New life, 2011

Greetings readers,

how have you been so far? I'm fine, but very tired recently. I started a new job, which is very demanding, but definitely the best one I ever had. I'm learning so much each day, but I'm at work almost all the time and have no time to do anything else during the week. That's something very new for someone like me, who used to be a freelancer. I'm adapting and learning fast, even though it's a completely new field for me. I have very friendly and supportive colleagues and the company is really top. Not sure, how often I will update my blog, but it will probably be less in the upcoming weeks, because I have a lot to learn and really need to pay attention to everything around me. Once I become "the master of my domain", I'll return to regular updating and reading other blogs. I seriously have no time now. I hope you understand.

I'm also trying to change my blog's layout. I'm currently tweaking this template, but the code is very complicated and making things the way I want proves to be very tedious and time consuming. I'm not sure, if I'll pick this one in the end, even though I love some features like the automatic read more function and the header with two link bars, that doesn't have a border on the left and right. Actually that's something I really want to have on my next layout, but I also want a template, where it's easy to add new widgets in Blogger's Page Elements (the one I mentioned before doesn't support that). If any of you geeks have some tips for me, I'm very eager to hear them. If you have links to great Blogger templates, share with me, but keep in mind, that I want a header like the one I linked to above.

Wishing you a great Sunday.

Your MKL

Trip to Nantou, Central Taiwan, 2011

Discovering the beauties of the Sun Moon Lake

My lady and I have just returned from a 2 days trip to Central Taiwan, precisely to Nantou County. We wanted to see the famous Sun Moon Lake and all the beautiful sceneries in the region. I've been to Taiwan's very north and very south, but I've never been to the very center before, that's why I was very excited to go on this trip. And I have to say my excitement was totally justified, because central Taiwan is really beautiful. The traveling was very intense, because we were on the road a lot, taking several trains and buses. We wanted to make the best of it and I think we've really managed to do so. Let me show you few things we've seen these two days.

DAY 1: ERSHUEI 二水, SHUEILI 水里, JIJI 集集

We've taken a train along Taiwan's beautiful west coast.

We've seen remains of the Cold War, that reminded us of Taiwan's uncertain future.

We've been asked to watch a religious parade in Ershuei and a tipsy monk blessed me.

We've stayed overnight in a picturesque small town named Shueili.

We visited Jiji, the epicenter of the devastating 1999 earthquake.

DAY 2: SUN MOON LAKE 日月潭, PULI 埔里, NANTOU 南投, TAICHUNG 台中

We've seen the most beautiful lake in Taiwan and shared a very precious moment here.

We've walked around Puli, the most central town in Taiwan.

We've had lunch at one of the most popular restaurants in town.

We've seen a historic gem from the Qing Dinasty in Nantou City.

We've probably been stuck in the biggest traffic jam in Taiwan's history.

We've seen the biggest and most crowded night market in Taiwan.

We've seen all that and much more in only two days (can you imagine?). In my post you can read about all the places we've seen, recommend some good food, give you tips on traveling and share with you my best photos. I will tell you about how a monk blessed me at a religious parade and how creepy a girl behaved in Nantou City, when she saw me. I will tell you about a very special moment at the Sun Moon Lake, that made my girl weak in her knees and I will tell you how we nearly got killed amid the huge crowds at the Fengjia Night Market, the biggest night market in Taiwan. Read all that by clicking on the links below:

Central Taiwan Tour 2011: Riding along Taiwan's West coast>>

[My CENTRAL TAIWAN guide][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Tienyuen Temple 天元宮, Danshui

Taking photos of cherry blossoms

This weekend my girlfriend brought me to a very interesting place. We went to the Tienyuen Temple (天元宮) near Danshui. The weather was not so good, we had gray sky and it looked like it will rain at any time, so at first I wasn't very enthusiastic to go with her. She actually didn't tell me, that we'll gonna see an impressive temple, she only said we're going to see cherry blossoms. Yes, Taiwanese love to see cherry blossoms and take a lot of photos. I like to see them, too, but I prefer good weather. But then I remembered how beautiful they were last year in Seoul's Yeouido and that motivated me to eventually follow my girlfriend.

