Jiufen Taipei

One of my favorite day trips from Taipei, but can be full of insane tourist groups. It’s said that this is where Director Miyazaki got his idea for the Ghibli Studio film, Spirited Away! After walking around (ignoring the crowds), I could see it really well.

Jiufen side street. It was a cloudy day but still nice in the area.

When to go…
Taiwan tends to open later. As in most shops and resaturants wont open until 11am or noon at earliest. I reccommend leaving Taipei city around 9 or 10am if you can. This will help to avoid the bus load of tourists. Food will be fresh and it will be easier to walk leisurely down the narrow passages.

How to get to Jiufen
There are two options, bus or taxi/private taxi that try to nab you at the bus stop.

The bus is 100NT one way, takes a little over an hour and barely makes stops.

The private taxi will charge 200NT to start, and will sell it at a 45 minute ride. Don’t let them fool you saying that the bus will take 2hrs. The bus really isn’t baf if you have time to kill to take the scenic route. If you’re pressed for time then consider the taxi. But know that sometimes those taxi buses will loop back around if they can pick up more people.

What to do in Jiufen
They have a few temples around, with amazing colors! Even on a cloudy day we could see them.

But Jiufen is really known for its tea. Find a nice tea house if you have time to relax. It can be a really nice hideaway from the crowds or escape from the weather.

How to Asian Tea Time
The way of tea between Taiwanese and Chinese culture are almost similar.  You pay by the choice and type of tea. The tea house will then prepare a container of tea leaves for the customers, usually accompanied with a small cookie snack.

They will do the first pour to show you how to properly make the tea.
From the pot you can reuse the first scoop several times before the leaves are finished.

If you don’t finish all the leaves, which you probably won’t…they’ll doggie-bag the rest of the leftovers.

There’s no time limit, as tea time is a traditional practice for relaxation and leisurely conversation. You could easily spend hours in there.

Sand Bath: Ibusuki, Japan

Popular sand bath at Ibusuki, Japan.

Ibusuki City is located almost an hour train ride from Kagoshima, Kyushu. It’s been on my bucket list for the longest time as this past weekend I finally had the chance to get around to visiting a Sunaburo (aka. sand bath). It’s been a traditional cleansing treatment for the past 300 years, and recently has been working it’s way on promoting itself as one of the most unique experiences on Kyushu.

The weight and natural thermal heated sand is very effective to cleanse the body through perspiration, and improving circulation. The suggested time for a good sweat is at least 10 minutes, however, if it gets too hot they don’t recommend guests push themselves to continue.

Sunamushi Kaikan Saraku

A popular sand bath house in Ibusuki. From Ibusuki Station it’s either a 5 min taxi ride, or a nice scenic 15-20 minute walk along the beach. Walking along the beach can be interesting to see the steam rising from the sand…just by looking at it made my summer day feel hotter.

When entering the sand bath everyone strips down and heads out only wearing the robe provided by the bath house, carrying with them their towel and maybe any toiletries to wash off afterward ~ Camera included! On the beach, the attendant will have prepared a little body dip in the sand with a well defined derriere-grove! Now that’s detail!

At first the feeling of being “buried” made me a bit uneasy, because it’s not a common situation I come across on an occasional basis…not to mention that the feeling of “rising up from the ground” was pretty memorable. It’s probably the closest zombie experience I’ll ever have with my conscious still intact.

Sunamoshi Kaikan. The famous sand bath house in Ibusuki. Admission: ¥900

China High Speed Train Review

This year for Golden Week I decided to make my way to China. I did a round trip from Beijing to Shanghai, because after living in Japan and having fun on the overnight train in Thailand I’ve actually come to enjoy trains. In China, I decided to try out the new High Speed Train.

Shanghai’s railway station. Luckily, it seems that all the train stations have the same layout so it’s easy to get around.

 

Train from Beijing to Shanghai

The ride between Beijing and Shanghai varies between 4-5 hours, and taking the HS Train was nice and smooth. At first I wanted to try the business class (one-way), just because the chairs looked cool but they were all booked up. So I opted to go first class just to treat myself, but sadly it seemed like there’s probably no real difference in comparison to riding second class except in terms of pricing.

Seats of first class. But honestly, it looked no different than 2nd class.

There was a lot of leg room but services provided were very minimal from what I thought (and read) that would be offered in “first class”. That being said, I wonder what business class REALLY had to offer. So, if you’re thinking about buying a ticket here are a few marketing corrections that need to be addressed (and or updated) on the website:

1. Snacks & Drinks: When first arriving on the train a stewardess will come by, and you are given: a drink (orange juice or water); and a small airplane-like mix snack bag. And that is it, whereas the website states unlimited drinks. There is a tap for hot water, so I assume their idea of limited drinks would be unlimited hot water for BYOT (bring-your-own-tea).

