Holiday Homebodies

Christmas, New Years, birthdays came and went and we are still here. Of course, Christmas isn't a holiday here and it really is just an advertising gimmick to get people shopping, so we have to really cultivate all that cringle cheer, sans family or Colorado snow. Ten years in Taiwan, we are experts at this by now. Every year, my kid's presents seem to reduce, thankfully Grandpa saved the day with a package or two from home. In January, we went to Kyoto for a birthday getaway. It was both exhausting and exhilarating.

On the honor roll again, 2nd place in her class

Zen and Emm

2018's Chinese Lunar New Year (of the dog) was our first in Taiwan. Z wasn't up to going anywhere (although I had my heart set on Bali.) It was the one year anniversary of her cousin, my niece Emma's tragic death. The whole family is still reeling. The wounds are still so fresh. Staying at home for 2 weeks, with our dogs and taking it slow and easy, was what needed to happen. 

Z's kumquat painting

I caught up on yard work when the weather was cooperating. There was a week when it was sunny and warm and we made the most of it, picnicking with friends, napping in hammocks. People all over Taiwan come to our part of the woods for holiday. Their giant buses and cars visiting the nearby lake jam up the small country lanes, but they don't go as far as our tea farm. It was a blessing to be able to enjoy the wealth of our little house location with all this time to paint, do yoga or do nothing. I had time to really reflect on where I came from and where I want to go. I made goals and plans and have been pretty successful thus far with little self-disciplines I have integrated into habits. It's very easy to slip into auto-pilot, especially being a single mom.

Z's vegan orange layer cake with a kumquat glaze

My kid baked a lot, and I am trying to lose the 4 kg I gained during winter. (I am thinking of making a cooking book or blog post of all the fabulous desserts she created.) She finds baking relaxing, an avenue for her creativity and a way to use all the local fruits our neighbors bless us with from their orchards.

Our first Chinese New Year's dinner in Taiwan

For the actual Lunar New Year dinner, one of our kind neighbors (the uncle of my landlady and the grandpa of one of Z's classmates) invited us over. They had quite the spread and made sure we were stuffed. They had the traditional foods and the burning coals under the table, explaining all the dishes and customs, including all the prayers and incantations that had to do during the day and after supper. The grandpa joked,"Its so simple for you, you only have one God, we have so many." I wondered if his grandson would be able to keep up these kinds of traditions when he grows up, he was so interested in getting as far away from the dinner table and back to his computer as possible. His other relations had 4th of July grade, visually beautiful fireworks. My dogs, the dogs in the neighborhood were not exactly feeling their enthusiasm.

Returning to art again in 2018

Back to Borneo: I let IS change my itinerary

Treetop Jungle Lodge, outside Miri

Its near to impossible to make travel plans  for Chinese New Year last minute. You'd be lucky to find an affordable flight, and the best accommodation will be booked. This requires careful planning and research months in advance. Knowing this I created my little central Javanese dream itinerary in October.

Unfortunately 2 weeks before my plane left to Jogjakarta,  IS bombed Jakarta (same island), targeting a Starbucks, killing a Canadian and six others. IS' Indonesian  leadership and support coincidentally comes from central Java (Solo) and some of their supporters are in the very cities I had planned to travel through (like Semerang).

If you know me, then you know I am not one to cower from an adventure. I volunteered teaching English in Sudan, spent a month in Kashmir and was caught in a middle of gun fire between a Pakistani separatist and Indian police. I traveled alone through Egypt for 5 months, India for 3. I (stupidly) hitched-hiked with a my friend from Barcelona to Amsterdam. And my daughter and I have traveled to Malaysia 5 or 6 times, Japan twice, Sumatra, Hong Kong and Thailand, which are safe enough places but its still no walk in the park traveling alone with a child, gender aside.

Niah Caves

 If I were alone I would so be on that plane to Java, but with my daughter, I am cautious. Traveling is my affirmation in the goodness of strangers and hopefully offering them an alternative (better) view of Americans, but I also want to be relaxed. The chances were nothing dire would of happened, we would have had another legendary exploit, but I didn't want to look at locals and suspect the worst. Maybe our taxi driver has an ISIS flag in his home or something.  ISIS also was targeting Borobudur, the 8th century Buddhist temple complex I simple had to see. Our hotel emailed me that they had stepped up security, and security at tourist places like Borobudur, but more men with guns  is hardly reassuring.

