Lunar New Year celebrations are almost upon us here in Taiwan. I’ve commented before on how this holiday is celebrated in Taiwan, so this year I thought I’d comment on celebrations for Lunar New Year in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia Borneo, which was where we spent the holidays last year.

The Lunar New Year is the most important festival in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, luring thousands of friends and families to participate in games and watch Lion and Dragon dances, martial arts demonstrations and other fun events. We witnessed no less than three lion dances in various areas throughout Kota Kinabalu. My favorite by far was held in a local seafood restaurant known as Hua Hing Seafood Restaurant in Seri Selera Kg.Air (Sedco Square) in Kota Kinabalu. Seri Selera Kg. Air is a seafood village in town and this is the place that locals go to for cheap seafood. That’s right! Stay away from those pricey seafood establishments on the promenade and head for this place instead. Glass aquariums line the walls of the complex, while seafood vendors hawk their fresh catches and cook it for you right there. John and I are huge seafood lovers so we were delighted by the variety of dishes available and the cheap prices, especially when we compared it to the seafood restaurant our hotel concierge recommended (which was also excellent, but mighty pricey). Having picked up a giant assortment of shrimp, fresh sea bass and river prawns, we had just sat down to enjoy our meal when we heard three distinctive tock, tock tock sounds that announce the entrance of a Chinese lion or dragon.

The golden lion represents liveliness, and there seemed to be no shortage of liveliness on display in Kota Kinabalu during the Lunar New Year. During Spring Festival, lion dancer troupes from Chinese martial art schools visit  the homes and shops of citizens within the Chinese community. The lion dance is believed to bring good luck and fortune to homes and businesses; I certainly hope that my posting here brings you a little bit of good luck and fortune for the coming new year.

This year the Lunar New Year Carnival in Kota Kinabalu runs from January 17 – 22nd, 2012. Festivities are taking place in Lintasan Deasoka, which will be lit up with rows of traditional Chinese lanterns. Visitors will also enjoy a large variety of food stalls, local handicrafts, and decorations, as well lion dances, drumming shows and other colorful cultural shows such as the Fan Dance.

Here are a few more images from Kota Kinabalu Lunar New Year Festivities:

Combine the wonders of this exotic Asian destination with one of the biggest celebrations on earth and you’ve got yourself a trip of epic proportions. No one does Chinese New Year better than Beijing, China.

A celebration filled with color, energy, food, and history, Chinese New Year in Beijing hosts a number of fascinating local events to make your journey truly unique and unforgettable. MSW offers you an essential travel guide to some of the best attractions, activities and restaurants in Beijing during Chinese New Year.

Beijing Chinese New Year Winter Attractions

Fireworks

Each year, Beijing’s skyline erupts in a colorful array of fireworks for nights on end, while daytime hours are filled with noisy fireworks being fired all across the city by residents. The resulting cacophony is deafening and the city literally reverberates for days on end.

The most popular venues for setting off fireworks – and watching the pandemonium that ensues – are around the Drum and Bell Towers in the Houhai Lake district. During the day, this Beijing neighborhood is a perfect place for visitors who want to learn about traditional hutong lifestyles.

Nightlife

Houhai Lake District

If it’s Chinese culture that you’re looking for, start your night off with a rickshaw tour of Houhai Bar Street and its surrounding area. There are an ample number of bars and boutiques situated alongside a picturesque manmade lake; the area is dotted with gardens, ponds, traditional Chinese courtyards and ancient temples.

After you’re finished exploring, warm up with a hot beverage or a nightcap at the nearby Drum & Bell Bar. Overlooking the courtyard between the Drum Tower and Bell Tower, this rooftop bar provides a great view of the lake. In recent years the Drum & Bell Bar have provided a great place to view the fireworks on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

Another local favorite, the East Shore Jazz Café, comes highly recommended as the most authentic jazz in town. The café’s rooftop terrace offers views overlooking Houhai Lake.

Sanlitun Bar Street

Sanlitun Bar Street boasts some of the best nightlife activities in Beijing. Known as THE entertainment district of Beijing, Sanlitun has a wide variety of venues, including nightclubs, sports bars, pubs, coffee houses, and cafes.

As one of the most popular nightclubs in Beijing, Mix Club is the perfect place to dance the night away. The ultra modern 2-story nightclub regularly features international DJs who spin the latest music in a trendy setting that resembles some of the hottest clubs in LA.

The Bird’s Nest

Home to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, hosts several celebrations in honor of Chinese New Year.  During the Spring Festival, visitors can enjoy an artificial Winter Wonderland that includes skating rinks and mini ski slopes.

Skiing and Snowboarding

If you tired of sleepless nights in a city that sounds like it’s under siege, try hitting the slopes for a day or two.

