January Travels

View from our house in Park City, Utah

As detailed in the past several posts I did quite a bit of traveling over winter break with trips to New York, Florida, and Taiwan before finally returning to LA.  But with classes and other responsibilities starting up again early in January, that obviously put an end to my travel plans, right?  No way. Already disappointed that I missed out on the Section A Ski Trip to Mammoth Mountain, which took place the first weekend of January when I was returning from Asia, I decided not to pass up the next two travel opportunities that came my way (which happened to be the next two weekends): trips to Vegas and to Park City, Utah.

The idea behind the Vegas trip was it was the same weekend as the Annual MBA Poker Tournament and also the CES convention (Consumer Electronics Association, a high-tech showcase of up and coming technologies).  Its common for MBAs to enjoy gambling, partying, and new gadgets and technology, so this was a popular weekend to attend.  I stayed in a suite in the Palazzo with 4 other classmates.  It was a nice upgrade over MGM and Bally's that I've stayed in at my previous trips.  The craps tables hit me hard, we ate some decent food, went to a club one night, and, of course, made my mandatory trip to dive casino O'Sheas.  I also returned to the Hilton Sportsbook Theater to watch the Giants beat the Green Bay Packers in their playoff game.  As Kolko later commented, this was a fitting full circle for me to return to the same location at the end of the year to watch the Giants win a huge game after we had been there together in Week 1 and saw them lose a terrible game.

It was a decent weekend, but Vegas probably won't ever live up to the shenanigans of Reich's bachelor party weekend there this past September, and I'm also starting to get a little over Vegas in my old age.  Too expensive and forced partying, I think.  Plus with such a large group going on this trip (there were probably 150 Anderson students or so), I felt it hard to keep track of people and what was going on.  On a sidenote, I will be returning to Vegas in June as part of Disorientation (the clever counterpart to Orientation which started our MBA experience, Disorientation is one last party weekend in Vegas before graduation.  The majority of our 370 student class will probably be there those few days).

The living room of our eight-person house in Utah

The excuse to travel to Utah the following week was that it coinsided with the start of the Sundance Festival, a world famous film festival premiering independent films.  I'm not a huge movie-goer, but it seemed like it would be a few fun filled days of male bonding with some of my better friends at Anderson, plus I was looking forward to the opportunity to going skiing.  With clear disregard for our class schedules, eight of us rented a house in Park City and left LA on Wednesday morning and didn't return until Sunday night.

The five days in Utah were a blast.  The house we had was nice and cozy, we went skiing two days, we saw a bunch of movies, we ate some good food, and through some random connections and good luck we even got invites to a few open bar parties for free.  The only real bad situation was that our rental car got smashed up when some 19 year olds lost control of their car and fishtailed into us (the accident took place right in front of our house too), so we were without a car for the second half of the trip. 

Weathering the storm on the slopes

I especially had fun going skiing for the first time in a few years.  It had been a very bad skiing season all over the country up until this week, but a massive snowstorm came through while we were in town, and all the fresh snow led to the best skiing conditions I have ever been in.  I've only gone three times previously, all in southern PA, so my experience at Park City Mountain Resort was a noticeable difference in quality of slopes and snow.  The second day we went the conditions were a little too rough for me (I didn't really have proper gear, or skill), but the more advanced skiers in the group said it was one of the most "epic" skiing days they had ever had.  I spent most of my time trying to relearn the basics of skiing and used the green (easiest) slopes, but ventured out on to a blue (the next level up) on the last day.  I'd definitely like to go skiing more often if possible. 

Obtaining movie tickets for the Festival was a tricky process because everything was sold out weeks before our arrival (even though we were given a timeslot to purchase tickets as part of our trip package, everything we wanted to see was already sold out at that time).  So the best way to get tickets was to have someone wake up early (6 am) to wait on lines and buy tickets for the group.  The two movies I saw were Hello, I Must Be Going and The Raid, which were both worth seeing and were as different as could be.  The first was about a down-on-her-luck 30-something woman who starts dating a high school dude.  Obviously that description doesn't sound like it's my type of movie, but it was actually really funny and sweet, and reminded me a bit of Juno.  The latter movie was an Indonesian action film which was as violent as any movie I had ever seen.  Entertaining mostly for sheer shock value, and because the entire movie was literally one long action scene.  Apparently the movies the other guys saw later in the day were terrible, so I saw the best ones of our group.

