Gastronomic and Retail Adventure In Asia
Is Easy to Find
By Tiffany Wu

This past summer marked an important crossroads for my family. I had just graduated from college and was anticipating pounding the pavement for employment while my younger sister had graduated from high school and was counting down the days till she could leave home to start her college years.

We broke up the preparation for my sister's departure and my settling back into my childhood bedroom by planning a vacation that would allow our family to spend time together before the craziness of life got in the way.

Our big plan was for my father and me to leave two days early and spend five days in Tokyo, Japan with my paternal grandfather, then we would join my mother and sister in Taipei, Taiwan and stay with my maternal grandparents at their place in the city.

My maternal grandmother was itching to get out of the house and go on vacation so after five days in Taipei my mother, aunt, sister, my maternal grandfather, and I would go with her on a tour of the Japanese island of Hokkaido for five days and then fly back to Taipei where my family would spend a final five days and then fly back home to the United States.

Did you get all that?  I got tired just thinking about it! However, it was great to see all my relatives, and I was happy to experience three different cultures in a whirlwind three weeks that just flew by. 

My dad and I knew our trip had truly begun when the flight attendant offered us mini bottles of champagne wrapped in cheerful red foil. Eleven and a half hours later our Japan Airlines plane reached Narita International Airport and we exited the plane excitedly. However, first we had to get to my grandfather's house in Omiya via a two-hour bus ride. Omiya is a city so close to Tokyo that their train route goes directly to Tokyo Main Station, which made it easy to hop on a train and visit any place we wanted once we bought easy passes instead of fumbling with change at every turnstile. All the train routes are color-coded; the stops are announced in English and Japanese and all the signs at every major station in Tokyo are translated into English as well, which made it very easy for me to know exactly where we were and where we were going. 

Tokyo's pace is extremely frenetic, everyone moves very quickly and efficiently and everyone has somewhere they need to go. The hectic pace of Tokyo might make it difficult to travel with older family members or younger family members who cannot move as fast. A good way to prevent being rushed is to have a day planned ahead of time with a place or activity in mind and a commitment to a leisurely pace.  

My dad and I are very good walkers so our approach to seeing Tokyo was decidedly different. We both love photography and people-watching so all we did was get off at any random station--determined the morning of or right before the train stopped--and then we would just go wherever we wanted within the area. We eschewed visiting a lot of popular tourist attractions in favor of exploring off the beaten path. This approach was more spontaneous but also rather inefficient since we probably missed experiencing some very interesting aspects of the city. 

Our first stop in what I called "Railway Roulette" was Ueno station. We followed the crowd all the way to a charming park just outside the National Museum of Western Art. Although we elected not to go in and instead move onto the next unknown part of the city, we spent some time around the unexpected fixtures in the park. Directly outside the museum doors was an imitation of Rodin's Gate to Hell (the original is located in Palo Alto at Stanford University) and across from that was another imitation of Rodin's works, The Thinker. It was  comforting to see such a familiar sight and simultaneously be living in my own post-modern experience.

Hopping on the train again, we rode until Akihabara, a district full of electronic, anime, and toy stores. Fatigued, we stopped at a random ramen stall to eat. Our orders were taken from tickets dispensed from a vending machine, which eliminated the need for awkward pantomime with the waitress. The hot soup and chew noodles were the perfect pick-me-up and after scraping the bottom of our huge bowls, we got up to explore before heading back to Omiya. 

The next few days we explored a number of places, including Shibuya, where I shopped for an afternoon among the stalls. Japanese goods are not cheap and the stores in Shibuya are no exception. Teenage girls will enjoy hunting amongst the cute wares but their parents will only feel the sting of an empty wallet. As for myself, although I enjoyed looking, the only thing I came away with was a hat for twenty-five dollars (USD).

Harajuku, another trendy shopping district yielded more shopping and very interesting people watching. We stopped at a crepe stall for dinner, I chose a very traditional fresh strawberry and custard filled crepe but there were many other options, both sweet and savory alike. 

Our last day in Japan we took it easy, shopping for last minute presents to bring to our relatives in Taiwan and finishing the day with a long walk through Omiya Park and Omiya Temple after a curry rice lunch at a local  restaurant. Our last dinner in Japan was, of course, sushi. We ate at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant where we could pick what we wanted to eat, I was finally able to eat my favorite type of sushi, some very fresh uni (sea urchin). 

Five days was only enough for a taste of Tokyo Although I felt a little bit sad to be leaving so soon, as I bowed to the flight attendant on my way into the airplane, I vowed to come back soon to revisit my favorite places and discover new ones as well. 

