Taiwan tagged posts

The Little Mail Carriers in Taiwan, Netherlands and Spain!

posted by meiadeleite

4 Mar, 2011

Remember our little mail carriers? The last time we checked on them, little Paulo and Ana were in Taiwan… but no more! Come discover what they’ve been up to recently, in this lively report by their latest host, icitaiwan!

Hello from Valencia in Spain. It has been quite a while since you’ve heard something from us, but we’ve been very busy with traveling all over the world.

Our journey started in November when our sweet host shui sent us to the northern part of Taiwan where our new host, icitaiwan, was living. Yes, you’re reading it well…she’s not living there anymore. We arrived at a place, full of boxes and to be honest, it was messy, too ;). We explored Nankan where we were staying and took the bus to Taipei for a short trip. Our first stop was the Taipei 101. The “101” was the tallest skyscraper in the world until 2010 and we can tell you that it’s tall, 509 meters!

We ate a local snack and on the way back we really had a laugh when we read this sign in the bus on our way back home: “Please fasten your seatbelt. For landing please ring the bell. Please do not leave the seat when the vehicle is not all arranged yet”.

We also wanted to visit the Taipei International Flower Exposition, but unfortunately we didn’t get a chance, because the weather was so bad on the day that we intended to go and my host had to leave Taiwan soon. Instead of visiting the Expo we went to the Taipei Zoo where we saw pandas and many other animals.

At the end of December we were put in a little box and when our host opened it again we felt so cold. We had taken an airplane to the Netherlands where our host was staying for the holidays. Everything was covered with snow and we really regretted it not to have brought our scarves with us. We had a great time during the holidays, ate lots of food and gained some weight.

In the beginning of January we were put in the same little box again (oh no….!) and we saw daylight again in Valencia, Spain. We have traveled all the way to Spain, because our host decided to leave Taiwan for Europe for good.

We have had a great time in Valencia. The weather was sunny, warm and we saw beautiful blue skies. We enjoyed our free-time by wandering through the streets downtown. We started our trip on “Plaza de la Reina” where you can see the “Catedral de Valencia”. After that we walked to the “Mercado Central”. It’s a colorful market in a very old building. This sight-seeing trip made us hungry, so we ended up on one of the many terraces to have something to eat. What else could we buy than paella valenciana? This is Spanish rice with chicken and rabbit. The wine tasted pretty good, too…cheers!

After our siesta we decided to go to “La Lonja de la Seda”. It’s a late Valencian Gothic style civil building, built between 1482 and 1548, and one of the principal tourist attractions in the city. The UNESCO considered it as a World Heritage Site in 1996. “La Lonja” was used as silk exchange.

Another day we planned a trip to the "Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencas”. This is a cultural and architectural complex and it’s the most important modern tourist destination in Valencia.

The City of the Arts and the Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias) is situated at the end of the old riverbed Turia. Turia became a garden in 1980, after the bypass of the river by the great flood of Valencia in 1957. The complex was designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela and the whole project was completed in 1998. It’s made up of 7 buildings. It is an amazing place to visit and it’s so beautiful on sunny days when the sun reflects onto the water and the buildings.

Time flies when you’re having fun and our last trip was to Malverossa Beach in Valencia. It’s a nice place to go to on the weekends. People are strolling along the beach, playing soccer and beach volleyball, or they are having a drink on one of the many terraces along the beach. We played on the beach and even tried to go for a swim, but the water was still too cold.

OK….this was an update from the two of us. Check out this site again soon for more adventures. We are on our way to a very special place now…..adios……..!

tags: little-mail-carriers, netherlands, spain, taiwan

16 comments

The Little Mail Carriers in Tainan, Taiwan!

posted by meiadeleite

20 Nov, 2010

Our little mail carriers Paulo and Ana arrived in Taiwan after a little hiatus, and wow! They were delighted to discover the lovely city of Tainan by the hands of Shui, who filled their days with color and new experiences! Check out their beautifully documented journey below! :)

Hello from Taiwan!!! After a long break, we arrived at Tainan and prepare ourselves for the next adventure in this old town. It’s lucky that the weather becomes cool here recently and we don’t have to worry about our missing summer uniforms.