Just 30 minutes outside of Beijing, Nanshan Ski Village has one of the best snowboarding parks in the country with five kickers jumps, a mini half-pipe, and over 12 boxes and rails. This winter wonderland also boasts some of the best man-made snow in the world. Experience it for yourself on any of Nanshan’s 12 ski trails, or try your hand at tobogganing or snowmobiling.

Less than a 4-hour drive from Beijing, Wanlong Ski Resort boasts a snowboarding park and 22 ski trails of man-made snow. As China’s largest ski mountain, Wanlong sees over 1000 skiers every weekend.

Celebrate Chinese New Year in a Traditional Village

This tour, hosted by the China Culture Center, takes visitors into the suburbs of Beijing to experience Chinese New Year in a traditional village, where lively street entertainers, folk dancers, puppet shows, sword swallowers, story tellers and magicians spin their magic and showcase their mesmerizing skills. Visit a traditional Chinese home and learn how fire is used to cook and heat the bed. Guests learn how to make dumplings and steam buns. The tour even includes a visit to local artisan who makes life-size paper replicas of horses and carts for Chinese funerals!

Experience Beijing’s Temple Fairs

Chinese New Year in Beijing is a noisy, colorful and busy occasion. If you’ve never experienced the temple fairs of Beijing, then this should be at the top of your travel itinerary during Chinese New Year.

The first temple fairs in Beijing date back to around 1000 AD. Vendors would often set up shop outside of the temples where pilgrims came to pay tribute to the gods during traditional festival periods such as Chinese New Year.

Today, Beijing’s temple fairs attract thousands of visitors from all over the world. Each year, organizers invite hundreds of performers and artisans from all over China to participate in the Chinese New Year temple fairs that are held near the temples and parks of Beijing.

These lively carnivals offer an opportunity to appreciate traditional artwork and local delicacies, spectacular variety shows from rural areas of China, dragon and lion dances, boys and girls on stilts, life-size puppets, waist drum dancing, lotus blossom fairy dances, Peking opera, acrobatics, and tea culture displays. If all that entertainment makes you hungry, you’re in the right place. You’ll find plenty of snacks and Chinese delicacies to sink your teeth into.

Temple Fair Tour

The China Culture Center offers a temple fair tour in Beijing each Chinese New Year. Visitors learn about the history of Beijing temple fairs and then they are taken to two or three temple fairs where they will get a chance to sample local snacks, purchase traditional handicrafts and view various folk performances and traditional handicrafts.

Eat

Chinese New Year celebrations generally begin with a family feast at home, but many families are breaking away from this traditional custom in lieu of eating out. Hu Zhifu, the secretary general of the Beijing Food and Catering Association, states that having Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner at a restaurant first became fashionable in 2003. The number of families that host their New Year’s dinner at restaurants is growing annually.

Popular Beijing Restaurants

Dumplings – Din Tai Fung

When food is renowned as much for its flavor and appearance as it is for being a true work of art, you know you’ve attained perfection in the culinary world. Din Tai Fung got its start in Taiwan in the 1980s, but since then it has expanded to 42 locations in nine countries worldwide. The Beijing restaurant does a brisk business, and many people say that they offer some of the best dumplings in China.

Visitors come for the paper-thin xiao long bao, (steamed dumplings) which are stuffed with vegetables and meat or mashed red beans. Beijing does not have a high concentration of xiao long bao restaurants, and food critics have claimed that the difficulty of finding good xiao long bao in Beijing makes their high prices worth it.

Weighing in at just five grams, the outer-skin of each dumpling is thin as tissue. Each skin is then stuffed with approximately fifteen grams of meat filling. Served with finely sliced pieces of ginger and a soy-based dipping sauce, the end result is sheer art. The tiny bundles bulging with a delightful combination of flavorful soup broth and meat simply burst with flavor.

Mongolian Hot Pot – Donglaishun

After a evening out in the cold Beijing winter air, warm up with a hearty meal of Mongolian Hot Pot at Beijing’s most popular hot pot restaurant, Donglaishun. This northern style hot pot restaurant has been serving Chinese Muslim fare since 1903, and the restaurant is thought to have some of the best shuanyangrou, (instant-boiled mutton) in town. An integral part of northern Chinese cuisine, hot pot is traditionally served in a copper potfilled with soup broth. Meat, frozen bean curd, vegetables, and noodles are added to fill the broth out. Once cooked, a final dip into a sesame butter sauce gives the meal an extra burst of flavor. As Beijing’s most famous hotpot restaurant, Donglaishun may be a little pricey, but its 40 locations throughout the city attest to its popularity.

