色即是空，空即是色。

我 打電話給我二姊祝她母親節快樂。她說她兒子要教她電腦。我想我這下非得用中文寫了。

很久沒用中文寫東西。還一時不知該寫些什麼。

記得在台灣時告訴茹茵寫日記的好處。這是我今天寫的東西：

“在台灣買了本心經解讀。第一次稍稍了解”空“和”色“的關係。以前以為色是不好的，空是好的。這是分別心。 現在進一步了解，有色才有空，有空才有色。兩者是一體的。互相依存的。

色是空的展現。我們都是色空的融和體。“

上面花了我一個小時。太爛了。

My Mother - Be Happy, Don't Worry!

My mother is amazing. She is 84, she swims, bicycles and sings karaoke. What I love most about my mother is that she seems to enjoy everything and everybody, she is totally oblivious to what I consider "wrong" with this world - she doesn't worry. How great is that? Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you. She doesn't read English but let's not worry about that right now.

Tea - A Love Affair

I have been flirting with T for 13 years. It all began after I quit my job. It was a conscious

and voluntary choice but it felt like a bad divorce. T was the "perfect" rebound but as affairs usually turn out, it didn't stand up to reality-check. I thought T would fill the void of loosing my old identity as the "hot-shot", "east meets west" business woman. How wrong I was! But I never regret meeting T and we remain a platonic relationship.

I set up a company called Double Happiness Tea Inc. I wrote a 36-page business plan, studied hard, traveled to Asia twice to learn and looking for a good reliable tea exporter. I was approaching tea as a product, like a knickknack which was my old employer's claim to fame. I did farmer's markets, co-ops, open houses, the malls. Everybody "loved the idea" but few were willing to pay what they paid for a pound of mediocre coffee for a 2 oz of top-notch tea, which actually lasted longer because you could make multiple infusions. Thirteen years ago green tea was just getting to be the new health food, some people lost interest immediately when I said I wasn't sure green tea would help them loose weight. I thought a bit of education was in order so I started teaching Chinese Tea Ceremony. After doing it for awhile, once in the middle of Minnesota's winter driving two hours in heavy snow to a shaman's workshop at a church, I discovered I actually enjoyed sharing tea more than selling tea. It took me awhile to admit that I wasn't going to become the "Starbucks of Tea", but thanks to the IRS who made the self-acceptance easier. I hated doing business tax, especially when I was loosing money, I threw in the towel and move to the capital city of coffee - Seattle, well, not quite Seattle but close enough.

Enough of Me, this is supposed to be a travel blog not a "How I failed" confession. Now let me take you for a fun ride to Yung Kang Street; which has become one of my favorite neighborhoods in Taipei. Although most of the one-story houses with tiled roofs and walled gardens(built during the Japanese occupation period between 1895-1945 to accommodate Japanese officials) are ancient memories now, the neighborhood still has an old cultured atmosphere. Away from the main road, from the well-known places like Din Tai Fong (see my post on Facebook, April 29th), the stall that sells shredded ice that Japanese tourists favor and various enticing eateries and quaint shops, tucked away in the narrow back alleys are the "tea joints".

It was my dear friend Cathy who introduced me to these tea joints and they have become my "must-visit" every time I go back to Taiwan. Some of these joints have no signs and they don't need to for they are in the business of word of mouth. They are run by people who are the real "tea artists". They are not tea houses, they may have one or two tables and they don't serve food. It's like going to a friend's house, you sit for two, three, four hours, sampling tea and telling stories. Contrary to popular belief I always sleep soundly after a night of such tea feast. Each tea joint is known by the tea connoisseurs in Taipei for its specialty - one is known to get the freshest and prized "young teas" of the season, the other is known for its secret stash of "Red Seal Pu-er" which a quarter-size chunk is worth an ounce of gold, yet another is where you can buy a $300 teapot made by the most famous local ceramist, or a place you can learn how to play an ancient music instrument. As for a novice like me, I just go for the wild ride and enjoy being treated like "Cathy's friend who lives in America". Then I came to the "Starbucks Land" loaded with half suitcase of tea and my unrequited love for T.

Where is this food thing going?

Where is this food thing going?

Talking about Taiwan without talking about food is like talking about America without talking about the National Parks - both are something that inspires awe and wonder, requires reverence and gratitude but often taken for granted and abused.

