on spirit houses

the two most important things to the thai people are the monarchy and religion.

there are posters of the king everywhere! some guy got sent to seven years in prison for defacing a poster of the king-that wasn't even the max sentence. last year marked the 60th year of his reign. he's been through 17 military coups, 20 prime ministers and 15 consitutions.

so onto spirit houses. these are small houses/temples the size of a birdhouse in front of people's houses. they are very ornate and serve as a house for the spirits. by giving them a fancy house they would rather live in than your house, they can't cause trouble. i think this a marvelous idea! not only does it make the spirits happy, you have a nice decorative piece on your lawn!

now i ask, what has your garden gnome done for you lately?

The Last Few Hours in Thailand...

So yesterday we woke up early and hit the morning market. It was your standard fresh food market, but they did have Thai springrolls fresh out of the hot oil and although it was only like 8:30am, I thought I should partake. They were quite good.

The morning was spent shopping. Asian tours have arrangements with certain establishments and I think the tours get a commission from everything purchased. We went to a cashew factory (yum!), a bird's nest "cave", and a store that sold products made from Andaman stingray skin (rather ugly stuff).

Back to the bird's nests: there are very few edible bird nests (unless you like to eat twigs and whatnot). Swallow's nests are made from a sticky substance the female swallow generates in her beak. Yes, it is essentially bird spit. The nests are considered a delicacy in Asia and are rather expensive. My mom and aunts love to eat that stuff. You cook it in liquid and eat it like soup.

More massages! We went to this fancy spa, sauna-ed ourselves, then got oil massages. Very relaxing, and much less painful than the Thai massage. Good times.

Then we went to Wat Chalong. The main religion in Thailand is Theravada Buddhism--it's the school of Buddhism that draws scriptural inspiration from the Pali Canon (or Tipitaka), which is considered the oldest record of teh Buddha's teachings.

Wat (temple) Chalong is Phuket's most important temple and is revered for its healing powers. The prayer hall contains statues of three of the temple's most venerated monks.















And at end the day, we went to FantaSEA, the mulitimillion dollar "cultural theme park" which was voted Best Tourist Attraction in Thailand from 2000 to 2004!!! It was rather gaudy and what I imagine to be a little Vegas-esque. There were no rides, but cheesy performances (fire juggling bartenders!), games, gift shops and LOTS of flashing lights. The main show was a little bit like some sort of Asian circus with acrobats, tigers, elephants, a magic show and even fake rain. At least that is what I gathered--I actually fell asleep while waiting for the show to start (damn narcolepsy) and woke up intermittenly during the show.


So today is our last day and our flight back to Taiwan is this afternoon. I am ready to get my mosquito-bitten self back to a cooler climate. I've been gone a week and it feels like I've been away for much, much longer. I guess that's a good thing?

More Phun in Phuket

Our second full day in Thailand we went "caving". I have to say, it was really cool! We drove to the mainland to Elephant Hill: legend says that this guy came to the region, stayed there, but a herd of wild elephants came and trampled his crops. He was pretty pissed so he grabbed his spear and ran after the herd. He came across one lone elephant, which wasn't one of the wild ones and was actually quite innocent, and he speared it to death, gutted it and ate its innards. Well, they say that the hill is the remains of the elephant. It actually does look like an elephant. (Sorry, I didn't take any pictures!)

Anyways, inside the hill are caves with interesting stalactites (sp?) and such. We took a rubber canoe through the narrow water filled channel, then transferred to bamboo rafts (which weren't necessary, just for tourist fun) and then we trekked through thigh high water to wander around. I did have a moment when I thought the flashlights would go out and some gigantic prehistoric amphibian who was really hungry and angry would pop out and eat us, but it was only for a second. However, there were lots of bats there. Which makes me wonder, since people always say it's good luck if a bird poops on you, does that apply to bat guano too? More likely I will get rabies, right? (DOH people, please confirm that I have nothing to be worried about since I wasn't asleep in a cave with bats.)

After the caving, we went to an "Island Safari", or as I like to call it "Exploit Animals for Tourism!" We rode elephants (here I will confess that I took my sandal off so I could touch the elephant with my foot. It was much softer than I had expected. Very comforting to touch, actually.), watched a poor monkey on a leash toss a few free-throws and shake hands, and then there was the ox-cart ride. FUN!











































Now we are in Phuket City. It is not as touristy here and definitely pretty run down looking. I think we might do some shopping today.

Okay, I'm out of time. Next time I will have to tell you about our fellow tourists and about spirit houses.