Peking Duck – Quanjude

No visit to Beijing is complete without dining on glazed and roasted Peking duck. Crispy skin and tender, juicy duck meat is wrapped in paper-thin pancakes and topped with a thick, sweet hoisin sauce, scallions, and radishes.

Locals may argue vehemently on their picks for the best duck in town, but there’s no denying the popularity of Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, a seven-story building at #32 Qianmen Dajie. The unique presentation of the food and the traditional interior design at Quanjude has been attracting roast duck lovers for more 146 years.

Shop

Shopping in Beijing is a veritable paradise for bargain hunters. Add Spring Festival fever into the mix and you’ll find yourself looking for deals of the century. Many shops and vendors hold sales to celebrate the New Year, so shop to your heart’s content and don’t forget to bargain!

Hong Qiao Market

One of the best places in China to buy pearls, coral, turquoise and other semi-precious stones lays a short distance from the Temple of Heaven’s main east gate. Prices at Hong Qiao Market are very reasonable owing to a number of vendors selling the same goods, so smile, have fun and bargain hard for your Chinese souvenirs.

GuWanCheng (Curio City)

This four-storey building on the 3^rd Ring Road behind Pan Jia Yuan harbors treasures waiting to be discovered. The store offers upscale Chinese antiques with prices to match. The management makes every effort to avoid selling fakes and low quality goods, but please remember the rule that applies to all antique shopping in China: Let the buyer beware.

A Note About Travel During Chinese New Year

Mainland China sees more interurban trips during the Spring Festival travel season than the total population of China (1.3 billion as of mid-2008). Masses of people begin rushing home in time to have a reunion dinner with their loved ones on Chinese New Year’s Eve, and all modes of public transportation are thrown into chaos every year. It is almost impossible to book any kind of travel tickets during Chinese New Year, and if you do manage to lay your hands on a ticket, beware that it might be a fake and don’t be surprised to learn that you are paying double the price for a ticket that allows standing room only.

The best advice we can give you about travel in China during Chinese New Year is to plan ahead and don’t try to travel by rail outside of Beijing. On a positive note, since most people stay at home with their families during Chinese New Year, you will be able to take advantage of fewer crowds at some of Beijing’s tourist attractions. Just remember to call ahead to make sure that they’re actually open! Furthermore, if you can beat the crowds, it is a great time to observe local Chinese New Year customs and traditions.

Twelve Tips for Enjoying Chinese New Year in Beijing

1. Book your hotel well in advance of Chinese New Year.
2. Avoid traveling by rail during Spring Festival.
3. Find out where the local performances are being held before you set out on your journey.
4. Bring warm clothing. The weather is bitterly cold in Northern China.
5. Call ahead if you’re planning on visiting any major tourist attractions since many places close down for a few days during Chinese New Year.
6. Catch a lion or dragon dance at one of Beijing’s many temple fairs.
7. Firework displays are de rigueur in China during Chinese New Year. Go somewhere special to enjoy the show!
8. Buy some chunlian. These temporary decorations are embossed with happy and hopeful messages for the coming year.
9. Buy a Chinese-style coat, or purchase some rabbit-head hats and shoes for the kids to usher in the Year of the Rabbit.
10. Visit a temple on Chinese New Year’s Eve to pray for a prosperous New Year. Don’t forget to light some incense to send your prayers to the skies.
11. Travel a few days before Chinese New Year to avoid getting stuck among the crushing millions of people who are traveling home to be with their loved ones.
12. Since many popular Beijing restaurants are booked months in advance, many restaurants recommend that customers book a lunchtime meal instead.

Article Resources

NIGHTLIFE - As of this writing, these establishments have not confirmed if they will be open during Chinese New Year’s Eve 2012.

• Drum & Bell Bar: #41 Zhonglouwan Hutong - Telephone: 86-010-8403-3600
• East Shore Live Jazz Café: Houhai, 2^nd Floor, 2 Shichahai Nanya -Telephone: 86-010-8403-2131
• MIX Club: Workers Stadium, North Gate, Chaoyang District, Beijing Open 8pm to 6am. www.mixclub.sohu.com - Telephone 86-010-6530-2889

 ACTIVITIES

• The Bird’s Nest National Stadium: Olympic Green Village, Chaoyang District
• Nanshan Ski Village: Shengshuitou Village, Henanzhai Town - Telephone: 010-8909-1909 www.nanshanski.com
• Wanlong Ski Resort: Honghualiang, Chongli Xian, Hebei Province 031-3478 5111  - www.wiski.com