Treetop Home Stay, outside Miri. She caught 3 huge fish.

So I decided to return to Sarawak, but a different part. Sarawak is blessed with amazing national parks. There were a few on my list I still had to see and Miri was our logical base.We didn't stay in Miri the city, but 20 km south on the coast.  I probably could of axed 3 days in Miri, it didn't take long to explore the nearby region. In other words, we had a lot of non-connected to the outside world, jungle time; lounging in hammocks, fishing, lazily doing yoga or laundry. I got my adventure fix renting a standard car for 3 days of driving British style (opposite side of the road, driver sitting opposite side of the car) on the crazy roads of Borneo. People drove insanely fast and  passed one another by a hair's width. It was good bonding time with my daughter. The radio didn't work, so we talked and sang a lot.

Our home stay (Treetop Jungle Lodge) charged me 90 RM a day for using their car plus filling the tank. We stayed our first few nights in their deluxe double with hot shower (not that we needed it) and eventually migrated to the cheaper longhouse above the water. The expat Rhodesian owner, his wife and her sister made us feel well taken care of, which as I get older, I don't take for granted.

 My daughter didn't want to leave this place, and after 3 days on the road she was happy to return. There was not anything for her to do, which I suppose was the charm. Walking 10 minutes to the beach was the height of activity- if we even ventured that far. She caught 3 large fish, one Tilapia of which we ate and the other catfish I assumed they ate. My daughter was the only person to have ever caught anything and that place has been around for at least 15 years.

My first day with the car was a day trip to the nearby Lambir Hills National Park. It was kind of strange shifting gears with my left hand and the turn signals were on the opposite side too. After driving for a day I was confident I could do a longer road trip. It was empowering because my confidence in my driving was severely damaged after last years accident. We hiked to the waterfall which we had all to ourselves.

Lambir Hills National Park

The  Niah Caves were truly impressive. I was unprepared for the amount of walking and in hindsight should of brought more water. It was 3 km to the cave, after crossing a crocodile infested river (according to our boatman), 3 km back and I'd say 3-4 km exploring the caves.

 It was not an easy walk. The bat feces (guano) and dripping water made the pathway deathly slippery. Few tourists were inside, but one woman coming back slipped and just broke her wrist. She put the contorted bone in my face close to my flashlight so I could see it. Fortunately we met up with a Canadian woman at the ticket office and she  was an extra pair of helpful eyes, hands and light to help me with my kid from slipping into the abyss.  Nice single traveler, my age, we had some intimate chats, dinner and breakfast and I dropped her off at the bus stop the next morning.

What was exciting about this cave was we had already some experience caving in Sarawak, outside Kuching. The Fairy cave was quite magical. Niah was even more spectacular especially knowing that the oldest human skull (40,000 BC) in Asia was found here. They had it on display at the forgotten museum at the start of the trail. It was our mission to make it to the farthest cave, to see the cave paintings of burial boats that was disappearing from view. My daughter almost didn't make it, the wooden path was that greasy and perilous. Parts of the trek were in utter darkness, the handrails covered in bat shit. It was an experience to take to the grave. Literally we felt we were on a heroic journey to the Otherworld, the abyss. The ferryboat to the cave only added to this certainty. There were magic moments of coming out of the obscurity to see holes in the ceiling revealing the outer world, life, the rain forest piercing through. The camera could not completely replicate these moments of sunlight illuminating raindrops.

Painter's Cave: Burial ships

On our road trip we headed south to the Similajau National Park on the beach. Its located 4 hours south of Miri and 30 minutes north of Bintulu. We got lost on our way here and fortunately found it. It was weird checking in.Staff was on siesta so we had to wait at the gate office with a bunch of men for 2 hours and it felt uncomfortable being the only 2 females and foreign. Eventually I just we went to the cantina for some drinks and finished waiting there.

