Trip to Taiwan – Jan. 31st-Feb. 11th

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Devon

For the Chinese New Year’s celebration, I decided to leave town like I do every year. I chose Taiwan, which was a poor choice. I had a horrible trip, but not because of the food, people, or the accommodations. It was the weather that did me in. It even started off bad because I missed my flight. DragonAir was extremely kind and bumped me to a later flight (that I almost missed as well).

My first night in Taibei was quite nice. I had a foot massage and treatment that cost me about $30. An old man worked on my feet for about an hour and demanded more money because of their state. He scrapped the dead skin off with a straight razor and some other tools, causing me to lose about 5 lbs. of body weight in the process. I was staying right next to the Shilin Night Market, which had some delicious food.

On my 2^nd day in the city, I went down to Taiwan National University and then over to Taiwan Normal University. I was scouting out the place because I am considering moving there in 2017. I have heard great things about Taiwan Normal’s Chinese language program. While I was down in that part of the city, I went to a bookstore that I know reprints some out-of-print Chinese history books. I bought two for about $25. When I move to Taiwan, they will be seeing a great deal more of me. For lunch, I walked up to Diantaifeng, the most famous restaurant in Taiwan. I waited for 45 minutes, but it was worth the wait. In fact, I went three times (2x in Taibei and once in Gaoxiong). I know there is one in Beijing, but I waited to try the original place in Taibei. Here is some picture:

On the 3^rd day, I went over to the War Memorial Shrine, which honors the Chinese Nationalist soldiers killed in World War II. From there, I walked over to the National Palace Museum. There was a lot of people there, but they also had some magnificent artifacts from Imperial China. In fact, they have most of the items from the Palace museum in Beijing (the Nationalist carried it with them when they fled to Taiwan).

The 2^nd and 3^rd day turned out to be a killer for me. I got a nasty cold. I spent the rest of the trip (8 days) in bed, taking on cold medicine. I traveled down to Taizhong, but saw none of it. I went to Gaoxiong and was only able to get out of bed for few hours to meet my friend Caroline. She is an awesome person I met in Beijing, when she was studying at Beijing Foreign Languages University. In Gaoxiong, I experienced the earthquake on Feb. 6, 2016. No disrespect to the 117 people who perished, but when I woke and determined that a) I was not going to die and b) the building was not going to fall on me. I rolled over and went back to bed. I was that sick.

Despite getting sick, I loved Taiwan. I wished that I had gone sooner and that I was healthy enough to experience all of it.

*Update* April 5th – I have been sick for some while. My cold turned into pneumonia. The doctor at the 3^rd Hospital Affiliated with Beijing University said no, but what does he know. In addition, the constant coughing caused me to have laryngitis. This is horrible since I am a teacher. Two weeks with no work. Blah.

Hong Kong – January 10th-15th

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Devon

I arrived in Hong Kong on Monday the 11th at around 1:30 in the morning and slept on a bench in the airport until about 7:00. After getting into the city, I went to the hostel I booked in Chungking Mansion. I love staying there when I go to HK. It has a certain seediness to it that for some reason appeals to me. My room was not ready, so I walked down Haiphong Street to Broadway and watched the new Star Wars movie. It was good, but didn’t quite catch up to the magic of the original for me. I slept about an hour and then went to Mongkok to look for shoes. Shoe Street did not have any shoes my size (11, 5E). Surprise, surprise. I did eat at one of my favorite restaurants though, Dimdimsum. On the way back to my hostel, I took care of my other business in HK, buying a phone. In the Broadway store at Tsim Sha Tsui, I bought my new Huawai Nexus 6p for 4088 HKD ($524). That is less than I would have paid for it in Beijing.

The next day I ate lunch at the Curry House in Chungking. The Indian boss there is a real cool guy, as is the turbaned fellow selling samosas further down. I love samosas. I crossed Stanley to see if the Space Museum was open. It is closed until March, so I went into the Cultural Center and purchased a ticket for a Cantonese musical – 太平山之疫. It was not until 7:30, so I went off to Jordan station to find some shoes. I walked around Temple Street without success. I had a decent massage from a very grabby, yet nice lady from Hebei. After that, I went to eat dinner at Ebenezer’s Kebabs and Pizzeria on Asheley Rd. This place was recommended by my friend Erin Wells from back in Beijing and it did not disappoint. I went to the local Watson’s for an insert to my shoes and was told by a nice pharmacist that it was difficult because “Chinese people have small feet.” This lady pretty much encapsulated my shoe hunting experiences in one sentence. I just went to the performance, which was spectacular. It was all in Cantonese, with English subtitles. The subtitles were almost superfluous, you could feel the emotions stemming from the performance.

