Taipei, Food Heaven?

The Taiwanese tour guide proudly proclaimed that Taiwan though a small entity compared to her giant neighbour, PRC has far more to offer in terms of the great variety of foods and delicacies. He contended that Taiwanese are more ingenious and creative in coming up with all sorts of bites and snacks than their counterparts in mainland China!

Many visitors come to Taiwan primarily to try out the highly promoted street foods which are plentiful in all the night markets. Besides Laohe Night Market and Shilin Night Market, we were taken to Ximending, Shifen Old Street and Jiufen to try out some of the highly promoted lists.

Come to taste and preference of a particular food item, there is just no absolute agreement that a particular food item acclaimed to be good is accepted by all. After all, taste and preference is a very personal matter.

Jiufen: Red Yeast Rice Meat Ball.

Jiufen: Grilled Sea Snails.

Food is a universal language that binds people together. We met this group of young Malaysia who also came all the way to try out this bai zhan ji translated as boiled and cut chicken!

Ah Chung Rice Floor Noodle.

Ximending: T.K.K Friend Chicken.

Shilin Night Market

Touch & Go Japan

Going for another cruise was not our original plan for 2017. My badminton buddy who had earlier signed up for a cruise to Japan suggested in late March that I should consider signing up and join the gang which I did.

We had our first cruise experience in late March 2013 with cruise ship Voyager of the Seas. That cruise ship which was operated by Royal Caribbean could accommodate almost 3,200 guest. The cruise ship Sapphire Princess which took us to Japan is slightly smaller. It can accommodate close to 2,700 guests. For this cruise, we were allocated a much better room - a room with balcony at mid section at port side, Level 10. Together with other tour members, we flew to Taipei on 17 May to commence our cruise to Okinawa and Oshigaki from Keelung Port, Taipei.

Sapphire Princess

Upon disembarkation from the ship after docking at Okinawa Port at 4pm on 18 May, we joined a cruise-recommended local tour. We were taken to just two spots, the Shurijo Castle and Kokusai Street.

Shuroji Castle, declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in year 2000 was the imperial palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1429  to 1879. Unlike traditional Japanese castles, Shuroji Castle is very much influenced by Chinese architecture.

The castle which was destroyed in World War 2 in 1945 by the American war ship, USS Mississippi was rebuilt in in 1950 to serve as the University of Ryukyu. Since then, it had undergone numerous reconstructions. In 1992, it was fully restored to its current condition

Old castle wall and entrance.

Shuroji Castle.

This red building constructed at the right of the main palace served as guest house for dignitaries and visitors from China during the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Japanese dancers performers at makeshift tent 
to entertain visitors/tourist.

At Kokusai Street, our local Japanese Guide suggested a visit to the local wet and dry market. Somewhat tired of shopping, we thought it was a good idea to have a look at the market, a place where locals do their marketing. In the end, out of the twenty plus tour members, only two coupes including ourselves were interested. The rest preferred to explore Kokusai Street on their own.

Our tour bus picked us from the pre-designated point at 7.30pm and by 8pm, we were back to the ship. That was our four hours tour of Japan!

We were scheduled to visit another Japanese island, Oshigaki in the next morning. Oshigaki does not have a big enough port for the cruise ship to berth. The ship had to anchor at a distance off-shore. Visitors were supposed to be shuttered to and fro from the cruise ship to the island. Unfortunately, the Captain decided to cancel shuttering of all visitors to the island because of forecast bad weather and high waves. Our visit to the Oshigaki did not materialize!

Our visit to Japan is best described as a touch and go experience!

Surprise Visit

My grand daughter in Singapore turned four months on 4 May. This little fellow is really growing very fast. Both her weight and height are much higher than a normal child of her age.

So, we decided to have a surprise visit to see her before she start rolling over on her belly and then crawling............

It takes a bit of time to get used to a
grand-dad last seen in an ipad screen!

Quite beyond my imagination to see my son
in full gear of a newly-crowned dad.

Vietnamese Ca Phe

A friend reminded us to look out for egg coffee in Hanoi. We soon found a coffee/tea outlet cum restaurant just a short distance from our hotel serving this unique concoction. Without hesitation, we immediately went in and placed an order. It took the girl a solid 10 minutes to prepare the drink. It was frothy, creamy and custardly. It was mildly sweet and juxtaposed with the mild bitter taste of coffee! A unique coffee experience!

We learnt from the local guide for our City Tour that the correct spelling in Vietnamese for Coffee is Ca Phe.

Coffee is big business in Vietnam. Since its introduction by the French in the mid-1800's, the coffee industry has developed by leaps and bounds. It is now ranked second only to rice in value as an agricultural product exported from Vietnam.

Many flavors and varieties to choose from in one of the many
coffee outlets in  the city centre.

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Coffee is truly a common universal language. We met a middle-aged Thai lady in the coffee/tea house. She is a solo traveler using bicycle as her major mode of transport. Her adventurous spirit is truly admirable and inspiring!