Taipei pets

To help cope with my Cinders withdraw (Brian's black lab) I have been visiting the local pet stores. There are about 7 pet stores in a row within a 10 minute walk of our place. I find myself walking over to visit the pets a few times a week. You can find a variety of pets, most of which are very small; not sure if they stay small.  

 

Here is a mama kitty with her baby kitties.

These little kitties have ears that are shaped live devil horns, can you see?

This little kitty wanted to play with me...

This little kitty did not.

And these little kitties were sooo cute!

Here is a close up. I am not sure what makes them so cute. maybe it is because they are so fluffy and all you can see is a big ball of fur and their tiny little face?

Would you love to have one of these kitties? I believe the breed is "Chinchilla." Please see the link to the following site to learn more about these cats: http://www.catsofaustralia.com/chinchilla-cat-description.htm

And on to the puppies.

A lot of the pet stores show where the puppies come from, the owners and the breeders which leads me to believe there are not a lot of "puppy mill" puppies. 

Do you like Turtles? This kid likes turtles... www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y

These turtles were so small, about 5 of them would fit in the palm of my hand.

Prefer something a little more cuddly? What do you think this is? 

This is a little porcupine, curled up for a nap.

One of the pet stores let the some of their dogs out of their cages to roam around the store. The amazing thing was they knew their limits, they would not go beyond the doorway.

See these dogs sitting and waiting so obediently? Some of the dogs allowed to roam were puppies, they also knew the boundaries. Pretty well behaved. 

And where do you take your dog when you go on vacation.... The Doggy House. 

Show me some Seoul! - Our Seoul bus tour

On Saturday Brian, Andrea (coworker of Brian's) and I took a bus tour of Seoul. Some of the highlights are as follows.

We went to a temple, similar to Bongeunsa (pictures of lanterns and big Buddha statue) but much smaller in size. Inside the main temple there are three Buddhas to represent past, present and future. 

Our next stop was Gyeongbokgung, the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty. It was constructed in 1395, destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasion of 1592, reconstructed in 1868, dismantled during the Japanese occupation in 1911 and began renovations to its original state in 1990. 

One of the features of Gyeongbokgung is the changing of the guard ceremony. I thought it would be a simple procedure but, I was wrong. There are 27 guards for the day shift and 27 for the night shift. The ceremony takes about 30 minutes. 

Here is a picture of me at the changing of the guard ceremony. The day shift guards have their backs towards me, facing the oncoming night shift guards. 

Brian is standing in front of Gyeronghoeru, a two story pavilion used for royal banquets and parties. Our tour guide said this is where the king would have parties with his many concubines.

Think its good to be the king? Think again. The average life span of the kings was 42. There was not a lot of furniture kept in quarters commonly used by the king because the furniture/objects would provide potential hiding places for assassins. The king had nine bedrooms and only his main assistant would know which one he would sleep in on any given night, also to protect him from assassins. 

Brian was born in the year of the Tiger. Sorry Brian, you tiger now! According to information on the Tiger, he is a rebel, colorful, unpredictable, impatient and always looking for action.

I am a sheep; gentle mannered, on the shy side, will not tolerate too much discipline and very offended if criticized. Would you like to know what year you were born in and or info on your sign?  Here is one site I found. However, I am pretty sure there is a better, more official site to be found. www.rainfall.com/horoscop/chinese.htm

For more information on Gyeongbokgung please visit the following site: www.royalpalace.go.kr/html/eng/data/data_01.jsp?dep1=2

After we left the palace we went to a street market. The market is full of merchandise and food shops. 

It is pretty fascinating to think that all of the little shops and stands stay in business. There are so many shops, some that appear to be selling the same exact merchandise as another. This is still a mystery to me.

After our tour we had dinner at a restaurant that had performers showcasing various traditional Korean music. 

At the end of their performances we were able to join them on stage for some Neil Diamond karaoke. Just kidding. We were allowed on stage for a picture. 

The architecture in Seoul is creative and modern. 

I am not sure what businesses are in this building but, our tour guide informed us that the top floor (doughnut shape) is a restaurant with great views. However, a can of coke is roughly $10 USD. We decided to pass on a visit to the top.

This is a building I saw when walking around the city. Therefore, I have no information on it, other that it looked cool. 

Brian is standing in a building that has been awarded best in its class, world wide by three different organizations. Where is Brian?

Brian is in South Korea's Incheon International Airport. Voted international airport of the year by CAPA in 2006, The World's Best Airport Award by OAG in 2007 and Best Airport Worldwide by ACI in 2008. I have no idea what criteria is consider for such awards but, it is the best airport I have been in as far as cleanliness, service and overall organization. Would you like to see information or take a virtual tour? Please visit the following website: www.airport.kr/eng/airport

South Korea's got Seoul... and a lot o' money

Last week Brian had a business trip to Shanghai, China and Seoul, South Korea. During his visit in Shanghai he took the Maglev train (shown approaching station in picture below).  Why is the Maglev so special?

The Maglev is special because it can reach 220 mph in 2 minutes. That means if you got on the Maglev in San Jose you would be in San Francisco in about 6 minutes. For more information on the Maglev please visit the following site: www.smtdc.com/en. You can also look it up on Wikipedia.

Brian was only in Shanghai for a few days before he left for South Korea (missed the earthquake by a week). I was able to join Brian for the weekend in Seoul.

South Korean money is refereed to as "won"  (pronounced the same way as the "won" in Wonton soup) the exchange rate is roughly 1 USD = 1,000 won.

 Here is a picture of me with 45,000 won. High roller? No, low roller.  For example, I had breakfast which cost 33,000 won or roughly $33 USD.  Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the not-so-powerful U.S. dollar.

