East Asia: 4 Days in the ROC – Formosa Taipei

Not too long after I first came to Korea, I began to hear wonderful things about Taiwan. I’ve had it my head that I wanted to go there since my first year; I actually borrowed a guidebook from my friend and thought about going on a few different occasions. Well, a couple years later, book still in hand (I doubt my friend remembers that I still have it; maybe I’ll return it to him next time I see him!), I finally booked myself a flight to Taiwan and spent a long weekend enjoying a culture that felt familiar, yet also very strange!

I left early on Saturday morning with my friend who was heading to Beijing. We took a cab to the bus terminal and then took an early morning bus to the airport, where we quickly found coffee, paid for our re-entry visas, checked in, then grabbed some breakfast before parting ways for our different flights. It was nice to go to the airport with someone; I’m always by myself on trips!

I arrived in Taiwan a few hours later. It took a long time to get through immigration as my trip took place in early May (during the Children’s Day holiday here in Korea) – the height of the Swine Flu pandemic. I stayed with a couple I met via couchsurfing.com. They picked me up at the airport and then spent all weekend showing me around Taipei. It was wonderful! Free lodging and free travel guides/translators. They were super nice and took me to several places I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to go to on my own, including one area that ended up being my favorite part of the trip. They also took me to, or gave me directions as to how to get to, everywhere/everything I’d mentioned I wanted to go/see/do. They even found me a church to attend on Sunday morning!

The first place they took me was the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. We stayed to watch the hourly changing of the guards ceremony and glanced around the grounds briefly. I ended up going back the next morning to see more of the grounds. It was a beautiful place to begin my Sunday morning, surrounded by nature and many Taiwanese doing their morning Tai-chi!

Here are photos from both visits:

After the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, my new friends took me to one of the famous markets (Ximending) where they encouraged me to try a snack very similar to patbingsu here in Korea. I also got a free portrait cut of myself by a guy in the street. Pretty sure it’s because I was the only foreigner around! Oh, on the way to the market we passed near the Presidential Office Building and through the 228 Memorial Peace Park.

After the market, we headed over to the Longshan Temple. It was ridiculously packed as it was Buddha’s Birthday. Incense, people, and food everywhere. Very sad to see everyone worshipping statues. After the temple we walked through another market (“Snake Alley”, Huaxi Street Night Market), and then made a stop in Gongguan for dinner (I tried – and shockingly enjoyed – stinky tofu!) before heading back to their apartment for the night.

my boys were all over Taiwan!!!

On Sunday I woke up early, returned to the Chiang Kai-she Memorial Hall for a bit, and then headed back to the Gongguan Area. This area is a cool area; if I ever decide to move to Taipei I would want to be near that area. One of the main universities in Taiwan is located there, which means there are many shops, restaurants, etc in the area. It’s also where the Grace Baptist Church is located, which was my reason for going there on Sunday morning. I arrived about an hour before church, so I stopped in at Starbucks where I ate some breakfast and read for a while. I made my way to the church, arriving just in time for the service to begin. The church felt like a mix of my church in IN and my church here in Seoul.

After church I met back up with my couchsurfer friends. We headed to the National Palace Museum. I’m glad I went, but I’m not really a huge museum fan so I wandered around for only an hour or so before grabbing a quick snack and heading out.

After the museum they took me up to one of their favorite spots, which was my favorite part of the entire trip. We went to the northern part of the Taipei, to the Danshui area. We went to the old hospital of the missionary George Leslie Mackay, the Fort San Domingo, and Oxford College. After walking through those areas, we headed down to the main market area. We walked along the river most of the way, which was relaxing and beautiful. Once we reached the market, they helped me find something vegetarian to eat (see the photo of my deep-fried sandwich below) then headed off to their own dinner. I also tried the tall ice cream cones, but was rather unimpressed. After dinner I drank coffee, wrote a few postcards, and took some pictures while I waited for my great tour guides to meet back up with me.

in the midst of this great market/river side area was a 5-story Starbucks. Sigh.

Our next stop was the hot springs! We went to one in the Beitou area. While we walked up the mountain to the hot spring destination of their choice, we could see steam rising from the grates as a result of all the natural water running under ground. Once we reached the location we had been aiming for (I just followed along!), I got my own private room and tub to enjoy for an hour. The water was sooo hot at first; I ran cold water the whole time I was in there and still had to get out of the tub a lot due to the extreme heat!

On Monday I was on my own as my couchsurfer friends both had to work. My first stop was the Taipei Zoo. I was excited to see the pandas, so was greatly disappointed when I arrived to see a sign reading that the panda exhibit is closed the first Monday of each month! Sigh. I did see Koalas, however, along with the usual zoo animals. It was also a nice walk – a lot of long paths through trees and such.

After the zoo I headed to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. I walked around the grounds there a bit before heading over to Taipei 101. I headed to the top to enjoy the view, and so that I could say I’ve been to the top of the (current) tallest building in the world! Afterwards I headed over to the New York New York mall via a cool walk-way that connects a few of the major shopping malls in that area.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, as seen from the top of Taipei 101

This is a tamper inside Taipei 101 that prevents the building from swaying in the winds.

outside the New York New York mall ^^

Eventually I made my way back to the apartment. I headed to the airport on Tuesday morning and was back in the ROK by mid-afternoon! My short vacation in Taipei was a nice break from life in Korea. However, it felt very nice to be able to communicate again!! It was so hard not understanding even the very basics again, and it was hard to resist responding in Korean when I was spoken to in Chinese! I hope to make it back to Taiwan someday; there are a few places in the country that sound absolutely amazing and I would be more than happy to spend a couple days in Taipei again.