After five days of rest and preparation in Taiwan, the group consisting of my maternal grandparents, mother, aunt, sister, and me flew to Sapporo on the Japanese island of Hokkaido to join a Taiwanese tour group for our exploration of Hokkaido. Our plane landed in Sapporo and we were immediately whisked away to begin our adventure. 

Hokkaido's pace is very different from Tokyo, the pace of life is slower and Hokkaido boasts more rural scenery and breathtaking views. From mountains, to wide open fields, and an awe-inspiring view of the ocean horizon, Hokkaido's gorgeous scenery rivals that of Canada's Rocky Mountains or even California's majestic redwood forests.

The tranquil beauty of Hokkaido was a welcome respite from the urban landscapes and air quality of Tokyo and Taipei. In addition, Hokkaido's climate is cooler in the summer than the humid climate of Taiwan and the island of Honshu, which made for very pleasant travel conditions. The slow pace of Hokkaido made it a better choice for our group. My grandfather has more difficulty with walking so the relaxed pace of the trip was perfect for him and easy for us to accompany him without making him feel like a burden. 

Hokkaido's rural nature makes transportation between areas difficult. The city of Sapporo has a subway system so it would be easy to travel within the city, however most of the fun places in Hokkaido are outside of Sapporo so it would be easier to reach these places via car.* Some of the places we visited included the gorgeous flower fields in Furano and the charming city of Otaru, where famous animator Hayao Miyazaki is often inspired for his films. I was charmed easily by the latter as I walked down its cobble-stoned streets inhaling a cream puff from LeTao.
 
The draw of Hokkaido is not that it offers the hyperstimulation of a large metropolis, rather, Hokkaido is known for its produce. What our tour lacked in tourist sites it made up for by feeding us extremely well. Hokkaido's main products are seafood, potatoes, corn, milk products, honeydew melons, and lavender.  Every place we visited specialized in a certain type of food that no one could pass up the opportunity to taste.

My favorite thing to eat in Hokkaido is the ice cream. In addition to the regular flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry were other delicious options such as octopus ink, milk, lavender, and red wine. I tried all of these and found them all excellent, the treat was only made sweeter by the low prices and generous portions. Equally sweet, if not more, was the corn. We ate it raw and freshly-shucked, without any sort of condiment and it was exactly the flavor of corn that artificial flavorings can only endeavor to mimic.

The Japanese are also obsessed with the honeydew melon flavor. It can be found everywhere, in everything, from bread to candy to cake. I was never a fan until I had the opportunity to taste a honeydew melon grown in Hokkaido. As with everything  in Japan, it is expensive but the quality is worth it. Oh my goodness, it was so juicy and sweet and it tasted exactly like a melon should taste, if I had had room left in my stomach from our lunch (hot pot stew) I would have eaten more but I regret that my stomach could not expand further. 

As we boarded the plane back to Taiwan-a little wider around the middle--we promised we'd come back, if only because it's illegal to take produce across international borders. 

 My parents grew up in Taipei, Taiwan before marrying each other and making their way to the United States to start their new life. Even though I grew in California and am teased by my relatives for being "so American," I have still come to consider Taiwan as another home. Although I probably couldn't navigate through the numerous backstreets and alleyways by myself or order off a completely Chinese menu, I've come to regard Taiwan with a certain familiarity and every trip feels like a homecoming.

Taiwan is a very easy city to be a tourist. Even I--whose directional instinct is severely lacking to the point of embarrassment--was able to go off alone to meet up with a friend thanks to the color-coded metro system, English-translated street signs and my handy dandy easy card railway pass.
 
I love shopping and eating and there is an abundance of both in Taiwan, whose people seem to share my enthusiasm. (See? Home!) My first stop for shopping is always Shi Lin Night Market (take the MRT and get off at Jiantan station for direct access to the food court). The open air market quickly becomes busy around seven o'clock at night and is one of my family's favorite places to find a midnight snack for everyone.

My dad will choose spicy fried pork chops on a stick that are as big as his head, my mom inevitably goes for the oyster omelette drenched in what I call "Taiwan sauce" (a viscous red sauce that is subtly spicy and a little bit sweet), I will go off in search of "Rou Zao" noodles--a savory mix of ground meat and tofu mixed into rice or noodles-- and sausage-on-a-stick with my sister and we all top it off with a purchase of fresh fruit juice or a heaping bowl of shaved ice to battle the summer heat.

There are food stalls on virtually every street in Taipei, selling their food for as little as a dollar depending on how much you decide to buy. This is how we took care of breakfast every morning. A quick jaunt through an alleyway, across the street and around the corner and we'd find ourselves at a street that had a bakery, a street stall, and a breakfast place with an entrance open to the street. Everyone could pick what they wanted for breakfast and take it to go so that no time was wasted to start the day's activities. 

