Philippines and Other Updates

Well, since my last entry, perhaps my most noteworthy experience was my trip to the Philippines, however, it doesn't come the first chronologically so I'm not going to start with that.

I tried durian for the first time!  For those of you who may not know, durian is sometimes referred to as "smelly fruit" - I had heard a lot about it before ever tasting it, particularly with regard to its odor.  Emily famously described the experience of tasting it as being like "someone farted in my mouth."  When I first arrived in Taiwan it was out of season, but for the past month or so I have smelled it from time to time in fruit shops or on the street.  I think it smells like garbage - others have said gym socks or any number of other unpleasant things. Another thing I had heard about it was that it tastes like custard and if you freeze it, it tastes like ice cream.  It looks like this:

That's from the outside, but the way you typically buy it (or so I'm told) is by piece of the inside, which is white and fleshy and creamy, as shown below:

I tried it both room temperature and frozen.  It is definitely stinky, but not so bad.  It didn't really taste like fruit - it is creamy and even tastes more like a vegetable than a fruit.  Overall... not bad.

Also, we went to this amazing all-you-can-eat vegetarian restaurant that CIEE paid for - something like $20US/person - and they had over 100 courses to choose from, including Haagen-Dazs (which is really expensive here) as one of the dessert options.  It felt more like going to a department store than a restaurant - it was incredible.  They even had vegetarian sushi! (?!)

Last week my roommate very sweetly got me a ticket to a dance performance!  I guess her teacher has access to a bunch of free tickets to performances around Taipei, and so she managed to snag me one.  So nice!  It was great - I'm not any kind of dance expert (and I didn't quite follow the plot because the helpful summaries were all in Chinese), but it seemed really good and I definitely was glad to have the opportunity to go.  Plus, at least I could follow some of it!  I know there was a couple, and then the guy had to leave, but at the end I think either he finally returns, or he's dead... or she's dead...  something like that.

On Wednesday after class, I set out for the Philippines!  Just before heading to the airport, I made a last-minute stop at Watsons to pick up a can of pepper spray... just in case :)  My bus -> metro -> bus -> airport -> plane -> Philippines all went smoothly - we even got served a meal on just a two hour flight.  Plus, I got to watch the sunset from above the clouds, which was pretty neat.  Although I was kind of thinking of it as a more exotic vacation, in several ways the Philippines actually felt more like the US than Taiwan does.  Everyone speaks English.  They don't use chopsticks, they use forks and knives.  The toilets are the kind you can sit on.  And when I ordered iced tea in a restaurant, what I got was Nestea, which, of course, doesn't taste anything like iced real tea in Taiwan.

I had been advised to be sure to only take a metered cab from the airport, not an airport taxi, which would be overpriced.  Anyway, this overly-friendly-to-the-point-of-sleazy-and-creepy guy approached me and asked if I needed a taxi, and I asked him, "Is it metered?"  He assured me it was, and led me to the car.  But it didn't look like a taxi - no phone number painted on the side, no light on top... just a regular looking car.  And when I got in, I definitely didn't see a meter.  Then, maybe the weirdest/most uncomfortable part, he got into the passenger's seat because there was a different guy driving.  I asked again, "now, this is metered, right?"  And again he said it was, but I was sure there was no meter.  Anyway, after we drove about one minute (of this guy being a little too friendly), I brought the issue up again and he took out a sheet of paper and said, "Yes, and here are the metered prices!" - as in, they were all pre-set prices and the exact opposite of being metered.  From everything I had read online, the taxi to the hostel was supposed to cost around $5-10 US.  He wanted to charge me $45.  I told him that was too much and to please take me back to the airport.  The whole situation got very creepy... they offered to let me out right where they were, on a dark and dangerous street with no sidewalk in a strange city...  I insisted, please, just take me back to the airport where we were.  Then he asked where I was from and told me that it was his dream to date - or, "have an experience with" - a white girl.  At this point I was already clutching my can of pepper spray.  I kept asking why we weren't at the airport yet, and again they offered to let me out on a dangerous sidewalk-less road, and he kept offering to be my guide around Manila, because he's "a very friendly Filipino."  Eventually we did return to the airport (without ever needing to make use of my pepper spray) and I thanked them, apologized, and got the hell out of there.