RESTAURANTS

• Din Tai Fung Beijing: #24, Xinyuan Xili Zhongjie www.dintaifung.com.cn Telephone +86-010-6462-4502
• Donglaishun Dongcheng Branch: Xin Dongan Plaza, 5F, Wangfujing, Dongcheng - Telephone: 010-6528-0932
•  Quanjude Jinsong Branch: #826, Jingsong Eight District, Guangming Bridge - Telephone: 010-67711211
•  Quanjude Hepingmen Branch: #14, Qianmen West Street - Telephone: 010-63023062
•  Quanjude Qianmen Branch: # 32, Qianmen Dajie - Telephone: 010-6701-1379

CHINA CULTURE CENTER
Kent Centre A 101, Anjialou, No.29, Liangmaqiao Road, Chaoyang District  -  info@chinaculturecenter.org  - www.chinaculturecenter.org

Telephone +86–010-6432-9341 
Fax: +86–010-6432-0145

Celebrate Chinese New Year in a Village

February 5, 2011. RMB 350 per person. The bus leaves the China Culture Center at 9am and returns at 4pm. Call 86-10-6432-9431 to reserve your spot. Book early because tickets sell out fast!

February 4, 2011. Tour price (RMB 200 per person) includes admission tickets, lunch, and transportation. The bus leaves from the China Culture Center at 9:30am and returns at 4pm. Call 86-10-6432-9431 to reserve your spot.

This guest blog is by Ava Apollo.

In the Xin Yi district of Taipei, home to the famous 101 skyscaper, immaculate residential mid-rises owned by the powerful and rich Taipei elite sit quietly amidst the buzz of one of the busiest intersections in the city. At any given time, one can catch a glimpse of young adult females in the windows of these flats and penthouses, cleaning and then re-cleaning windows, walking dogs, rearing children of their employers, cooking and serving food, and generally leading the life of an indentured servant.

It is rare to see a housekeeper taking a walk, or out relaxing and enjoying the day.  Even rarer still is it to see one doing anything but working within the confines of the household in which she is employed.

Xin Yi

In late November of this year, multiple news outlets reported the charging of Taiwanese director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍), for the mistreatment of her Filipina housekeepers.  She reportedly plead guilty to charges of overworking, underpaying, and mistreating her housekeepers, which was in violation of their employment contracts.

Liu was forced to pay said housekeepers over USD$80,000 in restitution for forcing them to work 16-18-hour days 6 ½ days per week.  The housekeepers were found to have been victims of what is considered a severe human trafficking case under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  They will be issued visas and allowed to remain in the U.S. for the purpose of finding work.  As for Lui, she will be detained in prison until her sentencing, though she maintains that she does not feel she did anything wrong.

As a previous resident of Taipei, I can understand why Lui feels that she acted lawfully – as it pertains to how things are done in Taiwan, at least.  It is a common practice to overwork and underpay migrant house workers, who are usually young women from the Philippines or Indonesia.

Under Taiwanese law, blue collar migrant workers enter into a contract with their employers and cannot freely change employers without being in violation of said contract and thereby risking deportation.  Therefore, migrant workers are under pressure to please their employers, many of whom impose arbitrary pay cuts and require ridiculously long hours of overtime, and often do not give their employees holidays off.

In Hong Kong, it is common to see maids gather on days off. This is something I never saw in Taipei

As a foreigner in Taiwan, it seemed like a pretty special treat to be able to hire a housekeeper to stop by our flat and only charge about $200-$300 NT per hour (about USD$6-$10) for cleaning services (which, by the way, is much much higher than a normal contractual wage in Taipei for a full-time housekeeper).  This was a great deal cheaper than anything I could have found in the states.

Though I never employed a housekeeper myself, I did pay my downstairs neighbor’s housekeeper, Nana, a little bit of extra money to handle garbage duties for me (which is a real pain in Taiwan).

Given that I was usually home when she stopped by, I used to ask her about her day, which eventually turned into talking about her life and her family back home.  She was from Indonesia and had lived in Taipei for nearly five years.  She was married and had come abroad in order to make enough money to return home and build a house with her husband, who worked at a factory in South Korea.  Even though the money she made seemed like peanuts compared to what I made as an English tutor, it was more than she could have hoped to make in a lifetime in Indonesia where she was from.  In order to provide for her family, she felt compelled work in Taiwan, sending every penny of her earnings back home each pay period and never buying anything for herself.

It had been five years since she had seen her husband or any members of her family.  This broke my heart.

Nana’s story is not uncommon in Taipei.  Migrant workers just like her leave their families at home in order to make enough money to provide them with a better life in the future.  Many of these women even leave young children behind, and end up serving as nannies for the children of their employers – something I can imagine must be extremely emotionally difficult.

Amazingly, they almost always smile and appear to be happy

Over time, Nana and I developed some semblance of a friendship.  She confided to me that she had originally been brought to Taiwan by a family other than the one she was currently employed by.  She had fled after being verbally and sometimes physically abused by her former employer.  Though she now worked almost every waking moment, she liked this new employer who allowed her to use her limited free time to make extra money on the side, and gave her small bonuses during the holidays.

