Sunny days in Taipei..

have been non-existent. Unless you count random hours of blazing hot heat followed by lightning and downpours that flood up to your ankles. It's officially summertime here as of June 21st...was that the date back in the States as well? I don't even know anymore, the seasons just come and pass and blend...

Since it's my last summer in Taipei, I've been feeling Taiwan in a different light. Showing newbies around is fun-but it gives me a weird bittersweet feeling to watch someone experience everything new again. I don't care to marvel at the base of Taipei 101 anymore and I don't care for night market food and I can't stand the humidity. I want to feel excited about living here still-and there are still lots of fun things to do and stuff to discover but my heart just isn't into it anymore. (*Cheesy note: My heart is in San Francisco!)

I've been throwing a lot of BF's (Bitch Fits) around over random taiwanese customer service disputes. ONE example. I sat down at Sushi Express (Taiwanese chain) and tried to order, and got handed a sign that said in English-"Due to the majority of customer complaints, we no longer take individual orders." It's a conveyer belt sushi place, and they have ALWAYS taken orders...so I refuse to go there anymore. Sometimes I go to a place and order food, but they serve something else instead and insist that I eat it because they are out of what I ordered. Unacceptable. Even IKEA here didn't have a popular drawer in stock and I had to go back 3 times before just getting something else. My boyfriend put it best-they follow a 'computer says no' rule. No creativity to make the situation better for the customer, just apologies..or explanations that don't make sense. Maybe it's just the language barrier, maybe it's cultural, maybe it's just happening a lot in my life lately.

But today I went into a mexican joint called Juanita's, and asked for a steak quesadilla. I had just finished 2 hours of intense Spanish grammar classes, and I was hungry. The guy was about to point out that they didn't have it on their menu before I noticed, until a different guy behind him popped up and offered to make one for me anyway, since they had all the ingredients already. I cannot express how grateful and happy I was for such a simple burst of thoughtful customer service. It totally made my day. However, the guy behind the counter spoke had a Californian accent and I'm pretty sure he was an ABC.
Actually, the last foreign service I used, Steven's Movers (moving service), I was also extremely impressed and satisfied with the whole procedure. Two friendly matching guys arrived exactly on time with a nice moving truck, came up and expertly flipped the couch at an angle and cruised out the door within minutes. About a minute later I got a call from Steven himself to check that the job got done and that it was done well. Steven had a clear foreign accent himself, and I was so thrilled to get a follow-up call. I highly recommend them for moving anything!

The rants and raves above are bias from my point of view, so I hope I didn't offend anyone. The point is, everyone appreciates and deserves good customer service. There are tons of exceptions, like my cool Taiwanese dentist (check up texts to make sure painkillers are doing their job!) and local men fighting to open up the washer at the laundromat this morning when something was stuck in the door.  Eh.

Checking out now! xx

UPDATE 6/16/2013

For the past month, I've been happily busy strolling my busy life around in Taipei. Or should I say, rowing by? After taking 4th place for the Taipei City Dragon Boat Festival last weekend, our season finale put Team Max at 3rd place for the New Taipei City Competition. We lost by .05 seconds to our rival team and that was that. It was hard not to be a bit sad since we had trained SO intensely and had won 1st place at the same race last year!
But the friendships and team spirit that were cultivated became stronger than ever as we partied anyway! A crazy blend of 20-30 something year old expats from all over the world: India, Japan, Hungary, USA, Guatemala, Latvia, Germany, England, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan...I love Team Max and I love everyone on my team. It's weird now, we still hang out almost every day but we're wearing normal clothes (not sweats or lifejackets) and it's not 6:30 am anymore when we see each other. It's amazing how ONE passion can bring so many individuals together despite language, culture, personalities, religion or background. We all love to row, and I am very proud to say that this season we all bled orange. Joining a dragon boat team has been one of the best things I've ever chosen to do.

Semi-Final at New Taipei City (I was drumming this one!)

Day trip together!

Taipei City Speaker Cup

Speaking of seasons, this upcoming September will mark my 3rd year in Taipei. Taiwan is like a time warp-an actual Neverever Land. People come here, fall in love with the people and culture-and time 

flies. I can't explain it-you just have to experience it. So many people come and go, but just as many people buy a scooter, sign cellular data plans, furnish their apartments, and stay. Life here is good, there is no denying it. But for me, I've been here long enough to have friends leave and come back, and I don't really have any updates for them. Call it chronic dissatisfaction. Or wanderlust. So ready for my big news?

