Taipei

We went to Taiwan for a weekend back in March. Taipei was great - it's got a lot of the things Hong Kong hasn't, which makes for a fun weekend - little alleys to explore, some old buildings actually still standing and hot springs! The hot springs we went to were of the public swimming pool ilk. Rammed to the gills, you had to try to find a few square inches to yourself. The pools came in three varieties: nicely hot, very hot bath and scalding. I lasted about 2 minutes in the scalding one (followed by the near compulsory cold dip), but some guys looked like they were settling in for a while.

The food is nothing short of exceptional. You could go anywhere and know the food would be great (although you may have to like stinky tofu).

Contrasted with Hong Kong's skyscrapers, Taipei only has one tall building of note - Taipei 101 (no prizes for guessing how many floors it has). It's genius is that you really see the traditional Chinese architecture in the way it's been put together. They've also got a big coin on each side for a bit of prosperity.

Sounds like Taiwan had a pretty nasty government post war. Another example of Western political expediency propping up a less than ideal regime.

posted from Bloggeroid

It's been a while

I looked back over some old blog posts and - given that I couldn't remember some of the stuff I'd written - it occurred to me that I need to get back into it!

We went for a hike up in the new territories today. Macaques everywhere! Sadly, people feed them which means that they are a little less frightened of humans than they should be. Despite signs everywhere warning people about fines if you feed wild animals, they carry on regardless.

We also came across some old army tunnels from the second world war. To make the soldiers feel at home, different parts of the network had very familiar names e.g. Oxford Street, Regent Street. We even saw a sign to the Stand Palace Hotel!

posted from Bloggeroid

Cheung Chau

It had been some time since we'd booked the work Junk (i.e. boat), so we headed out a couple of weeks back to Cheung Chau (Long Island). I'd been once before - about 6 years ago. Little had changed: there's still a huge number of fishing boats in the harbour and cycle rickshaws on land. Although I did see one thing unknown to the island in 2005: a car. There was a tiny little police run around, but it seems of limited use on an island where the streets are steep and narrow. They've also got public baths in the truest sense of the word.

posted from Bloggeroid

Lights

The proliferation of Christmas lights is starting to become overwhelming. From our living room you can see a mass of different colours flashing. Flashing lights are not unheard of here with the nightly Symphony of Lights, but the Christmas lights achieve a whole new level. Sadly photos can't quite capture it. Across the harbour in Kowloon, there's a particularly fine collection of hypnotic colours. With Chinese New Year at the end of January, we may be treated to them for some weeks to come.

posted from Bloggeroid

New experiences

On Thursday, I experienced a sensation which I hadn't felt in a fair few months. After mulling it over for a few minutes, I realised what it was: I felt cold. Walking down the street in mid-December in my shirt, it felt a bit nippy.

On Saturday, we headed to Sai Kung for a trip out to an island about thirty minutes by slow boat. Deserted apart from our little group, it was great. It also has the distinction of being the only time I have ever been sunburnt in December.

posted from Bloggeroid

Parks

We made a lovely discovery on Saturday afternoon. It turns out that if you walk about 20 minutes south of where we live you end up in countryside with rolling green hills and streams. It feels a million miles away from the city. The well protected national parks have to be one of Hong Kong's finest features.

It's now the ideal time to go out exploring. The summer heat has dropped off to very pleasant temperatures in the mid 20s.

posted from Bloggeroid

Hanoi

The exam's been and gone - only got to wait til February for the result!

After a lovely lunch, it was off to the airport to board a flight to Hanoi. It's only an hour and a half's flight, so it's an ideal long weekend break. Lovely old French colonial buildings abound and the Old Quarter is full of motorbikes buzzing around. In fact, the good people of Hanoi seem capable of living their lives on vespa-style motorbikes: a family of four seems to fit snuggly and eating and sleeping are easily accommodated on any journey.

The food is wonderful, plentiful and cheap. We went to one lovely restaurant in particular which took us on a 12 course spice journey for about 25 dollars each.

The museums were genius with their unmitigated bias. Undoubtedly, the French did not cover themselves in glory, but even the introduction of a legal system by the French was frowned upon. The history museum demonstrated the advance of spectacular progress up to 1945, it appears that the Vietnamese didn't suffer a single reverse in the whole period covered because they fought so heroically against the French in particular. The revolution museum covered everything since 1945, which was an equally successful period you'll be pleased to hear. I didn't see an explanation for all the Vietnamese faces in the pictures of French officers and prison guards - that doesn't quite fit the narrative.

posted from Bloggeroid