Justice is served - jury duty is over!

Day IV of jury duty – Yea, it’s my last day!

A small medical procedure I must undergo means I’ve been excused from the fifth and final day of my jury commitment.

It’s been quite an experience.

My name was never picked as a perspective juror so I was never “challenged” in court by attorneys – the term “challenged” in legal parlance really means “we reject you” and is uttered by either the defence or prosecution lawyers when they don’t want someone to judge the accused.

I only got called to one case (a juicy one involving guns and gangs) but my name was not pulled from the drum used to pick jurors, so back to the waiting lounge I was sent with about 200 other unhappy citizens.

Observations: Jury selection has not kept up with the times – the antiquated system which has been around long before electricity, let alone computers, needs to be updated.

Yes, I agree with the principal of people doing their civic duty and that jury panels must be impartial – but at least give us free wi-fi so we can stay in touch with the outside world and  can stay connected with our jobs.

I will now be excused from jury duty for three years – maybe when my name is picked again, the system will be improved and brought into the 21^stcentury.

My 'likes" & 'dislikes' about Taiwan

The Taiwanese are a fun-loving lot!

DATELINE TAIPEI – There’s much to like about this incredible country of beautiful coastlines, dramatic black mountains, quaint villages, dynamic cities and gentle, peaceful people.

But there were a few things I didn’t like while travelling around this Asian beauty the past week.

My likes:

- Pineapple cake – yummy!

- Taipei’s subway – the cleanest on the planet!

- The Taiwanese people – the friendliest in Asia!

- Night markets – they’re so much fun!

- Temples – my favorite was Kuan-du temple, circa 1661!

- Clean streets – garbage doesn’t gather here like Hong Kong!

- Wi-Fi – it’s accessible everywhere in Taiwan!

- Soup filled dumplings – Ding Tai Fung restaurant was the best!

My dislikes:

- Stinky to-fu – yuck!

- Traffic chaos – typically Asian (thank goodness they have a great subway).

So, as you can see, my “likes” about travelling in Taiwan far outweigh my “dislikes”.

Taiwan's Kinmen a treasured island

Student soldiers put on a show for the
tourists each day by firing blanks from
the big guns that protected Taiwan
from China's mighty army a few kilometres away.

DATELINE KINMEN ISLAND - Travelling through Taiwan is like peeling an onion - every layer exposes new wonders.

Like this incredible island that once stood as the first defence against China's mighty communist army but today is being transformed into a vacation wonderland where local officials like Kinmen Magistrate Wo-Shih Li is hoping that his tiny piece of paradise will soon be overrun by tourists from China's mainland.

In anticipation of that day, Kinmen has cleaned up its beaches - that means they've rid 80 per cent of their beaches of the land minds placed on them to try and halt a Chinese advance had one ever come.

China and Taiwan have been feuding ever since Chinese came here in the 1940s to escape communist rule. Bombs rained down on Kinmen from China - only a few kilometres away - during that period but now, thanks to diplomatic efforts, the two countries are much friendlier - Taiwan is even the biggest foreign investor in China now.

Now efforts are under way to have a 6 kilometre bridge built between Kinmen and China's Xiamen, a popular resort town that I can see from where I'm standing on the Taiwanese island. Xiamen gets 30 million tourists a year and with a bridge, Magistrate Li anticipates a lot of those tourists will be drawn to his island. Already, Kinmen gets 360,000 Chinese visitors a year - they come by ferry.

Of  course, linking Taiwan to the mainland is always a sensitive issue among the Taiwanese thanks to Chinese insistence that Taiwan still belongs to it.
 

When the day finally does come and the bridge is complete, the Chinese will be thrilled to find an island lush with vegetation, a dramatic coastline and some of the loveliest people in Asia.

They'll also find a local liqueur known as Kaoliang that packs a punch sans hangover; peanut candies that are crunchy and sweet; thousands of bird species which migrate here each year; quaint villages that were built during China's earliest dynasties; and a culture that dates back 6,000 years when Kinmen was first settled.

The Chinese have been denied passage to this island for too long - it's time to bridge the gap because Kinmen is a treasure that more people should see.

Taiwan's temples are a must see

Taipei has hundreds of temples but the
one that goes to the top of my must-see
list is the 17th century Guandu Temple, the
oldest in Northern Taiwan. A golden incense pot
welcomes visitors at the entrance of this
multi-storey temple that clings to the side of a
rock mountain which affords visitors great views of the city.

The temples elaborate ceilings have you craning your neck during a visit.

I've never visited a temple that has so many floors.

The roots of a giant banyan tree tell how old this temple is.

The exterior walls of the temple are beautiful to look at.

The roof ornaments on this temple are some of the best I've ever seen,

Guandu is an active temple where the
ordinary people of Taipei come to worship.

I'm not a big temple guy but Guandu is well worth a visit.

Taipei bakery is over the moon!



DATELINE TAIPEI – On the eve of the Mid Autumn Festival, the staff at Taipei’s Kuo Yuan Ye Bakery are working overtime making moon cakes, the traditional gift of the annual three-day festival.

