Visatations

When the American Institute in Taiwan 美國在台協會 beckons, you answer. And when the AIT asks you to be at their offices at 7:45 on a Wednesday morning, you will do like us - go up the day before and give yourself a 24-hour trip to Taipei 台北. Pamela and I both went to work on Tuesday morning, while Amber attended her kindergarten as usual, but following lunch, the three of us went by taxi to the U-Bus 統聯客運 station in beautiful downtown Fēng​yuán 豐原, where we caught the 1:30 bus to the Taipei Bus Station 台北轉運站. Upon alighting, we made our way to the Taipei Metro 台北捷運, got on the subway and, four stops and one transfer later, got off at Dà​ān Station 大安站.

Amber makes her way along the concourse between the bus and MRT stations

From the subway, it was a short walk to the Dolamenco Hotel, our choice of accommodation for that fine Tuesday evening. The room was small, as was the bed - Amber ended up sleeping on a small sofa that night, which we pushed up against one side of the bed so that she wouldn't fall off. But the price (NT1980/$67) and the location (just a few minutes' walk from the AIT) couldn't be beat.

That evening we got back on the MRT to do what tourists do in Taipei, visit one of the city's large night markets. In our case, it was to Shì​lín Night Market 士林夜市. We rode the MRT at the peak of the evening rush hour, but having navigated Tōkyō's 東京 claustrophobia-inducing subway network for the better part of a decade, I find Taipei's system to be far less stressful. And to the local denizens credit, people gave up their seats so that a tired and sick little girl (Amber has been suffering from a cold these past few days) could sit down. In any event, it was only a short ride from Dà​ān to Jiàntán Station 剑潭站, the closest stop to the night market.

Now I don't claim to be an old Taipei hand, but back in 1999, and again in 2001, I paid visits to Shì​lín in the company of Japanese and American friends. The night market was in all its glory back then, at the center of a busy warren of narrow streets packed with clothing stands. It was dirty, noisy and odoriferous, and all the more fun and exciting because of it. However, soon after my second visit, the Taipei city government, in all its infinite wisdom, decided the market needed to be "improved" by relocating to a more modern structure. The result is an even more cramped site, made worse by its location in a basement. The atmosphere has been ruined as the crowds (including large tour groups made up of Chinese tourists) are herded like cattle into a more sterile, less inviting environment:

My dainty, coquettish wife, with her ever so sensitive and delicate sense of smell, insisted that we retreat back to street level, where we found a small eatery with better circulation. Pamela, who couldn't stand the lack of "fresh air" down in the basement, then proceeded to happily chow down a plate of stinky tofu 臭豆腐 (Amber and I had steak).

After dinner, we took a stroll through the older part of the market, dominated by clothing stalls. Amber needed little encouragement to strike a pose:

By this point, it was starting to get late, and we had an early appointment at the AIT the following morning, so it was time to bid the moon and Venus "goodnight" and take the MRT back to Dà​ān.

The next day, we were done at the AIT by 9:30, and headed back to our hotel for a late breakfast before packing up and checking out.  After storing our bag in a locker somewhere in the bowels of Taipei Station 台北車站, it was back again on the MRT Tamsui Line 淡水線, this time to Yuánshān Station 圓山站. From the station's platform could be seen evidence that not all is sweetness and tolerance in Taiwan's religious scene:

I remembered this sign from Patrick Cowsill's blog. Erected by an organization called the True Enlightenment Education Foundation  正覺教育基金會, the slogan warns that:

Tibetan Buddhism is definitely not Buddhism; the lamas are not Buddhist monks or nuns

Another sign on the building read:

To avoid religious sexual abuse, please stay away from the lamas of Tibetan Buddhism

Putting the last sentence into a Google search led to this, er, "enlightening explanation".

Meanwhile, back in the real world, you might be wondering at this point why we had come to Yuánshān in the few hours that we had left in Taipei. To visit a couple of nearby historic temples, perhaps? Or to take a taxi to see a restored old house? Wrong on both counts. If your spouse is Taiwanese like mine is, there is a strong chance that you'll end up having the taxi driver drive you from the MRT station to the Taipei Expo Park 花博公園, the remnants of the Taipei International Flora Exposition. Pamela particularly wanted to see the Pavilion of Dreams 夢想館, described thusly in the Wikipedia entry:

The building showcases Taiwan's cutting-edge technology in addition to flowers. A 3.5-ton artificial flower hangs from the ceiling, responding to beats in music. In an exhibition room, flat screens showcase 3D images of flowers without the need to use special glasses...A wall of 3-meter-tall liquid crystal glass panels show lifelike projections of flowers in the wild.

