We got a chance to meet most of the family today and the suprising thing is that family reunions are pretty similar no matter where they happen. A couple of the aunt and uncles came over ahead of time to the place we were staying and they were very happy and overwhelmed to see Laura and Steph. They were very excited that everybody was OK.
We then headed off to a seafood buffet where the entire family joined in and we had an interpreter join us (she was great by the way, she spent 8 straight hours with us translating the entire time, awesome!) and we met the rest of the aunts and uncles and cousins and second cousins.
At this point it became just like any other family reunion almost everyone has attended. We learned who everyone was and what they did. Laura and Steph did not expect the family to be large so it was great. There was the aunt who would love to pinch your cheeks and give you a big hug, there was the aunt who loved to talk and dominated the conversation, some were more emotional than others, there were younger cousins who were bored to death, and there were shy little kids who over the course of the day warmed up to us and were running all over the place. Basically the family was a very normal family which was great to find out.
They also are like your typical family in asking Laura and I why we do not have kids (so mom, all families are the same) and making sure their neices and nephews are in good health and have good jobs. We went to a park and back to their house afterwards and we were both able to ask a lot of questions and catch up on things. Laura and Steph's first cousin set up everything and did a great job organizing the entire event.
I have posted the pictures online and tried to add who is who. It was a great reunion and hopefully the start to some great future relationships between new family members.
In the end no matter how long it is has been, how far apart you live, and even the fact that we did not speak the same language, family is family and it was a great day.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Korea Day 4
This will be pretty brief but I wanted to give a quick update. Yesterday we relaxed around the hostel for most of the morning and Laura and Steph had lunch there. I did not as it was all vegetables and then we had to explain how I will still be OK, even though I do not eat vegetables.
It was then off to meet the family, and we both happened to show up 30 minutes early and met in the street. It was one of their cousins and his wife that we met, and we went through some of the family tree. It looks like Laura, Steph, and Corey are the babies on their dad's side as far as the cousins go. There is a wide range of ages, but the cousins we met were in their late 40's.
They actually invited us back to their home for the night as today we are going to meet the rest of the family at lunch. The cousin was very concerned that we would be all right and he said his wife was not a good cook so we should go out to eat. They asked us what we liked and Laura happened to mention Pizza, so they jumped on that. We went to some Italian restaurant and had pizza. Pretty good. Also some seafood spaghetti with shrimp, baby octopus, and squid. They do not speak much english so it has been an interesting stay, but we've been able to communicate pretty well.
I should note that when they were looking at some pictures from the states they pointed at me and said "Movie Star". I tried to disagree, but the more I thought about it, maybe I should become an actor if they think I have movie star looks. Then I remembered I tried acting once and I was terrible at it.
I should have some pictures of lunch that I can put on tomorrow. I'll let Laura or Steph share more details when they get back.
It was then off to meet the family, and we both happened to show up 30 minutes early and met in the street. It was one of their cousins and his wife that we met, and we went through some of the family tree. It looks like Laura, Steph, and Corey are the babies on their dad's side as far as the cousins go. There is a wide range of ages, but the cousins we met were in their late 40's.
They actually invited us back to their home for the night as today we are going to meet the rest of the family at lunch. The cousin was very concerned that we would be all right and he said his wife was not a good cook so we should go out to eat. They asked us what we liked and Laura happened to mention Pizza, so they jumped on that. We went to some Italian restaurant and had pizza. Pretty good. Also some seafood spaghetti with shrimp, baby octopus, and squid. They do not speak much english so it has been an interesting stay, but we've been able to communicate pretty well.
I should note that when they were looking at some pictures from the states they pointed at me and said "Movie Star". I tried to disagree, but the more I thought about it, maybe I should become an actor if they think I have movie star looks. Then I remembered I tried acting once and I was terrible at it.
I should have some pictures of lunch that I can put on tomorrow. I'll let Laura or Steph share more details when they get back.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Korea Day 3
We stopped by a couple of Palaces today in the morning. It's unfortunate that the Japanese burned down all of the palaces when they occupied Korea so these were just restored and around 200 years old. Obviously the palaces had some great views, but the palaces themselves were a little plain compared to the temples we saw in Taiwan. We did see a lot of school groups that were touring as well, Laura was almost more interested in just watching the little kids run around.
That night we met up with one of the analysts I work with at Target who was visiting her parents in Korea as well. They took us to a cafe where fish would eat the dead skin off of your feet. The pictures are pretty hilarious as it took Laura and Steph about 10 of the 15 minutes to stick their feet in the water and you can see their facial expressions to see how tough it was for them. The pics are in the Laura's camera album which includes some pics from earlier in the week.
