Montevideo, and my little country

On the way home (South America 2015)

I can hardly believe it, I'm back in Europe from my South American trip (3.09-6.10.2015) waiting in Amsterdam for my flight back to Munich. 

Among all the warnings, some dreadful scenarios, and many not necessarly welcome advises, that I had heard before my trip, luckily only one happened to come true. Once you travel to South America, you'll fall in love and will always want to go back.

It seems that it's no longer the Marcioch na Tajwanie blog, but its Marcioch Gdziekolwiek release. As much as I want it to be in English, the name sounds nice only in Polish :)

I'm planning to write a couple of notes on several memories, images, and places I encountered. First though, while still so tired, emotional and inspired, I want to express how happy I am to have met the people that made my trip unforgettable.

Rio de Janeiro

• Angelo, who opened for me the first door in South America, and did much more
• Aziz, the traveller, my soul-mate from The Gulf

Curitiba

• Isabell and Bruno, my amazing hosts and the future of Brazil

Florianopolis

• Javier and Milan Kundera, that will always go together in my memories

Montevideo

• Mateo (and his Mother), who one day simply fished me on a street in Montevideo and made Uruguay my favourite country

Buenos Aires

• my good old friend Luciano, who's still the one
• Susan, my Argentinean lady and inspiration

Iguazu

• Ivan, who showed me the beauty of Iguazu

Off to Malaysia 1-11.06!

Tomorrow I'm starting my first solo backpacking trip.
For 11 days I'll be travelling around continental Malaysia, starting with couchsurfing in Kuala Lumpur at a Muslim family's place. They contacted me when they saw my open request for meeting up with some local couchsurfers, quite a surprise! Feeling both slightly anxious and very excited :)

Dui bu qi (I'm sorry) wo de zhong wen (my Chinese) bu hao (not good)

Dui Bu Qi by Transition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XTBwvi0h2E

I love this video, same level of Chinese as me,  says roughly all I could say.  :)

Nice time trying to surf. Yilan.

Żeby u nas były takie przychodnie!

Krok 1:
Przychodnia dla studentów jest na kampusie. Studenci mają blisko, od akademika ok. 5 minut spacerkiem. Przyszłam rano, bo nie wiedziałam jak to wszystko funkcjonuje, przygotowana na to, że swoje trzeba odczekać. Poradzono mi zjawić się równo o 13:20 na zapisy. Lekarz przyjmuje od 14:00.
* W Ożarowie kolejka ustawia się o świcie, formuje wokół furtki, następnie krąży wokół rejestracji w nerwowych ruchach. Termin można dostać mimo wszystko na popołudnie.

Krok 2:
Przyszłam wcześniej. Kolejka na zasadzie kolejności położenia swojej legitymacji na ladzie recepcji, żadnego tłoczenia i przepychania. Tempo zapisywania ekspresowe. Dostałam numerek 5.

Krok 3:
Lekarz przyjmuje od 14:00, informacja oficjalna, to znaczy, że można śmiało wyjść na lunch, nie trzeba pilnować kolejki. Ok 14:20 na tablicy nad gabinetem wyświetliła się 5, nie trzeba znać chińskiego.

Krok 4:
Lekarz oprócz lekarstw na przeziębienie doradził jak najmniej mówić, częste prysznice, twarde cukierki. Przypisał też 5 rodzajów leków na 3 dni. Tempo ekspresowe.

Krok 5:
Skierowano mnie do kasy. Zapłaciłam równowartość 19 zł i myślałam, że w następnym kroku "apteka" dopiero się okaże, ile leki kosztują. Nie, idealnie już przygotowane na 3 dni były do odbioru okienko dalej. Nie trzeba kupować całych opakowań, które i tak się zdążą przeterminować do następnego razu. Informacje docierały automatycznie chwilę przed tym jak zjawiłam się przy każdym z okienek, na żadnym etapie nie było pielęgniarki lecącej zanieść karty.

P.S. Piszę po polsku, bo co to zagranicznych interesuje. Może u nich też tak jest. :)

Zapakowane leki prosto z przychodni.

Ziołowa chińska zupa na zimno z dnia wczorajszego :).

Some random stuff #2

T.J., the owner of "We love cookies" makes his busienss cards himself. This guy is a great salesman too, so that you won't just get your cookies there, but always have a small chat with him. He is a "mei guo ren" (American), has been living here for 12 years, and seems to know pretty much everybody passing by his little cupcake store, which still hasn't had its opening for three years. Kitty showed me this store some two weeks ago, and I must say, it's difficult to resist, since all the little brownies, mango cookies, cheese cakes served as cupcakes, bailey's cupcakes (in the picture) are a rather more attractive dessert option than red beans with tofu.