Like the National Parks the most impressive aspect of the food culture in Taiwan is its diversity. As the photos shown here - you can have a 10-course exquisitely presented meal at one of the most elegant restaurant in the world. (Believe me, in my jet-setting days I've eaten in many 5-star hotels and restaurants) The restaurant is tucked in the hills with two "eating quarters" - one for big groups and one as shown in this photo) for smaller groups. Before and after the meal you can walk around the meticulously (it looks totally natural but you know lots of work went into it) landscaped grounds. I felt like I had crossed the threshold of time and became an ancient Chinese poetess; the world melted away, the only sound was the burbling creek.

Then there is the street food variety - rice sausage and rice stick soup served with a side dish if you desire - from every part of the pig you can imagine. This stall is called "Half square-foot shop" and is listed in many travel books as the "must-visit" in Danshui. I like how one traveling author described the rice sausage - "stuffed with savory sticky rice; tender and supple like a baby's arm"! (No kidding!) If you go on the weekends you will most likely be joining the lines two or three circles deep, watch and salivate over the shoulders of the lucky ones who are eating the baby's arm sliced and covered with a red sauce.

Taiwan is a vegetarian's dream - check out the spread in the top photo. It's a buffet! Any old tofu buger just won't do. There are everything you can imagine - some look just like meat; pork, duck, kidney, fish, you name it. You won't feel deprived being a non-meat eater.

I noticed the food culture in Taiwan, like cultures do, is changing with the time and the environment - some for the better, some for the worst. Chinese has always been obsessed with health and longevity but this time with a twist - the Western influence. Apart from still wildly believing in the "usual suspects" of traditional foods that are "Bu" (nourishing)(such as ginseng, goji berry, mushrooms, etc.), nuts, seeds, raw fruit and vegetables are becoming the "new boy in town". My sister made me a smoothie each morning with fruit, vegetables and nuts. She insisted on adding beets too because my family has a history of kidney and gal bladder stones! I've never seen beets in my life in Taiwan before! It was a bit weird having my sister telling me the benefits of eating flex-seeds and walnuts as if it was a secret recipe she just discovered yesterday. I think the Western influence came from many of the top-selling health books written by doctors who studied and lived in the West. Many of them were cancer survivors. My sister's children called the book she was reading "the Bible". I understand my sister's new found "religion" - she lost her husband to cancer last year and both of her children are overweight.

Twice in Taiwan when I was not accompanied by the locals and had to choose restaurants randomly I had bad experience and it was very bad. I tasted vegetables that was so laden with pesticide that I could taste it! I challenged the stores mined not by the owners but teenage minimum-waged workers, they looked at me as if I was crazy or snooty, or both. One of the restaurant was located at the Taipei main train station - thousands of people go through there each day. Why didn't anyone complain? Why is the restaurant still in business? Maybe the Taiwanese are so used to the taste they think it as "normal"? That's highly possible and a scary thought. I didn't know what else I could have done apart from telling everybody my experience, warning them off and reminded them to buy vegetables that are pesticide-free and wash store-bought produce really well.

Since Taiwan is so small the "local food movement" is a "foreign" concept. Since people like my mother and sister almost go to the market daily they think they are getting fresh food. In the old days it was true - the local farmers would bring in their harvest to sell by the side of the road, in their baskets or carts. You can still see some but most were replaced by well-lit, well-stocked stores and supermarkets who buy wholesale and I'm sure from big growers who most likely use pesticide to keep the production up and cost down. There are vegetables labelled "organic" in stores and I did visit a store which sold exclusively organic food from their own farm. But like the States 10-15 years ago the prices were at least double if not triple the regular ones.

From my own experience I learned that you can have all the latest knowledge and information about food, health and the environment, but old habits are hard to break and true awareness takes time to sink in and it comes from "living" it. I did take a master gardeners class when I moved from urban Minneapolis to rural Olympic Peninsula and it was tremendously helpful in helping me understand my new habitat, but in the end it is nature who is the ultimate teacher - it patiently shows us the way if we are only willing to listen.

