Bent Road
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Taiwan (Country 22)
TAIPEI, TAIWAN (Part 1)
March 17-23, 2010
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/tw.htm
Last March 17-23,2010 I was able to visit the beautiful country of Taiwan. This was a trip organized by my husband for our photography group’s first international photo expedition.
Taiwan is located southeast of the Republic of China and north of the Philippines. Out of the 195 countries in the world, Taiwan, Kosovo and the Vatican City, are the only countries that are not members of the United Nations.
Similar to China, a visa is required to enter Taiwan. But for Philippine citizens who also have visas of any of the following: US/Canada/Japan/UK/Australia/New Zealand/Schengen States, all you need to do is visit this site https://nas.immigration. gov.tw/nase/ , fill up the necessary form and print. That will serve as your visa to Taiwan.
We arrived at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport via Cebu Pacific Airlines (a low cost carrier based in the Philippines) after a 2 hour flight. We arrived before 1 am of the 18th, got picked up by a bus that was previously arranged by a contact in Manila (2200 NT for 9 people) and went directly to our hotel in Taipei – the Yomi Hotel. We chose this hotel due good reviews and its proximity to the Shuanglian MRT station. Our hotel was just a 3 star hotel but the rooms were pretty decent. The rooms had free wifi (internet cables can also be borrowed for free) and free snacks. The bathrooms were pretty big and could be used as a sauna. Restaurants/small eateries can be found around the hotel and some of them close pretty late (after arriving at the hotel, some of our friends still ate out at around 2 in the morning).
In my opinion, one really good thing about Taiwan is their reliable and efficient transportation systems. Metered taxis can be found anywhere (though one must always remember to have the card of their hotel and their destination written down in Chinese –most of the drivers CANNOT understand English). Their railway system (MRT) is very similar to Hong Kong’s which makes going around Taiwan trouble-free. Since we were a big group of photographers (some hobbyists, some not) we opted to rent a small bus/coaster and hire a guide for 2 days to be able to see the provinces outside of Taipei. Unfortunately, our driver was a better guide than the one we hired but fortunately we had mandarin/fukien speaking people in our group so they were able to help with the language barrier.
March 18, 2010
LIBERTY SQUARE/CHIANG KAI-SHEK MEMORIAL HALL/SHILIN NIGHT MARKET
Taking the red line from the Shuanglian station, we stopped at the Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall station. Once we reached the exit, we found ourselves at the Liberty Square where the Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall, National Theater and National Concert Hall were located.
Main Gate of the Liberty Square
National Theater and National Concert Hall
The national Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which can be found at the liberty square/freedom square, was built in honor of a former president Chiang Kai-Shek (a leader in 20th century China). The colors of the monument (blue, white and red) represent the colors that can be found in the ROC flag. The two sets of 89 steps leading to the top stand for the age when Chiang Kai-shek passed away. The octagonal shape of the roof symbolizes the number 8.
According to the Wikipedia website, the inscriptions that can be found on the walls inside the memorial translate to “The purpose of life is to improve the general life of humanity and The meaning of life is to create and sustain subsequent lives in the universe”.
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
After visiting the monument, we decided to head to Taipei 101 for a very late lunch at the shopping arcade food court. I had some of my favorite Xiao Long Bao (shanghai soup dumplings), soup and mushroom rice. After lunch we split into 2 groups – one group decided to go the camera stores and to the IT center. 4 of us decided to stay behind, walk around, kill time, go back to the hotel to meet and pay our tour guide, wait for it to get dark, go back near Taipei 101 for and take night shots of the city. After a couple of hours and realizing that we were getting hungry once more, we met with our other friends at the Shilin Night Market (take note people - to get to the Shilin market, you do not get off at the Shilin stop. You must go down at the Jiantan station). We took the mrt (blue line) from the Taipei City Hall station (not a short walk from Taipei 101) to the Taipei Main Station; switched to the red line and stopped at the shilin station – realized our mistake and went back one stop.