As the name of this blog makes clear, I'm something of a curmudgeon. I found the New Age vibe to be a bit too much. There were other things I would've done in Taiwan's largest city than spend time pursuing my "dream flower", but Pamela seemed satisfied and Amber, free at her age of any pretensions, accepted the Pavilion of Dreams for what it was trying to do and enjoyed herself very much as a result. 

Mother and daughter outside in the Xīn​shēng Park Area 新生園區. In the background can be seen the Grand Hotel 圓山大飯店: 

 My "Dream Flower"

Taking a taxi from Xīn​shēng Park directly to Taipei Station turned out to be a little cheaper than returning by a cab to Yuánshān Station, and riding the MRT back to where our bag had been stored. Following a late lunch in one of the food courts on the second floor of the station, and a bit of window shopping in one of the underground malls beneath it, we found ourselves on the 4:00 Tze-Chiang 自強 limited express, and got back to Fēng​yuán on time, at 6:02 p.m., where I went straight to my evening job from the train station, while Amber and Pamela had dinner at the local MOS Burger モスバーガー before taking yet another taxi home (I walked back from school).

And that's how we spent 24 hours in Taipei, from late Tuesday afternoon to late Wednesday afternoon. Who knows? The next time I go to the AIT might be under somewhat different circumstances.

Somewhere between Bǎn​qiáo 板橋 and Táo​yuán 桃園

Jeff and Barbara Do Taiwan, Part VII

The final act of Jeff and Barbara's visit to this fair isle was played out this past weekend in Taipei 台北. Having taken the train from Fengyuan 豐原 after work on Friday evening, I joined my friends for a dinner of "Thai Fusion" that was pretty good, and coined the buzzword for the rest of the weekend. After listening to their impressions of T'ainan 台南 and their first two days in the capital, we returned to our rooms (same hotel), and met up early the next morning for the train trip to Fulong 福隆, the start of the Caoling Historic Trail. The weather would prove to be less than amenable for the entire day, but kitted out with rain ponchos courtesy of the Fulong 7-Eleven, we were ready to go:

The 9.7 kilometer (6 miles)-long trail that exists today is the last remaining section of an early-19the century stone trail that linked Tamsui 淡水 in the west with Yilan 宜蘭 in the east. Both the Rough Guide and Lonely Planet books describe the walk in glowing terms, with the LP guide going so far as recommending it as THE route to take if you only have time to do one hike in Taiwan. Unfortunately, thanks to the weather, we weren't able to enjoy the "mesmerizing views of the ocean" or "the high grassy bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean that make this trail such a treasure". The fact that it was a Saturday meant the trail was crowded despite the inclement conditions. The guidebooks also neglected to mention that getting to the start of the route from Fulong Station 福隆車站 meant a long walk along a busy highway, with tour buses and trucks brushing close by us at high speeds (though it was much easier to find the trailhead than the Rough Guide made it out to be).

All things considered, however, it was still a worthwhile trek. The scenery that we could see was splendid, with several historical sights along the way, such as the Tiger Tablet - somehow, inscribing a large stone with the character for "tiger" resulted in some serious wind control back in 1867:

Descending towards Dali 大里, the rain started to let up, and the views improved, with even Turtle Island becoming visible. Passing by the large Tiangong Temple, we made our way to Dali Station 大里車站, and the return trip to Taipei:

Back in Taipei, the evening turned into one of frustrating searches topped off with alcoholic rewards. A long walk along Dunhua Road failed to turn up a promised brew pup, but we did end up having some drinks and appetizers at a Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill. From the restaurant, a taxi took to the area near the Shilin Night Market 士林夜市. However, from where we were dropped off, we couldn't see the building where the majority of food stalls had been relocated to a few years ago, and spent most of the time walking the around the vicinity of the original market (which I remembered from a couple of visits in years gone past). Beer at a roadside food stand saved the evening (having the Asahi Beer アサヒビール girl pour our drinks didn't hurt, either), and we did manage to find the new building and have a walk-through before taking the subway back to our hotel (I preferred the old market layout before things were "improved"):

