Matthew's First Time in Singapore

My father was driving down to Singapore for a few days and Matthew and I decided to tag along. Plus, Matthew hadn't been there yet, and both Amy and Cory were already there for work. One of the first places we took Matthew was to Clark Quay. It's a nice area with lots of restaurants, bars and entertainment along a river. My brother loves going there because of the partying/drinking and we didn't say no to beer as you can see.

The area is pretty dead during the day and really comes alive at night. There are even some rides there, like a sphere that you sit in and it basically slingshots you up into the air. The last time I was in Singapore I wanted to do it but it was super busy and no one in my group (including my dad) wanted me to do because they were scared and thought it was dangerous. Well, I was determined to do it this time. Unfortunately, it wasn't operating!

We took a long walk around the area, Cory eventually ran off to do some more partying, and eventually we retired back to our beds.

The next day Matthew and I enjoyed the pool at my dad's condo. It looked gloomy and we cancelled our outdoor plans for that day because getting stuck out in the rain (and it's heavy rain) isn't very pleasant. By the evening the clouds had cleared up and I took Matthew to the Singapore Night Safari. It's like a zoo for nocturnal animals. I had been there as a young child but a lot has changed. There was a entertaining show with demonstrations from some of the animals there.

There is a guided tram ride that will take you around the park; you can get off and on at numerous stops within the park. There are also plenty of walking trails where you can get pretty close to some of the animals.

There was even a caged walkway where you could be next to bats flying around - it was pretty cool.

We did most of the walking paths first, then we took the tram back to the front of the park. While on the tram ride we passed the lions and two male lions were having an epic roaring battle. It was awesome and was the best way to end our night.




The next day we headed to Marina Bay Sands. It was under construction the last time I was in Singapore; it was to be the first casino. It's like a big shopping centre, with a casino and a hotel. The hotel has this amazing pool, but unfortunately only hotel guests can use/see it. It's a pretty big deal in the architecture department if you're into that.

The top is where the hotel pool is located and you can swim right up to the edge of the building. I'm sure the view from up there is to die for. We never went into the casino. I think it has strange rules, like you need to use your passport to enter (maybe even not all passports are accepted). If you're a Singaporean, you have to pay an entrance fee, which is quite high; it's to deter their own people from developing a gambling problem. I don't think I own nice enough clothes (nor do I have spare money to gamble) to be rolling with the people inside that casino or the guests at that hotel, too bad.


After spending too much time in the financial district, we went to the Mint Museum of Toys. It's a relatively small museum, so small that my dad had never heard of it even though he's lived there for over 10 years and the museum isn't even that new. The three of us explored the museum and it was pretty interesting. It was like walking through the past - so many tin toys! I had no idea that some of the old tin toys are worth thousands of dollars nowadays. 

I found this to be so racist. Apparently these dolls were pretty popular back in the day. It reminded me of a brand of toothpaste called Darlie; it underwent a name change of course, as it used to be called Darkie. 

We saw all kinds of old toys in the museum and we each learned quite a bit about the toy business. It was well worth it and the gift shop had neat little new tin toys for sale. We even picked one up for Matthew's friend Peter - two tin boxers going at it with a wind of a key.

Afterwards, we met up with Amy for dinner and we hit up a yatch club - my dad use to take Amy there when they first started dating; maybe he pretended he had a yatch or something - I'm not sure what the story was. We enjoyed walking along the beach front and harbour and even found some great hammocks set up over the sand. We stayed until nightfall and headed back for our last night's sleep in Singapore. I was sure we would be back.

Bird Nest Farming

What is this crazy, ugly looking building you may ask?!

Well, it's a life size bird house. It's a three-story concrete house to attract Swiftlet birds. The house is bare on the inside but does have a sound system hooked up. There are speakers located all over the place on the inside, attached to the walls and ceilings. The speakers emit a loud piercing sound of the Swiftlet bird's own calling. The noise attracts the Swiftlets in the area. The birds fly into the house (there's an opening at the back) and they build their nests on or near a speaker inside. Once their nest is built they lay their eggs and raise their baby birds until the babies are old enough to fly away, then they abandon the nest.