We took the MRT to Danshui and then a bus to an area nearby (took us around 20 min).

Click here for a bigger map

The ride with the bus was a real adventure. Going to the temple was fine, because we had seats. Going back was something else, because we had to stand and the bus was full.

Can you spot a foreigner?

After 20 minutes we finally came to the famous temple, that attracts a lot of visitors in March, when the cherry blossom season is at its peak. The temple belongs to a very young religious group (formed in the 20th century in China). The belief is called I-Kuan Tao (一貫道, lit. the consistent path) and is quite popular in Taiwan. The followers are known to be vegetarians. If you want to learn more, read about the religion here. According to local sources, the Tienyuen Temple's origins date back to the 1970s, but more parts were added in the 1980s. The most famous building, the 5 storey round tower, was build in 1992. It was in recent years, that young Taiwanese like to come here in huge masses every spring to take photos of the cherry blossoms (sakura). For me personally, the temple is more fascinating and I hope I can return on a brighter day and with less people to take more photos and enjoy the view.

Here are some impressions from March, 2011:

A statue above the fountain in front of a big paifang, that marks the entrance.

Food vendors on the left, masses of people on the right. The cherries are up there.

This is the famous round shaped tower in old Chinese style. Nearby are the cherries.

The building is really impressive, it resembles the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

The never ending masses of Taiwanese sakura fans. Impressive as well.

The Tienyuen temple as seen from the tower.

A detail of the round tower.

The inside part. We went up to the first floor to enjoy the view.

The view was great, but if the sky is blue, it must be much much better.

My girlfriend took a lot of photos of the cherry blossoms. Good job!

The cherry blossoms and the round tower.

Taiwanese taking tons of photos at the same time.

Because only few cherries were in bloom, huge crowds gathered around them, consisting mostly of young people, usually couples. The girl would pose and make cute faces, while the boyfie would take photos of her. It was very adorable. Now I know that young Taiwanese have another passion: Cherry blossoms. It was really a fun experience. If you want to visit, you need to hurry up, the cherries won't blossom too long anymore, maybe for a week only. We took the bus 801 opposite of the Danshui MRT Station (here) and paid 23 NTD one way per person (46 all together is a little more than 1 euro). There are also free shuttle buses provided.

If you want to see better photos of the sakura and the temple, check these Taiwanese blogs:

• 淡水天元宮賞櫻花 by yoke0918
• 淡水天元宮櫻花 by Nick Lee
• 天元宮 photos on Pse100i.idv.tw
  

[My DANSHUI overview][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Cheap and fast haircut in Taipei

How I got my hair cut in no time for almost no money

Few days ago it was time to get a new haircut, because I was starting to grow a mop up there. My girlfriend and I went out to have a look around our neighborhood in order to find a good and affordable hairdresser. I'm actually very particular, when it comes to these things. Being a loyal customer, I usually choose one parlor and visit it regularly. In Taiwan's big cities, there are three things you will see almost on every corner: Food stalls, convenience stores and hair salons. It's amazing how many of the latter are close to where I live. One of them stood out immediately, because there was a big signboard that said: Extremely fast hair cut for 100 NDT (that's only 2.5 eur!). I was a little skeptical at first, I thought the price was too low and was afraid that the final result may not meet my expectations. After some time of hesitation and pondering, I finally gave green light to my girlfriend and we entered the shop.

That's how F100 looks from the outside. It's small and cozy.

And this is something I haven't seen before: A hair cut vending machine?

They ask you to insert 100 NTD into the machine and you get a number. After that you'd have to wait, but since there was nobody waiting before me, it was my turn right away. I sat down and my girlfriend explained to the girl, how I want my hair cut (which is always the same: short and thin). And then she put on her mask and started to snip snip like crazy.

She was very fast and skilled, I was impressed.

In the end, she vacuumed my head and I felt I was like a carpet.

