bong didi laidi, Bong didi laidi, Bong didi laidi, bong - hey!

Unable to sleep, I couldn't help but join in myself, even though I didn't know the words then. The Shenzhen girl next to me looked at me in surprise as she realized I was with "them." Then when we finished, the entire bus burst into spontaneous applause. Larry and Baba continued singing song after song, receiving applause and buoying the spirits of the entire bus, although there were a couple people moved from the back up to the front. Even the Shenzhen girls too were impressed too; they had postulated what we meant by "strange noises" was snoring!

We came upon a rest stop an hour or so later. The driver announced we'll be taking a 20 minute break, and we were all surprised. However, 2 minutes in, he was hurrying everyone back onto the bus. Maybe I misunderstood his Sichuan accent, but then so did Larry and a lot of other Sichuanese. After most of us got on, Larry stepped to the front and call out:

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please. I'm so happy to be here with all of you on this journey, and share our songs and voices with you. Do you like our singing?"
The bus people responded with waves of affirmative murmurs.
"Then in that case, I will be taking donations!" Taking off his hat and turned it upside down to collect money, he continued, "However, there is a minimum imposed! I don't want your small change! If you give, you give willingly and generously!" Though he walked back to his seat no richer, we were all the richer for the experience.

A few hours into the journey, we stopped to take pictures at a scenic point in Aba County (啊坝):







As we finished taking pictures of ourselves and scenery, a hoard of people rushed up Larry, treating him as a celebrity:

"Can I take a picture of/with you?", they begged.
"You want my picture? Where's the money?" Larry joked. They snapped pictures of him:



Off the bus, we also mingled with another fellow bus traveler, a Japanese guy by the name of Keiji. He was traveling all over the world by himself, and had been doing so for 2 years; about a month already in China, even though he cannot speak Chinese, and his English is rudimentary at best. Having already been to Latin America, South America, Africa, and Europe, and after China is looking to go to India, Nepal, and Central Asia, I marvelled at how this dude in his thirties actually manages to do this and still has his engineering career:



Later, at another stop, we stopped for lunch, inviting Keiji to come eat with us, as all the dishes were served family style. We then bought some local fruit - bananas, oranges, and a kind of date called zaozi (棗子), which we traded and shared with the Shenzhen girls for other fruits and crackers. In talking with them, we found out the three girls, Miss Dou, Miss Li, and Miss Wei, all worked together at Foxconn (aka Hon Hai), the Taiwanese company that happens to be the largest contract manufacturer of electronics in the world.

Meanwhile, as we got up higher into the mountainous roads, the bus was passing through some of the earthquake impacted areas. My first glimpse of the effects were these blue refugee temporary residences built in the last few months:



In other areas, they were blue tents:



Although the earthquake had happened almost 6 months earlier, it's destruction was still very much evident:



In fact, due to the earthquake, the bus journey is more longer and more strenuous than usual. Up in the mountains, it was a slow and bumpy ride, especially in the back of the bus. More than once, the bumps left us sitting in the back floating in mid-air for a split second. By now it was almost impossible to sleep well, and though many tried, their heads flopped about like ragged dolls.

More than 11 hours later, we arrived into Jiuzhaigou (九寨溝). As the bus was pulling in, the girls asked us where we were staying.

"We're not sure. We were going to go there and figure it out."
"In that case, we recommend the youth hostel - it's only 80 RMB for a 3-person room! Also, what are you doing tomorrow? We're planning to stay in the park with the Tibetans."
"Oh really? We had heard about that... but heard it's also not really legal. Plus, we didn't really know where to ask. How did you find out about it?"
"Online. We booked one night for 45 RMB per person per night, with dinner and breakfast included... why don't you follow us and we'll show you where we're staying."