Once the nest has been abandoned, people (like my dad or workers) go into the bird house with a flashlight, a ladder, a mirror, and a bucket. You need to look for a nest, then look to see if there is still a baby bird in the nest (hence the use of a mirror), and if there isn't one you take the nest down and collect it. It seems so strange to me but apparently it's a pretty big business in Asia.

Once you've collected your nests (the nests are white in colour) you need to clean them. Once the nests are cleaned you package them together and weigh them (they're sold by weight). A buyer will pay a hefty amount for good quality nests, most of these get shipped to China where restaurants use them to make bird's nest soup.

Matthew and I helped my dad collect some nests that day and I must say that I don't think you could pay me money to eat that soup. I don't care how many Chinese doctors or scientists tell me that it is very "healthy". I've seen these nests before they get cleaned and some of them have literal bird shit in them. But hey, what do I know? I know that I don't make thousands of dollars each month from selling birds nests to China. If you're ever in China and bird's nest soup is on the menu, let me know how it tastes because I couldn't bring myself to have any in Malaysia.

Genting Highlands

While in Malaysia, my mother told me that I just had to visit Genting Highlands, as did some other locals. So, my dad, brother (Cory), Matthew and I decided to go one weekend; it's a couple hours drive from my dad's place. Genting Highlands is a big shopping centre with tons of entertainment and a big casino all located on top of a mountain. You can drive all the way to the top, or you can take a cable car (Skyway) from the base of the mountain. If you decide to drive it will probably take more than an hour from the base, but the cable car takes only 11 minutes one-way and the views are well worth it (plus, you can spend all that saved energy and gas money gambling at the casino instead)!

We spent the whole afternoon at Genting Highlands. Matthew and I checked out the casino; it's not really impressive and it's quite small compared to every other casino I've been to. Although, they have an adoration with electronic games, even roulette is a digital image - maybe I'm just old and like the sound the real ball makes as it bounces around. We also played a few games of bowling and I am so terrible but it was a lot of fun. There is a stage inside the mall where performance artists put on shows. That day, we watched an American girl do a hulahoop show, with fire, too! I was shocked to learn that the artists who use to stage have to rent it and that they don't get paid by the mall, so if no one donates money to that artist, he/she didn't make any money for that performance. Maybe it's just a Malaysia thing...

We took the cable car back down and hopped in our cars to drive home. There was still quite a lot of twisting and turning roads on the way home and I can tell you that it was getting to me. If you looked in the back seat you would have seen me holding on for dear life looking like I was about to throw up at any moment. I don't do well in the back seats of cars nor on twisting roads. I made it home all right but the windows had to stay down the whole way. We didn't go back to Genting Highlands again for the rest of my trip.

River Waterfall

The first weekend here in Malaysia, Amy (my stepmother) decided to show us a nearby waterfall that she used to visit and swim in with her siblings as children. She used to bicycle to this place and relax in the cold water on hot days. The water is so cool because it runs down from the peak of the mountain; it's a very popular place on a hot weekend.

It's too bad I didn't know people went swimming in there or I would have brought my swimsuit and joined them.


After dipping my feet in the refreshing waters and taking some photos, we walked over to the small suspension bridge that crosses the river.

Here is a view from the suspension bridge of people swimming in the river. Some families even made a little fire and cooked food while soaking their feet/legs in the river.

It is an interesting cultural difference to see muslim women in the water with all their clothing on. It's very common over here as there are many muslims in Malaysia, but it isn't such a common sight back home. Actually, when someone goes to the beach wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt and never changes into a swimsuit, that person will generally get a lot of stares as the viewers think "is that person crazy?! It's so hot!" I was mostly curious if it was actually comfortable to be in the water with all those layers on.

We crossed back over the suspension bridge and relaxed in the sun with a cold drink, then we later headed home before all those cars tried to rush out of the park.

