My Grandparents Part II

In contrast to my maternal grandparens my poor paternal grandparents have been riddled with health problems. My grandfather is generally OK (despite having diabetes and asthma and being quite underweight) and can get about and do things, but my grandmother is pretty much house-bound and has been for a very long time. From the last time I saw her (3 years ago) till now she seems roughly the same but now she has a walking frame, which she didn't before. She apparently fell over and hurt her foot or ankle so can't walk that well without it. It really pains me to see her in such pain. It also really sux why my family (on both sides) have been riddled with SO many health problems (many of which I've inherited). It really is sad... my poor grandmother (to list but a few.. I don't think I know everything) is partially deaf, has no natural teeth and refuses to wear dentures (can't talk well and everything she eats has to be mushy), extremely thin and underweight, thinning hair, constant stomach pain, feels the cold really easily, had a hysterectomy and heart operation, needs a catheter to go to the toilet, and the list goes on.. it's so so sad and depressing. She can't leave the house unless somebody accompanies her but there is not much point for her to go out anyway. At home she can't be alone either in case something happens or she needs help doing something. She is also no various different medications which she needs to keep track of. She is still sweet and lovely though. She offers me food and drink even though I tell her I am fine. I mean I don't need her hobbling around in her walking frame to get stuff for me! Sheez! But she tries so hard to be a good host/grandmother. It just pains me to see her in such pain. :(

Random thoughts

I'm at my paternal grandparents' apartment now. Using wireless I am 'stealing' from a neighbour (tee hee hee - don't tell!). After not having internet access when I was staying at my cousin's place in 'woop woop' I feel like I've struck the jackpot.

I was staying with my 40+ year old spinster (bachelorette?!) cousin and am now staying with my 80 year old grandparents. I don't know which is worse or which is better but I won't get into that.. it's a bit too personal and likely to bore you.

I am constantly checking up on weather reports whenever I am online and can't believe it is snowing in Shanghai AGAIN! Man! I'm going to freeze when I get back. (ETA: I just saw the snow on the news on TV. Waaah... as much as I hate cold weather there is that magical fairytale quality about snow. The snow in Shanghai is very light, does not stay on the ground and melts quickly.. it is kind of like white, solid rain. Apparently it is snowing all over northern China right now).

The weather in Taipei is... I won't lie... shite. It is what my husband would call "England weather." Cold, grey, dreary and drizzling. Constantly drizzly. It never rains like this in Sydney. It's either dry or it's raining, really raining. But in England and now here in Taipei it's just sprinkling which is kind of frustrating as you sort of need an umbrella and sort of don't. It is about 12-16 degrees here.

Some of the things I really like about Taiwan so far: The variety and cheapness of food, the amazing food courts, the shopping malls and shops in general (where I am free to browse at my own leisure and don't have to bargain unlike in Shanghai!), the politeness and helpfulness of the local people. The non-smoking-ness is unbelievable. It's not just the non-smoking law but the fact that it seems people rarely smoke full stop! It is even better than Sydney where my lungs are accosted by stupid smokers whenever I walk along a busy city footpath. I also love the Japanese-ness of so many things from the shop layouts to the products that they sell to the quirky behaviour (like the elevator ladies who wear hats).. it's all pretty cool.

Some things I don't like at all: The masses of stairs everywhere. (Counted 75 steps from one MRT station exit to the street level). The stupid footpaths that step up and down and are narrow enough as it is but also littered with scooters, motorcycles, stands selling random things, it makes me feel so ugh and so claustrophobic. Not to mention if you have luggage with wheels, a pram, a wheelchair, am elderly with a walking stick/frame, heavily pregnant, or have a broken foot/ankle/leg you are stuffed. You have to go onto the road which is downright dangerous. Or just stay at home and become a hermit. And then when it's raining everything is slippery and disgusting. Also the steps on the bus. The first step is huge. When I came back from Kaohsiung my legs actually buckled underneath me while I was trying to get onto/into the bus! I had a heavy backpack on and a bag in each hand so no hands to hold the rail and gosh it was embarrassing. This man kinda pushed my bag up the stairs for me. and luckily the door didn't trap me I was taking so long to get up those damn steps!

It sounds pretty weird but the stupid up-and-down narrow, crowded footpaths are actually one of the things I remember the most about Taiwan.

I keep thinking I want to move here instead as so many things are better than in Shanghai but I think I still prefer Shanghai more because if I lived here we'd probably live in a tiny place and lots of things would go mouldy and mildew due to the year-round high humidity, we wouldn't be able to afford an ayi or take taxis very often, plus the crowded claustrophobic feeling I just don't like. Kaohsiung is nicer and more spacious (not to mention has warmer weather which is good in winter time) but the air pollution is really bad there, probably even worse than Taipei due to the industrial zone and shipping harbour there. I probably sound like a spoiled brat but after lugging my heavy bags back and forth I really miss the convenience of taking a taxi when I really need to. Besides, I am not 'allowed' to anyway due to my paranoid family. But that's another story.