I'll save the details for another post, but I actually made another out-of-town trip almost immediately after returning from Sundance.  The next day, I had to take a red-eye flight to DC for two days in the nation's capital as part of my AMR project with the non-profit we're doing consulting work for.  Also, somewhere in January I also took some classes, did a lot of schoolwork and have had several interviews, but those all just seem like minor details in a fast paced first few weeks of the new quarter.

Taiwan - Epilogue

This Taiwan trip gets a giant thumbs up

Before we get too removed from winter break, I wanted to make a final post about the trip.

After a lovely week in Taiwan, the return trip wasn't quite as pleasant.  After my first flight I had a 4.5 hour layover in a Chinese airport with no heat, and then had a 12 hour flight back to LA on an ultra uncomfortable plane where my TV screen was broken and the man next to me was hacking up a lung the entire trip.  Those final 18 hours of travel notwithstanding (plus the 28 hours it took me to arrive in the country), it was a really great trip overall and worth all that time and the logistical nightmare of getting to and from Taiwan.

Going into the vacation I wasn't sure if it was going to be mostly a relax-in-the-apartment-with-the-family type of trip, so I was surprised with how packed my itinerary was and how much there was to see.  I think the blend of sightseeing and family time was actually pretty ideal, since those were the dual purposes of the trip.   Everyone I met, both in and out of the family, was extremely friendly and very open to me being a part of their lives for this week. 

It was definitely one of my most unique trips to date. Living and traveling with natives gave me a much fuller exposure to the culture, and a stronger selection of activities and eateries.  In my two previous Europe trips it seemed a lot easier to get by with English and some limited native phrases because at least the language was more easily recognizable and English was more widely spoken.  Here I was very much dependent on my hosts for the week, and even the two trips to 7-11 I made on my own I felt uneasy about. There were still certain levels of awkwardness due to the language barriers and when meeting new people, but that was to be expected and I started to get used to it as the trip progressed.  One nice aspect of the trip that was different from previous vacations, was that I really didn't have to make almost any decisions.  I followed the itinerary that was made for me, went to the restaurants that they had already chosen, and ate pretty much any food that was placed in front of me.  As silly as it might sound, it was actually a very nice break from decision making.  I've already commented that I'm afraid I'm going to have trouble coming up with plans and meal ideas when I got back to the States. 

As great as an experience as it was, with all the travel and tough communication that I had faced over the break, I was very relieved to make it back to America and to Los Angeles.  Unfortunately, though, there was very little time to relax and recover because my first classes (and a job interview) were only two days away.

And in case you haven't seen enough photos via the blog or Facebook, here's a more complete album of the trip:  Taiwan Trip Album

Taiwan - Day 7 (Hot Pot & Uniqlo)

Board game night to close out the trip

Thursday, January 5, 2012

With another cold, rainy day in the forecast, and already almost a week spent seeing all the touristy hot spots in Taipei, my final day in Taiwan was set to be a pretty casual one.  The morning was passed by in the family apartment eating breakfast and babysitting William.

Spicy hot pot lunch for Muyen's birthday

Around 11:30 Amanda and Muyen picked me and Steph up to go to lunch to celebrate Muyen's birthday.  The selected restaurant this time around was a hot pot restaurant around 30 minutes away, and continuing the theme of advanced planning for the trip, apparently this reservation was only made a couple weeks in advance.  It was a good time with just us four youngin's enjoying the spicy meal.  Again, the locals were surprised with how my white boy eating habits could keep up with the rest of the group.  Although not nearly as painful, and much more tasty, I compared this situation to my Chinese massage experience where I was fighting off the hurt and trying to put on a strong face.  The real key to the meal though was that it was served with a large dose of plum juice.  Although only mildly tasty, this purple drank was instrumental in combating the ultra spiciness level in my mouth and so I had three large glasses.

A successful shopping trip

We relaxed a bit after lunch to digest, and then Steph and I headed on a little shopping trip to take advantage of cheap Taiwanese clothing.  We headed to Uniqlo, a new Japanese retailer in the area, which had become Steph's new favorite clothing store because of its low cost, high quality offerings, including Heattech, which was a new brand of lightweight clothing that creates body heat, or something like that.  I didn't realize until later that it was the same store that my dad had stumbled into in Manhattan two weeks earlier and showed me just so I could use their bathroom to change out of my suit and into my proper roaming-the-city-with-my-parents attire.  Anyways, now that I was here to shop they had really good deals, which I could only assume were cheaper than the New York prices, so I bought a bunch of shirts.

