Since I (hastily) shut down my weebly two weeks ago, I’m just going to pick up where I left off…sort of.
Craving to put this down as a reminder to self: rid myself of cynicism (okay except when it’s absolutely necessary, like…for work), because so far, it’s getting me nowhere.
26th May, 2010
Having finally boarded on the plane back to Hong Kong, it’s again time to reflect, or shall we say recall (considering the speed we went through the myriad of stalls during the night markets, I’m literally looking through the pictures of food to recall where we went) my 5-day trip to Taiwan. The respect and the passion that Taiwanese people still possess towards life is definitely something worth reminiscing.
To be honest, I would have never thought I would have picked Taiwan out of all the Asian countries. Sure, a lot of people rave about the beaches in Kenting and about the cheap food in Taipei. But I’m not a huge fan of beaches, nor does its food appeal to me in particular (and this proved to be true, more than half of the local delicacies contained some sort of meat in it). The recent trend of having girls take off their make-up and multiple layers of fake eyelashes on TV doesn’t really boost my overall impression of the place either. But then, I heard about the jewels inside the national museum, and about the freedom of speech that people enjoyed there…slowly, my curiosity about the place was evoked…
I regretted not having stayed there for a longer time. I can’t say that I would want to live there at this point, but there is that something about the people that really attracted me…take the ‘priority seats’ on the MTR (捷運) as an example. I was surprised that people actually observed them. The turnover rate of seats was the highest I’ve ever seen in a city. Giving up one’s seat for the elderly and those in need is a norm. While the law in Singapore forbids people from chewing gum, this kind of respect cannot be conditioned by any law. How many people in Hong Kong would actually be aware of giving up their seats for those in need?
Visiting the national museum struck me harder than I had thought. As I walked through the exhibitions, I could hardly believe how much I had forgotten about the history of China. The history, the culture, both the feats and the downfalls of China were reflected in every piece of kitchen ware, ornament and painting. From the meager memory I have of high school Chinese history books, Chiang was always portrayed as the devious general who would rather let the country weaken than to let the CCP take over China. But his transporting tens of thousands of national treasure (‘國寶’) to Taiwan in 1949 was a feat to say the least, or they would have all been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
Deep-fried mushrooms - tres cripsy and juicy
Taiwanese night markets are definitely something not to be missed. Taiwanese people seem to be always on the go for the best street food. Not unlike the concept of Spanish tapas, dinner consists of a range of small bits and strong taste (though this might only be applicable among the young). Experience the essence of the Chinese saying ‘ 大汗疊小汗’ (big sweat on top of small sweat) while meandering through the sea of people and motorcycles – yes motorcycles, they have become such an integral part of everyday life that some Taiwanese people are relentless when it comes to driving their darlings through any kind of crowd. We only managed try a small portion of what the night markets offered. My favorites include the syrup-coated taro/sweet potato(冰糖芋頭/甘薯) and deep-fried mushrooms (炸菇).
The ‘hostel’ – for it wasn’t a hostel in the traditional sense, but a residence transformed into multiple rooms for tourists, also coined ‘民宿’ in Taiwan – we stayed at during our visit to Sun Moon Lake was filled with writings of poets and important political figures of the past. Affectionately named ‘一斗夢藝棧民宿’, the owner of the place told us that the name was inspired by what was being used to describe 諸葛亮’s life philosophy ‘斗室何需大，夢裡乾坤濶’.
民宿充滿濃厚的歷史文化氣息, mais je les comprenais juste un peu…
I have had pretty depressive moments. That’s nothing new, granted that most people have undergone periods of depression, be it mild or suicidal in their lives. During a drinking event a month ago, I disclosed to a couple of my friends the worst page in my life history. And believe me, it wasn’t under the influence of alcohol. Ok well, maybe just a tad. But I’ve never been so upfront about my year in Madison before. It came as no surprise that after that year, my friends and family have been on a continuous quest to make sure that I was ‘happy’. And I’ve been grateful, to say the least, to know that there are still people out where who care. But what is happiness, exactly? Happiness is the smell of freshly roasted coffee during midnight study sessions. Happiness is when the sun blinds your eyes first thing in the morning. Happiness is when your senses are awakened to the environment around you.
