Interestingly, one of my frequently viewed photos on Flickr is the “Hello Kitty airport waiting room”. It was taken last year at the Taoyuan airport in Taiwan. This year returning to the airport, I noticed Hello Kitty theme has expanded into a nursing room, a phone booth, and an area decorated just for people to take pictures with.

During our March trip, we were on EVA Hello Kitty Airbus going and returning from Japan. At checking in to Japan, the staff that was assisting us apologized profoundly for running out of Hello Kitty theme boarding pass. He asked very politely if it’s okay to give us the standard boarding pass instead.

At first I thought they messed up our seatings, but then I was a little puzzled the apology was for something in my opinion, really minor. I guess I didn’t realize how serious the airline and the passengers taking this Hello Kitty theme so very seriously.

Before entering the waiting area, we were handed a Hello Kitty notepad that printed like a passport. At the waiting area, the sight of Hello Kitty Airbus stir up excitement amongst passengers.

The inflight entertainment screens played Hello Kitty animation the moment we were seated. Looked into the front seat pocket, there are Hello Kitty puke bag, Hello Kitty flight safety instruction, and Hello Kitty shopping Guide.

But wait, there’s more! It’s chow time, and my meal tray also littered with Hello Kitty – Hello Kitty utensils, Hello Kitty napkins, Hello Kitty salt and sugar packets, Hello Kitty shape fish cake, and wait for it… Hello Kitty donut cake.

Hello Kitty also showed up at places one least expected. For example, the bathroom tissue paper. I wasn’t sure what to make of it, soiled something so cute for my own selfish needs.

The year 2007 was my first encounter with Hello Kitty jet. Back when it was just an experimental thing. Now it seems almost all the EVA flight going and departing from Japan are Hello Kitty themed. There’s no doubt Hello Kitty Flights are here to stay.

Also this past trip, I spotted a Pokémon Airbus at New Chitose Airport. Personally, I would be more giggly if I were in the Pokémon flight. I wonder if the Pokémon flight is also pimped up like the Hello Kitty one.

For the big kids, Hualien can be lots of fun. There’s the sun, the ocean, acres of grass fields, then the mountain, gorge, and the rivers. And let’s not forget the local food scene. We hit all the right spots this time, starting with where we stayed.

Seven Star Lake
We stayed at Bayview in the Seven Star Lake area. The view from our room speaks for itself.

There was a bicycle path along the Seven Star Lake coastline. The path was well maintained and flat. It stretched over several seaside parks and a hidden botanical garden. While Ktula likes his cycling path hilly and treacherous, I enjoy more relaxing ride such as this. I was goofing off and having a blast doing it.

The south end of the bicycle trial lead to grassy fields with the grand view of the entire Seven Star Lake vista.

Within walking distance, there’s also a dry Bonito museum, restaurants and coffee shops, a local fish market, gorgious sunset and sunrise… Seven Star Lake was a bag of chips and then some.

Taroko Gorge National Park
We hired a taxi for a day to the nationl park. Taroko in the local indigenous language means “magnificent and splendid”. The gorge is known the world’s deepest marble canyon. It attracts thousands if not more tourists every year. Many of them come in tour bus.

The striking bluish green river was what attracted me to Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑). Wondering along the cliff-side trail until we reached a path we can walked down to the bottom. There were school of fish chilling in shallow water. They weren’t too skittish of me joining them. In fact, they were comfortable enough to nibble on the dead skin off my feet. I was ecstatic about this unexpected contact with these river residence.

We visited few more places in the National Park – Swallow Grotto, Motherly Devotion Bridge, Eternal Spring Shrine… Shankadang Trail was my favorite. There were a lot more to see at the park, one full day can only get a taste of it.

Local Food Scene
Personally, the food here is not much different from Taipei or other parts of Taiwan for that matter. It’s not to say there’s nothing special here. In fact, we enjoyed everything we had during our stay, and these were restaurants we randomly chosen.

One item that’s famous here is shaved ice and brown sugar syrup with hot tapioca on the side. The eatery staff taught us to first enjoy the refreshing ice, then take a bite of the warm tapioca. The idea is to experience the contrasting cold and warm sensation in the mouth….. My taste palette must be dumm as a brick, the shaved ice was good, but I didn’t understand what the cold hot sensation was about.

Sunfish was the other uniquely Hualien item but was a lot more interesting for us. We chose to try the fish stir-fried with vegetable. The plate served to us consisted of the meat and the gelatin layer underneath the skin. According to the restaurant’s owner, the texture of sunfish is similar to squid, only more delicate. I suppose she was right. We had no problem finishing the fish and everything on the plate.