Similijau National Park

 The park is vast. The accommodation was at the beach with a bit of green, with trees and picnic tables separating the lodging from the beach. The sound of the waves was loud. There was absolutely no one but a group of men having a BBQ. So it felt kind of lonesome. We had a dorm room all to ourselves away from anyone and I didn't sleep well. A huge family of about 30 people checked into the dorm next to us around 9pm and it was reassuring to see women and children in the dark with their flashlights and laughter. It seemed so empty I found it unbelievable that all the beds were occupied for the weekend (which was the holiday Chinese New Year weekend.) Apparently we had the only remaining room for that night, yet the dorms and chalets between us and the cantina were like a ghost town. I assumed staff didn't want to clean those up. No one had swept our floor, but for 400 NT a night I wasn't complaining. We had running water and 4 comfortable beds and the sound of the ocean .

Similijau National Park

Eventually we left the security of Treetops and stayed our last night in Miri at a 3 star hotel (Mega Hotel) in the center of town which was a treat. They had a nice pool and across the street was an Indian restaurant. It was back to civilization. We hopped on a plane the next day to Kuala Lumpur and stayed at my friend's fancy condo with the most amazing views to the Petronas Towers. Sadly my friend had to bail back to the States to her mother's deathbed. so it was pensive and surreal sitting on her sofa, sleeping in her bed, enjoying her breathtaking view, texting each other and she wasn't there in person.

Our bedroom  window view

I had a plan of day trips we could do from KL that I still hadn't done on the several previous trips. The pools were so stunning and the condo such a luxury, my kid and I just vegged by the pool. She made friends with some of the kids and I could finish a book. After a few days we went to my other friend's apartment and pretty much did the same thing. She is leaving for Jordan in a couple of months so we definitely had to catch up while she was still in the SE Asian vicinity (a trip to Jordan is planned.)

We ate well in KL. Fancy juice shops, Indian and Middle Eastern, my kid and I had lamb for lunch and lamb for dinner. Ultimately my child grew bored of paradisaical swimming pools and perfect weather and when driving in our taxi back to Yilan  in pouring bitter rain and gloomy skies she was utterly happy to be back, she in fact missed the rain and cold. I on the other hand already missed the blue skies.

Beach, 10 min walk from Treetop Jungle Lodge

My Central Java Itinerary:

2/1- 2/3 Yogykarta  Phoenix Hotel (4,351 NT /Rp 1,936,000) 
 Mount Merapi for hiking and camping. Borobudur is a Buddhist stupa and temple complex in Central Java, Indonesia dating from the 8th century, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is one of world's truly great ancient monuments, the single largest Buddhist structure anywhere on earth, and few who visit fail to be taken by both the scale of place, and the remarkable attention to detail that went into the construction. Set as it is in the heart of the verdant Kedu Plain, the backdrop of mighty active volcanoes only enhances the sense of awe and drama. 

2/3-2/4 Semerang Hotel Candiview Semarang (1,292 NT/ 575,000Rp) 
Semarang It takes less than 2 hours to drive from Semarang to Yogyakarta. Solo is also only a one and half hour drive from Semarang. From Semarang and Yogyakarta you can go by tourist car/rent car with 7 seaters vehicle like Central Java Transporter, ☎ (+62/0) (thejavatransporter@gmail.com),  who operates the car to Dieng Plateau.

2/4- 2/8 Karimunjawa Cocohuts Hotel  (4046NT/ 1,800,000 Rp)
Mon 2/8 Return Ferry Karimunjawa to Jepara (Express 7am- 9am) Jepara to Semerang

2/8-2/12  Semerang to Purwokerto (5USD 5x daily, 5 hours via Nusantara) + Taxi (5USD) to Baturaden

 Green Valley Resort Batu Raden Purwokerto address: Jalan Raya Baturraden KM 8, 53151 Baturaden tell: (4091 NT/ 1,820,000 Rp) f

2/12-2/13 Yogykarta: DusunJogja Village Inn (2,000 NT)

2/14 Retrun to Taipei

福壽雙全 Live Long and Prosper

Yilan traditional market

Chinese New Year began on February 19th, ringing in the year of the Wood Sheep. This year was the first Lunar New Year Spring Festival, that I felt I was missing out. This would of been my 7th consecutive Chinese New Year in a row, my 9th in total (counting when I lived in Tamsui 15 years ago). Of course I know some of the traditions and preparations; that big family reunion dinner, new clothes, red envelopes, every day has some kind of traditional protocol -what to eat- who to eat with-special greetings. I can say that this year I really missed the idea of family togetherness.  Oddly, this is the first Chinese New Years I didn't buy red underwear (a common tradition) maybe I should of bought a pair of red panties with dancing goats and sleeping sheep, hardly a compensation. 