For the rest of the night we pretty much just walked around the city before heading back to the hostel. Tomorrow we meet the family so that should be exciting. Here's a link to the picture site again as I know it's been buried in the posts.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410
That night we met up with one of the analysts I work with at Target who was visiting her parents in Korea as well. They took us to a cafe where fish would eat the dead skin off of your feet. The pictures are pretty hilarious as it took Laura and Steph about 10 of the 15 minutes to stick their feet in the water and you can see their facial expressions to see how tough it was for them. The pics are in the Laura's camera album which includes some pics from earlier in the week.
For the rest of the night we pretty much just walked around the city before heading back to the hostel. Tomorrow we meet the family so that should be exciting. Here's a link to the picture site again as I know it's been buried in the posts.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Korea Day 2
You know that dorky looking guy you see walking around big cities with camera in one hand, map in another, while carrying a bag of souveneirs? Today that was me.
Of course our first day in Seoul is not about going to see cool sites or palaces or historical areas, Laura and Steph want to go shopping all day. The problem with shopping in the two countries we've been is that when you go to an area that has clothes and jewelry there is nothing for guys to look at. Their is no Barnes and Noble or Best Buy nearby. So after about 2 hours of walking around with them we split up. They kept shopping and got massages, I headed off and went to the antique section of the city.
Picked up a few souvenirs there although I passed on the larger more expensive items. Went on to walk to one of the gates in the city, which was about a 10 minute walk only to find that it was surrounded because it is being repaired. Pretty frustrating, I'd rather see it being worked on then a picture on a billboard. I closed out my day by going to one of the palaces in the area. It was pretty cool to just have this large palace area in the middle of the city, nice and quiet.
Luckily even though we don't have cell phones we had no trouble finding each other, got some food, went to Zara, and then headed back.
Laura's damage today was two pairs of shoes and 3 handbags at $5 bucks each. If you want to know if Laura likes a pair of shoes she explained to me today that when she really likes shoes she likes to take them out and just stare at them. She did that like 4 times today, so I guess they are good shoes. Hopefully tomorrow we can actually go see cool stuff.
Of course our first day in Seoul is not about going to see cool sites or palaces or historical areas, Laura and Steph want to go shopping all day. The problem with shopping in the two countries we've been is that when you go to an area that has clothes and jewelry there is nothing for guys to look at. Their is no Barnes and Noble or Best Buy nearby. So after about 2 hours of walking around with them we split up. They kept shopping and got massages, I headed off and went to the antique section of the city.
Picked up a few souvenirs there although I passed on the larger more expensive items. Went on to walk to one of the gates in the city, which was about a 10 minute walk only to find that it was surrounded because it is being repaired. Pretty frustrating, I'd rather see it being worked on then a picture on a billboard. I closed out my day by going to one of the palaces in the area. It was pretty cool to just have this large palace area in the middle of the city, nice and quiet.
Luckily even though we don't have cell phones we had no trouble finding each other, got some food, went to Zara, and then headed back.
Laura's damage today was two pairs of shoes and 3 handbags at $5 bucks each. If you want to know if Laura likes a pair of shoes she explained to me today that when she really likes shoes she likes to take them out and just stare at them. She did that like 4 times today, so I guess they are good shoes. Hopefully tomorrow we can actually go see cool stuff.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Taiwan Recap
Now that we are fully done with the Taiwan part of the trip, here are some of the highlights. I'm probably going to misspell things.
1. Chang Kai Shek memorial
2. The trip down to Taroko gorge had some awesome scenery
3. Temple Day was interesting and it was cool to see the detail of all the different temples
4. Walking through the night market for about 5 minutes was interesting, then I was sick of the crowd
5. Snake alley, although we missed where they played with the snakes
6. Taipei 101 was really great to see on the last day so we could look back at all the things we visited
7. Food was really good, better than I expected, I think Laura and I both gained about 5 pounds in just eating meat over the past week
Those were some of the top highlights I can remember. Thanks to our guide Kelles who took us all over the city for 5 days straight and showed us just about as much of Taiwan as you can see in 5 days.
1. Chang Kai Shek memorial
2. The trip down to Taroko gorge had some awesome scenery
3. Temple Day was interesting and it was cool to see the detail of all the different temples
4. Walking through the night market for about 5 minutes was interesting, then I was sick of the crowd
5. Snake alley, although we missed where they played with the snakes
6. Taipei 101 was really great to see on the last day so we could look back at all the things we visited
7. Food was really good, better than I expected, I think Laura and I both gained about 5 pounds in just eating meat over the past week
Those were some of the top highlights I can remember. Thanks to our guide Kelles who took us all over the city for 5 days straight and showed us just about as much of Taiwan as you can see in 5 days.
