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Published: October 20th 2010
We arrived in Taipei, Taiwan just after midnight Sept 14. We were lucky enough to be just in time to catch the last bus into town and arrived at our hostel around 2am. We stayed at The Meeting Place, a great, new hostel run by a really nice guy who used to be a backpacker himself. One of the better hostels we’ve been to, this place had a huge kitchen for use and large and numerous lounge areas with all kinds of mats and couches. Not to mention free laundry!
Not having much of a plan together for Taipei, we spent a lazy morning getting acquainted with the city. We went to a fried dumpling place near our hostel and had a generous helping of delicious dumplings for under 3$ for the both of us! The only downside to our hostel was the less-than-prime location, meaning we had to take the subway everywhere. Our first stop is the famous Taipei 101, a 508m tall building, modeled after a stick of bamboo. Until beat by Dubai, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world for a while and the Taiwanese are proud of it! Taking the elevators to the top of
the building cost nearly 100$ each so we decided against it. Somehow, even though it was much taller than the buildings in Shanghai and Hong Kong, it didn’t seeeeem as tall.
We walked nearly an hour through the city (we prefer walking so we can get a better feel for a city and see how the people act) to Core Pacific City, a shopping mall that is special because it is shaped like an enormous golf ball covered in chocolate. This unique shopping centre is certainly past its prime, as there are hardly any shoppers in the entire mall. Having enjoyed the walk over to the mall and the lightning and thunder show of the approaching storm, we decide to walk to our next destination. Streets and addresses are very confusing in Taiwan and it took us much longer than it should have to find the Miniatures Museum…like the displays it houses, the museum itself is rather small, tucked in a basement with a small (some might say ‘mini’) sign that is easily missed. The search, however, was worth it! This museum was a gem! Endless mini displays of houses, rooms, buildings, people, towns, anything you can imagine and
with more detail than you would ever think possible! We spent over 2 hours in the museum, leaving only because it was closing time! The highlights included the ‘smallest tv in the world’ featured in one living room set, where the tv actually displayed video and sound like a real tv!
For dinner we had another Taiwan specialty, beef and noodle soup. For about 3$ each, we got a steaming bowl filled with fresh noodles and chunks of beef, seasoned to perfection! Taiwanese food is something we could really get used to! We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the streets, absorbing the people, the sights and the lights. It was only day 1 but we were in love with Taipei already. Not only was the city nice, but the people are even nicer! We had read about the warmth and generosity of the people here, but to see it for real is a different story. We were never looking at a map for more than a minute before some kind stranger came up and asked us if we needed help finding something! We experienced this a bit in Japan, but much more in Taiwan! This made
us love the country even more!
September 15
The day began late for us, so we ate a quick lunch at a small sandwich shop then went to the Chiang Kai Sek Memorial Hall. CKS is a hero in Taiwan, a past leader who did good things (overall) for the country. The memorial hall and grounds were imposing and beautiful. The main feature, a large bronze statue of the man was surrounded by a big round building with 89 steps leading up to it…1 step for each year of his life. The hall, as well as the other buildings, are very colourful and we enjoyed the ‘fun’ atmosphere that this brought. Inside the memorial hall was lots of wonderful art and photos, statues, memorabilia from CKS’s life. Among the most memorable things was the jet black, bullet proof Cadillacs he used!
We walked to the Botanical gardens after that, which ended up being a short-lived. Apparently September is not a good month to visit an outdoor botanical garden, as most of the plants and flowers were half dead. On our way to Longshan Temple, we passed through Bopilao Old Street, which was under construction, but seemed like
it would be cool when it’s finished. It’s a section of town they are restoring to its traditional, historical splendor with lots of character and beauty.
Finally we make it to Longshan Temple and if it’s possible, we fall in love even more with Taiwan! The temple is amazing! It is filled with colours and people and life! Unlike Chinese, Japanese and Korean temples, where admission fees are charged and so worshippers go only once in a while, Taiwanese temples are free and were bursting with people giving offerings of flowers and food, praying, burning incense, talking with friends and just being accepted in a place of worship. We enjoyed the vibe of the temple almost as much as the temple itself! The roofs were spectacular, adorned with colourful dragons, birds, fish, lions, men, horses and many other creatures and astounding detail! Pillars were carved with intricate images of dragons, flowers and gods. In front of the temple were a couple waterfalls with giant carp fish and lovely trees. We found the temples in Taiwan to be an excellent place to go and see the life and culture of the people.
Our next stop was another temple, Tienho,
which was tucked away behind a thin façade, stuck between 2 stores. From the outside, it didn’t look like much, but beyond the doors you entered a whole different world! Colourful and detailed like Longshan temple, this temple was 3 storeys of tiered roofs and many many more carvings. With city life going on in all directions around us, the peacefulness of this temple was great and made you feel a whole world away!
Near the temple was the Presidential Building, a grand, red brick building, with tight security, both in plain clothes and uniform. We were being scrutinized the entire time we were near the building with really brought us back to reality after visiting the 2 great temples! Across from this building is the 2-28 Memorial Park which we took a quick walk through before taking the subway back to our hostel to get our bags and head to the train station. On our way we passed another temple, Ciyou, and couldn’t resist going in! This one was 5 storeys and one of the oldest temples in Taipei. At the risk of sounding repetitive, this temple was filled with amazing carvings, bright colours and beautiful statues. The
detour to the temple made us arrive at the train station just in time to get on the 2.5 hour train ride bound for Haulien.
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