However, she lived in fear of deportation nearly every day.  She almost never left the building, save for the rare occasions when she took the risk of leaving the flat in order to wire her earnings back home.

This was a risky situation, as the employer also ran the risk of being fined for employing her as an undocumented worker. I suppose by extension, I was running the same risk by paying her to help with the trash.

She would eventually head home when the time was right.  She would tell the airport officials that she didn’t have the money to pay the fine for overstaying her visa – a crime punishable by being barred from ever returning to Taipei.  This would work out just fine for her, as she had no plans of returning, anyway.

Her situation was such a stark juxtaposition to that of my English-teaching peers, though they were both technically migrant workers.  Both parties had come to Taiwan in hopes of making some cash in order to have a better life. English speakers could make a great living as English teachers, able to get pretty good hourly wages in schools and bushibans (English cram-schools) with the ability to put plenty away for travel and savings.  The funny thing is most of the housekeepers from the Philippines were native English-speakers as well, but would never have been given the chance to teach.  They were simply from the wrong region of the world to have a shot at that opportunity.

When I was getting ready to return home, Nana cried and insisted on helping me pack.  It was an unlikely friendship that really put a face to cheap labor that was so distant from me previously.  It was something I had only read about, but now had seen first-hand for myself.  When it comes down to it, Nana chose to come to Taiwan because she wanted a chance to make money to support her family.  I wonder if she still would have come had she known how difficult it was going to be, which is something I never got a chance to ask her.

I hope she's home now

I hope that now, she’s back with her husband in Indonesia, living in a house she built with her earnings, rearing a family, most likely with local maids of her own.

So, what do you think?  Do there need to be changes to the way that migrant workers are treated, or does the opportunity to make a better life for themselves outweigh the drawbacks? 

It’s starting to get a bit chilly here in Taiwan, so I’m cracking out my cookbooks. This winter, I’ve challenged myself to start cooking with ingredients that I’ve never used before. It’s also been a while since I’ve contributed a Wanderfood Wednesday post, so I figured I’d make my first new meal and write about it.

I’ve been on a bit of a bean and legumes kick lately, so my first recipe for my winter cooking challenge is a hearty, warming bowl of red lentil and chickpea soup. This recipe from BBC Good Food is super easy to follow, it cooks in about 20 minutes, it’s low-fat and it’s super healthy and vegetarian friendly. I was really pleased with the results and even my husband thought it was a winner.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• large pinch of chili flakes
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup of red lentils
• 850 ml vegetable stock
• 400g can of tomatoes, whole or chopped
• 1/2 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• roughly chopped coriander for garnishing
• 1 teaspoon of  Greek yogurt per bowl

My Several Worlds participates in Wanderfood Wednesday, a global travel blogging project that features food from all over the world. For more tasty snacks, recipes, and dishes around the globe, check out the original Wanderfood Wednesday at Wanderlust and Lipstick.

Flickr Photo by Prince Roy

Sit back, breathe a sigh of release, and relax into the steamy heated goodness that nature has to offer in Taiwan’s hot springs.

Taiwan’s location atop two of the earth’s major tectonic plates has blessed the island with mountainous terrain and an active volcano that have given rise to more than 130 natural hot springs scattered all over the island. Owing to its high concentration and variety of natural springs, Taiwan is ranked as one of the top hot spring destinations in the world. Hot springs, cold springs, mud springs, saltwater springs; springs that vary in color from milky-white, blue, and green to clear and muddy, and springs that vary in mineral content from sulfur to sodium and iron can all be found on this tiny island. Moreover, hot spring locations throughout Taiwan are acclaimed for their healing and restorative benefits, which may offer relief from a number of ailments that include arthritis, chronic dermatitis, muscle soreness, stress, and chronic fatigue.

It’s no wonder that Taiwan has such an ardent and active hot spring culture, and with such a large number of bathhouses and lavish spa resorts, Taiwan is quickly gaining an international reputation for being an ideal Asian destination for relaxing and recharging both the mind and body.

The History of the Hot Springs

Taiwan’s hot spring culture didn’t really get underway until the Japanese established colonial rule in Taiwan in 1895. Less than a year later, Taiwan’s first hot spring hotel, Tenguan, popped up just outside of Taipei in Beitou Hot Spring Valley. The hotel was not only an instant hit with Japanese soldiers, but it also blazoned the trail for dozens of other hot spring resorts that were soon to come.