First Day in Korea
I think it's going to be a long week from my vantage point. We've been in Korea for about 5 hours now and traveling with Steph and Laura is a little different than Kelles and Laura. It should be fun though.
Some big differences so far between Korea and Taiwan although we are staying just North of the main part of Seoul so I will be interested to see what it is like farther out in the suburbs. We are quickly finding it's a little tougher when you don't have a guide that knows the city. I think our meal tonight cost triple what we were finding in Taiwan. It seems more inline with american prices, so we will have to explore a little bit more to find the deals.
Steph and Laura are both walking around with their dictionaries trying to speak Korean and most of the people chuckle a little bit as they try to pronounce words. I told Laura to look up how to say "Yes, I know it is crazy that I am with two Koreans but neither one can actually speak Korean".
It's a lot cooler in Korea than Taiwan, to the point of needing a sweatshirt tonight, so that feels a little better. We are staying in a hostel which is interesting. I think Laura and Steph really like the communal bathroom. Tomorrow I think we are going to try and hit up some of the palaces around the city.
Some big differences so far between Korea and Taiwan although we are staying just North of the main part of Seoul so I will be interested to see what it is like farther out in the suburbs. We are quickly finding it's a little tougher when you don't have a guide that knows the city. I think our meal tonight cost triple what we were finding in Taiwan. It seems more inline with american prices, so we will have to explore a little bit more to find the deals.
Steph and Laura are both walking around with their dictionaries trying to speak Korean and most of the people chuckle a little bit as they try to pronounce words. I told Laura to look up how to say "Yes, I know it is crazy that I am with two Koreans but neither one can actually speak Korean".
It's a lot cooler in Korea than Taiwan, to the point of needing a sweatshirt tonight, so that feels a little better. We are staying in a hostel which is interesting. I think Laura and Steph really like the communal bathroom. Tomorrow I think we are going to try and hit up some of the palaces around the city.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Taiwan Day 5
Last day in Taiwan was pretty low key which was nice, but we still got to see a lot of great things. We stopped off at about 4 temples today and there are some pictures up on the different temples we stopped at. The second one had a lot of people praying and offering food. They buy or bring full plates of food to offer up to their ancestors. The food is then removed at the end of the day. Very interesting to see people praying, reading, and giving offerings in the temples. It is amazing how much detail goes into building a temple, hopefully a couple of the pictures help capture the amount of detail. Fascinating buildings, carvings, and statues.
The last temple pictures were at an indoors temple, which was different then the rest since it looked like an office building from the outside. Laura also had read their was a museum at the top so we climbed 9 stories only to find it was closed. Not fun in a staircase when it is 80 outside with no air conditioning.
We finished off the trip by stopping at Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world. Great views of the entire city, and it was fun to be able to pick up sites that we had visited. Night camera shots are a little difficult, so those pictures are not as good, but we went at a good time and were able to see Taiwan during the day and at night.
Tomorrow we head to Seoul, I will try to recap Taiwan and our favorite moments tomorrow, as well as trying to pick out the top 30 pictures from the entire trip so far.
The last temple pictures were at an indoors temple, which was different then the rest since it looked like an office building from the outside. Laura also had read their was a museum at the top so we climbed 9 stories only to find it was closed. Not fun in a staircase when it is 80 outside with no air conditioning.
We finished off the trip by stopping at Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world. Great views of the entire city, and it was fun to be able to pick up sites that we had visited. Night camera shots are a little difficult, so those pictures are not as good, but we went at a good time and were able to see Taiwan during the day and at night.
Tomorrow we head to Seoul, I will try to recap Taiwan and our favorite moments tomorrow, as well as trying to pick out the top 30 pictures from the entire trip so far.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Taiwan Day 4
Day 4 in Taiwan was yesterday and we rented a car and drove down the East coast to Taroko National park. It was about a three hour drive which included a 14 km tunnel and then about an hour and a half each way winding through the mountains. I'm finding as I get older I get motion sickness more often, not sure if it was that or just Kelles driving, but it was a long hour and a half. We only had to slam on the brakes once, but other than that we got through the mountains very quickly.
I also took 368 pictures yesterday so I am going to narrow those down a little bit. Laura was giving me a lot of crap about firing away multiple times. Very nice mountainous area with some cool temples and a bogoda at our midpoint stop. They basically hand blasted or carved the road through the mountain. 450 people died to make the road.
Pictures pretty much just wind their way through the park. Some highlights were walking across the gorge on a bridge that was locked up (supposedly because poisonous snakes were on the other side), we spend a lot of time at the midpoint since they had a lot of temples and statues, and at the end there was a pretty cool temple and waterfall.