The cab I did end up taking was much more comfortable.  The guy never talked and it only cost $7.  The tense grip on my pepper spray eased.

But that was really the only scary moment of my trip in the Philippines.  Actually, the director of the Taiwan CIEE program, Christie, was so worried about me that she called her friend who lives in Manila, Andy, and so he very generously took me around for the duration of my trip.  On Thursday we went to Tagaytay, south of Manila, where lies the smallest volcano in the world, Taal volcano.  It is a really beautiful area, with the volcano surrounded by a lake - plus, skies were bluer than they've ever been in Taiwan.  On the way there we stopped at a fruit stand where I had coconut water straight from the nut, and the sweetest pineapple I've ever tasted.  We also went to Andy's Buddhist temple in Tagaytay, which was beautiful and very welcoming.  Then Edna (Andy's coworker who came with us to help show me around) and I went to Mahogany market where I got to try all kinds of new fruits I'd never even heard of before, and got to feel the authentic Philippines market feeling.  We also got some little fried fish and a beef soup, which are specialties of the area.

The next day we spent some time at one of Manila's museums in the financial district, an area of town that felt a lot like New York's Midtown (rather than some of the areas of Manila, which look more like this:)

I didn't take this picture, but it is really Manila, and I did see some areas that looked like this

After the museum, I took a walking tour of Intramuros, the historic part of Manila that remains from the Spanish colonial period.  This tour came highly recommended from Gene (who gave me all kinds of tips and pieces of helpful advice before my departure, thanks Gene!), and it was really great.  This tour guide, Carlos Celdran, has a tremendous amount of knowledge about the history of Manila and the Philippines, and he goes through each period of colonization with different hats, jokes, a very animated and theatrical manner, and sometimes even surprises, like a horse ride and a free dessert.  That night we got dinner at a buffet of all types of traditional Filipino food so I got to try a little of everything!  And then, early the next morning, my flight brought me back to Taipei.

General impressions and expansions: the traffic in Manila is ridiculous.  Just, ridiculous.  It took forever to get anywhere, at any time of day.  Also, a lot of the time cars acted like there were no lane markers - the flow of traffic looked a lot more like a crowd of people all kind of pushing and squeezing to get past each other, creating new lanes when there was a slight opening.  They also use their horns far more liberally than in the US, and definitely than in Taipei (where I'm not even sure cars are equipped with horns) - to signal things like, "you aren't merging now, but in case you were thinking about it, you should know I'm right here," or, "you're not doing anything wrong but if you move over just a little farther then I can squeeze by," or, "pedestrians, get back on the sidewalk!"  Although it makes the street a noisier place, I actually prefer these uses to in the US where I feel like a lot of people only ever honk to mean, "fuck you!!"

Also, some of the most commons modes of transportation are jeepneys and tricycles, neither of which I had seen before Manila.  Apparently the origin of jeepneys is that after World War II, the US left behind a bunch of extra jeeps behind that I guess started being used for public transportation.  As I understand it, they run like buses in pre-set routes, but they don't have designated stops, so you can hail one or request a stop anywhere along the line.  The seating is along the sides of the car, like a limo, and they are all decorated really crazily with bright colors, random signs and pictures, and names painted on the front.  Very interesting!  The "tricycles" are a lot like the bike taxis I've seen in New York and Austin, but the car is on the side, many of them are run off motorcycles instead of bicycles, and they are way, way more common in Manila than anywhere else.  Sometimes you see them way overcrowded with, like, 6 people squeezed into the car and then three dangling off the bike... it's crazy.

