TAIPEI PART 2, TAIWAN
2016-05-01, 19:00, THORIN
BUDGET, STAY: AIR BB, 中正區
The final leg of our Taiwan trip (second part for me, fourth for Jason!) was back in central Taipei. This would be the first time I had actually gone around Taipei proper, so I was properly excited to check it out after everyone had bigged it up! We also would see our high school friends Vicky and Tim while we were there -- Vicky was visiting Taiwan with her family, and Tim was stopping by on a trip through East Asia. We had coordinated an air b'n'b with Tim in the 中正區(zhong zheng qu) area.
We got up at the crack of dawn (again) and breakfasted in Jiupo's village, before gettingg a lift to Luodong where the bus station was situated. There we caught the same bus back into Taipei proper, which took around an hour (although I kipped the whole time so it could have been longer!). That afternoon we were going to meet up with Jason's cousin Eugenia, and then meet Tim at the air bnb afterwards, so we decided to do some sightseeing before everything kicked off. We made our way up to 新北投(xin bei tou) where there are some hot springs and sightseeing and stuff (and also it is not too far from where we were meeting Jason's cousin). Jason had been before so roughly knew the area.
Upon arriving we walked through the local park that is the focal point of the hot springs life. We went into some adorbs library that was swarming with school kids but still remarkably quiet, and then continued onto the full-on thermal springs. So the place is teeming with hot springs, and there is a small gorge that is STEAMY. Temperatures are upwards of 50C (significantly!) so bathing is prohibited, but walking around it smells like a morning in a large hostel room -- the air is thick with sulphur and uncomfortably warm. The water is that brilliant light blue that you also see in places like Iceland (maybe its cold 'hot sprin blue' -- I wonder if crayola has a copyright on that).
After getting a waft of hot springs we decided to meander over to the public baths, that are 40NT (85p) to enter. It is housed in this cute old japanese style walled thang and full of old taiwanese aunties and uncles (and some young people). There are 5 or so pools all fed directly by hot springs, with varying temperatures that range from the cold pool at 20C to the ultra hot pool >45C. Lounging in all the pools are all walks of taiwanese society, all in their swimsuits of varying coverage. What I love though is that the space is very body positive - all kinds of body types and no-one seems particularly embarassed, or even caring. I think you see this typically more with older folk, but these body-positive spaces then encourage younger people to dress down as much as they want to without embarassment, which is important. We all got a body and few of us look like a Hollister model!!!
At any rate, after soaking up the sun and the sulphur we made our way to meet Eugenia at a Mexican restaurant near her house, and got our margarita on. After catching up we met up with Tim at the air bnb on the other side of the city, and ventured out to the local night market (師大 -- Shida) for some street eats. After getting our fill of 臭豆腐(stinky tofu), 豬血糕(pork blood cake) and 蔥油餅(scallion pancake) we wandered around the streets before picking up some roadies and heading back to the flat. We were planning on checking out the gay nightlife, so we went to the local offie to get some booze. Someone wise once said 'When in Rome..' so we figured we would get some local spirits. I have had chinese spirits before but Tim hadn't so we got some bamboo spirit, ginger spirit and taiwanese whiskey. They were all 30-40% and locally produced. We also met Vicky at our flat as she was coming to hang out for a bit. The spirits were pretty tasty (imho) although had quite a distinct flavour!
Vicky left around half-eleven, and the three gays made our way over to some local s&m club. First of all, admittance seemed steep at 300NT (although that is only 6GBP) but still. Second of all, the only s&m thing about the club was some chains hanging from the ceiling! Ungrateful bitching aside, we met up with a few of Tim's friends who were travelling through and had a good time. The night was capped by some excellent scallion pancake street vendor that hit the spot!
