2009 in review

With Christmas looming less than one week away, shopping yet to be completed…ahhh..it must be time to write our annual letter to our friends. This is our seventh year in Taiwan and only the second time we will be spending Christmas in Taiwan. Everyone will be traveling to Taipei and we will take the high-speed-rail down south to Kenting then to Tainan, the historical capital of Taiwan. We will spend Christmas down south and bring in the New Year in Taipei.

Nick entered High School this fall, and has fully embraced everything the school has to offer. Apart being on the Yearbook Club again, he was the lighting manager of the Upper School Musical, a teaching assistant for sixth grade Science, a member of the Taiwan Model United Nations team, a Swimzone instructor as well as teaching/helping out at AWANA and Youth worship at the Taipei International Church each Sunday. Oh, he also “DJ” for the Middle School dances including the Middle School “Candlelight Dance” held in December as well as the Taipei American School International Food Fair this Fall.

Matthew entered Seventh Grade this fall and is equally busy as his brother, Nick. He plays tennis on Monday, rock-climb on Tuesday and Saturday/Sunday, drum-set lessons on Friday and piano on Saturday. He also played intramural softball over the past six weeks which cumulated in the Middle School Softball tournament that took place last Saturday in Taichung. Matthew’s team came in Fourth out of nine teams. Matthew attended the Nike Tennis Camp in Santa Cruz this summer with his friend, Phil, where they spent a whole week playing tennis from morning till night. He started serious rock climbing since March, climbing once or twice a week at a facility in Neihu, about 15 minutes from our home.

Not much has changed with either Peter or Felicia. Both still volunteer their services at the Taipei American School.

We did a bit of traveling in 2009. We traveled to Singapore in early February. It has been almost five years since our last visit to Singapore and it was a lot of fun. Apart from seeing all of our old friends, the highlight of the trip was our visit to “Forest Adventure” which took us (via “Zip-lines”) over water and through the trees of Singapore. We took a trip to Ho Chi Ming City during Spring Break, hosted by our friends, the Tsiens. It was our first trip to Vietnam and we were all very impressed with its cleanliness, and of course the food. The side trip to the Mekong Delta and Cuci Tunnels were both fun and informative.

We spent a busy summer in Moraga. Nick attended the “ATDP” academic program offered by UC Berkeley while Matt attended an enrichment program at Head Royce. Apart from tennis, Matthew also took carpentry at the Moraga Community Center (for the sixth or seventh year in a row) where he built a desk for Nicholas. Both Nick and Matt helped out at the Stead Open again as ballboys and we hosted last year’s winner, Robert Yim, at our house for the duration of the tournament. We made several day trips around the Bay Area this summer. First we took a trip to Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz, enroute to dropping Matthew off to his tennis camp. We then took a trip to Angel Island (the Ellis Island of the West where Chinese/Asian immigrants were held for quarantine) which included a boat ride from the Oakland Pier to Pier 39, Angel Island and back. We also attended the Berkeley Kite Festival as well as both an Oakland Athletics (vs. the Blue Jays – we won) and a SF Giants baseball game.

Worries of the H1N1 flu caused the School to cancel the Middle School Camp this fall, denying Matthew a chance to go to Tainan with the other Seven Graders for a week of fun and learning. The expected “outbreak” never happened, but we did manage to join the H1N1 Club two weeks ago, when Matthew came home after the Candlelight Dance with a fever. While he recovered by the second day of his flu, he and the rest of us were quarantined for five whole days. Nick was kept home as siblings of H1N1 flu carrier are not allowed on campus during the quarantine period.

We took a short-trip to Penghu, an island chain on the western side of Taiwan, about 45 minutes flight from Taipei this Fall. Penghu was a military zone for the ROC armed forces but has been opened to tourism over the past ten years. This was our first visit to Penghu and it was a lot of fun. The Fall season was probably not the best time to visit as the seasonal wind was VERY STRONG which meant most of the water-based activities were off limits. We were, however, able to arrange a bus tour as well as a couple of fishing trips to the outer islands. The highlight of the trip would be catching the spiny “blow-fish” or Japanese Fugu fish (which blows up like a balloon when angered).

All of us took another trip this fall, to Hong Kong, to attend Peter’s sister, Susan’s xxth birthday party. This was followed by Peter’s Dad’s 89^th birthday party which we also celebrated in Hong Kong. Peter also spent five days in Shanghai with his Mom and Dad where they spent time visiting relatives and eating hairy crabs.

As 2009 quickly coming to a close, we have taken inventory of all the blessings we have received this year. Our collective health condition has remained good with one addition to the Fung-clan via Jonathan Fung (17 October, 2009) born to Frank and Annie. Felicia’s cousin, Kenneth Liu, tied the knot in April, to Yulia in Russia with love. During his reception in Taipei this Fall, we had the privilege of meeting Yulia’s family and friends who had traveled all the way from Moscow. Both Nick and Matt performed at the reception, Nick singing “Can you feel the Love Tonight” and “Stand By Me” while Matt performed the theme song from the famous Taiwanese move, “Cape Number 7” on the piano.