For the more adventurous visitors, a trip to Danshui is always nice. It's right next to the ocean and in addition to the ubiquitous food stalls, there are game stalls and quaint old streets to explore. The most famous landmark in the Danshui area has to be Fort San Domingo or "Hong Mao" Fort. The fort is a fascinating historical site that was built in the mid-seventeenth century is a great example of beautiful European architecture in Taiwan as well as one of the surviving structures that tells the tale of Taiwan's multi-national colonial past.

We were lucky to go on the day when admission was free with a Seven-Eleven purchase receipt but were informed that normally tickets are about Forty NT(two USD) for children and Sixty NT ( Three USD) for adults. At night the seaside town of Danshui is especially peaceful and it's nice to sit next to the ocean after dinner and relax before heading home on the MRT. 

As cartoon/animation and art lovers, my whole family was very excited to be in town during the Pixar Twenty Years of Animation exhibit at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. We bubbled with excitement as we followed other museum-goers off the YuanShan MRT stop and walked the short distance to the museum. The tickets for the special exhibit were only two-hundred NT (roughly nine USD) and we had access to the other less popular exhibits as well.  The Pixar exhibit featured all sorts of production art, sculpture, video presentations, and a really cool example of a zoetrope. After making our way through the exhibit we went upstairs to see the decidedly less-popular but no less fascinating exhibit of twentieth century Taiwanese artists.

Just across the entrance of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum is the Taipei Story House. It's a quaint little house built in European-style that was once a residency for a Taiwanese president. It has since been converted into an arts exhibit hall and with an entry fee of ten NT a person (less than one USD) we decided to take a look. It was not as fun for us as the current exhibit was about the types of trees found in Taiwan but it was still fun to walk around and kill time before we headed to dinner.

Also worth a look is YangMingShan National Park. It is a short bus ride up the mountain and there are multiple buses and shuttles that run from the park to various MRT stations in Taipei. YangMingShan National Park is unique because YangMing Mountain partly a dormant volcano. YangMingShan National Park is very picturesque and although we were not prepared for the twenty degree drop in temperature and humidity, drinking in the scenery and taking photographs kept us occupied most of the day. There is a fair bit of walking involved in the park, much of it uphill on stone steps that are almost vertical in slope. We came unprepared for this rigorous activity, our feet were clad in flip flops so we could only endure going halfway before giving up and going back down. However my dad was wearing sneakers and reported a breathtaking view at the top which was worth the one and a half hour roundtrip. We ended the visit with a shared bowl of instant ramen and took the bus back to Taipei Main Station.

MORE SIGHTS TO BEHOLD
 
The next day we headed out to Jinguanshi to visit the Gold Ecological Park. The park has preserved the original buildings that were built in the 1800s during the heyday of the copper and gold-mining business. The park is massive and we easily spent all day there exploring the historical area. Not only were the original buildings available for touring, other exhibit halls were also built to showcase local gold-sculpting and a small part of a mine was even opened up to visitors for a quick guided tour through the small cavern.

 After those busy days filled with sightseeing, we decided it was best to take a couple days easy and get some shopping done. Although ShiLin is excellent for shopping, the popularity with tourists has caused the many stall owners to inflate their prices. Luckily there are many other places that have excellent shopping. XiMenDing is one of my favorite places to frequent since it is a bustiling area filled with young people and excellent shopping and prices that are not infliated like that of ShiLin's. My cousin, who is not as interested in shopping, ducked out to hit the arcades while I browsed to my heart's content. I was able to find some nice earrings for about five USD each and hit the jackpot when I stumbled on a shoe sale.

Taiwan is beautiful and vibrant. As I boarded the plane for the fifth and final time in three weeks I felt regret that I couldn't stay longer. It's refreshing to visit new places, see and experience new things like I did in Hokkaido and Tokyo.

A barrage of experiences is a shock to the senses and a wake-up call for those who have fallen asleep during their day-to-day routine. But it's also great to become intimate with a place and let its influence seep into your skin, its rhythm beat in sync with yours, and its secrets to unfold before you.

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WEBSITES:

Tokyo, Japan
All-inclusive resources : www.japan-guide.com

Hokkaido
Furano : http://www.furano-kankou.com/english/home.htm
Otaru : http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/hokkaido/otaru.html

Taiwan
Taipei Fine Arts Museum: http://www.tfam.museum/index.aspx
YangMingShan National Park : http://www.ymsnp.gov.tw/HTML/ENG/INDEX.ASP
Gold Ecological Park : http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/m1.aspx?sNo=0002091&id=4135

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