Foliage Fall of Kansai (2014 Autumn Trip)

It's been two years and haven't put in writing yet the amazing trip that i had in Japan.  That was in November 2014, my last trip abroad to date. And while I'm currently on hiatus with my travels due to some projects from my office work that i need to allot much time, I'll be writing more of my trip to Japan, and the rest of my "backblog".

And here's a sort of a "snapshot" of our Autumn Trip:

Our itinerary map


And our colorful Itinerary (Summary):

A Race Against Time in Taipei

Taiwan has been in my bucket list of places to travel as I've heard a lot about it from other travelers too. 

Curiosity. 

What more it can offer having been to South Korea where I wanted to experience a bit of winter and spring; Japan for autumn and also Beijing where Cherry Blossoms welcomed me a bunch.  Taiwan is Philippine's neighbor - the next stop for any typhoon that will hit my country. And it was August, the month when I don't usually travel as it's rainy/typhoon season in the Philippines and in most tropical countries. 

Taipei 101

Further, I have had attempted to book a flight to Taiwan twice.  The first was via Air Asia but the flight was cancelled months before the actual date and got nothing but refund.  Then, I booked via Cebu Pacific but almost had it canceled. Finally, against all odds, in August 16, 2015, I took the flight to Taipei following my friends Connie and Jen. Since we've been cancelling and finding another flight, we ended having different flight schedule. And I was a day behind our flight to Taipei and had to leave a day after theirs. That means, I got my solitary travel for a day.

I arrived past midnight of August 17 in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and had to run a lot to get on the last bus to Main Taipei Station where Cityinn Hotel Taipei is located.  After gotten lost of the directions in awhile, I joined the sisters in their room as I had to check-in later on daylight.

And on Connie's birthday our race against time in Taipen begun.

Day 1:  Connie's Birthday

It was Sunday and Connie's birthday so first in our list was to attend the Sunday Mass. I found The Holy Family Church in Taipei with scheduled English Mass at 9:45AM.  It was the most solemn catholic mass that I attended, and I was happy to spend it with Connie on her birthday.  

Galleries in the train station

Daan Park on our way to The Holy Family Church

The Holy Family Church

After the mass, we went to Hello Kitty Cafe, where most girls of any age might want to spend their birthday.  It was a sumptuous lunch and that's when I found out that Taipei is a food and not a shopping destination.  That kicked off our gastronomic adventure in Taipei.  

Kitchen Hello Kitty & Dining
(not so easy to find the location; our taxi driver didn't even know where it is)

The Entrance of Hello Kitty 

Connie's birthday cake

Connie's birthday adventure continued as we took the train out of Taipei to Northeast of Taiwan, Pingxi to light our sky lantern full of our wishes.  We ended the day with much fun, not to mention, that we slightly had the biggest blooper of our life to scribble in my journal.

At the Pingxi Station

Writing my wishes on my side of the lantern

Day 2: Taipei Trip 

We were supposed to leave Taipei and travel North to Yehliu Geo Park but the weather did not permit us. It was raining early in the morning and we had to wait until it was only drizzling before we decided to change our itinerary for the day.  We first had our lunch at the authentic Din Tai Fung.  Travel bloggers said that the queue could be unimaginable so we had to prepare for a late lunch.

the queue on the board and we're 3041

Din Tai Fung guide to eat Xiao Long Bau

Our dining experience in Din Tai Fung in Taiwan was a bit different in Singapore.  The restaurant staff made us the sauce that compliment the famous xiao long bao (soup dumplings). The guide how to prepare the sauce and how to eat the xiao long bao were helpful for the most satisfying experience of xiao long bao.

After lunch, we took the train to Taipei 101. Though we've been to Petronas Twin Tower, we gave it a go to Taipei 101 as well. Then, we capped off our day together by looking for the Modern Toilet restaurant in Ximending.  It was such a fun adventure in the midst of the rain.

Then, it was time for Connie and Jen to go to the airport for their flight back to Manila and I left for one more day to explore more of Taipei.