We hope this letter finds you and your loved ones well. The FungYeh family wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Lots of love from,

Felicia, Peter, Nick and Matt

Author’s note: I have finished this letter last week, but my many editors have kept this on their desks until today…

p.s. It seems that several of you still don’t have our “new” contact details: 7/F, 205 Yu Sheng Street, Shihlin District, Taipei 11145, Taiwan Tel: 02-2832-9538

Ho Chi Minh City

We visited Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for the first time during Spring Break 2009. We left Taipei on Friday 27 March and returned in the evening of 1 April. Gayle and Joannie Tsien were extremely hospitable and put together a wonderful first taste of Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam.


We took advantage of the China Airlines special this spring and got four free tickets with our mileages to fly from Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam is one hour later than Taiwan, so our two hour and 45 minute flight meant that we got on the flight in early afternoon and arrived in Vietnam at around 4pm local time. We started the day with meetings at TAS -- for the boys' bi-annual parent-teacher meetings. Our meetings went quickly and we were able to leave TAS by 11am and arrived at the Airport with plenty of time to spare. Felicia and boys had a quick bite at the cafe at the Airport while I had a bow of noodles at the China Airlines lounge. The flight was on time and not particularly full. It was one of China Airlines newer Airbuses and it was fully equipped with inflight entertainment for every seats, even in economy. Slumdog Millionaire was on and all of us watched it while we enjoyed the inflight meal service.

The landing at Ho Chi Minh was smooth, though I noticed the tarmac was a little rough/uneven. The terminal building, on the other hand, was spanky new. In fact, parts of the airport is not fully furnished as yet. Immigration was a zoo, which reminded me of what landing in Bangkok was like 10-12 years ago. It took us about an hour to get through immigration with people (on wheelchairs) continuously cutting our line. We were met by Joannie, Nicky and Philip outside. They had a van waiting for us and drove us back to the Waterfront development, a gated housing complex developed by the Tsien family. As it was rush hours on a Friday, the ride back took about one hour. The Waterfront is a gated community of various single as well as semi-detached houses. It also features a large swimming pool and two tennis courts as well as a small club house. Our unit was right next to the pool and the tennis court. It is the first two stories of a four-story semi-detached house which featured three bedrooms and three bathrooms as well as a kitchen, dinning room and a small study. Overall size of the unit is over 2000 square feet. The Waterfront is located in District 7, or the Southeast corner of Ho Chi Minh City.


Matthew was a bit sick from the car so we had a quick dinner at the pho shop right down the street, called Pho 24. Pho 24 is a relatively upmarket chain pho shop which caters to the wealthy Vietnamese and foreigners. Meals are between $2-5 per person. A bowl of pho would cost around $2, as are the must-have spring rolls. A typical "set" which would also include a drink (Vietnamese iced coffee or Pepsi) would go for about $4. The place is clean and the food is tasty and is a favorite of the Tsiens.


While Gayle normally stays in her house which is about a five minute drive from the Waterfront, she stays with her family at the Waterfront when they visit. Their unit, a large, detached house with a large backyard is at the end of the complex, and about five minute walk from us. Philip decided to take advantage of our visit and slept over at our place during our visit. Apart from the master bedroom, the second room also featured a queen bed, allowing Philip and Matthew the share a room without too much inconveniences. Nick took the third bedroom which has a nice single bed. The accommodation was simple but contains all the necessary amenities, including satellite television and internet access.


Day two started with tennis with all of us taking turns hitting balls. The temperature was high but humidity was relatively low and wasn't all that uncomfortable. We had breakfasts at the club with the boys having western and both Felicia and I having the pho. The main activity of the day was to do the Mekong Delta Tour at My Tho. My Tho is Southwest of Ho Chi Minh City and it took us about two hours to get there. After purchasing the tour and a short bathroom break, we set off on our adventure. We took a small ferry for about 10 minutes to an island in the Mekong Delta. We walked around, passing the bees/honey farm where we tried some honey tea and took picture with an albino boa. We then went to a coconut candy "factory" and tasted some of the candies as well as making a small purchase. The next stop was for some local fruit, tea as well as watched performances of local songs. The last stop was riding on a small row boat, going through the jungle and back out onto the Mekong River. We were met by our ferry which took us to another island where we were met by horse drawn buggies. After a bumpy 10 minute ride, we were taken to a restaurant which featured the local "elephant fish"--fried, free range chicken (toughest meat I have ever tasted), jumble river shrimps and some fried rice. Our guide opened fresh coconut on our ride back on the ferry for us to enjoy. Overall, it was a fun tour.

Our dinner was at An Vien Restaurant in District One (downtown). An Vien is located in a small alley and in a old house. The interior is decorated in traditional Vietnamese style which featured quite of bit of dark wood, silk,..etc. Apart from the decor and the great atmosphere, the food was delightful. Gayle basically ordered everything on the menu. Pictures of this and other meals can be found on Gayle's Facebook album.

