You are not in Kansas anymore Day 22

Kua-Bao - There is no word to describe how delicious this is! Fatty meat, with vegetables and peanuts wrapped in soft bun... Hannah's favourite (of course, after the smelly tofu). Super sinful, but who can resist? :p

Hannah and I have searched high and low for this bun when she was here in January. Now I found it just at the place I am currently staying. And it cost NT45 (NZD1.7)

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 21

Formosa - This is my third trip to Taiwan, and I always see/ notice that Taiwan has been referred to as "Formosa" in a lot of places. I was wondering why, and did a quick google check... The name "Formosa" (meaning "beautiful") was given by the Portuguese in the 16th century when they first laid eyes on Taiwan.

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 20

Mountains - About 2/3 of Taiwan's terrain are rugged mountains. During Hannah's visit in January, we took  couple of days off to Alishan and Taroko Gorge, and we were definitely captivated by the view. From Alishan, while we were waiting for the sunrise (which didn't really happen due to bad weather :P ), we could see the highest mountain in all of south east Asia, the Jade mountain, which is nearly 13000ft tall.

The closest picture I have on Jade Mountain is during Hannah's visit in January. Here she was sipping warm tea happily because it was SO COLD! :)

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 19

Pig's blood cake - There used to have shops in Singapore selling it, but due to controls, it was banned. I was glad to find shops selling them here... Yummy

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 18

Cheap shopping - One of the best thing about Taiwan is cheap shopping... Hannah loves this. You can get clothes, tea sets, furnitures, electronics, and especially shoes (Hannah's favourite) for very cheap! I bought Hannah two pairs of "alternative" Birkenstock for less than NZD20 each. And there is my favourite store - UNIQLO... a Japanese store which has established itself in Taiwan. It sells really nice clothes for a reasonable price eg. NZD40 for a pair of pants...it is definitely shopping heaven.

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 17

APCRS 2014 - Back in Taipei Academia Lab now. For the last two weeks, I was in Kenting working on my field experiment, and at the same time attended the 3rd Asia Pacific Coral Reef Symposium. It was not a huge conference with about 200+ students presenting, and about 500 participants. However, it is the small size that enables a lot more one-to-one interaction with different people. Although everyone was studying coral reefs, about 60% of the participants are ecologist, which means that their studies are mostly surveys etc. As such, there are only less than 10 microbial ecologist, making it hard for people to understand what my study is about. I was also lucky enough to be selected as one of the 10 students to participate in the students presentation competition. I did not win, but definitely gained a lot of experience in presenting my study in 15mins. Also, there are relay moments to mingle with fellow researchers and students. Next target - presenting in a  bigger international conference.

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 16

Night market - I think one of the thing that Hannah loves best in Taiwan are the night markets. She would drag me out every night to the night markets after I finished my work. There are so much things there - food (definitely), games, clothes, and sometimes even pets! Currently, I am in Kenting, and even here, there is a night market. Night markets are a representative scene of the Taiwanese night scenes.

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 15

Smelly tofu - OH!... what can I say.. they may smell horrible, but they taste SO GOOD! There are a few different styles - fried, steam, soup... Hannah and I had the best smelly tofu when we visited my god-father in Koushiong. We went to this shop (that only sells smelly tofu), and had a half an hour queue, but the smelly tofu was the best we ever had!... If you are here in Taiwan, this is one Taiwanese food you CANNOT miss.

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 14

Bubble tea - When you talk about Taiwan, one drink that comes to my mind is Bubble Tea! It is delicious - there are warm tea in the winter, and cold drinks in the summer. Together with pearls, they are definitely my favourite drink in Taiwan. And it is definitely much cheaper than any drinks you can get around here.. one huge 1000mL cup of bubble tea cost only NT70 (NZD2.5)! When Hannah was here in January, having one cup of bubble tea a day has became quite our routine!

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 13

Nuclear Plant diving - I am currently in Kenting, South Taiwan conducting my field experiment. And it is not everyday, in fact, I have NEVER (until I came to Taiwan) dive in a Nuclear Plant inlet. The nuclear plant draws in tons of seawater everyday to cool down the reactors, and pushes the hot water out. As a result, there is quite a strong flow at the inlet, and at the outlet, the water temperature around there is about 2degC higher than the surrounding waters. This results in quite interesting diving. However, the reefs here are still in pretty good shape.

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 12

7-Eleven - There is no 7-Eleven like the 7-Eleven in Taiwan. The things you can do in the 7-Eleven shops in Taiwan are:

• buy things (just like any other convenience stores)
• mail letters and packages
• pay phone bills
• pay fines
• withdraw cash (like a bank)
• laundry
• order food from other (faraway) places in Taiwan
• Have breakfast, lunch and dinner (there are seats available)
• courier services

There is a saying in Taiwan - "Taiwan can operate without the government for a week, but it will not survive a day without 7-Eleven" :)

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 11

High speed train - Currently, I am in Kenting, South Taiwan conducting my field experiment. We (Jia-Ho, my colleague) took the high speed train from Taipei to Zuoying, and transfer to a cab to arrive in National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium (NMMBA). The whole journey from Taipei to South Taiwan took about 2 hours (approximately 345km) and cost NT1630 (NZD 62). The train runs along the west coast of Taiwan, at a top speed of 300 km/h.