PS Another great thing about Taiwan is that there is no TGF (the great firewall)!

Taiwan memories and my grandparents

As I sit in front of the internet again, coughing and feeling malaise and crappy... I will write about my memories of Taiwan...

Roughly every 3 years since I was born I have been to Taiwan to visit our extended family. We see aunts, uncles, cousins but we don't always see them all (some of which now don't live in Taiwan anymore) but we always have come to see our grandparents. My father's parents live in Taipei and my mother's live in Kaohsiung (where I am now, still).

There have been so many memories and I was too young to even remember the early ones but I have photos and stories to remind me. My sister and I used to be the darlings on both sides of the family. For a long time we were the only really young children on both sides and were spoilt by our much older cousins, our aunts/uncles, and grandparents. Everyone thought we were cute and adorable. Then we got older and other relatives were born (who were younger than us) and then gradually we got not so cute, and older, and now it seems everyone is old(er) which makes me feel rather sad.

While my sister was here we were reminiscing over old times and how much fun we used to have here. We'd be taken around by our relatives and never have to worry about anything. We'd take taxis or cars, get driven around, taken out to fancy restaurants, get given red packets to spend, get spoilt with clothes and presents, it was awesome. Alas, those days are now over. It seems everyone is not only older but has more problems be it health, financial, relationship or otherwise. Noone seems to care about us anymore :( that is, except our four lovely grandparents. The cousins and aunts who used to spoil us so don't even know we're in town and even if they did we are not to bother them. I guess it is all part of life. People get old, people change, things happen.

Anyway, I have some really fond memories of visiting my maternal grandparents here in Kaoshiung. This house I've been coming to is the exact same one my mother grew up in which is kind of cool. It is a tall, skinny 4 storey building. About 15 or so years ago they did some renovations to it but it has largely remained the same. I remember in 1986 when we came and it was summer (which is intensely hot and humid) and my sister and I were obsessed with these creme caramel pudding things you got from the supermarket. After we ate them, we'd fill the cherry-blossom shaped plastic containers with water and freeze them. Once frozen we'd play with the frozen ice blocks and rub them all over our body and that kept us amused for days. Then there were the times we were taken to the nice department stores and spoilt with imported American toys like Barbies or She-Ras. Also there are mini amusement centres in these department stores and we'd play games and ride rides. We were also novelties to passers-by in these stores when people would stop and ask our parents why these two little Chinese girls (who looked like locals) were speaking fluent English to each other...

I remember the time my grandfather sold his motorbike and bought a car and we were driven everywhere. He even parked the car in the living room (kind of hard to explain) but then as the years went on and he got older he sold the car as he knew it wasn't safe for him to drive anymore so now we have to take the bus. While my sister was here we both agreed it was appalling we sometimes had to wait half an hour for a bus! This is unheard of in Taipei or Shanghai. Geez I felt I was back home in my little suburb in Sydney where public transport is crap and we DO have to wait half an our or more for a bus sometimes. I realised I had been too spoilt in Shanghai by having buses that came very often, or being able to take taxis everywhere.

I remember the time in 1991 when we came back for my uncle's wedding. It's scary to think that his son is now about the same age I was in 1991. I remember coming back in the mid-late 1990's and feeling a tad jealous that my grandmother was now all over this new baby/kid and I was no longer cute anymore. Of course she still loved me but it wasn't the same as before...

I have been back so many times now and each time holds a new and different memory. The house is the same but the people are slightly older and slightly different. My grandfather at age 84 is still going great guns. He is like a big old Santa Claus. He has a big belly and laughs a lot and has grey hair (but no beard). Given that their house is full of stairs he can walk them with ease too. My grandmother is a superwoman though. At more than double my age she is constantly moving, cleaning, cooking, shopping, walking, everything. She is non-stop man!! She is quite hyperactive. She is amazing. I am very lucky to have fallen sick here as she is taking care of me. She doesn't let me do anything. When I offer to she says she has it under control. She is a bit of a control freak too, though, I have to admit.

When I get to Taipei (if I can get onto the internet) I'll write about my paternal grandparents.

Taiwan and my grandparents...

Not long after I wrote my last post I got an email from my father saying that my grandparents were quite frail and ill and literally fading away. He told me that my grandfather (his father) was a mere 42kg and his mother was only 32kg. When I read this I felt very sad I started bawling my eyes out. I wrote an email to hubby saying that we HAD to visit them. SOON. We were originally going to visit them before we arrived in Shanghai but it would be too time-consuming and costly since we would then also have to stop in Hong Kong or some other place. When Mike came home that night he mentioned that their combined weight was about his weight!