My Day 3 would have been full of places to go:

1. Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

2. Hiking to Elephant Mountain

2. Guanghwa Digital Mall

3. Shopping at Ximending

But the heavy rains that kept pouring the whole day had ripped me off of my chance to explore Taipei on my own. And that I had to list down Taiwan again in my bucketlist.

Should the time and weather have been accommodating to me, I could have completed my itinerary.  But as they say and with my travel experiences, things can change as you go on with your trip.  At the end of the trip, it's not the destination that really matters but the journey. 

My "should-be" itinerary :-)

A Wake-Up Call in Taipei: Have Faith in Prayers

The Prayer Card from the Holy Family Church in Taipei

Birthday is the day where everyone, regardless of religion and faith, makes a wish.  To say our wishes silently before we blow the candles on the top of the cake is already a written and somehow, the unwritten tradition of the world.  This is the special day we should celebrate life.

My birthday is in March and it is usually the end of school year in the Philippines.  Back in my school years, I was running for academic honors and has to maintain an above average grade in my major subjects in college.  I always used my birthday to ask my God the gift to get the honors that I was running for and even to maintain the required grades in my course. And it worked for me.  I always had my birthday wishes granted.

As I continue to celebrate my birthdays, my wishes vary with my interests and so with my ways of celebrating it.  When I reached thirty, I eventually found myself celebrating my birthdays abroad.   It has become a personal tradition that I wanted to explore the world and celebrate the day I was born. Being a Catholic in the Philippines, a birthday is not complete without going to the church for a mass or light a candle.  When I celebrated my birthday abroad, I did the unconventional to my Catholic faith.

March 17,2007,  I found myself kneeling together with the other tourists and local believers inside a pagoda of Golden Buddha in Bangkok while trying to sneak a photo as it was not allowed.  Entering the temple means we had to follow the rituals of vowing and kneeling. 

March 17, 2012, I had my birthday eve in a bar with foreign friends in Kuala Lumpur, then spent the rest of the day with college and office friends in Singapore. It was quite a discovery for a not-your-party-girl like me but I had lots of laughter with new friends whom I just conversed over via telecons and in-house office chat.

March 17, 2013, I spent the rainy afternoon inside the church ALONE on a Sunday (something that is impossible in the Philippines) in Jeju Island, South Korea when I went to my first solitary travel in the country for ten days.  It was the most solemn and closest encounter I had with my God.  I was able to visit the church, light a candle and pray the Holy Rosary.

Then came August of 2014.  It was not my birth month but my friend, Connie. Along with her sister Jen, we went together for a three-day trip in Taipei to celebrate her birthday. Being the one who is always tasked to prepare the itinerary, I made sure we can attend the English mass on Connie's birthday at Holy Family Catholic Church.

Holy Family Church in Taipei

When we silently entered the church, it felt different for many reasons. Many vacant seats, fewer people but very, very much solemn.  Sunday masses in the Philippines are always flocked with overflowing crowd of Catholics.  It was so solemn that we did not attempt to whisper.  Everyone was attentive and responsive - to songs, prayers and psalms. Before the recession, the commentator asked for the first timers who attended the Mass in that church. We stood up and found ourselves a bit shy yet overwhelmed with the faithfuls clap. Somebody gave the microphone to us and the commentator asked each one of the first timers which country we came from. It was such a nice ministry and at the end of the mass, they even had some food to share.  It was a heartwarming experience. We felt blessed.

Pingxi Sky Lantern in Taiwan

In the afternoon, we spent half of the day traversing the countryside northbound to Pinxi Line.  I put it in our itinerary for two reasons - 1) for Connie to experience train travel, and, 2) to write my wishes in sky lantern. The latter was indeed contradicting to my Catholic faith.

Pingxi Sky Lantern in Shifen station is famous to tourists and locals who believed that their wishes will come true.   Unexpectedly, we were perhaps, one of the few who proved otherwise.

