Taiwan - Taipei

---

David here...

On to our 7th country of this trip and the 4th new one so far. Our next destination was the island of Taiwan, which we did not know much about. But it was ideally placed for us, especially as we needed to pad out our trip by a couple of weeks in order to hit LA at the right time to see Lordi at the Whisky. The only thing I knew about Taiwan was that all of the toys I had in the 1970's seemed to be made there. Before we arrived we had the small matter of a 9 hour wait in Manila airport and then another long wait at Taipei airport as we waited for the airport buses to start up again, we're far to stubborn to pay the £35+ taxi fare into town plus a nights hotel room when we would only be using it for a few hours sleep.

The first flight from Puerto Princesa was a short hop over and was fine. We walked from Arrivals through to Departures, stopping only for a Whopper Jr for lunch. We got our departure stamps and then we were airside again. We didn't even need to pick up our bags and check them in again. We'd anticipated a few more facilities airside actually and restaurants, but the area was quite barren. There were some shops, enough for us to buy a souvenir, some beer, brandy, whisky and chocolate to use up our remaining pesos, and we did have a meal of pasta. But all the usual facilities were landside. Anyway, the 9 hours actually flew by. We finally figured out a decent route through South America that used the cheapest flights and covered us for proof of onward travel at each step. We even booked another flight as part of that trip. We did some research on Taiwan, particularly Taipei, and before we knew it, our flight was being called.

The 2 hour flight to Taipei was cramped as the seats felt smaller than normal. We landed at 00:20 to find the immigration queue was small and very efficient. We were processed through within minutes with just one question about how long we were staying. Even the arrival stamp looked cool with a little picture of a plane in the corner. After picking up our bags our first stop was an ATM, another new currency exchange rate to learn. However we could not seem to get any money out. We found a 2nd ATM, again no money. Getting a little worried we finally found a 3rd one outside the food court in the basement of the airport and thankfully this one gave us some money. It seems my credit card only works with certain banks in Taiwan.

We then looked for somewhere we could settle down for the 5 hour wait until we could think about heading into Taipei. We wandered into the food court and most of the seats were taken by people with the same idea as us. The food stalls didn't open until 06:00 but there were still lots of people about. We found a table and chairs near a power socket so we could charge our devices and settled down. Suzanne did try sleeping under the table away from the bright lights but it was too uncomfortable. At 03:45 I tuned in to Radio Solent to listen to Saints beat Liverpool, popping to the all night convenience store for supplies at half time and before we knew it, the stalls were opening up and it was soon time to hit the city. We left the airport at around 07:00 by airport bus and by 08:00 we were outside the main station. Before making our way to our hotel we found a coffee shop and had a cappucino and bagel, the bagel coming with a sort of sweet fruit pate that was strange but very good with the bagel.

Our first impressions of Taipei were good. The people we had interacted with were friendly, the services seemed efficient and the streets were clean. Building work was going on near the station and you could see that health and safety is taken seriously here, no bamboo scaffolding anywhere. It felt very much like Malaysia, in that it is much more Western than most places in Asia. Less hawking and spitting and far less poverty than we've seen. Taiwan is one of the richest economies after all.

We walked the 20 minutes to our hotel, Changhua in the Datong district, not expecting to be able to check in, it was only 09:00 in the morning after all and so it was the case. We were able to leave our bags, freeing us up to be able to explore. Our first stop was the National Palace Museum, a short walk, LRT ride and finally bus journey away. It sounds like a right faff when you write it out but every single step of the way was easy. The pavements are pavements and the road crossings are actual crossings. The LRT subway system is easy to use, clean and frequent and the bus services and information are all clear and easy. Within an hour we were standing outside the museum. It cost NT $250 each to get in (NT $10 equates to 26p) and is 3 floors of Chinese and Taiwanese historic antiquities. Lots of jade, glass wear, furniture, vases etc. All quite interesting and the place was rammed. For us though, after over 26 hours without sleep, it got a little boring in the end. We were exhausted, and there is only so much jade you can appreciate.. We did spend a good couple of hours in there and the collection is extensive, just not our thing.