*Note: Coffee is available @15RMB

2. No meals: On the website it says that a free meal is provided for VIP* (which includes both business & first class riders), but there is none. I was shown a menu, and if you want a meal it’s around 50RMB. Feel free to bring your own food and snacks, unless you want to check out the restaurant on board the train.

3. No WIFI: I’m not sure about business class, but there was not even a secure signal to be found in the first class cabin. Not sure of the business class cart.

Boarding platform

Recommendation?

When taking China’s High Speed Train during the day (not the evening cart…I haven’t really experienced it), there doesn’t seem to be much difference in terms of what you get from first and second class.

Aside from price, the only few noticeable differences were:

1) A designated VIP ticket gate (for business & first class), so you can bypass the long lines of nudging of other passengers.

2) Second class may have more passengers depending on what part of the year you’re traveling.

3) 1 free snack pack & drink per route.

Making Cute Bentos

Recently I have been fascinated with Japanese bentos (meal boxes), and I always wished that I could make my food look fun for me to eat. Maybe then I’d be inclined to bring lunches to work, rather than buy, and that I would feel so “ugh” when I would look at my boring lunch…now the question is where to start. My Japanese literacy level isn’t that good, so me finding a class wasn’t so successful thanks to my understanding. Maybe it’s all for the better, because I’m sure the only members in those classes would be moms…

My goal in life…because who wouldn’t want a lunch box full of Totoro?

I started getting a couple bento magazines here and there for ideas, and I would often go to the mall and check out their kitchenware for bentos. Because I know I can’t go fancy just yet, so for starters I went and bought these little holders.

Bento food and sauce holders/containers. To add cuteness and colors to every bento box.

The animals are containers that can hold sauce, or small veggies/fruit. The colorful cupcake-cup-lookalikes are rubber holders help separate veggies, salad or fruit. I already had a few bento boxes, so I thought I was fine…and then I realized the importance of size ~ including my favorite yellow bento!

Starting off my bento stride, nice and easy. Rice with stir fry.

For more mature looking lunches, I’m sure my yellow bento box would have been sufficient. It was pretty straightforward, rice, veggies & meat. Now, trying to use my new containers was where the problem came in :S

Trying to use my new bento animal containers.
Mushroom cream pasta & salad. Inside piggy is Rosemary Reduction Balsamic Vinegar (from Whistler, BC 🙂 )

My favorite sauce in the world! While I loved the look, & I was excited about finally being able to use my animals ~ my excitement came a bit prematurely. Actually, I found out that all my animals are too tall for my current bento boxes… *sigh*, time to go out and get a new one.

…Poor lil’ piggy is too tall for my bento!!! >.<…

Mid-Autumn / Moon Festival

In Chinese culture, we consider the moon to be at its biggest, roundest and brightest. Being very round, we associate it with family gathering, and family coming together for a reunion. Gifts are usually given (often moon cakes), and traditionally families will out out to admire the moon.

Mid-Autumn mooncake history

I use to be crazy about moon cakes when I was younger, especially because moon cakes were only limited and made for one occasion only. The traditional kind of mooncake is made of lotus seed paste with egg yolks. Now we can find different variations and combinations in stores today.

In the past, mooncakes were used to hide and pass around secret rebellion plans for the Hans to overthrow the Mongolian government. On the night of the Moon Festival they successfully attack and overthrew the Mongolians, thus beginning the Ming Dynasty. Now, mooncakes are eaten in memory of this successful takeover.

Starbucks Mooncake

A teacher of mine went to Bangkok to visit her daughter over summer vacation and brought me back a souvenir from Starbucks! So cool, never seen anything like it – and I never thought Starbucks would make anything like it either 😀

Mooncake from Starbucks in Bangkok.

Kokura Castle & Hanami

This week is filled with Hanami (flower watching) gatherings. Families, couples, or groups of friends head to the park where they eat, drink and get merry under the sakura blossoms. Hanami season (or sakura season) usually happens around the week of late March, into early April. Depending on the weather as well.

Hanami (Sakura season) Late March – Early April.

I managed to drag my friend into taking an early JR train to reserve space (thank you fellow Canadian!), as usually the park fills pretty quickly. Considering it was a breezy, cold day, it took a while for the park to fill. In efforts to spot ourselves easily in the predicting crowds, I had brought along my Canadian flag and we hooked it up to a branch.

Canada marks our spot!

Kokura Castle is located in Kitakyushu. It’s a pretty popular location for hanami…actually, all castle locations are pretty popular as the backdrop is beautiful.

Kokura Castle

Kokura Castle & Hanami

The park was the busiest around noon as people came to enjoy lunch. It was a lot of fun that we ended up staying longer in the park than intended. Then, in our “enlightened” state, we headed off to karaoke and spent the next few hours singing away.