Yilan City

Usually I am in a nearby foreign country for 2 weeks and don't feel like I missed out- Taiwanese celebrations are so noisy with in your face fireworks and jarring temple music at the crack of dawn. This year I went to Chiang Mai for a blessed week and got a taste of New Years celebrations Thai style. 

年年有餘! Or “may every year end in abundance.” Since the character for “abundance” (yu, 餘) is a homophone for the character for “fish” (yu, 魚), fish a traditional symbol, motif, and food for CNY.

My whole month has been one big New Year holiday. Like the mighty ram, I pretty much headbutted my job off a cliff (see, "Blissfully Unemployed"). The whole reason I up and moved my daughter and I to Yilan was soon down the alpine abyss. Not satisfied with that, I sadly cemented the final status of my man/woman drama into pleutonicness on the last day of our Thai trip. The whole out with the old in with the new taken to a supreme level. Not that I have a throw away mentality but  it was just time to be honest with myself.

Chiang Mai

I was not expecting Chiang Mai, and our guesthouse to cator to so many Mainland Chinese tourists (see, "Record High") . It was kind of bizarre and at the same time completely normal to tell the young mainland Chinese lady, to keep her voice quiet, people are trying to sleep at 2 in the morning (I think I might of opened her door and let myself in). On the upside, my daughter had playmates her age at the pool from the Mainland, so as we spent our down time poolside, mostly with a lot of Mandarin. I casually enjoyed the guesthouse owners complaints about Chinese tourists- the same complaints I've heard from Taiwanese people - their Center of the World Entitlement (see, "Nouveau Rich" and "Chinese Database"). For the most part, the Chinese tourists I encountered there were fine, no crazy headlines. They were utterly tickled and impressed at my kid's impeccable Taiwanese accent.

Chiang Mai

In Chiang Mai they have a small China town east of the old center/moat. For several blocks it looked like the neighborhood was painted red. On our last day, we had a chance encounter on the way to breakfast in the old town. In front of Thapae Gate, there was a Chinese New Years celebration with different groups of the community in full costume. Unlike Taiwan, it was relatively quiet and serene, no fireworks and the whole thing lasted about an hour. If you would of slept in, you wouldn't even have known what you were missing. What caught my attention was the 5 year old boy on the top of a dangerously high pole, my daughter half joked, "They're going to sacrifice him!" I could not believe what I was seeing. I caught his performance and the Pole Lion Dance here:

It's still technically New Years, and with the 3 day 2-28 weekend, the holidaze just keeps on going. It will culminate on Lantern Festival which is March 5th this year. So with all the energy of this New Year sweeping clean out the innermost cobwebs of my life and my being, the appropriate maxim would be,  "大展鴻圖"  or "May you realize your ambitions." I'm still ever on the quest to realize what my ambitions may be- but look out for the day when that vision is crystal.

 As of right now I'm enjoying the ride, trying to keep my eyes open. I'm in an interesting and uncomfortable place of transition, ie, I'm broke, super single, missing my lost friendship and looking for an afternoon job in a new city where I still hardly know anyone. Its like one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs, "I sure don't know what I'm going for, but I'm gonna go for it for sure." Not a boring way to start the new year.

Previous Posts on Chinese New Years:
Last year's trip to Burma, "Stuck in Singapore" (I never did finish writing about our fabulous trip to  Myanmar
Chinese New Year to Me

Resources:

http://ttf.ncfta.gov.tw/en-us/Season/Content.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

Six Months in a Nutshell

View from Wisdom Garden

I've been pretty lax with updating my posts. To make a long story short:

Z and I spent Christmas in Tainan. I finally got Christmas Day off! (Usually it fell on a weekend.)