 

Sunday opened with a walk over to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 中正紀念堂, where Jeff was afraid his Slovenian soccer jersey might be judged as "slovenly dress", but we managed to make it out of there before anyone could take umbrage:

Next up was the Chienkuo Holiday Flower and Jade Markets, with some tasteful items for sale:

Following lunch, we took the MRT 台北捷運 to Guandu 關渡 and the nature park. Unfortunately, an event of some kind was being held. While it was free to get in, the noisy crowds ensured that not much wildlife was going to be hanging around in close proximity. While the mass of humanity was a drawback at the nature reserve, the hordes only added to the atmosphere at the nearby Guandu Temple, one of the largest and liveliest I've seen in Taiwan, with great views looking out from the front and back:

It was getting late in the afternoon, and I had a train to catch back to Fengyuan, so the three of us headed back into central Taipei, and dinner at a Korean restaurant in the Breeze Mall at Taipei Station 台北車站. A final cup of coffee and dessert, followed by a walk around the neighborhood, and then it was time for the final goodbyes:

I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it's been to see my old friend Jeff again after all these years, and getting to spend more time with his lovely wife Barbara was an additional pleasure. The two of them really seemed to have enjoyed their two-week stay on the island of Formosa, and I hope all the memories they take back with them of their trip to Taiwan will be good ones. With talk about meeting up in Tōkyō 東京, along with an invitation to visit them in Belgium, I'm sure it won't be that long again before I get to meet up again with Jeff and Barbara.

Passing ports in Taipei

Everyone in the Kaminoge family took the day off today in order to travel up to T'aipei 台北, and the American Institute in Taiwan 美國在台協會. The purpose of our visit to the AIT was the renewal of Amber's US passport, but we also spent some time in Hsimenting 西門町 afterward before taking a bus from the relatively new (and nice) Taipei Bus Station 台北轉運站 to Fengyuan. A long day, but a successful one (I hope).

Taipei is...different, at least in comparison to the other cities, towns and villages in Taiwan. Obviously, it's more cosmopolitan, but I've also noticed that, unlike other major urban areas around the world, Taipei actually seems like a better environment in which to raise my daughter than other burgs on this island. Usually, one takes for granted that rural areas and small towns are much better places to bring up children than a metropolis of 2.6 million people. In T'aipei's case, however, it appears there's a greater sense of order and respect at play in the capital city, from the way people stand to the right on the escalators in MRT 台北捷運 stations in order to let those in a hurry pass by on the left, to the vehicles that actually slow down (and even stop!) to allow pedestrians to cross the road when the latter have a green light. Contrast this with the rest of Taiwan, where everyone seems to be unaware of the presences of those around them, where I fear for my daughter's life every time we have to cross the street, and where every fourth person or so looks like they have some connection or other to a criminal gang.

Of course I'm exaggerating (it's more every fifth person is a gangster) - Taipei is certainly no paradise. At the same time, however, the rest of Taiwan is hardly a bucolic idyll, not with all the polluting factories, ugly architecture, dangerous driving conditions and apparent lack of concern for the general welfare. Considering that T'aipei is remarkably quiet for a city of its size and population, at least in comparison with other great Asian mega-cities I've spent time in, such as Tōkyō 東京 and Ōsaka 大阪, and some serious thought needs to be given as to where would be best for my daughter to grow up should it become necessary to stay in Taiwan (though I fervently hope I don't have to make that decision).

Amber strikes a pose in Hsimenting (上), and checks out the scenery on the bus ride home (下):

Ximending - Shibuya without the crowds

In T'aipei 台北 this morning to take care of some personal matters, I found myself with a couple of hours on my hand before my 1:30 train back to Fengyuan 豐原, so I headed over to Hsimenting 西門町, billed as Taipei's answer to Harajuku 原宿 or Shibuya 渋谷. For once, the hype was fairly accurate, as the crisscrossing streets in the area do bear a noticeable similarity to Shibuya's Center Gai 渋谷センター街:

If you're young and Taiwanese, Hsimenting is no doubt the place to be, full of shops, boutiques and restaurants, many with a Japanese connection or theme. However, there are a couple of sightseeing attractions, as well, with the Red Pavilion Theater being the most prominent:

 

Dating from 1908, when it opened as a public market, the theater is now an arts center. Although there wasn't anything going on when I looked inside, the displays were evocative of days gone by. Another sight in the area is the T'ienhou Temple. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took there turned out very well.

