Taiwan Part 1: Taipei

Back to work means that I am back to my blog. I was lucky enough to have had two weeks off for winter vacation. The much needed break included many lazy days full of books, tea, and pomegranates, and even a trip to Taiwan. Aaron and I left a very sad pup in the care of two good friends, and we made the 4 hour bus ride, 2 1/2 hour plane ride, another 1 hour bus ride, and a 30 minute tromp through back alleys to find our hostel in Taipei. Our first night was spent marveling at myriad of eccentricities found in the night market next to our hostel. Night markets are an integral part of Taiwanese culture bursting with knock-off clothing, bags, shoes, and jewelry, they are a shopping paradise. The real draw to the markets, however, is the street food. Hawking vendors shout their ware of fried mysteries and random delights. I saw snails of every size, fully intact ducks that had been boiled, their heads hanging at grotesque angles, kebabs, fruit stands, and fried everything. The smells were overwhelming at first but became nearly unbearable as we passed a “stinky tofu” restaurant. Imagine a smell so foul you would rather suffocate than breathe it in. How people can consume that rancid smelling substance is beyond my comprehension. Since we had just arrived and were not feeling quite so adventurous just yet we stuck with a familiar, yet delicious, kebab. We called it a night and fell asleep in our jail-like hostel room.

The next day we looked to the skyline to find our destination:  The Taipei 101. This monstrous building was the tallest in the world until recently when Dubai’s Burj Khalifa building took the lead. After waiting in line with some creepy businessmen who kept taking not-so-sneaky pictures of me over their shoulders we stepped into a frightfully fast elevator. The fastest elevator in the world sounds a lot cooler than it feels. We stumbled out of the metal box of emotion, swooning slightly and unclogging our ears after ascending 80+ floors in a matter of seconds (it travels at 55.22 ft per second), and had our breaths taken away. The view was spectacular. Taipei sprawled over acres of land and crept slowly into the surrounding mountains. I had no idea that Taiwan was so green or so beautiful. We left the top of the world to drop into the basement where we feasted on a French-style baguette and pain au chocolat (real Taiwanese cuisine).

 Leaving the 101 behind, we wandered around town until we found the Longshan temple. I had never felt more out of place than I did while intruding on the prayers and meditations of the hundreds gathered. Red candles dripped globs of wax, tables were laden with sacrificial foods, and the plethora of prayers blended into one deafening drone. People carried bundles of incense, dropping them into communal holders at the end of each prayer. Aaron and I crept out after a few minutes, really feeling our white skin and cameras around our necks marking us as outsiders.

The two of us took a seat in an awesome, tile basin to figure out our next move. I could not understand why so many people were staring at us and chalked it up to our white skin (as usual). After deciding to embark on a new mission we stood up, walked out of the basin, and just barely missed being doused as the fountain we were camped in came roaring back to life. From the disappointed looks of our audience, I think they were expecting quite the show. Another night market completed our day. This time we feasted on kebabs of a different sort. Wooden sticks held together treats of every nature, chicken, beef, pork, fish, squid, mystery meat, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, everything you could want and more. We filled a basket with various goodies, passed it to the vendor who steamed it all, grilled the chicken, and spiced it up for us. We then snagged a papaya milkshake and sat on the steps of a temple, enjoying our meal.

Kebabs

The Shihlin night market

The Linjiang Night Market near our hostel.

The following day we went to the zoo which was pretty typical. The day became extraordinary when we took a gondola up into the mountains to enjoy a traditional cup of Chinese tea. The view was unlike anything I have experienced. Tea fields covered the mountain and there were tea houses of every shape and size. We chose one that had a spectacular viewpoint jutting out farther than any of the others. In the distance the ever present Taipei 101 glowed in the late afternoon night. A brightly colored temple was nestled so perfectly into the mountain it seemed to have grown with the trees. We sat down in this incredible setting and had an awkward tea time. The Chinese tea ritual is very intricate and with no one to guide us through it, I fear that Aaron and I properly shat on centuries of tradition. We added leaves to a mini pot, added boiling water, waited 30 seconds, poured the tea into another dish with a strainer, and then finally into our tiny tea cups. About 30 cups of tea later we both started to feel the effects of the caffeine and headed home.

The single picture I took in the zoo.



Behold tea.

The gondola

A list of the tea houses

 On the next day we stopped by the National Palace Museum; an impressive building full of even more impressive things. I have to admit that at this point, both Aaron and I were dead on our feet so the thousand pieces of carved jade no bigger than a quarter were not as impressive after 2 hours. There was some stunning calligraphy and furniture and all in all I am happy we were able to experience it. That afternoon we jumped on a train to head to our next destination: Hualien. Since this blog is already a novel, I will save that for another day.

National Palace Museum