Feeling tired, and with Suzanne really suffering with a cold, we decided to walk to the nearby Shilin Residence house and gardens to take a look. The residence was the former home of the Chinese President, Chiang Kai-Shek, and is now a museum. We sat in the gardens for a while but didn't go in the house as it was closed for lunch and big Chinese tour groups were already gathering. We walked back to the LRT station and Suzanne was overjoyed to be able to buy some Ibroprufen off the shelf. As it was close to 15:00 we made our way back to the hotel to check in properly.

We got to the hotel and the staff had put our bags in our room for us so just handed us the key. The reception area is a small cubby hole with a lift at the back, however once in the hotel proper the corridors are bathed in blue light. The rooms are small but very clean and functional. I'm finding this about Taiwan, everything seems efficient, economical and clean. The shower for example is over the bath and is amazingly powerful, a real treat actually. We thought that we might sleep however after catching up with blogs, research and hotel booking it was soon time to freshen up and head out for something to eat.

We decided that we fancied Indian cuisine and fortunately a highly regarded restaurant was only a 20 minute walk away. Calcutta Indian Restaurant was difficult to find, being in a basement shopping centre food court but still a restaurant in it's own right. We ordered Veggie and Mutton samosas, Mutton Rogan Josh, Chicken Tikka Masala, rice and a garlic Nan. All of the food was pretty good and with hindsight very cheap for the amount of food you got. We also had our first taste of Taiwan Beer, and we were not impressed. It had a funny aftertaste, making us think it might be rice beer.

We left the restaurant and looked for a bar. We could find lots of karaoke bars but nothing like a normal pub. We made our way back to the hotel area and spotted a number of craft beer places, all charging around £6 for a small craft beer but nowhere just serving draft Taiwan beer. In the end we decided as we'd gone around 37 hours without sleep at this point, maybe we should call it a night. However did end up drinking a few brandys to help us sleep once back in the room.

As our time in Taiwan is short, we are planning to use the places we're staying as bases for day trips out to other cities and areas. We decided that our first trip out would be to Keelung, a small harbour town near to Taipei. We woke up to find it raining to further increase my happiness due to us being in cooler climes. We made our way to the train station and were soon on our way. The train was clean and comfortable and the ticket agent was very helpful in directing us on where to go. The journey was 50 minutes but seemed to go much faster. Due to the rain and mist there wasn't much of a view from the train except for occassional glimpses of valleys and mountains in the background.

Keelung itself doesn't have much tourist wise. The museums weren't really for us but something just appealed when reading about it in the Rough Guide. We popped into Starbucks for a snack and coffee and it was one of the best coffees we've had recently. Then we made our way round the town, aiming for the park which had a couple of temples in it. The harbour area was nice and would probably be full of people in the summer and it was interesting to see everyone going about their business. As we got to the Jilongzhongzheng Park entrance we spotted a modern looking temple next door so decided to take a look. It didn't look that touristy so we hesitated on the stairs, but a woman walking in encouraged us by saying we were welcome to come inside. The Kokuraji Temple was only built in recent years as a Buddhist Master decided to amalgamate a number of Chinese Budhist religions into one to make one big super religion. The temple itself was lovely, modern and functional but with little touches to the past. We were instructed by a lady in a pink blazer to go in and when we came out she told us to follow her. Feeling like we had done something wrong she led us to a basement. Yes, we wondered what the hell was happening! But it was actually an exhibition area explaining more about this particular strand of Buddhism.

There was another lady in pink to take over and she showed us around. Her English was very broken and our Mandarin was not at its peak so we struggled through conversations as she showed us to the next piece of information, which was all in English. We are not sure she got that we were English as she constantly asked if we understood it. Another lady came in and her English was much better. At no point were we left alone and we felt like we were being inducted into a cult, but it was very interesting and they were very friendly. Finally bidding our farewells and making it safely out onto the street again.