Arrays of lanterns along the railroad

The lantern was sold in different choices and colors that represent every aspect - love, money, relationship, faith, health, among others.  We were offered a two-sider-lantern for NTD150 or four sides for NTD200. We took the four-sider lantern and had one side each to write down our wishes.  One side was allotted for Marinette's wishes.  We did not mind the color at all. 

We wrote as many wishes that we can, filling all spaces even up to the edges of the lantern. Those were about personal, career, love, money, material things even for other people. Every space in different strokes and styles, as much as we could to fill in. For some reason, it was enough for the three of us. Or rather, we made it fully enough for us.  No need to have one lantern each.  One is enough. We had four sides anyways.

my side of the our skylantern

And so we wrote our wishes - my half-meant wishes.

We took our celebratory photo, a MUST for all tourists from different parts of the world.  It was all over the place. We had our photo with every side, one each for our wishes. And the lady who sold the lantern to us and the one directing the ceremony of its sort, lighted the lantern and shouted, "Let It Go"! We cheerfully enjoined her as we let go of our lantern, following its trail.  

Our celebratory photo before we released the lantern

However, the unexpected happened! Something that anyone from that place of wishers and believers had expected to witness.

as we released our lantern

At the snap of the finger, as if an impatient and rushing wind swayed the lantern so quickly that the video even looked like it was set at fast forward. The fire could not cope with the strength of the wind that it swayed so abruptly.  Everything snapped in seconds!

Shamelessly it crashed against the branches of tree at the top of the store where we bought the lantern, burnt so quickly as if our wishes just turned into ashes.  I felt weird, a bit worried.  But I shook it off.  The worry was no longer about my wishes but on the damage our burning lantern might caused.  The worry turned to laughter. We laughed at how people around us seemed to regret about our burning lantern.  We laughed on the chaos we created for a brief moment.  We laughed at the thought that we almost destroyed the true meaning of sky lantern to the tourists and many believers of it.


And we finished our trip that day exhausted but had so much fun.  Here's the clip of our embarrassing video.

Looking back, some of my prayers were granted, not in the exact ways that I wanted them to be but in God's ways.  I know and believe that my wishes were granted, just like how I trusted my God to grant my wishes on my birthdays. It was not because our lantern of wishes was burned but it was because of the burning desire in my heart that my God will bless me more.

Our trip in Taiwan was a wake-up call for me - not to settle in anything fad but to keep the faith. Our dreams do come true - just Pray Hard and Work Hard. And I will continue to explore the world and celebrate my life that God has blessed me with.

I Met Mr. Giant Panda in Beijing Zoo (北京动物园 Pinyin)

I first saw panda in Year 2006 when I went to The Ocean Park in Hong Kong.  It was so lovely to see this ever-shy mammal in the world.  I learned later that Panda originated in China and had been imported for breeding in other parts of the world.  Is this the reason why there is a movie, "Kung Fu Panda"?

So on our Day 2 in Beijing, we were up to be kids again and explored the zoological park of Beijing and scheduled to be transformed back into ladies as we set to shop in the afternoon.

at the entrance of Beijing Zoo

Our wake-up call is at 6AM so we left the inn at 8AM and proceed to Yonghegong Station entrance to Beijing Zoo. We took Line 2 first and get off in Xizhimen Station for our transfer to Line 4. You should be aware of the end to end station of the Line station, otherwise, you will be going to the opposite direction. For Beijing Zoo, you should check if the line is going to Bagou/Longbeicun. From Xizhimen, Beijing Zoo Station is just one station away. We took Exit A as instructed and just followed the group of families with kids as we surely knew they were bound to the zoo too. =)

At the entrance of Beijing Zoo

Since we only have three hours to spend in the zoo so that we can maximize the other attractions of Beijing, we prioritized the main areas of our interests.  This downloaded map from Travel China Guide helped us organized our stay in the zoo.