And so we (including Keiji, who we brought along - apparently he also had no plan) followed the girls to Tian Tang (天堂) Youth Hostel, where indeed there were 3-person rooms for 80 RMB, and beds in a 6-person dorm room for 25 RMB per person. We booked 4 beds in the 6-person room, where Mr. Guo (郭先生), an English teacher from Beijing was staying as well. Although Larry had been here about 5 times already, and I had visited previously in the Spring 2004, we had never come this late in the year. And so we asked Mr. Guo how was Jiuzhaigou at this time of the year.

"The scenery is absolutely amazing. I've been here for three days already, and I'm still not tired of walking around here!"
"How much have you walked?"
"I've gone over 40km (25 miles!) each day for the past three days, so over 120km in the past three. I never knew I could walk so much!"
"Do you have to walk that much to see everything?" Baba inquired.
"Nah, there's a bus service that can take you around. But you don't need to use it if you want to walk all the trails yourself."

After dinner, the girls headed back to their room and we headed to ours, where Larry and I taught Mr. Guo how to play Three Kingdoms (三國棋). While playing, Larry provided insight into his strategic thinking, reading your opponents, and using reverse psychology. Though he won the majority of the games, his strategic deduction leading to the wins was at times wrong, which leads me to conclude he's actually just quite lucky.

The evening was drawing to a close, as it was getting rather cold. And so we retired early, hoping to get a good start to our journey tomorrow.

Half Day in Chengdu

The tale of my Sichuan travels is written as a continuous story and starts on the entry "In Chengdu" on Nov. 5th, 2008. For context and continuity, feel free to start back at that point and read on forward first if you have not already done so.

However, first we had half a day still in Chengdu:



Off the bus, we went across the bridge to the bus station, where we bought ourselves three 8am bus tickets to Jiuzhaigou. Looking at the map,



we sketched our route out roughly - basically, we planned to ride up to Jiuzhaigou (way up North), and then meander our way down slowly by whatever means we felt like - bus, taxi, "bread van", horse, foot, hitchhiking, etc.

Our Master Plan now set, we Three Musketeers took a bus back and walked home, where we were greeted by this cute but over-hyper little miscreant:



After dropping off our stuff, we decided to head over to Jin Li Street(锦里古街), a part of Old Chengdu behind Wuhou Ci (武候祠), dedicated to Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮) of the Three Kingdoms, one of the most storied periods of Chinese history.







Many of the names of restaurants on the street have to do with stories from the Three Kingdoms Era, such as these:




A bunch of tasty snacks could be found inside. Here is one that sold a bunch of chuanr (meats on a stick):

Other tasty snacks:



There were also games you can play, such as this one with crossbows, which is fitting as the Shu-Han Kingdom, based in the Sichuan area during the Three Kingdoms period, was known for their crossbow archery:



After walking around Jin Li Street and eating dinner, we went back home and battled Larry in a couple tenacious rounds of army chess. It was already late when we finished and decided to retire for the night.

"Let's forget swimming," Baba said.
"That's fine, you guys can sleep in, but I'm still going to do my daily swim," Larry replied.
"Works for us."

I slept well, but not long, as their small dog woke me up by yelping all morning. Soon enough, he burrowed into my room somehow and charged on forward. Afraid of another attack (perhaps he was planning to hump my face), I got up quickly but grumpily and started packing for the trip. Larry and Baba were already up, though not early enough for swimming. They were also busy packing away.

We had planned to be out for 3-4 days, so we shouldn't be needing too much, but nevertheless I decided to bring my pack just in case. After taking out half the items (unnecessary things for Sichuan, just items to bring back to Shanghai/US), it was already 7:20 - I was running a bit late. Larry hollered to finish up. I hastily did so, and ran to the restroom for a quick 2 minute shower. Larry and Baba were just out the door when I finished, and I quickily followed. It was 7:35.