You would not believe it, but in a little more than 10 minutes she was finished! How good was that? I can't stand hairdressers that need too long or those who talk to much. Especially in the small town near my home in Slovenia, where I usually went to cut my hair, they would constantly ask me personal stuff and gossip about other people, which made the whole session a long and unbearable torture (you can read more here).

But not here in Taipei: 極速剪髮 or F100 is a new concept, that came over here from Japan. Their philosophy is to cut hair for the cheapest price and as fast as possible. And they only cut and trim. No dying, no perming, no crazy hairdos... And what's best: They don't talk, they don't waste time. They are the McDonald's of hairdressers and I have to say I really like the concept. Currently they have 85 salons in various cities around Taiwan. There are also some other hair salons with a similar concept and pricing. One of them is QB cut, oftentimes found around Taipei's MRT stations.

I do have to add, that the cut wasn't perfect, but I don't want to nit pick, It's still good enough to make me return in the future and get my hair cut for a bowl of beef noodles. Who can beat that? So far, I haven't seen anybody else. Have you?

My journey to Taiwan 2011

This is the beginning of my new life

Hello from the other side of the world or to put it another way: Greetings from a gloomy, cold and overly crowded southern Taipei. I guess I shouldn't complain about the weather, since my fellow Slovenians are having it much worse back in motherland. But then again, it would not be me. I always complain about the weather. My 2 days long journey from Maribor, Slovenia to Taipei, Taiwan is over. I am safe and sound and to my surprise everything went smoothly.

My flight Vienna-Taipei was scheduled for 11.05 on Sunday morning. Because there are no night trains in Austria, I had to leave for Vienna a day before and stay overnight. The Saturday, my last day at home, seemed to pass so fast, I started to panic. It was 1pm and I hadn't found a hotel yet, neither had I started to pack. I'm always doing these things the last minute and this time it was really a close call. Right before lunch, my girlfriend gave me a link to a hostel and I wrote down the address. After having lunch with my family, I started to pack as fast as I could. And luckily I managed to do everything on time. About an hour before leaving home, my friend visited me and we talked a little. I seemed fine, but when the time was over and I had to get my bags and leave, I choked up. It was that moment when it hit me, that I'm seriously leaving my home, my family, my country. I couldn't really say much to my friend and my sister, I was occupied with holding back my tears. I said goodbye to them very quickly and left. When mum drove off in reverse and I saw our house getting smaller and further away from me by the second, all dams broke and my tears started to flow down my cheeks.

The ride to the railway station was about an hour long and mum and I were talking the whole time. I guess that was our way to deal with my impending separation. We were headed to Wildon, a small town near Graz. As we were getting closer to the station, that feeling was coming back. I started to get a big lump in my throat, because it was time to say goodbye to my mum. In hugged her, but couldn't utter a word, because all dams and levees broke again. It's always embarrassing for me, when I can't control my emotions, but in that moment there was nothing to be embarrassed about. We waved each other goodbye when she drove by and I walked over to the train, slowly dragging my luggage along and sobbing.

From that moment on, everything went smoothly. I arrived in Vienna at 9pm.

I bought a subway ticket from Meidling Station to Keplerplatz, where the hostel was located. It's called Meininger - and it's a hotel and hostel at the same time. I was really lucky, because they had some beds available that night. It was also very cheap (17 eur for a night), but I had to sleep in a room with 2 girls (not that I'm complaining). But the truth is, I haven't had the chance to meet them, they came back very late and I was already half asleep. I heard them tiptoeing and whispering, but I was too lazy and tired to crawl out of bed and introduce myself. I didn't sleep well, I guess my head was full of images from earlier in the day. I was also worried of oversleeping and missing the flight, so I guess I slept with one eye closed and one eye open. I left my room at 6am and checked my mail and Twitter in the lobby. I left the hostel around 7, went for breakfast and then straight to the Vienna International Airport.