The workers are used to this rush – being the oldest and biggest bakery in Taiwan, Kuo Yuan Ye is the largest supplier for the little round-shaped cakes made with flour, butter and stuffed with fruit or other yummy items.



A chef shows visitors how
to form the moon cakes and
then shows the results.



Since opening in 1867, the bakery has popped billions of moon cakes into their giant ovens. This year alone Kuo Yuan Ye will make 670,000 boxes to feed its 28 stores spread throughout Taiwan – each box consists of between 10 and 12 cakes, by the way.



The family that owns the bakery is one of Taiwan’s most famous and over the company’s 145-year history, they’ve amassed quite a collection of artifacts, which they now showcase in a tiny museum above their main Taipei store.

The collection features the oldest wooden forms used to shape the cakes as well as a beautiful collection of wedding cake boxes and garments – after moon cakes the company’s biggest business centres around the wedding industry. Up until 2010, the company had sold almost 2.4 million wedding boxes.



Brides from Taiwan and Japan choose from elaborate to humble boxes which are filled with cakes and other pastries and exchanged between the bride and groom during the ceremony or to guests. The beautifully decorated boxes cost between $50 and $150 Cdn. and that includes the delicious goodies. Most brides keep mementos from the wedding in the boxes afterwards.



Visiting groups to the bakery can get a lesson in making moon cakes from one of the shop’s best chefs. Afterwards, visitors get to eat what they make while enjoying a cup of traditional oolong tea – the kind Taiwan is most famous.

Moon cakes are very much part of the Chinese culture and now so too is the Kuo Yuan Ye Bakery Museum.

For more information on the bakery, go to www-e01267@kuos.com.tw





Taiwanese really touch your heart

The subway trains and stations in Taiwan are spotless.

DATELINE TAIWAN – Maybe it was because I was holding a map, or maybe it was the puzzled look on my face, but whatever it was a lot of people wanted to help the stranger who seemed lost.

The scene I just described happened today while I was riding Taipei’s marvelous MRT –half subway, half light rail transit (LRT) system– to the northern river city of Tamsui, about an hour outside Taipei.

Unsure of where I was going, I kept looking at the transit map so I didn’t miss my stops en route to the city where Canadian missionary George Leslie Mackay established a hospital and college back in the late 1800s.

My constant referring to the map prompted several people on the train to approach and ask if I needed help. One woman, a Taiwan native who now lives in Vancouver but is here this week for the Mid Autumn Festival, insisted that she take me to the right platform so I got on the right train.

When the people on the train weren’t asking if I needed help finding my way, they were offering me their seat. That’s the kind of people Taiwanese are. They always greet you with a smile and may be even politer than Canadians. They are certainly the nicest people in Asia, which is saying something since most Asians are always kind to strangers.

It’s the people who really sell you on this country and they are the reason Taiwan touches your heart when you’re here.

(By the way, public transportation in Taiwan is really cheap - my fare to Tamsui from Taipei was less than $3 Cdn. One thiong you also notice about the subway system here is that it's very clean - and the people here are proud to tell you that Taipei's Metro is recognized as the cleanest in the world. Now that is something to be proud of.)

Taipei's famous dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung well worth the wait

An army of cooks stand in a small kitchen
preparing the soup-filled dumplings all day.

DATELINE TAIWAN – You don’t come to this amazing country and not try the national dish – Xiao Long Bao, Taiwan’s dumpling equivalent to Hong Kong’s Dim Sum.

So, while touring Taipei, it made sense to stop at the most famous dumpling restaurant in the country, the original Din Tai Fung room located a short walk away from the city’s iconic Taipei 101 – until recently the tallest building in the world.

I arrived just before noon and already the lineup stretched outside the restaurant onto the street – a normal scene I’m told.

The line moves quickly, though, and soon I’m sitting at a table on the third floor of the four-storey restaurant, which opened in what’s known as Taipei’s Section 2 in the 1970s.

The baskets of Xiao Long Bao started arriving shortly after and although I’ve enjoyed the dish before in Toronto, it never tasted this good – the wrapping that holds the soup and meat in place melted as soon as it touched my tongue and the hot broth was unlike anything I’ve ever tried before.

The pillows of goodness come in a number of varieties and an army of chefs huddle in a small kitchen off the main entrance making them all day – in excess of 10,000 a day.

The restaurant is the most famous in Taipei, written about by the likes of the New York Times, and many of the patrons are foreigners who just have to try something they’ve read about.

They’re not disappointed. I’ll have more on Din Tai Fung in upcoming issues of TraveLife so stay tuned.

Paolo's Deals: Beirut & Hong Kong

Paolo digs up great air deals every day.

Hong Kong Airfare

$550

Return from Toronto

Air Taxes: $381

Travel Period:

Aug 23 - Dec 8, 2011

Ticketing until: August 23, 2011

OR

Beirut Airfare

$754

Return from Toronto

Airline: Etihad Airways

Air Taxes: $387.64

Travel Period:

Aug 23 - Oct 22, 2011

Ticketing until: Oct. 20, 2011

Call: 1.800.667.395

Good Boy Paolo!