Compared with Shibuya, there were far fewer people out and about on this Friday around noon, though I'm sure Hsimenting becomes a sea of youthful humanity at night and on the weekends. Unsurprisingly, Japanese signs were everywhere to be seen in the area. Some were aimed at Japanese tourists, while others were attempts at looking cool in the eyes of the local youth (and some were probably a bit of both).

A short walk from Hsimenting, but worlds away in attitude (and hipness) lies Taiwan's government nerve center. The most prominent structure in this area is the Presidential Office Building 總統府, put up in 1919 to house the Japanese governors-general 台湾総督府, it still serves as the office of the head of state. This in contrast to Seoul, where the Koreans, in a fit of nationalist pique a few years ago, tore down the Japanese colonial HQ there, and replaced it with a national museum:

From the Presidential Building, it was short walk back to Taipei Station 台北車站, and my seat on the 1:30 express train.

A few observations after a weekend in Taihoku

Having some business to attend to on Saturday morning in Taipei 台北, we decided to turn it into a family weekend in the big city. I arrived first, on Friday night, and checked into the Keyman's Hotel. At NT1940 ($60/￥5800) a night for a "Japanese-style" double room (in Taiwan, "Japanese-style" usually means wooden flooring and a mattress on the floor), and in a very convenient location close to Taipei's main train station, Keyman's was definitely a good choice - it also had a nice inner atrium, and breakfast was included in the room rate (Chinese-style, alas).

Pamela and Amber took the train up from Fengyuan 豐原 on Saturday morning, and I met them at Taipei Main Station 台北車站 just after 1 pm. Before going to the station, I took a walk around the area surrounding the hotel, and took this picture of the National Taiwan Museum 國立台灣博物館, dating from 1915, and one of a number of Japanese-era buildings to be found in the Zhongzheng 中正 area of Taipei. This, plus the fact that the interior of the Taipei Station building, its underground shopping malls, and the streets surrounding it outside are full of Japanese restaurants, shops selling Japanese goods and signs written in Japanese led to me observe the following: Taipei may be the power base in Taiwan for the "superior mainlanders", but deep down inside, the city wants to be nothing less than a minor-league version of Tōkyō 東京. China may be on a higher cultural plane than the southern part of Taiwan, which is supposedly where all the island's "rednecks" live (debatable), but Japan is definitely cooler. The delicious taste of irony! Oh, and having come back from a week-long stay in Fukuoka 福岡, I think I can honestly say that Taipei still has a long way to go before its dream can be realized.

After resting for a while in our hotel room, we headed out in the late afternoon, taking the MRT 台北捷運 to Longshan Temple Station 龍山寺站 in the Wanhua District 萬華區 (it didn't take Amber very long to figure out how to use the tokens - in that regard, she was much quicker than some adults!). We first visited Longshan Temple 龍山寺, Taipei's most famous temple, a fact reflected in the sheer number of people worshiping there early on a Saturday evening as the skies threatened to unleash buckets of rain (a threat which was soon carried out). Walking into the courtyard facing the Main Hall, we came across hundreds of people, many dressed in black, chanting in unison. The effect was nothing short of creepy:

Longshan Temple

The temple is certainly very colorful, and the Rear Hall was also very active, but all the incense smoke irritated Amber's eyes, so we didn't linger long.

Escaping from Longshan Temple, we walked over the start of the Huaxi Tourist Night Market (aka "Snake Alley"), which led me to make Observation No. 2: Taipei may be Taiwan's highest-class city, but it contains arguably the island's lowest-class night market. Though we were there before things had gotten into high gear, the sleaziness prevalent in some of the businesses (not to mention in some of the denizens, as well) gave me second thoughts about having Amber there. When you take into account that the market's main claim to fame is the several stalls that slaughter snakes in "shows" for the benefit of tourists, it's probably best that we didn't stick around long (the latter stalls all had signs in English and Chinese forbidding photography. No doubt their owners are aware that, in this day and age, killing animals in the name of tourism isn't considered to be as entertaining as it might have been in the past).