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 10

Beef noodles - There are beef noodles in NZ, US and Singapore. However, they don't make them like they make beef noodles in Taiwan. It is hard to explain what so good about the beef noodles in Taiwan. They are juicier, more fragrant and definitely have more beef pieces in their noodles. And nothing beats eating beef noodles with some of your colleagues by the side of a busy road (a scene you could no longer see in NZ, US nor Singapore). Taiwan is so proud of their beef noodles that they have a competition every year to see which shop (or which chef) has the best beef noodles in the country! Hannah and I had the opportunity to visit one shop which won the competition in 2010 and 2011, and I can only say - YUMMY :)

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 9

Scooters - I remembered the first "amazing" thing that Hannah saw when she came to Taipei in Feb was "those insane scooters (that was her words!)". There are a lot of scooters here in Taiwan, and even more in Taipei. Most people get around on the scooters, and even if they have a car, they will still have one or more scooters at home. Hannah and I have seen five family members riding on a single scooter... dogs on scooters are a common sight, and even scooters used to transport 5 LPG gas. The riders are crazy too!... So watch it, "green man" means you can cross, but doesn't mean you SHOULD cross... watch out for those scooters :/

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 8

Toilet - Actually a squatting toilet. I know there are squatting toilets in US, NZ and Singapore, but the toilets in Taiwan are "interesting" :).  I think the designs are originally from Japan. This is my forth trip to Taiwan, and I have only used the squatting toilet once. I remembered during then, I was thinking to myself which direction should I squat? Should I squat where there is water but structure is poking me at the back, or squat where there is nothing poking me at the back BUT there is no water? As always with any life-changing events, I shared my queries with Hannah :) And true enough, there are detailed instructions on the worldwide web on HOW TO USE TOILETS IN TAIWAN :)

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 7

Salty-spicy chicken - Well, when you talk about Taiwan, most topics will not be too far away from their delicacies. One of them is salty-spicy chicken. It is probably my most favourite food in Taiwan, and sometime (well, I admit, most of the times) I do get over enthusiastic and bought a bit, well, again, I admit, way too much :) . How can you not love this food... go to the shop, pick up items that you love, ranging from chicken, cuttlefish, broccoli, beans, fries, tofu etc, and the cook fried everything, pick a bit of spice on the mix (depending on how spicy you want it to be), and there you are... salty-spicy chicken!...and it is usually less than NZD5 for a huge serving... Serve best with beer or tea :)

You are not in Kansas anymore Day 6

Su'ao (Part II) - Yi-Long's family runs a small restaurant, and the moment I arrived at his place, his mom did what every mom would do when they sees me - they FEED me! I guess I may have appear a bit too skinny for their liking! :) She fed me fried noodles, home-grown corn, fish soup, fish, fried tofu, fried pork lark, and one of my favourite - dumpling! It has been a long time since I ate homemade dumpling! It is usually only available during the Dragon Boat Festival, and it consists of different ingredients in glutinous rice, wrapped in bamboo leaves, and steam for a long time. In between all these eating, we also visited another shop which sells really good wanton noodle soup in this area.

Cold spring - Su'ao is famous for its cold spring. As it's name suggest, it is a spring that is cold, as opposed to a hot spring. It still has all the minerals, and CO2 bubbling out from the ground, but it is  22degC! However, I feel that it is way colder ..probably around 19degC. There are only 2 cold springs in the world - one in Sicily, Italy and the other is here! It is supposed to be good for your skin etc. Rumour (from Yi-Long) is that it feels really good on a hot summer day, but unfortunately that day when we visited the place, it was a pretty cold, cloudy day. The place we visited was free for locals, so I let Yi-Long do all the talking, and I just kept my mouth shut and pretend I am a local Su'ao resident :) ... There is a separate men and women spring, and everyone is naked...thus I was not able to take any pictures of the interior. However, I don't think you miss anything much - it was just a pool of water, with occasional bubbles of CO2 escaping from underground, and lots of naked men around :)

Arts - After the cold spring session, we headed to the National Center for Traditional Arts. I think Hannah would love this place. It was huge, with an old street scene, some performances, traditional arts exhibitions (which I wasn't allow to take any pictures) and even an old, traditional brick house. I have always love those traditional brick houses, and it was really fascinating to see one in real life. The Center had dismantled the old house from somewhere else, and put it back at this location pieces by pieces. It is cool to know that the whole house was build without any nails, but put together using "timber frames" method.