New York

When checking in at Kaohsiung airport (KHH), the staff told me that I would have to reclaim my checked luggage and go through the X-ray again in Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) which was my first transit in the USA. I wasn't sure why I had to do that even thought the tag on the luggage was labeled JFK New York, but I didn't ask. After more than 15 hours traveling, I was ready to use my priority pass to check in an airport lounge for relaxation, then I realized here was the place that I had to go through Immigration and Customs check insead of my final destination. Everything made sense to me while I was waiting in line at the immigration check points; that's why I've been told to reclaim my checked luggage in LAX but not JFK and why I would still have to go to the AIT to apply for a C1 Visa even if I was just in transit through the USA, a story that I was skeptical about when my travel agent told me. It seems all passengers are asked to go through Immigration and Customs check points at their first landing airports which means you have entered the USA at this point even though its maybe not your final destination. For those who just transit through, then can find their way checking in and going through the whole X-ray, security check process for departure to their next destination. I didn't have time to go to a lounge after the whole process; after another 6 hour flight, I finally arrived at JFK and thank god, I didn't have to go through the Immigration and Customs again.

I booked a super shuttle service that provides door to door ground transportation between airport and hotels. Given my arrival time and the service price (US$20/person), it seemed to be a great idea so I disregarded advice from one of my friends and stuck with the plan. I was happy to see a super shuttle's blue van stopped in front of the terminal while walking out of the building, the chauffeur put my luggage in the van, found me a seat and asked my hotel address. I showed him my reservation, he took a look then asked me to get out of the van and dug my luggage out of the back and told me that I should go back to the terminal and find a phone to call super shuttle for a van. I tried to call the number, 10 mins later finally someone picked up the phone and confirmed my reservation. I waited in the terminal for another 30 mins then a man showed up trying very hard to pronounce my name. I sat in the van and spent another 30 mins visiting JFK terminals 1-8 until the van was filled with other travelers. Luckly, my hotel was the first stop, I wondered how much longer those poor guys could bear to escort passengers to their hotels with the chauffeur. So if you ever take a super shuttle, don't reserve in advance, just jump on the first one you see and you'll save a lot of time. JFK transportation options: by Airtrain(USD$5) then subway (USD$2.5/entrance, USD$2.25/entrance); take the yellow cab to your hotel, it's a flat rate $45 plus tips; or you can take the New York Airport Express Service Bus to Grand Central Station (one way ticket USD$15) and then take a taxi/metro from there to your hotel.

After checking in at the Wall Street Inn, I collapsed on the bed thinking now I can relax but that was only to last about 2 hours when a kock at the door woke me. I didn't answer, then another kock. I thought they gave up and I could go back to sleep but then my locked door opened this time, and I saw a man looking in, and he saw me lying in the bed naked. The next thing I heard was sorry and the door closed. So much for a peaceful nice sleep. The next morning before I could even say anything, the reception desk clerk began to apologize to me and upgraded my room for the rest of my stay.

Without people in nice suits bustling around wall street during the weekend, downtown Manhattan is a lovely quiet area where you can find bistros set tables on Stone St when night falls. Two floor stone houses on South William St emit a medieval atmosphere that makes the area an ideal scene for modeling and movies. A few blocks away, the majestic Trump Building, skyscrapers and the high security fortified stock exchange center declare their status blatantly: a center with power to shake up the world's economy. Heading south to South St on the riverbank to Battery Park, joggers brought in energy to the city early risers, the smell of the trees in the park worked as a double espresso, I felt energetic and ready for my first experience in New York.

Given homeland security implementations and being one of the must see tourist attractions, a tour to the Statue of Liberty (operated by Statue Cruises ) usually takes a few hours just for lining up and going through security checks. So I decided to take a Staten island ferry which commutes between New York and Staten Island for free, and used my camera tele-lens for an eye-tour. A 20 mins free cruise gives you a closer look of the Statue of liberty and Ellis Island, where the "Kremlin style" looking great hall was the location where millions of immigrants waited anxiously for medical and legal processing.


