Posts from the ‘Trips’ Category

The Kinmen Visa Run

Oh, the plight of the China expat on a tourist visa – forced to endure the cruel manipulations of the China Entry Exit Bureau, enduring the agony of a requisite trip out of the country every 60 days.  Mandatory international travel on a regular basis? Your life is SO hard.

Even though I’ve got a resident permit, I know some stalwarts who diligently make the visa run regularly, and sometimes I’m lucky enough to go along for the ride. On a recent trip to Xiamen, we took the ferry to Kinmen Island (part of Taiwan), stamped our passports, hung out for a few hours, and turned right back around and went back to China. The goal was the stamp, but Kinmen was such a lovely surprise that I’m determined to go back.

We didn’t have a plan other then getting that stamp, so when we arrived in Kinmen after a quick 1.5 hour ferry ride, we got on the first bus to arrive at the ferry terminal, somewhat uncertainly, to see what the little island had to offer. The bus took us to the main square of the town of Jinhu in about 15 minutes, and serendipitously we decided to get off. The bus dropped us off right in front of Jinhu’s visitor center, marked by a huge sign with a bicycle on it. After some grunting and pointing and some all around humiliating efforts at speaking Chinese, we learned that the vistor center lends out bikes for free as long as you leave your passport. (Don’t ask how we figured that out. I’m still not quite sure.)

I have to use this word again to describe Kinmen by bicycle: lovely. Quiet fields, serene ponds, sweeping views, quaint farms, ambling paths, freaking cows grazing in freaking green pastures. After coming from the tourist frenzy that is Xiamen, Kinmen was such a quiet, unexpected surprise. There were bicycle routes mapped out all over the island, and little side dirt roads that cut through overgrown woods. We explored the southeastern side of the island for a few hours, getting lost and taking detours and coming across little towns.

When it came time to head back, we were reluctant to leave. We quickly grabbed some of Taiwan’s signature bubble milk tea before boarding the ferry back. After another 1.5 hour boat ride, we were herded through Customs, had our passports unceremoniously stamped, and were back to our real lives, back in China.

15 Hours in Seoul – the Noryangjin Fish Market

What to do with 15 hour layover in Seoul starting at 1 AM? Basically sleep and eat, which is exactly what I did. And oh man did I eat. We spent the day wandering around Seoul and eating at almost every street food stall I saw. Out of all the kimchi and bi bim bap and japchae we ate, the highlight was food we ate at the Noryangjin fish market, a smorgasbord of amazingly fresh and, at times, mysterious seafood.

The directions to the Noryangjin fish market instructed us to get off at Noryangjin subway station and “follow the smell.” True to our directions, we stepped off the subway and were slammed with the salty, fishy smell of fresh seafood. The directions could have also easily instructed us to follow the men wearing galoshes and carrying buckets, or to follow the vendors of special seafood cutlery and we would have been just as well off.

The sights, sounds and smells were absolutely overwhelming and at first we could do nothing but walk around and stare. We knew we wanted to choose out some live seafood and have it cooked, but we needed to orient ourselves amongst the tanks upon tanks of live fish, the vendors yelling across the market in Korean and the crowds of eager buyers examining the seafood.

Finally, we befriended a tenacious Korean woman who insisted that she could cook our seafood the way we wanted. She guided us through the maze and helped us pick out a live fish, an octopus and some strange shellfish. Once our purchases were bagged (though still flopping around), we went upstairs to her little restaurant. There we enjoyed sashimi, fried octopus, something that was called a sea pineapple (?), fish stew, and other deliciousness. The self-congratulatory feeling of having successfully picked out the live seafood ourselves made the meal that much more enjoyable.

With only 15 hours in Seoul, there was no way I was going to experience everything I wanted to. I decided to save that for my next trip. Instead, I was content to eat my way through the city, with a final stop at the Noryangjin fish market, before rushing back to the airport to make my connecting flight. Till next time, Seoul!

Rows upon rows of seafood

The little octopus friend we purchased... and then ate

Unidentifiable shellfish

Our delicious, fresh seafood meal

Gong Xi Fa Cai in Malaysia

Confession: I still have yet to spend Chinese new year in China. Chinese new year is also called Spring Festival in China, and it’s a time for everyone to take time off of work and enjoy the lunar new year and the coming of spring. Time off means time for travel!

This year I went to Malaysia for Spring Festival and was thrilled to find Chinese new year in full swing being celebrated by a wide range of Malaysians. Malaysia is a fascinating mix of cultures including Malays, Chinese, Indians and many other immigrant groups. Almost every city we visited had a Little India and a Chinatown. This blend of cultures was represented almost everywhere: women in full burkha next to women in miniskirts, Indian food with Malay influences, mosques down the street from buddhist temples. To me, the beautiful mix of influences and cultures was the highlight of Malaysia, more so than its Petronas towers or its white, sandy beaches.

Ethnically Chinese people have been in Malaysia for over 500 years. We learned that they’re known as the Babas and Nynonas in Malaysia, the words that Malays originally used to refer to Chinese men and women. The Babas and Nynoas have a distinct culture, from the way they dress to the foods they eat. It’s a mix of their original Chinese influences and other influences they’ve acquired in the Malay peninsula.

For this reason, Chinese new year in Malaysia was fascinating.  Some of the celebratory customs were very distinctly Chinese like the traditional dragon Chinese dragon dance, lighting firecrackers, and wearing red. Others were not. Wandering around the streets on the eve of the Chinese new year, we saw a wide range of people, not just Chinese, out to celebrate. We ate foods we would be hard pressed to find in China, like shaved ice with pandan fruit and buttery pineapple tarts.

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I’ve lived in China for almost two years without experiencing a Chinese new year in China. But I consider my Malaysian Chinese new year to be something special and unique, an experience I’ll never forget!

Gong xi fa cai! Happy year of the dragon!

A dragon hung in Melakka, Malaysia in preparation for the lunar new year

Even the shopping malls in fast paced Kuala Lumpur were decked out

A traditional Chinese dragon dance

Red lanterns at a Chinese buddhist temple in Georgetown, Malaysia