Taipei to Hualien
When I left the States back in January, the only plan I had was to somehow arrive in the Philippines, and, by mid July, be back in Oregon for what will no doubt be an epic wedding for one of my best friends. As for the six months in between- totally up in the air. Completely.
Back in February, while tearing it up in El Nido, I met Melanie. Here's a throwback photo of us enjoying the warm clear waters of Palawan.
Anyway, Melanie, a native of the Great White North, has been living and working in Taiwan as an English teacher for the last four and a half years. She had no less than a thousand amazing things to say about the country, so when I was finally ready to leave the Philippines, I decided to book a flight to Taiwan and see for myself what all the hype was about (with a quick layover in Hong Kong, of course).
Melanie finished her contract for the last semester and is taking time to travel between substitute teaching gigs, which is totally convenient! She took a week off that coincided with my arrival date and the two of us set out to explore some of the area in the northeast. By this, I mean Melanie was basically my personal tour guide, speaking fluent Mandarin and introducing me to tons of food, places, people, culture, and tea while I enthusiastically absorbed as much as I could.
The first thing we did after finding our hostel in Taipei was eat. I don't even remember what this is called, but it's soup with fire under it- so fun! And it tasted fantastic.
We only had one full day in Taipei, so we got up the next morning (not too early though... in Taiwan, nothing, not even tea or breakfast shops, open until around 9 at the earliest) and made our way to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.
We made it just in time to see the changing of the guards, a very impressive and perfected routine, which reminded me of witnessing the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC. Even as a child, I recall having strong feelings of pride and respect, as well as sorrow and even fear. I didn't know much about Chiang Kai-Shek or the history of Taiwan, but it made me curious as to what the local Taiwanese, the Chinese, and the Aborigines each felt when they experienced this beautiful memorial. It was a little reminder to me that even though we may all be looking in the same direction, we don't all see the same thing.
I later learned that China's government was split between the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, and the Communists. The two parties fought in a Civil War from 1927 to 1949, with a temporary truce against Japan during WWII. When Japan surrendered in 1945, the Civil war resumed and the Communist party eventually came out on top, at which point Chiang and his government retreated to Taiwan, where he ruled the island as "The Republic of China" until his death in 1975. Meanwhile, Mao Zedong ruled mainland China as "The People's Republic of China." Confusing, I know.
I liked people-watching.
We strolled around Taipei for the remainder of the day catching up with one another and sightseeing. Here's a statue of a selfie. Only in Asia...
Let me introduce you to my new best friend: chocolate boba tea, which is basically a tea and chocolate milk mixture with tapioca balls in the bottom and I could literally drink this all day. The only thing keeping me from doing that is the fact that I looked up the nutritional information on tapioca balls. Sad.
Food. We ate some street food, some restaurant food, some mystery food, and it is all so, so delicious. Melanie did warn me that Taiwan is not the place to lose weight! Good thing I like to walk. ;)
At Shabu Shabu "hot pot," you get a dish of veggies/tofu, a plate of meat, and pot of broth with fire underneath. You add your ingredients to your broth little by little, cooking and eating at your leisure. It's the coolest thing!
I almost forgot to mention the weather... Apparently Taipei in March is cold and rainy and I showed up without long pants. We stepped outside and I was like WTF? Ticket back to the Philippines please! After about four seconds of bitching to myself I remembered that at least I wasn't back in Wisconsin shoveling snow in below freezing weather and adjusted my attitude.
Later that evening, after strolling through the night market, eating and window shopping, we joined some of our hostel mates and learned/taught drinking games. Aaaaaand I shamelessly hooked my phone to the selfie stick belonging to one of the Koreans. Not my proudest moment, but it was actually kind of fun.
The next day, the two of us boarded a train for Hualien, a town on the east coast, where would find plenty of activities to entertain us for the remainder of Melanie's week off.
There are surprisingly few tourists in Taiwan during this time of year and from the way the locals stare, you'd think they had never seen a white person before. Melanie assured me, though, that staring is really just a part of their culture. "Smile back, it's not weird." :) She gets along wonderfully in this country. Here, she is helping this woman make a sign in English advertising her yummy fried onion pancake.
Here and there you can find these reflexology stone walkways within the sidewalks. Not the most pleasant way to stroll through town, but maybe now my thyroid, spleen, and descending colon, among other things, are better off because of it.
In Taiwan, there is a night market in every town and several in every city. Night markets are packed with various food and drink vendors, clothing shops, cheap electronics, arcade games, and tons of people.
It's a great place to find a dense range of Taiwanese culture.
And fill your belly, of course.
Yummy!
These red lanterns were hung for Chinese New Year and apparently they are "left up for about six months until they are an ugly sun-burnt orange color, then they finally take them down" explained Melanie.
We rented a scooter for two days and, wanting to save the National Park for nicer weather, we opted to explore the town and surrounding area on day one.
At the hostel, we were recommended to check out a lovely lake just outside the city. With Melanie as pilot and Kris as navigator, we set out and were surprised to find that this supposedly beautiful lake was disguised as a small pond inhabited by an inflatable duck family.
Here are a few more things we came across.
I'm usually not too keen on bugs, but this one had good vibes.
We took the 'ped to Taroko National Park the next day.
Luckily with nicer weather!
Marble and jade are abundant throughout Taroko Gorge, formed by the Liwu River.
Our first stop was to check out the Bodhisattva statue.
Enjoying the view from the seven story Xiangde Temple.
Crusin'
On one of our stops, a few Chinese tourists came up and tried to ask Melanie something that neither of us could figure out. Finally she realized that they just wanted to see what a foreign driver's license looked like! She happily obliged.
And of course, if one comes, they all come! By the end of their conversation I think we were surrounded by about 20 Chinese tourists, all looking on with curiosity.
The Eternal Spring Shrine
Trail to the bell tower on the way to the Changuang Temple, pictured below.
Even from the bridge, we could hear the Buddhist Monks chanting. Maybe it was the way it echoed through the gorge, or how nicely it paired with the smell of the trees, or that it was my first time hearing it, but the sound of their chanting was extraordinarily beautiful, almost mesmerizing.
Onward, through the mountains, jamming out to random playlists.
It's no wonder the Portuguese named the island "Formosa" ('beautiful') when they first spotted it.
We chilled out the next day and played some games by the ocean. This is Quirkle and if you've never played you are missing out!!
In the middle of our game, this man came up and started talking to us (well, to Melanie, in Mandarin) and ended up inviting us to lunch. When Melanie saw how skeptical I looked after she translated that he would take us in his car to some restaurant, she assured me that in Taiwan, this would be no problem at all. The opposite, actually. So we went and it was lovely.
Even in my short time here, I have concluded that Taiwan is by far the safest country I've ever visited and the people here will bend over backwards to make you feel welcome or help you in any way. Thank goodness, because Melanie has to go back to teaching and I'll be fending for myself from here on out... let the charades begin!
