A Week in Taipei

I woke up full of energy that first morning in Taipei. I was in a new place. As new as new could be for me. I wanted to see and do everything. My feet hit the ground and did not come to a rest for nearly a week. I walked my feet into the ground and myself down a few pants sizes.

Taipei is a sprawling metropolis and densely populated. It is intimidating enough for any first time world traveler, let alone a country boy. The tragic speeds down the streets while herds of pedestrians go about their business. A thousand sights, sounds, smells, and more assault the senses.

Busy streets and tall buildings

Despite all of the chaos, the city is not a mess. The people have adapted to it and a canny explorer would do well to do as the Taiwanese do. The streets are clean thanks to staunch recycling. An excellent transportation infrastructure shrinks the city so that you can get from one side to the other with ease.

My first day I was already charged to go exploring. I hit the streets with my roommate, Stephenson, from the hotel. We just wandered with no real plan, stopping in any little shops that caught our attention. It is funny how something as mundane as a helmet shop can seem exciting when you are on the other side of the planet. We ended up on a small quest to find a gas station when we realized that we had not seen one. 7elevens dot the street, but none are selling fuel. Our quest was achieved, and a new one of finding our way back was set.

I made friends with another person from my training group, Isaac. He was more experienced with Taipei and we set out to see about getting SIM cards for our phones. That did not quite work out, but it was a good start. He lead me and another future teacher, Amos, to a night market near the university. A good taste of some real Taiwanese food.

The next day was more touring and socializing with the others in my group. I am not one for big group outings, but I hoped to make a good impression. We visited Liberty Square fist. This expansive plausa is the sight of three landmarks: the Chaing Kai-shek Memorial, National Theater, and National Concert Hall first. They are staggering and beautiful.

Liberty Square as seen from Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

Our erratic herd continued on with a rough plan of going to the botanical gardens. That never quite worked out. Instead we had some lunch and then meandered through the Ximen shopping district. It was a raucks of noise with shops galore. It seemed like almost everything was stamped with Hello Kitty or One Piece (or sometimes both). I had an appointment to keep, so I headed off from the rest of the group early.

My roommate Stephenson, Wendy, Nolene, and I posing before foo lion.

A friend, Wes, took me to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Potstickers are likely to be a staple of my diet along with pork buns. Nicely stuffed, it was time to meet up with the group again for a trip to another night market. It takes a while for night markets to grow old. They are like a mix of festival and boardwalk. Shops offering deals and signs with flashing lights. I even tried my hand at a little haggling. I am not sure if I was bad at it or the guy just was not going down in price. Either way, I got Finn and Jake Adventure Time rags for me and my roommate.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

Turns out I can be a bit of an early riser at times. I woke up at five thirty in the morning to walk down to the park. The heat is not as rough in the morning. I enjoyed watching some birds and rued that I had not brought a camera to capture their morning hunt.There were other people there, mostly older people. They were exercising and doing tai-chi. I joined two older women for a short time. I should have worn a bit more insect repellent, but I also needed a shower and bath before breakfast.

The memorial park with Taipei 101 in the background

So, the third day was a bit more organized. Hess had us divided into groups to go on a tour of the city while the other half was getting their medical checks done. I ended up on the morning tour, which is probably for the best, by accident. A lot of things got pointed out to us like parks and important buildings. Important things for expats such as a bread store that sells what we would consider normal bread were also pointed out. We went back to Liberty Square. This time we saw the changing of the guards at the Chaing Kai-shek Memorial. Another fun stop was the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. I was actually more interested in the park that was part of the memorial than the building itself. It has beautiful walkways and a pond.

The next day was another planned outing. We were taken up to Tamsui. It had a beautiful boardwalk along the river. A good sight to see was the Former British Consulate. I had seen it in my guide of the island, but had not thought much of it. It actually proved quite interesting though. Sadly, by this point I was not doing to hot. I had chosen to wear my sandals, which had developed some rough spots. Thankfully I had my first aid kit in my adventure bag so I was able to stop any blisters from forming.