So why did I not liking my previous visit but totally loving it this time. Last time I was with a tour group. My parents preferred the convenience and package deal offered by travel agency. The problem with tour group was they tried to cramp as many points of interest in the itinerary so folks in the group get the impression they’ve seen a lot. In fact, the tour bus barely spent 15 minutes in each destination. It’s hardly enough time to get a good look at anything. We had a good family time but I did not see much of Hualien. This time around, we planed our schedule more flexible and allowed more time to destinations we know we like. Even though we didn’t see everything, but what we saw was enough to say, man, what an awesome place Hualien is!

We arrived Langkawi after a short flight from Singapore (getting from Malaysia to Singapore in morning rush hour was a different story). We stayed at the Andaman, a resort located at the north west side of the island.

Far from city conveniences, the Andaman was surrounded by ancient rainforest and a coral sand beach named by National Geographic in 2010 the 9th best beach in the world. Within the hotel premise, the calls of tropical birds and insects echoed in the air; couple monkey communities come and go as they please; guests should expect encountering exotic creatures when you least expected…. We heard the ocean waves in our guest room, we didn’t waste any time and went straight to explore the beach.

The uniqueness of coral sand is that it’s softer than “sea-shell” sand, and it won’t get too hot like the other type of sands. Quickly we noticed bunch of fast moving tiny sand crabs busy running away from us or making “sand balls”. ktula and I took turn chasing them. Eventually ktula caught a bigger one. We took some photos and let it went on its way.

Soon we were distracted by other finds: coconuts, corals, seashells got washed ashore, hermit crabs, unknown plants and flower, and finally, settled down on couple beach chairs and later some chilled mojito. Ah, this is the life. All the sudden I’m motivated to work harder and save up, so I can plan my next trip here.

The only thing we weren’t too impressed was the hotel food. So dinner time we ventured out about 30 minutes cab ride to a road side restaurant called Shin Mi Seafood Village. The restaurant was brightly lited with Christmas lights for a good reason. It’s in the middle of nowhere, passerby can easily overlook this amazing little joint.

We did more of the same outdoor exploring for the rest of our visit. In the morning, we joined a natural walk guided by the hotel naturalist. That’s when we met Francis, a knowledgeable and charismatic local who showed us the plants and critters living in this 10-million-year-old rainforest.

In the afternoon, we took a kayak ride in the Andaman sea. Aside from soaking in the wonderful sun and gorgeous scenic, we were picking up plastic bottles and containers floating in the sea. It saddened me to see pollutions even in paradise land.

Another fascinating attraction at the Andaman was the coral reef. It is estimated to be between 6,000 to 8,000 years old. The tsunami in recent year destroyed most of the live corals. But what’s left of it after the disaster still teeming with lives. Sea cucumbers, crustaceans, sea urchins, school of fish were within reach during low-tide. But be careful with the sharp coral edge. Even a light touch will leave a cut on the skin – this was speaking from personal experience.

During the nature walk with Francis, the tour was interrupted briefly by a sudden heavy rain. We took shelter at V Botanical Spa. I took note of the individual spa villas and the tranquil setting. I decided to give it a go and booked a 80 minutes sensory aromatic message. The price was comparable to a spa treatment in North American. But the enclosed, dimmed light room that I’m accustomed to in the US / Canada did not come close to the open space experience here. For my message, I was lead to a private spa villa fully equipped with bathtub, outdoor shower, washroom, locker, sitting area, message beds… The villa located in thick forest vegetation and outlooking the bay of Andaman sea. It was secluded from hotel guests and yet surrounded by nature. The spa staff asked about my choice of music during my session, I chose to turn off the music, to enjoy my message in the sounds of forest and sea. How often do we have the luxury of that?

For our last full day, we wanted to go on an island hopping geo-tour. By the time we contacted the hotel front desk, we’ve missed the booking deadline. Needless to say, we were very disappointed. Came the next day morning, ktula tracked down the natural walk guide Francis, asking if he can arrange a last minute geo-tour for us. Francis left briefly, then came back with good news. The geo-tour was on, and our guide was none other than Francis!

Francis drove us to a marina to board a jetty. Blue sky, green water, again we were enjoying Langkawi’s pristine nature beauty. First stop was snake island to see the mangrove & limestone formation, then dip in the emerald green water at the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden, finally some snorkeling at a beach. Unfortunately other than monkeys, we didn’t see much underwater life. The tour ended with fresh coconut juice from roadside vendor, courtesy of Francis.