The 70s and 80s saw a brief decline in the popularity of spas and resorts, but a large-scale promotional effort sponsored by the government in 1999 renewed interest in Taiwan’s hot spring culture once again. Over the past ten years, hot spring resorts and spas have been constructed all over the island, thereby becoming firmly ensconced in Taiwanese culture.

Today, no trip to Taipei is complete without visiting at least one of its two major hot spring destinations: Beitou Hot Spring Valley and Yangmingshan. Both areas, which claim roughly ten fountainheads between them, are accessible either by car or public transit and can be reached within 30 minutes.

Hot Springs in Northern Taiwan

(Make sure you come back and check for updated information as I will be adding new hot spring locations to this page regularly.)

Beitou Hot Spring Valley

Yangmingshan Hot Springs

Top 5 Wild Hot Springs in Northern Taiwan

5 Tips for Hot Springing It in Taiwan

1. Room rates are cheaper in Taipei.
2. Expect to pay between $5 to $20US for a soak.
3. Most locations will have public pools where you can bath by the hour or by the day.
4. Ask to see the facilities first.
5. It’s all right to check the temperature of the water before you pay.

Rules for bathing in Taiwan’s hot springs

1. Take a shower before entering the hot springs.
2. Test the temperature of the water before you get in.
3. Don’t bath in the hot springs 30 minutes before eating or 1 hour after eating.
4. Drink plenty of water before and after soaking in the hot springs.
5. Don’t soak for too long. 30 minutes is long enough.
6. People with heart problems or women who are pregnant shouldn’t soak in the hot springs.
7. Women who are on their menstrual period shouldn’t bath in hot springs.
8. Wear a swimming cap if you see other bathers with caps on.
9. If you’re in a resort that separates male and female bathers, you’re expected to soak naked.
10. Don’t show a lot of physical affection in public pools.

This guest blog is by Ava Apollo.

I had full blown reverse culture shock when I moved home from Taipei.  I’m talking sleepless nights, forgetfulness as to how to operate a vehicle, the feeling that nobody cared I was back, the whole shebang.

Yes, I just said “shebang”.

The only thing is, I had no idea what reverse culture shock even was before returning home.  Why would it be odd for me to return to the place I grew up, definitely understood the culture, and already had a built-in network of friends and family?

When moving abroad, one naturally worries about culture shock.  It’s obvious to think about the task of acclimating when arriving in a new country, especially if you’re like me and decided to move to said new country having never visited it.  It’s like learning a whole new way of living life.

I thought the first few days in Taipei were among the most taxing of my life at the time.  I was on a 24/7 translation bender, which is surprisingly exhausting.  I even spent a full hour in the grocery store my first time in (Wellcome market in Taipei, at the end of Wen-Zhou street where I lived) and emerged with only 3 items: ramen noodles, dumplings, and merlot (wine is universal, my friends).

I’ll be honest. I broke down and cried a few times the first few weeks.  I felt overwhelmed.

Can I just hide today?

I didn’t set out on the journey expecting that any leg of it would be easy.  I didn’t want it to be easy, either.  The rewarding things in life seldom are.  I figured once I got used to Taipei, I had made it through the toughest part.

But why did nobody warn me about reverse culture shock?

When I moved back home, it seemed as though nobody really, oh I don’t know, cared.   I half-expected my friends to drop everything to see me like they did before I left, but it didn’t go that way.  I learned a painful lesson back then, that I would have learned eventually anyway, about who was really a friend, and who was nothing more than an acquaintance.

My real friends would be curious about the adventure, they’d ask how the “trip” was, and then slip into a comatose state five minutes into my story. They weren’t really interested in the details.

I felt like everything was so different.

Home?

The oddest thing about all of this is that nothing back home really changed much while I was away.  Everything carried on just the way it did back when I was still a part of it.   It seemed so wildly different and difficult to me because it was I who had transformed.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the moment I moved abroad was a turning point in my life.  It was an event in which I was one person going in, and a completely changed person coming out.   My old life ended the moment I stepped on that plane leaving LAX, and my new life began the moment I stepped off of it and into the sticky Taipei evening.

Even now, thought it’s been over three years since I left Taipei, sometimes triggers make me yearn for that life.  Every time I get in my car and someone cuts me off and we show our mutual displeasure by flipping the bird, I think to myself, people were nicer in Taipei. Every time Lunar New Year rolls around, I think about the lantern festival, and I deeply miss my night-time walks, which I can’t safely take around here – I miss living somewhere safe.  I also miss going to the doctor and paying only $12, without insurance, to see her.  I miss the truly amazing food, and the unique mixture of East and West.  Heck, I even miss the honest people who returned my lost iPhone to me (before it had even been released in Asia) after I accidentally left it at 7-11.   Gosh, that would NEVER (ever, ever, ever!) happen here.