Next we went down Tamsui Old Street. A lot of stalls selling all kinds of good eats draw in the crowd. I chose to go with my preferred strategy for eating in a foreign land. I choose something that looked good and ate it. Then I tried to find out what it was. I ended up trying fishballs and squid. Not my thing, but not horrible.

Beautiful, cloudy mountains on the way to the beach. 

The group then split up, some returning to the hotel while the rest went to the beach. I went to the beach. That entailed a rather long bus ride, but the bus was nice. We arrived to find the sand scorching hot (seriously, I almost burned my feet) and the water refreshing. Unfortunately, we did not pay enough attention to local customs. August is ghost month, so no one is suppose to go swimming in water deeper than they can stand. So the swimming area was cordoned off to a rather small area. It was fun to swim though, and some of the waves had some decent size to get swept up in.

Don't swim to deep, there are ghosts about.

By Sunday, I was pretty worn out. I had hardly stopped moving since arriving on the other side of the planet. My feet were worn into the ground. Also, I had gone through most of my wardrobe. So the start of the day was getting some laundry done. That proved a chance to see a bit more of the city streets and get off of the beaten path.

Afternoon was time for another adventure. I had made friends with a very nice lady named Grace before coming to Taiwan. She was kind enough to come with me for a look around the town. It never hurts to have a local guide.

We visited the Holiday Jade and Flower Markets. They reminded me of the flea markets back home, but with some distinct twists. They are located under the MRT overpass, and the Jade Market even has temporary walls and AC. We strolled through looking at the beautiful craftsmanship. I even purchased a few small stones. The flower market was nice as well. Seeing all of the plants and produce made me hunger to come back once I have my own apartment. I see some potted aloe and flowers in my future. There was also a third craft market that had much of the same along with some additional crafts as well.

Taiwan style

After a brief rest in the park (I said I had run myself into the ground) we went to Taipei 101. We got an early dinner, or maybe it was a late lunch, at a nice restaurant down in the basement, and I got some lessons in Taiwanese table manners. After that, it was up to the top. I was excited not just for myself, but for Grace as well. She had never been to the top either! It is funny how we live near things sometimes and never go to see them.

Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world for seven years. It tends to be the centerpiece of the Taipei skyline. It provides one of the best views of the city. At the same time, I find myself often checking to see if it is part of the background when viewing other sights. One of the reasons to travel to Elephant Mountain is to get a good view of the skyscraper.

Taipei at day

The trip to the top was made in the world’s fastest elevator. My ears popped about four times. Once we were up there we were given a phone like device that would give us an audio tour as we went around the building. Thankfully, they had it in English as well. The view was breath taking. We could see all the way to the mountains. Having gone later in the day, we were able to watch the city undergo its twilight metamorphosis. The streets changed to lines of glowing light. Taipei became Tron. We observed the tuned mass damper that acts as a helps the building absorb vibrations. I found myself taking pictures, thinking my father would appreciate them. We made our way to the outside observation to view the city with the breeze brushing our skin.

Taipei at night, staring Grace

Eagle made of coral gemstone

T-rex made of coral gemstone

Ready to make our way back to terra firma, we had to pass through a very high end crafts store. They had statues of jade and coral gemstone. The exquisite detail was mesmerizing. There was a statue of an eagle with wings spread and another of a T-rex. There were huge globes with each country made out of pieces of precious stones. It amazed me even as it also terrified me given my habits of clumsiness. Somehow I made it through without doing a rather literal bull in a china shop impression. All of the stunning art was left in one piece.

On the way home, Grace decided to test me to see if I had mastered the MRT. I can happily report that I passed and was able to make all of the transfers without help. We parted company and I headed back to the hotel. My mind flitted across all that had been transpiring the last few days. So much to take in. I needed to catalog it all and make notes. There were plants and animals to identify. So much, so much to do!

Rest was first though. I was walking with a limp and thoroughly depleted of energy. My feet were actually looking forward to training the next day because sitting around in class would give them a break. There was still a lot left to see, things not done or experienced. There would be time for all of that though. You cannot see everything in a day afterall.