We then drove back and stopped at a graveyard on the way home. There were some good pictures of that especially one where the burial site was in a tree. Not sure if you should walk around a graveyard and take pictures, but so far no ghosts stopped by.
When we got back we saw them moving some god statues from one area to another along the street which was cool to see. Basically people just dressed up walking down the street.
Finally it was a little scary to turn on the TV this morning and see Minneapolis on CNN for tornadoes. It looks like the worst of it was East of our house but the storm went right through our area. Hopefully the hail stayed south of our house.
Today we have temples and Taipei 101 the tallest building in the world. Last full day in Taiwan, it has flown by.
I also took 368 pictures yesterday so I am going to narrow those down a little bit. Laura was giving me a lot of crap about firing away multiple times. Very nice mountainous area with some cool temples and a bogoda at our midpoint stop. They basically hand blasted or carved the road through the mountain. 450 people died to make the road.
Pictures pretty much just wind their way through the park. Some highlights were walking across the gorge on a bridge that was locked up (supposedly because poisonous snakes were on the other side), we spend a lot of time at the midpoint since they had a lot of temples and statues, and at the end there was a pretty cool temple and waterfall.
We then drove back and stopped at a graveyard on the way home. There were some good pictures of that especially one where the burial site was in a tree. Not sure if you should walk around a graveyard and take pictures, but so far no ghosts stopped by.
When we got back we saw them moving some god statues from one area to another along the street which was cool to see. Basically people just dressed up walking down the street.
Finally it was a little scary to turn on the TV this morning and see Minneapolis on CNN for tornadoes. It looks like the worst of it was East of our house but the storm went right through our area. Hopefully the hail stayed south of our house.
Today we have temples and Taipei 101 the tallest building in the world. Last full day in Taiwan, it has flown by.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Taiwan Day 3
Day 3 got off to a much later start which was awesome. We went out at about noon and it was an hour train ride out to Danshui which was on the northern edge of Taiwan. Basically it reminded me a little bit of a touristy state fair along the walkway. A lot of different fried food options and then little stores along the way. We had lunch today which included some squid, fish eggs, full shrimp where you had to pull off the head and legs, mountain greens and more.
We then took a boat ride out to the end of the pier which is where a lot of the pictures are from, including Valentine's bridge. Then it was over to the other side of the island where there was a statue of some guy in an aqua suit, and we are not sure why he was that important but I took like 20 pictures of it for some reason. It kind of looks like a monkey in an aqua suit to me. There are also some cool pictures of a Taiwan graveyard included. They spend a lot of time taking care of the graves as they believe their ancestors wait for them and help guide them to the next realm so they need to take care of the gravesites on Earth. They are always on a hillside and the tomb is on top, but their is a door to where they put the caskets.
From there it was back into Taipei where we went to the Shilin night market. This place combined my two favorite things, large crowds in small spaces with shopping. Laura was able to hold off and only buy a couple of things. We had supper at Hot Pot which is kind of like American fondu and was all you can eat. Suprisingly I will not be losing weight on this trip because there has been plenty of good and interesting food to eat. Things we decided not to try at hot pot were cow stomachs (2 of the 4 different stomachs) and Pig's blood.
Tomorrow we head out of Taipei and go to the East coast.
We then took a boat ride out to the end of the pier which is where a lot of the pictures are from, including Valentine's bridge. Then it was over to the other side of the island where there was a statue of some guy in an aqua suit, and we are not sure why he was that important but I took like 20 pictures of it for some reason. It kind of looks like a monkey in an aqua suit to me. There are also some cool pictures of a Taiwan graveyard included. They spend a lot of time taking care of the graves as they believe their ancestors wait for them and help guide them to the next realm so they need to take care of the gravesites on Earth. They are always on a hillside and the tomb is on top, but their is a door to where they put the caskets.
From there it was back into Taipei where we went to the Shilin night market. This place combined my two favorite things, large crowds in small spaces with shopping. Laura was able to hold off and only buy a couple of things. We had supper at Hot Pot which is kind of like American fondu and was all you can eat. Suprisingly I will not be losing weight on this trip because there has been plenty of good and interesting food to eat. Things we decided not to try at hot pot were cow stomachs (2 of the 4 different stomachs) and Pig's blood.
Tomorrow we head out of Taipei and go to the East coast.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Taiwan Day 2
Hi,
Saturday morning in Taiwan and hopefully we are over the jet lag now as I slept in until about 10 AM this morning after falling asleep at a baseball game last night. Jet lag sucks. So our goal today is to stay awake longer than 10 PM.