Taipei 101 at night
Taipei is full of night markets. The Shilin night market (open from around 6 pm till midnight) is one of the biggest and one of the most popular. For the adventurous type, the variety of food, snacks and drinks are amazing! From stinky tofu, fried sioapos (fried steamed buns), kiamoy/champuy/haw flakes flavored drinks, mushroom rice, octopus balls, oyster cakes, flavored ice cream, grilled sweet and spicy corn, candied strawberries, sausages/chorizos, steak dinners costing only 100 NT (with bottomless iced tea) etc. etc…your options are limitless. Besides the food, affordable clothes and accessories are everywhere. So there is always something to do for each and every one. At around 1030 pm we hopped back on the MRT and decided to call it a night.
Shilin Night Market
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My Son’s Pain Is My Pain
My journey as a mother proves to be a continuous battle of highs and lows - luckily with more highs than lows. I am fortunate because so far, my son can be considered healthy (though on the thin side). But as a mother, especially since my son is only 20 months old, it is very difficult for me to see my baby in pain.
Last wednesday (March 31, 2010) I woke up around 7:30 am through my son’s persistent nudging and movements and found our him and our bed soaked with watery stool. The night before I knew that he was having stomach pains since he kept getting my hand and putting it on his stomach. But not knowing what the real problem was, I couldn’t do anything about it. He has been through mild cases of diarrhea before but not quite as bad as this one. So that morning we decided to observe first if his stools were going to get better. But they didn’t and he seemed very thirsty for the rest of the day. So 14 hours later, my mother-in-law (who is also my son’s pediatrician) recommended that we bring him to the hospital. I have never been confined in a hospital before giving birth. So maybe I assumed that my son would be the same way. It was very difficult for me to bring him to the hospital not knowing what the outcome would be (his type of diarrhea seemed like symptoms for rotavirus or cholera). So we brought him to the emergency room and they had to put him on dextrose since he was becoming dehydrated. Seeing his tears and hearing him scream while the IV was being inserted was heartbreaking. And for the rest of the night, even when we were at the hospital room, he kept freaking out every time a nurse would come near him. If only I could’ve taken his pain from him. He only really calmed down when we were the only 2 left in the room. Finally around 1230 am of April 1, he fell asleep.
The next morning, I knew my prayers were answered - his test results came out normal. He was smiling more and kept moving around (even though he was irritated with the IV). But the important thing was he became my happy little boy again. After lunch, even though he was still hooked up to the dextrose, we went to my in-law’s house and took care of him there. And finally around 1130 pm, his IV was removed.
I know some people may have experienced worse but I know that every mother can say that no pain will ever be too insignificant and that her child’s pain will always be her pain. And maybe this happening during holy week is an opportune time for me to once again thank God for all the blessings he has showered upon my family because despite whatever pain I’ve been through in the past (I lost my father during holy week as well) He still has never left my side; and to thank Him for giving us His only son- who in turn gave up his life for us. Only our Father’s love can accept all the pain thrown at him and only His love can sacrifice so much- knowing that at the end of it all, His children will be saved.
Have a blessed holy week!
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Australian Tourist Visa Application
One thing I despise about living in a 3rd world country is having to apply for tourist visas for most countries outside Asia. Not only are they expensive but it can get pretty stressful having to compile all the documents that you need. When my husband and I travel, we hardly go through travel agencies nor do we join tour groups. Oh if only I could skip the hassle and go everywhere I want to in a whim (I would totally fall in love with my Philippine passport).
Yesterday, in preparation for our family trip to Australia in May, we lodged our tourist visa applications. This was the second time we applied for a tourist visa and this trip will be my third time to visit this lovely country (my favorite Australian city - Gold Coast - how I miss you!). I had to lodge 5 visa applications - mine, my husband’s, my son’s, my 2 sisters-in-law’s apps. We had 2 options: 1. call the toll number and schedule for a courier pick-up. 2 way fee (pick-up & delivery): P320 per applicant. But the downside was the call would cost us 32 bucks per minute. And based on experience, the call takes a while. 2. Go directly to the VIA Center (Visa Information & Application Center) in Makati. Fee: P600 per applicant. The good thing about bringing your papers directly to them is that they make a checklist of everything that you submit. Also, your papers will be at the embassy the very next day. The downside: it took me 2 1/2 hours to finish everything—a waiting time of almost 2 hours and another 30+ minutes once you get to the counter. My husband brought his PSP, so he wasn’t bored. I, on the other hand was a bit unlucky; I forgot to bring my ebook reader (I blame it on the stress), I had my Ipod but wasn’t able to charge it and cellular phones had to be shut down.