Food: I tried so many things and I can't remember most of them, but the most memorable of all was: mango. I had two fresh, wild, Filipino mangoes, and they were unlike anything I've experienced before.  Instead of having that fibrous stuck-in-your-teeth texture, they were just soft and smooth and sweet and perfect.  If I could only eat one food until the day I day... maybe that would be it.  One of the dishes that Gene recommended very highly before I left was adobo, a style of cooking meat by stewing it in vinegar and garlic and stuff.  I had some chicken adobo at the buffet - it was amazing!  Really tender, juicy, flavorful... I definitely want to try making it when I get back to the US.  Halo-halo, a traditional Filipino dessert meaning "mix mix", was pretty crazy.  It was the dessert we got as part of the walking tour, to symbolize how the culture and people of the Philippines are a mix of all kind of things.  And it really had all kinds of things - beans, rice, dried cranberries, jackfruit, jello, pudding, sweet potato, tapioca, shaved ice, evaporated milk, about fifteen other ingredients, all topped with sugar.  Quite an experience.  The last food that I wanted to call specific attention to was one at the buffet - I noticed what looked like meat in some blackish sauce, so I put a small helping on my plate thinking it could be black sesame or something.  When I tried it, it wasn't black sesame, but I couldn't tell exactly what it was.  It tasted fine.  Then, as I was about to eat the last piece of meat, I looked at it and thought to myself, that sure looks a lot like intestine.  So, I asked Edna what the dish was.  In her words, "Pig's blood and organs."  After I heard her say that, I had a flashback to my conversation with Gene, where he made a list of foods not to eat.  It was only two items long: Balut (the eggs prepared with fetus included, described in a previous entry), and dinuguan, "pig's meat cooked in its own blood."  Oops.  Well.  Wow.

Gene also told me that Manila airport is rated as the worst in the world.  When he said that, I was wondering what could possibly be so bad to earn them that ranking, but I can safely say that after going through it, I understand.  I've had some bad airport experiences, but mostly just if there were so many people that lines were long.  This was different.  It isn't even like anything went wrong while I was there, or that there were too many people, it's just... the airport.  It is exactly what you'd expect if the DMV decided to branch out and designe an airport.  First, I waited on line for an initial x-ray, then Filipinos have to wait on a different line to pay a "travel tax" (unheard of in other countries), then wait on another line (by flight number, not by airline) to check in, and another line to pay the "terminal fee" (unheard of), and then another line to get the passport/ticket checked, and then ANOTHER line for the final security check.  It just felt like everything I had taken for granted in other airports suddenly seemed so well thought-out, like the passport check and security screening being in the same line.  Once I finally got to the (poorly marked) gate, there were no friendly announcements to signal the start of boarding - in fact, for 20 minutes after our boarding time, some people would go up to the counter and be let through, and others would go up to the counter and be turned away.  Once we commoners finally were allowed to board, we got in line (!) and were let through, only to find ourselves boarding... a bus.  The bus took us to the plane and after 27 lines and over two hours of being bounced around, we boarded the plane.  I will never speak an unkind word to IAH again.

Only about a week after I got back did Gene reveal to me that 1) the Philippines is on the US travel advisory list, along with Iraq, North Korea, and Somalia and 2) Philippine airlines, with whom I traveled (and found no problems) is blacklisted by the EU and downgraded by the US for not adequately complying with safety standards.  Well!  In any case.  I made it through safe and sound, and it's probably for the best that I didn't know those pieces of information before leaving.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Tagaytay - and that, in the middle of the lake, is Taal volcano!

Those are giant hanging pieces of meat - I don't think this meets US health codes!

Hanging out the back of a crowded jeepney

Jeepney!

Another jeepney!