New York Subway is one of the oldest (first operation in 1904) and most extensive public transportation systems in the world. Given its old age, I wasn't expecting to see a modern, clean and air-conditioning station, but I wasn't expecting to see the paint peeling off from the ceillings and walls crumbling in some stations either. The daily metro card for unlimited rides on subways and buses for $8.25 is a great deal, single ride is $2.5 $2.25, if you will take more than 4 rides of subways and buses, it's worth it, however, buying it was a challenge for me. You can buy any passes from the ticket booth except for the the daily metro card which can only be purchased from the machine and no one could tell me the reason. Some machines accept only ATM or credit cards, but somehow they wouldn't accept my credit card, so I had to find a machine that accepted cash. I put 20 in the machine and selected a daily metro card, but the machine refused my purchase because the maximum change reimbursement of the machine was $6. Then I tried to purchase two tickets at one time, one for my friend, but there was no such option that allowed passengers to purchase multiple tickets, at least I didn't find it, and the man in the booth ran out of change so I had to find a store to get change. I felt retarded for the whole process and I never wanted to spend my 10 dollar bills since.

SOHO is a plate of delicately balanced ratatouille, a thriving and robust area where you can find almost anything in different corners: from art galleries that are hidden in the alleyways to little italy and Chinese communities; from street stalls to luxurious boutiques; from exotic restaurants to commonly seen salad bars in convenient stores, fusion is the spirit of the area. On Spring St, Evolution (11:00-19:00) sells all kinds of unique natural history collectibles inculding butterflies, beetles, fossils, seashells, skulls, skeletons, medical models, and tribal art etc. items that are usually only seen in museums whereas Hollister settled on Broadway have 2 half-naked men with great profiles standing in front of the gate, as fashion model advertising. The variety of SOHO makes it one of the best tourist attractions in New York.

Summer is an outdoor season for New Yorkers, street fairs are held mostly on weekends in various streets throughout April to November, if you are interested, visit Mardi Gras Productions' website for schedules. I came accross the East Side Summer Festival on Lexington Avenue, and was pulled in to the crowd by the smell of BBQ from the first stall. Most of the vendors were selling food and drinks, some were selling bags, jewelery, knick-knacks, etc. I even found the F.D.N.Y. 40 truck set a tent there selling their 100 years of service T-shirt to raise funds. A slogan from the organizer says: "N.Y.C. streets are paved with gold", the street fair was a fun outdoor activity especially if you were the one "paving it".

Time square is always crowded because it's the center of where all broadway theatres and TKTS are located (there is also a satellite TKTS located in the South Street Seaport). TKTS sells unsold tickets on the day of performance for many broadway shows for 20-50% off the box office price ($3 service charge per ticket will be added). An electronic sign displays what shows are available for that day. TKTS only accepts cash and traveler's cheques and they don't accept reservations, so go early as the tickets may sell out quickly. If waiting in line is not your thing, you can also google search broadway show tickets and book discout tickets online via agencies such as the BroadwayBox.com, but the real bargain is the lottery tickets of each theatre. To get one, you have to show up at the theatre that you are interested in around 17:00-18:00 and wait for staff to give you a paper to write down your name and address then put it back to a box. Theatre Staff will pick the lucky winners who can spend only about $25 for the show. The number of reserved seats (usually about 20-30 seats) for lottery and when they do the lottery (around 18:00) depends on each theatre. I went for the Hair show lottery but I wasn't in luck so I checked with TKTS but they didn't have tickets for Hair that day.

I was not ready to call it a day, so I went to one of the top 10 tourist attractions--the Empire State Building and that was a nightmare. I waited in line from the 1st floor to go to the second floor of the building where the observatory ticket was sold. I followed the line and went through the security check (tripod is not allowed, because there is no room for it, you can deposit it at the security) and back to the line again until finally I made it to the audio guide rentals where it seemed to be the end of the waiting. I asked the staff where I could buy the ticket and they pointed at the crowd about 100 meters back. I still haven't figure out how I could miss the booth by following the line? The staff showed me a fast pass to buy tickets and came back. To get to the observatory I had to queue with the crowd to go through a stage for snapshots where they took a photo of you and photoshoped it into the night view from the observatory as a souvenir before reaching the elevators that took me to the 80th floor. Again, I was back in a line at the 80th floor waiting for elevators to take me 6 more floors up to the observatory. When I finally was at the 86th, I had to fight my way out to the observatory. It wasn't anything like the movie 'Sleepless in Seattle', all I saw was skulls in the background of blurry New York City lights. I stayed for 15 mins and fought my way down. Back to 80th floor, I couldn't help feeling schadenfreude as those who took a snapshot on the 2nd floor were lining up to find and pay for their photos. I spent 4 hours in that build for a 15 mins glance over New York City in lights. I took a clip with my new DSLR Nikon D90, so enjoy it, and if you really want to see New York City from high up, a recommended alternative is the Top of the Rock.