Around 5ish, we met up with another old UBS colleague.  It was another Mandarin-filled sit down meet and greet where I didn't have much opportunity to talk or listen.  Not to worry though since I had already become pretty accustomed to these meetings, and this was the last one of the trip.  We ran a couple more errands afterwards, and then headed back to the apartment for dinner of soft shell crab.  Very tasty.  At night we had Family Fun Night and played two games of the old board game, Life.  Board games know no language barriers, and although this was no Marbles, it was a fun time for all.  After the games finished up it was getting late, so I headed back to my hotel to pack up my gear, and prepare to put a close on the trip.  We would be heading back to the airport in the morning.

Taiwan - Day 6 (Palace Museum and Night Market)

Outside of the National Palace Museum

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A second day in a row of good sleep put me in a good mood to start my day.  But I was in an even better mood after our deep fried egg-pancake breakfast from a street vendor right next door to the apartment.  At only around 1 U.S. dollar, it was both a bargain and one of my favorite meals of the trip.  I haven't been able to find an actual English name for it, so trying to re-create it in my own kitchen might be difficult.

It was a lazy early morning at the apartment followed by some quick errands around town.  Unfortunately the weather had gotten worse, as this was the coldest day of the trip, and there was heavy rain throughout the day.  At noon Steph and I met up with three of her former co-workers from UBS at "Very Thai Restaurant" near their office.  A friendly, fun group and they also spoke decent English, which is always a plus.

After lunch we headed over to the National Palace Museum.  Taiwan's national museum featured a collection of over 600,000 pieces of ancient art and artifacts, most of which had been collected by former Chinese emperors.  The most famous pieces of art, oddly enough, were two jade carvings in the shape of a piece of pork and a Chinese cabbage.  It attracted quite the crowd.  There were also a giant, detailed mural drawing of an old palace town that was particularly interesting, as well as many old pots and pans, some of which looked like they could have come from Ikea.

Outside the Shilin Night Market in Taipei

Steph had a dentist appointment at 5 pm, so I went home and took a nap.  We met up later in the evening to go to one of the well known Taiwanese night markets.  These are a collection of booths and vendors that serve prepared foods and sell merchandise. They usually open up at 4 pm, reaching their peak crowds from 8-11, and then close up sometime after midnight.  It basically looks a lot like a carnival, but with much better food and with much better prices.  We helped ourselves to some sausage, delicious fried chicken steak, an oyster omelet, some soupy product, and some bubble tea.  As is the case with a lot of Taiwanese food vendors, the deliciousness-to-cost ratio was off the charts, with the fried chicken and soda combo costing about $1.25.  We walked around some of the vendors, and then called it a night.

Taiwan - Day 5 (Towers and Gondolas)

Views of Taipei in the distance from the Maokong Gondolas

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 

It took a few days but I finally got a good nights sleep and felt refreshed in the morning.  Hurray! I had some breakfast in the apartment and then Steph and I headed to Taipei 101 to get some city views from the top of the tower, enjoying the warmest weather of the trip so far.  While in one of the metro stations on our way, we saw one of the most significant technological advances to ever hit the bathroom industry:  an electronic, color-coded display located outside of the bathrooms that show in real-time which toilet stalls are being used, which are free, and which stalls are undergoing an "investigation alert." I look forward to this necessary invention making its way to subway stations throughout the United States in the near future.

Views of Taipei from the 89th floor of Taipei 101

Taipei 101 was a really cool with some spectacular views of the city, although the name was a bit misleading.  The observation tower is actually only on the 89th floor.  To get there, we took the world's fastest elevator, reaching a top speed of 1,010 meters/minute.  According to people we talked to later, we got really lucky with the views from the top this morning because normally there is heavy cloud coverage that high up.  At noon we met up with the rest of the family for a fancy buffet at Le Méridien Taipei hotel.  I was told that these reservations were made three months in advance, so it seems some thought was put into this week.  Fantastic food all around, featuring cuisine from all around the world.  After the meal, we digested by watching baby William run all around the hotel's lobby and art exhibits.