The local buses will not make it to the bus station on time, so we tried to flag down a taxi. None were in sight yet, but we had yet to reach the intersection. Larry was growing concerned. We sped up our step slightly. When we were about 100 meters from the intersection, a taxi flew by. Larry bellowed at him from afar, but the taxi seemed to continue on... but then slowed... the driver was looking around... unsure still of his senses, until he spotted us running towards him. We got in quickly. "To the long-distance bus station!" Larry cried. The driver complied. "Will we make it?" Baba asked. It was close to 7:40...

Father Chiang Tells His Tale

The tale of my Sichuan travels is written as a continuous story and starts on the entry "In Chengdu" on Nov. 5th, 2008. For context and continuity, feel free to start back at that point and read on forward first if you have not already done so.

We picked up my father (who I call Baba) a few minutes later, hopped on a 10 RMB bus back to the city, and it was just like old times.







"So how did you end up making it in today? I thought you said you might have to take a flight tomorrow," I asked in Chinese.
"Things ended up working out," Baba responded, also in Chinese. By the way, how much did you ride from Gulangyu to the airport for?"
"You mean the dock across from Gulanyu, right?"
"Yes, obviously - Gulangyu is an island."
"100 RMB... but that was a special price."
"Ha! I paid 1 RMB... I could ride to or from the airport 100 times for your price!"
"Like I said, I paid a special price... anyways, what happened on your trip?"
"It was somewhat eventful... and even people trying to set up traps along the way..."
"Like at Shaoxing??" Larry joked.
"Haha, like at Shaoxing, but we evaded all those traps, just like I did at Xiamen."
"Well what happened?" I inquired again.
"So I took a plane from Taipei to Jinmen, and then arrived in Xiamen via boat around 3:30pm."
"Just as planned, right?" I asked.
"Yes. But once I got to Xiamen, I was greeted with hoards of travel agents all looking for business. One of them offered me a day trip for 80 RMB. I told them I don't have a full day anymore, but then they argued I could do the afternoon part first and the morning part the next day."
"But the tour group has already left," Larry interrupted.
"Yes, so they said that I can get a personal guide and a private car for 200 RMB.
"200 RMB??"
"Yes, that was my reaction too - so they agreed to drop to 120 RMB."
"Okay..."
"I agreed and so they sent me to Gulangyu where I had booked the hotel. Once there, a guide met us, a Ms. Zhang (张大姐). She introduced her business with, 'So on Gulangyu Island we have three tours, Program A, B, and C. Program A is 200 RMB, and shows you all the different sightseeing spots. Program B has everything except X, Y, and Z, and is priced at 150, while C is just 90 but only has A, B, and C. Which one do you want?'
'Well, I had already paid 120 RMB just to get here. I don't understand why the tours were not included. I have no intention of paying anything more!'
Ms. Zhang replied, 'Well the tours cover the cost of the entrance fees, which are outside the cost of the tour guide and transportation.'
So I told her, 'I would rather walk around the island for free and not pay any entrance fees at all!'
'But you can't do that! Come on, we won't have any money to buy food to eat...'
'What do you mean, I'm already paying 120...'
'We don't get paid by the travel agency. We are independent tour guides that get a cut from the entrance fees. If you don't go see the exhibits, we'll starve!'
'But why is that any of my business...?'
'Come on... have a heart... I know what we can do! Why don't we come up with a new program just for you. We'll show you around Xiamen University and Nanputou Temple, and tomorrow we'll see Gulangyu. All for 100 RMB.'
So I agreed and paid out another 100 RMB. Ms. Zhang took the money and ran, leaving me with a newly minted tour guide girl, fresh out of college, a Miss Zhuang (庄小姐)."
"Ah, so that's where the trap is laid!" exclaimed Larry.
"Haha, yes. Anyways, we went to Xiamen University first. While touring around I asked her how big Xiamen University was. She said there were 300,000 students! I didn't believe her for a second. The biggest university I know of doesn't have half that many!"
"Doesn't Ohio State have 100,000?" I checked.
"Maybe, and that's the biggest university I know of. Anyways, she went on to explain there were 2 campuses, with 150,000 each. Yeah right! 隨便說說﹐隨便聽聽."
"Uh huh."
"She also said that the campus is bigger than Gulangyu, which I doubted, but wasn't going to bother challenging her on that one. Anyhow, after going there and Nanputou Temple, we went back to Gulangyu where I dropped off my things and we went to dinner. I asked her where to go, and she recommended a very expensive seafood restaurant on the island."