One of the odd things about Taipei which I hadn't experienced elswhere was that there are a large number of asian-americans in the city. In Singapore, I have only met 2-3 in the year+ that I have been here. Consequently, if you speak mandarin to someone who looks han chinese, there is a high chance they will respond, or at least understand (except if they are chinese-indonesian perhaps). Other parts of Taiwan I would automatically speak to people in mandarin -- it is the national language after all, and also good practice for my rubbish chinese. However, a few times in Taipei, I would speak to someone in mandarin, only for them to look at me as if I had lost my mind, and then reply in wastern-accented English. Its strange because in the west I would not automatically assume someone of han chinese descent would speak mandarin, but it seems like a fair assumption in Taiwan! But then I am concerned that I horribly offended them by assuming the speak mandarin because they are han-chinese! Shoe on the other foot, most westerners I met I also addressed in mandarin, and they would respond in (usually miles better than mine) mandarin! In fact, i was 5 minutes into a conversation with a bloke at a club on saturday (we will get to that) until he asked if I spoke English, and then turned out also to be English!
This is also another aspect of the culture in Taiwan that is different from much of the rest of Asia I have seen -- many westerners have a command of mandarin. In Singapore I have met few (read none) westerners who have any command of mandarin, but in Taipei this group seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. It was refreshing to see whtie people make an effort!
The next day was Saturday (unsurprisingly as that is generally how calendar time works) and Jason and I went out for some breakfast while Tim slept. Needless to repeat, but Taiwanese food is absolutely fantastic, and their breakfast food is no different. We feasted on 飯糰(rice wrap) which is some sticky rice wrap with whatever you want inside. We had pork floss and fried dough in ours. Also on the breakfast menu was classic soymilk and 蛋餅(egg pancake) which is similar to a western omelette. It was the bomb-dot-com, and cheap as chips. After awakening Tim from his slumber we headed off to the one of the main sites in Taipei - the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial. You can google it so I won't go into detail, but its pretty big. We watched the changing of the guards (which took forever) and wandered around the museum in the memorial about the second world war and Taiwan's breakaway from mainland China. Super-interesting imagery and rhetoric very much making Chiang Kai-Shek (and his KMT ruling party) out to be the legitimate successors to Sun Yat-Sen's Republic of China, emphasising the suffering at the hands of the Japanese, the atrocities of the communists and Chiang Kai-Shek hanging out with various western leaders. I always love national monuments because they are oozing with propaganda and are a keen insight into what the nationalist government wants tourists to understand about their country and further legitimise their power.
Moving swiftly on, we then made our way over to Taipei 101 to go and meet up with Vicky for a few hours. A couple of happy hour beers later we said our goodbyes and made our way back to the flat for round two of Taipei gay nightlife. That night we went to the ridiculously named "Werk, a party for boys" because gay nightlife events have to remind everybody that they are gay in the name, which turned out to be in a cool urban club somewhere the Uber took us. I am not sure of this is an international craze or not, but it seems that no-one dances at gay clubs these days! Regardless we left it all on the dancefloor with occasional trips to 7-11 for water and rice balls. The event was quite good, music wasn't too bad and the crowd was a nice mix of folk -- although strangely dense with South Africans.
Sunday was my final day in Taipei and we again woke up and went on a hunt for food. This time we ate some simple street noodles at the side of a market, and then went and woke Tim up to take the day by the horns (at 11:30am). Jason had to go up to his Uncle's house to pick up some stuff, so Tim and I went to what he told me was the expat area (but it didn't seem to be) and we wandered around, finding some amazing (again) street food at the side of the road. I had the best 小籠包 (xiaolongbao) of my life, with some 蔥油餅 (scallion pancake) and 蔥抓餅 (which is just scallion pancake with meat and sometimes egg) which was super delish. Jason joined us later and we checked out some house Sun Yat-Sen went to once before I had to say my goodbyes!
As I said, this was my first time in Taipei and it was great. I love the food culture and the atmosphere - everyone is generally very nice and relaxed, even in the big city. Definitely somewhere I could see myself living in the future (Jason can come too if he wants). Also, some of the most handsome men in Asia so far, which makes it easier to get through the day. Must be something in the (non-potable) water...