**OKAY HERE'S MY BIG NEWS!!!**
I'm leaving Taiwan in September. I'm going to back up all my things again and fly to HONDURAS. Tickets have been purchased-it's official!
I'm going to volunteer teach beautiful little children, and play at the beaches after school, and sleep in a bunk bed with a fan and eat lots of fruit, learn Spanish, and fall in love with a new place. I am going to backpack around Central America and build bathrooms on weekends, and I will be happy. I've always wanted to do this, ever since university days it has been a dream of mine. I graduated with a BA in Public Health, you know! I want to experience a simple and happy life with people that have so few materialistic things but are so full of joy and fun. I want to learn how we can help where there aren't enough resources for people to help themselves.  Honduras is the poorest country in all of Central America. I am so beyond excited for this next adventure. Basically, I am checking out of this modern, crowded city life and going to live in a small countryside village because I want to. I need to. More updates on this later on, time for touch ruby!

Ireland-GALWAY

After a few days, I decided to take a break from the busy city streets and head out into the famously scenic countryside of Ireland. I hopped on a train to Galway, a port town all the way west. It only took 2.5 hours to cross from the east to west coast of Ireland, and cost 35 euro round trip. No pictures I captured did any justice to the beauty of the lands along the way. I am from Portland, but even I thought the scenery was remarkably GREEN.

Galway is really special. As in, super endearing and engrained into my memory forever. It’s an itty-bitty cobblestone town with lots of charming pubs, remarkably stunning views of their port and cathedral, and unbelievably stubborn rainfall. It was raining when I stepped out and it was raining when I got back on the train. But when the sun came out for an hour, the whole town transformed. I went from self-consciously sipping a Guinness at a random pub to skipping along the bridges, surprised at myself for being so happy and content to be on my own in a foreign little Irish town. I found a map and tracked down all the landmarks (which laid within blocks of each other) and was a bit disappointed when ‘Lynch’s Castle’ turned out to be a converted bank. I had salmon & chips for lunch, and it was phenomenal. I picked McDoughs cause it was close to the river, but they must have pulled the salmon straight out of the water cause it was amazing! A day in Galway is more than enough time to do everything there is to do apart from sitting somewhere to soak in the peace and beauty. 

I also made a friend during the ride over, a nice older Irish man. Traveling is sometimes nice with random company! 

 Down the main street-performers!

 Early in the morn' before shops opened

 Beautiful, isn't it? Taken from a nook at the Galway Museum 

 Money shot! You can see the opening out to the ocean past the houses

 Standing on top of a bridge-so pretty it was unreal!

 I made it all the way down to the cathedral, went down the 'solitude walk' or something

 Light a candle, say a prayer. 

 This was a different church, completely empty but peaceful 

 My lunch! OMG I don't ever need to eat anything else. 

Blurry view from the train, my window was a picture frame. 

IRELAND-Dublin Part 1

After a whirlwind weekend in London and Sardinia, I was well looking forward to my ultimate destination.

There is a marvelous land, far away from anywhere I’ve ever been to before, called Ireland. The icy air is harsh but the sun is welcoming, and as warm as the hearts of the locals.

The first morning, Cormac drew me a map on how to get to the city center before he left for work. It turned out to be all I needed for the entire trip!

He worked every day at the office, so I was free to roam the city and do all the touristy things I liked. AND I DID THEM ALL!
Dublin is incredibly accessible by foot. I thought Taipei’s transit system was impressive-in Dublin they don’t even have a need for it. Luckily we were staying close to the city centre with his lovely sister and boyfriend, so everyday I would just walk downtown and explore. There are many bus companies that do a ‘hop on-hop off’ tour, so I paid 18 euros to get on and went everywhere for two days! They stop at all the famous and cool places to drop by for tourists and natives alike: shopping streets, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse, Phoenix Park, along the River Liffey, Trinity College, etc. Along the way I learned so much about the sites we passed and the history of the Irish people. (I feel like I’m meant to insert a random fact here now, but I can’t remember any except for that in Ireland you can drink water from the tap! And they didn’t even tell me that on the tour!) I did a lot of shopping and people watching on Grafton and Henry’s Street-the main shopping areas. I was thrilled to see Forever 21 and tons of stores I had never heard of before like River Island and AWear and PENNYS. The older buildings (pubs, post offices, minimarts) all had so much character-I found them jolly but sad at the same time, like they had gone through a lot and just found things to laugh back on. But the streets are alive and to me, there were no signs of any recession. But then of course, I was a tourist.

