The Red Gates (Fushimi Inari Shrine), Traditional Japanses dance, and Mipigs

The Red Gates

    On our last day in Kyoto on April 4th, we took the train to visit Fushimi Inari, better known as the Red Gates. The Red Gates are a popular tourist attraction and although we tried to leave early there were still a lot of people: large crowds on the train, on the sidewalks, and especially in and around the temple grounds. On the train, Charlotte was the only one able to snag a seat. When we arrived at the temple we were greeted by Kitsune showcased on either side of the door. Kitsune are magical japanese foxes. They bring fertility and prosperity to the temple and the people. The items in their mouths symbolize different beliefs. We saw kitsune holding a ball, some wheat, and a key, in their mouths. Each auspicious item has a different meaning. Interestingly, some even had a closed mouth.

    We walked through a couple huge gates and then passed through a series of smaller closer together gates. Lastly, we walked through a long tunnel of the famous red gates. These gates are around 12 feet tall and across. The gates were really cool, but we were packed tighter than sardines in the crowd. We didn't take many pictures for that main reason. 

               

                                                                                                                      

                                       

    After the red gates, we planned to head to nishiki food market, but rode the train one stop too far and ended up walking straight to the Miyoko Odori show we had planned to visit  after the market. Tickets to the Miyoko Odori (a traditional Japanese dance and music show) are available only in the spring during the annual Sakura (cherry blossom) Festival. The show was segmented into four acts, one for each of the four seasons. Interlaced within each season were mini dance scenes with Japanese folktales. We rented an audio guide which was timed to the dances and told us all about the history of this particular traditional dance in Japan and explained each of the folktales. Each performer was dressed in a colorful costume with white makeup on his/her face. The clothing was colorful with intricate details each costume was absolutely beautiful. The stage was flanked by two groups of musicians, all female, playing traditional Japanese instruments. No pictures were allowed inside the theater, but the show as very entertaining and we highly recommend reserving tickets (well in advance!) for Miyoko Odori if you visit Kyoto during Sakura season.

          

                                         (This image is from the internet)

    After the dance show, we headed to a micro pig cafe. We had planned to reserve tickets at a cat cafe, but as soon as we discovered the "mi-pig" cafe option we were intrigued and reserved a timeslot. The cafe was well marked, tucked between two other shops in a long covered shopping center. Upon arrival we were immediately given a locker to store our personal belongings and shoes. (Note: you should come wearing socks). The cafe footprint was tiny, but consisted of three floors. We were assigned to the second floor. On each floor there was a small enclosed area were the pigs ran freely behind a waist high enclosure. There were four tables in each area, small enough for you to sit and put your drinks on. When we arrived on the second floor, there was only one other family and they were getting ready to leave. We sat down and put blankets over our laps. The pigs immediately approached us and got onto our laps. They were very clean and a little loud (grunting and making cute squeaky noises), but they were very sweet. Their fur was not very soft, it was actually quite bristly. The pigs were all litter box trained, so you didn't have to worry about messes.

         

    I was surprised to discover that the pigs all loved cuddles and came right up to you as soon as you sat down. At one time, Mom had 6 pigs on her lap! The cafe staff were very helpful; if a pig was not on a lap, they would guide it over to someone. Drinks were also complimentary. Our reservation lasted 25 minutes. After our time was up, we asked the cafe if we could expand our time to 55 minutes. They were full for the evening, to we decided to go find dinner.

                             

                             

    The micro pigs were super fun and cute and we definitely would recommend going to visit them. 

                                                                                                                        

                                                                            

                               
    

The Forbidden City (Natalie)

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is a complex of ancient buildings and temples where 24 emperors and their families (of the Qing and Ming Dynasties) lived and worked. It was built by Emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty from 1406 to 1420. Over 230,000 artisans and millions of laborers worked tirelessly to construct it. The architecture was designed by celebrated architect, Khai Xiang. It functioned as the imperial palace until the Qing dynasty was overthrown 500 years later in 1911. It was made into the Palace Museum in 1925, and attracts 80,000 tourists daily.

The Forbidden City is located in the city center of Beijing. Coincidentally, Emperor Yongle also changed the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421, so he could rule from the Forbidden City. To get to the palace from our hotel, our family traveled by subway. The nearest you could get to the Forbidden City was still a 10-minute walk, through a maze of Chinese hutongs, traditional Chinese houses.

When we got to the palace, the first thing we noticed was the deep moat. It surrounded three of the four sides of the palace. The walls were steep and high, and we all agreed that if you fell in, there was little to no way to get out. When you enter the city, you go through one of the five Meridian Gates. Tourists can walk through any of the five gates with ease, but back in the 1400s, that was not the case. The emperor was the only one who had unlimited access to the center door. The empress was granted the privilege of using the door once, on her wedding day. The top three scholars in China also were allowed to march through this door after their interviews with the emperor. The small corner doors were used only for grand ceremonies. The medium-in-between door to the east was used by government officials, while the west-in-between door was used by the royal family. The city is set up in a rectangular format.

