Back To Life, Back To Reality

My 4-week sabbatical from work is over, and I'm not particularly thrilled to have to return to the real world. Having spent 2 and a half weeks in Taipei and around Japan, and then 4 days in NY, I know it's going to be some slow-going at work for a couple of days. Whatever. As I'm shifting back into work-mode, I'm going to keep looking back on my vacation fondly. Here are a few key takeaways from this trip.


Asian Bakeries

(from Wikipedia)

They are everywhere around Taipei, and they are absolutely great. The assortment of pastries they all make is outstanding -- from butter croissants and egg tarts to savory buns topped with delicious dried shredded pork. And they make for a quick and very cheap breakfast, or nighttime snack. 85˚C Cafe, one of the many bakeries we tried out, has a pretty big presence around Taiwan and has even expanded out to southern California.

Just as impressive were the Japanese bakeries. We probably went inside every bakery we spotted on our way to/from train and subway stations. While the Taiwanese bakeries excelled in savory pastries, Japan had excellent sweet ones. My favorites: melon bread and preserved sakura (cherry blossom) buns.


The Abundance of Ramen Shops

My best analogy is "ramen is to Japan as pizza is to NYC." There's a ramen joint on every street corner, in every food court, at every train/subway station. On my 2010 trip, I only had 2 bowls or ramen, both in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I lost count of how many bowls we had on this trip. But the best bowl I had was from a shop at the top of Kyoto Station.

I should note that the awesome architecture of Kyoto Station was another takeaway of this trip

The 10th floor of the Isetan department store at Kyoto station has a section of 7 independent ramen shops, they call it the Kyoto Ramen Koji. Each specializes in different regional ramen styles, this site has a really good write-up on it. Menya Iroha's #1 specialty is Toyama style shoyu (soy sauce flavored broth) ramen seasoned and colored with black sesame. Wannabe-hipster that I am, I shunned the mainstream choice and went for their #2 most popular bowl, shio (salt flavored broth) ramen topped with dried white shrimp.

I had this bowl probably on day 9 or 10 of our stay in Japan, and I was starting to get a little tired of ramen. But this particular bowl was my first exposure to salt-flavored ramen, and I was surprised at how light it was compared to my usual choices of tonkotsu ramen (thick broth made with pork bone marrow) or miso ramen.


Taiwanese 20-Something Style

Ximending, the hotspot for Taipei's youth (once they're out of classes, anyway)

Here are some essential clothing items you need to fit in with today's Taiwanese youth:
- Acid-wash jeans, slim or skinny fit
- Horn-rimmed glasses with no lenses
- Samsung Galaxy Tab smartphone
- PSP or PS Vita handheld video game consoles

And men, there's one absolutely indispensable item

(courtesy of R. Tao)

- Shoulder bag that could pass for a bulky purse in the USA (for men). Want to buy one for yourself?.


Don't Call It Saké

Sendai, Represent

This is actually something I've known earlier, but I constantly forgot about whenever we popped into a bar. In English, we refer to Japanese rice wine as "saké." But in Japan, saké is more of a general term for liquor. So if you ask a bartender in Japan for saké, you'll get a confused face in return. Over there, you ask for "nihonshu" (日本酒).

We were first reminded of this on a night out in downtown Sendai. If that name sounds familiar, it's because it's the largest city near the epicenter of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeast coast of Japan's main island last year. I wanted to expand our trip beyond just Tokyo and Kyoto, and I know Tohoku (northern region of Japan's main island) is still in recovery from the disaster and could really use tourists.

Downtown Sendai was fully operational, people were out and about doing their thang, and you'd think that nothing ever happened. One night we went out for a drink at a random bar, ordered some saké nihonshu, and we got to talking with the really nice guy in the photo above... or rather he and I talked in fractured Japanese and broken English while I translated for my friends. Anyway, he was very proud of his city, its delicious local food and fantastic rice wine (both of which he gladly shared with us), and he was very appreciative of us foreigners going out of our way to enjoy Sendai.

Did I mention that the saké from Sendai is fantastic? Great quality, smooth and aromatic, and I never got a hangover.


In the coming weeks, I'll share some more about my trip and other cool discoveries, fun experiences, good eats, and so on.