Tricycles - two in front, one in back

Tour of Intramuros

Since getting back last Saturday morning, I have had a week with hardly any class (April is still out of town) but lots of busy activities to say goodbye to all the CIEE language students!  The intensive Chinese program ended last week, so most people are headed back to the US.  It's sad!  Already several of my close friends have gone back, and several more leaving soon.  On Wednesday we had the CIEE farewell party.  There were several highlights: the ambassadors put together a really sweet video of photos and memories and Chinese lessons, and we all got a copy on DVD!  Also, we had a live performance by none other than Transitions!  If you haven't heard of them... it's your loss.  I actually was introduced to their song, 對不起 (I'm sorry) (click here to watch!) at the beginning of the semester as motivation to continue my Chinese studies.  I guess they are big with students studying Chinese, but also have many Taiwanese fans.  Anyway, Avalon originally introduced them to me, not realizing that our very own Kohan happens to be friends with the band!  So, this is actually really cool.  And it's even cooler that he managed to talk them into doing this performance for a group of 15 American students and 20 Taiwanese ambassadors, in their final week in Taiwan before getting deported!  They were really good and I'm still shocked that they agreed to perform for lil' old us.

Another part of the farewell party was the talent show!  Chris and I had discussed (half-jokingly) doing an interpretive dance for it together.  We agreed that "the only way to prepare was not to prepare."  And I guess we really embraced that philosophy because we didn't even have a song picked out until the day of.  I was definitely doubtful that it was actually going to happen... but Chris found a song and we came up with a leader-follower-free dance structure and so... we went through with it.  A total unrehearsed interpretive dance to a song I had never even heard before.  I think it was pretty silly but we both gave it our all... as I think you can tell from the photos:

Here we actually look coordinated!! almost!

... so that was silly.  I mean... "art".

The farewell party ended with everyone writing nice things about each other on posters to take home.  There weren't any tears, but I do think we'll all be sad to say goodbye!

... and the two guys with guitars are Transitions

Other activities this week: a stroll around unknown parts of the neighborhood with Rebecca Pollard, a night market we'd never been to before, honey toast with Becca and Emily (wow! yum! exquisite!), Vietnamese food, shopping at gongguan with Emily, going to her roommate's department talent show (which was actually a lot of fun - everyone was talented and the crowd was soo enthusiastic), shilin night market, a traditional market full of old lady clothes (and old ladies), and, of course, a few hours of class (?!).



We also had our last language corner.  It was sad!  I know I've said this before, but I really love my group.  I brought them cake, and they all made me very sweet cards thanking me, and we finished up by playing hot seat and entertaining the idea of all meeting up before I go back to the US.  I hope we do!  They are the best!

Jay, Vicky, me, Heidi, Sophia, and Jocelyn

 Yesterday, Becca, Emily, and I all went to get piercings!  Unfortunately, according to the piercer, we all have flawed ears that are specifically bad for whichever individual piercing we wanted.  Emily had fat lobes and wanted a lobe piercing, Becca had ear bumps in the wrong place to get a conch piercing, and I wanted a rook piercing but apparently my rook is all stretched out or receded or whatever so we spent half an hour arguing where to put it - hidden in the fold of my ear for no one to ever see it, or out where it's visible and horribly painful (according to him).  Well, I'm afraid he may have gotten his way and it's definitely tucked away more than I would have liked, but still:

Do you see the new one?  No?  Waaaayyy in there?  Just take my word for it.

Anyway, when we returned from that, we were delighted to find... the mysterious duck truck!  I first ever saw this a few weeks after arriving at NCCU.  Someone pointed to a little stand selling duck that is on the street with all the restaurants, across from the main gate and the bus stop, a place we walk past several times a day.  "I can't believe I never noticed that!" - and I couldn't believe it either.  But then, the next time I looked... it was gone!  Since then, we have always kept an eye out and I've only actually seen it there three other times, always at night, seemingly on a whim.  The duck truck.  Such an enigma.  Anyway, finally we saw it and were not in a rush or stuffed too full to eat, so Jack, Gene, Becca, Emily and I all got the duck.  Even the ordering was mysterious - no obvious menu, but we got a half duck.  The duck was good and we even found out his mysterious schedule... but I'll never tell!

Final photos:

I was wondering why this car was swerving so much...

oh hai!

The elegant and artery-clogging honey toast

Now unfortunately in the next few weeks I have a number of papers and presentations to do... :( also now that almost everyone is gone, I think I'm going to be having a lot more "me-time" (not by choice).  So, we enter a new phase of my Taiwan journey!

... and someone's excited!