Goodbye Taiwan, Hello Malaysia

On the last Saturday before I left Taiwan, I decided to knit some random pouches for each of my co-workers, as well as bake them some chocolate chip cookies. There are always last minute things that need to get done before leaving a place. Finally, once all those errands were done and the packing was done - the apartment was empty, I was ready to leave.






My flight's departure was super early in the morning, so I figured I could get my butt to the airport the night before and perhaps get a good nights sleep in a hotel. I headed to the Erlin bus station and I have never seen it so busy the whole year I was there, so instead, I took a taxi to the Taichung HSR station which is about a 1.5 hour drive by car (the taxi only cost $30 CAD) I walked inside and it was packed like never before. All trains were sold out except for business class on the last two trains of the night. So, I bought a business class ticket for the 10:30pm train, which meant I had to wait the whole day as I arrived at the station before noon. I have no idea why it was so busy that Sunday, as it was just a regular Sunday, not a holiday, and I have travelled on Sundays before and it had never been that crazy. By the time I got to the station in Taoyuan (where the airport is), I was afraid there wouldn't be any transportation to the airport, but luckily there was. I got to the airport at about midnight, so I no longer wished to pay for a hotel for a few hours of sleep, since my check-in time was at 4 a.m., so I tried to sleep on a bench. It was freezing there and as you can imagine I didn't sleep much.

Finally, it was time to board the airplane and say goodbye to Taiwan.












I can't remember much of the flight as I fell asleep as soon as I had buckled myself in. I woke up while they were serving the meal, and fell asleep again once I was done eating. I think the flight was about 5 hours but I mostly remember having a great sleep, so the flight didn't feel that long to me. Malaysia was hot and humid - quite the opposite from Taiwan, but I can tell you it was a nice change as I had been seriously missing the heat. My lovely Matthew was at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) waiting for me with a car and driver to take us back to my dad's place, just north in a small city called Bentong.

Renting Bicycles and Hanging with Friends One Last Time

It's the last full weekend before the end of my work contract and departure from Taiwan. So, of course, some co-workers planned a little outing - cycling in Tianwei. We had decided to each get our own bicycle instead of one of these: one bike for four people.

This whole outing was dedicated to eating. Yes, eating. We cycled around and periodically stopped for food. And by periodically, I'm really talking about often - we were stopped more often than riding. It was a nice day - not too hot or cold; a light sweater/jacket kind of day.

We biked from Tianwei to Beidou and back. We stopped at a Family Mart to have some ice cream - I'm not exactly sure what was so special about this ice cream but people were crazy over it, the lineups ran out the door for this soft ice cream. Having worked at a Dairy Queen for seven years, this ice cream is probably best described as frozen yogurt, but I noticed that most ice cream in Taiwan is more like frozen crushed ice with colouring and maybe some flavouring or it's more like frozen yogurt but they just call all of it ice cream - it's a bit deceiving.

After the ice cream we chatted and eventually continued on our ride. We later stopped for a more traditional Taiwanese desert: crushed ice with different toppings.







We cycled through a section of the city that is known for flowers and plant nurseries. I've noticed that in Asia in general, they really like making sections for things. Like this part of town is where almost all plant nurseries are found, one mall might be dedicated to all things electronic while a different mall is for all clothing. It seems silly to me because it makes it convenient for the consumer - go to one place to get all your plants, but stupid on the other hand because the competition amongst the sellers is ludicrous. I personally hate it because it means that there are no plant/flower nurseries near my home and I have to travel all the way to this area just to buy a nice plant, but once I get there, I have hundred of different sellers to buy from. But hey, I'm from North America and I would rather go to one area of the city, or one mall and find everything I'm looking for so I can get out of there as soon as possible. By the sounds of it, you have probably figure out that I do not enjoy shopping.





There was, however, a lovely park with lots of flowers to promote business for the local nurseries.







We cycled and stopped at many of the garden centres even though none of us bought any plants.

                                                                                                             We stopped at a different shop and I saw a cubic watermelon. To be honest, I don't believe this one is real but I know that they do grow them in that area. This one was used for more decorative purposes. 