My favorite part of Dublin was the Ha'penny Bridge and along the River Liffey. The bridge is narrow and white, rustic and curved romantically over the river. I wanted to get off the bus the first time we passed it, and was delighted that my boyfriend asked to meet around there for lunch so that I could go back. The water is very still, and all the buildings lining the river (canal?) are smushed together in the background with all their unique colors and frames. Homeless people snuggled expectantly on the sides along the bridge, and tourists would often stop and admire and snap shots. Like me. On our very last day, Cormac and I went back with a padlock to join all the other padlocks and yep, locked our love against the railing and threw off the keys!

I also had a wonderful time getting to know his beautiful older sister. I admired their modern, cosy but tasteful apartment (which seemed to be the theme for most home interiors) and she baked up treats for us!

 Phoenix Park

 A bridge

THAILAND-Samui & Ko Tao

After a long, grueling commute down from Chiang Mai, we finally reached the south eastern islands of Thailand-and a breath of fresh air. We got to the downtown area of Ko Samui via a pick-up truck 'bus' that runs everywhere locally. People just hop on and off these trucks and drop a buck or two off to the driver when they get to their destination. Ko Samui isn't very big, it's basically one big road all around the island so we rented a scooter (about $5 for 24 hours) first thing in the morning.
Shopping is grand at Samui. We hung out at Chaweng beach most of the time cause that's where all the action was! I wish I hadn't brought any bikinis cause I had never seen so many uber cute bikini stalls packed so colorfully down this road, most for about $5-$10 if you bargain. We bought baggy pants and to fit in with the funky, touristy vibe. Samui was packed with tourists, but the locals were more friendly and the crowds were more relaxed and fun-loving. It felt like everyone else had landed here to escape the chaos of the city as well. There were so many amazing seafood restaurants along the strip...

We found a bungalow right on the beach, and got massages at the beach stall in front of our place. Everything is blurred in my memories already because I lost track of time and the days when I'm on an island like that. One day we rented snorkeling gear and explored beaches by our area. Our last night in Samui we strolled down the beach as it got darker and darker, to watch fire dancers come out to perform and people spilled out to the shores with their drinks and mats. Then fireworks exploded all around us at midnight and after gulping down a 'bucket' it seemed like the most magical night ever!

We took a ferry to Ko Tao, a neighboring island. It is world-famous for it's diving and snorkeling. I didn't have a diving license, but I was looking forward to snorkeling! We signed up for an excursion at a restaurant that we had breakfast at, and left on a boat with a guide named Jude and a handful of Germans and...Eastern Europeans? The boat took us to a number of good snorkeling spots, but the sights on the ride there were more surreal than the fish. The fish were plentiful as well, but (no offense to anyone) I've seen prettier fish and more colorful coral beds in Bali.

There wasn't much to do in Ko Tao besides diving and partying, but that's where we celebrated Valentine's Day. After some cocktails watching the sun set, we had dinner next to the beach, on pillow mats. We only stayed two nights, and then we were off to Krabi!