In the first few days, we took a walk around and found a small lane with beautiful old houses. The atmosphere there is so peaceful, and it’s hard to believe that there is a busy street just a few steps away. There are also some cute shops hosted by people who take these houses as a treasure from their grandparents’ time. On the other day, we joined the Holland Bike Day held around this time every year. People followed the footprints of the Dutch people here in the 17th century. Though most of the historical remains were destroyed, it is still fun to meet a city in this way.

We also got a chance to visit the fishing port in An-Ping, the origin of Tainan City. It is now a famous tourist spot for people to enjoy the afternoon seeing the sunset over the Taiwan Strait. On the train, we were on our way to Dungshan which is about 50 km far from the downtown.

Dungshan is famous for its coffee in recent years, and becomes a popular place to visit during the weekend. Most people drive there just to have a cup a coffee, feel the breeze and enjoy the view from the hill. Not only the coffee impressed us, but also the kind people there we met. An old lady even gave us a free ride to the bus station so that we didn’t have to walk downhill for over one hour. She also shared her interesting experience as an ice cream carrier!

One morning, the host’s mother brought us a bag of roselles. She happily showed us the fruitful result from her little garden on the top of the apartment. We helped removing the seed capsules from the fruits and waited excitedly beside the stove as they were boiled into delicious beverage. The host’s mother told us that this is the luxury that she enjoys in this concrete jungle everyday. How great it is to have a short break and taste the gifts from the nature.

Talking about the foods, we also have some fresh experiences here. Ba-wan is a common snack food in Taiwan, and is probably a nice choice when you feel hungry during the meals. See that stand with a lot of people sitting in front of ? As there are a lot of milkfish breeders and farms nearby, many people take milkfish porridge, mutton or beef soup as their breakfast and it already becomes kind of tradition here in Tainan.

Later on, we visited a spring roll stand to offer ourselves some vegetables, as you may notice that we didn’t eat any earlier! They made the spring roll right away as we ordered one. Therefore, we were able to see what they put in and how they make it into a beautiful roll. Another common way to fill your stomach in Taiwan is getting yourself a delicious Bento. Bento shops are easily found in the streets here, as most workers and students only have 1–2 hours break at noon and this is definitely a cheap and fast choice!

We also spent some time looking around in the city at night. The street art behind us is one of the most famous places in Tainan. The topic is about the memories of the wall. The artist uses the white lines to depict the rooms which might be in the past. As some of the old houses were pulled down during the extension of the road, the lateral of the houses inside were exposed on the street, and this gives artists a good reason to show their talents!

Night market is another good place to see and taste all kinds of local snack foods. In Tainan, the market place is empty in the daytime, but becomes crowded at night. Everybody there has their own secret maps in minds. Comparing with them, we totally didn’t know which stand to start! On our way back, we saw a crowd of people watching some kind of show in front of a temple. An audience there told us that this is the Taiwanese opera. When a temple has a festival, they usually invite one or more different groups to celebrate the event.

Some temples will also organize a parade in the street. Today we were so lucky to meet one here! See the wooden sedan chair? That’s where the main god sit. Every sedan chair was made by a skilled master. And maybe you are curious about those two big guys…we don’t really know which role they played, but that seems to be a tough work to wear a suit like that! They also told us that they have to walk in a special way to make sure that the long arms will swing naturally. That’s one of the most impressing events we saw for sure!

As mail carriers, one of the most important tasks we have is to visit all kinds of mailboxes in the world. Here you can see the mailboxes and the post office in Taiwan. Be careful! Not all of the post offices look green here. When we were pretending as local mail carriers, we also met a postwoman who is about to start her works today after the traffic light turns into green. She kindly shared some tips, and took a photo with us!

The last thing to do before we leave is to send a postcard home. Although we’re a little bit shy, we decided to make a postcard with a photo of ourselves on it this time. When we put the postcard into the mailbox, we were thinking about what it will feel like when reading the journey from us in the past. A postcard seems to be the best tool to connect the gap of space and time, while the ink stains on the seal recorded the tracks of every voyager passing by.