Yet, couldn’t sadness achieve the same ends, albeit through different means? The year at Madison remains a nightmare to this day because it is the one thing that can stimulate my senses while overcoming all others. The feeling of the ice beneath my bare body, the stench of the blood on my lips, the allure of sin, the plethora of food at the junk food aisle in the local supermarket and the hunger that I knew was eating every inch of my body away.
My favorite Romantic poet of all time, William Blake once said ‘without contraries there is no progression’. I can never be completely happy for a single feeling cannot truly complete me. It would be ridiculous to be ‘happy’ reading Plath’s bell jar, nor should one be calm and at peace reading Arnold’s The Monk. To do so would be to disrespect the power of language to agitate, to sadden and to anger. The quest to be happy all the time would be to ignore the many sensations of life itself.
I’ve long given up the search for happiness, whatever that means.
Our nutritious and filling breakfast – was totally worth it to wake up at 7 for this! =D Their gallo pinto was the best I’ve had on this trip. The hint of cilantro infused with the rice and beans made everything different.
Highlight of our stay in La Fortuna – the Canopy Tour + Tarzan Swing! 12 ziplines through the forest, 1000+ feet above ground, awesome view from the canopy top! Not to mention the rush of adrenaline whenever we encounter an “opening” amongst the greenery. I’m way too embarrassed to post up the video of me screaming for 5 whole minutes on the Tarzan Swing but the others sure enjoyed it more than anything. Though…shouldn’t I get some merit for actually willing to go onto it when my greatest fear in life is the roller-coaster?
After reaching ground, it’s time to take off again – back to San Jose. 
Even though it has now fallen short behind pineapples, coffee remains the top three export of Costa Rica – so we went on a coffee crawl on our last two days. Drinking coffee in Costa Rica is a completely different experience than in Montreal, a much more “formal” and luxurious experience. None of the sketchy-cool experience you would have in Montreal, nor are there students studying in cafes until the break of dawn.
Espresso @ Cafe del Correo. Well-balanced, but a bit lacking in aroma.
Filter Coffee at Cafe del Teatro Nacional. Had a distinct nutty flavor to it. Probably the best I’ve had there.
Glorious plantains at Baldi’s. I dare say it was the best I had on the trip, yet perhaps it was just the first real meal I had after so many hours of transits. Whatever the case, THIS is a far cry from the bags of plantain chips I’ve had in order to stay awake during french night classes…
To sum up my recent trip to Pura Vida, Costa Rica was (at times) more chilly, more touristy, more expensive, scarier, bigger, yet less wild and less “exotic” than I had thought.
If I had stayed two more weeks there, I would have probably come up with a more revealing list of things. But alas, we only stayed there for four days – hardly long enough to get a real taste of the plantains, let alone the culture!
One of the more noticeable cultures that Costa Rica has revolves around its tourism. Recognized as THE top tourist spot in Central America, everything is more expensive than its neighboring countries. In fact, some boutiques we wondered into in San Jose had prices equal to what we have in Canada. In exchange for the higher prices is perhaps the existence of western culture. A lot of locals can carry on a conversation (albeit simple) in English while
downtown San Jose is saturated with a mix of local and western fast food restaurants.
First day: Was basically non-existent in Costa Rica because of immigration problems. BUT we managed to call up Sandra and she took us on a 5-hour tour around Mexico City 
A cathedral in Mexico City (linked historically to four other cathedrals around it)
A chandelier inside the cathedral. Sunday Mass in Mexico City seems to be of a completely different nature than what we have in North America. I felt like I was attending a town hall meeting and an art exhibition at the same time – some were discussing the art murals on the walls, some were snapping away with their cameras, while a few were munching (not quite discreetly) on their snacks. It was a wonder that anybody could pray!
We also went to the El Museo Nacional de Antropología where the highlight became waving to a turtle. Didn’t have enough time to visit all the exhibitions. Lots of bones naturally. The descriptions were also commendable – they were actually bilingual. That got me really excited.
