First though, a plug for Taiwan as a place for anyone to visit. Besides the entertaining cities and the beautiful volcanic country-side, I found that nearly everyone I ran into was intelligent, friendly, curious, and eager to help me. Here's a video that gives something of an idea about the country: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRu2oK0Kqc4 - it is a marketing effort by the government, but does offer a nice preview of some nice things to see. By all means, visit Taiwan if you have a chance!
Day 0: Saturday, 1-19-2008
I left San Francisco destined for Taipei after a long day at work, but feeling ready for the trip. At midnight I boarded, and 13 hours later arrived in Taiwan at 6:00 Sunday morning. Taiwan's time difference is +16 hours, but my sleep schedule had been so erratic that it wouldn't be too hard for me to adjust. I stood in the line for customs for an hour, bought some duty-free Macallan for $46 USD, exchanged some American dollars for Taiwanese dollars at a rate of 1:32, and headed to the meeting area. There my friend Alice and her friends Willie and Gina met me, all looking very nice if a little bit tired from getting up at 3 in the morning.
Day 1: Sunday
Willie drove us all to the city of Hsinchu where they live. The city roads were littered with scooters, and the streets were muddy from the recent rain and quite crowded. We stopped at a small restaurant and I had my first taste of Roa-bao (sp?), a burrito shaped rice-ball filled with delicious chicken, as well as some hot soy milk. Back at Alice's apartment we ate and chatted, and then to Willie's dismay verified that even an American can enjoy Taro soup. We took a nice sunny walk down to Tsing Hua University where Alice is getting her master's in computer communications engineering. The campus was pretty, and covered in buildings and little fish-filled ponds. Back at the apartment I received a quick lesson in playing Mah-jong and then watched helplessly as Alice beat everyone handily. It wouldn't be the last game I would lose to her during the trip.
After Mah-jong we went out for a hot pot. I told my friends that I wanted to try something unique and that I liked spicy food. They obliged, ordering a soup with pig blood, sheep ears, cow cartilage, and tofu. It was so hot that I cried and thought I was going to choke to death. A second soup was much more tolerable, and mixing the two soups seemed to work well.
After lunch we returned to Alice's apartment and packed hastily for Taipei. First though, we took the bus to Taichung where we me Alice's friend Shantee and headed to the Fungcha night markets. The markets were an amazing cultural and culinary experience. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Day 2: Monday
Taipei is certainly a very modern city, and today was a fun day, if not as busy as yesterday. We spent the morning at the National Palace Museum. Inside were 1000s of old Chinese artifacts and artistic masterpieces which we were not allowed to photograph. We took a few pictures outside though.
Exhaustion forced an afternoon nap, after which we ate at the Sushi Express, and headed to the Shilin night markets in Taipei. They were bigger and even more crowded than the Taichung markets, and had a huge area dedicated to games. Alice dominated all games, winning in racing, in air hockey, in drums, but especially in basketball. I was astounded by her basketball skills - she more than doubled my score.
Day 3: Tuesday
Today we did more site-seeing in Taipei. Taiwan Storyland was a small museum dedicated to showing what old Taiwan looked like, and one of my favorite stops of the trip. The museum was a series of streets with old shops, games, and restaurants to explore. Adding to the fun was the fact that the streets were filled with hundreds of kids on a class field trip, and that many of them thought it would be fun to try to talk to the American foreigner. We played some games, took some pictures, ate lunch, and explored. Alice showed me one store that was similar to her father's medicine store which has been in her family for three generations.
In the afternoon we did some shopping and then headed to the famous Dintaifung Resturant for dinner, recommended to me by my friend Brian. The food was fantastic, but the atmosphere lacked the local quality that many of the less expensive upscale restaurants that we visited during the trip. After dinner we went to the club Brown Sugar where the famous Taiwanese pop singer ???? was performing. We stood (it was standing room only) and had drinks while we watched her play with the crowd until everyone was singing and dancing in a joyous stress-releasing party. We clapped and moved along with everyone.
Day 4: Wednesday
Today I ran clean out of money. Here is my last $100 bill (worth about 3 USD).
We spent the entire morning in a frustrating attempt to withdraw money from my American bank account, and after visiting several impatient banks, I finally made one more effort at an ATM machine and magically received the cash I needed. If I go back to Taiwan I think I'm either going to have a Taiwanese bank account or bring as much money as I'll possibly need, as the whole experience was rather painful.
That afternoon we went shopping in an attempt to spend my new cash, and then headed up to the top of the world's tallest building (for now), Taipei 101.
The night was dark and cloudy with a stiff wind, and after riding the world's fastest elevator to the observation deck, we found that we couldn't observe much of the city. We could however, feel the tower swaying in the dark clouds and see glimpses of the city below. It felt like we were on a different planet, and Alice and I held hands and walked with each other. With just half my trip over, it seemed that I would be returning to the states with a new girlfriend.
That night we had a wonderful dinner at an all you can eat bar called Magic Curry, and then met Alice's room-mate Jason and his girlfriend Aggie. A few hours and several tunnels took us to the city of Illan where we found a hostel for the night.
Day 5: Thursday
Today was one of the best days of the entire trip. After several days in the crowded cities, we were finally on the mountainous east coast. Alice had planned to visit some hot springs, and we spent most of the morning trying to find the secluded town from which to hike to the springs. After much Chinese discussion that I didn't understand we ended up in a tiny Taiwanese Village. A short hike with several treacherous stream crossings ensued, and the hard work paid off. I did some exploring, and found a secluded waterfall as well as several nice pools of water, and we sat and talked for some time in the warm water.
After our day exploring, we went to a fantastic seafood restaurant, where we picked our fish and had a family style hotpot. Somehow I ended up with a fish eyeball and some strange looking organs floating in my bowl, but my friends didn't make me eat them. The food was delicious.
Day 6: Friday
Today we went to the famous Taroko National Park. The Park is spanned by a huge gorge carved out by the Liwu River, and contains some marvelous geological phenomena. You could see sedimentary rock that had been shifted vertically by tectonic plate movement, limestone caves covered with stalactites, streaks of marble from metamorphic compression of limestone, and layers and layers of moss covered rock that had been worn down by the river. We went on two short hikes - one up to some waterfalls and then into some soaking wet caves which Alice and I ventured into, and another hike down one of the narrowest parts of the gorge. I wish I'd taken more pictures, but here are a few:
That night we went to another famous and fantastic restaurant called Mr. Goose, where I learned the goose was indeed better than chicken.
Day 7: Saturday
Today was my last day in Taiwan. We visited a Taiwanese distillery, and then drove to the ocean and took a walk on the beach in the rain. The sand was covered in beautiful polished stones and Alice and I each chose one to take home.
Then it was to the airport and away. I'm sure I'll be back.