Wednesday was my day to walk around Hong Kong Island. I know that HK has escalators, but I walked up the stairs to hit some calories. I walked up to a Louisiana restaurant recommended by my friend Rebecca. The catfish po-boy was decent, but obviously the chef from New Orleans had never eaten at Middendorf’s outside Manchac. The key lime pie was, however, magnifique. After lunch, I went to the Sun Yat-sen Museum. It is a really interesting place. It was an Edwardian mansion built by a native businessman associated with the British firm, Jardine & Matheson. They played a small note in my Master’s thesis, since they were involved in China’s early railway development and the opium trade. The family of the businessman later sold his house to the LDS Church, which used it for a meetinghouse for 30 or so years. In 1994, the City was given the property (in a land swap, if I remember correctly) and it became a museum. It is a beautiful house and makes a fine museum for the great Dr. Sun.

After going to the museum, I walked over to Hong Kong University. I talked to a person in the History Department as well as in the Chinese Department. The University strangely splits Qing Dynasty history, with the History Department covering modern history and the Chinese Department covering early Chinese history up to the middle of the Qing Dynasty. I went there to investigate the campus as I am thinking of pursuing a PhD there. I went back to the hostel early because walking all over those inclines killed my knees. It was pretty tough going up and down.

Thursday, I went over to the Temple to see my friend AJ, from Beijing. We met up and went to lunch. I then accompanied him to a business meeting in Kowloon. He was setting up a LLC or something. I mostly slept in a meeting room. After this, we separated. I went back to HK island to see meet up with my friend Rebecca and her husband, Jordan Baggs. It was a very stimulating dinner at this Vietnamese food place, BEP Vietnamese Kitchen. The food was great, but the company was much better. She had just come from a business trip to Singapore.

The next day, I took my flight back to Beijing.

August Vacation Home, Part II

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Devon

This is a continuation of my August Vacation. The first part is in the prior post.

Thursday the 26th, I went to the Edward Livingston History Society meeting for the first time in years. This time, I paid dues for the year for both myself and for Jason. They meeting was a little interesting as the speaker was researching the Jones family [no relation to me]. I met a man there, Jeff Boyd, who is a newly found cousin of mine. He told me that he believed that Stephen Stafford was the father of Wright and Ethelred Stafford. I had always believed that they were brothers. He also mentioned that Stephen may have married a Betsy Peters in Craven Co., N.C in 1794. Later that night, I looked for Peters in that County and found an Elizabeth Peters in the 1790 Census living with one son and five daughters. Also, I found the probate of Ethelred Peters in 1788 that mentions wife Elizabeth and his sons, but not his daughters. Perhaps they were too young? The name, however, clenched it for me.

On August 27th, I went to the Baton Rouge Clerk of Court offices for the first time. I found a couple of interesting things. I found a land sale by Michael Milton (the younger) in 1834, a law suit against Andrew Milton in 1827, and a lawsuit by John Kinchen in 1821. I also saw a couple of land deals by John and Mary Davis Raby Kinchen but I was not able to secure them. After I left the office, I went to eat at Sullivan’s, the great place extolled earlier by John and Marianne. It was as they said, perhaps the best steak to ever pass between my lips. Definitely, it was the best steak in Baton Rouge and well worth the high price they charge.

On the 28th, I had to go out to Slidell to give Jason his camera back. Megan needed it for a wedding. Not really funny, but we both waited for like 40 minutes because we were on different sides of the McDonald’s. Afterwards, I went out to the St. Tammany courthouse to find some material on the Stafford, Bourne, Pendarvis and Hartman families. I found out that Joseph Hartman was definitely related to John Hartman, as I thought. There is a land deal that I was not able to acquire because I was late getting there. Also, I talked for a long time with Ms. Marguerite Scully. She was doing research on the line of Ethelred Stafford for someone in Missouri. I shared some information that I got from Jeff Boyd and some I found myself. She talked about Ethelred being a ship captain on the Pearl River, which flies with Wright working on ships. She also talked about the connections between the Stafford and Peters families in Washington Parish. I saw some of that in the courthouse, where Stephen and Nathaniel Peters were engaged in lawsuits with and against each other. She had not been able to connect them, so my information may aid in that. There was still no proof that Ethelred and Wright were brothers or that Stephen was the father of both. It was a fortuitous meeting, though.

