happy new year!

Happy 2008 from Taiwan! For me, as many other taiwanese, year 2008 started with this beautiful feast to the eyes - fireworks of taipei 101, the former tallest building in the world. I can't believe year 2007 flew by like that. people who invented the saying "time flies" wasn't kidding. a year ago i could not imagine with what kind of feeling i'd be here typing this new year greeting. because at the time, even when it was becoming reality, it still seemed a little crazy to trade in the nice and comfy life for a year backpacking around the world. At the time, year 2007 seemed exciting and terrifying, with so much unknown ahead of us. and here i am, looking at the past year and all the pieces of memory zoomed by in my head, from the Americas to Asia, from the Andes to Huan Shan, from Mayan ruins to chinese minorities, from budget hostels to 4 star accomodations, from soaking up the sun at the Caribbeans to freezing our ass off in Antarctica, fourteen countries and six continents. all i could say is, "wow, i can't believe i've done that". And, i am still in one piece. :)

it's a great year, mixed with so many different feelings, ups and downs. more than any other year in my life. going into 2008, i have a simple resolution. that is, finding a job and getting back to a real life. :) simple it might sound, with the current U.S. visa situation it might not be that simple. what is your new year resolution? whatever it is, i hope year 2008 will be another great year for everyone.

picture in history:

January 7, 2007. we were at SFO airport about to board the Buenos Aires bound flight

December 31, 2007. on the top floor restaurant of Life Insurance building, the 2nd highest in Taipei, hours before 2008. we spent our last evening of 2007 there. the price tag of NT2000 per head is steep, but it came with a great buffet, dance floor, magic and a sizzling hot belly dance show. best of all, the 2nd highest building has an unobstructed view of taipei101 and its spectacular fireworks at midnight. it's a night to remember!

Hangzhou and Huan Shan

Modern Hanzhou doesn't have much of the old city charm left. Despite that, i still like the place. It's one of the more relaxing big city in China, streets are wide and straight, it's pretty easy to get around by bus, and things are much better indicated. We weren't attacked by street touts every five minutes. For the first time in China, we almost felt invisible - and that's a very good thing. :)

West Lake is beautiful, albeit the fog (or pollution? I'd rather believe it's just the fog). we spent a few hours walking around and hoped it'd reveal its true beauty to us. but nope, the fog continued on like it's part of the lake. IMHO, the lake contributes a lot to the city's overall laid-back feel. the shore is very happening day and night, friends meet there, companies have outings there, and people just gather to pass time. Hanzhou would not be Hanzhou without West Lake!

the lake, like a shy lady wearing a veil, seldom revealing its beauty

a park by the West Lake

we also did a day trip to a nearby water town Anchang(安昌). it's not yet spoiled by tourist buses and guides touting honks and flags, maybe the inconvenient location explains it. it took us 3 hours and 4 bus transfers to get there. the town is quiet and peaceful and it feels so real. People seem to live on their undisturbed lives like a hundred year ago. Such place is, sadly, diminishing fast in modern china....

the old street of Anchang

the old town spans on both sides of the canal.

Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain)

Back in taiwan, my dad played this DVD about Huan Shan that totally rocked us. we had every intent to end our RTW trip on a high note, so what's better than spending a night on top of Huan Shan and catching the sunrise next morning? well well well, as an old chinese saying goes, "no matter how much one plans things out, life always intervenes"(人算不如天算), or weather intervenes, in our case. we woke up at 4am to a pouring rain. not only did we not get to see the sunrise, the moutains are covered in a thick layer of fog, the whole day! we lingered on but miracle didn't happen. All we could do was to read the signs and use our imagination to picture the breathtaking scenery amid the fog that is just meters in front of us! talking about frustration! they said out of 365 days a year, the sunrise can only be seen on 50+ days. so we weren't that unlucky. but a foggy day like this is definitely not the norm. It hadn't been raining for a month prior to our visit!!