"You treated her?" Larry asked.
"Of course."
"So she took advantage of you using her position as your tour guide!"
"Yeah but what can you do... anyhow, after dinner I went back to the hostel and tried to buy a ticket for tomorrow. Unfortunately, it wouldn't take my credit card."
"It doesn't take international credit cards for flights within 24 hours of purchase," I pointed out.
"Actually it must be something else, as I'll explain later. Anyways, after that, I called up Miss Zhuang and she said there's a place across the street from the travel agency that sells airplane tickets. So she drove back over and picked me up, but when we got there, we found the place was closed."
"Bad luck. You guys probably should've tried before going to dinner and touring around."
"Well I just didn't know any better before I tried going online. Anyhow, from there, I walked around Zhongshan Rd, the main pedestrian road in Xiamen. It was busy with lots of people, but the strange thing was that there was no activity. No one was buying anything; people were just walking around, resting, looking around. It's not like Ximending in Taipei. They just don't have enough street vendors with cheap but tasty foods to grab people's attention. So after Zhongshan Rd, I took the boat back to Xiamen, called you up, and when you explained how international credit cards can't be used for flights within 24 hours, I tried to book for the next day instead. However, that didn't work either, and I checked on a couple different sites."
"Really?"
"Yeah, so I called up Miss Zhuang late at night..."
"Is this the start of an affair?" jabbed Larry.
"No, I just told her that instead of touring Gulangyu tomorrow morning, we're going to go to the ticket office across the street from the travel agency.
"So you ended up not being able to see Gulangyu at all?"
"Well I ended up walking around the island by myself at night, though of course I didn't go to any of the exhibits with entrance fees."
"So you missed out the on the piano museums and everything?"
"Yeah it is nicknamed 'Piano Island'," Larry pointed out.
"Right, so anyhow, around 8am the next day, we went to the office. Prices have gone up from what they were online, but I had no choice, and ended up buying a ticket for the 11:45am flight. I finished at about 8:30am, and had plenty of time, but was really confused on how much time it takes to get to the airport. The front desk at the hostel had said it only takes 20 minutes, while the travel agency mentioned 20-45 minutes. But then I asked the bus driver, and he said anywhere from 1-2 hours! Finally I asked the airline booking office, and they said it takes at least an hour, but perhaps 90 minutes if the traffic is bad."
"It only takes 20 minutes - at least that's what it took me when I took it via taxi," I said.
"Well by bus it ended up taking a whole hour, though of course I only paid 1 RMB while you paid 100."
"Indeed..."
"Anyhow, I left my luggage at Gulangyu since I had not planned to go straight to the airport, and was hoping to tour Gulangyu at least a little, but there just wasn't time. So I went back to the island to get my luggage, and bought two tickets, one for myself and one for Miss Zhuang. However, pocketing the ticket, Miss Zhuang said she wasn't going back to Gulangyu right away, as she has another tour group to direct.
"She sure knows how to take advantage!" Larry exclaimed.
"Yeah, and not just her too. Actually, after I bought my plane ticket, I went to the travel agency and asked if I could get a refund or partial refund of my 100 RMB, since I didn't tour Gulangyu. The travel agency said no. It seems I got cheated out of 220 RMB.
"Even though I paid 100 RMB for the airport ride, at least I didn't throw money away on the Gulangyu tour!" I noted.
"So after I got my luggage, I got on the 1 RMB bus which surprisingly took a whole hour, thereby getting to the airport at 10am. With nothing to do, I waited around until 11:45am, and then came into Chengdu a couple hours later."
"I see."
"So what are we going to do now?"
"I think we're planning to go to Jiuzhaigou tomorrow, so we're going to go buy some bus tickets to ride up there in the morning," Larry said.
"How long does it take?"
"It's hard to say with the earthquake and everything, but it used to be if you left around 8am, you cold get there by 3-4pm. However, it could be longer now due to all the restoration work that needs to be done on the roads."
"Wow, that's a long ride! What's after Jiuzhaigou?"
"We'll slowly visit the other places of interest on the way, maybe hitchhiking or negotiating a price with a driver or something."
"Sounds like a plan."