Friday got off to a later start, we went off on our own for breakfast at Mister Donut, before heading off into the city with Kelles. First stop was the Grand Hotel, a little nicer than the one we stayed in. After that we went to a Japanese restaurant where we had some grilled squid and some chicken hearts, which Kelles failed to mention before I ate them. Still pretty good though, a little chewy. Next up was the National Palace museum which was three floors of exhibits basically taken from China. You can look it up online if you want to hear about all of the history. Some very cool sculptures, a lot of dishes, and no pictures allowed, so you are just seeing the outside of it.
Finally we headed to a baseball game, Taiwan style. About the same size crowd as the Metrodome gets sometimes, but much louder. They bring drums and instruments and pretty much chant the entire game, so that was cool. Their was a rain delay in which we got McDonald's, and we can only hope the Twins groundscrew in the new stadium will be a little faster during rain delays, but it was entertaining to watch.
Since we were both nodding off during the game, we headed back to the hotel for the night, and I promptly passed out. Today we are headed north, pictures from yesterday are loaded to the same link as the last post.
Saturday morning in Taiwan and hopefully we are over the jet lag now as I slept in until about 10 AM this morning after falling asleep at a baseball game last night. Jet lag sucks. So our goal today is to stay awake longer than 10 PM.
Friday got off to a later start, we went off on our own for breakfast at Mister Donut, before heading off into the city with Kelles. First stop was the Grand Hotel, a little nicer than the one we stayed in. After that we went to a Japanese restaurant where we had some grilled squid and some chicken hearts, which Kelles failed to mention before I ate them. Still pretty good though, a little chewy. Next up was the National Palace museum which was three floors of exhibits basically taken from China. You can look it up online if you want to hear about all of the history. Some very cool sculptures, a lot of dishes, and no pictures allowed, so you are just seeing the outside of it.
Finally we headed to a baseball game, Taiwan style. About the same size crowd as the Metrodome gets sometimes, but much louder. They bring drums and instruments and pretty much chant the entire game, so that was cool. Their was a rain delay in which we got McDonald's, and we can only hope the Twins groundscrew in the new stadium will be a little faster during rain delays, but it was entertaining to watch.
Since we were both nodding off during the game, we headed back to the hotel for the night, and I promptly passed out. Today we are headed north, pictures from yesterday are loaded to the same link as the last post.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Taiwan Day 1
I thought I would try this whole blog thing and update people on how our trip in Taiwan and Korea is going. It's Friday morning here and we're finally over all of our jetlag after I literally almost fell asleep walking down the street yesterday after 25 hours of straight travel and only 4 hours of sleep the first night here. (I'm serious, I fell asleep on the train every time we took it, and my knees buckled while standing at a street corner because I fell asleep!)
I'm putting a link to our pictures down below, here's a brief summary of what you are looking at.
Hotel room, pictures of Taiwan from Kelles apartment roof, red playhouse, partyworld karoke place, random shots of street, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, making paper, long shan temple
Highlights of the trip so far
1. Sitting in the middle two seats on a 14 hour plane ride over here
2. Laura getting looked at funny when people try to talk to her and she just smiles and says sorry
3. Watching Kelles argue with a taxi driver within our first hour here
4. All of the Taiwanese girls that want to take their picture with me
5. Walking down snake alley and seeing a snake gutted and just hanging out
6. Eating snails, clams, dried duck, squid, and other foods (yes, I tried most of these as well)
7. Laura salivating at $8 dollar shoes on every corner
8. Paper making, yes paper making. Laura's choice very exciting.
9. Still getting coffee at Starbucks
That's all for now, we're going out for day 2, I'll try to keep this updated as I can.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410
I'm putting a link to our pictures down below, here's a brief summary of what you are looking at.
Hotel room, pictures of Taiwan from Kelles apartment roof, red playhouse, partyworld karoke place, random shots of street, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, making paper, long shan temple
Highlights of the trip so far
1. Sitting in the middle two seats on a 14 hour plane ride over here
2. Laura getting looked at funny when people try to talk to her and she just smiles and says sorry
3. Watching Kelles argue with a taxi driver within our first hour here
4. All of the Taiwanese girls that want to take their picture with me
5. Walking down snake alley and seeing a snake gutted and just hanging out
6. Eating snails, clams, dried duck, squid, and other foods (yes, I tried most of these as well)
7. Laura salivating at $8 dollar shoes on every corner
8. Paper making, yes paper making. Laura's choice very exciting.
9. Still getting coffee at Starbucks
That's all for now, we're going out for day 2, I'll try to keep this updated as I can.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mbecker0410
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)