I arrived about two and a half hours before departure and I was very relieved, because I knew the first part of my adventure was behind me. I flew with China Airlines (a Taiwan based air carrier) and I have to say they were pretty good. Last year I flew with EVA Air and there's virtually no difference in comfort and service. I would say EVA has a slightly better food, newer planes as well as a very professional approach, when it comes to on-board service. China Airlines on the other hand had a more attentive cabin crew. We were given lots of drinks and cookies throughout the flight, which was very pleasant. I think, if I fly Vienna-Taipei again, I would choose China Airlines, because it's an 11 hours long direct flight. If you fly with EVA, you have a stopover in Bangkok and have to wait there for 2 hours. It's a bit troublesome.

We touched down on Taiwan's holy soil at around 5.15 am, one hour earlier than anticipated. Maybe the pilot didn't want to miss a date and had to rush, who knows, but that early arrival caused me a perfect meeting with my girlfriend. Instead of she greeting me when I come out, I had to wait for her (that's the second time it happened). But it's ok, I didn't mind at all. When she arrived at the airport, I spotted her first and she was all dolled up for me, looking so cute, but a little lost. She kept looking for me and it took her some time, before she spotted me. Once she saw me, she started to run towards me and I had to smile. Why she had to run, I have no idea. It was cute, albeit not necessary. When we finally touched, we were very graceful: A courteous hug and a cheek kiss and then quickly leaving the airport.

We bought bus tickets to Shilin, Taipei's northern district.

It was rainy and gray that morning, but I couldn't care less. I got what I came for: My sweet girlfriend in my arms. Even though I was tired and sleepy, I was so happy to see her. The journey wasn't easy for me, the exhaustion puffed up my face and I looked something like mix of a zombie and drunk grandpa. I'm happy that my girlfriend didn't mind being seen with such a man next to her.

This Hello Kitty bus told me that I was in the right country.

When we finally came home and I could take a shower and rest a little I felt like rejuvenated. Well, not really. I was tired all day, but we still had a good time. We had a wholesome Taiwanese breakfast, watched some TV, took a long afternoon nap and then went to a night market in the evening.

This was our breakfast. If you want to see more pics, go here>>

One journey has ended and a new one begins. I have no idea, how everything will go, but I'm sure I will have many ups and downs in my pursuit of happyness. I will keep you all updated on how things will go from here. I won't share every detail, I never do that. Things are always complexer and deeper than they seem. Some things will never end up on my blog, which doesn't mean I don't reveal a lot (sometimes too much, I guess...). My next posts will be lighter, I will introduce some new night markets and interesting food to you. I'm hoping to taste food I haven't tried before and I keep pestering my girlfriend to visit as many night markets as possible. So far I'm doing well, but I think it won't be long, when she'll start to pester me to skip night markets and start to work out :-P

This should be fun.

[My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

I'm closer to Taiwan

The departure date is set

Today I finally managed to get the air ticket and now I have all documents verified and all forms filled out, I just need to mail them to the embassy and hope that they process them fast. I'm worried a little, because Chinese new year is around the corner and people at the embassy may go on holidays for few days. But I still hope my papers will be done before that and mailed back to me. Another thing is my flight, which is at 11 am and I need between 4 to 5 hours to reach the airport from my home, taking various trains and buses. I have to figure out, if it's better for me to sleep over in Vienna a day before departure or leave home very early and hope to get there in time. That's gonna be something to think about in the upcoming weeks before I leave Europe. I still have some time to go. Unfortunately, I won't be able to spend Chinese New Year with my girlfriend the way we hoped before, but well, things went slower than anticipated. I think a smooth transition is more important than one Chinese new year celebrations. If we make this right, we will spend many Chinese new years together and this one won't matter anymore.

Taiwan, get ready. I will see you soon.

[My LIFE in Taiwan][Photo by LilyChen, 2010]

Another day lost

But I have to keep going...

