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.

When come to taste and preference of food items, there is just no absolute consensus that a particular food item acclaimed to be good would not necessarily be accepted by all. After all, taste and food preference is a very personal matter.

Jiufen: Red Yeast Rice Meat Ball.

Jiufen: Grilled Sea Snails.

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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!

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Ah Chung Rice Floor Noodle.

Ximending: T.K.K Friend Chicken.

Shilin Night Market

Touch & Go to Japan

Going for another cruise was not our original plan in 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 guests. 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 2017 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 Shuroji 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 warship, USS Mississippi was rebuilt in 1950 to serve as the University of Ryukyu. Since then, it has 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.

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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 to Singapore

My grand daughter. Livvie in Singapore turned four months on 4 May 2017. This little fellow is really growing very fast. Both her weight and height are much higher than the 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 start crawling............

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

Quite beyond my imagination to see my son
in full gear as 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 which served 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 and creamy. 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!

Vietnamese Food

We were recommended by a friend to try out the grilled fish at Cha Ca La Vong at 14 Cha Ca. Hang Dao, Hanoi. 

When we arrived to Hang Dao Road and started looking for Cha Ca La Vong, we were instantly pulled in by enthusiastic restaurant staff to a restaurant called 14 Cha Ca. Just when we were about to order after being given the manual, my quick thinking wife immediately sensed something amiss after browsing the manual. Their manual contained a multitude of dishes. We were told specifically that Cha Ca La Vong serves only one dish and that is the grilled fish. We politely returned the manual and left the restaurant. We soon discovered that there are many imitators of Cha Ca La Vong in Hang Dao!

The real Cha Ca La Vong was finally located just a few stores away. The frontage of this 2-storey outlet looked old and unattractive and it appeared more liked a residential shop-lot rather than a restaurant! There is no manual and the staff would not even bother to ask for order except for the drink. Whoever comes in is assumed to eat their one and only Grilled Fish. The charge is standard at 170,000 VND (RM34) per person.

The fish meat is already grilled in hot pan by the time it is delivered to the customers. Customers are then given the liberty to add in dill and spring onions and fry and then served with rice noodles and a scattering of peanuts.

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While we were contemplating whether to try the hot pot in this food outlet named Lihn Kitchen for one of our dinners, we chatted with two young ladies who had just finished patronizing this food outlet. They were not super satisfied but nevertheless encouraged us to have a go for it if we had not tried out the local hot pot.

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Dinner at the cruise ship at Ha Long Bay was quite a unique culinary experience!

Typical cruise ship

One of the lunches we had in the cruise ship.

Typical of most gourmet experience in the cruise, all participants would be asked to learn making Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls.

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Back home after the cruise, my wife took the trouble and went through making the Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls again.

Uncle Ho Legacy

Our tour guide casually pointed to the statue of Lenin as our tour bus passed by one of the streets in Hanoi. Vietnam is probably one of the rare countries still reveres Lenin. With the collapse of communism throughout the world, it is but name only that communist rule is still being kept in this socialist state. The sign of the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer in this bustling city testifies that it is capitalism that is driving the economy.

Vietnamese are resilient people. For a country that had been dominated for decades by so many foreign powers, it is quite remarkable that the Vietnamese are steadfast in keeping their identity and character. The northern part of this country was under Chinese rule for over a thousand years in the first AD millennium. Then from the late 1800's to mid-1900's, it became a French colony. And finally, the Americans came and rendered havoc from 1965 to 1975. Miraculously, the nation has been able to resist all these foreign powers and literally kicked out all of them.

Still, the Chineseness of this nation is conspicuously obvious especially in architecture and Chinese calligraphy inscribed in many old buildings.

Our tour guide revealed that a staggering 80% of foreign tourists are from China. One could sense a love-hate relationship between Vietnam and China. The hidden tension is further exacerbated by the overlapping claim of  a few islands in the South China Sea. The Vietnamese may resent the huge influx of Chinese but are somehow helpless to resist the dollars they bring in.

One Pillar Pagoda, a Buddhist Temple in Hanoi.

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The Vietnamese affectionately referred to their nation's founding father, Ho Chi Minh as Uncle Ho. The Vietnamese had consistently obeyed every order of Ho Chi Minh when he was President of this nation. They however refused to obey only one – They kept his body on display in Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum against the will of Ho who wanted his remains cremated.

We decided against spending one and half hours just to queue up to see the remains of Uncle Ho. It was more appropriate that this privilege be left to the many many pre-kindy children of the local kindergartens who came from all parts of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

Presidential Palace which was offered to President Ho Chi Ming

as his official residence which he never took up.

Pre-kindy Vietnamese children queuing up to see the remains of

their nation's founding father.

Hoa Lu Tam Coc

When the Hotel E-Commerce Manager proposed in the itinerary to spend a day in Hoa Lu Tam Coc, I had no idea what this place had to offer. But the many photos I googled were indeed impressive and picturesque. I was looking forward to the experience in Tam Coc.

Picturesque Tam Coc as shown in many photos I googled.

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Tam Coc in the District of Ninh Binh is a mere 100 Km south of Hanoi. Still, it took the coach two and half hours to reach the destination. The one-day tour to Hoa Lu Tam Coc began with a visit to the first university of Vietnam in Hoa Lu. Hoa Lu used to be the ancient capital of old Vietnam under the Dinh and Le Dynasty. The education system and governing civil system adopted then to screen and select intellectuals and bureaucrats was very similar to the system started by Confucius. The architecture of the campus buildings reminded us of the once close historical link between China and Vietnam.

Hoa Lu.

One of the university buildings in the campus.

This Temple of Literature is used on the reverse of the VND 100,000 bill.

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The excursion to Tam Coc commenced with a 45-minute cycling tour around padi fields through village track and pathway. We put into good use our recently re-learnt skill in cycling.

Much to my disappointment, the panoramic view and grandeur of the so-called Inland Ha Long Bay of Vietnam could not be fully experienced when we were only rowing the boat at ground zero level. The uniqueness of this landscape would have been better appreciated if a strategic high point can be provided to facilitate a panoramic view of this unique landscape.

We were warned in advance of the nuisance of persistent pestering by "cameramen". They do unsolicited photo shoot and later pester the tourists to buy their photos. The boatmen hired to ferry the tourists too demand for tips and cola money from the visitors. Notwithstanding our preparedness, their persistence was still a pain in the ass of an otherwise enjoyable trip!

Photo bought from persistent camera lady.

Padi field viewed at ground zero level.

Farmers at work.

Some similarities to Kuilin, China.

Entrance to one of the three caves.