Day three was a relatively relaxing day. We went to a City Tour in the morning, visiting the Reunification Palace (old Presidential Palace) and the War Crime Museum which basically featured old US Army tank, canons, guns as well as a couple of fighter jets. There were also quite a lot of war pictures which really depicted the American as the bad guys. After visiting these two sites, one really have the give credits to the Vietnamese who were able to withstood the onslaught of the American with better weapons and money and still won the war!! While Gayle had planned several other interesting sights for us to see, we were soon defeated by the heat, and the whinny kids and decided to call it a day.

Lunch for the kids was at downtown, at a cafe, where the kids had pizzas and sandwiches. We had the Vietnamese sandwiches (baguettes with cold cuts) which we bought on our way back to the Waterfront. The afternoon was spent by the pool and just chill. Dinner was at the Brazilian BBQ place called, Au Lac Do. We have had Brazilian BBQ before but the last time we had it was in Singapore, many years ago. Au Lac Do is slightly different than the one in Singapore in that I believe the variety of meat here was slightly less that what we had in Singapore. Whereas in Singapore there was a salad bar, the salad was served to us at the table. Overall, the food was good, though I thought they weren't as generous with the meat as they should. We were full, but not "overly stuffed."

Day four featured the visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Northwest of the City. Since Gayle wanted to join us on this tour, we delayed our departure until after a quick lunch at Pho 24. Since we have the morning free, we took a car (from Gayle's office) equipped with a driver and bodyguard/translator and went to the local wet market. The market was open air, but not too different from the wet market in Taiwan, selling very similar things. We ended up walking up and down a couple of streets and bought some really nice mangoes for about 50 cents a piece. We next went to a local supermarket and bought some drinks, snacks and dry goods to take back to Taipei. We set off for Cu Chi after lunch. The ride there was smooth and we arrived Cu Chi within two hours. The Cu Chi Tunnels were first dug during the war against the French almost 100 years ago. It is a large tunnel system that stretches over 200km long, having three sub-terrain levels. There are underground office, sleeping quarters, hospitals, dinning room as well as entertainment center. After a brief video, we were led to the tunnels by our guide who showed us various types of rooms and tunnels. While we have heard horror stories from people who have visited Cu Chi in the past, the tunnels have been "gentrified" to allow easier access without losing much of how it must've been during the war. The tunnels were small, dark and tight for large (American) people. There was even one room which had a couple of bats inside and gave us a scare. The guide also showed us huge bomb craters as well as traps and escape routes. The tour lasted about one hour and was well worth the trip.

We decided to have Korean food for dinner and went to Kumdo Restaurant near the Waterfront. As there are many Korean companies in Vietnam, the Korean food was very good. We had the usual BBQ beef as well as chap che, pancakes, and mixed rice. The kimchi was very good and there were lots of variety as well.

Day five was free and we had breakfast with our friends, Lynn and Sinh Bui. They are the parents of Vinh who was a classmate of Matthew in second and third grade at TAS. They picked us up at the Waterfront and took us to breakfast at a "Central Vietnamese" restaurant next to the South Saigon International School. The food is a little different from what we had before but equally delicious. Lynn ordered a wide variety of food and they were hard to finish. After breakfast, they took us for a short tour of the Phu My Hung Development Area before sending us back to the Waterfront. Felicia wanted to go shopping again and bought Joannie with us. We first went to the Dong Khoi, the main shopping street next to the Opera House. There we spent about one and an half hour, looking in each shops along the way. There were many interesting art pieces but none really grabbed us. Next we went to Ben Thanh market which is a mix of the Shanghai TaoBao center (counterfeit t-shirts,.etc.) and wet market. It was a huge complex (not air conditioned) of clothes, food (fresh and cooked) and other stuff. We spent about 30 minutes walking around before having some frozen yogurt and lunch at "Wrap n Roll" a Vietnamese roll-your-own spring roll place. The food was fresh with lots of vegetable and tasty shrimps, fish and meat and it was great.

We had our last dinner at Nam An, the sister restaurant of Vien An. This restaurant is located within a 5 minute drive from the Waterfront and is modern in decoration and the food is just as good. As it was our last night here, Auntie Neo-ping also came along for dinner. We also played a bit of tennis after dinner to work off all of the food we ate.

We hung out at the Waterfront on our last day. Felicia ordered a Taxi and went shopping again and came back just before lunchtime with Vietnamese sandwiches. Gayle's car took us to the airport shortly after 2pm and we spent about one and an half hour at the airport before flying back to Taipei.

Overall, our impression with Vietnam was very positive. Ho Chi Minh City was interesting, the food was very good and the price is right. Our stay at the Waterfront cost a total of just over $500, or about $100 per day, breakfast included. Of course, the Tsiens paid for a lot of the expenses such as the tour costs as well as several dinners and lunches. But, overall, we had a wonderful time.

A preview to "Empty Nest" and visit to Inge

Nick and Matt are both away for the TAS Middle School camp this week, so Felicia and I have a sneak preview to "empty nest." The camp was supposed to have taken place during early September but was postponed to this week due to typhoon. Nick, as an Eighth Grader, has traveled to the Fuloong Beach while Matt has gone all the way south to Kenting.