Like we didn't have enough bad luck, we took the wrong gondola down to the much-deserted back of the mountain with absolutely zero means of public transportation. seeing us cold, tired, and in a hurry, a driver wanted to charge us outrageous price to bring us back to the front door. but that's another story for another day... my blood pressure rises just thinking about it. zen.....

this is the Huang Shan we saw. :(

we waited at this spot for a while, suddenly the fog went away a bit and revealed this bizarre looking stone, the chinese named it flying over stone.

we couldn't wait to put everything behind us. so when we finally arrived back in Hanzhou that night, we went straight to the most prestigious restaurant Lou Wei Lou(樓外樓)by the West Lake and had a feast - west lake vinegar fish (西湖醋魚), deep fried shrimp and eel (蝦爆鱔), mixed seafood, a basket of soup dumplings (小籠包), accompanied by some local longjin tea (龍井). The fish is starved in West Lake for 3 days to remove the muddy taste. I can tell you their starvation is our feast! :) The master poet Su Dong Po from Song dynasty once said "there are no better banquets in the world than those in Hanzhou" and there are certainly a bit truth to it. Now if you've ever had the dish DongPo pork. this is the the same Dong Po i am talking about, in fact, he invented the dish! he's a writer, poet, calligrapher, governor of Hanzhou, and a food connoisseur. talking about versatility! :) In the restaurant every table seemed to have this dish. Too bad we didn't get the chance to taste it!

I'll end this entry with some fun. I got this picture from Huang Shan. Look at number 3. Not disturbing wild life is a good thing, but the translation doesn't quite convey it right - can I flirt with them by buying them a drink? :-)

Yunnan, South of the clouds

To me, Yunnan has always had that mysterious feeling. Its remote location, diverse ethnicity and harsh terrain has made it an unknown territory and a difficult place to govern in history. It's also where the fallen officials were exiled to and home to 1/3 of all china's ethnic minorities. all of these contribute to the strong character of this border province. it's another China, apart from the great wall and the Terra cotta and I was excited to be finally there.

An overnight train took us to Kunming, the capitol of Yunnan province. From there, a 4-hours bus ride took us to Dali, the new Dali to be exact. Another taxi ride and 35 yuan later we finally arrived at the real thing - old Dali, yes the very place where Dali kingdom stood some 900 years ago as depicted in Jin Yong's bestseller Tian-long-ba-bu. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jin Yong, he is a bestselling author of a series of chinese martial art novels. His books were the ones I once read under blanket with a flashlight at late night in my teenage years, as did many others. :) Now here I am, standing on the same ground Duan Yu stood some hundreds of years ago.!

We spent a few days in Dali, visited a local Bai market in Shaping, the three pagodas and just wandered aimlessly in the town. The old town is lovely, with cobbled streets and traditional stone architectures, but not until we later arrived in Lijiang we realized none of that could hold a candle to the latter!

the streets of old Dali

me and the 3 pagodas near old Dali

the action packed Bai market in Shaping every Monday

Lijiang is simply what one imagines China would be like - winding cobbled streets, rickety old wooden buildings and gushing old canals. we spent a couple of days here, sometimes just hung at a local cafe reading other ppl's travel log and just watch the world go by. sometimes we ventured out to nearby scenic spots like Tiger Leaping Gorge and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. At night we'd be exploring the local Naxi dishes in one of many restaurants lined in the old town. The Naxi is one of many minorities living in Yunnan, and guess what? They have a matriarchal society!! Yes, Naxi women never get married, their "boyfriends" come to spend the night and go back to their own place next morning. The kids belong to the women and women inherit all properties! When the guide explained this to us at the Naxi museum, the lady next to me couldn't help but yell out "that's heaven!". :) The Naxi also created a hierogrlyphic language over 1000 years ago and it's still in use! They write things on Dongba papers which is said to last a thousand years. Impressive!

streets of Lijiang

a Dongba (wise man in Naxi) writing (or should I say drawing?) Naxi pictographic characters on Dongba papers

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Lijiang's freezing morning makes getting up early a pretty difficult task (the fact that we have heated blanket makes it even more difficult). We got to TLG at almost noon, after a winding 2 hours on a bus watching a horrible, loud, badly acted old movie. Perhaps because it's already past the morning rush, there weren't many drivers there vying for our business. We grouped up with two girls from Kunming to share ride. they saved us big bucks that day. Looking at them I realized what we called bargaining before was just kids stuff. they are pros! I almost wanted to ask them where they'd be visiting the following days and mind if we tag along. :)

The gorge is just stunningly beautiful, narrow, deep, and the rapids looks very unnavigable. the driver took us into the middle part of the gorge and we started descending. We got to the bottom not after long and from there it was a hair-standing narrow, slippery path to get to this rock called Tiger Leaping Stone, which stands in the middle of the river looking down at the turbulent rapids. It's said that a tiger once jumped across the gorge from here, hence the name. That's one hell of a leap!