We welcomed the New Year working our way from the Southeast Rift Valley to Hualien with my friends Binh and Kirin. We spent a night and 2 days in Yuli at the serene Wisdom Garden.

Wisdom Garden

Antong hot springs, New Life Resort, Yuli.

 From there Wisdom Garden provided scooters and we tried unsuccessfully to hike the Walami trail in the rain, followed by a long soak in the nearby Antong hot springs. 

Rueisui

Walami Trail

The next day we took a freezing, rainy scooter ride on the mountain highway to soak in Rueishui hot springs. We returned to Wisdom Garden and hopped on a train to Hualien.

 The first night we slept in Hualien city at a backpacker lodge. Everything booked fast for that weekend. I needed my space just with Z and asked to be switched to their other lodging in a residential suburb, which was the total opposite from the loud, social hub of the previous night. After dinner at the night market, we moved our bags to the other location.We were pretty isolated, not to mention after the taxi dropped us of, no one was there and the place was locked. The next morning we took a shared taxi with me, Z, Binh, Kirin and a Korean traveler into Taroko National Park.

Taroko Gorge was stunning, picturesque, but freezing! We were wearing all of our clothes, layers of 4 or more, under coats. We went to all the major sites, did some easy walks and hikes, had lunch there and ended the day chillin' (literally) on the Pacific ocean north of Hualien,

Chinese New Year, Z and I made it home to Colorado, for a long overdue visit with friends and family, it was 2 years since we saw them in Los Angeles for my bro's wedding. It had been 4 years since we last went back to the Mile High City. That trip deserves its own blog, but suffice to say I reconnected with friendships that are 20 years old and older. It was magical to have my folks watch Z and then be given the royal treatment by my friends. Lets just say I ate and drank well, all too well, I returned back to Tainan 5 kg heavier and it was worth it! Unfortunately I haven't lost any of it.



I've been struggling financially since then. My return paycheck was meager from missing 2 weeks of work and its been one step forward to steps back ever since we got back, but looking at the photos of our time, it was also worth it.

Garden of the Gods

In April we managed a weekend in Matsu. I went with my friend Vicky and her family, she planned everything. It was amazing scenery, beaches, very isolated. I will write a separate blog about it. Matsu is definitely off the beaten track.

Matsu day 1, Beigan

In May we took a trip to Taipei. I stayed with my old friend Monica at her sister's place near where I was having an interview and demo in Xindian (they haven't called me back).

Sunrise from my window, Xindian

Sherry, Z and Marion, saying goodbyes.

I may not have got the job, but I got to see my old manager Sherry from my Kid Castle Chu Wei days, my old roommate Marion from Tamsui and of course Monica and her family. We have all been friends since 2000, Sherry and Marion have visited me in Colorado over the years. Monica used to live in Tainan.

Which brings me to last weekend's trip to Taitung, very last minute, quick, full of happy surprises and outstanding individuals.  It was because of last weekend I decided to finally catch up on my blogs.

(To be continued, I hope),

Chinese New Year To Me

Chinese New Year to me means new door gods at 7-11. The whole world washed in red and gold paper decorations, the stores selling traditional Chinese clothing, and red underwear for that important, auspicious first day. I enjoy making Chinese New Year arts and crafts with my class. We have flying dragons floating all around our classroom. My front door has a single character for "blessing"  fu 福 which hung upside down means "coming". Its not like I went out and bought it, the book store gave it to me for free. What I do buy every year around this time from the bookstore is this packet of 12 Chinese prints based on the coming new year animal. This includes for example, posters of paper cuttings, art, calligraphy, the chronology of the dragon in Chinese cultural history.

Chinese Paper cutting

Here is an interesting video on some of the origins of Chinese New Year’s customs and the Nian story:

For my Taiwanese friends it is their Christmas. The whole family gets together and eats auspicious sounding foods, the names of fish, pineapple and orange sound similar to lucky words in Mandarin. Red envelopes full of money are given. There is a protocol, the night before, the first day, actually every day, whose house to go over. I think the universal practice is to clean the whole house (out with the old in with the new) and wear new clothes inside and out.

