First Day in Taiwan

We arrived in Taipei early this morning and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, which is right in the heart of the city across the street from the Main Train Station. One of the interesting things that we noted on the way into town from the airport was the proliferation of trees and green space. Long sections of the road in from the airport were made up of forested mountains. We also drove past many tiny little farms and rice paddies right on the outskirts of Taipei. It was odd to be gazing at rice paddies with factories and apartment buildings right in the background.

We had breakfast at the hotel, which was very reminiscent of our experience in China. The buffet was massive and seemed to cater to all different tastes. There was Chinese congee or rice porridge with a wide range of toppings, miso soup, braised tofu, smoked mackerel, eggs, bacon, French toast, pastries, cold cuts and cheese, and fresh fruit.

Having fortified our stomachs, we headed outside to have a look around, and discovered that the area around the hotel is like one giant restaurant. All the sidewalks are covered with concrete awnings to protect you from the sun and rain – which was good since even at 9:00 in the morning it was probably 80 degrees. As we walked along we passed countless stalls selling fried dough, noodles, omelets, and a dizzying array of other options, and almost every single one of them seemed to be packed with people.

After a short walk, we made our way to the train station and navigated the subway system to get to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. CKS, also known as the Generalissimo, was basically the father of modern Taiwan. He was the leader of the nationalist party in China. After losing the civil war there to Chairman Mao on the communist party he led more than a million of his followers in a retreat to the island of Taiwan, where he established a military dictatorship that essentially lasted until the 1980’s, and continued to assert that his government was the true government over the whole of China.

To get to the memorial, we had to pass through a small wooded park where a large number of people were practicing Tai Chi in among the trees. Leaving the park, we entered a massive open square with the Memorial at one end, and a huge theater and concert hall at the other. It felt in many ways like a somewhat smaller version of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Memorial itself was quite reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial – an open faced building with a larger than life statue of the Generalissimo seated in a straight backed chair.

Feeling temporarily defeated by the heat and jet lag, Linda came back to the hotel to rest while I went out to explore some more of the area around the hotel. After a bit of searching, I managed to find a bookstore. Not surprisingly, almost all of the books were in Chinese, including a truly gigantic selection of computer manuals. But one of the clerks did speak a little bit of English and helped point me towards a couple of English language volumes on Taiwanese culture and the experiences of Expats living in Taipei. I also found a music store and picked up a few random CDs by Taiwanese or Chinese rock bands.

After resting for a while myself, I did my best to rouse Linda, who was still crashed out on the bed, and then went out to do some more exploring. I rode the subway for a few stops and then walked in search of the Dihua Market. I never did find it, but did find a whole lot of interesting stores to poke around in. Many of the shops in that section of town seemed to specialize in dry goods, literally, so the sidewalk displays were made up of stacks on dried berries, mushrooms, flowers, roots, seeds, nuts, and other less identifiable items.

I also came across the Xia Hua City of God Temple, which was a tiny little temple on a back street. The walls and roof were decked out in colorful murals, and there was a long stream of people who kept coming in to burn incense and pray. Eventually, after watching the crowds for a while, I made my way up to the front and put a few sticks of incense as well. A very kind woman saw me looking confused, unsure what to do with my incense now that I had it, and helped show me the ropes. Apparently, this particular temple, which she said was some 2,000 years old, is particularly popular with young people in search of a boyfriend or girlfriend. They go there to pray for looking in their search. But, other people also use the temple to pray for happiness and good luck in their families, safety from evil, and general all around well being. So I lit my incense and said a few prayers for David, hoping that he will be healthy and happy as he joins our family. Then I burned the incense in a large fire pit at the front of the temple and sampled some of their “blessed tea”, which was a sweet concoction of cherries, wolfberries, and sugar.

In the evening, Linda and I both went to the Shilin Night Market. Night markets are apparently very popular in Taipei, and Shilin is the biggest one. It was a real fairground atmosphere, with carnival games and vast numbers of food vendors. I ate something called bun in a bun, which was basically some sort of deep fried dough, crushed up, topped with peanuts, and wrapped in a crepe. It sounds strange, but turned out to actually be pretty tasty. Then we braved the crush of people to walk down one of the streets where small vendors were hawking their wares. It really was wall to wall people, and we were packed in pretty tightly, but it was fun to check out what they were selling – and it really was a bit of everything. There were shoes stores, belts, t-shirts, flip flops, make-up, jewelry, dresses, men’s clothing, lingerie, toys and more, all being sold by people who were shouting into loudspeakers and microphones to get attention.

There were also a huge number of people selling snacks from small carts. We saw grilled bird’s eggs, crab, all kinds of seafood, grilled dough, various iced concoctions, and many other foods that I don’t even know how to describe.

We’re back at the hotel now, and will head to Tainan in the morning. We’ll leave from the Main Train Station across the street, and travel all the way to the southern tip of Taiwan by high speed rail – the whole trip will take less than 2 hours. We’ve already arranged with a taxi driver to bring us to the hotel and then take us from there to St. Lucy’s – where we will have the chance to meet David for the first time! So by the time we write again we should be able to tell you bit more about him. Wish us luck!