Atlantic Time Square then Big Bear Adventure @ 3AM

This was a special night for the Changs... Another one of our spontaneous adventures!

10:00 PM

Atlantic Time Square - Monterey Park, CA.
This place is almost exactly like one of those big outdoor shopping plazas, without the typical chained establishments like PF Changs or Applebees. Instead it is a plaza of famous SGV restaurants... Chinese, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese and Vietnamese. Basically, if you are a big fan of Asian food and new furbished condos... this is your paradise!

Phoenix Food Boutique is a restaurant specialized in food and desserts from the southeast region of China. It is definitely worth a visit! Check out what we ordered:

House Special Pan Fried Egg Noodle with shredded duck, chicken and bean sprouts. I don't think anymore explanation is necessary for this dish... It was a very special serving of chow mein.



Braised Tofu with seafood



11:00 PM

After the delicious dinner at Phoenix Food Boutique, we decided to go on a night photo scouting adventure.

Route 66 was on Beth's mind and that became the first target destination of our adventure. The Wigwam "teepee" Motel to be exact. I mean, a motel that is shaped and designed like an Indian teepee tent... Badass.

When we arrived at the motel, we were freaked out a little bit and we changed our minds at the office window. Mainly because it reminded us of Heisenberg's neighborhood from Breaking Bad... creepy and it would probably be more fun if we had more people with us.

1:00 AM

We were disappointed... heading back home and about to call it a night...
I thought, Hell no! It's 4th of July weekend and I am not going to waste my precious holiday weekend at home. Maybe it just felt like the perfect timing, but I was determined that we should totally check out Big Bear Lake, early Monday morning.

3:00 AM

It was 3AM and there weren't any other options that are awake at that time. Todd at the front desk of Northwoods Resort gave us a great deal so we have a comfortable bed to sleep in. We were blessed with the 2nd largest suites in the resort... also badass.

comes with king size bed, small kitchen / bar, jacuzzi, living room and balcony.



Wake Up and Explore Big Bear Lake

we drove up to the lake to get some fresh air, I wish I had a grill...



When we were scouting for future cabins for rent, we drove by this patriotic house.



Lunch at the local pizza joint. Hits the spot



After lunch we drove back to Pasadena.
Back to reality.
It was a great getaway!
Happy 4th Everyone!

Southbound Trilogy - Part 1

日月潭 Sun Moon Lake... #FAIL

Taiwan High Speed Rail (HSR) was FAST... like 189mph fast!!! normally it would take people 4 hrs to get to Taichung,  HSR was only 45 minutes... not even enough time for me to finish my nap :)

When we got to the famous Sun Moon Lake (wiki it if you're not sure what it is)  It was nice and clear! great day for photos! Tourists everywhere, people taking pictures and getting ready to get on the tour boat! What a treat!



We walked around the little town by the harbor and found a restaurant that serves Aboriginal cuisines.  We ordered minced pork rice (their version was called Old School Rice)... which was an eye catcher for me... must eat the old school rice, right? ha.  And surely we both inhaled the rice within minutes.



The boar meat noodle soup was a nice treat as well :) yum yum!  not too shabby for my first 'boar" experience... its like dining with John Locke.



After lunch we decided to hop on the boat that tours around the lake... sounds great right? well, the minute we handed our boat ticket to the tour guide...  the fog rolled into the harbor... i mean... its like Stephen King fog... we looked at each other and literately had the "FML" look on our face... this is #$%@!!! and then it started to rain !!! again... #$%@!!!

Its like our trip to Yangmingshan... sigh





Well, the plan of touring around the lake failed, so we met up with our friend Jim Beam and checked in to this Honeymoon Inn that my aunt had reserved for us :) this hotel was very "purple" and the front desk lady was totally Twilight Zoned out...



I don't think it's healthy for me to write any more about this disastrous day... For sure the photos will do the justice... Let's just hope that tomorrow will be a better day... I hope...

陽明山 Yangmingshan

This might look like a typical serving of noodles... But this spicy peanut sauce noodles was the best tasting noodles after a wet trip up the Yangmingshan National Park! we will get to the food in a bit...



"Holy Crap it's cold here!!!" That was the first thing we said when we got off the bus... We were totally under dressed for this trip up the Yangmingshan National Park. It was wet, cold, rainy, foggy and windy... this was NOT what it looked like in the Taiwan Travel Handbook... FML...



There were five other tourists from Malaysia and one hiker on the National Park tour bus, I guess we were the only people that didn't check the weather report before leaving the house, ha. Our first stop was Erzihping Trail... Everyone got off the bus, totally clueless... Where should we start?



The only person that actually seems to know where to go and where to start the hike was the one hiker that was on the bus with us... This man was awesome! He acted as our tour guide and allowed us to hike around the park with him! To entertain us, he sang and taught us how to dance like the aborigines!



After the dancing lessons, he instructed us to follow the trail back to the bus stop... and he said, "I'm going to stay behind and enjoy my daily lunch in the mountains... I'm 81 years old, and this is what i do everyday... I love hiking this mountain." Now that was quite an awesome experience... We felt so grateful and honored to meet this interesting man.

All of us, including the five Malaysian tourists decided to skip the rest of the Yangmingshan tour due to the weather conditions... bummer! Beth and I were so wet, cold and HUNGRY! So we hurried off the mountains and found a wonton restaurant, Thank Jeebus!!! That meal was a life saver!!! (sorry about the heavy exclamation marks... but man was that meal awesome!) We ordered the spicy peanut sauce noodles, wonton soup, fish ball soup, some side dishes and Taiwan Beer! Such a great way to end our journey to the Yangmingshan National Park, even though we didn't get to see the rest of the park... but with the singing hiker and great food... it was well worth it!!!

Hotel to Metro Station

Comfort Inn offers complimentary breakfast, right? Well, the hotel we stayed at does too! But the difference is... they don't have microwaved eggs or hard bagels... instead they have a full spread of food from salad bar to gourmet Asian dishes!

here is a photo of Beth's first plate... Japanese steam egg, yam, snow peas, and marinated Shiitake mushrooms! Oh, and bacon!



On our way to the Metro station we stopped by a McCafe that actually looks like a real coffee house... they grind and brew fresh coffee beans to order! American McDonalds should be ashamed!



Right before we got to the station we got distracted by the fragrance of beef noodle soup. This is not any typical beef noodle soup... this is "hand shaved noodles". I can't really describe the deliciousness of this meal... i'll let my photos do the justice :) Enjoy! I hope you are hungry when you looked at the photos.