After a bit of rest it's time for the tough part - going up! It was a strenuous hike, one of the toughest I've ever done (not that i am an experienced hiker). The sign that says "safe path to the left, dangerous ladder to the right" just didn't help at all because the ladder was what we were taking. I looked up at the ladder vertically clinging to the cliff and thought i must've been out of my mind. This ain't no climbing the Sydney harbour bridge where your auto-lock harness binds you to the ladder nice and firm. Anyway my sore legs wanted to get it over with, so I took the plunge... nice and easy, one step at a time, never look down... As it turned out, it is actually much less scary climbing it than looking at it. all those indoor climbing prepped me well for this day! :)

We made it back to the top in about 3 hours. as we arrived back at the road, the afternoon sun penetrated through layers of clouds and hit the gorge. It's really beautiful. I've read that china is planning to dam up the gorge, i truly hope it's not gonna happen. it's a shame to have this beautiful gorge buried under water.

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bargain-o-meter (courtesy of our Kunming friends):

ride to middle rapid in TLG: from Y180 to Y100

ride back to Lijiang: from Y30 to Y20, per person

access Tiger Leaping Stone: from Y10 per person to per group (the 4 of us!)

horseback riding: from Y380 per person to Y180 for the whole group (3 ppl)

awesome!

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us in front of the middle rapid sign

the hair-standing path to go to Tiger Leaping Stone. The lady in front of me is the "stonekeeper". she collects 10 yuan and leads us there. But our Kunming friends bargained it down to 10 yuan total for the four of us. :)

the trick here is don't look down

me climbing up the sky ladder

the beautiful gorge in late afternoon's sun

Jade Dragon Snow Mountains

The Chinese categorizes scenic spots by the number of As. JDSM is a AAAA (4A) scenic spot, which can translate to stunning scenery, loads of big buses and long lines. :) On our first visit, we wanted to avoid the beaten track, so we went to the furthest part and took a chair lift up to the peak called Yak Meadow. We had the place almost to ourselves. There were just us and two other people because everyone else is on the 4500m peak throwing snow balls and sucking oxygen. :). It was hailing up there and the cold, thin air gives the place a remote, Tibetan feeling. It's very quiet and tranquil, felt like a lost world. we could see yaks grazing on the grass. We returned to JDSM a few days later for the 4500m peak and witnessed the power of chinese tour groups. we waited for more than 4 hours before we finally stood on top. The visibility was pretty bad and all we could see is fog and loads of people. however, the feeling of standing on the highest point ever in my life still keeps enough adrenaline pumping!! Pascal was quite a celebrity up there, he removed his shirt to have pictures taken in the blizzard with the elevation sign. That caused quite a stir at 4500m, girls were screaming and guys patting on his shoulder. that earned him some chinese groupies asking to have photos taken together. :)

At the time we didn't know the real adventure was just about to begin. we got back down to the foot of the mountain to wait for the bus back to Lijiang a little past 4. two hours later there's still no sign of bus. we asked around and the staff just told us to wait, said "Eventually" the bus will come. later we learn (from a village worker) that the bus stops running at 4! We were very frustrated with the unhelpful staff and misinformation, in a AAAA national grade scenic spot, i really expect a little more, especially after paying 80 yuan to go in and 175 yuan for the cable car! Most people came as part of a tour group or hired drivers, there were just about 11 of us who are independent travellers. we started flagging down passing cars and asking tour guides if we can ride along. none of them offered a hand. It was getting colder and darker, where are all the taxi touts when i need them the most?! finally a mini van stopped and agreed to take us back to Lijiang, all 11 of us swarmed in. and after a bit of squeezing and stacking up we all miraculously fit in. i couldn't say enough thank-you to the driver! We got back to Lijiang feeling like refugees. it was a day with mixed emotions - frustration, excitement, and anger. At that point only one thing could sooth our tired mind and body - a bowl of steamy hot across-bridge rice noodles. We stormed in the first restaurant where the noodles are served. nothing beats having a satisfying meal after a tough day!

Pascal having pictures taken with some chinese travellers

11 of us stacked up in this tiny car.

Yak Meadow

We said good bye to Lijiang that night and hopped on a overnight sleeper bus back to Kunming. The bus is nothing to write home about, I was just glad my berth wasn't by the restroom. :) After a sleepless night, we arrived in Kunming just before the day break, took a taxi to the airport and fly to Hanzhou from there.