Not Quite One Night in Bangkok

I left cool, rainy Taipei for sunny, warm Phuket, Thailand two days ago. We are here through a tour group (that seems to be the only way Taiwanese people travel) so yesterday was rather activity packed.

Phuket is at the south of Thailand and a popular resort place. It is also one of the places hit by the 2004 tsunami that devastated SE Asia. I've never been before so I can't say whether or not it's been totally rebuilt back up. We're staying in a less developed part, Kamala Beach so it's quieter. Patong is much more popular and crowded, with a Molly Malone's Pub and other such places. Ugh.

I will have to keep this relatively brief because the mosquitoes are TERRIBLE here, and of course, love to bite me. I am the owner of many large red welts. 2 new bites since I started this post. Dammit.

So here's what we've done so far:

1. Parasailing!
















2. Beach time on some of the islands off of Phuket. The water is very blue and clear. And thank god, very shallow. (For those of you who don't already know, I don't swim. And thus I have a fear of deep water.)
3. The UV Index is like a 10+, which I think is freakin' high. After slathering myself with SPF45 I STILL managed to burn a little. Ah well, I am a fast healer.

4. Took a drive to the southern tip of Phuket. Cape Promthep. Very beautiful.



















5. Thai massage. I was worried I would get the life kneaded/beaten out of me, but it actually wasn't too bad. Although, the girl did spend way too much time massaging my feet. I am not a big fan of having my feet touched. And although I was pained and sore afterwards, it all went away by this morning. Although I do have a few bruises and welts on my skin from it.

























6. Transvestite Cabaret. I kid you not. I don't know why they would think Asian tourists would want to see this. It was a little raunchy. Mom loved it, of course. I fell asleep halfway through. It was too sad to watch--these people obviously weren't putting much effort into it. The lip-synching was pathetic, and the performers pretty much looked like unattractive men with lots of make-up on.














Today we're going back to the beach this morning, then to some cave or something.

Another update soon!

My So-Called Taiwanese Life

I have arrived safely in Taiwan! The 18-hour flight was somewhat painless, although travel halfway across the world is the biggest vortex of lost time. Where did a full day go??? When I went through immigration in Taipei, the immigration officer looked at my passport pic, then at me. Three times. Then he said something in Chinese along the lines of "You look younger in your picture."

Okay, I am not one of those people who looks fresh and lovely after an 18-hour flight with two small children. AND, that passport photo was from 8 years ago. I've lived a lot of life in the last 8 years and apparently it shows. Sheesh.

Anyways, this will be brief--the family is waiting for me to finish this post so we can hit the shopping markets. (The shopping sickness runs in the family.) Regardless, I have easily reverted to the Taiwanese lifestyle which revolves around eating, shopping and sleeping. I must admit, it isn't a bad lifestyle.

Must go shopping now...

p.s. Blogger is coming up in Chinese, except for what I'm typing, so hopefully everything will translate accordingly.

Back to the Motherland. Again.

It is time again for my annual trip to Taiwan! It's going to be a long 18 hour flight (almost 6 hours to Seattle and another 12 to Taipei) with my sister, brother-in-law, 10 month old nephew and 4 year old niece, MadDog. I am not quite sure it will be okay, but I guess we'll just have to see. I am hoping this trip will not involve any debilitating illnesses, like the past two years. However, this time I won't be spending my birthday there, so that should take the jinx off. (Fingers crossed, people.)

In the meantime, let me give you some general information about Taiwan:

*Taiwan is approximately the size of CT & NH put together. Or the size of Holland, for anyone who is more euro-centric.

*The island is in the shape of a sweet potato or tobacco leaf and 2/3 of the area is covered by mountains. Although it's an island, Taiwan is NOT a beachy destination.

*Population: 22.9 million--over 10% are in Taipei (2.63 million).

So let's compare Taipei to NYC:

Interesting, no? Taipei is quite dense, but as expected, the population is rather homogenous. Apparently they like their coffee too. There are some 2000 coffee shops in Taipei. I can't believe only 5% of them are Starbucks.


And what's the deal with China, you ask? Well, the mainland is 266 times the size of Taiwan, has 55 times as many people and an army 7 times larger. Without going into too much detail (or politics), they are Communist, we are not. They also like to occasionally aim missles at Taiwan and "test" them in the 120km stretch of water that separates the two. That's all I'm going to say on the matter.

I will try my best to post while I'm abroad. Our itinerary is still up in the air, but hopefully we will make it to Thailand or some other tropical beach!