The interior of the palace was mostly red, with intricate designs including dragons, phoenixes, and in general lots of swirly patterns and shapes. Some of the buildings were under restoration, so they were closed off to the public. Most of the big red buildings that housed any cultural objects had gates, so nobody could go inside. You had to fight the crowd to take a look or picture of the interior. 

 

Our family would definitely recommend the Forbidden City on our list of must do attractions in Beijing. We would also recommend the audio guide, a hand-held electric map with a connecting ear piece that activates when you reach a new part of the city. It definitely taught us some interesting facts, even though it was a little glitchy at times. My favorite fact about the Forbidden City was that there are over 8,000 rooms.

Mango Shaved Ice (Charlotte)

Down the street from our Taipei apartment, about a ten minute walk, there is a fun shopping street called Yong Kang. Tucked between the tree lined avenue and some clothing stores is a shop that sells large mango shaved ice desserts. The first time I saw a mango ice, it looked very big. Like a mountain. It was orange and had big chunks of mango and fluffy white snow ice. 

Heaped on top of the shaved ice, there were bobas, sweet red beans and taro mochi, with a drizzle of condensed milk on top. It tasted very sweet and fruity. The whole platter costs $6 USD. I loved it. Mango shaved ice is my favorite dessert. I hope we can find it when we come home to Mercer Island this summer. 

Disneyland HK (Ansel)

On Monday we went to Disneyland HongKong. We took the redline subway, then hopped onto the pink line that took us directly to Disneyland. When we stepped onto the pink line, we quickly decided it was our favorite subway train ever. It had windows and handrails shaped like Mickey Mouse. It also had little display cases with sculptures of Disney characters. It was raining but that ended up being a good thing because there were no lines for any of the rides the first two hours we were in the park.

 

When we arrived, we first had to settle a ticket problem (we accidentally purchased two day HongKong resident tickets!) but then we headed straight to the rides. First, we went to Tomorrowland and went on the three biggest rides. The first ride was the Stark Experience. We entered a pod and drove to Stark Tower while robots invaded the city. Our pod worked with Iron Man to stop the destructive robots. The second ride was Ant Man and Wasp. In this ride, you shoot at targets to get points. It’s very similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland CA. The third ride, however, was the scariest: Hyperspace Mountain. This ride was a roller coaster that operated in the dark. It had crazy turns and bumps. Because we were in the dark, we could never tell what was coming up. 

 

After all that, we decided to take it easy and ride Small World. Small World is a very chill boat ride that takes you through multiple countries and regions with dancing and singing dolls. After this, we went on one of our favorite rides: Runaway Mine Cars. This ride consisted of coming up a mountain and dropping down super fast. The second time you come up the mountain, the coaster seems to suddenly fail and then you hurdle backwards. Next, some bears inside the tunnel set off explosives, which blast the cars forward again. The acceleration is enough to almost make you cry, which is what made it so fun.

 

 

After that, we walked to Frozen Land and got an ice cream sundae, a muffin and an apple. Then, we went to a Frozen show called “Summer Snow Day.” It had Elsa and Anna. In my opinion, it was really bad. Anna made us pick a spirit and then Elsa made it snow inside the theater. The little kids loved it, but not me. After the show, we were hungry and grabbed lunch at the Banquet Hall. It was spendy and crowded but the food was good.

Next, we walked to Adventure Land and Toy Story Land. First, we rode the Toy Soldier Parachute Drop ride as a family. I really liked this ride because when you go up, you get an incredible view of the entire park. It’s really beautiful. After parachuting, Nat, Dad and I rode the RC Racer (which had a height requirement), while Mom took Charlotte to Mystic Manor. RC Racer was my favorite ride because it takes you almost all the way upside down. I love that feeling. 

Overall, I would recommend HongKong Disneyland to any family visiting HongKong because it’s easy to get to, has amazing rides and a really nice clean atmosphere.

Kenting, Taiwan (Natalie)

Our Last Week in Taiwan: Exploring the Beach Town of Kenting

    On Saturday, the family (excluding Dad who had to travel back to Seattle for work) embarked on a train journey to the southernmost tip of Taiwan, Kenting. Renowned for its year round hot weather and sandy beaches, Kenting provided an ideal destination for our short final week in Taiwan. We purchased train tickets on the high-speed bullet train (HSR) and did most of our school work on the short two hour ride. Next, we took a two-hour bus ride on the Kenting Express to reach the coast. The sun was already blistering by mid morning. Luckily, the hotel had arranged for a van to collect us from the bus stop, sparing us the need to walk the half hour uphill to the hotel.

