Just a short video to show you what Toronto looks like.

The President of Republic of China – Ma Ying-jeou seems very happy to see such an event in Canada to “Promote Taiwanese Culture”.

Taiwan Uncensored

The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy sponsored an exhibition called “Taiwan Uncensored” to “present a true picture of the island”.

The first part of the exhibition tells visitors that the Dutch occupied the island of Taiwan and weren’t driven away by Chinese Qing Dyanasty at the beginning, so it proves that China didn’t consider Taiwan a part of China.

The exhibition then skips the part of history when the Chinese drove the Dutch away and set up a county, and later a province in Taiwan.

The second part of the exhibition praises the Japanese invaders for “helping” to develope the island.

Ironically, the “Taiwan Uncensored” exhibition also doesn’t mention a thing about the Republic of China government in Taiwan after Japanese defeat in WWII.

TaiwanFest Cinema

The Government Information Office of ROC has released 5 different videos describing the culture, festivals, geograph, and the stories of Taiwan.

Surprisely, even The Lantern Festival in Taiwan and Taiwan’s Festivals don’t use mention “China” or “Chinese” even once. They use “the anncestors of people in Taiwan” or “the Han people” instead of “Chinese”; “Lunar New Year” instead of “Chinese New Year”; “The other side of the strait” instead of “Mainland China”…… After watching those films, you will have the impression that Taiwan has a rich history of thousands of years and 諸葛亮是台灣人.

These films must have been made during the pro-independence former Taiwanese government period.

Returen to Innocence

Amis Kakeng Musical Group brings the music of the aboriginal Amis people of Taiwan to Canada.

Yunnan Dai Dance

The Eco Dance Association was established in Taiwan in 1981. It is famous for its modern and Chinese cultural dances.

Yunnan is home of many minority ethnic groups, including the Dai people. Dai people are buddhists and like to dance. They also live in Northern Thailand.

Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments

補破網

A famous Minnan language folk song. It’s also sung by famous Madarin singer Teresa Teng.

這一閩南語名曲也曾被鄧麗君相中,以國語演唱,歌名:想你想斷腸

Chinese Kungfu Bartending

功夫調酒,一邊練中國功夫,一邊調酒. 高雄商專的帥哥真了不起.

The Grand Hotel in Taipei 圓山大飯店

The Grand Hotel in Taipei was built in 1952 for the single purpose of entertaining foreign dignitaries, providing their lodging and dining needs. It is also a visible showplace of Chinese architecture and culture. Each of the eight guest levels represent a different Chinese dynasty, as reflected through the murals and general decor.

Young chef Chen Chi-wen (陳麒文) demostrated how to make Mayogee Dumpling.

Chef Yan is of Hakka Chinese decent and specializes in Shanghai & Sichuan cuisines. But this time, he demostrated how some of the popular snacks are made, including Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken.

Chef Liu grew up in Hong Kong and specializes in Cantonese cuisine.

Republic of China State Banquet Menu

陳水扁總統就職慶典晚宴菜單

Wei’s Taiwanese Food

There are two Taiwanese food restaurants at the World Cafe. This one hanging a “I Love China” flag is pro-China, another hanging green Taiwan flags is pro-independance.

吃飯也分藍綠. 現場有兩家台灣美食餐廳. 這一家中式裝飾,掛著”我愛中華”旗子的顯然是挺藍. 另外一家掛滿台灣綠旗的當然是台獨派了.

台灣名點 – 鹽酥雞飯

The weather is really bad. But Daniel told me there’s a paycheck for me and I need to sign the contract for my parttime webmaster job. So I decided to go downtown after all.

When I met up with Daniel and told him I need a long vacation this summer. He decided not to sign the contract with me and didn’t even give me the paycheck for my previous work. I don’t care. They don’t pay me well anyway.

Greyhound and Coach Canada almost always share the same bus terminal in every city. In Toronto, the bus terminal is Toronto Coach Terminal at 610 Bay Street.

Coach Canada’s website is http://www.coachcanada.com

Greyhound’s website is http://www.greyhound.ca/

I took subway to Dundas Station, then walked along the undergound PATH west to Toronto Coach Terminal. PATH is downtown Toronto’s underground walkway linking 27 kilometres of shopping, services and entertainment. Follow PATH and you’ll reach your downtown destination easily in weatherproof comfort.

PATH map and more info: http://www.toronto.ca/path/

St. Catharines bus terminal serves local buses and Greyhound buses.

Most passengers on my bus got off at this station.

Niagara Falls(ON) Bus Terminal. You can also find VIA rail station in this picture.

All restaurants I saw in Niagara Falls are Chinese-operated. They all have a Chinese name.

Peace Bridge links Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York

The bus waited for at least 10 minutes before parking at the Customs & Border Protection building. We then were asked to get off the bus along with all our belongings.

The immigration officer didn’t give me much trouble. But the customs officers were not so nice. They let anyone else pass without checking luggage but me. They checked everything in my bags and asked me countless questions.

One officer even went to the immigration office to get the immigration officer who let me pass previously. Then they both checked all my belongings once again. They just couldn’t believe one can travel so light to Hawaii. The immigration officer soon confirmed that his decision was right and went back to his office.

But one customs officer wouldn’t give up. “How much money do you have?” “$500″ “$500 for 8 days?” “I also have my credit card with me.” “You are gonna need it.” He searched my bags again and said, “You have as much here as in your wallet$^%^$@”

All he could find were vacation stuff, so he finally had to give up, “Okaaaaaaaaaaaay. You can go.”

One of the MEXX white shirt I liked didn’t have small sizes. Most were XXL, XL and L. The smallest was M which looked still pretty large and wasn’t even white anymore. I must be really crazy if I bought it.

The H&M in Fairview Mall was pretty small and didn’t have many items on sale. Only those with red tag were on sale (50% off the already reduced price) and most of them were for women. The prices were really low though, eg: some $69.99 girls jeans were now only $9.98.

I left Fairview Mall empty-handed. But I some Nike stuff at Winners on my way home. At Winners, only those clearance items with red tags get 25% additional discount.

I’m happy while tired now.