Taipei

Feb 14

The moment I landed in Taipei, I felt a sense of relief being somewhere with organized and well-planned infrastructure. Navigating through the airport to the MRT was easy, and the train ride into town passed through a beautiful forest in an undeveloped hilly region.

After checking into the hostel, I went out in search of lunch. I found a cart with ducks hanging in a window and absolutely nothing in English. I pointed to one of the ducks, and the owner asked a question in Chinese while making a single chopping gesture. I figured he might be asking whether I want a half order or whether I want it chopped. In most cases, I've found it best to just agree with whatever is offered, so I agreed with a shy "shì shì." Eventually he served me a beautiful Peking duck, replete with crepes and plum sauce, and a stew made with all the less pretty duck parts. It was incredible.

I found a cart with ducks hanging in a window and absolutely nothing in English

Taiwan was first colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century, but there was a massive Han Chinese immigration during that time period. The Dutch withdrew before the end of that century, but the Chinese immigrants stayed behind. At the end of the 19th century, Taiwan was colonized by Japan. The Chinese Civil war that occurred after the 1911 Revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, had a sort of intermission when Japan took advantage of the conflict and invaded mainland China. Both sides of the Chinese Civil War diverted their resources to defend against the Japanese invasion, but there are strange stories of three-way battles when republican Chinese forces came too close to communist Chinese forces. The Japanese officially let go of Taiwan at the end of the Second World War and shortly thereafter, Republic of China forces fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War. Most everyone knows that Beijing claims to be the legitimate government of Taiwan, but interestingly, Taipei also claims to be the legitimate government of not just Taiwan but all of China.

Taiwan is a beautiful example of what China could be without authoritarian government. Its temples never fell victim to the destruction of Mao's Cultural Revolution. The mix of Chinese and Japanese buildings is very unique.

I had written an entire blog about my experiences that didn't get saved or uploaded properly and I lost the whole thing. I put hours of effort into that one and I don't feel like repeating that. I'm going to really phone it in and post a photo dump with very little context.

Temples

Jiufen (Spirited Away)

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

Beitou Geothermal Lake

That's steam rising up from the lake and the waterfall. I asked another foreigner if he knew whether we were allowed to fish in the lake. He just silently blinked at me so I had to shop the joke around. It got funnier to me each time it didn't get a laugh.

Museums

Ximen

Dihua Night Market

Kishu An Forest of Literature

Next stop: Seoul, South Korea.