"Guilin San Sui Ja Tian Xia"...

...is an old Chinese saying, what it means is "Guilin's mountain and water is the best under the sky", but that's just half the story. The other half goes like this:"... but Yangshuo's are even better", which we totally agree.

We arrived in Guilin at almost midnight and were really glad we had airport pick-up arranged back in Shenzhen - at a cut-throat price. Just when we were wondering how LP can be so off this time (we paid less than half the price of what's listed!), we realized the real purpose of the driver is to get us to hire him as a personal driver during our stay in Guilin, and of course to take us to his "recommended" hotel. He told us point-blank that it's a losing-money business coming to pick us up and asked us to "take care" of him, persistently and annoyingly by giving plausible reasons to steer our decision his way. Not only did we not need a driver, but also trying to get business like this just ticks me off! It was quite mentally tiring having to deal with this kind of "working culture" - and this is just the beginning of a constant battle in China!

Before i go any further, i will give out a bit of Mandarin intro class to those non-Mandarin speaking readers. Some of these Chinese pinyin will show up frequently in the upcoming posts:

"hu": lake
"lu": road
"shan": mountain

all right. now that you all master in tourist Mandarin, I will proceed with the update! :) We spent the next day visiting the sights in Guilin, including the Rong Hu and Shan Hu (remember what "hu" is? test test) that spans the heart of Guilin and the must-see Seven Star Park. We took our time strolling in the park, one thing worth mentioning is the Seven Star Cave, a capacious chamber filled with bizarre looking stalactites, coloured by floodlights and dubbed some very imaginative titles like "dragon eating a bear", "bear catching a tiger", etc (picture on the left, do you see the dragon?). It was a no-brainer getting around by public bus, so we got a little cocky, later we learned the hard way that it's not the case everywhere China, I'll tell you later! :)




Fear not having enough time to make a day trip by public transportation, we joined a Chinese group to visit the famed Dragon's Backbone rice terraces and the nearby Yao and Zhuang minority villages and watched their dance show (picture to the left). The tour guide is nice enough to "sprinkle" his commentary with some English for Pascal and the other non-Mandarin speaker. You know how in some Hollywood movies when a Chinese speaks for minutes and the translator simply boils it down to one sentence? it's a bit like that. :) The rice terrace is beautiful, even when it's not at the best season. The steep slope has been sculpted by generations of local farmers since the Yuan dynasty. They say the best time to visit is spring, right before the harvest, when the field is filled with water and rice fully grown up and golden, when the sun hits, the beauty is beyond any description. I can only hope for next time! We wandered away from the crowd and explored up and down the terraces and had a great afternoon there. I must not forget to mention the delicious lunch we had at a local restaurant - baked bamboo chicken, smoked meat with bamboo shoot, and some really crispy stir fry vegetables. it snaps in your mouth!

Dragon Backbone Rice Terrace (Longji Titian)


the next day we took the touristy but must-do (almost) Li River cruise south to Yanshuo, where we will spend a few days. The scenery is simply beautiful and poetic. It's the inspiration for many chinese landscape paintings and one particular view is even printed on the new 20 yuan note! Of course when the captain announced it, everyone rushed to the deck and snapped away. The scenic spots along the river are dubbed imaginative names (surprise!), like the nine horses painting on the Mural hill. Legend has it that if you can see all nine of them, you'll be the winner of the next Imperial Examination. I read that Bill Clinton saw two. Well, I saw three (by faaaaar stretching my imagination). :)





We had a fantastic time in Yanshuo. It's the place for backpackers. The town is small and everything is pretty much on or around West Street (picture to the left), west as in western, as you can imagine this street is lined with cafes serving up western food. This is the place to turn to for a piece of chocolate cake with hot fudge or a decent cup of cappuccino, which we did. :) But that doesn't mean we forgot to enjoy many wonderful local dishes, especially beer fish. I even went as far as taking a class to learn how to make it. Now I'll shoulder the important task of introducing it to the western world! j/k :) We spent another day biking through the rice paddies around Yanshuo, then took a bamboo raft down the Yulong river, which is at least as beautiful as the Li River, but much more peaceful and quiet without the herds of tourists and running engines. we spent another day walking along the Li River between villages of Xinping and Yandi, and observing local markets. really interesting to watch the action-packed morning activities. During the walk we experienced yet again chinese persistence - villagers virtually followed us and asked us to take their bamboo rafts and to dine at their houses. this is one of those times i wish i didn't understand Mandarin.

paddling through rice paddies near Yanshuo


taking bamboo raft down the Yulong river

I'll finish this entry with another Chinese saying. It goes, "A scene in one's ears is more beautiful than it is in one's eyes.' In other words, we often find that the scenery doesn't live up to it hype. But in the case of the Li River and its surrounding, the opposite is true. :) We said goodbye to Yanshuo and hopped on a bus back to Guilin, the beginning of a very long land journey to Yunnan.

