Friday, April 14, 2017

UADarthMaul Country Comparison and our change of plans for the summer

So far, I have only been to three foreign countries.  Italy, Portugal, and then Spain.  I figured that I would make some observations and comparisons of my experiences in these countries.

Food:  

Italy had tons of vegetable options and great pasta and pizza.  Their gelato was the best of the three, which isn't surprising, with the best of them being in Florence.  Italy also had some interesting local specialties, such as ribollita soup, in Florence.  It was originally a peasant leftover vegetable/bean and stale bread soup.  It was amazing.  Cinque Terre was known for its trofie pasta with pesto.  This was pesto's birthplace.    

Portugal was the weakest of the three, for my tastes.  The options were mostly pork or seafood.  I don't eat seafood and while I eat pork, it is not my first choice.  Finding vegetable or bean dishes proved problematic as well.  We tried their dessert, pastel de nata, which was ok, but I am not a fan of creamy fillings in general.  

Spain had good food.  I fell in love with the paella.  Both the chicken and vegetable versions were great.  They had some interesting and huge donutlike desserts.  I wasn't too interested in trying flan or arroz con leche, which Spain is known for, as neither appealed to me.  Instead, I tried their piononos a few times.  A little too mushy, but interesting enough.  The couscous and falafel were good, but I don't know how native it is to the area.

Bones:  Both in Portugal and Spain, meat is served with the bones, even inside baked dishes.  In Seville, I even boat a chicken and tomato sub, and while biting into the middle, I bit into a bone.  I do not know if this was intentional for the sandwich, which seems a bit dangerous to me.  Nonetheless, I stripped the meat into the dishes and extracted the bones each time, which was tiring.  I just don't like bones!

Traveling organized:  I used for the first time this trip, a hanging bathroom organizer, which made moving from spot to spot much, much easier than any time previously!

Hotels:  I loved the beds in hotels in Europe, across the board.  They are much firmer and supportive than their American counterparts.  If you could get a good deal, staying on campus in a castle or equivalent is great.  It is not worth a price premium, however.  I am keen to try more bed and breakfasts, as they seem quite affordable and can be right in the heart of town, where some hotels can't be built.  In two hotels, one in Spain and one in Portugal, there was a bathtub in the middle of the room.  This isn't so great for families.  

Waiters:  Waiters in Italy were a bit slow, but generally courteous and friendly.  The waiters in Portugal and Spain seemed disinterested, even slower than Italy, and generally unpleasant.  While considering solutions, I devised a device that would shock the waiter upon use, to encourage better service.  

Bikes:  In Seville, there were extensive bike lanes throughout the city.  Metal circles in the ground marked their paths and they often gave more room to bikes than people on sidewalks.  If you stood in the way, the bikers would use their bell to alert you.  Quite frequently you would find a bike rental rack.  If you paid a weekly fee, the first 30 minutes of rent are free, following by fifty cents or so each additional 30 minutes.  I loved this!  I wish this system was everywhere.  I'd so much prefer to bike everywhere than use a car.  It also just made me feel like I was in a vibrant and health conscious society, with environmental friendliness on the side.

Fast train-  The high speed train to Madrid was incredible.  Very high backed, comfortable seats.  Speeds at 300 kilometers per hour, nice and large sized bathrooms, and a nice dining cart.  For five euros, you could get a drink, a sandwich, and chips.  The sandwich was hot and very good.  The price for the train tickets were also incredibly reasonable.  Meanwhile, we are giving Amtrak an even smaller budget...

Coins-  One and two euros are distributed in the form of coins.  This quick and easy method is much better than having single dollars for everything.  It really is a breeze to use coins.  It helped, of course, that many things seemed to be rounded to the nearest dollar.  Some things weren't though.  Cash is just clumsy.

The summer:  Originally, I had planned to go to Germany.  Round trip to Frankfurt, going south to the Black Forest, then southeast to see castles, coming north from there to see small villages, and then north and west back to Frankfurt.  We still plan to do that in the future.  After France, I'll have been to five European countries altogether.  I've become interested in seeing things that are a little different.  That has lead me to southeast Asia.

Why is southeast Asia appealing?  They have temples rather than churches, so not too much different there, but it is indeed a different style and different religion than the West.  It would potentially allow me peaks into a different culture with a different way of life.  It just seems to be a bit different, and that is what I want to see.  I am curious as to whether it will be as different or exciting as I expect.

After going over the options that interest me(Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Burma), I decided to go to Vietnam first.  It has quite a bit of natural beauty and historical sites, and it has the simplest and most efficient route, flying in the central east town of Danang, and then flying out of Hanoi.  

Of concern is the sanitation/bathrooms as well as the potential for food poisoning or having my stomach disagree with things.  Non modern bathrooms are problematic for someone with stomach problems.  I have read to avoid fruits that aren't pealed, to avoid salads, and ask cooks to sear the food extra.  You are also supposed to keep your mouth closed when showering, which I generally already do.  Do other people shower with their mouths open?  

Stephanie cannot take more time off of work, so she will be flying back home from Vietnam.  Since there is only 6 days between the end of our Vietnam trip and my Japan trip, it just didn't make sense to fly home on a 24 hour set of flights, adjust to a 12 hour time difference, and then 6 days later, fly out again on a 17 hour set of flights and then adjust to the 12 hour difference again.  So, I decided to go to Taiwan in between.  It is located just in between Vietnam and Japan.  It is just a few hours of a direct flight to Taiwan, and then on to Japan.

Taiwan is a place that I have been looking at lately.  In addition to some really interesting sites to see, it is the home of a childhood friend of mine, who has been living there for the past seven years.  My friend Andrew grew up in Taiwan, and later Beijing.  Every summer he would come to New Jersey to visit family, and we would end up in camp together.  Back then there was no email, and his phone number each time he came to New Jersey was different, so I always felt lucky that we ended up in the same camp.  Even after I switched to an all tennis camp, he ended up switching to the same camp at the same time!  We lost contact towards college, but reconnected briefly via facebook later on.  Last I had heard, he had gone to Brown University in the States and then became a wandering musician in Taiwan.  

Since I have now decided to go to Taiwan, I reactivated my dormant Facebook account and attempted to reconnect with him.  He is living in Taipei, which is where Taiwan's major airport is located.  We are planning to meet up and he has graciously invited me to stay with him.

My Taiwan trip will be planned a little differently than my other trips.  This one is intended primarily to relax, rather than shuffle from place to place.  I will be in only two places during the whole trip.  I will visit some local small towns and do some hikes nearby.  The two places are connect by a thirty minute train ride.  I am very excited.

Our trip in late May is quickly approaching.  I have been preparing for it with Miles by playing the board game Carcassonne the Castle, which will be one of the places we will be visiting.