A rainy ride on the gondolas

After leaving the hotel, Steph and I broke away from the group to head to the Maokong Gondolas, the #1 rated thing to do in Taipei by tripadvisor.com.  This heavily trafficked gondola lift transportation system carries passengers a little over 2.5 miles from the Taipei Zoo metro station to Maokong, which is up in the mountains near a lot of tea plantations, and features great views of the city and the jungle/forest below.  We rode in the "crystal cabin" which meant they had a glass bottom, for easier views of the landscape directly below.  The ride was fun itself, and the views were great.  When we reached Maokong, we hiked a bit to get to a tea house which was recommended to us, stopping briefly at a Buddhist temple on our way.  The tea house was very nice and service was very friendly.  We hung out there for awhile before taking a bus back to the station and then the gandolas back to the metro.  The return ride wasn't quite as fun since it was dark and rainier out which limited the views, and there was a young couple sharing the cabin with us that was getting uncomfortably frisky with each other throughout the ride. 

When we got back closer to home we picked up some food and a DVD and returned to the apartment, where we ate and watch Cowboys and Aliens with some of the family.  The movie was just as terrible as you may imagine.  But whatever the food was, of course, was yummy.

Coming soon to an LIRR or Metro station near you

Taiwan - Day 4 (The Villa)

Enjoying a few Taiwanese beers while overlooking the town from the villa balcony

Monday, January 2, 2012 

I realize this is getting to be a boring and repetitive way to start each blog... but despite getting in earlier than usual, I had poor sleep again last night.  This time it was because of the extreme cold temperatures in my new hotel room.  I had trouble figuring out how to shut the window last night, so I left it open a crack, thinking it wouldn't be a problem.  I also had trouble figuring out how to use the thermostat, which I think was also broken.  So that all led to some seriously cold sleeping conditions.

Finally some food I recognize

In the morning Steph and I went to an American style cafe down the block for breakfast.  I had been trying exotic Asian dishes nonstop since I arrived in Taiwan, so I thought it was time to return to my roots for one meal.  Leaving nothing to ambiguity, I ordered a dish called the "American Breakfast" plus a latte.  It was a very comforting knowing that I didn't have to ask what I was eating before each bite.

The plan for the day was to travel to the family's villa about 1.5 hours south in Taiwan.  They own a few pieces of real estate, but this is the only one outside of the city.  Steph and I took the train down to the area while the rest of the family went down in the van.  It was cool seeing the scenes along the train tracks as we left Taipei, and I was actually very surprised and impressed with how developed the areas we passed were.  I was expecting things to be a lot more undeveloped outside of Taipei, but although buildings looked old and not well maintained (partially b/c of the weather conditions I'm sure), everything seemed functioning well and there were lots of areas of tall buildings that few areas in Los Angeles even have.

The villa from higher up the mountain

We arrived and met the family for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the nearby town.  Afterwards we headed to the villa which is about halfway up a mountain, and her dad gave us a tour of the property.  It was obvious of how proud he was of it, as he has owned it for nearly 30 years and put a lot of work into developing the land into what it is today.  It was cool being in an area outside of the busy Taipei city limits, and there were nice views of the town below from this property.  We hung out there until around 4ish before hitting the road back to busy Taipei.

This seemed too cute not to post

Back at the apartment they had a guest come over, the girls' English tutor as children.  She was very close with everyone, and was repeatedly described to me as "like family" to them.  She seemed to want to sit down with everyone individually to discuss new life developments.  She sat down with me and Steph to meet me, in what I would describe as a cross between a psychology session and an exit interview.  In typical Asian fashion (as explained to me by Nick), she asked me a series of very direct questions about my trip, my relationship with Stephanie, the differences between Asian and western families, and other such fun topics.  A little strange to me, but I'm starting to get used to that at this point.

Rooting on the NY Giants at the Brass Monkey

We all hung out at the apartment for awhile drinking tea and watching several episodes of a British childrens' show with baby William.  Then at 8 pm, the three sisters and the three guys headed out to Brass Monkey, the sports bar in town, in large part because I wanted to watch the New York Giants football game.  The Giants-Cowboys "winner take all" regular season finale had been played earlier that morning (Taiwan time) and was going to be replayed on TV at the bar at 8:30 so we headed there for dinner, drinks, and to watch the game.  It was an Irish-style pub, which made Nick feel right at home, and a sports bar, which made me feel right at home.  Since the other two guys were European and didn't follow "American football", I was finally able to share some expertise with the group, and also very impressed as Stephanie extensively explained the rules and strategy of football in Mandarin to her sisters.  There were actually several other people at the bar who seemed really into the game, which seemed surprisingly, but this might be the only sports bar in town.  The other four of our group played pool for much of the second half, while Steph and I rooted the Giants on to victory.  Woohoo.