I have to say that the ladies at the St. Tammany Courthouse were some of the most kind and helpful that I have found. I think the ladies in Baldwin Co. Alabama and Mobile are up there as well. I have been to a couple of others in Louisiana and Mississippi, and they could learn from those ladies.

Saturday, I went out to New Orleans to be a tourist for the first time. I went to the Mint, Madame John’s House, the Cabildo, the Presbytere, St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square. I also bought a hat like Jacob’s because I liked it so much. For lunch, I ate at the Courtyard of the Two Sisters on Royal Street. They have a lunch buffet that is a little pricey but was delicious. I probably will not go again for a long time as I have never liked New Orleans. I cannot exactly explain why but for some reason the city has always rubbed me the wrong way.

On Sunday, the 30th, I went back to Jason’s in preparation for my trip home. We went to Mobile on Monday to see about finding a copy of Michael Milton’s (the older) Spanish land grant from 1798. He supposedly had an earlier one but neither he nor the Alcade of Mobile could find it, so they reissued one. The lady who rules the archives was not in, so we had to settle on email to her for her help.

I flew back to Beijing on the 2nd of September, on another 31 hour trip.

August Vacation Home, Part I

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Devon

My August turned out much different than originally planned. I intended to take an intensive CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Speakers of Other Languages) class because I am thinking of leaving China next year and wanted some extra qualifications to increase my hireability. On July 22nd, I had an hour or so interview to get into the class. The interviewer said that I passed and that I would shortly find out if I was accepted to the class. The next morning I received an email from the school stating that I was accepted. Four hours later, I was notified that the class was full. I was understandably frustrated with these events, so in a fit of pique I decided to buy a ticket home for the month of August. The price was a little high at $1900, but it was on short notice.

I left Beijing on a flight to Washington, then to Houston and finally Gulfport. It was a long flight. It was the normal 12-13 hours to the US. Embarrassingly I did not look at my ticket and thought I was going to SEA-TAC, Washington state, not Washington, D.C. It is okay though because I became a little acquainted with the place during my 11 hour lay-over. Sleeping on airport benches, in a word, suck.

I stayed with Jason for a couple of days. We had several good conversations as usual. We spent quite a bit of time trying to get Ethan’s jeep fixed. I was also able to speak to Morgan about her doing temple work. After this, I went back home. It is strange but when I come home it always feels a little like I never left. One big difference was Tyler. That boy grew a lot taller in the last 6 months. He may even top me one day. I spent a couple of days sleeping, still recovering from the jet lag. It was brutal this time around. Marianne was kind enough to volunteer Tyler’s bed to me.

I was there about five or six days. I spent some time with John and Marianne watching Criminal Minds on Netflix. They really enjoy that show as much as I do. I think Dad started watching it first. They mentioned a steak joint that they said was fabulous. I also spent some time with Dad and Darlene. They are crazy about this dice game called Farkle. It is a stupid name for a game, but it was fun hanging out with them.

I went to Doug’s house down in Grey for a couple of days. He was still recovering from his surgery. He had a horrible time with infection and spent about a month and a half to two months fighting it. He looked really good though. We hung out and watched TV together. I wish that there had had been some football on then. Although I like the Saints, he is a much bigger fan. I prefer college and love only my beloved Tigers.

After I left his house, I went to Baldwin Co., Alabama once again to get some land papers there. I also received a lawsuit and an orphan’s court record from the Archivist. They were extremely helpful. When I was done there, I headed back to Jason’s in Gulfport.

From Thursday the 20th to Monday the 24th, we headed out on a road trip to North and South Carolina. Jason and I toured the Biltmore. Jason had never been and he enjoyed it a lot, even though he complained about the $60 entrance fee. It was really high. But the highlight of the trip was that I was able to see two ladies, Ms. Blue and Rhonda. Ms. Blue kept me as a baby while mom worked and our annual trips to Maine were never complete without stopping and seeing her. She looked great and oh did I miss her and Rhonda.

On Saturday, we made our way to Myrtle Beach to see my favorite cousin, Jacob. He is a graphic design professor there. We made a day trip out to Charleston to see the sites on Sunday. That is a beautiful town, a lot like New Orleans without the grime and crime (as Jacob says). We went to the Battery and saw the old buildings and then headed out to Ft. Sumter. It was a great trip. I had not seen him in two years since I helped him move from Oklahoma to South Carolina. All in all, it was a great road trip and something that I needed desperately. I enjoyed seeing people and hanging out with my brother.