ohimesama

Discoveries inTaiwan: Aug 2006

This is the lovely home that I was welcomed to. In the heart of Taipei (capital of Taiwan), this apartment was spacious, convenient and inhabited by lovely people. Oh yeah, did I mention it was free?
Here's to the lovely couple who let me stay with them for the 8 days. Willy's parents. They were your traditional Chinese parents. Nice, proper, hospital, went to bed at 10 and woke up at 6. It was nothing like the chaotic home I grew up in. If you know my party animal parents and the infamous grandma, you'd definitely know what I'm talking about. Since they were pretty "traditional," assuming that Willy and I were more than friends, was unavoidable (eventhough Willy tried to persuade me they didn't think anything.

Taipei 101: Located at the centre of Taipei, not only is this the TALLEST building... in Asia (and maybe second tallest in the world after the Sears Tower), BUT... are you ready? It has the FASTEST ELEVATOR RIDE IN THE WORLD!!! 16.83 metres/sec or 63 km/h. Now isn't that exciting? Of course it was going so fast that I didn't feel a thing. From the ground to the pinnacle, it is 509 metres (1,671 ft). (Above: Taiwan Parliament Building)

(Above: My idea of a rad haunted house. Too bad it wasn't one)

listened to music... gave people a hand when needed ...
played some sports ...
answered some prayers

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Scooter Culture in Taiwan

If I had to choose one thing to be the coolest part of my trip, it's gotta be the scooters. I was amazed with how many people used scooters in Taiwan. They're everywhere. On an average busy 4-way intersection, there are atleast 50 scooters. They even have roads and stops exclusively for scooter users. Since scooters are the number one means of transportation, scooter fashion is inevitable. Not only were the scooters really unique, but everyone had really trendy helmuts and masks. It's perfectly normal to see well-known characters and themed pattern helmuts like Hello Kitty, plaid, retro theme or whatever. I've even seen LV and Gucci style helmuts and masks.
I know that in Japan, only one passenger is allowed per scooter. But in Taiwan, two people are actually allowed. It isn't uncommon still, to see 3 or 4 or even 5 people on one scooter. Totally illegal but nobody cares.
That is me trying to "get in" with the scooter fashion. Willy took me sight-seeing around Taipei a couple nights and it was so much fun. Really convenient too. We drove right up to a dessert stand on the street and ordered and left without having to get off the bike. I guess it's like ordering take-out from A&W, but Taiwan style.

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Taiwan at Night

There were a lot of skyscrapers and lights, which reminded me of Hong Kong. The only difference is that I can still see the sky in Taipei. This was in the down town area of Taipei, near the Taipei 101 tower.

(Above: Joyce and I roaming the big bad streets of Taipei)

(Above: betcha can't find me)

Freedom of Fashion. Don't mess with this kung-fu master. He'd take you out in a second with his preying mantis claw and 7-step burning flame palm.

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD.

If my entry has told you nothing about Taiwan, atleast remember food. Taiwan is literally ALL about FOOD. I didn't remember Willy eating so much when he was in Japan but the whole time I was in Taiwan, that seemed to be the only thing he thought about. It was never a matter of "what should we do?" But more like, "what should we eat first?" We'd stop every hour to buy either a bubble tea, fried chicken, dessert and all the interesting foods Taiwan has to offer. It's fair to say that we ate 4 meals and snacked 4 times a day. Needless to say, Willy looked a lot "meatier" when I saw him and I also gained 2kgs.

(Above: Your typical Taiwanese meal at a restaurant. If you like spicy food, you'll love Taiwanese food)

(Above: It's like candy apple but not apple. Instead, there were cherries, strawberries and even tomatoes. My students thought the tomatoes sounded gross but it was surprisingly good. This is pretty traditional stuff. I remember seeing them in ancient Chinese dramas based on 800 CE China)

(Above: Shao rong bao (��包） It's a very famous dish in Taiwan. I must have had this 4 times when I was in Taiwan and got a bit sick of it although now I'm missing it. Japanese people often mistaken this for Siu Mai (焼売）,but I assure you that they are two entirely different things. Shao rong bao's are like little dumplings with meat in them. They are steamed and dipped into vinegar before eating.

(Above: This is a very famous noodle soup shop in Taipei. Don't underestimate this place. It is busy at all times of the day and while I was there, there was a tour guide introducing the place. The soup is kinda thick with really fine noodles. A bit like Japanese sou men but better)

Well there you have it... food in Taiwan. Moving on to...

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The Locals of Taiwan

I made an interesting discovery while traveling in Taiwan: Families love to match their clothing. I think it's fair for me to say this since I witnessed it on three different occasions, which is more than I've seen in a year in Canada. Please refer to picture below)

Children not buying Mom's idea of good fashion sense

(Above: We went to 花蓮 (Hualien), another city south of Taiwan on the east coast. For those of you who aren't too familiar with East Asian history, before the mid 1900's, there weren't actually many Chinese people in Taiwan. It wasn't until Mao Zedong and the Communist party defeat of Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists, did Chiang flee to Taiwan and took with him many of his followers. Today, Taipei is mainly made up of people of Chinese descent while most of the Aboriginals (先�民 in Japanese) are located in Hualien. The woman with the great big smile above is an aboriginal Taiwanese. You can easily differentiate an aboriginal from a Chinese because they are generally much darker and have more defined features. Many famous Taiwanese stars like Amei Cheung and Vivian Hsu are of aboriginal descent)

(Above: We played beach volleyball at night in Hualien and I must say we totally sucked. Just a bunch of posers)

(Above: We were too cheap to take the 2 hour express train from Taipei to Hualien. We finally made it to the Hualien station after nearly 4 hrs. As you might have figured, the people in the painting are of aboriginals in Taiwan)

(Above: What happens when you're too cheap to pay for the express)

We went to the Farglory Ocean Park in Hualien (海洋公園). It's set along the sea, beautiful and was super hot that day. Went on a few rides, watched a dolphin show that convinced me I wanted to be a dolphin trainer for a good few minutes. We also watched seals play basketball and volleyball. I swear they were better than my junior high students.

The last day before I left Taiwan, I met a famous person. His name is Jason and he is a VJ for one of Taiwan's music channels. Of course I didn't know who he was, but that wasn't very important. I thought he was kinda goodlooking but my students like to differ. But who cares, we can't expect 14 year olds to make proper judgements. They think he's hot. They just don't know it yet.

Well... guess it's a wrap of my adventures in Taiwan. Special thanks to Willy, his lovely parents and Joyce. Good luck in Australia Joyce and have fun in the army Willy...hehe

posted by DiVa @ 4:38 PM