So what do you need to apply for an Australian Tourist Visa? I would say the usual: filled up forms (48R for Filipinos), bank cheques (payment for the visa fee - P4,700 per applicant - even for my 20 month old son!), birth certificate, marriage certificate (I submit this because I don’t use my husband’s family name), passport pictures with plain backgrounds, bank certificates, proof of financial capability (credit card statements, etc), employment/student/business papers and any other kind of proof of your ties in your country. But I completely forgot about needing photocopies of the data/information page of our passports and photocopies of our bank certificates. Luckily my husband’s PSP ran out of batteries and he had them photocopied for me :)
Every time we lodge visa applications, I learn something new (I seriously learned how not to cram applications the HARD WAY). This time around I found out that some people just submit a photocopy of their passport (Aus visa application only). This will become helpful when you have other trips in line and you fear that your passport might not be returned to you in time. Of course there is an additional cost but I suppose it should be worth it rather having your passport pulled out (which a lot of embassies allow if really necessary).
My husband (the optimist in our relationship) always tells me not to worry about being approved, but I always do. I just don’t want to set myself up for disappointment. So here I am again, counting the days and crossing my fingers that all our visa applications will be approved. :)
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Timbaland Shock Value II Tour with Justin Timberlake and Jojo
For as far as i can remember, music has been a part of my life. I took singing lessons, piano and guitar lessons. My dad used to play the harmonica and would sometimes sing. My mom used to sing/perform on stage when she was still alive. My sister also sings while my nephew when he was younger performed on stage. Our family reunions (up to now) would consist of major singing contests and dance competitions. I was always surrounded by music and I cannot imagine life without it.
I attended my first real concert when I was around 9 or 10 years old. But long gone are the days when an outdoor concert meant you still had seat assignments and you didn’t have to worry about being there around an hour earlier just so you could find a good spot where you could stand for hours. It doesn’t necessarily follow anymore that you get what you pay for, no matter how good the artist may be (I paid 21,ooo pesos for a ticket 2 years ago and it was worth every centavo).
Last night my husband and I watched Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Jojo’s Shock Value II Tour here in Manila. The concert was supposed to start at 8 pm so we were there around 740. Like most concerts I expected it to start later than it was supposed to and it did. But what I did not expect was how LATE the main event was going to start. At around 830 pm, 4 djs from a sponsoring radio station came out and talked for a couple of minutes (thanking other sponsors, etc). Then they introduced the opening act and OMFG, I’ve watched numerous concerts and this was by far the worst opening act EVER. They introduced a group of hip hop/rap artists (if you could call them that) called ONE (?). They sang a couple of dreadful songs (how can one take them seriously when in one of their songs they just kept repeating “MAINIT! MAINIT! MAINIT! - hot hot hot; they so weren’t hot); and then ONE introduced the award winning all star hip hop dance group of the Philippines which was totally a big improvement from them. Around 910 pm, another set of djs came out (thanking sponsors AGAIN and making fools out of themselves). So after a couple of minutes they finally said ‘this is it!’ blah blah blah and we all got excited. BUT after they left the stage it took another 30 minutes for the sound check and I think Timbaland finally came up the stage around 945 pm.