I went to central park for Alpha Blondy and the Solar System's free concert that was held at the summer stage on July 19, from 15:00-19:00. It was Sunday, I met my friends in the Time Warner building and had lunch together at the beautiful Hudson Hotel. Before the concert started, I took a chance exploring this New Yorkers' playground. I loved the fact that every park in New York regardless of their size has the smell of florae (well, I admitted that I only went to two parks in N.Y.C.) that creates an enchantment that seperates the city from nature. After a long cold sunless winter, it's not suprising to see people turn into suntan afficionados, however, a scene of hundreds of people stripped to get suntanned in the park still amazed me. A book in hand, gentle sunlight on the skin, lying down on the soft grass, you could even smell the aroma of fresh mowed lawn, it should be a leisurable and sexy summer feast, the huge crowd in the park, however, made it feel like walking to a meat rack, there was nothing sexy about it. Roller skating, Juggling, musical performances, carriage tour, cycling, Jogging and even a carousel, these are familiar sights of the central park. Energy flowed in the park affecting everyone, I saw a granny dancing with the music that was being performed by a drum group and I thought that's the spirit to live a life by. It was a long queue to the concert, so we sat on a rock under a maple tree near the summer stage listening to Alpha Blondy's Jerusalem, I felt blessed.

Before heading to JFK to pick up my rental car, I walked across the Brooklyn bridge. Whoever designed the bride was a genius. Cars drive on 2 lines blacktop on each side whereas pedestrians and bicycles on the wooden path in center of the bridge that was elevated gradually from each end. Steel wires that hold up this suspension bridge extend from two stone towers create a beautiful geometric pattern, no wonder it is one of the popular scenes in movies.

The Sound of Ocean

There are many drumming teams in Taiwan but I have never seen a performance like The Sound of Ocean before. The Sound of Ocean is the masterpiece of the U-theatre which contains 5 parts: Collapse, Flowing Water, Breaks, Listening to the Ocean Heart and The Sound of Ocean. Each part was connected with sounds of drum, gong or singing and instruments for each part were placed in position during these interludes insensibly. Stories of rain drops gather into a stream , a river flowing to the ocean were told by sounds of drums whereas waves of the ocean were presented with the engulfing sounds of gongs. Performers integrate martial art into their performance as dance/movement and stillness of meditation, making The Sound of Ocean a feast of both sound and vision.

See for yourself: A clip posted on Youtube by slave2fashiondolls


Photos taken in Tainan on Apr. 22

HCM City restaurants review

Quan An Ngon

Last year I didn't make it to Quan An Ngon restaurant (138 D Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1, Tel: 829 9449), this time I was prepared to give it a try despite the fact that I was intimidated by the beautiful ornament and the crowd waiting in line trying to get in. Althrough english menus are provided, it's still difficult to image what's in a Vietnamese pancake without a photo. You can have your waiter give you a tour around the outside corridor where individual food stalls make their specialities whereas bars serving all kinds of beverages are set in the center of this 2 level restaurant.

I was lucky that it didn't take long to get a table, the restaurant was packed before 18:00. After a tour of each station I ordered a grill squid, grill chicken, green papaya salad, dry pho with deep fried spring rolls, beer, and the highly recommend Banh Xeo (Vietnamese pancake stuffed with prawns, pork and been sprouts) , Che Suong Sa Hot Luu (jelly, water chestnut, tapioca pears and coconut milk) for only 173,000 Vietnamese Dong. The food was delicious except that the dry pho didn't have too much taste, I guess the dry pho I found in Tainan is modified to fit local taste.




Pho 2000

Pho 2000 stands out from the glowering Pho 24, a franchise that is growing rampantly worldwide, because of a visit by the former United States president Bill Clinton in the year 2000. Despite food stalls on the Ben Thanh Market street and a pho 24 only 15 meters away, pho 2000 still manages to attract customers (both foreigners and locals) for a bowl of rice noodles. Pho Bo (beef noodle soup, 23,000 Dong) is always my first choice. Like everywhere else, a raw beef noodle soup is made of medium-well pho topped with onions, cilantro, green onions and slices of raw beef. Boiled flavorful broth is then poured into the bowl turning all ingredients well-done on the way from the kitchen to your table. Pho is served with a side dish of bean sprouts, limes, spikes of basil, and sliced chili. Do not underestimate the power of the side dish, without squeezing lime juice in to pH balance the soup nor slices of chili to intensify the flavor, the noodle soup would never taste as good. Despite the name Pho 2000, there are other dishes such as spring roll, spaghetti and rice etc. on the menu. Photos of each dish are hanging on walls, a nice way to whet your appetite.