And so, with that rough outline of a plan in mind, we were off on our glorious journey.

In Chengdu

Yesterday afternoon, I hopped on a plane (only 260 RMB ticket + 200 RMB tax & fuel surcharge!) from Guangzhou to Chengdu, and arrived in the early evening. It was a bit cooler in Chengdu compared to Guangzhou (about 23 degrees Celsius), but still comfortable enough for me in shorts and a t-shirt despite the fact everyone else was already in long sleeves. My old friend Larry Wang had told me to take Bus 303 and get off at the First Ring Rd. (一環路) bus stop. I did that, but due to the size of my pack, I had trouble seeing as I came down the steps, and so I misstepped and literally fell out of the bus, though landed on my feet.

As the bus drove off and I dusted myself off, Larry, in his bicycle helmet, shorts, and bright orange workman's safety vest, surprised me from behind with a loud greeting, "Aye! Jerry!" I turned and greet him heartily. He seemed the same, his endearingly youthful heart was not a shade over 12 years old. Larry brought his bike with him, but said he didn't bring a second bike with him. He asked if I preferred to bike or to take the bus; since I did not know the way and was wearing my pack, I opted to take the bus while he biked. We parted and arrived at our destination at the same time.

As we approached his house, Larry, in typical spontaneous fashion, let out a resonating belly-laugh, "HA, HA, HA, HA!" to announce his arrival. His apartment on the 5th floor, which also has roof access, much like his sister's place which we stayed at in 2004 during CET's Spring Break. It was a cozy place, with a small but energetic fox-like dog, which kept yelping and grabbing at me with its paws, trying to hump my leg. After a plentiful dinner, I tried to get some sleep before our adventure the next day, which starts with swimming at 6am, one of Larry's daily habits.

Truth was, I didn't sleep well, though perhaps that was to be expected after staying up to about 4am the past couple nights. However, I awoke at six anyways in hopes of a Hangzhou-like time readjustment. Larry and I took a couple bikes and we biked 15 minutes to the swimming pool. The morning weather was cool, and it was a pleasure to bike through the city with just about no traffic. We arrived at the pool, and while Larry has a regular pass, I went to the window to buy a one-time pass for 20 RMB. The cute girl at the window handed me the ticket. We went inside, and I quickly realized I had been here once before in 2004.

Larry seems to know everybody at the pool, as there were plenty of regulars. He several people in the changing room, and started singing spontaneously as it was his style. I couldn't help but be warmed by his cheery song, and despite the cold shower, we went to the pool in high spirits. After 5 minutes of Larry's standard calisthenics, which he learned during high school in Taipei, we started into lap swimming.

The problem with public pools in China is 1) it's way overcrowded, and 2) people swim too slow in general (or rather there seems to be no delineation between fast lanes and slow lanes). Half the time is spent figuring out how to pass the people in front of you, and occasionally there are traffic jams within a lane as multiple people in both directions are trying to pass others. Luckily, the pool is 50 meters long, otherwise the crowding per lane would be ridiculous. I spent a good amount of time trying to find a good stretch of open space in front of me so I can practice my glide (pushing off and seeing how far you can go in one breath - 50 meters gives me an opportunity to see how much further I can go past the halfway point), but I found since I spent all my energies trying to get in front of people, almost every time I was ready to glide, I was still short of breath. It was not until closer to 8am, when the pool closed, that I was able to have more room.