Hong Kong, Pearl of the orient

It has been at least 10 years since my last visit to Hong Kong. I still own a copy of Lonely Planet Hong Kong & Macau edition from that trip. It's been collecting dust on my shelf back in Taiwan for more than a decade! I didn't remember i had such backpacking spirit back then. I remember calling the hostels listed in the book at the airport, anxious and unsure. At the time I didn't know some ten years later, i would be owning many more editions of Lonely Planet and traveling like this half away around the globe!

Enough reminiscence, time to talk about this trip! :)It was my birthday the day we arrived in Hong Kong. After leaving the airport and taking the airport express straight to the city (HK int'l airport is about the most well organized and efficient airport I've ever been to!), I was taken to my b-day gift - two nights stay at a four star hotel in the heart of HK (picture below)!! After staying at all kinds of budget accommodation, i can't think of a better gift. thanks hon!

We then went out to have dinner, a busy typical HK style tea restaurant. It reminds me so much of the time in LA when everything else is closed at late night, my friends and I would go to this HK style cafe for snacks. good old times! The food is decent, however half way through dinner we heard a huge screaming, we turned around to see a lady jump off of her chair and a fast moving dark object on the floor...yew! We turned back to continue like nothing had happened and hoped that thing won't come our direction...

the next day we got Pascal's visa taken care of first thing in the morning, then went to Maxim's for dim sum (what's a visit to HK without having dim sum anyway?!), after lunch we took the cable car up to Victoria Peak, it has changed so much since my last visit, although the view remains magnificent, only it's not free anymore! There was a big open plaza for people to take in the city view, now it's replaced by a multi-purpose building and requires a separate entrance fee to go up the roof to enjoy the city view!

The skyline is spectacular, it's amazing the density of high rise buildings on this tiny island! Even more spectacular is the panoramic night view on Star Ferry looking back at the Victoria Harbour. HK is a good place to navigate on foot, especially with the pedestrian bridges that span between buildings. we hardly need to get down to street level anywhere from point A to point B within the central area, no waiting for traffic light, no inhaling smokes and competing for right of road with vehicles. wonderful!

night view of Victoria Harbour

very modern pedestrian bridge that connects downtown buildings
the next day we went to my all-time mecca - afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel. Although my improper backpacking attire took away a bit of elegance (if i have any), it's still very enjoyable!

3-tier afternoon tea tray at Peninsula Hotel

needlessly to say, HK is an expensive place. We didn't feel like lingering around for too long. After all, China is the main destination of the trip. We picked up Pascal's passport and headed straight to Shenzhen for a flight to Guilin (flying from HK would have cost more than twice the price!), where mountains, rivers and delicious Guilin rice noodles await us!

A giant update (now updated with pictures)

It's been a while since my last update! I haven't forgot about my blog, neither was I playing MIA. We were just moving at a faster pace and since we are close to taking a little break in Taiwan, I thought I'd wait. And as you might start wondering, yes I am back to Taiwan, sipping pearl tea and typing this entry at this very moment! :)

Before I start to talk about the excitement of being back to my homeland, I'll pick up from where i left off since my last update....

two weeks ago in Egypt.....
Bad luck struck. We were very looking forward to a trip to Coloured Canyon in the Sinai Peninsula and a 3-day safari trip in the Western Desert. They were both canceled or delayed due to lack of participants and bad timing. We would have to wait a few days for the next departure date. We returned to Cairo, bummed and decided to leave for Thailand! After haggling our way through Egypt, we were both tired out and suddenly going to the Land of Smile sounds like a really good idea. :) But I still can't help feeling disappointed and that our Egypt experience was incomplete. I've pictured myself riding a camel into the desert sunset and now I am leaving without even touching one (besides that one time this nasty camel tried to bump me off the trail up Mt. Sinai)! As usual I took out my organizer and made a to-do list for my next trip to Egypt, that instantly lifted my mood. :)