Panda Overload

We first went to the East part of the zoo to see the Giant Panda, Big Cats and Bear area, the Lion and the Tiger, and some of what the zoo labeled as "Australian" and "American" animals are located.  We spared North part where the Hipo, Elephant and Beijing Aquarium were located.

Next, we walked towards the West Area where we were able to see Giraffe, Golden Monkey, some Aviary and the Flamingo and Deer. We tried to see some penguins but unfortunately the place was closed to visitors.

More than the animals in the zoo, I did not expect that the park would be beautiful because of the flowers abundantly blooming there.

We walked towards the Southwest Gate for our next destination, Beijing Clothing Wholesale Market 动物园服装批发市场.  But, of course, we still managed to get some group photos.

I must have mistaken being a kid in the zoo, I was still a lady that I am.  I had fun having shots solo with the beautiful backdrop! It was a fine day at the zoo.

Important information about Beijing Zoo:

Ticket Prices:

• Entrance Fee (excluding the panda's house): CNY 15 (Apr. 1 to Oct. 31); CNY 10 (Nov. 1 to the next Mar.31)
• Combo Ticket (including the panda's house): CNY 20 (Apr. 1 to Oct. 31); CNY 15 (Nov. 1 to the next Mar.31)
• Cruise Boat Combo Ticket (including the panda's house and the boat): CNY 40 (Apr. 1 to Oct. 31); CNY 35 (Nov. 1 to the next Mar.31)
• Aquarium Combo Ticket (including entrance fee, the panda's house and the aquarium): CNY 130 (Apr. 1 to Oct. 31); CNY 120 (Nov. 1 to the next Mar.31)

* Free of charge for kids lower than 1.2 meters.

Opening Hours:

Zoo: 7:30 - 18:00 (Apr. 1 to Oct. 31); 7:30 - 17:00 (Nov. 1 to the next Mar.31)

Aquarium: 9:00 - 17:30 (Apr. 1 to Oct. 31); 10:00 - 16:30 (Nov. 1 to the next Mar.31)

Getting There:

Via Subway:

Subway Line 4: get off at Dong Wu Yuan Station, get out of the station from Exit A (northwest exit), and you'll find the south gate.

Via Bus:

Take bus no.27, 45, 105, 107, 111, 206, 209, 319, 334, 347, 360, 362, 534, 632, 634, 697, 714, 808, 814, 特4, Yuntong 104, Yuntong 105, Yuntong 106 or Yuntong 205 and get off at Dong Wu Yuan Station.

It's Spring in Summer Palace ( 颐和园 Yi Je Huan)

Who'd think that you can feel Spring in a Summer Palace?

After spending half of the day in Great Wall of China, we took Bus 980 back to the city to the next destination in our itinerary for Day 1 : Summer Palace ( 颐和园 Yi Je Huan).

Named as the largest imperial park in China and has been recognized as "The Museum of Royal Gardens", Summer Palace is located at Yiheyuan (Summer Palace) Road, Haidian District (northwest of Beijing City).  It is also recognized as one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites declared being "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design". Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake covering 2.9 sg kms, three quarters of Summer Palace is water.

From Great Wall of China, we arrived nearly three in the afternoon in the bus terminal in Beijing. We have the list of buses that will pass by Summer Palace but we don't have any idea where these buses pass by so we were left with one option, that is, to take the subway.

Transportation
By subway	Subway Line 4: get off at Beigongmen Station (Beigongmen means the North Palace Gate); or get off at Xiyuan Station, get out of the station from Exit C2 (southwest exit) and walk west.
By bus	Take bus 209, 330, 331, 332, 346, 394, 683, 690, 696, 718, 801, 808, or 826 and get off at Yiheyuan Station. Take bus 469 or 539 and get off at Yiheyuan West Palace Gate Station. Take bus 209, 319, 320, 331, 332, 333(内), 333(外), 394, 432, 438, 498, 628, 664, 718, 801, 826, 特6, Yuntong 106, Yuntong 114, or Yuntong 118 and get off at Yiheyuanlu Dongkou Station (The Eastern End of Yiheyuan Road). Take bus 303, 331, 346, 375, 384, 393, 498, 634, 683, 696, 697, 718, 801, 808, 特5 or 特10 and get off at Yiheyuan North Palace Gate Station. Take bus 74, 374, 437 or 952 and get off at Xin Jian Gong Men (Yiheyuan New Palace Gate) Station.