Food stalls around the Ben Thanh Market

18:00, the bustling Ben Thanh Market is closing for business but it doesn't stop people from coming to the night market on the street around the Ben Thanh Market that is suiting up for business. Unlike many street food stalls in the other areas, clean tables, lovely fragrances and spectacular live cooking shows in this night market will blow off your concern of hygiene and crack down your last fence for diet project. Some of the stalls even have uniforms and table cloths. English menus are provided in every stall despite the fact that some of them can't make the order in english for you.

Presentation is my way to choose a restaurant. Prawns in a coconut which is placed in a bowl filled with sterno at the bottom. The dish is served with fire which serves not only as fancy presentation but also as catalyst that blends the unique fragrance of coconut into prawns and brings the sweetness of the prawns to a higher level.

Xoi Phong (Swelled sticky rice, 28,000 Dong) is an interesting dish that is made by a bowl of sweet sticky rice. It's amazing to see how a bowl of cooked sticky rice can swell up and become a hollow rice ball after a few minutes' turning and pressing in hot oil. The ball is served to your table first just to open your eyes and the waiter will take it away and cut it into pieces for you. It didn't taste as crunchy as I expected but is worth ordering just to see how it's made. I filmed it for you, click on the youtube link below.



Grill 69

I went by Grill 69 (275H Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, Tel: 8367936) one day and was attracted by the bright neon light banner: Grill 69--The Essence of Meat and the clean looking interior. Those BBQ photos on the wall of the entrance provoked my craving for a nice BBQ meal. The restaurant displays raw meats in a transparent freezer at the entrance so that you can see the quality of those meats. Like many houses in Vietnam the tunnel house (so called because of the narrow frontage and long rooms) makes the restaurant look even smaller and crowded. My waiter took me to the roof top where tables were set under the stary sky. Without walls and obstacles frequent breeze eased the heat of day and created a nice ambiance. So how was the food? Well, simply put, the Grill 69 does basic barbecue meat dishes well at very reasonable prices but it could be better.

Lion Brewery & Restaurant

Right next to the 5 stars hotel Caravelle, Lion Brewery & Restaurant (11C Lam Son Square, District 1, Tel: 823-8514 or 82-5944, opening hours: 10:00-23:00 ) provides a cozy and spacious dinning environment with their various collections of 5 stars beer and dishes.

Two giant brass vats behind the bar grab your attention as soon as you enter and a big flatscreen TV dangles from a side wall. Experienced German experts brew three varieties of Pilsener draught beer using natural spices, rice germ and herbs imported from the famous Bamberg region in Germany. Variety of German theme dishes such as german sausage (40,000 Dong) and Grilled salted German pork knuckle (99,000 Dong) etc. are available to go with authentic German beer.

Restaurants on Google Map

Quan An Ngon, Pho 2000, Pho 24, Food stalls around the Ben Thanh Market, Grill 69, Lion Brewery & Restaurant

Denmark speedbandits

Excerpted from Taipeitimes, 2006/11/21

In less than 30 minutes, the legislature's Transportation Committee passed a resolution yesterday to amend Article 31 of the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law (道路交通規則管理處罰條例) to require everyone in a passenger car on freeways and expressways to buckle their seat belts. If the amendment is passed by the legislature, drivers of private vehicles could be fined if they or any of their passengers, including those in the back seat, fail to fasten their seat belts before they hit the road.

At present the law only requires the driver and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts. Violators face fines of NT$1,500 if caught without a seatbelt, although the fines rise to between NT$3,000 and NT$6,000 when driving on freeways and expressways.

The committee passed the amendment in the wake of a traffic accident on Saturday that left Shaw Hsiao-ling (邵曉鈴), the wife of Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), critically injured.

Shit happens everyday but it takes a celebrity to catch everybody's attention to long-existing issues. It doesn't have to be that way though. Controversy is a good way to arouse issues that have been neglected as the new approach implemented in Denmark in order to tackle the speeding problem.