8 hour stopover in Taiwan

When I was booking my flight to the Philippines, the travel agent told me, "Well we have this flight for you, but it requires a 8 hour layover in Taipei." Normally, spending 8 hours in the airport would be pretty boring, but I had no intention of doing that. I told the travel agent, "That sounds perfect." You see, last summer I participated in a summer program through the group Volunteers in Asia (VIA) where I was a host for foreign students from Taiwan and Japan as part of the American Language and Culture (ALC) program. Basically, I got to know about 70 different students from Japan and Taiwan during their one month program at Stanford. I thought that this layover would be a great opportunity to see some of the students again.

So I stepped off the plane in Taipei around 3pm and proceeded to customs and then the information desk where people thankfully spoke passable english. I asked how to get to Nationa Cheng Chi University, and they guy handed me two maps. I was supposed to take a bus and and then a train to the Taipei Zoo, which was very near the university, and then I could walk or take a quick cab ride. My other option was to just take a can straight from the airport. However, it's over an hour-long drive to Taipei and the cab would cost about $50. Besides, doesn't navigating the public transit system in a place where I can't read any signs nor speak to anyone sound like a fun idea? I thought it did.

I managed to make my way there through a lot of pointing and grunting, nodding and shaking my head. The info desk guy circled a couple key places on the map he gave me so I just kept pointing at those places to the different drivers, and the MRT station had some English on it. The train system wasn't quite as complicated as the one in Tokyo where I spent the summer of 2005, so I was able to figure it out. I called my friends from a pay phone once I got on campus and they proceeded to give me the grand tour.

First stop was to pick up some authentic pearl milk tea. Quite good if I say so myself.


In front of the main library with my many tour guides.

This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. Eating lots of fresh, hot and delicious Taiwanese food. I'm not even going to attempt to explain all that I ate, but it was basically awesome.


At this point the only other guy Alex had to take off and it left me in a rather interesting position as the only guy at a table of girls. This defintely doesn't happen at Microsoft.


Sadly, the night came to an end all too soon. They walked me to the bus station and Nicki, Yvonne and Tina were gracious enough to accompany me all the way to the airport. This was supposed to be a "tough Jedi" pose. But Nicki isn't looking so tough. It's okay though.

Overall, it was fun end to a trip that was altogether too short. I am going back to Japan and Taiwan at the end of June though (all the hosts are visiting together as part of the program from last year). For anyone from ALC2, I miss you guys!

Trip to the Philippines for my cousin's wedding

I just arrived from Taipei, Taiwan last night, where I had an 8 hour layover on my way back from the Philippines to be a groomsman in my cousin Eloha's wedding. I left on a Tuesday night and came back on a Tuesday night. I was gone for a week, but really only spent 5 days in the Philippines and the rest of the time I was just flying. Leaving at a 1:30am flight leaves the airport completely empty and I was totally bored and decided to pass the time with one of my favorite hobbies: photography.

Seatac airport is a ghost town at 1am on a Wednesday.

Apparently, that way is, in fact, down.

I arrived on a Thursday afternoon after a 13 hour flight to Taipei, a 2 hour layover and then a 2 hour flight to the Philippines. We soon went to the local mall where we shopped and had dinner at Pizza Hut.

Sporting my new Pizza Hut cap, my cousins Nico and Alexis wait with me for our food.


The next day I spend with my cousins Alexis, Ann, Junel and Joan. We ate at a traditional Filipino restuarant that had some awesome sauce with their fried chicken.

Next we stopped at the local SWAT team office where my cousin Jan works.

Inside the office. I'm about to get suited up and armed. (Just kidding)

The next morning Alexis and I took our Lola (that means Grandma in Tagalog, the main Filipino language) out to McDonalds because she likes the fries there.

I ordered the "McRice Burger" which comes with a bun made out of fried rice. It was pretty good I guess. The bun fell apart a little but so I had to be a little careful eating it.

That night we stayed at a local hotel in preparation for the wedding the next day. We were able to relax and kinda chill out before the next day of mayhem began. On Sunday we woke up early for breakfast and toured around the hotel's recreation area. I took some shots of my cousin's cousin (my 2nd cousin?) Jun.

This is one of my favorites. Isn't she cute?

Then the wedding preparations began in full force. An endless stream of people flooded into our hotel rooms: Flowers, makeup artists, wedding coordinators, photogrpahers. It was insane.

Here's a shot I took of some of the bride's wedding accessories.



I also had the "honor" of wearing some makeup, lucky me. By the way, I'm wearing a barong, traditional Flipino formalwear for men. It works better than a tux in a place as hot as the Philippines.

My Kuya (respectful term for older brothers/relatives) Lito poses by the staircase, a patient groom. He's waited over 5 years since they started dating to get married. He can stand to wait a few more hours.

At last, my cousin Eloha comes down the steps.

I caught another cute shot of Jun - don't you like her dress?

My cousin Engel, the Maid of Honor and bride's younger sister, and I.

Eloha and I. She scared me when we took this picture by saying, "One day you'll be the groom in your own wedding." Haha, as if that day would ever come..

The groom in the middle, surrounded by his best man and groomsmen.

The scene of the wedding - an elegant outdoor garden. The ceremony will take place at the front under the little gazebo.

There were tables set up all around the flower-filled garden - complete with a swimming pool.

The ceremony's begun and here I am escorting my partner Joy (sister of the groom) down the aisle.

*Cue Here Comes the Bride music* Don't the bubbles and mist have a nice effect?

Our part in the wedding was to attach a symbolic veil to the both of them, representing that they'll be together through the good times and the bad together.


The newlywed couple poses after the ceremony.

During the reception, they call on me to make the "Grand Toast" for the couple. I don't really remember what I said - I hope I didn't stutter too much.

The wedding was a lot of fun and it was all done so well with such a beautiful ceremony and all, complete with fireworks at the end. More wedding pictures can be found here.

The next day, I went with Eloha's family to a private island in Subic Bay where we spent the day before leaving the couple alone there to stay the night

The view from the boat as we leave the mainland for the island - a quick 30 minute trip.

As you can see, we had some fun playing in the water, riding inflatable boats while a motorboat pulled us along.

Here's a picture of Eloha and me by the water. I like the pictures my new Nikon D50 dSLR takes :).


As we left the island, I took this shot of the sun going down approaching dusk.

I had a really good time in the Philippines. Though I was just there in December, this was different since it wasn't the holidays and I got more of an "everyday" sense of the way things work (outside of the wedding preparations and celebrations). I really miss my cousins and I hope I get to go back soon. That's it for my first post about the Philippines. I'm going to cut it here and talk about Taiwan in the next one. Thanks for reading :).