After visiting several online resources on Langkawi tourism, I noticed we missed most of the “must-dos” and tourist attractions – Eagle Square, Underwater World, Crocodile Farm, Snake Sanctuary, Duty free shopping just to name a few. Funny thing was I did not feel the slightest regret for missing out. In fact, I was relieved for skipping the “recommended” activities. Because of our off-beaten itinerary, the Langkawi we experienced was truest to it’s natural beauty. It’s not just another tropical island, not another man-made theme parks or strip malls. Langkawi will be that special place I had so much fun with mother nature.

I’m a fair weather rider, and I don’t enjoy climbing hills. Prior to registering this year’s Chilly Hilly, I demanded to scout out the course. ktula and I took Mango for a road trip to Bainbridge Island, drove around Chilly Hilly route. The hills scared me. But the breath-taking scenics had me excited about the ride.

The day of Chilly Hilly was cold but fortunately, not wet. As we got closer to the waterfront, we saw cyclists in group making their way toward the ferry terminal.

What a sight, the ferry to Bainbridge was packed with cyclists and their bikes. We caught up with my friend Ted and his fixie, worked out a plan to avoid chaos when hundreds of cyclists rushed out of the ferry to start the ride.

We had a slow start – too many on the road, too polite to cut in front of others. I didn’t mind it, as I was enjoying the scenics and preserving energy for the 33 miles ahead of us. The route went from well groomed residential streets to forest to beach with hills along the way.

The first big hill was the hardest for me. As we started ascending, I quickly fell behind Ted and ktula. The only reason I didn’t quit was I didn’t want to mess with cleats on a steep hill. The second hill appeared shortly after, I got off to push. Then I had a moment. I realized if I were to push every time there’s a hill, I’ll be pushing bike for a good part of the ride. Once my mindset switched, I was able to pedal away the rest of the course, including couple of the bigger, longer hills.

Before I knew it, we were at the finish line. Alright!

While we were soaking in the warmth and stuffing our pie holes in Austin, TX, Mango was taking his little vacation at Leslie’s. The day after returning from Austin, this winter’s biggest snow storm hit Seattle hard. In the morning, we wanted to pick up Mango from Leslie’s boarding but was advices not to due to road condition. Later in the afternoon, the storm calmed down somewhat. With chains and autosocks in the trunk, we braved the snowy road, heading Redmond to get Mango.

We made it to Leslie’s after nearly an hour. All’s well the moment we saw our boy jumping and waggling his tail out of excitement of seeing us. Leslie suggested a little playtime before heading back.

Outside, the playground was covered in inches of snow. Mango was joined by his sister Hana, playmate Kiba, and a handsome black and tan JC. This small herd of shibas went nuts in the snow. They took turn chasing each other, with occasional yelping out of excitement.

Hef the Leonbergers watching with envy from outside the fence. Leslie decided to let Hef joined the party. All the shibas ran over to greet him. Everybody was excited to see Hef.

Then Leslie let another black and tan in. She is JC’s sister, and a sweetheart just wanted to be loved. She kept jumping on me and ktula, which is something Mango never does.

After some good chases, Mango did his business and was ready to go. Driving out of the beautiful snowy passageway, both Mango and I look forward to our next visit.

A real bonus, our friends Jen and Mark were great fun to travel with. Thanks to them, we tried some of the most unique food and stayed at a wonderful hotel.

The Food

Uchi and Uchiko are the two Japanese restaurants that blew me away. Their somewhat non-traditional approach was such eye-opening experience for my taste buds. Ingredients I never seen it put together elsewhere were making an impression on our table – Tuna sashimi, goat cheese, and apple chips in one plate and wow, it worked! Simple sea urchin with fresh basil and immediately the flavor transformed.

Stubb’s and Franklin were two of the BBQ places we tried. Stubb’s Sunday gospel brunch consisted of live gospel music and southern style buffet. While Franklin was all yummy business. We stood inline 45 minutes before the store open. What we got was some of the finest bbq meats and sauce in my years of BBQ eating chronicle.

So many food trucks in Austin, but so little time. We visited taco truck Torchy’s, then some incredibly tasty donuts from Gourdough’s. One donut called Flying Pig was everybody’s favorite. Doughnut covered in maple icing with bacon on top, as strange as it sounds, it was very delicious.