The city of Seoul is similar to other large cities; traffic, taxis and densely populated with skyscrapers and people. However, with respect to how densely populated it is, the city is remarkably clean. The air does not smell like car fumes, there is no litter to be found, plant foliage wherever they can fit it and the majority of people you see walking on the street are dressed in suits and formal business attire. 

It seems that customer service and appearance are extremely important. I had problems trying to get my "won" from the ATM machine so I went into the bank where three young women were dressed in matching suits to greet and assist me. When they could not explain what was wrong they directed me to the bank across the street where the same entry greeters spoke better english. Below is a picture of two ladies dressed in matching suits, pumps, hats  and white gloves. What do you think they are doing?

These ladies are greeting cars as they drive into the mall parking lot and handing them parking passes. The lady standing closest to me is bowing to the driver about to pull up to her station. 

Friday was mine to explore Seoul by myself. One of my highlights was finding an excellent Italian restaurant for lunch. I had a spinach salad; if you remember from an earlier blog post, it has been hard to find salads in Taipei. I also had one of the most wonderful appetizers I have ever had in my life; roasted garlic cloves and cheese fondue. These are two things I could eat for the rest of my life and be happy, I was in heaven.

Historically, religion in South Korea was dominated by Buddhism. However, as of 2005,  about 46% have no religious preference, 29% are Christian and 22% are Buddhist. One of the traditional Buddhist temples found in Seoul is Bongeunsa, founded in 794. Most of the buildings were destroyed by fire in 1939, but were rebuilt/renovated to the grounds map shown below.

The Mireukdaebul statue is 23 meters high (about 75 feet). It is the largest statue of Buddha in Korea. People come to pray in front of Maitreya (Buddha of the future). The statue symbolizes hope for Maitreya to arrive and save all mankind. 

The building shown below is Mireukjeon, a space where people come to pray and listen to lectures. All of the sides of the buildings have very detailed paintings. Originally, the paint helped to protect/preserve the wood but now the paintings/murals have religious symbolism. 

The lanterns shown below are strung up to Celebrate Buddha's birthday (this year it was on May 12th). 

This man is hanging the lanterns and attaching a tag. The tags are wishes/prayers from temple attendants. I am not sure if they are only done around Buddha's birthday or if they can be done any time during the year.  

For more information on Bongeunsa please visit the following site: www.bongeun.org

We finished off our night at a local bar. From the pictures on the menu we thought we were ordering a pint of beer and a liter. However, we ordered a pint and a pitcher.

Oops... Bottoms up!

Answer to the movie theater poll

For those of you that participated in the poll, here is the answer to the question.

 "Brian and I went to the movies,  do you think the biggest difference was from going to the movies in the bay area?"

1) cost - The price of movies was about the same as going to see one in the bay area, roughly $9 USD.

2) The movie theater food - The movies theater food options were various combinations and sizes of: soda, popcorn, churros, hot dogs and ice cream. So, pretty similar.

3) the seating - The seating was the most different because you have assigned seating, like an airplane (with exception of SouthWest). We got to the movies late so our options were the front row or the against the side. We took against the side and found the seats were just fine. 

4) the size of the theater - was about the same as average theater room in the U.S. 

From the poll it looks like most of you thought they would be serving rice bowls and fried squid. However, everything was so similar (language, smells, seats, sitting next to Brian) that I almost forgot I was away from home; until the lights went came on and everyone was more Asian than me. 

Fort Domingo

By recommendation of Kiwi, one of Brian's work colleagues, we went to Fort Domingo. Close to Fort Domingo, in the town of Danshui, is an area called "the old street". There are a lot of street vendors, food stands and entertainment.  Some of the highlights of our walk down Old Street are as follows:

Here is the perfect pet. It is a battery operated hamster that comes with its own ball enclosure. This is just like a live pet hamster; minus the rodent smell, mess and feeding.

This looked pretty tasty so I tried one. It is strawberries and tomatoes (two on the bottom) on a stick. The stick is then dipped in a candy coating. The coating is crunchy and sweet. Kind of reminds me of a candied apple. Very tasty.

When i first saw these i thought they were monju (a japanese dessert made of sweet pounded rice with sweet beans in the center). We only tried one so, the others may have been like monju but the one we tried had the sweet rice on the outside and... crunchy peanut butter on the inside. It was actually pretty good. 

What is Brian holding? It is a whole potato cut into one continuous spiral and fried. It is pretty much one big, long potato chip on a stick. You can get them in a variety of flavors (curry, pepper, garlic, etc.), we went with original salted. Tasted pretty good.

This is a stand selling some kind of sea animal. I think it may be squid. We did not try it. The woman at the stand was trying to tell me something. Maybe "no pictures, please?" There were a few stands that said "no pictures" so we could not take as many as we would have liked. We are not sure why they do not allow pictures. Brian thinks it is because they are concerned with people trying to copy what they have done.

After walking through The Old Street, we had lunch before going to the fort. I ordered what I thought was tortilla chips and salsa but, got nacho cheese Doritos and salsa.
 

I used the restroom at the restaurant and was surprised when I saw the toilet. Looks kind of like a urinal laid down on its side. You have to squat over it. So, if you are going to be there for a long deposit, you will also get a mini workout. 

Fort San Domingo was first built in 1629 by the Spanish, captured by the Dutch in 1642. In 1867 the British leased the fort to use as the grounds for the British Consulate. For more information on the fort please visit the following site, http://www.taiwanfun.com/north/taipei/articles/0611/0611Tamsui.htm 

I have only been here a week but, I am already more appreciative of things. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for early explorers to move to a foreign land. Its not as if they had the internet to help them or english translated signs and menus or a friend who already lived there to show them around. I have a new respect for the early explorers. Sure, they were most likely willing to travel because they were hoping to take the land for all of its raw resources and benefit from the oppression of others but, still very brave.