We went back to the locker room and changed. There was probably over a hundred people, but Larry still sang like he was alone in the shower. Soon, others started whistling along. Larry let out another hearty belly laugh. "Do you know how to laugh?" he asked me. I chuckled at his question for a little bit before suddenly turning to him with a serious face and replied, "No, I don't." We laughed together in unison.

We biked back home and rested a bit. On the way, we stopped at a fruit market to buy some fruit. Larry picked out about 30 RMB worth of fruit, but he didn't bring any money with him, so I ended up paying. "I'll pay you back when we get home," he claims. "It's okay, I'll just eat 30 RMB of fruit," I joked.

My father, who is flying in from Xiamen to join us, is scheduled to arrive at the Chengdu Airport around 2:20pm. Around 12:30pm, we headed there by bus, and got there with plenty of time to spare, so we decided to visit the airport fruit stand:



There were a number of interesting Sichuan fruits, including this "many-fingered fruit":

Apparently later I found out it was only decorative, and not for consumption. There was also this fruit that looked like a yam, though it tasted nothing like it:

There were also a couple poorly dressed beggars at the airport, including this one wearing a rather unfashionable plaid shirt:

And this one, a rather retarded looking fellow who was once spotted in Suzhou:


They really have no shame. Their trashy clothing and propensity to dig around in public trash cans have ruined an otherwise pleasant experience at a classy airport.

Back to China: Macau, ZH, & GZ

After overstaying in Taiwan by a few days (according to my rough itinerary, at least), I decided to go back to China via Macau and Zhuhai, as I did not have a chance to visit the last time I was in the South. I took EVA Air to Macau, saving myself approximately $400 USD by buying with mileage, and also got to enjoy my EVA Air Gold Card for the first time since I earned it almost two years ago. It expires in at the end of the year, and since I most likely won't have the chance to fly EVA before then, I did my best to enjoy it. So I coaxed the airline into giving me a free upgrade to business class, and then relaxed in the the Evergreen Lounge.

Once I was comfortably seated in my aisle seat on the plane however, an old lady came by to claim the middle seat next to me. Then she turned to me, and asked, in English, "Young man, can I switch seats with you?"
I was in the aisle seat. Caught by surprise, I hesitated, then sputtered, "Uh, well... no!"
She was displeased and turned away from me. By then, I had recovered, and was having second thoughts about refusing so quickly and decivisely. But before I could respond again, she turned back to me and asked, "Where are you from?"
"I'm from the US," I responded in Mandarin.
"Oh, I am too!" She said, in Mandarin as well. "I have a passport! Let me show you!"
"Uh okay, but I believe you. Anyhow, I'll let you switch seats with me if you still want."
"That right! Yeah! You know, you did the right thing. You know why? Because I'm older than you! Yeah, you should always give up your seat to the elderly," she lectured.
"Uh huh, nice for you to say," I thought to myself.
She continued on, "Actually, the reason I want the aisle seat is because I need to go to the bathroom often, and it's just more convenient. So it's good for you that you're in the middle seat now! Now I won't be in your way!"
"Thanks..."
"And See!" She pulled out her passport. "I'm an US Citizen, just like you!" She flashed a wide smile.
"That's great, but it has nothing to do with why I decided to switch seats with you," I responded.
"I know that! I just wanted you to know, so you know how similar we are."

Indeed. A few minutes later, a guy came by and kicked her out of the row. Apparently she had the wrong row number altogether. I went back to my aisle seat, but did feel slightly bad that the quirky old lady had to sit back in the middle seat, especially if she has to run to the lavatory all the time. So I ended up getting an aisle seat for her anyways by switching my seat with the guy who had the aisle seat in her row, and then switching my aisle seat with her middle seat. To me, it really didn't matter that much since the flight was short and the seats in business class were large, so one couldn't feel squished even in the middle seats.