I was really trying to convince my friend and co-worker, Elaine, to buy a new cactus plat as she had recently knocked hers off of her desk and broke it. I thought one of these might have been cute.

We cycled back to Tianwei to drop off our bicycles, say goodbye and take some last minute photos before hopping back on the bus towards Erlin.

Alice, Fiona, Me, Sophia, Elaine

Mom's Visit to Taiwan

My mother arrived from Canada on the first day of the Chinese New Year, so Matthew and I picked her up from the airport. Her trip didn't get off to a great start; she got stopped and pulled into an office at customs. We spent an extra hour waiting for her because she was being questioned. Why was she being questioned? Most likely because she has a Canadian passport but speaks perfect Mandarin (she's originally from Singapore). Basically, while traveling to a country where you know the language, don't use it; speak English. The Taiwanese' English ability isn't that great and I have found that they don't want to waste time trying to communicate. If my mom spoke English to them instead of Mandarin, they would have let her through no problem. It's an unfortunate reality. If you want to avoid any hassle, just speak English and don't even attempt to use their language if you know how.

It took forever, and even an official called me on my cell asking me stuff in Mandarin even though I don't speak it and my mother made that clear. I hate bureaucracy. Finally she comes walking through the doors and I didn't even recognize her; it was Matthew who had to point her out to me and they had never met before. We soon headed to the car for the 2.5 hour drive back to Erlin. My mom rested for the first day, the jet lag is a killer and with a more than 12 hour difference, it's hard to adjust quickly. We decided to head up to Taipei and traffic was horrendous; I'm pretty sure every inhabitant was driving northbound that day.  We got into Taipei after dinner time and got a bite to eat at a "famous" restaurant that some Taiwanese actors dine at - it's not like a Hollywood restaurant. My mom tried stinky tofu there and she hated it.

Afterwards, we hit up a night market and ate some more, shopped, and got a face threading - where they use thread to remove all the little hairs on your face, including the peach fuzz; it hurts.

Lastly, we went in for a foot massage but all of sudden my mom chickened out. Once we were almost done she decided to get one as well, so I got a shoulder/neck and arm massage while I waited for her.


My mother also got some kind of meat/leg pounding massage. The man who calls himself a Chinese medicine "doctor" used a rubber mallet and hit my mom's legs hard enough to leave bruises everywhere. It was gross looking and painful. He told her that it will help with her back pain. Of course it will!!! Your legs are now in so much pain, you can't feel pain anywhere else! My mother has become so westernized in so many aspects, but she still buys into all the silly Chinese/herbal medicine stuff. After that enjoyable and painful experience, we drove around for hours looking for an available place to stay, but everywhere we checked they were fully booked. Take note, do not try to travel without pre-arranged accommodations during the Chinese New Year.

We finally found a hostel that would let us stay the night, but we had to sleep in the office so we slept like crap as you can imagine because there were always people coming and going, or maids getting cleaning supplies, etc.

The next morning we headed to an area of Taipei that Matthew was familiar with, it is where he did a run with a group back when we first arrived in Taiwan. It was a hot day, the weather had been nice for most of the holiday week so we checked out a river. There was a suspension bridge and even paddle boats you could rent, the place was busy.

We crossed the suspension bridge and climbed some narrow, crooked stairs and found a quaint tea shop looking down on the river. We took shelter from the blazing heat there while enjoying a hot pot of handpicked tea from the mountains, it was refreshing. There is a specific way to serve this kind of tea, so it was a neat learning experience.

We later headed into the financial district and checked out some tourist spots, like Taipei 101, some shopping malls, a huge Eslite bookstore, etc.

After having fully explored the financial district, we headed back downtown to see the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a place to commemorate a former president of Taiwan. It is beautiful at night, but my camera is old and can't seem to take any good pictures. The park is free and accessible 24/7.