Coincidentally, the best fried chicken I ever had in the U.S. happened to be here in Austin. The popular food truck business recently transitioned to a restaurant location. Lucy’s Fried Chicken does fried chicken so perfectly crunchy on the outside, juicy and flavorful inside. Having such great fried chicken, I was a little thrown off by the below average slaw. But no matter, the homesome shoofly pie finished off the meal perfectly.

The Hotel

We love everything about Kimber Modern. It’s urban sophistication attitudes were everywhere: from the architecture, hotel settings, down to interaction between hotel guests and staff. Here, we were reminded to enjoy life – by slowing down and chill for as long as we want.

The City

Not sure if it has to do with Lance Armstrong, cycling seemed to be huge in Austin. Mellow Johnny’s is indeed a must visit destination for cycling enthusiasts. I for one, love the fact the store carries full range of woman’s cycling wears. For years, when buying bike jersey, I had to go for my size and compromised the look. But not here at Mellow Johnny’s. The shop carries great looking women’s jersey, and best yet, in my size!

I’ve seen more runners and cyclists in a day here than back at home. Austin’s fair weather and miles and miles of park and walking paths made the city a great place for outdoor activities. Regardless of the humidity, I was throughly enjoying my morning run along Lady Bird Lake. Austin is also very dog friendly. Big dogs and small dogs running freely at off-leash area in the park or dedicated doggy areas. I thought of how much fun Mango would have here.

During Mango’s annual physical exam, doctor found one of his back teeth was fractured. A fractured tooth will most likely became infected. So the tooth had to go.

According to the doctor, fractured tooth is not uncommon. Fractures are usually caused by chewing on hard objects like bones or hoofs. Doctor added it came as a surprise to many pet owners because it’s not a well known fact. I have given Mango countless bones and hoofs in the past. Poor mango is about to go through the pain and discomfort of the procedure I felt responsible for.

I dropped Mango off at the animal hospital first thing in the morning. Before the procedure, the hospital took some dental x-rays and found out his other side of the same tooth was fractured as well. I learned that Mango will be just fine eating without those teeth. Finally, some good news.

The procedure required Mango to be put under anesthesia. The hospital called around 2pm to inform me that Mango had woke up from anesthesia. They would keep him in the clinic for few more hours to make sure he’s fine before sending him home.

When I return to pick up Mango, he was alert but still a little off. I was told after Mango regain conscious, he was given some can food but he didn’t touch it. It’s pretty unusual for Mango to refuse food. Especially he was not feed since last night. That worries me a little.

Mango was more than eager to leave the hospital. He practically lead me to my car, didn’t waste a second sniffing other dogs. He was having trouble getting up the car seat. I pick him up to give him some much needed help. My poor little guy.

Home at last! Mango carefully climbed up the satires, still slipped and stumbled on one of the steps. He saw his half-chewed bully stick on the floor, slowly and surely, he approached the bully stick, attempted to resume chewing on it.

The sight of him showing interest at the bully stick was a huge relief for me. Thank goodness, he still got his appetite. I boiled some chicken breast and made some rice. Mango pick up the smell of chicken boiling in the pot, start whining and getting restless. Yes, our hungry little guy is back!

Shiba is known to be pretty difficult with hospital visits. We were fortunate Mango has been really good with doctors and nurses poking and checking on him. I hope after his teeth procedure, he remains his sweet self with the hospital folks. We’re going back to the hospital in couple weeks for follow up checkup. We’ll find out!

Going 4-year-old, sometimes Mango still got a puppy look. How does he do that?

The herbal planter was the last thing I added to my container garden. As usual, the herbs did well with little care.

I tried a delightful summer soup recipe using mints that was overgrowing in the garden. I do love to cook with things I grow out of my garden.

This month’s fillet was bigger than usual. I left a few pieces aside as treats. I enjoy giving Mango treats because he is super gentle when taking the treats off my hand. I caught two videos of him working as hard as a shiba can for his favorite salmon pieces. In the first video, his final facial expression filled with anticipation of tasty treat was just precious. But since he was such an eager beaver, I tried to milk as many tricks out of him as possible…

First Video

Mango got impatient on part II video and started getting fresh with me. For some reason his rollover acts has always been a bit of hit and miss. 20% of the time he can’t flip to the other side no matter what. And when he lost his cool like in this situation, his body stiffed into a plank, which makes the rollover even more challenging. I was losing him fast, but I couldn’t just give in and let him had his way. So finally when he did two half-assed rollovers, I quickly handed over the salmon piece.

Second Video