Winter vacation - Kinmen and Xiamen

Frankie began her three week winter holiday and we will enjoy winter vacation together.
First, we go to Rebecca's father's birth place, Kinmen, which is an island off the coast of Fujian, mainland China. She has many relatives here, and it is an hour plane ride from Taipei.

We spent our first night at a local B&B which is a 150 year old traditional house, just like those we see in the movies.

Kinmen was and still is a special military base and it is Taiwan's frontier holding off the communists from invading the Taiwan islands. It was only about 15 years ago that Kinmen revoked its martial law and civilians were allowed on and off the tiny island at their own free will.

We drove by a vegetable field......Kinmen, like most Taiwan islands are agricutural.

Known for its 廣東粥, we had some at breakfast. Very good.

Here we visit Rebecca's grandmother's school which is now a tourist attraction.

Beautiful ancient buildings all over the island, with historical importance scarred by evidence of pirateship and wars. Due to the fact that Kinmen was off limits to the outside world until recently, tourism is still at its developing stage while Taiwanese government has begun a slow and painful process of restoration. In due time, Kinmen will undoubtly become a major tourist destination with its incredible history, strategic location between the reds and the blues, its gentle and friendly people, and its unique character carved from years of war weariness and yet showing very little of mental scars by its citizens.

Rebecca's uncle showed us more ancient homes which are now under restoration, and destined to become more B&Bs, which are leased to private operators.

Next stop is Kinmen national park........

Kinmen has many tunnels, built originally for military purposes, and now stops for sightseers.

Fresh oysters! We passed by an elderly woman in one of the villages as she was shucking fresh oysters by the hundreds, getting ready for Chinese new year in a few days. She told us to eat as much as we wanted! Even Frankie decided to try one and they were delicious. These oysters grow among the rocks just off the oceanside and they are quite small but succulent.

Here you see a war tunnel and it was eerie walking thru it. Finally we saw the light at the end of the tunnel..........

Our new home in Hualien, finally!

After a few months of interior decorating, our new home is finally ready.
We moved in on 12/31, just in time for the new year.

It has three floors plus a basement, with a total space of 250 sq meters, or 2800 sq ft.

Downstairs is our media room, which doubles as a guest suite.

First floor is living room, kitchen and dining room.

Second floor is master bedroom and office.

Third floor is Frankie's room and library.

We have our first guests today visiting from Victoria, staying with us for a few days.

We welcome all of you (not at the same time please) to come visit and stay with us, soon.

Season's greetings!

Frankie was picked to represent her school in a province wide English competition, and she did not dissappoint. She came in third, behind kids of higher grades.

Therefore, we celebrated by taking her to our favorite hotel restaurant across the street, for some dim sum.... Taiwan does not celebrate X'mas, but this year, X'mas happens to fall on a weekend, therefore, we had a holiday. Frankie was in a school play......

Then we went to a local noodle shop downtown.....

Check out this bowl of noodles.........

Our new house is finally ready after months of interior decorating. We will be moving in just before New year. I'll have all the videos posted soon.

The Asian games

in Guanzhou this year, and I am there with Jimmy.

National anthem of China, just before the gold medal game between China and Korea, women's field hockey. China won in the shootout after tied 0-0 in overtime.

The main stadium.....

The entrance.......

In Dongguan, I'm staying at Dongtien garden, a very nice resort community and the price is right......

Visitors in October

Well, we had a busy October, with my brother Sam and his wife Irene visiting from Canada...

We visited Taroko national park, and by the grace of God, they left the morning on Oct 21, just a few hours before the landslide at Suhua highway which claimed the lives of 26 people......

Then my school mates from forty years ago, sixteen of them arrived and visited for two days

It was our 40th reunion.

Small city, big service.......

In a small town such as Hualien, which is similar in size and population as Victoria, I did not expect anything exceptional in the service and hospitality industry.
I was wrong.

Toyota dealership

Our Toyota dealer is simply awesome, something the Cdn dealers can learn and improve on. Here, they truly treat each customer as if he/she was the only customer.

In Canada, a simple oil change takes a whole day. You drop off the car in the morning, and pick it up in the afternoon. Well, we all know an oil change only takes a few minutes to do, why a whole day? In Hualien, when we book an appointment at 9am, they do the oil change at 9am! We have a coffee in their lounge, read a book, or surf the net, and car is ready in less than an hour, fully washed and touched up with paint, at the cost of an oil change. Now that is customer service.

Parkview Hotel

We've been in Hualien over a year now, but never patronized the Parkview Hotel, Hualien's 5 star resort. That is because local folks always say that it is too expensive. Well, I guess an all you can eat buffet lunch for $10 Cdn is a lot of money for most local folks because a take out lunch is only $2, but for us Canadians, that is a steal!

Also, for $10 Cdn, there is an all you can eat dim sum, served all day. And guess what? It is the best dim sum, unlike the two other hotels we tried before. We have given up hope that we could get some decent Cantonese style food here.......

Not just Cantonese, but Hong Kong style! All these just across from our new house.

Stella Marie Catholic school

In many ways, Frankie's school here in Hualien reminds me much of my old Catholic school in HK. Today, Frankie came in second in English composition, a competition which usually won by kids in higher grades. I guess its a bit of cheating, but when I think about it, being a native English speaker does not necessarily mean that you can write well. And Frankie writes very well, in Chinese also now. She injects some humour into her writing, which really stands out among the Chinese kids, because most Chinese kids write seriously, if not stoically.

Today is sports day at the school, and we attended. Nicely organized, and a beautiful day.

Here the kids sang the school song, and the National anthem......

The whole school works out to music.......

Here is Frankie running her leg of the relay. She is a good runner! What makes the relay special is that everyone in the class runs. Therefore, it is very exciting to watch as the lead changes all the time as some of the faster runners can make up lost ground in a hurry. It is also good for the kids because traditionally, only the best get picked to be in sports. Here, everyone participates.

As soon as the last race was over, it began to rain....lucky.

Clam bake

I love clams, especially the fresh clams here in Hualien.
No sand, easy to cook, no fat, high protein and low cholesterol.

One pound of clams costs about $3 cdn, and I usually buy 2 lbs, which makes a wonderful lunch by itself. I also love observing them while alive, as they are quite active when bathed in sea water, and can stay alive for quite a while before cooking them.

I have not seen this type of clams in Canada, as most clams in Canada are smaller, and usually quite sandy.

There are also local snails, or escargots if you will. But I don't know how to cook them.....