As I close in on a full year in South Korea, I’ve been trying to recall what
my expectations were before arriving. Surely I planned on traveling
internationally a bit. I soon found my work schedule didn’t accommodate
much more than a long weekend. In reality I’ve been plenty happy spending
all my time in SoKo. Nearly 12 months later there are still new places I want
to go in this (relatively) small country. With an uncertain future that may or
may not bring me back to Asia, I thought should see a bit more. Destination:
Taiwan.
Only a two hour flight from Incheon, Jac and I landed in capital city Taipei,
meeting Julie coming from Hong Kong. It was well into the afternoon by the time
we made it to the hostel. Little did I know this would be the theme for the
entire trip: intense half days of travel.
The first adventure. A hungry ATM eats a bank card. Between the three of
us we had at least six pieces of plastic that would keep us alive so it wasn’t
a major issue. But still, not the nicest way to be greeted by Taipei. Pineapple
flavored beer makes it all better, though.
Taiwan’s MRT ranks somewhere between the subways of Seoul and Busan, and
miles above the D.C. Metro. I thought fare was cheap in Seoul, but try getting
anywhere for the equivalent of 50 cents. Our first attraction: Taipei 101, the
second tallest building in the WORLD. With a shape inspired by Asian temples it was easily recognizable while sheer height made it appear as the
lone skyscraper of Taipei. The building also has a visible tuned mass damper giving it flexility to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. From indoor and outdoor observatories on the 91st
floor we officially met Taipei.
On a whim, we passed through the Chang Kai Shek Memorial, honoring a
beloved political and military leader. A rainbow accented the plaza and shortly
after, on total accident, we witnessed the most intense urban sunset I have
ever seen. It’s those unplanned moments.
In the vicinity, Longshan Temple, among the most famous in Taiwan. The
temple is a place to worship Buddhist, Taoist, and folk deities. The reds and
yellows of Taiwanese temples came as a shock to my eyes so accustomed to the
greens and reds of Korean temples. However, at night, it was the glowing bronze
that made Longshan so distinct.
Around the corner was a much hyped night market. Not nearly as
crowded as I had prepared for but it certainly provided opportunity to sample
signature Taiwanese food. The bubble tea (invented in Taiwan!) the stinky tofu
(smelled of manure and feet, but addicting in taste to Taiwanese…) pig’s blood
cake, oyster omelet, scrumptious noodles, peanut ice cream (with cilantro!) and
tropical fruit galore. Huaxi Night Market also beholds “Snake Alley” where
snakes are kept for purposes of which I’m not entirely sure (blood? meat? other
juices?) Though we didn’t care to sample, we can testify to seeing some
uncomfortably large snakes.
Reaching our limits, we wandered through the Ximendiang area, what I can only assume is their
equivalent of Hongdae though nothing. could. ever. come. close. Three tired
travelers headed for the hostel. Because Taiwan was obviously the cool place to
be, we actually shared our room with other friends from Seoul.
Taiwan isn’t a travel priority for many but there was more than we could
handle in four days. We knew where we wanted to go despite a gorgeous mountain
range dividing the country that made traveling rather intense. Going from the west coast
to the east coast involved traveling back through northern Taipei. But our
sights were set on Sun Moon Lake. One train, one bus, and one boat later we
arrived…at 4pm. No time to bike or kayak but the small portion of the lake we experienced
was lovely. The water color and vegetation gave a tropical feel. For nonsensical
reasons, the scenic walkway was locked off in the evening, but we had come too
far to not take matters into our own hands. If they really didn’t want us to be
there they should have made breaking in a little more difficult. Unfortunately,
overcast skies rendered essentially no sunset (maybe we had already used up our
sunset luck in Taipei) but the evening was more than salvaged with a fruity
Taiwanese beer tasting.
A mere 12 hours at Sun Moon Lake later we received our 3:30am wake up
call. An hour cab ride and five hour train ride awaited us. Back through Taipei
and down the eastern coast to Taroko Gorge. Unseated train tickets weren’t
horrible as the floor served as a great surface to play cards. I also associate
Michael Pollan and Forrest Gump with Taiwanese trains now. But floor seats meant
giving up gazing at beautiful coastal scenery. Trains were booked and we took
what we could get.