The main event was good and fun. It ended around 12 mn but in between they tried stalling a lot. Timbaland was GREAT. I’ve always been a fan and I always will be (and he’s funny too!). Jojo only sang 2 songs; one with Timbaland and one solo which I though was pretty sad because she came all the way here for that. They should’ve just let her sing more songs instead of Timbaland’s dj playing old Timbaland tracks. After Jojo’s stint, Timbaland came back up, did a couple of stuff and then started singing the chorus of Apologize by One Republic and when he started singing “its too late to apologize…” someone started singing back “…it’s too late” and everyone started screaming because it was JT from backstage. It took another couple of minutes before JT came out. It was sort of surreal seeing them perform together. I love JT! Justin sang a total of around 8-10 songs but for me the best part really was at the end when they sang Sexy Back and Promiscuous Girl.
Overall I wasn’t too happy with my outdoor concert experience. First of all, we ended up standing for around 4 1/2 hours. This would’ve been fine if we had the option to sit on the floor or at least move around a bit but once you’re stuck in the middle of a sea of people there’s nothing left to do but to stand there (the only thing you can do in that situation is either text people, pull the hair of the person in front of you or pinch the person beside you - it was that crowded). I’m not that tall too so I couldn’t see everything (I don’t know how the person beside me enjoyed the concert because she only came up to my shoulders). Secondly, we got VIP tickets which cost us 3500 pesos (it was supposed to be 4200 i think but my husband got it from a friend). We should’ve gotten the 8000 pesos VVIP (who ever heard of VVIP tickets?) so we could have stayed closer to the stage but then again 8k for standing for hours? I’d rather buy myself a ticket to Hong Kong. Thirdly, it was MAINIT! MAINIT! MAINIT! Lastly, there is another major concert coming up — John Mayer; same venue, no chairs and outrageous ticket prices (the most expensive ones would set me back 12,000 a piece). I don’t understand why tickets cost that much over here. To think John Mayer will also be performing in Sydney and the most expensive tickets only cost (in pesos) around 4000-5000 each. We’re considering just watching him outside of Manila (and probably any other artist set to perform at the Mall of Asia concert grounds) but I know if ever we do decide to watch that concert I will not settle for anything less than the 12k tickets. The concert last night was just too exhausting (not in a good way!). But I’m looking forward to seeing Justin perform somewhere else. I promise I will get to watch him again.
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Lakbayan: How much of the Philippines have you visited?
My Lakbayan grade is C-!
How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!
(Created by Eugene Villar)
I have never been a fan of local travel. I don’t know if it’s because of the heat (i’d rather go to some place cooler) or the difficulty of having to go through heavy traffic, unpaved roads and small towns. My husband would often tell me that I must learn to appreciate the Philippines. He used to ask me often how I could appreciate foreign countries when I could not even appreciate my own? And taking this to heart and because of various local trips we’ve taken (though very very slowly), I’ve managed to appreciate its beauty more.
Among all the places I’ve been to locally, I would definitely recommend going to Batanes, Palawan and Bicol (swimming with the whale sharks in Donsol was truly an experience to remember!).
Hopefully, we get to see more of the Philippines in the coming months (next local trip…CEBU!).
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Bent Road
There are 3 things in life that i will never grow tired of… being a wife to my best friend, being a mother to my little man and being a traveler.
I am very fortunate because I get to travel a lot with my husband. We do not travel as backpackers because admittedly I do not think I can. Nor do we travel “in style” and stay in beautiful hotels. We just take trips to places and stay in hotels we know we can afford.
This blog was inspired by my friend Celine’s own project (www.30before30project.com). She decided to list down 30 things that she wants to accomplish before turning 30 in May of 2011. Instead of making my own 30 before 30 list or any other bucket list, I decided to set a goal based on what I know and what I love. As of yesterday, I have visited 22 countries. My goal is to be able to reach 30 countries before I turn 30 on April 4, 2011. As of this moment I can honestly say that I do not know if this is possible at all but I think it’s worth a try.
This blog though won’t only be about my 30 countries before 30 target. This will also be about the other journeys we will be taking in the next few months/years and other life experiences.
Why “Bent Road”? Because not only can every journey, every decision, every happy and sad experience be not what I expect, but these journeys and experiences always lead me home.