SO, after another 3-hour flight, we finally arrived in Costa Rica completely defeated in body and spirits i.e. in desperate need of some quality sleep and shower. Had just a’ small’ problem with a bug in our room that night…five hours later, we were up and running – in our case, searching frantically for transportation to La Fortuna – again. After some head-smacking for forgetting to reserve our spots for the shuttle, we decided the take the bus at the Coca-Cola station. Much cheaper ($3 as opposed to $39) than the shuttle, but also longer, more confusing (we got off the wrong stop at one point) and interesting…I’ve never seen people coming onto the bus to sell fruits and snacks in my life!
After checking into our lodge, we decided that it was about time we treated ourselves to something that doesn’t involve sitting around in the plane or bus for hours. Baldi’s Hot Springs was awesome! We managed to avoid the swamp of tourists and had some of the pools by ourselves! It was a bit hard to navigate around with hardly any lights along the pathway, but that was also the fun part! The photo was taken upon discovering a magnificent construction of waterfall at the top of the Springs. We also had a lot of fun meandering through the different pools when we got bored of sitting in a particular one…well partly also to lessen the narcotic effect that the pools were starting to have on me. My travel buddy can attest to that – I could barely walk in a straight line by the time we had to go..
2nd day upon arrival in La Fortuna de Sans Carlos, we went on an observatory tour just next to the Arenal Volcano. Was running a bit low on steam at the beginning (probably because the narcotic effect of the hot springs was just starting to wear off..) but the views from the hanging bridges and the observatory spot were amazing! In reality the “spot” was a terrace for those who lived in the Arenal Observatory Lodge who could watch the volcano and lava flowing down 24/7. Perfect location…for 100 bucks a night. Give me another couple of decades, darlings?
Walking through the rainforests, we picked up bits and pieces about Costa Rica history, culture, religion, geography, and…the way to make a sloth’s metabolism even slower than normal. According to our guide, if a sloth eats a certain kind of leaf in the rainforest, the sedative effect of it would put the sloth to a “deep sleep, through even the worst of thunderstorms”. Little use for human beings though – sorry to disappoint.
The flower in above picture is full of religious symbolism. Named “Passion” (photo), the ten petals surrounding the core symbolize the ten commandments while the 3 stigmas represent the three bodies (Son, Father and Holy Spirit).
The magnificent waterfall that we were all eager to get closed to after around an hour of hike. Literally a minute after this photo, we would all be taking a dip in the cool water. Fear much though. The current nearly thrust me downstream. But it was definitely worth the experience! One of the guys even grabbed onto the many roots that were hanging down from the cliff and literally swung THROUGH the waterfall.
Towards the end of the hike, we encountered not one but two of the rarest animal in the Costa Rican rainforests, the “Little Tiger”, much to the thrill of our guide, who practically sees the animal as a celebrity and demand that we take as many photos of him with her. A glimpse once every ten years. Quelle chance!
Pourquoi Montréal? (updated: 25th July)
So here I am, lingering in a coffee shop in Place Ville-Marie while mulling over the gloomy weather outside. This was certainly not the way I would have envisioned spending my last few days in Montreal. I have already dunked down half a cup of Americano, yet is still feeling as if I have a major hangover (note the clause ‘if’, no guys, I haven’t started drinking…yet). But considering just how much I slept last night, I might as well HAVE a hangover. Okay let’s backtrack a bit. Montreal is a great city, so it doesn’t help that I (stupidly) started thinking about all the things that might have and would have been. My sleeping node completely turned itself off from that moment on. While all this sentimentality was kicking in, I came across an article published on Midnightpoutine comparing the merits and woes of Montreal and its Canadian rivals, the big T and Vancity. According to their online poll, Montreal is only leading the other two cities in 15 out of 100+ items and is currently placed in last place. Needless to say, I find it redundant to defend any one city as I haven’t lived in all three – BUT what I do know is that Montreal is the most ‘soulful’ city I’ve ever lived in.
Here’s a compilation of my top ten in Montreal. I’m by no means trying to be objective since I’ve always been biased towards the east side of the city. And to be honest, I don’t care very much for the HABS.