Upon arriving in Taroko we met our tour guide/driver for the day, a
hard-working and slightly cynical wife and mother of two. I can’t imagine how
many tours of Taroko you must have to lead before finding such a stunning place
“boring.” Still, she was very friendly and insistent on every single photo op in the entire gorge. I appreciated the less
obvious humor in her character…and besides, anyone who ends their tour at a
watermelon store will earn some points with me.
Taroko National Park. The words “beautiful” and “picturesque” have been
all too common in my vocabulary since I began blogging. But this was just what
these dramatic cliffs forming the gorge were. A day spent driving through was
probably ideal for three sluggish tourists. As cool as the mo-peds were my
sleep-deprived self would have probably gone over a cliff. Scenic stops included a memorial commemorating the hand-built highway that cost 226
Chinese workers their lives, a cliff-side temple, plenty of rock formations supposedly
resembling animals, and a short hike.
Our guide helped me secure a vegetarian meal, so for lunch it was daylily soup! I familiarized myself with
Taiwanese food before arriving (in part thanks to Anthony Bourdain) but for the
first time in a long time I felt like I sacrificed some eating pleasure/experience
by staying (mostly) vegetarian in Taiwan. It wasn’t for a lack of delicious
vegetarian dishes, as I had quite a few, I think just ended up with the wrong
thing a few times.
Tired travelers needed a good dinner but this ended up being
frustratingly difficult. We didn’t want to wander far from our awesome hotel,
but our street had three options: Indian, Korean, and a cool looking Taiwanese
restaurant that wouldn’t serve us. We headed downtown to a busy shopping area,
but still couldn’t find the Taiwanese dinner we were looking for. Amused but
frustrated, it didn’t seem like this could be possible. Nearly at wits
end, we came across an expat BBQ restaurant. Had my time in Taiwan not been so
limited I would have certainly enjoyed this venue. At the very least it fed our
bellies and gave us some insight into what being an expat in Taiwan might be
like.
Our last train ride, Hualien back to Taipei. Julie flew back to Seoul on
Sunday afternoon but Jac and I still had the rest of the day. What to do, what
to do? A stroll through the gardens of Shilin Royal Residence. A toilet-themed
restaurant to enjoy a squatty potty of mango shaved ice, a Taiwanese treat
quite similar to Korean bingsu. A
painful Taiwanese foot message, just like the locals do. Shilin Night Market for
the delicious and uncomfortably crowded street food fest that I first anticipated. People watching in a Taiwanese McDonalds (almost couldn’t get a seat with
all the social gatherings and study sessions.)
And finally, to the biggest adventure of them all. Sleeping in the
airport. A couple weeks later I still have mixed feelings. A money-saver and
time-extender but also not your most restful night. Unlike sweltering Taiwan,
the airport was freezing. All the clothing in my backpack combined still fell
short. At 3am a cold and groggy Allie wandered to the nearest exit…a parking
garage…where a five minute cat nap turned into three surprisingly solid hours
sprawled on the cement. Those classy Americans. A 7am flight brought us back to Seoul in plenty of time
to teach in the afternoon. Monday went surprisingly smoothly, but it took the
entire rest of the week to recover from this one…
Taipei is not dirty but it is not polished like Seoul. When I think of Taiwan I think of the hoards of mopeds, AC units outside balcony windows, cooling mists on street corners, female taxi drivers, and a particular spice common in many foods that I could never quite pinpoint.
Taiwan was quicker and busier than I would have liked. With the size of our world I have realistic expectations of when I might be back so I’m glad to have experienced as much as possible. I’m thankful Taiwan reminded me what backpacking is like...I am better prepared for the big Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia trip in 11 days!
Taipei 101
The visible mass damper that allows this building to resist strong weather
Chang Kai Shek Memorial
Cooperative lighting tonight
Water fountains aside the National Theater
Longshan Temple
Peanut ice cream! Shaved peanut brittle, cilantro and ice cream in rice wrapper.
Cilantro, how I've missed you!
Traveling companions, Jac and Julie
Dodging traffic instead of scenically walking below.
See that nice boardwalk down there?!
And this is how we got to our scenic walkway.
When there's a will there's a way, right?
Taroko Gorge
Chingshui Cliffs
No comments:
Post a Comment