T.J. in his little kingdom of "We love cookies".

Whitening creams are nothing shocking in Asia, whereas this peculiar item is still pretty eye catching. It's basicly a massage roll, which is supposed to help the user to make her face look thiner. Why would people do so? I love round faces.

Another example of curosities available at Watson's (a chain of personal care stores) are the circle contact lenses. They have a wide black ring on the outside, which widens the eyes’ iris, creating a "cute" appearance, and that's exactly how Taiwanese girls love to look like. They seem to be pretty popular in Taiwan, but rather nobody would wear them on the NTU campus.

The coloured fancy contact lenses.

Finally, aren't these PIEROGI?? :)

The Philippines, episode 3: Sagada

The hanging coffins in Sagada.

The whole Sagada "Madames" team- Tomer, me, Ophelie, Perrine, Charlotte.

Halo Halo- it's a Filipino "shake", where you put a lot weird candies, some friuts, some cream, and cover it all with ice.

My hero before jumping into freezing water pool in one of Sagada's caves.

Caving in Sagada.

Baguio.

Chicken mango salad in San Juan.

The Philippines, episode 2: The Rice Terraces

Far north from Manila, in the Cordillera Mountains stratches a Unesco Hertiage Wonder - the Rice Tarraces of Banaue and Batad. In a little town of Banaue I met up with my two friends Perrine and Charlotte, whom I was then travelling with for the rest of the trip. As my camera refused to work that very day and started just now, back in Taipei, merci to Charlotte for her pictures published here.

On our way around the Cordillera region we met several backpackers from all over the world, that we also travelled with for some time, and that made me want to do the same in near future. We met many nice Philippinos too, always friendly, willing to share their stories, and answer all my questions about their country and daily life, all of them, ranging from a hunched eldery lady to little kids speaking English as their second/ third native language.

Next stop, Sagada. To be continued.

Perrine, me, Charlotte.

The Philippines, episode 1: my Manila's impressions

Contrary to most travellers, that I've talked to, I really enjoyed my short stay in Manila. There are two reasons for that.

The first one is the Red Carabao Hostel, that I landed in right after I got to the Philippines' capital at 4 am, and its owner Aldrich, who made my first day in the city. Manila was extremely hot that day, it was also the first time in my life that I saw slums, the legendary Philippinos jeepneys, crazy tricycles on the streets, and such an overcrowded city.

The second reason for me to like Manila is it's history, which may sound vaguely familiar to Warsaw fans. #1 Manila was the second most destroyed city after WWII, following Warsaw in this case, totally ruined by the bombing in 1945 within the Battle of Manila, biggest urban fighting in the Pacific region. #2 The city had been believed to be "the pearl of Orient" beforehand, which somehow makes me think about "the Paris of the North"'s story. #3 After being rebuilt after the war, Manila never got back to its harmony, having become a city of contrasts, where on one corner you may encounter totally different architecture and stories.
 

The first meal in Manila, ordered by Aldrich. Although it's a rice country, there is no chopsticks :) After the lunch, he took all the leftovers and handed it to a group of begging children already grouped around our table.

A view on a street from an old Spanish looking house Casa Bahay Napkil. It is a house of Gloria de Jesus, the second wife of National Hero Andres Bonifacio, now meant to remind of the Kapitunero movement of the 1896 Revolution in the Philippines. We were guided the by her granddaughter, who told me, how the nation was formed and made this little tour fascinating. The Nakpil family is currently searching for some volunteers, to maintain the building, so if intrested: http://bahaynakpil.org/

The building's architecture is also influenced by the Viennese secession, which made me like it even more. In the picture you can see how smartly its ventilation system was arranged.

The view from a different window of the same building, striking with poverty, littering, and pollution, Manila's huge problems.

In a jeepney.

Sunset over the Manila Bay.

The black Jesus, which was brought to Manila by the Spaniards from Mexico. Btw, I really liked the Philippinos' happy approach to religion.

The Red Carabao Hostel.

The Chinese Cementary in Manila

Pictures of presidents of the Philippines, some are missing, though.

Over 100 000 people died in the Battle of Manila 45'.

The Spanish styled Intramouros, the old town of Manila, alike the old town in Warsaw rebuilt around 1950s.

Off to the Philippines (28 th March- 5th April)

But right before going to the Philippines a little food pics update for Kozitto i Ziomal :*

Korean food again

Every Tuesday after the gym, together with Kitty, Weimu and usually somone else, we would go to "Marta's favourite places" right behind a KFC. I love egg on the rice, little sweet potatoe stickers and either fish or chicken in there. Oh yes :)

Seaweed. Nothing special in fact, usally served as vegetable.

My favourite vanila cake while studying Chinese^^

Asparagus juice!!!! Not bad, though.