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.