Taipei, Taiwan – Thursday, May 5th to Sunday, May 8th, 2011
We would meet at The Meeting Place. That was the name of the hostel I’d stay for a long weekend in Taipei, joined by several friends from Hong Kong. Although we would all convene at The Meeting Place, as typical college students our schedules and itineraries were all quite disorganized (I arrived a day earlier to check off my first two Taiwanese theme parks, Window on China and Leofoo Village Theme Park) although I was able to spend most of my time with Mariel and Josh, whom I also saw during my earlier Singapore trip. Some would depart as soon as Monday, others stayed through midweek. I would be leaving on Tuesday morning… in order to ride coasters across the entire island all the way through the following weekend. But, for these next few days, I’d put theme parks aside to focus on the food, culture, and even nature in and around Taipei with friends.
The best way to start a day in Taipei is with a street food breakfast. This cart’s specialty vaguely resembled an Asian breakfast burrito, while the Taiwanese sausages were also very popular. (There’s going to be a lot more street food later in this report, but we’ll have to wait for the sun to set…)
Our first stop of the day was to Taiwan’s most popular tourist attraction and in fact one of the top twenty most-visited museums in the world, the National Palace Museum.
The museum contains one of the largest collections of artifacts from Chinese antiquity in the world. The name “Palace Museum” actually refers to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, where most of the collection was located. It consisted of many of the most prized items from China’s imperial dynasties. When the Nationalist government was forced to evacuate to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War, they took the museum collection with them. This is still a sore point in Taiwan-Mainland relations, and why the museum is careful when lending its collections for overseas exhibitions, in case China tries to pressure a legal claim to seize the items.
It’s a massive complex, but unfortunately no photos were allowed inside so I only have a couple to show from the outside. For what it’s worth, we only saw a small section of the total collection, mostly focusing on a jade exhibition that included possibly the museum’s most famous item: the Jadeite Cabbage. It’s a two-color piece of jade carved as a cabbage with a cricket on it. The craftsmanship was indeed very good, although the furor over this one particular rather small item was a bit bemusing especially given that it’s not regarded as a culturally significant piece apart from its own popularity with tourists. Then again, it’s the only individual piece that I can remember seeing with complete clarity nine years later, so maybe there is something to it.
Next to the National Palace Museum was the Garden of Perfected Benevolence, where photos are allowed as we took a brief stroll. I’m guessing the name sounds more poetic in Mandarin.
The pond contained a rather high density of carp, which was popular with both human and avian onlookers.
Afterward we hopped on the metro service to a quick lunch between locations at a Taiwanese fast food cafeteria chain Mariel had picked out. For all the effort to get there the experience proved to be somewhat underwhelming; but still very economical and distinctly Taiwanese.
We next ended up at Liberty Square, Taipei’s largest public plaza. If this were the mainland it would probably be called People’s Square, but it’s a similar affect. Here was the Liberty Square Arch, undergoing some renovation:
The National Concert Hall, opened in 1987:
And standing opposite is the similarly palatial National Theatre:
On the opposite end of Liberty Square is the main landmark, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
The 249 foot tall, eight-sided memorial hall opened in 1980, five years after the death of the Republic of China’s president Chiang Kai-shek.
The interior consists of one giant room containing a larger than life statue of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek seated. So it’s a bit like the Taiwanese version of the Lincoln Memorial, if Abraham Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated, lost the Civil War, and remained as president of the one remaining Union state for fifty years.
I believe the ceiling was undergoing renovation. The Republic of China’s emblematic sun should be emblazoned across the top.
Apart from the statue, the memorial hall was most famous for its guards, who much like at Buckingham Palace are extremely disciplined to maintain strict postures and never react to the hoards of tourists as they walk past.
Outside, children play.
Looking back towards Liberty Square.
A couple of metro stops away was our next destination.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen was the original founder and philosophical leader of the Kuomintang Nationalist Party that replaced the last Qing dynasty of China in 1911. So he was sort of the Thomas Jefferson to Chiang Kai-shek’s Abraham Lincoln (or, perhaps better suiting the case of early 20th century revolutionary dictatorships, the Vladimir Lenin to the Joseph Stalin.)
The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall opened in 1972.
It also features a large seated statue of its namesake.
“Salute, please.” Okay…
If reunification between Taiwan and the mainland were ever to happen (which it very well many not), I’d be curious what may become of these monuments. Even contemporary Taiwanese have begun to express reservations about the authoritarian legacy of the Kuomintang.
By this point the sun was hanging low in the sky… time to hurry to our next destination.