Felicia and I have talked about this week and had thought about making a short trip on our own. We talked about going to Penghu or Kinmen Island near Taiwan and as far as Cambodia or India. Since neither of us took this seriously, nothing was planned and we stayed in Taipei for the entire week.

Home is a very different place with the boys away--this is especially true after Li-May came over to clean-up on Monday. It's quiet, it's orderly and it's BIG (or at least it felt a lot bigger). We didn't cook at home all week as there are only the two of us. I even had a chance to play tennis with "men" for the first time since last summer while Felicia went karaokeing on a Wednesday night!! Unlike previous years, Nick only called twice from camp and didn't sound too enthused. We don't know if this is caused by the fact the he missed us or that he missed his computer? Matt waited until Wednesday to make his first call but called often subsequently. While we have looked forward to this week of freedom, we both (more or less) miss having our boys at home. I couldn't wait to check out camp pictures that were posted each night and always disappointed to find only a few of them with Nick and Matt.

After getting new tires on Monday and getting the car serviced on Tuesday, we finally found time to do "something" on Thursday. Felicia had talked about taking a day trip to Kinmen Island but finally decided to do a road trip to Inge, the tiny pottery town on the outskirt of Taipei. The weather was great and we arrived at Inge after an hour's drive from home, shortly before noon. Since neither of us had breakfast, after a short stop at a tea shop, we went straight to a small eatery down the "pottery" street. We ordered O-den, Mien-shien, stinky tofu (two orders) and Felicia also ordered shaved ice. About NTD200 and 20 minutes later, we were full and ready to move. As it was a weekday, many shops were closed for business. But, there were enough activities to keep our trip interesting.

What made Inge interesting is that while there are many "pottery shops," most shops sell original pieces created by themselves. We also stumbled into an art collector's shop down on No. 169. The owner, Mr. Huang, primarily collects paintings. But, one can hardly tell that from looking at his shop, cramped with various pottery, sculptures, books and other knik-knaks. We saw several interesting items at his shop. There was the set of six monks all with life-like expressions, the painting from Dai and Xie. He also has a small collection of Felicia's favorite contemporary Taiwanese sculpture artists. We visited from shops to shops and spent a total of four and half hours in Inge. Finally, we stopped at a shop which featured stone sculptures. These were stone carvings from Penghu and are of figurines of kungfu masters -- like ones from Ju-Ming. Unlike Ju-Ming who uses bronze, this artist and his son carve sea rocks. We like them so much, we ended up buying a total of seven pieces, two from the Dad and five from the son. Two of the larger pieces will be given to Frank for his belated fortieth birthday present.

All in all, Inge was a fun place to visit. The streets are nicely lined with palm trees and the shops are well decorated with seasonal flowers. We especially enjoyed the weekday visit, absent of the crowd. We came back with a lot of loot. Apart from the stone carvings, we bought three small plants, some small wine cups, and a few other little things. Unfortunately, just as we were nearing home, we realized that we forgot to pay for our lunch!! We owe NT$80 to the lady who sold us the O-den and mien-shien. Perhaps we will pay her the next time we visit Inge.

The boys will be returning home today. It will be great to have them home, despite all of the chaos. We are not ready for empty nest just yet. Then again, we won't have to worry about this for a few more years.....

Revisiting Singapore

It has been a while since our last visit to Singapore. According to my calculations, the last time we visited Singapore as a family was in October/November of 2005, about three and a half years ago. The kids have always been fond of Singapore and we have been talking about going back for a while. We had planned to visit during the 2008 Thanksgiving long weekend, but had to postpone the trip as we were not able to use our Krisflyer miles to get free tickets at that time. We then planned our trip for 26 February to 1 March, 2009 during which the boys have their "parent teacher conferences," hence do not have classes. This gives us about three days in Singapore, enough to sample some of our favorite Singaporean food and visit our friends.

We took the early afternoon Singapore Airlines flight and arrived on-time to Changi Airport at around 6:30pm. The SQ flight was pleasant as usual with good services, good food and good movies. As usual, we retrieved our luggage shortly after our arrival and made our way to our hotel -- The Naumi Hotel, by 7:30pm. The Naumi is a recently refurbished hotel on Seah Street, just behind the famous Raffles Hotel in downtown Singapore. Our two-bedroom suite was quoted at 70 sqm or around 700 sf, but looked and felt smaller. There is one king-size bed in one room and a single bed in the next. The sofa in the living room was turned into a fourth bed to accommodate the four of us. There is a 50+ inch flat screen tv in the living room as well as a 42-inch tv in the second bedroom. In our living area, there is a small pantry with a refrigerator, microwave and an espresso machine. A nice feature for the hotel is that the soft drinks in the fridge, replenished daily, are complementary. The espresso machine which uses a "pod" of coffee per serving, was easy to use and produced delicious coffee.

We went to Newton Circus, the famous hawker center for dinner. The temperature was moist, but relatively cool at around 25 degrees centigrade. Newton Circus has been completed renovated since our last visit and all of our favorite stalls were moved. After surveying the area, Felicia managed to found someone to point us to the hawkers we used to love. We ordered chili crab, stir fry clams, oyster omlette, assorted satays, BBQ chicken wings, sambal kangkong, and a plate of Hainanese Chicken rice. We were so full from all of the eating, we decided to go for a walk after dinner and walked all the way to Orchard Road before heading back to the Hotel.