Taiwan - Day 3 (Birthdays and Massages)

Random picture of Taipei, since I didn't take too many photos today

Sunday, January 1, 2012


The New Year began with another sleepless night.  The hotels were booked because of the holiday, so I was spending this one night at the family apartment, which means I was subject to baby William crying for hours in the middle of the night.   Because of the large crowd in the house and the lack of doors to my room, I was awoken pretty early when others started getting up.  We had some breakfast at home, and then Stephanie and I headed out to do some walking before lunch.  She showed me some of the malls in the area, which was near her old UBS office.

Starting the New Year sporting my Sunday best

Our short morning sightseeing tour was only two metro stops away from the restaurant where we would be celebrating her dad's 70th birthday party, so we headed over there at noon to meet the rest of the family.  And by rest of the family, I mean around 40 other Taipei-based relatives who were there for the festivities.  Aunts, uncles, cousins, third great-uncles twice removed.  Pretty much every combination was there.  While I enjoyed meeting the immediate family the past couple days since they genuinely wanted to get to know me, this felt a lot weirder since the rest didn't speak English (except for a random cousin who was asking me about the Knicks).  I was still forced to meet everyone, but I felt a lot more just like the strange looking American guy standing next to Stephanie that everyone wanted to gawk at.  A lot of nodding, smiling, and awkward chuckles.  I was told on multiple occasions to say the Mandarin word for "egg" from memory for entertainment purposes.

The immediate family at the birthday lunch

Her dad gave a speech thanking everyone.  The first large reaction from the crowd came when he said that he loved his wife.  Apparently love is not spoken aloud in the older generations here.  When everyone heard that, the crowd demanded that he kiss his wife, which apparently is even more taboo to do in public for the elders.  So much so that when he eventually tried to lay a kiss on her, she jumped back and looked ready to smack him for the embarrassment.  It was pretty entertaining.  Lunch itself was quite good.  I think this one rang in at 11 plates/different courses, highlighted by the "butt meal" dessert.  There was also a lot of whiskey to go around and groups of families had to keep making cheers to other various parts of the family, and with each combination a sip or small shot of whiskey was supposed to be taken.

After lunch, lots of the relatives went back to the apartment for karaoke.  I had been told from Day 1 that I was going to be forced to do karaoke in front of the entire family.  It seemed to be some right of passage that Emma was starting as tradition for all the sisters' significant others to do.  As if I didn't hate the idea of forced sober karaoke in front of strangers, there was only one page of English songs, and they were all from a billion years ago.  No artists were listed, and the song titles were poorly translated into English.  I tried putting two songs on, but neither was the one I thought it would be, so cancelled them.  I ended up not doing it, possibly bringing shame upon myself, or even the United States as a whole.

As the ancient Asian foot masseuses used to say:  No pain, no gain.

Part of the reason I got out of it was because Steph and I were late for our 4 pm massage reservation.  I had heard much of authentic Chinese massages so she wanted to take me for one.  I had been warned earlier in the day by Amanda that they were actually quite painful to those who have not had them before.  She wasn't joking.  After a foot bathing session, we were taken in for a 40 minute foot/leg massage.  The male masseuse was pretty rough, so much so that I thought my bones might break off at various parts of the experience, or at minimum I would definitely never walk again.  Most of the way through the massage he commented to Stephanie that I had a high threshold for pain.  I replied that the only reason I hadn't complained was because I wanted to look tough for my girlfriend.  That got a good laugh, but he said I should be more honest b/c otherwise I would be hurting pretty bad later on.  Oops.  When the foot massage was over we were slated for an hour long full body massage.  We decided to switch   masseuses so that she got the male and I had the female.  Her womanly touch was a little closer to what I could actually handle, so that ended up being a much better experience.

We hopped over to Mos Burger for fast-foodish Chinese rice burgers around 6 pm, which was not bad.  Then to help digest and keep the blood flowing, we walked back to the area near Tapei 101 and the malls, which was about 20 minutes or more away.  Then we returned to the apartment, where Mr. Chan was pouring more glasses of whiskey and Mrs. Chan was serving birthday cake.  After consuming a bit of each, I re-packed my bags.  I had to return to my new room in the hotel, the third different bed I would have slept in the four nights in Taipei so far.