Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. 14Days and TONS O FUN!

I'm going to hike through Asia with friends on a Chinese New Year/ Birthday Celebration. It's gonna be AWESOME. We are going to hit up Phuket first then Bangkok and end in Vietnam before finding our way back to Taiwan. If anyone out there has any suggestions on where to stay or what countries to hit up please post your comments. I would love to get some input from fellow travelers.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED THUS FAR.

Hey guys,  so now the weather here in Taiwan is frigid cold and not at all what I expected. So, I am very happy that I packed that winter coat I thought I wouldn't need.  Also, because of the initial expenses that are inevitable when setting up in a new country my extra toothbrushes, toothpaste, and bath soaps have come in handy till I can both earn enough to buy more and find what I need in the stores.  Living in a non-native language country is difficult when  trying to communicate. Add to that the fact that you dont read the language either can make it down right frustrating.  Trying going to  the store and miming everything that you need.  Try explaining that you need feminin products. It is a great thing to pack extra of certain items until you can get the lay of the land in a foreign country.  I was also gratful for the few luxury food Items that I brought from home.  Taiwan is a pretty well developed country where you can get pretty much anything you want from the local grocery but, do you really want to pay 10USD for a bottle of kalamata olives? or 7USD for a bag of Lays Chips.  Those are the things that you will miss and things you will be grateful that you packed.  A bit of home.  AND SHEETS!! I packed 2 sets of sheets in my luggage and everyone thought I was nuts. Well... when I say I could smell home when I laid down my first night in my strange apt. It felt really good and I didn't have to go out and get new sheets that were hard and scratchy.  I know this makes me sound spoiled but I know myself, I may be able to deal with a lot but it's the little things that help me deal with the larger hurdles.  So, when you pack it all up, make sure you pack what you know you can't live without.  For me it was AVEDA, OLAY, Soft Sheets and Kalamata Olives.

I'm BACK!!!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!!!
OK, Everyone this is my promise to you. I will give a weekly update on all happenings GurlNomadic. sorry that I've been lost to you all for the past few months but, those who have managed to keep up with me on facebook, Thank You.

We are coming into our new year here in Taiwan and your's truly has been invited to come over to a fellow travelers house for the Chinese New Years Eve Dinner.  This sounds like a promising travelers experience where I will have the rare opportunity of being apart of a traditional CNY(Chinese New Years) Feast. The food is definitly going to be interesting. As someone who doesn't eat pork, I believe it will be a good idea to fatten up before I go as pork is a staple of the Taiwanese diet. 

Chinese New Years Traditional Foods (sorry no turkey and gravy here)

HOT POT- A kind of throw it all in and make a great soup kind of dish.
RICE CAKES
CHICKEN
VEGGITABLES
LUCKY CANDY
DUMPLINGS
FISH
There is also the giving of the RED ENVELOPE.  We give gifts but the chinese tradition is big on MONEY so, here they give LUCKY RED ENVELOPES filled with cash. up to 5000 NT almost 200.00 to each member in the family.  WOW! and it's not optional. It's pretty much a given. ( no pun intended but, LOL)

So, as I said, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! AND START LOOKING FOR THOSE REGULAR POST.

FAILED DESTINATION

by Ngozi Fuller on Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 7:23pm

Today I began my day very late and fully aware of the fact that a typhoon was headed for this little island of Taiwan. However I was determined to get out of my apartment. I made my breakfast of coffee and toast, turned on the Stuff Your Mom Never told You podcast and began planning my exploration. First stop would be the childrens museum. According to lonely planet it was sure to bring out the child in me. "I could surely use a break from being an adult.". Then the the Story House and the Taipei Astrnomical Museum. I would end this day of cultural exploration with a trip to the night market, which was on the way home. Yes this day would be full of cultural fun. However that was not the case. As planned, I took the train to shillin station asked for directions to my first destination and walked around th corner. I was amazed to see the mountain hovering over the buildings, so close it seemed as if I could touch them. I pulled out my camera and began snapping. Before I knew it I looked up and there was an antique rattan furniture store. After taking a peek around and chatting with the little old lady about the Taiwan president, why she liked Taiwan people better(they are the friendliest in Asia, and I agree), why when someone makes a huge mess of their lives, relationship, house ect. It is called "Bushing"( after the mess BUSH made during his presidency) and, how when she was a child her parents moved to the U.S. in fear of the government at the Time, I walked across the street and into the Chiang Kai-Shek Botanical Gardens. The Gardens are AMAZING. After two hours I strolled along the narrow back streets and wandered into a tiny, quaint book store called "Whose Books" and found PAULO CUELHO's eleven minutes for mere pennies. Later I sat in another tiny space perfect for a hidden coffee house, and enjoyed a bileys coffee, hummus and pesto spread. Now books spread on the table coffee cup empty, I am writting this note. And this my friends is why I love to travel. I never made it to any of my planned destinations but my day of joyful exploration was spontaneously perfect.