We had breakfast in the Hotel on Friday morning. The spread was small but efficient. The muesli was especially well done as is the homemade yogurt. Apart from the made-to-order eggs, there were only three hot dishes (baked beans, turkey bacon and a curry) which changed daily. There are three freshly prepared juices as well as champagne (Australian -- Jacob's Creek) available apart from some very weak coffee and tea.

I went to my Postbank to update our contact details and to update our bankbook after breakfast. Pia came over at around 11:15am and her driver took all of us to Forest Adventure in Bedok (see separate posting). We returned to the Hotel by around 3:30pm, had chicken rice at the restaurant next door. As Pia has an art class at 5pm, we sent her home on a cab after she finished her lunch and the rest of us went back to the hotel and took a dip in the small pool on the tenth floor of the Hotel. After a long hot day at Forest Adventure, the cool water in the pool was very refreshing.

Our dinner on Friday night was with the Wongs, at the Long Beach Seafood Restaurant on Dempsey Road. We arrived at the Restaurant at exactly 7:30pm. The Wongs arrived within 10 minutes after us. We ordered one pepper crab, one chili crab, a steam fish (Hsuan-Hock), boiled prawns, sambal kangkong and a whole fragrant duck. Since the restaurant was packed, our food took a while to arrive. The seafood was very fresh and perfectly cooked. Rosa brought a bottle of champagne and a bottle of white. Since Felicia wasn't drinking, Rosa, Kwan and I finished the two bottles by ourselves. Kwan picked up the dinner so I picked up the tab for dessert. Dempsey Road used to be full of antique shops housed in old "black-and-white" buildings. Apparently the recent boom in Singapore economy has pushed a lot of these antique shops out and replaced them with upscale pubs and restaurants. The dessert shop which was about a five minute walk from the Long Beach Seafood Restaurant, was full. Fortunately, Rosa knew the owner and got us a table with less than a ten-minute wait. The kids ordered cakes which were HUGE! I ordered a mojito, Felicia an iced tea, Rosa some red wine and Kwan a cup of hot green tea. We finished everything by around 11pm and headed back to our hotel.

We had a late Saturday morning, rounding everyone up at around 9am. While the three of us had breakfast downstairs, Nick went out and had some "Chow Quai-tell" or fried rice noodles. While Nick and Matt tried to do some homework in the Hotel, I went to the Singapore Airlines office at the Paragon Shopping Mall (two subway stops away) and pre-check-in all of us. We then met at the Koos' home -- The Four Seasons Apartment on Orchard Boulevard. We chatted and had lunch with the Koos before heading out to Sentosa. Clarence, as usual, was too tired from work and wanted to stay home and veg while Rosaline, Kyle and Sibonay came with us to Sentosa.

When we were living in Singapore, Sentosa was one of our regular weekend destinations. It has changed in a major way!! The Cable Car which is located at the old World Trade Center, is completely revamped as have the area surrounding it. A new mall, Vivo City, is a huge shopping complex now draws locals and tourists to the area making the surrounding traffic horribly crowded. There were seven of us, so we took two cable cars to Sentosa. Our goal was to try one of Sentosa's new facility, the Luge!! The luge which is located next to the cable car station featured a 1.1km twisting and winding course downhill towards the beach. After one ride down the hill, he is hoisted up by a skylift (ski-lift) back up the hill. We bought the eight-pack for SGD49. After our initial ride, the kids wanted to do more and we bought another eight-pack. The extra one was "won" by Sibonay who was able to ride four times.

Rain started to pour just as Sibonay completed her last ride and was in the process of buying ice cream. We rushed to the cable car station and return to base before the rain stopped the cable cars in mid-air -- stuck until the weather turn for the better (about 15-20 minutes later). Matthew was soaked by the rain, but we were very lucky to have been able to complete our luge and cable car experience without getting stuck.

We took a short stroll in Vivo City before returning to our hotel. Dinner was at the Lees' in their apartment on Balmoral Park. Felicia wanted to shop, so she took Matthew with her to Orchard and Scotts Road first while Nick and I waited until Nick completed more of his homework before heading out.

We were the first to arrive at the Lees. They have moved to their current home about 4-5 years ago, so we have been their once before. Lizse and Glenn were cooking their gourmet BBQ steaks on this night. It featured three slabs (two inch thick) of USDA Prime rib-eye steaks, plus a full slab of boneless short-ribs -- marinated and cooked over chopped onion and garlic. Additionally, Lizse prepared some pasta in aoli sauce (garlic, olive oil and anchovies), oven-baked french fries, corn on the cobs, and a nice arugula and cherry tomato salad tossed with vinegar and truffle oil. Yum!!! Glenn started us off with some Scotch. We had a 2000 Barolo which was very intense and buttery as well as a bottle of Opus One (which I was less keen). We ended the dinner with a very chocolaty port from Australia -- the Penfold Grandfather port which was WONDERFUL!! I didn't have dessert but they were a fruit tart and a terramisu cake. Mary Ann also brought five pizzas which were mostly consumed by the kids.