Next we wandered into the park. A bit run down but still a nice walk uphill in the rain to see the temples. As this was out of season a lot of the area is shut down and not being used, which made it feel like a closed up holiday camp. Suzanne was not impressed but I was loving it. Everything felt so desolate. We reached the highest point of the walk at the Guanyin statue, a tall white statue with 2 gold guard dogs. You can climb up inside the statue, so we did. The small round windows offered a rather poor view. The rain was still coming down so we made our way back to the train station and back to Taipei. Not a fun filled, action packed day but it was good going out to Keelung and we enjoyed being out somewhere different. We got back into the city at 16:30 so had a couple of hours in the hotel before heading out for the evening.

As we'd enjoyed the Indian so much the night before, we decided to try another restaurant for the 2nd night. Balle Balle was a short LRT ride away and was packed when we got there. The owner spotted us and said he could have a table ready in 20 minutes. So we did what all good British people do in that situation, we found a 7-Eleven (they are EVERYWHERE) and bought a couple of cans to drink, still no luck in finding bars. Suzanne did get a Strongbow though. The restaurant was quite small and was full but there was enough room so it didn't feel cramped. It was much more expensive than Calcutta though. We had Lamb Rogan Josh and Lamb Vindaloo with rice and nan and it was very good. The meat in particular was tender and tasty. All washed down with Taiwan beer, which is getting better with every bottle we have.

We then made our way back to our hotel area and we popped into one of the craft beer places. Our first choice, Mikkeller was very, very expensive with tiny servings, so we left straight away. Around the corner was another bar called Barry & Gabriela's which served bottles of beer. It did feel like someones living room with people doing maintenance and embroidery behind us. They also had a cat and dog which was lovely, the cat immediately jumping into Suzanne's lap and falling asleep.We both had a Belgian beer each, Suzanne a Wit beer and a chocolate beer at 11% for me. We did only stay for one (still $500) before picking up some diet coke and drinking our small bottle of whiskey in the room before settling down to sleep.

The final day in Taipei was focused on going to the Fine Arts Museum. We had saved this as it is supposedly one of the best for contemporary art in the capital. Again the LRT ride was a great experience, with an extremely frequent schedule. We didn't wait longer than a couple of minutes for any transport anywhere in Taipei. The musuem itself was over 3 floors and actually was a big disappointment. There was lots of photography and lots of video installation but very little artwork. The best bit actually being a display setup on the way in about Taiwan Innovation with lots of modern gadgets to look at.

We then headed back to the LRT station, stopping off at the Maji food court for nachos, quesedillas and beer. Our next stop was the famous Longshan temple, the main working temple in the city. There were lots of people there, tourists, worshippers and people stopping to drop offerings off and to pray. The smell of incense was very heavy in the air and the temple itself was beautiful. We then walked back to our hotel through a shopping area before grabbing some more supermarket beer and relaxing in the room before heading out for dinner.

As Suzanne was still not feeling great, we decided to stick to western food and head for a burger place to eat. We arrived to find the place rammed so went to our second choice which was quieter but much more expensive. We sat down, worked out how much beer was, looked at the uninspiring menu and promptly left. We actually ended up in a branch of the UC chain of restaurants, UC being University Campus. Yes, we were the oldest people in there. We chose what we wanted, marked it on our wipe board and took it up to the counter to pay. Suzanne went with burger and I had pork knuckle. The food was alright, nothing special but filling. Bottles of Peroni were NT$130, much more palatable than the 250-300 the last place was charging.

We finished the evening preparing for moving on the next day and researching further stops ahead in the hotel room, obviously with beer and cider from our friendly neighbourhood store. Taiwan and Taipei has come as a little bit of a shock to us. It feels Asian-Western, like Malaysia. Everywhere is clean, there are pavements and a lot less poverty. It is a modern society yet still feels Asian, you have to watch for scooters whenever you cross a road for example. It has also been easy in the capital but we are wary of what lies ahead futher afield as we hit some of the smaller cities and head into the countryside more. Our 2 weeks here should be fun!

---