Traveling in a country like Egypt, there is a very fine line between being money smart and overly cautious. In the temples and sites, there are no shortage of gatekeepers or tourist police trying to show you around the site, point out a not-so-obvious point of interest, and ask for baksheesh in return. we know the drill and always just ignored them. But sometimes I wonder, are we missing out some great experiences for being overly protective of ourselves, and our wallets? It really wasn't the money, i think, giving a few Egyptian pounds for a good tip is not going to break my bank. It's the annoyance of being asked for money for virtually anything, and being lied to our faces and treated like we are walking ATMs! I believe many Egyptians are of friendly, good nature, but sadly, in our tourist bubble, most people we encountered are the shady ones who are in the business for tourists' money and are driven by their greed. Sometimes it's just really hard not to get pissed off by that. We had to keep reminding ourselves not to let it get under our skin and ruin many wonders this ancient country has to offer! A delicate fine line to walk on.

I will share with you how we got gypped the first day in Cairo. Please don't laugh! I feel really stupid when I think about it now! If you are having a bad day, this should give you a good laugh!
We were in Islamic Cairo and we saw our first mosque. I was excited and couldn't wait to go in. I walked up to the doorman and asked him how much is the entrance fee. He looked at me going "30 pounds" (must be thinking stupid tourist!), I asked him if there is student discount and took out my student ID. He acted like he's thoroughly checking it and finally decided it's legit and gave me the student rate of 25 pounds (and probably thinking his prayer has been answered! 55 pounds fallen from the sky). It wasn't until later when it finally registered - no mosques should charge any entrance fee because they are public places! No wonder the doorman treated us like we were his VIP guests, showed us this hidden path behind an iron door to the top of the minaret (mosque towers), where we had a great view of Cairo. Although feeling stupid and cheated, i have to say looking out on the minaret was one of the highlights of our stay in Cairo. This goes back to the delicate fine line I was talking about. :) sometimes you just gotta think of it as paying for an experience, or do more homework in advance - reading travel bible Lonely Planet more thoroughly!

Since we started traveling January, we had Lonely Planet guide for every country. But we've never felt as much attached to it as in Egypt. We even said jokingly we were going to frame it once we settle down. In a country where nothing has fixed price and everyone is trying to get a piece of the tourism pie, the meticulously provided details saved our days, many times! I know I already said that, but we swear by our L.P. Egypt guide! :)

With that, we left Egypt. But I know I will return one day. Anyone interested in going together? I can be your resident bargaining specialist and only ask for a small baksheesh in return.. ha!:)

Arriving in the Land of Smile - Thailand....

After Egypt, traveling in Thailand is a walk in the park. Everything is well indicated, people are genuinely friendly and helpful, price tags never looked so lovely before(they are non-existent in Egypt), and taxis use meters!! Sometimes we had to remind ourselves we are not in Egypt anymore. When this guy on the street point out the direction for us, I almost expected him to ask for baksheesh. but nope, he just wanted to help! :)

I had a rough start in Bangkok though. I had menstrual pain followed by upset stomach. And being so close to Taiwan makes me feel a little homesick. But still, we did many things in Bangkok - visited the Grand Palace, took a riverboat on the canals, watched Thai boxing, and Mambo Cabaret (a transvestites show). Those ladyboys are so beautiful,well figured, and elegant - until they talk! :) (left picture)


We spent the rest of our time in Chiang Mai, which i absolutely love! We joined a 2 day/1 night trekking that includes visiting the long neck Karen village (picture on the left), elephant ride and bamboo rafting. When we booked the tour on Khao San Rd. (Bangkok's backpacker's street), we were sold quickly by the pictures. What the tour agency failed to tell us is that we are going to trek through a mosquito infested jungle for 3 hours to the hill tribe village where we spend the night! Imagine how happy i was when our guide broke the news to us (mossies love me but the feeling is not mutual). It was quite a rough, steep hike and there is not really a trail at some points. I felt like one of those survivors in the show LOST. :)

We were dead tired when we reached the hut where we slept. The guides had being collecting fresh ingredients along the way and now prepared delicious Thai dinner for us, including fried salty bamboo worms for appetizer (very tasty!). That night I took the quickest shower (bathroom shared with one big spider and other unknown living objects), thoroughly examined the bedding and mosquito net with a flash night, then turned in and slept like a baby! The next day we trekked through the jungle again, crossed a few rivers on balance beams (that is if there is any). In one case we just crossed in the river (with waist-high water) because the bamboo that spans the river looks like one for the kung-fu masters, not for ordinary people like us :) We got soaking wet!

