reprieve

Taipei, TAIWAN -- i'm here for an extra day. apparently my flight to manila yesterday was cancelled last week and no one bothered to inform me. at least now i know how to take the bus back to the city (cost: 90 taiwanese dollars).

i hear the heat back home has been intolerable so i guess i should be thankful for my reprieve (it was 13 degrees here yesterday).

the past few days have been just great. the food has been excellent - from fancy restaurants to crowded little joints. i even got to try veggie chicharon in sweet and sour sauce. it doesn't come near the real thing but it was really good nevertheless.

off to bali

we spent the weekend in beitou and danshui. we people-watched by the river and took the ferry to go biking in bali (a fishing village near danshui - now i can say i've been to bali twice). had a good laugh at this restaurant called 'large footprint' as they serve 'brazilian mushroom soup' and l the brazilian has never heard of it.

back in taipei we rushed to the zoo to say hi to the pandas that were a gift from the chinese government. taken together the two pandas' names mean 'reunification.' pretty smooth on china's part - all the locals were just crazy about the furry couple.

panda diplomacy 101

later in the day we threw in some pinoy flavor and headed to little manila to attend mass. st. christopher's was packed with OFWs and l got to practice his tagalog with the parish priest. the row of pinoy stores next to the church reminded me of quiapo. people were selling pre-paid load, ligo sardines and dried mangoes, plus liwayway magazine (i didn't know that was still around). there was even a TV showing a live broadcast of the late great francis m's wake.

we headed to SPOT taiwan film house afterwards for dinner and smuggled in some red horse from a little manila grocery to cap the night.

good times.

ilha formosa

Danshui, TAIWAN -- ni hao from ilha formosa! i'm in a town that's known as the coney island of the country. it's been pretty cold and wet the past few days and i've been so inappropriately dressed coming from humid bali. i had to go get myself a scarf and i found a legitimate excuse to buy boots.

i also checked out the big fuss about the taiwanese and their tea (i asked for water at one restaurant and the server looked at me quizzically and asked, "you don't like the tea?"). so far i've had chrysanthemum, madler (?), longan, oolong, and black.

one afternoon while i had some free time to myself i got a pot of milk tea and picked up a borrowed copy of 'kitchen confidential.' i'm reading this anthony bourdain bestseller in spite of his "naked contempt" for certain kinds of people (i belong to the vegetarian category). that's honey cake that's sitting next to the cup. it tasted like a less buttery sara lee pound cake.

more to follow.

3-hour Stop-over in Taipei

Taipei International Airport -- After spending the morning on last minute packing, long immigration lines, and instant noodles for brunch in NAIA, I finally boarded and amused myself with the Globetrotter channel. I am killing time now walking around the airport, surfing and wondering about certain things:

- Should I get the $13 disposable camera?

- Will "Taiwan soaps" make my pores look smaller? ( I left my "kikay-kit", for pete's sake!)

- How come Taiwan is so clean?

- What did my Chinese ancestors look like?

- Have I brought enough clothes?

- Did I forget anything back home?

I am indulging myself thinking of what I may have left behind because when I get to the City of Angels, I am hoping that I'll be able to focus more on things ahead of me.