A Ramble Northwards


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March 16th 2013
Published: June 22nd 2013
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The historic seaside town of Tamsui, located northwest of Taipei, has been on my list of places to visit ever since I came to Taiwan. Technically a district of the mega-city of New Taipei, Tamsui (also known as Danshui) is easily reached by metro, being the northern terminal station on the red line. Its long and storied history saw several European nations fight for hegemony in the Taiwan Strait and as a result, Tamsui was occupied various times. First the Spanish arrived in 1628, establishing the town and mission of Santo Domingo to secure their interests in the Philippines against the Dutch, the British and the Portuguese. Fort San Domingo was built by the Spanish in the same year as a military, political, trade and missionary base. In 1642, the Dutch expelled the Spanish, took over the fort, and built their own next to it, Fort Antonio. When Taiwanese war hero Koxinga recaptured Taiwan in 1661, he also forced the Dutch to withdraw from the fort and from Tamsui. Thanks to its natural harbour, Tamsui became a bustling port city by the mid-19th century. Following the Second Opium War, Great Britain and the Qing government signed the 'Convention of Beijing', whereby Taiwan was opened up for trade. As a result, in 1863, Great Britain established a consulate in Tamsui. Ever since the Tamsui Line of the Taipei Metro was opened for service in 1997, the town experienced a dramatic increase in tourist traffic with all its by-products. These days, it's one of the most popular weekend destinations for Taipeiers.

On the way to Tamsui, I hop off the metro at Guandu to visit Guandu Temple, one of Taiwan's oldest and most famous. Built in 1661 right into the side of a mountain, the multistorey Taoist temple is dedicated to Matsu, the Chinese goddess of the sea. After inspecting the impressive and lavish front of the temple, I pass through a 100m-plus tunnel that runs through the mountain itself. The tunnel is lined with little shrines of brightly painted deities displaying every facial expression imaginable, from blissful to terrifying to ludicrous. A family walks in front of me, stopping at each shrine every few metres to deliver a short prayer, hands clasped. Alas, there's light at the end of the tunnel, and I find myself on a vast terrace overlooking the Tamsui riverscape, with the seaside town of Bali in full view. I wander around the relaxing hillside park for a while, when an unexpected thing happens: I pass two construction workers, who are sitting on a set of stairs, snacking on some rice crackers. When they see me, they smile and wave and offer me a cracker. I gratefully accept their offer and take one. Quite unusual, for so far, the rule of thumb for me anywhere I travel has been that I always get stared at (sometimes hostilely) by lazy construction workers. No idea if they ever do any work, but I'm always lucky enough to pass them on their break, it seems. They would always sit there, smoking and chatting and commenting on my appearance extensively in their language. One of the only times I understood what they said was in Ecuador, when one of them shouted "¡Eh, hombre lobo!", which means "Hey, wolfman!". It was when I still had my big beard, so it was an understandable reaction.



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Three more stops on the metro and I'm in Tamsui. First thing I do is hop on a bus to Tamkung University. I go there to hunt for a famous stinky tofu eatery, recommended to me by one of my students. She even drew me a little map with the address and name of the place as well as very detailed directions, so I'll be able to find it despite my limited Chinese language skills. And indeed, after getting off at university, walking across campus, down some stairs into a labyrinth of small alleys, I arrive at the small restaurant. It's around lunchtime, so the place is packed, mainly with students. I order a bowl of stinky tofu in soup at the front, pointing frantically at the character for 'vegetarian' on my trusty piece of paper. It's just to make sure, as they are cooking some disgusting-looking meats, intestines and all, in a giant cauldron right next to the stinky tofu-pot. I would rather not have any contamination there. The girl asks if I want it spicy, and I say yes, very spicy. It turns out to be quite delicious, very different from the deep-fried version with pickled vegetables or the barbecued, skewered one. Taiwanese people would tell you that the wet version of stinky tofu is the most pungent, potent one, but to me it's perfectly edible, albeit a little stinky, but I might have got so used to it that this is nothing to me anymore.

Afterwards, I buy some excellent green mountain tea to counterbalance the spicy, acrid food festering in my stomach. I take the bus back to the riverfront and walk the long promenade. As it's Saturday, the riverside is very crowded. It feels like I'm at a fair or a festival. There's a neverending stretch of souvenir shops, ice cream stalls, eateries, shops selling local specialties, shooting galleries and other carny things. One famous local dish are iron eggs, regular eggs that have been boiled, shelled and roasted until they turn black and leathery. The longer they are boiled, the smaller they turn. The visitors do what Taiwanese people normally do - they go crazy stuffing their faces with anything edible, buying anything they can, with an ice cream in one hand and a little doggie in the other.

Which reminds me that I failed to mention one strange aspect of Taiwanese culture in my previous blogs: people here love to carry around little lapdogs. The preferred breeds are miniature schnauzers, miniature pinschers - anything miniature, really. Bichons frisés, Yorkies, Maltese, Pekingese and Toy Poodles are also highly popular. Now I'm not sure what behavioural patterns they breed out of them, but I've never seen dogs being treated in such an undoglike fashion. The poor creatures are stuffed into handbags, backpacks and prams. They are constantly cuddled, petted, kissed and fondled by their overzealous owners. Most of them look sad and miserable. Maybe it's my imagination, but some look at me as though wanting to say "Kiiiiill meeeeeee". Perhaps they'd prefer a dignified, canine death to a life of humanoid humiliation. I've never heard any of them bark or seen them shit on the floor or into their bags or act defiantly towards their masters. Passive resignation is probably bred into them. Why Taiwan is such a hotbed of treating dogs as toys is beyond me. Must be a Japanese influence.



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I visit Fort San Domingo and the adjacent former British consular residence. The colour red dominates in both structures. One of the most interesting aspects of the fort are the jail cells they built for insubordinate sailors and businessmen, complete with a very small courtyard for the inmates. The consulate's lavish interior decoration is very Victorian, of course. Orderliness and ornamentation in various historic and eclectically mixed styles prevails in the rooms. The British were in Tamsui until 1972, when they were forced to withdraw, as the Republic of China had broken off diplomatic relations with Britain.

Luck has it that I come across a vegetarian pizzeria called 'Part Time Su' ('su' means vegetarian) on the way to the train station. How great is it to be able to eat each pizza on the menu? Some of them are sweet, with cream cheese, apples or pears and cinnamon. The savoury pizzas (a few of them vegan) are beautifully simple, hence mine arrives less than 10 minutes after I ordered. A nice crust, tomatoey base and tasty vegetables are all that's necessary to make a great pizza. Curiously, they stock German malt beer, which stuns me to such an extent that I order one. Maybe I've been missing it just a bit.

The crowds have got a little out of hand, and I have to fight my way through to the metro. Maybe I should stop visiting popular tourist destinations on weekends. Still, Tamsui is definitely worth it at any time.


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Fort AntonioFort Antonio
Fort Antonio

Part of Fort San Domingo


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