On our last day in Singapore. We got up and went straight to the food court in Bras Basah Complex where we had two roti-prata with egg, a nasi gorang, a BBQ pork lo-mien, a Singapore style dry noodles to share among the four of us. Nick, Matt and I went to the Jason's Supermarket in Raffles City to pick-up some Singapore snacks while Felicia went back to the Hotel for some coffee and newspaper. We checked out at around 10:30am and headed back to Changi, to its new Terminal 3. Terminal 3 was just being planned when we left Singapore in early 2000. It was completed recently and operational since January. It is modern yet warm. Since we have already checked-in downtown yesterday, we just dropped off our bags at the counter and went inside. We picked up a bottle of the "grandfather port" from the duty free shop and even saw an Airbus A380 parked next to our plane on the tarmac before we boarded our plane!!

The highlight of the trip for me is seeing all of our old friends again. Thinking back, I have known Glenn and Lizse for about 20 years and Rosa and Kwan for about 13 years!! Apart from Geoff in NJ, they are four of my oldest friends!! The boys certainly had a great time getting reacquainted with their childhood friends.

The three days went by very quickly and was just perfect. Any longer, it would've trouble our friends or doing things that are slightly lower on our "to-do list." Hopefully, it won't have to take another three years before we visit Singapore again. It was a WONDERFUL trip.

Hanging like Tarzan

If you enjoy an adrenalin rush and always wanted to swing from trees to trees like Tarzan, there is a place in Singapore designed just for that purpose. It is a place called, "Forest Adventure" which sits on the Northern shore of Bedok Reservoir near the Changi Airport. From the City, it's an easy 20-30 minute cab ride (around SGD10-12 per trip) away.

We were told of this venue by our friend, Leelee Heng/Goh, who visited with his son (Chi-chen) and daughter (Yi-chen) during Xmas. She told Felicia that it was a lot of fun and a "must-do" activity with the kids during our visit to Singapore. I checked the website and found that we must pre-book before our arrival to ensure that we are able to this during our visit. Nicholas's good friend from his childhood days, Pia Wong, was able to join us in this adventure as she did not have school on this day.

We didn't pay much attention to the driving instructions given by Forest Adventure's website and got lost around the Bedok Reservoir and arrived at the adventure site (300m walk from the drop-off point) about 10-15 minutes past our appointment. Since the adventure involves a series of "unguided" activities on a course which featured four "zip-lines" as well as many climbs, swings, tight-rope walks,..etc., all taken place at 5-8 meters above ground, we had to go through an orientation course before we departed. The instructor, Sebastian, was very friendly and thorough with us. Felicia was clearly very nervous while Nick and Matt were very excited. I was not particularly keen on these activities in general. Since Felicia was already very nervous, I didn't want to make the situation worse by being nervous as well.

There are four sections in the "Grand Course." The very first activity involved climbing up 5 meter (about 15 feet) onto a platform in a tree, jumping off Tarzan style and swing into a vertical net which one has to climb up onto the second platform. Some stages were a little scarier than others but most were pretty simple. It helps to tall in most cases (minimum height of 140cm), but there was one stage which involved climbing through a rather small wooden barrel which meant that one's size was directly proportional to the difficulties of passing this stage.

All together, there were 32 different stages including four zip-line activities, all with portion of the ride going over water. The longest one is 176m long which was very exciting, but over in less than a minute. The whole course can be finished within two hours. Given that there were five of us, it took us just a little over two hours to complete the course. Felicia and I were both relieved to have done it but the boys were excited and vow to come back again.

Yi-Ping Hua-dell Chicken (一品花雕雞)

Felicia wanted to visit this restaurant for a long time has finally had her wish come true last Saturday evening (31/1/09). This restaurant has been written up in newspaper a few times as well as been featured on TV at least once. Hua-dell (花雕) is a Chinese rice wine with a fairly strong flavour. As I am not really partial to the Hua-dell wine, I have been avoiding this restaurant for the longest time. Given it was Chinese New Year and Felicia has nagged me MANY, MANY times already, I finally gave in and agreed to visit this restaurant.

There are two locations of Yi-Ping Chicken ("YPC") in Taipei. The main location is on Shi-Ming Boulevard or Citizen's Boulevard near Yen-chi Street. The second location (the one we visited) is located on Ji-ling Road between Chang-Chung and Ming Sheng East Road. When we called on the day, the only tables available at the main location were after 8pm whereas the second location was relatively free.

Upon arriving at the restaurant at 7pm, there were a large line outside already. The restaurant is fairly modernly decorated (clean and bright) and occupied at least two floors, each seating about 50 people. Each table comes with a built-in gas heating element for completion of the cooking process for certain dishes. To save time, we were asked to place our food order as we waited outside for our table to be cleared. We were finally seated by around 7:20pm. The place was packed. While YPC's website stated that a half-order of chicken should be able to feed 1-3 people and a full-order can feed up to six, we were encouraged to order the full-order. There are several "grades" of the chicken dish and we ordered the "Emperor" grade (花雕皇帝雞) which featured the boneless dark meat of a free-range chicken. Additionally, we ordered the Clam Soup(沙蜆鍋), the Fried Calamari (一品招牌中卷) and Stir Fried Gizzards (干炒雙脆).

