I heart, heart, heart you!

You can find this at a local grocery store in Taiwan (Cow's heart...or something's heart).

Rooftop View of Yancheng

This is a panoramic view above the city of Yancheng in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Sean and I had been living with our friends, Tristan and Al, in Kaohsiung for a little under a week. After having visited many other parts of Kaohsiung, I'd confidently state that Yancheng is one of the oldest towns in this part of Taiwan, in more than one sense.

The buildings are pretty old; the younger temples are from the late 18th century. The vast majority of the people we've seen walking around do so on feeble legs, walkers & various forms of mobility assistance. The average age is well over 30, I'm sure.

While this description of the town might make it sound boring, it is far from it. But more on that lat.

Snapshots before Taiwan

Chicago's O'hare Airport

JAL plane #1 

Interesting bird's eye view of part of the States

Flying over part of  Western Canada?

Snowy Tops

Flying over Japan

This is how the Japanese do it

If you live in Japan you have to get use to this; I don't think I could get use to this

Pretty Japanese Dolls

JAL plane #2 

Should you fly with Japan Airlines?

You should definitely fly JAL.

From the time I checked in, to the time I arrived in Koahsiung, Taiwan, I didn't have a single problem.

For a 13-hour economy class flight: the seats, the entertainment, the food, and the flight attendant service was all great. Each seat had it's own miniature TV (for movies, songs, games, & more) and the flight attendants were all very polite and fast on their feet.

They've even got Japanese 'pop' music on their flight.

If J-pop isn't for you, don't worry, the food is really the highlight.

Their food might look like cute little toys but it was all edible and most of it was pretty tasty for airplane food.

Take a look at some of their food for a long-haul flight:

Yup, they even give you Haagen Dazs.

The smoked salmon pasta was delicious!

Even for a short-haul flight, they feed you. Canadian and American airlines need to get on this! People still get hungry on 5-hour flights!

Lot of it looked stranged but they didn't taste strange.

If you don't like their main dishes, you can always ask for snacks; they'll give you delicious cookies (I ate both)!

And if all this doesn't put a smile on your face, maybe a friendly flyer will! I met a lovely gal named Makiko on the long-haul flight and we became friends. It made the whole trip soooo much nicer!

With great services and a great price (cheapest I've seen) to pay for a flight to Asia, Japan Airlines is your winner.

Happy Flyings!

Is there really such a thing as foreseeing bad luck?

It was just my luck; it was Saturday April the 16th when I flew to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Before I boarded my plane, my good luck charm on my bag broke off. I started to freak out and wonder if something bad was going to happen. Talk about paranoia; "Is going to asia for a whole year a bad idea?" In the past, I had worked on cruise ships for months at a time and I had gotten used to being away. Truth is, I had never been away from home (Toronto, Canada) for more than 4 months at a time. After a few minutes of contemplation, I realized that I was psyching myself out, and that I needed to STOP IT!.

At that very moment, upon my denouément, rain started to pour heavily outside. That old sense of paranoia started kicking in. Luckily, the flight (from Toronto to Chicago) was fine and I landed safely.

However, my backpack was not so lucky.

Since it was a small plane and I had a larger-sized backpack I had to valet my bag. When I got it back, I found half of my bag to be soaking wet. WTF, American Airlines?!

I opened up my bag to find all my cds and books wet! Out of all the things I had in my bag, it had to be the most water-soluble items. I was soo pissed! I went straight to an American Airlines representative, told them about what happened, and tried to file a complaint. They began sending me into a circle of service reps and random employees. They sent me to this guy then to that, making it close to impossible to permanently complain about their company. Aren't they clever, annoying little bastards. I bet if I had a positive comment it would be quoted on their website within the hour. As I had a connecting flight I had to let go of the issue and move on. I told the last American Airlines representative off (about their shitty service) and proceeded to my next flight (from Chicago to Toyko). Headed into a country that recently had a chernobyl-level nuclear accident. Just my luck, eh?



Heading to Narita, Japan