A Trip to China for a Taiwan Visa...Macau: 6/23- 6/25

06.23.2008 - 06.25.2008

The day we left for Macau, Da Yi, Er Yi, Grace and I inexplicably left for the airport around noon for a 4:20 PM flight.

Since we had so much time, we ate free yams and ice cream, and took naps in the massage chairs of the business lounge at the airport.

But being able to eat and drink whatever you want does get old quickly. Finally, it was time to board our plane. I was looking forward to my drink of choice on every plane ride, tomato juice. When it came looking like a cup shaped lump of ketchup, I decided to pass.

After a brief 1.5 hr plane ride, we arrived in Macau and at our hotel. There had been talk of clubbing (mostly just me persuading Da Yi, Er Yi and Grace to go) before our trip so I immediately contacted the concierge for the 411 on this important matter. Turns out Wednesday is Ladies' Night at the Bellini Bar in the Venetian. Perfect. We quickly got ready and boarded the two shuttle buses (transfer at Sands) to the Venetian on Taipa, one of the islands that Macau is composed of.

Er Yi and Da Yi all dressed up. I begged Da Yi to pack a pair of heels (for such occasions) and she delivered.

Grace and me

Even though the drinks were free, neither Da Yi nor Grace worked up the courage/had interest in dancing.

Thus, Er Yi and I tore it up out there.

But overall, the Bellini Bar was pretty lame so we left in an hour to get some much needed sleep.

The next day, we visited the Taiwan consulate in Macau to get my visa. After submitting my materials, we were invited into the office by the friend of my dad's friend and were regaled with tea and tales of poor souls who gambled their lives away in the city and are currently being sought after by Macau gangsters. These people (the ones from Taiwan) often come to the consulate, tail tucked between their legs, to ask for a plane ticket back home. Good thing none of the four of us even touched a slot machine the whole trip (though Da Yi and I did apply for a flashy red Wynn casino card for a souvenir.)

The visa took some time, so we walked to the city centre and did some siteseeing. But just a few hours later, I was legally allowed to re-enter Taiwan and stay for 90 days. Yay!

Grace and I have determined that Macau is not our favorite vacation place (I think the parts we visited were too touristy and gaudy), though we are glad we went. Some highlights of the two days:

Senado Square. Macau was colonized by the Portugese.

At the "Lou Mansion". Mr Lou was a wealthy merchant and philanthropist in Macau during the late 1800s, early 1900s. Coincidentally, his surname written in Chinese is the same character as my "Lu". This is me sitting in my room where I welcome visitors.
For lunch we ate at a touristy (read: horrible!) Portugese restaurant. I don't think it was real Portugese food, just weirdness.

I am cutting into fried rice baked in a pineapple rind topped with a sweet and sour sauce. Blegh.

Good Fortune Tree at the Wynn. That schmancy chandelier came out of the ceiling and the tree came out of the ground. People threw coins in it for good fortune.

Ruins of St. Pauls Church. Quite stunning as only the facade is left. The rest was destroyed by fire.

One of the most disappointing moments of the trip was when we walked half an hour to find "Casa Garden", which according to our guide map, is the beautiful residence of the wealthy Portugese merchant Manuel Pereira from 1770. When we got there, I was not impressed. If you think from the picture that it looks alright, realize that there is nothing more. That was it!

But soonafter, we came across a jewel. Tucked in a street near Casa Garden was a dim sum restaurant that by the looks of it, only locals frequented.

The woman opened each one and we picked what we wanted. At one point a man came straight from the kitchen with metal bowl with four dead fish and asked us which we wanted to eat. We were seated in the backyard of the restaurant on a foldout table and plastic stools. Everything was delicious, especially an eggplant dish.

The rest of the trip was spent doing some more feeble siteseeing, wandering through ostentatious, enormous hallways of casino hotels and reading. Yes, reading. We decided we were all tired so we retired to the hotel lobby around 3:00 PM (we had checked out at noon) and read newspapers until our 8:00 PM flight. I finished three newspapers front to back.

This photo was taken just before we boarded the plane. Goodbye, Macau.

Creatures of the Ocean

06.21.2008

On Saturday, my uncle (Er Yi Zhang) and aunt (Er Yi) drove Celestine, Grace, and me to the beach, about one hour away from Taipei's city centre. On the way, we passed by a small town where I posed with these all these tiny dried fish.


A wandering butterfly found its way to my belt buckle, and decided to linger for a good five minutes. I felt honored to be able to provide a resting place for him.


In Taiwan, the sun is so blazing and brutal that many people carry umbrellas. I finally got into the habit of toting my 100 NT aqua cheapo umbrella in my purse everywhere I go, even though I feel quite fobby.

I found the image of this old man in the small town particularly endearing.

While my aunt and uncle were perusing the small fish, Celestine, Grace and I gravitated towards a woman making an intriguing sweet treat.

First, she moved a piece of wood back and forth across this large block of sweetened peanuts (sort of carmelized together?) until a sizable amount of peanut shavings fell off:

These shavings were collected and placed in the center of a paper thin, translucent pancake.


However many scoops of ice cream one desired were next added. Three is probably the maximum one poor pancake can hold, anyways.

The last step is to wrap the mixture up, and eat like a burrito! So delicious and refreshing. I think this is a dessert that Stephanie (my peanut loving roommate) would love, especially at under a dollar each :D

At last, we made it to the ocean.

I am going to do this one day.

Er Yi Zhang and Er Yi.

Picturesque mountains

Grace, Celestine, Me.

We had to go back early because Celestine (a rising senior at National Taiwan University) had to meet up with some classmates for a project. Next time I can't wait to actually go swimming.

Water

06.20.2008

The night before, I went for a half-body massage. The lady also COMPLETELY massaged my buttocks. She was too brutal. Ended up with two one foot long dark red bruises running down my back. So it was perfect (for recuperating) that today we decided to head to Er Yi's apartment in Beitou, the northernmost district of Taipei, noted for its mountainous terrain and hot springs.

This is Grace and me relaxing on the floor of the bedroom before our hot spring baths. There are two square, fairly deep pebbled tubs each outfitted with a bench and separated by a partial wall. There are faucets for hot spring water, normal hot water, and normal cold water. The water has a slight, distinctive sulfuric scent that is not unpleasant. We spent a couple cleansing hours scrubbing, washing and chatting. I worked particularly hard to rid my skin of any city grime, dead skin or dirt. I felt soooo clean afterwards.

The view outside the window from the tubs.

While we bathed, Da Yi and Er Yi spent some quality sisterly bonding time dying each other's hair with henna (their organic, chemical-free choice of hair coloring product).

Da Yi


Er Yi

Later that night, we ventured out to find a place to eat. Da Yi had heard about some popular noodle shops so we stumbled across one in the direction a stranger pointed us to. The food was good, but what was truly awesome was the great vat of black tea (just a tiny bit sweetened with liquid sugar syrup) that was free and thoughtfully provided to the patrons. I was sorry when we all finished our meals and had to leave the glorious drink behind.

As if we weren't stuffed enough, Da Yi had a craving for an oyster omelette (oua-jien), a Taiwanese snack made of oysters, eggs, flour and veggies. I liked watching the man make a bunch at once.


Full and content, we made our way back.

And there you have it: a pretty darn good day.