Anyhow, once in Macau, I arrived with no itinerary, and no map. In fact, I realized that I also arrived with no ATM or credit cards, which I had left in Taiwan! Distraught, I searched through my bag and tried to find locate what resources I had. Luckily, I found some emergency cash in USD, and exchanged them for some Macanese Pataca. However, I had no working phone in Macau, and I needed to call home to have a chance at getting access to capital other than the couple hundred USD and 600 RMB I had on hand. Fortunately, I found free wireless at the airport and called home to Taiwan via Skype, to arrange for transport of those cards.

The next issue is I had no idea where I was going, but it didn't matter; Macau was small, and I had about a day to wander around. So I decided to hop on a random bus at the airport, which gave me a quick overview of the city. After riding leisurely for about half an hour, I got off at the final stop took me to to an underground bus terminal. Coming back above ground, I was greeted by this massive building:



I ended up at the Zhuhai / Macau border building, which was a good place find since that's where I need to be to get out of Macau in the evening.

I bought a map, and then oriented myself properly. Most of Macau was to the South of where I was, and I could stroll thru Macau Peninsula in a day. It was nice to be free of the shackles of planning, once again going somewhere without any schedule, any itinerary, or any idea where you are.

Wandering around Macau was not easy, however, especially with my big pack, which included not just what I needed for my trip out to Western China, but also whatever I wanted to bring back to Shanghai and the US, since I was not going to get a chance to go back to Taipei until next year. So I dropped off my pack at a hotel (which I negotiated that for 10 patacas, about 1 USD), and then headed out to see Macau. Wandering along random streets, I came to a wide open square with several colonial buildings:



I have no idea what it's for (part of the problem is that the signs tend to be in Portugese instead of English, so if I can't read the Chinese, it's difficult for comprehension), but it was much more impressive of a find when you wander into it, rather than treat it as a tourist destination to visit.

Next, I managed to wander into a garden open to the public, free of charge:





Beautiful. I continued heading South, now perhaps a bit Southwest. There was some ruins there, which turned out to be the Ruins of St. Paul, a burned down cathedral of some sort:



Next to the ruins, was a fort. The stairs up to the fort were interesting:



It appears the ramps were designed so that cannons can be wheeled up to the top of the fort. I found cannons on the top level, a couple aimed at the Grand Lisboa, a hotel/casino with striking architectural features:



After coming down the fort, I wandered towards the casinos, to what looked like downtown Macau... or rather, somewhere in the middle of Europe!





Except for all the Chinese, I might have thought I somehow wandered onto the wrong continent. After passing by the "downtown" area, I spotted the Clube Militar, which I had heard once was a club for Portugese officers, but now a classy restaurant.



Unfortunately, I had no time to dine, and moved onwards. Next, I decided to take a look at the casinos, figuring I might as well, since I was in Macau. Entering the Grand Lisboa, I discovered it was decorated in grandiose fashion, as one can imagine, due to all the money it must win from its patrons.





I took a look inside, but every game I saw just looked way too easy to lose money on, so I didn't even try.

And so I headed back to the hotel and grabbed my pack, and then walked back up to the checkpoint building to Zhuhai.



Crossing immigration, I arrived at Gongbei Station (拱北口岸) and bought a bus ticket to Guangzhou. Buses came every half hour or so up until 11pm, so I decided to wander around Zhuhai a bit.



Zhuhai seemed like a nice to chill in, and I had heard there was an area called Lover's Road (情侣路) which was good to stroll around at night. The street had a pedestrian sidewalk right by the ocean, with views of the lights from the skyscrapers in Zhuhai and Macau:





There were in fact many couples sitting by the waters, and of course many people selling Polaroid photos. Though I had a camera, picture-taking at night was difficult, and I decided to let them give it a try for 5 RMB:



Results are so-so. And so then I walked back to Gongbei Station, and took a 2 hour bus ride to Guangzhou to rest for the night, before taking off for Chengdu in the afternoon.