Don’t get me wrong, Southern California is amazing, as evidenced by the amount of people who live and vacation here.  Moving home had its perks.  For the first time in 8 months, I was able to walk into a store and speak English, and be fully understood.   I was finally back with my family, whom I had missed.  I was able to buy all of the food and beauty products that I had been missing,  there were no longer mosquitoes torturing me, and the weather was truly a significant improvement.

Home, sweet home?

But, if I’m honest, I yearn to take off and move abroad again almost every day.  I ask myself if the grass is just always going to be greener somewhere I’m not.  This could certainly be the problem.  Either way, I’ve been struck with wanderlust and I can’t shake it.  There’s something so beautiful about being somewhere completely new, where nobody knows you and yesterday and tomorrow don’t matter.

I wish there was a way to travel the world and still put something away into a 401k.  So, for now, the nagging need to be financially secure has kept me sedentary.

But you know what? Writing about it always makes me feel better and reminds me of the best times I had over there.  Visiting old friends I met abroad and reminiscing about our time together takes me back in such a deliciously giddy way.   We always ask each other, will you go back?  Some of us have, and some of us only flirt with the idea.   Either way, we’ve all been changed.

What about you??

Today’s guest post from Jayson Bagio is about street food in the Philippines. Jayson writes about GoHunt Dining restaurants in Philippines. Read more of his writings in Gohunt.ph or follow his twitter on @seoteky.

Food is arguably the most important thing when it comes to a person’s life. Everyone eats, no matter what kind of diet they tend to have. Everyone just really eats food and that’s that.

The great thing about food, however, is that they tend to be quite unique to its location. A dish could be popular worldwide, but it can also be very local and specific to an area. This is mostly due to the fact that food largely reflects local culture. The ingredients and how the food is cooked say a lot about a specific region or country.

Aside from the regular cuisine, however, a country’s set of street foods also tend to serve the same purpose as well. For example, the Chinese’s meat buns are extremely popular because they are inexpensive and filling. They are also perfect because they easily feed the working class citizens.

This is the same case with Filipino street foods. Most items that you will find out on the streets all over the country are made out of inexpensive items that are very affordable. They tend to say a lot about the country, because, as most people know, the Philippines is not exactly a rich country. Being in the “third world”, these food items are perfect because they are easily available, cheap, and tasty.

If you still don’t see the picture, here are some top examples of the Filipino foods that you will commonly see out on the streets:

Kwek-kwek Flickr photo by Brian Sahagun

1. Kwek-kwek and Tokneneng (Quail Egg)

These items are snacks that are based on eggs. Kwenkwek are made of quail eggs, while tokneneng are chicken eggs. Both are covered in orange dough and are deep fried.

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2. Isaw (Chicken Intestine)

Isaw is another snack made out of chicken intestines. The intestine is put on a stick and then grilled. It is a very light, yet tasty, snack.

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3. Balut (Duck egg with the Embryo)

Balut is also a snack that is basically pre-hatched duck eggs. They are not really popular outside of the Philippines and are usually considered exotic, but they are widely eaten in the country. They are rich in proteins and are even considered as aphrodisiacs.

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4. Maruya (Banana)

Maruya is a really filling snack that is commonly sold by street foods vendors and even some restaurants in Philippines. They are made out of a combination of bananas and flour, deep fried until golden brown. They are very filling.

These are just some of the top examples of the most popular street foods in the Philippines. Lots more are available, especially if you just look around the cities and towns around the country.

The deep ringing sounds of handmade gongs resonate through the air as we enter Kampung Sumangkap Gong Making Factory in Kudat, Sabah in Borneo Malaysia. This authentic Rungus village is home to one of East Asia’s largest community of gong-makers. The village is comprised of a community of families that have been crafting brass gongs in their modest cottage style homes for years.

Gong making was once a very private form of art that was done deep in the jungle and away from the prying eyes of strangers, but this thriving little community in Sabah is happy to share their expertise in gong making with outsiders who come to watch them perform their ancient craft. About a dozen homes lining a single narrow dirt road feature open-air workshops and storefronts, allowing visitors to stop for a gander as the master craftsmen go about their business. If you’re lucky, someone might even play a tune for you.

The tools used by a gong maker.

The clanging of hammers against sheets of brass, tin and bronze echoes throughout the village, but the overlying sound of low resonating gongs are predominant here. The villagers often hold cultural performances in the Kampung Sumangkap Community Hall, where a set of different sized gongs that produce different sounds – known as kulintangan - are played to the delight of visitors. The gong is an important musical instrument used by the Rungus and many other communities in Kudat Malaysia, and they are traditionally played during grand occasions such as weddings and other festivities. Gongs are valued not only as musical instruments, but also as items of wealth.