Travel China Guide has this directions in English and Chinese characters and advised to be printed which the tourist can show to locals, if needed.

From Dongzhimen Station, we get off at Beigongmen Station and got out of Exit C2 (Southwest exit) and walked west.  We just walked along the Gongmenqian Street until we found the signage going to the Summer Palace.

We paid entrance fee of CYN 20.  There is a map sold at CYN10 so you can be fully guided how to maximize your tour inside the Summer Palace. But we were too tired to go around the palace and opted not to buy a map anymore. Instead, we just walked and walked and had some few stops to enjoy the sceneries surrounding the place.  With aching soles and very tired legs from the hiking adventure in the Great Wall of China, we only had so much energy to sustain.

Enjoying our first taste of ice cream that sounds like "Jing-min-er" while taking a rest in the midst of sleepy mid-afternoon air

Summer Palace is divided into four parts with its famous landmarks:
1. Court Area (East Palace Gate, Hall of Jade Ripples, Hall of Benevolence and Longetivity, Yiyun House, Hall of Virtue and Harmony, and, Hall of Joyful Longetivity)
2. Front-Hill Area (Long Gallery, Baoyun Pavillion, Hall of Utmost Blessing, Hall of Dispeling Clouds, Through the Wonderland, Tower of Buddhist Incense and Hall of Sea Wisdom)
3. Lake Area (Causeway, Nanhu Island, Kunming Lake, Bronze Ox, Back Lane and Wanzihe, Seventeen-Arch Bridge and Marble Boat)
4. Rear-Hill Area (Four Great Regions, Garden of Harmonious Interests, Suzhou Market Street)

We spent much of our time at the Court Area (which is at the East Palace Gate entrance) and the Lake Area where we had lots of "striking a pose" moments, just sitting down enjoying the scenery and the varieties of activities (families, students on a field trip, flock of tourists organized in a tour, couples and some groups like us) in Kunming Lake.  

Court Area

In the Court Area, that is where we had a taste of the sugar-coated haw in stick. It's yummy!

We enjoyed the view at Kunming Lake.  It was mid-afternoon and with the sun and the cool breeze of Spring, we all felt idle to go on walking. 

Kunming Lake

For a time, we stopped walking along the stretch of the lake, and just enjoyed eating ice cream and people watching.

the long stretch along Kunming Lake

After taking some rest, we continued walking, searching for the Marble Boat.  The walk took almost an hour as we had more stops striking a pose while enjoying the view as the sun was about to set.

along the stretch of Kunming Lake

With Summer Palace being recognized as "The Museum of Royal Parks", we found more of Chinese architectures that depict China's history, culture and tradition.

Stopping near the harbor where rentals for water bikes and floating boats can be found, we enjoyed the sunset with our jump shots instead.

 As we walked towards the exit of Summer Palace, we saw this Chinese man having the solitude of his life fishing under the bridge. 

To wrap-up my trip to Summer Palace, it was a place that I think is best to idly sit down, people watch, or just get the ambiance and beauty of the place ignite the writer in you. At the end of the day, you'll surely complete one good story.   It's also best place to jog or brisk walk in the morning, stroll a bit towards mid-afternoon and ride your bike in the late afternoon. 

at the other end of Seventeen Arch Bridge

It was an enjoyable place to end our first day in Beijing.  I climbed the Great Wall of China admiring the beauty surrounding Mutianyu with its bountiful flowers that only bloom in Spring, I ended up the day walking along the long stretch of Kunming Lake thankful for the opportunity to see the other side of my world.