Pascal and I squeeze out last bit of energy to smile for the camera

talking about crossing a river!

elephant ridingthis is where we spent the night

At long last we arrived at the place for rafting. As we drove parallel to the river I got increasingly worried looking at the rapids. That on a bamboo raft? What else hasn't the tour agency told us?! We were so relieved when we arrived at the embarkation point and saw a rubber raft! hallelujah! Actually we got a combo of both. We first took the rubber raft through the rapids, and switched to a bamboo raft when the water is calmer. Riding on a bamboo raft is one special experience. They put seven of us on the same raft and my butt was underwater the whole time, didn't the guide just say he saw a snake in the water? That night we took the longest shower and felt grateful for being back to civilization. Our simple room at the guesthouse suddenly looks very luxurious. :)

the next day we went outdoor climbing and rappelling. This is the first time we both climb outdoor and it was lots of fun, although it left me with many bruises and scratches. I thought rappelling was going to be the easy one but I was so darn wrong! When the guide told us we were going to descend a 60m deep cave, all three girls in the group went pale. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, think about rappelling as belaying oneself down a cliff by slowly releasing the rope through a belay device tied to you. In other words, life is in your own hands. :) Although it's just a learning session and there are experienced guides backing us up, i can't help thinking my life is hanging by a thread. My stomach was turning and legs shaking before stepping off. After several very long minutes I finally reached the bottom, feeling accomplished and a little adventurous about myself. :)

Pascal, conquering the wall

Me, rappelling down the 60m cave. I look like a spider.

the day after I took a thai cooking class. I've always been a thai food lover and have tried making a few dishes before. But not until this point did I realize i've been doing it all wrong! Just because I put a scoop of curry paste in doesn't make it a thai curry! :) each of us get to learn 6 dishes of our choice! I picked the standard ones - phad thai, Tom yum soup with prawns, sticky rice with mango, red curry chicken, papaya salad, Ka Pow (ground chicken with basil). The instructor also took us to a local market to select the ingredients and that's an eye popping experience. all these different herbs seem to serve a special, irreplaceable purpose and simply altering one will lose the original flavor of the dish. I wonder how they were concocted together the first time to create such tasteful recipes? We only used fresh ingredients in the class, nothing canned or packaged. we watched the market vendor sending fresh coconuts through a machine to make coconut milk, then diluted it to make coconut juice. we even crushed the herbs in a mortar to make curry paste! The class is so well organized and hands-on. Each student gets enough individual attention from the instructor, who is really competent and friendly, and speaking good English. I had a blast and walked away with many good tips and recipes.

watching how the local thais making fresh coconut milk

preparing curry paste. the mortar on the table is what we used to pound and mash the ingredients

my red curry chicken and KaPow

that concluded my short stay in Thailand. I flew back to Taiwan the next day while Pascal went on to Kao Tao for his advance PADI open water. On a side note, I loved the bangkok-taipei line with EVA AIR! Each passenger has a personal screen with wide selections of programs and movies. i wasn't bored a second on the plane and that helped the time pass and calmed my anxiety of going home. :) I'll finish this entry here, I'll post more pictures on flickr soon. stay tuned!

Sunrise on top of Mt. Sinai

We are now in Dahab, on the red sea coast. When we arrived in our hotel, we were surprised to see many familiar faces, the Canadian sisters, Swedish, and an Aussie couple on the felucca! it's great, feels like finding old friends back. :) Lonely planet suggests coming here to recover from "chronic pharaonic fatigue", we happily oblige. :) (we soooo swear by our L.P.) it is indeed very relaxing here, the coast is lined with colorful Bedouin style cafe and restaurants (picture on the left). there's significantly less street hassles. people are more laid back and friendly and the souvenir t-shirts printed with "Dive now, work later" just says it all!

As restless as us, we decided to balance out the relaxation with some physical activity. that is, to climb Mt. Sinai for the sunrise (where Moses received the Ten Commandments). We started at about 2am, the hike is not so difficult but the darkness adds a bit challenge to it, especially when we have to share the route with camels (and their poops)! One of them even pushed Pascal. what an aggressive creature! the sun rise is so beautiful, the scenery from top is breathtaking. It's the first time i ever see a cloudless sunrise. definitely worth the hike!

pictures below: the beautiful sunrise and the crowd on the summit