These beautiful East and South East Asian musical percussion instruments are formed from a flat metal disc of bronze and brass that is hit with a malleta to create the loveliest sounds. There are two methods of gong-making, both of which are demonstrated in Kampung Sumangkap Gong Village. The first method involves piecing together flat sheets of alloy to form the shape of the gong. The other method involves shaping the gong from one large sheet of metal. It takes days of pounding metal to create a gong.

My husband playing the gong that we purchased for our home.

A row of bossed bowl gongs.

The village produces three types of gongs. Suspended gongs are generally flat, circular discs of metal that are hung by a cord which is passed through holes near the top rim of the gong. These gongs generally vibrate and produce a crashing sound. They are often referred to as tam-tams. The other two types of gongs produce tuned notes. Bossed gongs, also known as nipple gongs, have a raised center that are often suspended and played horizontally. Bowl gongs generally rest on cushions and sound more like bells than gongs.  The gong is beaten with a round, hard, leather covered pad that is fitted to a short stick or handle. The resulting sound emits a wave-like succession of tones that is sometimes shrill and sometimes deep. The predominant tupe of gong in Kampung Sumangkap is the agung, a set of two wide-rimmed, vertically suspended gongs that is ubiquitous throughout communities in the Philippines and Malaysia.

The gongs that are sold in Kampung Sumangkap vary in depth and size, from tiny souvenirs of different shapes and designs to large ones that can reach up to two meters in diameter. Prices range from RM10-RM150.

Getting There

• By bus: From Kota Kinabalu, take any bus heading to Kudat from Terminal Bas Jalan Padang station. Buses depart daily from 7:30am to 5pm. Bus fare is approximately RM18 per person. Make sure you tell the bus driver where you want to be dropped off.
• By taxi: Hire a taxi from Merdeka Field for the day. The drive is approximately 2 hours from Kota Kinabalu. A one way trip costs approximately  RM300.
• By car: Rental cars are cheap and easy to find. You can rent a car for the day for about RM180. Maps are available at the rental agency. You can also request car rental service from your hotel lobby.
• Book a tour through your hotel or througha  local tour agent. An average day trip that includes a visit to Kampung Sumangkap, Rungus Longhouse, Kampung Gombizau Honey Bee Far, and the Tip of Borneo costs approximately RM250.

Admission

• Adults (12 years and above) – RM5
• Children (6 to 12 years old) – RM3
• Children (below 6 years old) – Free of charge
• The gong factory is open daily including public holidays from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Gong purchases can be made on site.

The world’s largest gong!

There’s a war brewing in Taiwan, and it’s all about claiming the title of King of Burgers. In the past decade, the American fast food industry has been heating up grills all over Taiwan, but no where is it more apparent than in Taipei, where it’s easy to find classic American burger restaurants everywhere in the city.

John and I, being huge fans of the beef patty, have made it a mission to check out all of the burger restaurants in Taipei. Wanderfood Wednesdays gives me the perfect opportunity to write about our burger adventures in Taiwan.

Here’s where our burger adventure begins.

BRAVO BURGER

Bravo Burger’s Jumbo Cheeseburger

The Taiwan Angler introduced me to this tiny burger shop on Civic Boulevard between Fuxing and Dunhua. The shop can accommodate around 25-35 patrons, it’s rarely quiet, and there’s almost always a line-up of burger fans waiting to get in. Don’t plan on eating here if you haven’t made reservations in advance!

Bravo has a great selection of thick juicy beef patties served in an interesting assortment of burgers styles. John loves the double beef patty and the jalapeno burger, and I’m generally torn between the bacon cheeseburger and the blue cheese burger. The burgers tend to be served a bit pink, so if you’re someone who likes their burger well done, make sure you let the wait staff know when you place your order. They also do a great job of draining the burgers, so you’re never served with a big, greasy burger and soggy bun.

Bravo Burger also has a good assortment of sodas (Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew and A&W Root Beer), but I’m partial to their milkshakes. All in all, Bravo Burger gets top marks from us for quality of food. We just wish they’d open up at a larger venue!

Apparently, we’re not alone in our assessment of Bravo Burgers. The Matador Network recently named Bravo Burger as one of the top 50 burger joints in the world. We tend to agree. The competition is going to have to be pretty fierce to convince us otherwise. If you’ve got a recommendation, don’t be shy. We’ll honestly give anything a try.

BRAVO BURGER Civic Boulevard, Section 4, #72 02 8771 9787

Bravo Burger’s Blue Cheese Burger

My Several Worlds participates in Wanderfood Wednesday, a global travel blogging project that features food from all over the world. For more tasty snacks, recipes, and dishes around the globe, check out the original Wanderfood Wednesday at Wanderlust and Lipstick.

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