GHOST IN MY APARTMENT

by Ngozi Fuller on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 11:01pm

I survived my first earthquake. Here's the funny part, i'd just turned my lights out when I felt my bed rattle slightly. My first reaction??? I jumped up, turned on the light and ran onto the balcony. NO! Not to get down stairs and out of harm. I RAN OUT TO GET AWAY FROM THE GHOST. I dnt knw what the he'll but I wasn't planning to stick around and find out. The next day I told my coworkers about the strangeness in my apt and they laughed at me. I only went back inside after waking my neighbor to call the police. She laughed at me also. Imagine, I had to mime to her because she only speaks a little English.

TAIWAN UPDATE

by Ngozi Fuller on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 9:19pm

Ok, I'm not sure if I mentioned it but, imagine a what's it's like to be in a sauna. Now imagine living in one. That is what the weather here is like. Seriously, it's sticky moist heat. So, when you come to visit me bring lots of cool and airy clothes. There is a lot to get use to here, like the random smell of stinky tofu( aged tofu that has a rancid smell, deep fried and eaten). If you are however vegitarian, that may be all there is as the main dish here is MEAT! Everything has meat in it and any other way will cost a little more. That's so far, once I'm here for a while I'm sure finding veggie will be easier so, plan on spending a little more if you are veggie and you want to come for a visit.
Moving on, scooters, everyone rides scooters. There is nearly 1 scooter per person living in Taipei on the road now. It's intersting to watch them line-up at the red lights because they look like mo-ped biker gangs( photos to come). Also the helmets are very trendy and colorful. If you are going to live in Taiwan as a teacher or other, you will want a scooter. So, make sure you come with an international license ir lerners permit. That will make it easier to get a license to drive one once you've taken the scooter test ( see utube for example of Taiwan scooter test).

Taiwan also I'm finding isn't the cheaper shopping city I thought it would be. Prices are very comparable to those in the states. Mostly everything can be bought here just not necessarily cheaper. I find that while a cab is cheap jewlery isn't. I'm paying the same price for toiletries if not a little more for my fav brand. School supplies(highlighters, pens, stickies ect) are about the same so if you can get it at the dollar store and bring it with you.

Housing: apartments are very cheap and right now i am in the stage of getting my apartmen and barganing the price. Rent is cheap but, make sure what ever price you get you bargan a few 1000.00NT (New Taiwan $) down as the price has been inflated for visitors.
All and all I am finding the people here to be very nice and welcoming. I often get a lot of stares and the occassional look of awe but I also get free beer from the guy a the 7:11, (they have them everywhere here), and randomly another guy came up to me in the hotel lobby at 2am in the morning and gave me a bag full of snacks and more beer. Everything is random and that's what is so awesome. You never know what can happen next.

That's all for now. I must go and study my teachers training but I will keep you posted. I've been training since I got here.

Taiwan so far....

by Ngozi Fuller on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 11:50pm

Hello my dear friends and fam. This note is acting as a substitute to my blog because of one of the many idiocyncracies that I am experiencing.

First I would like to state that all is well and I am having a wonderful time. My roommate, Virstine, (and yes its with a V) is AWESOME! She and I are the only two black women here and that is just fine with both of us because we are having a great time meeting the other teachers from Australia, S. Africa, UK, Canada, and Austria. We may be the only black women but we are not the only foreigners. Although, the reactions that I have gotten are either very disturbing or very funny. there was a little girl in the store that screeched when she saw me and her mom had to cover her mouth and drag her away. Another woman literally looked like she would have a heart attack when she realized that I was standing near her in a store. I find these things funny and am laughing at them as I write this. There aren't many black people here and I only met two others who were Nigerian.

There are many quirky things here that make sense when you think about it. the organization is, WOW!!! there is a line for everything. to get on the train you literally line up out side the doors of the train, wait for others to get off then get on. No bum-rushing the train like we do in NY, ATL or any other place. when getting on the escalator you line up. No cutting in line. there is a line to the right to get on if you don't want to walk up and a line to the left to walk up the escalator. The food does leave something to be desired as everything has seafood or noodles. I did however find an awesome Indian restaurant and it is great. also, there is no flushing of tissue at anytime. Because of the plumbing, no matter what you do the tissue goes into the waste paper basket. Beer is quite affordable and you can find it in any of the THOUSAND seveneleven stores around. RedBull is here so Yaaaaaaaaa. The country side is beautiful and the inner city landscape is definitly worth waking at 5am to see. Everyone here owns a camera. It's like they hand them out with paper and pencils. I wanted to know where the line was for that. LITERALLY EVERYONE HAS A CAMERA. There is no reason why one should feel uncomfortable taking photos. Picture taking is welcomed and even encouraged. This Morning I went out at 8am and was greeted by a kind old lady doing her morning prayers. I Love shooting here, there is just so much to photography. I will add photos later.

More to come.