We then drove all the way back to Erlin for a good nights sleep in our own beds. The next day we brought my mom to the coast to see how oysters are farmed, and we showed her the biggest temple in the area, which is unfinished because they ran out of money and couldn't complete it; it's huge. We then drove onwards to Lukang to show her the old town, and this place was packed. Cars, people, dogs, children, everything and everyone was jam packed in the streets while a parade was also trying to get through. There was one interesting aspect during the parade. As a mini temple float was coming through, people would rush into the street and crouch down on the ground as the temple passed above them. Once it had passed they would stand up and bow towards the float. I had never seen that happen before, it might be something specific to whichever god that temple float was dedicated to, but I am not sure.

On another day we headed to Taichung city to go for dinner, a lot of the restaurants were at full capacity and we were supposed to meet other friends, but instead Matthew, my mother and I went for one last teriyaki dinner, Matthew's favourite; he was leaving the next day. We later met up with our friends (the ones we met with for the Moon Festival) at a tea shop and chatted for one last time together. Goodbyes can really drag on. We headed home a lot later than intended but it was a good visit. The next day I drove Matthew to the airport and he went on his way to Hong Kong and then later to China to visit his old friends.

My mother was left to her own vices for the week and once the weekend came round, we drove down to Kaohsiung. We went to the Dream Mall and I finally got to ride the Ferris wheel that is on top of the mall; there is actually a mini-theme park at the top. It pretty small and most of the rides are for children, but you get an amazing view of the city from the Ferris wheel (I had forgotten my camera so the pictures are on my mom's which I forgot to transfer). It was pretty cheap and quick to get all the way around, but my mom chickened out so I did it alone. Each car is made from plexi-glass so you get a great view, even the floor was a window.

We found a motel and spent the night there. It was a pretty fancy motel, each room had it's own private garage and a door from inside the garage to access the room. The room had its own little kitchenette, a soaker jet tub, stand alone shower with jets spraying at you from all directions; it was fancy and all for a measly $93 CAD/night.  They even served breakfast right to you in the morning. They just open your garage and place the tray on a table outside your room door, the weight of the tray pushes down on a button that lights up a sign in your room to let you know your breakfast is ready for when you wake up. The breakfast was nothing special, it was from McDonald's actually. This motel though is totally meant for couples, like a romantic getaway. The room provided condoms, lube, free porn on the televisions, and it even had a "sex chair". It's deceiving. It looks like a lazy-boy type massage chair but it doesn't massage you. It has varying speeds and just moves back and forth; it's meant to make having sex easier. As the woman, you can sit in the chair and put your legs up on the stirrups, the man kneels on the footstool and you can adjust the speed at which he enters you.

I have never seen such a chair but my mom and I certainly had a laugh. I was surprised they actually bought one for each room. It's funny how different motels can be in foreign countries.

After our night at the fancy motel, we drove southbound towards Kenting to visit the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium.








The weather in the south is much nicer than the rest of Taiwan; it's always hotter and sunnier and there's a lot less rain. From the parking lot the aquarium didn't look too bad, but once inside it was very busy. One of the first things you see is an open aquarium where you can touch certain animals, like starfish, sea cucumbers, etc. It was very fun and there were plenty of pretty fish to look at.

There are even sections of the aquarium where you walk through underwater tunnels, just like the one in Okinawa, Japan and on Sentosa island in Singapore. The one in Taiwan had a section that was dedicated to arctic animals, so we even got to see penguins in Taiwan.

The arctic section was interesting as it was pretty cold, obviously. The interesting part wasn't really the penguins for me, but watching the Taiwanese peoples' expressions and reactions as most of them have never seen penguins before nor have they ever seen snow, other than in pictures. People were squished up to the glass trying to get close and get the best pictures of the penguins. After fully exploring the aquarium, we drove all the way back to Erlin. The next day was my mom's last day of visiting, so it was mostly spent packing and taking it easy. The next morning was a pretty boring one that involved some confusion when it came to the airport service; which ended up being late and I just drove my mom instead. Now, being without my mother and without Matthew, I get to spend the last three weeks of my time in Taiwan to do whatever I want, and deal with those last errands like selling the car.