Taiwan (Republic of China)

My flight on China Airlines from Bangkok to Seoul had to change planes in Taipei so I thought since I had to go through there anyway, I might as well try to see something and changed my ticket to allow for a 4 day stopover in the island country. I hadn't planned or expected that I would be in Taiwan and didn't really know much about the country or what there is to see there so I emailed some fellow couchsurfers in the city to see if anyone had a place I could crash at. I received several replies and finally decided that I would stay at one couple's house in Taipei. From the international airport, I took a bus and then subway to the station where the couple lived. I was greeted by Samantha (Sam) an English speaking Taiwanese lady who works as a financial consultant for ING in Taipei. She took me to her apartment where I met her husband David, an American guy who has been living in Taiwan for the last 17 years and works as a translator, and their 3 cats. They told me that I had come at a perfect time because that weekend they were going to be having their annual dragon boat racing festival. The first day, we just walked around their neighborhood and ate at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant.

National Palace Museum

This is the history of Taiwan in a nutshell. Taiwan, the island also known as Formosa, has been a controversial piece of land in Asian politics for hundreds of years. Most recently, the Japanese controlled the island until the end of WWII when they surrendered and Chinese troops took control of the island. In 1949 during the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Communists won and the Nationalists packed up everything and moved it all to Taiwan where they claimed they were the real government of China. Of course the communist government in China still claims that Taiwan is part of China, and the Republic of China (government in Taiwan) claims that they are an independent nation. It is a very controversial subject not only in China in Taiwan but also in international arenas around the world.

Taipei 101

My second day in Taiwan, Sam and David had to work so I set off on my own. I first went to the National History Museum but since it wasn't open yet, I made my way to the National Palace Museum. When the Nationalists fled China during the Civil War, they took with them many of the museum artifacts from the Forbidden City in Beijing. These are the artifacts that are currently displayed at the museum in Taipei. There are things such as jade jewelries, bronze ornaments, and imperial ceremonial clothes and scripts. They even had a free tour with English speaking guide that made the experience very informative.

After the museum, I went to Taipei 101, the world's "tallest" building. I put tallest in quotations because that is another subject of debate. There are many different categories for tallest building depending on what you consider the guidelines to be. It also boasts the world's "fastest" elevator. The total height of the building is 1, 670 ft. to the top of the antenna. And the elevator can go from the fifth to the eighty-ninth floor in only 37 seconds. That is a speed of 38 miles per hour. From the observatory on the 89th and 90th floors, you can get an astonishing view of the metropolis of Taipei sprawling out below you. One of the most impressive things that I noticed about Taiwan was its modernity. Everything seems so new, so state of the art, and top quality. The city is really clean and they have a great transportation system. Not bad for a little island country. This is what technology and export led industrialization can do you for a country if you know how to do it right.

view of Taipei from 89th floor observatory

My next stop was the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall formerly known as the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Either way, it's a mouthful. Chiang Kai-shek was the leader of the Republic of China from 1928 until his death in 1975. He was a strong leader who was a staunch anti-communist and ruled with an authoritarian government. Like so many other things in Taiwan, he is also a controversial figure, hence, the renaming of the memorial. Later, I stopped back at the National History museum to see exhibits of jade artwork, traditional clothes, and a temporary exhibit on Taiwanese coffee houses/brothels.

The next morning, Samantha told me she was going to do thai chi with some other people and invited me along to watch. We walked to a local community center at 6 in the morning where there were about 30 people already doing their morning thai chi. Most of them were elderly and only a few were in their 30's. I went with the intention of only watching but the instructor wasn't going to let me stand by idly and pulled me into the middle of the group and motioned for me to copy what they were doing. The combination of the music and the lady repeating, "Breath in. Breath out." was really nice and soothing. After our morning exercise, we stopped by a Taiwanese Buddhist temple. This temple was much more different than the Buddhist temples that I have already seen. There seemed to be a lot more detail with the ceramic people and dragons decorating the entire building. It was also a little creepy looking at it too. The night before, one of the buildings had caught fire near the temple and we could see the flames from our apartment window. Fortunately the temple wasn't damaged at all. At the top of the building was a pigeon cage. One of the neighbors said all of the pigeons were killed and that only their cooked breasts remained.  

National Taiwan Deocracy Memorial Hall

That day was also the day of the dragon boat festival. Dragon boats originated in China and are long boats powered a group of people with oars. They look something like what you would see a college rowing team in. They have a course set up along the river that they race on. On may sits in the back beating a drum or coaching the rowers, the rowers on each side of the boat, and one guy leaning off of the front of the boat waiting to grab the flag at the finish line. Samantha and David's apartment was about a block away from where all the festivities were taking place. We walked down ate some good food and watched the competitions. The teams ranged from experts to groups of friends who just wanted to put a team together and have fun. Of course the local fire departments and police stations had teams as well.

Chiang Kai-Shek

After the dragon boat races, I took the subway to get on another train and headed out to Hsinchu, a town about an hour south of Taipei. A friend of mine from university, Kevin, has been living there for the last two years teaching English. I hung out with him for the afternoon and checked out the new Mexican restaurant that he and his friend were opening the following week. It was good to talk to him and get his take on what it's like to live and study in Taiwan. I have been planning to go to China after this summer in Korea to study Mandarin Chinese and had never actually considered Taiwan but after this trip and talking to him, it doesn't seem like too bad of an idea.

morning tai chi workout

I made it back to Taipei that night to make it to a party of several of the couchsurfers in the Taipei area. We met at a hamburger place and then went out to a night market afterwards. I wasn't too keen on the idea but they insisted that I ate some Taiwanese soup that has tofu in it and smells like wet dog. They assured me that even thought it smells horrible, it still tastes good. They were right, it did smell like wet dog but I wouldn't go so far as to say that the tofu tasted "good". I would just say, it didn't taste as bad as it smelled. The soup it was in was pretty good though. It was a really cool group of people and we had a great time. The next morning, Samantha gave me a ride back to the airport where we said our goodbyes and I boarded the plane again this time to Seoul, Korea.

inside Taiwanese Buddhist temple

Taiwanese Buddhist temple

view of river from Samantha and David's apt.

dragon boat racing

Dragon Boat Festival

kids tent at festival

Kevin ordering some Peking duck

me eating stinky wet dog smelling tofu soup

fellow couchsurfers unite

Taiwan Beer

inside a Taiwanese Buddhist temple