The shop in the photo on the top claims to sell Fengyuan-style noodles. It's a pity we didn't try our luck there. The food couldn't have been any worse than the greasy fried rice I had at a small eatery across the road from our hotel!

The rain that plagued us on Saturday evening also came down at times on Sunday (though not as hard, fortunately), which leads me to my next observation: if Taipei is ever suffering from a serious drought (which it sometimes is), the city fathers ought to pay for me to come up and visit, because almost every time I've been to Taipei over the years, the weather has been rainy! This didn't stop us from taking the MRT out to Taipei Zoo in order to see the pandas. The unfortunate pair were given to Taiwan by China last December, and Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan ("Reunification") have been dragged ever since into the muck that is Taiwanese politics. As political symbols, they are repulsive, but in the eyes of a little girl only three and a half-years old, they are just cute, and Amber eventually returned home on Sunday evening the proud owner of a panda pen and some panda stickers, not to mention a panda sucker she happily consumed just before we left the zoo in the middle of the afternoon.

Panda mania appears to have run its course, judging from the fact that we didn't have to wait in any lines before being allowed inside the special exhibition area. Nevertheless, zoo personnel didn't tolerate any lingering, and while the Tibetan bears (chuckle) were up and about this morning, the best I could do when it came to recording their images can be seen in the photo and video below:

Taipei Zoo Pandas

As for the rest of the day at the zoo, Amber was interested in the iguanas, snakes and tortoises in the reptile house (that's my girl!), but curiously immune to the appeal of penguins. She did perk up in the African animal display area (especially the giraffes and monkeys), and was also quite happy with the koalas, which we saw at the end, before returning via the MRT to Taipei Station.

The two photos above, Amber on the MRT and the view from the platform at Zhongxiao-Fuxing Station, have no relation to my final observation, which is that while Taipei may be Taiwan's cosmopolitan center, judging from the fashion tastes witnessed during our stay on Saturday and Sunday (not to mention my previous visits as well), the capital city isn't that far ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to what people are wearing, especially the young. Or to put it another way, even the dedicated followers of fashion in Fukuoka are leaps ahead of their counterparts here in terms of what is hip and stylish. I'm not passing judgment one way or the other, but I do find it curious that the southern part of Taiwan, with its legions of "Taimei" 台妹 seems to be setting the pace in this regard (I have a feeling that had we visited Tianmu 天母 or Ximending 西門町, I would've just been reminded of things I'd seen in Tōkyō years ago).

For the return trip to Fengyuan, we took our inaugural ride on Taiwan's high speed rail system 台灣高鐵, traveling from Taipei to Wurih 烏日, which counts as "Taichung" 台中 to the High Speed Rail Corporation. Having ridden the Shinkansen 新幹線 on numerous occasions in Japan, I was very curious to see what Taiwan's version was like, and I was quite impressed, both with the system, and the speed and comfort of the ride. The boarding announcements at Taipei Station felt more like what would be heard at an airport (in Japan, there is never any doubt that you are about to get on a train), but the views from the train window were very similar to what can be seen riding the Tōkaidō Shinkansen 東海道新幹線 from Tōkyō to Shin-Ōsaka 新大阪 - the same scenes of rice paddies and factories, though the boxy, concrete houses and the numerous Taoist temples (big and small) left no doubt as to what country we were in:

Taiwan High Speed Rail

Wurih is a rarity among HSR stations in that it connects to a Taiwan Railways Administration 台灣鐵路管理局 station (New Wurih 新烏日車站) - arriving at most of the other stations entails long bus rides into the respective downtown areas of the cities they serve. It was only six stops on a local train to Fengyuan, and by 6:45 we were all home. Having left my scooter parked downtown on Friday evening, I discovered that while I was away, my bike had served as a convenient rest area for a couple of people, judging from the empty tea containers on my machine. At least it was still there, and in one piece, so I should be thankful for small favors.

All in all, there are a lot worse ways to celebrate one's birthday than our trip to Taipei.