Heading South of the Tropic of Cancer

We needed some warmer weather and headed south via high speed rail (think bullet train) to Taiwan's second largest city, Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is the "harbor capital" of Taiwan, sitting on the west coast along the Taiwan Strait.

Dragon and Tiger Pagodas on Lotus Lake

Taiwanese fortune telling machine

Dream Mall:  Asia's largest shopping mall

Ferris Wheel on the roof of the Dream Mall

Coin operated vehicles

Site of the 2009 World Games

More Taiwanese Eats

Fresh scallion pancake.

Fried pork chop lunch box. 

Hot red bean cake.  The cream filled ones are fantastic too.

Hot pot!

More pics from Macau

Colonial architecture

Ruins of St. Paul's. Built in the 16th century by Jesuits,
it was the largest Catholic church in Asia at the time.
Destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835.

Gondola ride in the Venetian Hotel, Macau.
Ridiculous.

 Roman-themed shopping center at the Macau Fisherman's Wharf,
a complex built in the style of different world seaports.
It was a cool area, but almost all of the store fronts were empty.  

Senado Square

Incense coils at A-Ma Temple

Monte Fort.  Built by the Jesuits in the 16th century,
later served as the first residence of the governors of Macau. 

Macau was handed back to China in December 1999.
In celebration, each  province gave Macau a gift.
This is a woodcarving of the Stork Tower,
gifted by ShanXi province. 

Macau: The Asian Las Vegas

We took a short trip to the gambling Mecca of Asia, Macau. I'd been to Macau once when I was little and way before all of the casinos were built.

Macau was the first and last European colony in Asia. Settled by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Macau didn't fully go back to China until 1986. It has status similar to Hong Kong where it is quite an independent state with its own monetary system (MOP or pataca) and immigration rules (read: no visa required). You can see the centuries of Portuguese influence in some of the architecture and signage. Funny enough, I don't think any of the Chinese people here actually know any Portuguese.

Asians LOVE to gamble and Macau offers dozens of Vegas-esque casinos. Macau has surpassed Vegas in gaming revenue. Crazy, right? I told you Asians love to gamble. The Casino Lisboa is the oldest casino in Macau and has definitely seen better days. My mom says that is where the hookers are. I did not ask where she got that info.

We are staying at the Galaxy Casino complex, in the Japanese hotel. The world's largest rooftop wave pool is here! The bathroom in our room is at least as big, if not bigger, than the rest of the room. The toilet is heated with a very involved bidet system. I tried it, of course, and it wasn't as traumatic as I thought it might be, but it also did not change my life.

Casino Wins: $1
Casino Losses: $50

Galaxy Hotel and Casino

Roof top wave pool and fake beach

Fancy bathroom!  There were blinds along the glass divider. 

Toilet controls

Crystal Lobby

Diamond Fountain

Journey to the East: Eating my way through Taiwan

I survived the 19 hour flight to Taiwan and was rewarded with some of my favorite motherland eats in the first day: steamed buns, Peking duck, and pot stickers. Sadly, scallion pancake man did not have his cart out. It has been very cold and rainy so I really don't blame him. Plus, he's rich--there's a lot of money in a scallion pancake cart, apparently--so he really doesn't need to be out there anyways.

I saw a bunch of relatives including my one surviving great aunt (87 and still kicking), baby cousin Winny and her parents. Winny's dad is a dermatologist with the most fantastic skin. He also notices every single pimple and blemish and gives you tiny cryptically labelled jars of ointments. This time he came at me with a flashlight at the dining room table and pointed out pimples I did not even know I had. Ah, family! Also at their house were Wally and Shawn, their two fluff ball dogs. Wally is the fat one but he was shaved, so it was harder to tell the two apart.

I also lost the fight against jet lag. Around 3pm I was ready to have a meltdown. Napped for 3.5 hours. Back to bed by midnight, and now up at 5am watching Chinese music videos on MTV. And blogging using Mom's spotty bootleg wi-fi.

Today we'll be heading into Taipei and the next day we are off to the Las Vegas of Asia, Macau, to win big!

Peking Duck

Sushi made with the Peking Duck skin

Family

Pot stickers!!!

Wally, the fat one

Shawn