I was at my Chinese “parents” home tonight and they were with their friends playing (betting) Mahjong. They gave Z a red envelope. They invited us to watch fireworks at the City Council building, but Z pretty much detests fireworks up close (and she lives in Tainan!).

Now it’s the year of the dragon, supposedly auspicious for everyone. There is an old story about the Chinese 12 zodiac animals below. Gong xi fa cai from me and Z!

The land below the wind

During Chinese New Year, Z and I spent 12 nights and 13 days in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.  It was all such a gift, such a blessing to get away from familiar Taiwan for a while, to spend some time just with Z, to share the magical adventure of experiencing a new, unfamiliar, country together. People were wonderful, from helpful locals, to lovely travelers offering advice and encouragement. Its such a confirmation to hear mere strangers verbalize out loud what I have been thinking to myself in private about the hopeful confidence I have that me and Z do and will have a good life. This trip also reconfirmed for me that I am a creative person and the past few years I have undervalued that significant part of myself and of the creative process which is Holy.

To travel is like having an enhanced, supra-condensed form of everyday life. There are moments of being alone and moments of sweet companionship, everything is magnified. Every conversation, every moment of doing nothing, lying in a hammock, or on some ferry or shared taxi, life seems to be pointing something at me, a destination, a new dream, direction. One veil is lifted from my eyes, one moment at a time. I am given vision, my past, with all its hurts and disappointments, the stark reality of where I am Now, standing on the cusp of what will be and its all working in the background for me, for my good. During one of my first nights in Kota Kinabalu, I had one of those dreams. Sometimes I dream of people I have psychic connections with. Usually its my mom or a brother, an old friend or lover, and I truly believe we contact each other, like an intergalactic, space-time telepathic Skype, they receive me and have the same dream time in their time. This time, I contacted Z’s father and I told him, “listen I guess I’ve been alone these 5 years because secretly I’ve been waiting for you to come around. She has been asking about you and you ought to contact her, you know where to find me. As for me, I’m not waiting around for you anymore.” A lot of psychic baggage was lifted off my shoulders.

Sometimes these cosmic messages get lost in the everyday grind of routine. Its hard to be in a place of undeniable vulnerability when every moment of every day is accounted for, even moments of rest are penciled in. My blood needs to be stirred, I need to be launched out of my comfort zone, maybe I need a little bit of danger, definitely high adventure and I am then so aware of how I am loved, loved by God, the Universe, THE higher power, Christ consciousness, whatever you call It. At these moments when He has my absolute attention (I say ‘He’ because I am in this divine relationship, the Beloved) and I say, “God you have my attention, I am listening”, and then I am wooed, the Universe literally sings me a love song.  Not just any love song, but a particular song that once had a special significance to me that I forgot about throughout the years (in this case a song from my Barcelona days that I never told a soul about). And then it becomes more meaningful and personal. Like when we were abandoned by our dodgy driver in Kota Belud, we are saved by angels or stuck in Sipilok from the absence of local transport, we were blessed with personal encounters with endangered animals (in this case an orangutan). What are the “chances” of seeing the rare Rafflesia flower in bloom? So casually my beautifully made, indigenous driver pulls over and the flowers were not even intentioned destination, just by chance, on the way to something also equally wonderful.

There is no good or bad luck, when I am ready to take the chance to buy that ticket, to take the journey, I am truly transported, divinely escorted. In the case of my Borneo experience, my cup truly ran over and I didn’t need to do anything but be there in the position of receiving. It all increased my faith that Z and I are loved and looked after, no need to worry about absolutely anything.

How am I integrating this into my daily life now that I have returned to work, to cleaning my house and rushing to get to work on time? I am not stressing on my floors, no more everyday, 2 times a day, the laundry can wait, and so what if I am late! And if I don’t make it into the gym at lunch, I will survive. In fact I’ve returned with this determination, actually this victory of mind over portion control, in fact I am already always satisfied, satiated. I don’t mind being single nor am I worried about Z being “fatherless”. Her father is Divine and He has given her this ability to re-translate, to be the Alchemist who transforms lead into pure gold. Before the trip I was already content, but I returned with a deeper understanding of content-ness, a fresh experience of Grace that is priceless. So now you see why my trip was such a gift.

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