Today I made a mistake and couldn't get a document. I lost a day, some money and I was home late, but most of all I was almost losing my nerves, I was holding back tears. When I came home, I was so beat up, I just fell into bed and had to take a nap. I couldn't chat with my girlfriend. I felt terribly sorry. It's always hard for me to miss a chat session with her, because I miss her every day. I missed her a lot today, but I was so weak. Tomorrow I need to try my luck again. Guess I will be very busy this month, but I can't help it. I underestimated the time and cost of this dance with the bureaucracy. Frankly, I'm a bit scared now, because almost every week I get some new information or someone tells me I have to come another day or go to a different office. It sucks. But I'm focused on her, I want to be with her as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to Friday, they say we'll have sunny 11 degrees. And another busy week will be over, I can finally sleep longer and get some rest. Wish me luck.

My girlfriend is unbelievable!

I've been expecting a package from my girlfriend for few days. She told me she sent some moon cakes prior to the Mid-autumn festival. In the past few days she's kept asking me every day, if the package had arrived and I always had to say no. So today I hear the postman coming up to bring me something. I was all excited and happy to finally try the yummy Taiwanese moon cakes. I sign the papers, bring the package at home and start to open it up...

Looked pretty big, wow, must be so many moon cakes inside.

Then I see this: Taiwanese rice cookies and choco pies. What's that? O.o

And then below the sweets there was a small box. What? A portable external hard drive? Wow! The one I always wanted to have O_O

And on top of that a lovely greeting card. She's just unbelievable!

The thing is, I was considering (but kept hesitating) to buy a very thin portable hard drive to store all my pics, music and movies. I think I have way over 1 Tera of these things all together. And then she sends me one without even telling me, just surprising me like that. She's just pure love, she's simply unbelievable. And she does that all the time. I truly have the best girlfriend in the world. Not only that, she stored some movies, music and pics on the hard drive for me. And she knows I like the choco pies and the rice cookies. Oh, and I'll soon get another package from Taiwan: The moon cakes. I'm speechless. Thank you! 我愛妳!

Does your partner ever surprise you like that?

[All photos by MKL, 2010]

"The soap opera"

My girlfriend asked me yesterday, if a certain store, that sells expensive soaps, had a shop in my hometown in Slovenia. I have not heard about the brand, but she said in Taiwan one soap costs 30€. I asked her to give me a link to their website. I checked their homepage, but couldn't see, whether we have the same shop here and how much it cost.

So I replied: "I don't know, if we have this shop, but the soap is expensive here."

She said: "How much?"

I said: "30€." (I made that up)

She said: "How do you know?"

I replied: "I don't know, I'm just guessing. Why do you want to know that?"

She: "I want you to buy the soap for me and bring to Taiwan."

I replied: "Why? Why do you need that soap? It's a waste of money. You already have so many creams and whatnot." O.o

See, men will never understand women with these things. For me soap is soap. I wash my face and I don't care whether it's Loreal or Carrefour. I don't even think about browsing a soap manufacturer's website. But I can spend hours browsing watches and hot girls. Yep, guilty as charged: A man's man. And I ain't gonna change that any time soon :-P

Trip to Seoul: My last day

A short but eventful day

The famous Samsung Tower Palace near Dogok station.

My forth and last day in Seoul was quite eventful. I didn't have a lot of time to do much, so I decided to go to one part of the new Seoul and walk around there. That part is named Gangnam and it's full of high-rise buildings with shopping malls and restaurants. Since I'm such a fan of Skyscrapers, I was very happy to get the chance to see the Samsung Tower Palace (above) and Samsung Town (below), two spots with awesome modern buildings that make you aw.

I woke up at 9 am and only had 8 hours till my flight back to Taipei. I took a shower, packed my bags and left soon after. It was over 10 already. My hostel (actually a home stay) was near a subway station, so I didn't need to walk very far. But when I took the train, it really needed a long time to bring me to that other side of Seoul, to the modern part. The distance in this city is always huge and you need a lot of time for transportation. So, my plan was to walk around Gangnam, take photos and try to find Lee Hyori's new album. And I wanted to send some greeting cards to various people.

My room in the home stay near Hyehwa. Will blog about it.