    We stayed at the Fullon Resort. When we arrived, it was still before 3pm and our room wasn’t quite ready, so the front desk recommended we stash our bags and head straight to the pool. Since we each had only a backpack for luggage, we simply walked right down to the pool. We spent the next two hours swimming in the hotel’s pool, which consisted of a main pool, and a children’s pool that had an amazing twisty water slide, waterfall and in-pool playground with sprayers. After approximately two hours of poolside relaxation, we showered and went to our room to unpack. After unpacking, we explored more of the hotel’s features which included a recreation room in the basement. We especially loved the large ball pit room, pay-to-play air hockey table, pool tables, and ping pong.

 

    The hotel provided evening shuttles into the town that left every 30 minutes and began operating at 6:00 p.m. The town of Kenting has a substantial night market, so the shuttle primarily serviced those guests who wanted an evening experience in town. On our first night, we boarded the 6pm shuttle, which dropped us off at a beach called Xiao Wan, a short distance from town. When we deboarded the bus, we immediately spied a pizza food truck parked street side with a real brick oven. Not wanting to walk to the night market, we decided to purchase two pizzas for dinner and picnic on the beach. The beach sunset was beautiful and the pizza was really tasty. After dinner, we explored the tide pools and found several sand and hermit crabs. Our exploration was cut short only by the sun going down. We returned on the shuttle to the hotel and spent the remainder of our evening playing ping pong and a crazy game of air hockey (there was a lot of shouting and singing “We Are the Champions”).

The following day, after a buffet breakfast (included in our room reservation) we finished our school work and headed out on a ten-minute walk to the nearby beach of Ship’s Rock, only to discover that swimming was temporarily suspended due to high winds and currents. We still had fun playing in the crashing waves and Mom even let us go in up to our waists. 

Since we couldn’t safely swim, we then decided to get back on the main road and walk the thirty minutes back to Xiao Wan Beach where we had picnicked the previous day. Upon finally arriving, drenched in sweat, it was noon. We rested and refueled with cold drinks and snacks at the nearby Starbucks, then headed to the beach.

                        

                          

    Xiao Wan beach has beautiful rock formations both in and out of the water, but offers limited shade. For this reason, many visitors opt to rent umbrellas and beach chairs for a reasonable fee. Given the intense sunlight, we opted to rent for the day. The beach’s pristine blue water maintained an ideal temperature, which reminded us of past family trips to Hawaii.

    One highlight of this beach and my personal favorite, was an aged sea-worn rock outcropping situated just where the water depth changed from waist deep to roughly 8 feet. This rock proved ideal for climbing and jumping, and for exploring and watching sea life up close with goggles. From that rock we could sea crabs, minnows, dogfish, and a variety of other sea life. Ansel and I also found a rock about the size of a brick which we positioned on top of our climbing rock and dubbed “Brenda”. From then on, every time we went swimming, we talked about “going to visit Brenda”.

    On the second day, Mom arranged for us to go snorkeling after we finished our school work. We took an Uber to the snorkel shop, which outfitted us with wetsuits, water boots, (no flippers, much to my disappointment), life jackets, and snorkel masks. A staff member transported us to a rocky beach in an old jalopy of a mini van. It was perhaps the most dilapidated rusted out vehicle I’ve ever ridden in. There were no seats in the back, or seat belts… just wood benches and some rust holes in the floor.  And, where there would otherwise be the mini van sliding door, there was instead a gaping hole, which the driver urged us not to sit close to as we accelerated onto the road. (By “accelerated”, I mean maxed out at a top speed of maybe 20 mph.) 

    Luckily the drive to the shore was only about 10 minutes long. When we arrived, my Mom translated the safety briefing and then an instructor guided us through the waves, pointing out fish and taking underwater pictures. He carried a small bag of fish food so the fish would swim up to us. After 20 minutes of swimming as a group, he let us go free to snorkel wherever we wanted in the shallower waters.

     At lunchtime, we decided to pack up and take the doorless van back to return our gear. Next, we walked 10 minutes on the road to find lunch at the marina. We weren’t sure what we would find but, we ended up discovering a large seafood market with fresh sashimi and other seafood. I found the market to be disturbing because many of the restaurants had large tanks with sea animals I would not normally associate with dining. These included sea urchins, some kind of small shark, puffer fish, parrot fish, spiny lobsters and super large abalone. 

After lunch, we took the bus back to the town, got boba tea (my favorite), and returned to visit “Brenda” and swim some more.

The next day, we went for a quick swim in the pool, packed our bags, and headed out on the bus. We loved our time in Kenting and would absolutely recommend it to anyone visiting Taiwan!