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Published: November 25th 2008
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Yes Yes, Tropical Island
Palm trees and mosquito's everywhere. Contrast and travel tiredness in Taiwan
How fed up can one be with noodles, rice and sweet bread; that’s what we are contemplating these days. Travel tiredness comes and goes in waves, it doesn’t seem that much related to the country we are in, it is just part of having all the freedom you ever longed for and then being tired of playing the tourist every day.
Taiwan is not yet a very popular tourist destination, yet that might change. The Portuguese used to call this island Ilha Formosa, ‘beautiful island’, and that’s what it is. The first and foremost pleasant surprise in this country is the immense hospitality of the Taiwanese people. Everywhere we go, people greet us, smile at us, help us, look proud when we compliment them on their English. Our first taste of Taiwanese friendliness started straight during the first week we spent in Taipei. We went to a little local restaurant with a couple we met at the hostel and tried to order ‘beef noodle soup’, one of the local specialties. As usual with new languages, our Taiwanese was limited to ‘thank you’ and ‘hello’ so asking whether there were mushrooms in the
Taipei 101
101 Floors above ground, (and five floors underground), with 509,2 meters still the highest building in the world. soup seemed a problem the size of a mountain. Reading the Chinese characters did not get us much further since we can hardly distinguish the character for noodles from the character for soup. Immediately, a woman in the corner of the local eatery stood up and asked us if she could help us. We explained her what we would like to eat, that we wanted only two of the four soups to be spicy and that Dorli was allergic to mushrooms so it was of utter importance to know whether the soup was mushroom-free. No problem, the woman handled everything within in a minute and our soups arrived quickly after.
The woman then decided to take her husband and her own soup and join our table away from the air-conditioning. We chatted a bit with her about where we came from and she even spoke some French! Her husband smiled friendly but did not speak a lot of English himself. Once the couple had finished their soup, she ordered the waitress and paid for all of us. We thanked her in pure amazement but she wouldn’t have any of it. “Just remember”, she said, “Taiwan is NOT a province of
Taipei 101 Interior
If you like shopping then... China!!!” Point taken.
Taipei is hosting the currently tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. I believe that they are currently building a tower in Dubai which is going to double the height of this one but for now, we have seen the tallest ;-). Inside the building is the usual shopping mall, selling Prada, Gucci, Burberry, Chanel, Louis Vuiton and whatever other silly expensive brands one can think of. We’re in credit crisis (CNN keep calling it “credit crunch”, yike!) but everywhere we go the same brands with the same colors, in the same expensive shops keep popping up. What is the point in traveling once we all wear the same clothes, smoke the same cigarettes and eat the same McDonalds?!
The last few weeks, we have been traveling the island from north via south to the east coast. We visited the beach in Kenting National Park, drove around on a scooter, switched from jumper and jacket to t-shirts and shorts within a day. Although the nature on this island can be truly impressive, the buildings are mostly concrete blocks. It reminds of fifties and poverty. Also, Taiwan has that typical Chinese smell. A combination
Taipei 101 by night
Catching the clouds floating by... of meat and sweet spices and the local specialty: stinky tofu. The smell of this tofu is so horrifying that we have not been able to take the plunge in actually tasting it.
Taiwan distinguishes itself from other Asian countries we've seen so far in three remarkable ways. First of all, one of the best ways to embark on longer distance travels is to take a bus run by local private companies. The busses have only single chairs on each side. The chairs are comparable to first class chairs in airplanes: enormous, totally adjustable, leather and with private DVD screens catering films and video games. I have never in my life enjoyed a bus trip the way I enjoyed them here. The leg space surpasses everything we are familiar with in Europe and being able to pull your legs up and stretch yourself backwards while enjoying the view from the front window of the bus (all busses are very high with passenger seats above de driver) is
the way I'd like to travel from now on. Yes Jur, even an Audi can't beat that!
The second funny thing we noticed here is the way one collects garbage.
Not only is the manual work replaced by trucks but these trucks all play silly tunes as well. I'm sure this improves the local quality of life. In Hualien, a small city on the east coast, the trucks played 'Für Elise', making the distance between home and here seem all of a sudden insignificant.
Last but not least, Taiwan is the first Asian country where we have encountered dogs of considerable size. Of course, dogs are everywhere in Asia. In Nepal they roam the streets at night while hiding during the days. In Korea, they are prepared as one of the most delicious local specialties (no, we did not eat them ourselves). Here people say that dogs get treated even better than children. Now that says something because Asian people are remarkably close and full of attention to their children, 24 hours a day. Indeed, we've seen perfectly trimmed poodles, hairy Labradors and even Great Danes. Some go naked while others get dressed up with jackets and bling bling belts. A dog cult seems to be going on...
The Lonely Planet of this island is the most useless Lonely Planet we used so far. If you are
Kenting Ocean View
Kenting National Park in the southern tip of the island offers beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. not a total hiking fanatic it is pretty much useless for any information on what to do over here. The same goes for local transport, we decided we will have to complain this time. These LP's used to be for independent travelers... Mimi remembers the days... ;-). Any other travelers who come this way, feel free to drop us a line if you need any recommendations on budget places to stay. Taiwan is not cheap but certainly worth the visit. Ok, so far for the advertisements, where was I...
Some news on the financial front as well. I know you guys must be wondering how we manage to travel for such a long time doing absolutely nothing to earn a living. Well, we have had to leave that luxury behind us now and recently rejoined the workforce again. A nice freelance job as graphic editor for Noordhoff Uitgevers in Houten keeps us from sleeping in the streets and eating once a day. And we also got some small Noordhoff related projects from our dear friend Constance (thank you fraulein! ;-)).
Next Saturday we'll be heading back to Hong Kong, preparing Ze Meeting with bro Jur and
Wild pacific Ocean
I almost fell of the cliff due to the immense wind while trying to take this picture ;-) girlfriend Jess. We are also expecting to work on some Christmas Fares with our Hong Kong friend Jolene, getting a taste of Asian Business Life.
Don't worry, be happy, may Sinterklaas be generous to you all!
M&L
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Giny
non-member comment
sint
Hai Lidewij. Dus geen Sint en ook geen katten. Hoewel, wel een beetje Sint. Watten zijn wel erg licht, dus met een kilo kan je je hele leven verder doen. Doe je de groeten aan Constance. Homely bericht is dit , he. Alsof je niet ver weg bent. Met het Sint feest zal ik aan je denken. groeten aan Michael Giny