Do you remember the bet I had with my girlfriend? She said that some random Korean girl will talk to me. Guess what, my girlfriend won the bet. Just when I was heading towards Gangnam, a girl came to me in the train and asked me, where I was from and talked to me for few minutes and then left. Well, I must say she was a bit... how to say... weird? Maybe. Well, seems as she had some mental problems, to be honest. Before she talked to me, she talked to herself and made some weird gestures. Or maybe she was under the influence of some substances? I don't know. I must say, she did look good, though ;-)

Once in Gangnam, I walked around as planned and took many pics.

Walking on the Teheranno to the trendy Gangnam district.

The famous Samsung Town in Gangnam.

Then I asked around where to find a place that sells music CDs. And people really helped me, directed me to a building named Kyobo. There's a bookstore inside and a floor below they sell CDs. Just when I came out of the elevator, I saw the CDs and in the middle was Hyori's new album H-Logic, highlighted and promoted. I bought it immediately. It cost 14500 Won, which is around 10 euros. That's quite cheap for a CD, last time I bought one in Slovenia, they cost at least 15 euros or more. But then again, it must have been years. I usually don't buy music CDs anymore, I prefer mp3s, but since it's hard to get her album outside Korea (for now) and since I'm there, I said to myself: I'm gonna grab it :-)

Finally! I have Lee Hyo-ri's new album!

After I've bought the album, I really had to rush back to the station and hop on the train to Gimpo Airport and subsequently to Incheon Airport. I again underestimated the enormous size of Seoul. From Gangnam to Gimpo I needed nearly 1h and a half. I had to stand all the time with my back pack, a bag with a laptop and a smaller one with my Pentax. My back seriously hurt (and still does), but I had no choice. My SMRT card was also near zero and in my wallet I had only 5000 Won (which is about 3 euro) and you don't get much for that. I was a bit (no actually very) worried, if I will make it on time. Guess what? I made it in the last minute. Once I arrived at Gimpo subway station, I had to find the Airport Express train to Incheon Airport. I found it quickly, it was one floor below. I had to run, the door was nearly closing. It was exactly 3 pm and this train always leaves at the full hour. If I missed this one, the next would be at 4 pm! And my flight was at 5 pm! I would definitely delay the flight, because from Gimpo to Incheon you need like 30 mins... and then the check-in, screening, immigration, finding your gate, which is usually so far and eventually boarding - 1h would definitely be too short. So I was sooooo relieved, that I caught that airport express at 3 pm. Pheewwwww...

Taking the Airport Express back to Incheon Airport.

Once I checked in at the Incheon airport, I tried to find greeting cards to send to some people, but that turned out to be another challenge. I only had 30min before boarding and before I found a shop that sells them and another shop that sells stamps and then post office, my time nearly ran out. I only managed to send 2 cards and then I was literally running to the immigration and later to my gate. People were already boarding, it was 4.50 pm. When I queued to board, a Japanese auntie kept talking to me... in Japanese! She had some fun, she laughed and behaved as if we're at a hawker. I had no clue what she was saying, I only understood wakaranai, which meant that I don't understand. She was right. I didn't understand and I didn't care.

The sun was shining over a wing of the plane: Beautiful!

Once I sat on that plane and we took off, I felt so relieved. Seoul was a great experience, I have so much to blog about, but I was happy to see my beloved girl again. She waited for me at Taoyuan airport all pretty and dolled up: She looked amazing! Suddenly I forgot all the Korean beauties and felt so happy, that my Taiwanese sweetie stands there all beautiful just for me. It feels great to be home. Home is where my heart feels warm.

Bench in Hyehwa, Seoul.

On board, I've read a magazine, which was about Mark Twain and I found one of his quotes that I really like and it can be applied to me and my life recently:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

I cherish every trip I made recently and every moment I spent with my girl. My life is not really a routine now, even if that's what I strive for: A good stable job and pay and security. But going on a trip alone to a big unknown city is a challenge, an adventure... but it's rewarding. Sometimes we should do something out of the ordinary. So if you're given the chance: Do it. 20 years from now you'll say it was the best time of your life.

[All photos by MKL, 2010][My main SEOUL page]