Taipei 101 is by far the most famous building in Taiwan, and was the world’s tallest skyscraper from the time of its completion in 2004 until 2010 when it was surpassed by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. (Since then several other skyscrapers, including some in mainland China, have also eclipsed the Taipei 101.) Regardless, the funky postmodern “bamboo shoot” design still makes it one of the most attractive and memorable of the world’s supertall skyscrapers.
Passing by an open air market and Taipei City Hall to get to Taipei 101.
Taipei 101 refers to the 101 stories within the building’s 1,671 foot height.
Heading inside for our tour of the observatory.
And here we are, looking down on Taipei from the 89th floor.
We had timed our visit to just before sunset so we could view the city both in sunlight and after dark. While we were waiting for the sun to set, our tickets got us a discount to something called a Taiwan Beer Float, essentially a root beer float with vanilla ice cream, but using Taiwan Beer, the most popular domestic brand of beer in Taiwan. While the concept might have worked with a dark milk stout or something like that, Taiwan Beer is a very light and bright amber lager beer with a sharp aftertaste that distinctly does not mix well with the vanilla ice cream. Lesson learned. No photo taken.
With few other skyscrapers to obstruct the view, the view after dark was a twinkling field of lights. Too bad my camera at the time did so poorly with low light settings.
Before heading back down to ground level, we got a look at Taipei 101’s tuned mass damper, the largest in the world. The giant steel sphere is able to very gently sway back and forth like a giant pendulum to counteract any movement of the building due to winds or seismic activity.
Back on the ground looking up at Taipei 101 in the night sky, feeling like something out of an 80’s Sci-Fi movie.
With the sun fully set, it was time for the best attraction in Taipei… exploring the Taiwanese night markets!
Every major city in Taiwan has at least one open air street market that opens primarily at night, where you can find a dazzling array of goods for sale in a vibrantly chaotic setting.
While certain markets may specialize in different goods such as clothing or flowers, what most are famous for, like the Shilin Night Market we would try tonight, is the street food… and lots of it!
Night markets are ideal for sampling lots of different foods at a low price. While English speakers or signage are few and far between, it’s still pretty easy for a foreigner to navigate by the sights and smells, and simply look for the western numerals next to the 元 character to figure out the amount of money to hand over. Best part is if you don’t like a particular item, it’s not a big deal because it’s usually only a few bites anyway, making it easy to be adventurous. Here we got to try a fresh-made omelette-like creation (paired with boba teas and Taiwan Beer, the national beverages of Taiwan).
A popular dessert found in many night markets are these candied strawberries and cherry tomatoes on a stick.
However, the most famous dessert we had to try while in Taipei was also the one that carried the most risk. Baobing is a type of shaved ice dessert popular in Taiwan that comes with various types of glazed fruit or jellies on top. Everyone in my group really wanted to try it… but word was that another student group who visited Taipei earlier in the month was stricken sick after consuming a night market baobing made with contaminated water. Mariel, Josh and I debated for a while whether the risks outweighed the rewards, and finally gave in. It was a delicious if not slightly nerve-wracking experience, but by the end we concluded that we probably made it safely to the other side.
After baobing Mariel and Josh decided to celebrate by taking a coin-operated kiddie car for a joyride.
While Saturday was the primary day we spent exploring the city Taipei including the Shilin Night Market, we also spent time at other night markets on the other days, with several visits to the Raohe St. Night Market which was within walking distance of our hostel.
The smaller Raohe Street Night Market is a straight back-and-forth down a narrow pedestrian street, making it easy to navigate. The storefronts on either side of the street also open up to become part of the night market.
Owls are a recurring symbol associated with the night markets.
As I recall this Chinese opera was even included as a free street show as part of one night market.
I didn’t take as many photos of the food I enjoyed in Raohe, mostly because the crowded walkways were not a very good environment to bring a camera. Peeking off the main drag into some of the side shops revealed a wide variety shops and services, from goldfish to manicures, all very popular.
However, for us, the most amusing was by far the clothing store featuring garments with questionable English translations and graphic design. Imagine going on a first date wearing this romantic shirt:
Or this Parisian inspired design? Very irresistible givenchy, indeed!
“I love crandes,” expresses this shirt, which was made with help from the graphic designer’s cat.
Fortunately I saw very few Taiwanese people on the street wearing anything like this. It’s not like America where white people can wear random Chinese characters without any of their peers pointing out the ridiculousness of it. Anyway, while we could have continued to explore the night markets for a while longer, it was getting late and Sunday we’d be rising early to see one of Taiwan’s more peculiar natural oddities. Until next time…
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