A Success Story

Taipei, like most Asian metropolis such as Bangkok, Shanghai and Hong Kong, used to be known to visitors for their excruciating traffic jams. I didn't experience any on this trip, (okay, maybe once and that was because I was in a car!), thanks to the new MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) system. My sister owns an apartment in Danshui where I stayed in Taipei. In the old days, before 1996 when the MRT first started operation, "going to Danshui" was equivalent to "going to the San Juan's", you don't just jump up and go - it is a trip you have to plan for and it takes half a day just to get there. Now it takes 50 minutes from Danshui to Taipei's main train station where you can choose from hundreds of buses and trains (including the high-speed train) to other parts of Taipei and Taiwan.

The MRT is often, fast and clean. It has announcement in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and English. No beverages and food are allowed and passengers are "reminded" to talk gently on their cell phones and watch their steps when they embark. There are four routes which cover extensively huge areas of Taipei. You can buy a single ticket but I'd recommend getting a transit card which is like a debit card and you can buy in any amount and add more as needed. It will save you lots of time and it is good for all public buses in Taipei. Before I left Taiwan the company (Taipei Rapid Transit Company) is announcing that you can use the card at places like the 7/11 too!

For more information on MRT, check out Wikipedia and the MRT official web site www.trtc.com.tw. Be sure to choose English so you don't think I'm pulling your leg thinking you can read Chinese characters.

After I posted the Kitsap Airporter yesterday and as I am writing the MRT today, I can't help thinking about just how screwed-up and backward the public transport system is in the U.S. (New York might be the only exception) And how this "car culture" mentality got us in trouble on so many levels. I was telling a friend who responded to my post yesterday on alternative transport to the airport that my 84-year-old mother and her girlfriend who is close to 90 take buses all the time and that is one thing I noticed about Taiwan - you see old people out about and are fully engaged in life. That has such a positive and uplifting effect on the society as we can see our own future: not as a burden but happy, independent members of the society. I think the Mayor of Seattle should send a delegation to Taipei and maybe they will learn a few things about "serving the people".

A Good Way to Go

I'm so inspired by my recent travel to Taiwan and Hong Kong that I decided to include more information and thoughts on travel in my blog.

Living in the quiet woods has a few disadvantages; one being it's damn far from any airport. I always dread the drive to Sea-Tac, so unless it's my 84-year-old mother coming visit I usually ask my guests to rent a car! Even though my partner Curt kindly and willingly offered to drive me to the airport this time, I decided to search for a better alternative. The ones I already knew were expensive and irregular.

I found one! It's Kitsap Airporter (www.kitsapairporter.com). It costs $21.50 a trip and it runs every hour from Poulsbo from 2 a.m. to 10 p.m. To and from the airport I had women drivers who were courteous and excellent drivers. One of them lived in Thailand while she joined the PeaceCorp. We chatted the whole way about traveling. That was a great start to my journey and reminded me why I used to love travel so much - you just never know whom you are going to meet and so often when you least expected you meet the most interesting people.

It's not here or there; it's here and there

After spending two months in Taiwan I came to realize that I had been asking the wrong question all along! The right question to ask is not here or there but here and there. You see, I spent half of my life in Taiwan and half in the U.S. And for the past twenty years no matter how much "positive thinking" and meditation I did I felt there was something missing in my life; I felt incomplete and torn. I felt I had to choose between becoming an American or a Chinese.

The "Aha Moment" came when I attended my first grade school reunion, after being graduated for 44 years! I saw 30-40 classmates from the Air Force Children's Primary School, Xinzhu Taiwan. I couldn't remember most of their names but the faces I recognized instantly and the memories washed over me like a tsunami. The boy I had the hots for, the "not-so-bright" kids I protected from the bullies because I had privileges as the teacher's pet and a "good" student, the cute girl I secretly envied. But the Aha Moment came when some of them, like myself, live in the U.S. but spend half of the year in Taiwan! Why didn't I think of it?!

I'm sure you can relate to this even if you never left the U.S. You grew up in the East, South or the MidWest and now you live in the PNW: You spend your youth running as far away from your first "home", you worked hard during your 30s & 40s trying to prove that you were "somebody", independent and different from your parents, now in your 50s you wonder why, like the salmons, you are propelled by this mysterious and irresistible urge to swim back to the place where you were born, so that life goes on when your decomposed body becomes food for the river and the forest.

Just some random thoughts, probably incoherent as I just landed two nights ago. I'm still under the cultural shock of how quiet and green it is here. Good to be back and writing again.