All this time I had been planning a trip for us during either late October or late November. Since it would be my birthday present it was my pick of where we could go. The only stipulation was that it couldn't be too far away as flying for long periods is the biggest drag and time waster (not to mention the airfares would cost more) and it had to be somewhere that neither of us had been to before.

I went through a whole list of domestic destinations: Hainan (Sanya), Qingdao, Xiamen, Jiuzhaigou, Yunnan, Zhangjiang and God knows how many more!? Then the more I read and the more I found out the more I was itching to go overseas. I had a brainwave! Okinawa!

Mike had been telling how much he had wanted to go there ever since he found out that "Mr Miyagi" the main (fictional) character from the 80's movee "The Karate Kid" 'lived there'. (In actual fact the Okinawa scenes were filmed in Hawaii and interestingly, we visited some of them while we went there, and saw the 'hut' they built for the film too.)

Yes, it would be perfect! Beachey and sunny (the only decent beaches in China are in Hainan but after seeing Hawaii I thought we were be majorly disappointed), pristine and perfect.

I started researching like mad... I poured over EVERY Miyako (Okinawa) related photo on Flickr.

Then, Mike had a brainwave. He had a lot of frequent flyer points built up and JAL is a partner with Qantas. It turns out he JUST had enough points to get us BOTH from Shanghai to Osaka and back!!

Unfortunately Okinawa required more points. Hmm.. what to do.. Okinawa or Osaka... Osaka or Okinawa? Oh well, can't decide - why not go to both? :D

So anyway, now with this news we somehow have to fit in Taiwan as well.

For those that don't know, due to political tensions between China and Taiwan you cannot fly or take a ship between the two countries. So by combining our Japan and Taiwan trip into one we would save money and time since we'd have to fly to another country in between anyway.

Once again I started researching like mad. I thought it would be 'fun' to take a ferry between Okinawa and Taiwan. Then, I read something I found interesting here.

Taiwan, which suffers increasing isolation in the world due to its conflicts with China over Taipei's sovereignty, is also economically marginalized due to its five-decade ban on direct trade, sea and air links with China. The bans have also hurt Taiwan's tourism industry.
In 2006, only 12 foreign cruise liners made port calls at the Keelung Harbour, prompting the harbour to offer incentives to lure foreign cruise companies to put Keelung on the route of their round- the-world cruise tours.
Analysts said that Taiwan, which sits at an ideal location, is shunned by foreign cruise lines because their ships cannot sail directly across the Taiwan Strait - from Taiwan to China or from China to Taiwan.
Andy Lew, Star Cruises' Taiwan manager, said Taiwan had great potential, but Taipei's ban on sea links with China was a handicap.
'From a long-term point of view, we see great potential here in exploring the Taiwan-China, Hong Kong market. If it's possible, we would like to launch services from Taiwan to Shanghai and Xiamen (China),' he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Because of the ban on sea links, foreign cruise ships visiting Taiwan must sail to a third territory, usually Hong Kong, before they can visit China, or vice verse.
In recent years, Taiwan, which has beaches, mountains, temples and wonderful food, has taken a series of measures to boosts its tourism, including the waiving of visa requirements to certain countries and giving fruits to foreign tourists, but the results have been limited.
While many countries' foreign tourists outnumber their population, only 3.5 million foreigners visited Taiwan in 2006, accounting for 6.5 per cent of Taiwan's 23 million population, according to the Tourism Bureau.
The number of foreign visitors in 2006 rose merely 4 per cent from 2005.
But out of that total, only one third, or 1.1 million, were tourists. The other two thirds were foreign businessmen, workers and maids.

I felt a bit sad reading this because I have been to Taiwan maybe 10 times now (most of my extended family live there) and it's a great country to visit. I have always felt rather puzzled why nobody in Australia wants to go to Taiwan for a holiday but will quite happily go to many other Asian countries: Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, China..

I asked my father about this and he said he wasn't quite sure either except that maybe they hadn't marketed and advertised enough in foreign countries. I have never in my 27 years of living in Australia came across someone who had been to Taiwan unless they had family there or unless it was for business/work purposes. It is rather a small country but not so small that you could quite easily spend two weeks or more exploring the whole country.

So getting back to before, planning this trip had taken a rather unexpected turn and there are so many limitations because we have guests visiting us in early October, early-mid November, and certain flights only fly on certain days, the ferry goes once a week, etc etc.. not to mention the hubby also says we have to do it for as cheaply as possible... ARGH it's all getting a bit too stressful!!