Originally, my stop in Taiwan was to be brief, a quick nap at the start of my vacation. My 4 hour layover suddenly became 28 when my agent called me a few days after booking, to inform me I would have to wait in Taiwan until the next day to get my connecting flight. I immediately began soliciting friends on what to do in the land of tea and semiconductors.
Thankfully, I slept 14 of the 18 hour flight, and arrived in Taoyuan rested and ready to go! The hotel wasn’t that interesting – surrounded by farmland among other things – but the breakfast was nice: ascetic, primarily vegetarian, but the hot soy milk was so delicious that I probably drank a litre of it (and burnt my tongue)!
The high speed train into Taipei was comfortable and uneventful; really not that much to comment on, having ridden the ones in Hong Kong and Beijing. However, the train station had one notable sight that immediate made me feel better (look on the right).
The decor and the experience is immediately familiar. Yes, mock me, scorn me, ye die-hard travelers, but this little unexpected sign, a pocket of familiarity, was really nice. I picked up a mug, noticed people were hanging out and studying, and had a black sesame latte (will not do that again, blech).
My first stop: Taipei 101. It’s tall. Very tall.
Brief tangent/anecdote on why it’s good to learn foreign languages. On the walk over to Taipei 101, waiting at a pedestrian light with a dozen others, I was approached by an apparently lost grade schooler. With a concerned look on her face, she asked me something in Mandarin – presumably directions. I stammered out (in Mandarin) that I didn’t understand Mandarin. She looked a little sad, and then wandered off. I wanted to tell her to ask any of the other pedestrians around me that probably did know Mandarin… but my command of the language doesn’t go that far. :( I really should learn Mandarin. I later discovered there was a major anime convention going on next to Taipei 101; hopefully she got there without too much more trouble.
Tapiei 101 has a lovely view from the top, a lovely mall at the bottom, and a rather lovely motion dampener in the middle. I liked the dampener the most. :)
I confess, I did a lot of window shopping in Taipei 101, though I ended up only buying some fancy teas. While resting in Taipei 101′s food court basement, and over my first truly Taiwanese bubble tea (a touch too sweet on first sip, but the tapioca was perfect), I mapped my way to one of the branches of the famous Din Tai Fung.
Naively and stubbornly, I decide to get there by walking/subway, on the theory I’d see more of the city this way. That turned out to be true, but frankly it wasn’t worth hiking multiple kilometers in subtropical summer humidity. By the time I got to DTF, it was all I could do to just mumble something about wanting to eat there, and collapsed into the seat nearest the entrance. Ironically, the second floor tables were air conditioned, a fact I later deduced over my meal, as all the other patrons seemed to be going to/from the stairs. Duh.
I did not like the soup dumplings in Din Tai Fung – Taipei. It was much more oily/fatty than I prefer; maybe it’s familiarity at work again? The noodles were good, however, and I discovered that Ten Ren Tea was right next door! Somehow I’d forgotten that Ten Ren was from Taiwan, and hadn’t made particular plans to visit, so I’m happy that fate brought me there anyway! I spent a delightful hour or two at Ten Ren, chatting with one of the staff, sampling tea, and trying tea brandy. Naturally I bought more tea, and splurged on top of my splurge to get the tea brandy, too.
Leaving the comfort of Ten Ren, rested and cooled, I made a really terrible decision. More precisely, I continued an earlier flawed one. With my normally cavernous knapsack bulging with knick knacks, tins of tea, and one really heavy bottle of liqueur – I later estimated I was carrying about 20 lbs. of stuff – I decided against taking a cab and continued to subway/walk to my next stop: Ximending.
Ximending is a youth/trendy shopping district. By the time I arrived, I was back to feeling tired and hot from the subtropical urban hiking. Thankfully it was near dusk, and I was able to stop for awhile on benches and people watch. Whilst snapping pictures, I had another interesting run-in with Taiwanese youths:
I was trying to shoot a wide angle picture to capture the crowds and energy, when this young lady sensed my camera pointing in her general direction and opted to make herself the star of the scene.
The funny thing is that I completely did not notice until I was reviewing the picture a few seconds later (the original pic was larger, and my eyes were on the crowds in the side streets). As realization dawned on me, I laughingly looked up to find this mischievous high schooler. I found her already watching me, apparently deriving great entertainment from my confusion and bemusement, though she hid behind her friends in embarrassment when I tried for a more targeted picture of her. Quite adorable, right down to popping out of her hiding spot to say “Bye-bye!” as I waved my departure.
Shortly thereafter, my day took a turn for the worse. I slowly began to realize that my increasing distress was not from the heat and exertion, but from a sickly feeling in my gut. Immodium gave me a brief respite, and as I continued my explorations, I finally encountered some street meat.
Looks good, right? In the state my stomach was in at this point, nothing could be further from the truth. No matter how much I wanted to try a piece, I was sure that whatever I ate from that cart would come back out right away. With regrets (and yet some relief), I left the cart behind to find a normal restaurant that I could try to settle my stomach with. Being a youth district, most of the restaurants did not appear to be particularly nice, so I finally picked this restaurant on the merits of its appealing gimmick and one of their fetching staff.
Yes, the cat – two cats actually – really did roam around the restaurant as patrons ate. They didn’t beg for scraps or hop up on the tables, however; they behaved more like owners, resting and keeping a lazy eye on the customers. :) I ordered the least offensive meal on the menu I could find, and coupled that with a second dose of Immodium.
Sadly, my efforts were for naught. I could only get one or two spoonfuls of food in, slowly, before I finally had to give up. The exhaustion from hiking around in a subtropical summer, the ridiculous weight from over-exuberant shopping, and my persistently disagreeable stomach, all told me I should call it an early night and forgo the rest of Taipei. With regret, I dragged myself back to the subway, the high speed rail, and finally the cab and my hotel, before succumbing to the day’s wear and tear.
On the plus side, my last meal in Taipei was quite good. TPE airport has a kind of gimmicky food court area devoted to cooking “traditional” Taiwanese type foods, which turned out to be surprisingly satisfactory. Never let a destination end on a bad bite! ^_^
