WISH YOU ALL A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

The food in Taipei is FANTASTIC!! Restaurants and snack stalls all over the city busting out creative and tasty treats such as: shaved iced milk topped with fresh papaya; bbq’d corn glazed with teriyaki sauce and Taiwanese seasoning; traditional Taiwanese beef stew noodle soup; tapioca milk tea; juicy pork dumplings; various egg dishes (it’s amazing what the Taiwanese can do with eggs!!)…..etc…too many dishes to mention. Basically, Taipei was a giant 3 day food festival for us.
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Geographically, Taipei is quite a large city. Surprisingly, not too many high rise buildings, with exception the Taipei 101 Building - which is currently the tallest building in the world. Since the city doesn’t feel so dense, compared to Hong Kong, walking around Taipei is quite managable. In the afternoon it seems like everyone stays inside, but when the late evening hours kicks in Taipei becomes quite a lively place. Everyone seem to be out hanging out at the night markets snacking on the delicious food! Great city, the people are very laid back and friendly, an enjoyable place to hang out.
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Big thanks to the newlyweds Carl and Jessy, for letting us crash out at their apartment and being our official Taipei food guide.
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At the China/Hong Kong border, China border control refused our entry and told us to go back to Hong Kong, according to Mainland our Multi-entry visa is no longer valid. No point in arguing with Chinese officials, we turned around and walked back into Hong Kong. Quite an amusing situation.
Well my wish came through we’re not traveling through Mainland China again. I was pretty adament after the Yangtze cruise, but Yvonne wanted to see more of Southern China. Yvonne will have to go back in the near future with her mom. So we’re back in HK for a couple more days (I really don’t mind I love it out here). Since China fell through we’ll fly to Bangkok on Thursday.

Pictures to follow shortly

So after Chengdu we hopped on an early morning bus to Chongqing. We had several hours to kill, in Chongqing, before boarding our Yangtze River cruise boat. So we checked out the Chongqing cuisine (delicious of course!) and lounged around the local internet cafe. At 8pm we finally boarded our cruise boat - the “S.S. Piece of Shit.” - Note to self: Never go budget on a Chinese cruise boat.
The boat was basically a floating piece of shit!. Disgusting room, the carpet was filthy - never cleaned, full of dirt and dried spit. The beddings had mold, therefore never washed (thank God for our sleeping bags and sleep sheets!). Our tiny bathroom was a combo squat toilet room slash shower facility, so showering required spreading our legs over the squatter. Since we had a bunk mate, for needed privacy we changed inside the tiny bathroom, praying that nothing fell inside the squat pot (Unfortunately Yvonne’s underwear fell in while she was changing - yuck, major heebie jeebies). My immediate thought - Why are we spending 2 1/2 days on this boat? Oh yeah right to see the spectacular Three Gorges!
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Not so impressive these Three Gorges. The scenery is not that spectacular. It didn’t help that we were on board with 100’s of loud, obnoxious Mainland Chinese tourists, who would use the Yangtze as their personal trash can. Done with that cup of noodle? No problem just toss it into the river. Finished blowing your nose? No problem just chuck your snot rag away. The Yangtze can be best described as a large trash dumpster.
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There’s more but I’d rather not get into a long, exhausting rant about the frustrating sequence of events. Basically the Yangtze was not a pleasant trip, and even not so pleasant getting dicked around from a travel agent who arranged our train tickets “No Problem” to Guangzhou. Needless to say we’re so happy to be in civilization- Hong Kong. Oh man such a contrast to Mainland China! Clean public restrooms, no one spits, everyone queues up in line, polite and well-mannered people. “Calgon - Take me Away!!”
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Like Yvonne said we’re basically chilling out in Hong Kong (the city where we first met) and having a great time hanging out with friends and Yvonne’s cousins. And of course, we’re eating the fantastic food out here! My wish list of eating congee and wonton noodle soup, in Central, was immediately fulfilled (it’s not the same outside of Hong Kong!) - so delicious! We also met our Dutch friends, Joep and Carola, again in Hong Kong. Yvonne being the willing tour guide, showing them the sites and introducing them to Cantonese cuisine. (A brave Joep tried the chicken feet during dim sum). I dragged everyone to my favorite congee house two days in a row (gotta get my fix before we leave HK!). Anyway, it’s all about the food so we’ll be in glutony heaven for several more days. (Today, I have a craving for pig’s blood jello and pig’s intestine, from this restaurant Yvonne’s cousin took us to. It may sound disgusting to most of you, but it’s sssooooo delicious!!).
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We’ll take off to Taipei on Friday and see another old friend of ours, then return to HK on Monday morning. Monday evening we’ll take a train into China - again. I know - we’re sadistic, but our China multi-entry visa had expired, therefore our stay in Hong Kong, but we can re-enter China with no problems. We’ll finish seeing Southern China (we’re making it a point to avoid the major tourist sites), then cross overland into Vietnam.

Pictures to follow shortly

We’re on break in Hong Kong and Taipei, just having good food and meeting up with old friends. Be back in a week or so.