THAILAND: First Stop-CHIANG MAI

I'M BACK!!!! And I have a new and profound respect for travel bloggers. How do they keep up with all the names of places they've gone, restaurants they've eaten at, alleys they've wandered down, events they showed up to, and all the things they've seen and people they've met?! I'll try my best anyway.
Thailand surprised me in many ways.
First of all, I was really confused with the currency. It's basically the same as in Taiwan, and that threw me off a lot. Despite prior research I still had it in my head that everything would be dirt cheap in Thailand. Well, 1NTD (Taiwan) =1.01 Baht (Thailand). 30NTD = $1 USD (AMERICAAAA). So I guess, living in Taiwan is dirt cheap too.
Second, tourists in Thailand are not a commodity anymore. They are everywhere, and for the most part have a bad reputation. Thais do not go out of their way to help visitors, unless they can make money off of them. These are just conclusions drawn from my own observations, and experience. And they don't care where you're from either, unless you're me.
My third shock was discovering my alternate ethnicity. Almost every single person I came in contact with in Thailand thought I was Thai as well. They always spoke to me in Thai and when I looked confused, they also got confused. "You look like Thai!! SAME SAME! You not Thai?! WHERE YOU FROM?!" At first I was a bit offended, but after seeing a few pretty Thai girls (...or maybe boys?) I came to terms with it. I do look kinda Thai, because they are slender, petite, have delicate facial structures and are tan. So now we know-I look Thai.
K let's do this. Plane landed in Bangkok, and from there we headed straight up to Chiang Mai. It's the biggest city up North, and famous for lots of things. Such as:

COOKING CLASS: People fly here from all over the world to learn how to make Thai food. Posters for classes were offered at almost all the restaurants and travel agencies we saw, so we did a half day for 700 Baht, cooked up 4 dishes (each was absolutely the best thing I've ever made) and ate it all. I highly recommend Smart Cook School. All the ingredients were super fresh and healthy, kitchen are outside and breezy, aprons were cute, etc. 

 THE NIGHT BAZZAR: There is one huge night market in Chiang Mai. It's packed with fake Ray Bans, Thai art, lamps, colorful bags, jewelry, everything. We ate at this huge seafood pavilion and realized it was Chinese New Year Day when a huge dragon came dancing over everyone! I love dragon dances!! We didn't buy much because the next day we were scheduled for a mountain trek!

LADYBOY SHOW: Can't say you've been to Thailand unless you've dropped in on one of these! I was impressed. Don't know the name of these place, it's in the night market next to where we had dinner!

 MUAY THAI FIGHT: Got convinced by the end of the night to check one of these out. It was pretty authentic, the ring was outside and there were Thai people in the audience. This combat martial art originated from Thailand is very well known and entertaining to watch, if you're into the MMA thing. It's easy to find one, people are along the streets everywhere you go handing out flyers for local fights that happen every night if you're in the city.

MONK CHAT: Boyfriend found this temple where we could go to and talk to a monk about anything. Although I am pretty grounded in my beliefs, I have a lot of respect and am always interested in learning more about other religions. I was surprised at how young our monk was (my age) and he was rather handsome too. Turns out every Thai man has to be a monk for some time of his life, whether he wants to dedicate years or just a week, before marriage. It was just casual conversation, and I enjoyed hearing Buddhism explained by a monk. If you're ever in the area, check it out! 

Okay, so the purpose of us going up to Chiang Mai was to do an overnight trek up into the village tribes. Admittedly this wasn't my idea but I wasn't opposed. I like adventure, and finding adventures is cake in Thailand. Streets are packed with adventure agencies, so we easily booked a 2 day 1 night trip that included tons of stuff, and we did it all. 

 Butterfly and orchid farm! Random, but it was first place they shuttled us to. 

 One hell of a hike, about 4 hours. The sights were enjoyable, and it was HOT! 

 We stayed over night in this huge bamboo house on stilts. It was just like camping in the ol' days, but just not in a log cabin or a tent. Okay la. 

 Next morning, we went on a small hike and then to the Elephant Riding place. I rode an elephant, but was shocked when our driver started whacking the poor beast on the head w a metal rod. It was terrible, and I will never do it again. Here is me sadly petting a baby in chains. I was embarrassed for not researching and being only vaguely aware of how badly these animals are being treated in this industry. Here is a good article and short clip on what goes on behind elephant riding camps.

 Bought stuff from a long-neck 'village'. Really just gift shops with Burmese women selling their handiwork! 

 Zip-lining with our crew! 

Waterfall-enjoying

 Bamboo rafting! Here are the boys from our travel group, a mix of Canadians and English dudes.

Lastly, white water rafting. Oh, how I wish I had gotten a waterproof camera for this! Rowing on a raft with rapids and rocks is a lot harder than dragon boat rowing, but fun. 

After we got driving back into town, we grabbed dinner at the Sunday Market and then jumped on the bus to start our journey down south for the islands!!