With our orders already in before we were seated, the Clam Soup arrived shortly after we sat down. The clams (two kinds) came raw and in a pot covered with a clear stock and some ginger slices. The pot was placed on the heating element and cooked in front of us. With the high-heat, the clams opened within 2-3 minutes of cooking and they were fresh, sweet and very flavourful. After eating the clams, the waiter poured the remaining soup into our bowls to drink and they were delicious. Next came the gizzards which were chicken hearts and kidneys. They were stir-fried to perfection -- tender and flavourful. The boys' favourite were the fried calamaris which came with a sweet and tangy sauce. It was so good that we had to order a second one.

The long anticipated chicken came last. With a full-order, it came in a regular size metal pot, filled with chicken, scallions and broth. The flavour was strong, not unlike the Taiwanese 3-cup chicken (cup of wine, cup of sesame oil and a cup of soy sauce). Instead of the clear rice wine, this chicken dish came with the Hua-dell which is a dark-colored rice wine. Also unlike the 3-cup chicken, this dish is not oily at all. The sauce/broth is thick, brown and sweet with a strong smell and taste of Hua-dell and ginger. The chicken was tender, juicy and full of flavour.

The normal progression is to eat the chicken from the pot, followed by adding tofu, mushrooms, rice cakes and other hot pot items into the remaining sauce and eat them. A lighter broth is added last along with any vegetables, noodles,..etc. to complete the dish. Given our large order of chicken and two orders of calamaries, we were too full to finish and never saw the "third stage" of our hot pot. Complementary ice cream cones (one scoop per NT$500 spent) were offered on our way out.

Overall, our experience was good. The food was tasty and the service was pretty good. The only complaints were that our server encouraged us to order the full-order of chicken which was way too much for the four of us. The chicken dish also came last, after we finished all of our other side dishes (and filled us up). The Emperor's chicken at NT$1280 was 65% more expensive then the normal bone-in version. We simply needed a few more bodies to fully enjoy our experience here. Our bill came to about NT$2,800 which is no bargin for the food. YPC is very popular. There were still a line outside when we left the restaurant at around 8:30pm. Reservation is a must.

Food: *** (out of four)
Ambiance: *** (out of four)
Price: $$$ (about $700 per person)
Repeat visit: Probably

Chinese New Year Athletics

Unlike previous Chinese New Year, we have been blessed with nice weather for most of the CNY holiday. While the temperature was a bit cool to start the holiday, the weather warmed up nicely from CNY-eve onward. Given that many people travel out off Taipei during the holiday, those of us that remained, have lots of places to explore without the normal traffic and lines. We were able to play tennis for four days straight at the ACC. For the most parts, it was kids versus parents. While the parents have continued to hold on to their dominance, the degree of dominance has declined dramatically over the past year. Playing pro-sets (first to eight games), the boys are able to get two to three games each time. The breakthrough was Friday, when they were able to win five games in total. Matthew played with a lot of power and a new spin serve while Nick played with more finesse and consistency. Matt hit from the back while Nick covered the net. They still don't communicate well with each other, but that has also shown signs of improvements by Friday when they played more like a team. Too bad that school is starting again and they won't be able to play much tennis until the summer.

The second big athletic event was on Thursday when Nick was out with his friends and Felicia wanted a nap. Matthew and I took a long bicycle ride to Bali(八里). Distance-wise, it's about 18-20km each way. We rode from the bike path in front of our apartment, all the way to Guandu. As it is CNY, there was a huge fair being held at the Guandu Temple, thus jamming the walkways with people and bicycles. The bike path was crowded most of the way, but it got a lot worse as we approached Guandu. At one point, we had to get off our bikes and push, fearing of running into people with our bicycles. I have done the ride to Bali several times and it would normally take me around one hour each way. But the crowd was so heavy it took us almost two hours to reach our destination -- a "paintball" range in Bali. People in Taiwan ride bicycles the way they drive, reckless. We see all kinds of people on the bicycle paths, children in strollers, old folks in wheelchairs, pedestrians, riders with training wheels and riders in fancy racing bikes. One thing that is consistent throughout is that the Taiwanese riders are unyielding on the bike path as they are on the road. Matthew was almost thrown off his bike on several occasions when other bikers swerved into him.

Since the bike path was so crowded, especially near Bali, we decided to return home via the main road. Fortunately, the roads in Bali are smoothly paved and relatively level. The traffic was also relatively light and it took us less than 10 minutes to travel the same distance that took us one hour earlier in the day. By the time we crossed the Guandu Bridge again and return via the Guandu Temple, the crowds have thinned and we were able to return home in about one hour. Matthew has improved significantly in his riding and stamina. He was able to keep up with me most of the time and rode in a safe manner. Good Job, Matt!!