Taiwan News

In some ways, Taiwan news and politics is so much more interesting and colorful than what might be found in the US (and this isn't even a reference to some of the infamous brawls that the Taiwanese legislature is known for). For example, one of the most important recent news involves a visit by China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), who was invited by his counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤). ARATS and SEF are the primary two groups designated to negotiate cross-strait relations while the official stance of unrecognition is upheld. Indeed, this is a landmark event in cross strait relations, as it will be the first time China's top negotiator will visit the island. Chairman Chen is scheduled to arrive at Taipei's Yuanshan Grand Hotel today (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/11/03/2003427630).

Given the official stance of the China and Taiwan with respect to each other, one question the news broadcast brought up is how will the leaders call each other when they meet. Obviously titles are an issue since they imply recognition of some sort. One news reporter joked they should call each other by English titles since it doesn't mean anything official in Chinese.

Needless to say, Taiwan's Pan-Green Coalition, who lean towards the goal of getting official recognition of an independent Taiwan, isn't very happy about the developments and have been protesting in various ways. As a result, Kuomingtang, the party that supports this meeting, have tried their best to ensure the meeting does not get derailed by Pan-Green protests, and have bought road rights up to Yuanshan Grand Hotel, to prevent protests along that route. However, they seemed to have forgotten to buy road rights for the road down from Yuanshan Grand Hotel (Yuanshan Grand Hotel sits on a hill, and apparently going up and down are different roads). As a result, Pan-Green supporters have lined themselves up along the way, and the coalition even claims to give a monetary award to anyone who is able to hit Chairman Chen in the face with an egg...

Civil disobedience is so much more interesting than just using brute force to get what you want, as people constantly have to figure out ways to play the system to get their message heard, to get meetings to happen, or to stand on higher moral ground.

Friendly People

Even though I'm perhaps biased by my own heritage, I have to say that the Taiwanese in general are some of the nicest people around. Take yesterday for example:

I spent half a day visiting my friends at Nan Shan Life Insurance (南山人壽). They not only invited me out to lunch, but with their usual warmth, had me stay for Friday afternoon tea. After that, they bid me to stay for their meeting followed by their monthly birthday celebration (mine is in November as well). Some pictures:

First, an instructive cake-cutting tutorial:

Trainees manage to cut the cake with great success:



Group picture of my hungry friends and I:



It's not common that one gets to befriend a whole department at a particular company, but somehow I had that privilege today, getting to observe a random meeting and sharing in their activities. I must say that too rarely have I seen such a happy, harmonious group of people working together in the corporate world. The meeting was genuinely fun and interactive; in some ways it seemed like a big family get together than actual work.

Afterwards, I visited my uncle, a dentist in Taipei. I decided to stay for a bit and chatted with some of my other relatives while my uncle worked on patients. What struck me was once again the friendly neighborhood atmosphere. Neighbors would drop in to say hello, and friends of the family hung out at the office. My aunt went to buy some of Taipei's famous peppered meat buns (胡椒餅), and when patients were done, my uncle would offer them each meat buns to go. When was the last time you were offered food at the dentist's office?

My aunt then took me out to dinner, and along the way, we saw a couple lost Canadians looking at a map. I had glanced in their direction and walked on, but my aunt stopped and noted that they looked lost. Even though she did not know much English, she approached them anyways, and we ended up walking them to the restaurant they were looking for. They thanked us, and mentioned that Taiwan is one of the friendliest places they've ever been to.

So to my friends and family in Taiwan, I just want to thank you all on behalf of all visitors to the island. It's really a great place with wonderful people, and it's a shame it doesn't get as many tourists as some of the other places in Asia. However, for anyone who wants to visit a beautiful island with great food, convenient transportation, and hospitable people, all at relatively inexpensive costs, Taiwan, as always, is highly recommended.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Taipei!



(Photo courtesy of a friend of a friend of a friend who works at AA)