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Published: March 29th 2010
Thew Soaring Dragon Fish Statue
The statue along the Love River.At their developmental stage, most children learn a new word every day. I’ve been in Taiwan two days and today learned my second word. My first - Ni hao (hello). My second - Xie xie, pronounced schi schi (thanks). Something tells me the traditional child will outpace me after this.
I left Taipei this morning for Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city. Before going to the station, I grabbed a couple pastries at a local bakery. The first must have had some sort of scallion in it. I love the taste but that’s not the flavor with which I hoped to start the day.
At the station, my planning worked well as everything went without a hitch. The train ride itself also went smooth. I spent much of my time reading and looking to see what highlights there are in Kaohsiung. One thing I noticed is that they have a baseball stadium for the CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League). I had discovered this league last night but couldn’t discern the schedule or where the teams are located. I had hoped to find a game to go see but it looked like in my limited time here that would be tough.
Love River
A few buildings overlook the river leading into the harbor. Maybe there will be one in Kaohsiung. As an aside, I also learned that Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang is Taiwanese though he didn’t play in this league.
At the station, I hopped on the MRT (subway) and fairly easily found the place I would stay. As I emerged from the MRT station and tried to get my bearings, a man pulled over and asked if I needed help. He pointed me in the right direction and I was on my way, finding the place a few minutes later.
The place I’m staying is essentially a three bedroom apartment with two of the rooms dedicated to travelers and the other serving as either a third guestroom or Savoy’s room, the girl that owns and runs it. Savoy checked me in, giving me a complimentary iced tea and went over her background, some maps of the area and things to do and see. She was incredibly welcoming, which was no real surprise as everyone alluded to this online.
After chatting with Savoy for a while, I set out to begin my touring, as it appears there is much more to do here than I would have thought.
I
Harbor
A few tall buildings along the harbor. made my way down to the Love River - home of small ferries that chauffeur guests around the river at night known as the Love Boats (their pun, not mine) - and looped around the south end to a bridge. I made my way across and out a jogger’s path, passing numerous people with smiles on their faces as they waved at me while running by. I have to wonder what they have in the water here - it seems that all the locals are extremely friendly.
I made my way out a pier, taking in the harbor and back past a large pavilion where a youth dance performance was concluding. I headed up the opposite side of the river, past a Chinese bowling tournament and to my destination - a history museum.
The history museum is set in a building that was built in the late 1930s while Taiwan was under Japanese control. It later was used as Kaohsiung’s city hall until the city moved its government headquarters to a larger building.
Inside, I toured multiple areas, including one with several old maps of the city, region and Taiwan as a whole. I was fascinated by
Chinese bowling
Some sort of tournament was being held. these, thoroughly looking them over even though they were all in Chinese symbols. Next to them were numerous old photographs showing the area over the last 80 years.
Another section showed the development of the area since the 1950s, with numerous then and now photos. There was also a large map on the floor that looked like a form of Google Earth where residents could locate their home or other city icons. Nearby was a section devoted to hand puppets.
Across from this some information on the 2-28 Incident, an important event in Taiwan’s history. In 1947, following the end of 50 years of Japanese rule, Taiwan’s nationalistic government oppressed its people, taking control of the country with heavy use of nepotism and corruption that led to economic failure. On February 27, 1947, a dispute between a cigarette vendor and an officer sparked an uprising that took hold throughout Taiwan. The uprising was violently put down by the government on February 28. The incident was taboo until 1995 when the government took responsibility for its actions. Today there are numerous memorials to the event and every 28th of February a commemorative bell is rung by the president and
History museum
The history museum was built during Japanese rule in 1938, serving as a municipal office and later a city government office after Japan's defeat in WWII. other officials to remember the victims.
The most pertinent section to me was the one on US-Taiwan relations. I’ve always been puzzled with our, through our role in the UN, recognition of Taiwan’s sovereignty. In my simple mind, I always understood the situation as Taiwan (the Republic of China or the ROC) = democratic republic, China (the China as we know it, known as the People’s Republic of China or PRC) = communism. Democratic republic = good; communism = bad. Therefore I couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t stand up for the ROC as holding China’s seat rather than the PRC. That’s a question I still have.
What I did find out is that our relations with the ROC were very good in the 1950s and 1960s as we provided substantial aid and used Taiwan as a base for our military when our forces were in Vietnam. After our withdrawal, it would appear that the ROC was not as useful to us and, when in 1971 the UN replaced the ROC with the PRC in the Security Council, our relations further deteriorated. The museum covered the period from 1950-1980, when it saw the United States’ support as having ended.
US-Taiwan relations
A section of the museum is dedicated to Taiwan's relations - the bond and the subsequent decline - with the US from 1950-1980. My limited research since then has shown that we are still very much an ROC advocate, providing significant military arms to the country, something that has brought contention with the PRC. I’m still thoroughly confused by the matter. This subject is yet another one I’ll have to explore more at a later time.
I left the museum and headed back across the river on a bridge that was all lit up in red and blue. I headed down to a tourist night market to find food and it was there I would spend the remainder of my evening of touring.
The night market was much better than any I’ve seen so far. Typically, these are tourist traps with mostly imitation designer clothing and various other cheap merchandise for sale. This one actually had a lot of food stands with various types of local foods and even some strange ones; things that are much more appealing to me. It was also nice that there weren’t relentless hawkers every 10 feet with a special deal on suits, watches and sunglasses.
My first dive into the smorgasbord before me was with two grilled items on sticks - mushrooms and
Jhongjeng Bridge
The bridge is lit up in vivid blue and red. something else that was perhaps a meat. Round two took a shift into the abnormal as I came upon a stand with various innards from some unknown animal or animals. A guy saw me looking at this and asked me if I knew what these things were, unsure if i would be in for a surprise. I told him I did but wasn’t sure how to order. From what I could discern, I found heart, liver, kidney, intestines and brain. I opted for the latter as the basis of my vermicelli noodle soup, which he helped me order. Accompanying it was a local beer in a massive bottle. The soup was extremely hot, temperature-wise, and the brain a bit mushy and flavorless. But now I’ve tried one more interesting food.
My third round consisted of pig’s blood in what I think was dough. These patties were very filling. The last round I had various parts of a duck. Again I had a little trouble in telling what all I ate but I could definitely make out feet, some sort of organ and what were likely other innards. The duck was definitely the tastiest meal of the night.
After
Innards of something
Definitely heart, intestines, kidneys, liver and brains. Of what, I do not know. my mini-feast I made my way back to the apartment where I chatted with Savoy before she went home and I went to bed.
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