Our last "athletic event" took place last Friday night when Felicia made plans with her friends as have Nick. Since we had a big BBQ earlier that day, Matt and I are not particularly hungry. Nevertheless, we took a long walk to the Shihlin Night Market and walked around there. The Shihlin Night Market is normally crowded as it is both a tourist attraction and a popular shopping/eating area for the locals. The CNY holiday drew even more activities and visitors and the whole area was packed with people and illegal street vendors. These street vendors would occupy the center parts of each allies to hawk their goods. From time to time (every 15-20 minutes), you would see a long line of vendors with their portal clothing racks moving quickly -- to get away from the patrolling police. I feel sorry for Matt. At his height, the most sight he saw that night were other people's back.

We walked around for about an hour before stopping at a stall to buy some street food. I had the stinky tofu and o-den while Matt had the Japanese cake with cream fillings and a grilled double sausage. All in all, we walked about 5-6km that night which make this into an "athletic event."

FIRE!!!

It's the Chinese New Year, so encounters with the fire department is not necessary unusual given all the fireworks that are exploded each night. As a family, we have had two encounters with the fire department during this Chinese New Year holiday. The first one took place three nights ago while we were shooting fireworks with a group of friends on the bank of Ji-loong River in Da-ji. The police and the fire department came after about an hour of fireworks and asked us to stop. We were generating a lot of smoke, fire and noise and brought complaints from the residences in the area. One funny incidence took place when the police asked one of us for an identification card. As none of the adults were willingly producing their ID cards, Nick volunteered with his American Club card and showed it to the Officer. The Officer took one look at the card and let us off with just a warning. While fireworks in Taipei is no longer legal, the police department usually turns a blind eye during the Chinese New Year holiday period.

Our second encounter with the fire department was more serious and it took place last night (or more precisely) -- at around 2:30am. When we were awoken by the fire alarm, it took us a minute or two for it to register. Our first instinct was to think that the fire alarm has malfunctioned -- again. Felicia took charge and went out into the hallway and smelled burning plastics and alerted all of us to move. By this time, the boys were up from all the ruckus. At the same time, our neighbour called from downstairs to inform us that the fire was on the third floor and we should evacuate immediately. The boys got dressed immediately and walked down while Felicia, as the head of the building management committee, went down and warned each units as we walked down. Knowing that it was a real fire, I grabbed the boys' red packet money as well as some cash and walked down as well.

The walk down was pretty easy. It really didn't get smoky until around the fourth floor and the smoke cleared as one approached the second floor. The fire department has already arrived as I reached the lobby. I overheard from one of the fireman that the fire was out. Since it was very smoky at the time, I went up and helped open up windows in the hallway to clear the air. We waited downstairs for about 10-15 minutes before the fire department gave us the okay to return to our apartment. We were lucky that the weather was warm and dry, so the wait outside was not unpleasant. Felicia remained downstairs with the fire department to take photos of the burn site, as well as provided some basic information to the authority. The old grandma on the third floor looked a little dazed and was sent to the hospital nearby for observation. The Filipina maid, who was covered with smoke and ashes was probably the heroin of the incident as she had probably put out the fire before it spread. The fire was apparently started by a faulty "heating doggy pad" for the apartment's dog. The smoke alarm was triggered by the smoke detector within their apartment.

The smoke was mostly gone by the time we returned to our apartment, shortly after 3am. Give the adrenaline rush, it took all of us a while to fall asleep again. Thank goodness that no one was hurt and the damages were controlled in one apartment. One fireman commented as he was walking out that he was scared and he thought we were lucky to have the fire put out so quickly as it could've turned into a really bad fire.

Mom and Dad's 60th Anniversary

Mom and Dad will be celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary on 6 February, 2009. In order to accommodate all of our schedule, Mom and Dad decided to throw their party during the 2008 Christmas holiday -- on 23 December. We flew in from Taipei, arriving in Toronto on the 19th while Susan arrived on the 18th. David was supposed to come on the 19th but a huge snow storm which hit much of Central and Eastern Canada and the US closed several airports, shortly after we got into Toronto, forced him to take a standby flight to Toronto on the 20th. Michael arrived on the 21st, from Hong Kong and Joyce and her family arrived late on the 21st.

Including us, Mom and Dad invited 51 guests. We printed out the menus and the guest lists from the computer onto the some old red-color cards and put them on each table. The weather has been poor, until the 22nd and stayed clear until late afternoon on the 23rd, giving us ample of good weather for the luncheon. Given there were many "old" guests, the relatively good weather ensured a full turnout.

Pastor Lee kicked off with a prayer, followed by a powerpoint show prepared by Jacob. Jacob scanned some old pictures taken by Dad over the years and made the 21-slide show. The twelve-course banquet was good and took just over 3 hours to complete. The grandchildren, followed by the children toasted each tables while Mom and Dad made the rounds as well. Mom and Dad's church friends brought six individual cakes, one for each table and one to take home to celebrate the event. Mom's niece, our cousin Jane, also brought a mango mouse cake to share. All in all, it was good time for everyone.