White Day Gifts

Though it was yesterday, I must admit that life hasn’t been the greatest lately. Life has been a pile up of bad luck lately, and for some reason it all decided to accumulate around the same time. It’s a mystery as to how it even got to the point that it did. In short, it’s been a while since I could genuinely smile at work…

Japanese Gift Giving
Though people aim to give gifts on the day of, some may find it convenient to give it a day either before or after. Yesterday, I was more than happy to receive the sweet gifts of kindness from my staff members. Everyone was really nice, but today was the ultimate – blown out of the water, I know how to make you smile, gift. Walking into work, I could only imagine how it’s another day that will take forever to passover. Headed over to my desk and was totally taken by surprise. One of my teachers, (whose crazy about Gundam) assembled a model, and gifted it to me with chocolates!

Best White Day Gift
The chocolates didn’t even matter, though I love Godiva, nothing compares to Gundam! Feeling so happy, I made my way to his desk to thank him – and then I did the unimaginable that is second nature to Westerners. I hugged him. Boom! My teacher blushed and hugged back!
A head teachers saw, smiled and laughed. It’s definitely something the Japanese DON’T do, especially at work. But I’m Canadian – and that’s how we roll!

Thank you for making my day^^ sensei.

Who cares about Godiva, when there’s Gundam!

White Day

While Valentine’s Day was the gift receiving day for males, White Day (March 14) is the female-receiving counterpart. All guys who received a gift, should return the gesture on this special day.

Gifts usually come as chocolates, or sweets. Either way, it’s part of Japanese culture that guys spend more money on the gifts to girls. My coworker joked with me, that girls can go cheap on the guy’s gift – but not vice versa. “It’s for their sense of pride if they know what’s good for them”, my coworker smiled.

Happy White Day!

Japanese Expressions Through Tea

One of my senior teachers has taken on the happy duty of teaching me a new “cool” expression at least each day.I look forward to our daily chats, as I have found myself to remember these newly learned words and expressions better than what my textbook offers. The past couple of expressions have resonated in my brain with an affiliation of tea. My way of attempting to remember words, by linking them to something I hopefully know or recognize. Or maybe I’m just really craving tea.

 

Japanese Expressions with “Tea”

Me-cha Me-cha: As if you were saying “Matcha Tea”

Extremely, or totally. This can be used as a replacement instead of saying Totemo, for kids to young adults. Only used among peers or younger, and most definitely not to be used with seniors or higher ranks.

Example: Me-cha Me-cha kakkoii (Totally cool!)

I said this in conversation with a fellow junior teacher who exclaimed it was a “dirty word”, as in, this isn’t something an academic lady would say. Instead, (to him at least) it gives off the impression as we would usually perceive a Western stereotype of being “blonde”. This teacher usually likes to keep me in line by having me learn “clean” Japanese, to which I usually continue using the phrase anyway because I know it bugs him. Watching him get all worked up is quite entertaining.

~Chai mashita: Like “Chai Tea”

Giving an expression that you accidently did something by mistake. With a smile, this is considered a cute expression to saying “Oppsies, silly me!”.

I was told that in response, any anger or ill feelings the other party might of had will become ‘light-hearted and humored’. Haven’t had a chance to try it yet, and not sure if I want to. Probably the last thing I want is make a Japanese person angry, here.

Example: “LL room wa ichai mashita” (I went to the LL room by mistake)

                    “~ichai mashita” (I went to…by mistake)

                    “~michai mashita” (I saw…by mistake)

                    “~tabechai mashita” (I ate… by mistake)

Valentine’s Day in Japan

Valentine’s Day is soon around the corner. While in other places of the world, people are preparing their gifts & cards for lovers and friends. Here in Japan, Valentine’s Day is the gift giving day from women to men only, or between female friends. And so, there are gorgeously decorated chocolates everywhere!

Chocolate balls with awesome designs

Valentine’s Day

It’s most common to gift chocolates on Valentine’s Day. Many Japanese men look forward to Valentine’s Day, to see how much they will get. In school, is almost a popularity contest. So both students and teachers look forward to numbers. Funny enough, a co-teacher is not fond of eating sweets, but he told me that he hopes to get a lot of chocolate from students and staff members. So what will he do with it, if he doesn’t like eating sweets? I offered to eat it for him :).

Decorative chocolate fans.

When everything Japanese food related looks delicious! I really wish I could eat everything I see. Let’s also not forget about presentation, both in the look of the sweets themselves, but also the packaging. Japan gets an A++ for most creative and innovative presentation and packaging!

 

Mmm…boxed chocolates…

My friend and I stumbled upon this one counter. After picking your chocolates there are three types of casings to choose from: Quilted Pink, Slick Black, or Swarovski White – that actually has a Swarovski crystal on the box.

Quilted Pink & Black Slick chocolate cases

It can be said that in Japan, not just women like pretty stuff.

*Note: That while it may seem unfair to the girls, females will get their day in March (‘White Day’). The perk about being a girl is, we don’t have to spend a lot on the guy’s gift, but men are more inclined to spend more on their gifts for us ladies.

 

 

Early Valentine’s Gift
Thank you to my friend for the early Valentine’s Day gift ^^. I’ll cherish this box forever 😉

Swarovski crystal boxed chocolates