So Glad We Finally Got to Visit Taipei!

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Given that our flight back from Denpasar Bali to Canada typically involves around thirty hours of being in transit, we have begun the practice of breaking up the long haul flight with a stopover en route home, generally determined by where the overseas carrier stops. When flying with Cathay Pacific Airlines, we took the opportunity one year to explore Hong Kong for a couple of days. Very worthwhile - both for breaking up the flight and lessening the effects of jet lag - but also because it enabled us to experience the culture of another international cosmopolitan city. This year we flew EVA Airlines, based out of Taipei, Taiwan, and finally got to visit this interesting city.

Unfortunately Stan picked up a bit of sinus congestion from the five hour flight to Taipei from Denpasar, so we did not have the energy to do the exploring we had hoped to do during our brief two day stopover: taking the sky train to the end of the line to get a sense of the cityscape,then hopping on to a ferry to explore Taipei from its beautiful river. We did manage, however, to do a walking tour of our neighborhood in the heart of Taipei, and were impressed with the cleanliness, the safety, the interesting narrow streets offering a wide selection of restaurants and shops, the numerous green spaces in the city centre for people to gather, as well as the high end shopping, if that is your thing. It is definitely not mine, but it was still fun to see over five hundred pairs of designer shoes, or check out an entire floor of women's exquisite, beautifully designed lingere.

Taipei is a huge, quite beautiful city, very protective of its ecology, surrounded by mountains, with much greenspace, and a very impressive system of public transport as well as freeways to get around quickly and efficiently. So much to explore both in the city, and in all of Taiwan.

As for the language barrier. There definitely is one, as Chinese Mandarin is the spoken language here. We managed to get by either pointing a lot, or eventually finding someone who spoke a little English, but I got such warmth and encouragement from people on the street when I just tried to say "thank you" in their language that I am tempted to look at an introductory course. It would be rewarding to speak even a few basic words here, but given that Mandarin is a tonal language with four different tones - meaning four different ways to mispronounce the same word so it has four entirely different meanings - I suspect even basic would be quite challenging. Not to mention, of course, that the language is written in characters, not letters. Hmmm. But they are so beautifully intriguing. 😊

Aside from getting an impressive first glimpse into a lovely city and country that will no doubt be luring us to return to next year, there is one deeply touching experience from this visit that will long be remembered. As almost always, it is about the beautiful energy of the people involved. In this case, it was that of the young staff at the Dandy Hotel.

When we entered the hotel with not one, but two guitars - my travel guitar and an abandoned Fender acoustic guitar that I fell in love with at a second hand store, "rescued", and brought home with me - it did not take real long for the subject of music to come up. As is often the case, my promotion manager Stan offers me up for a song sharing sometime before we leave. Well the next morning, over breakfast, the offer is again discussed, and a time is decided upon for that evening between shifts, when both day and night staff can be present. I also put in my own request to be introduced to a well known and loved Taiwanese song.

At 8 pm I arrive with my guitar, to share a song or two. Very low key. Or so I think. Instead, all staff and a couple friends are eagerly waiting. They have a performance area / stool set up, and everyone is set to record live video! Which is exactly one happened. Each person in my entire little audience was hidden behind a mobile phone recording, and then joined together in great cheers of unanimous applause when I finished my song. I learned the next day that the video was posted on the hotel facebook page website. But it gets even better. After sharing another song or two, Sean, one of the staff, brought out the lyrics - which he had transcribed from Chinese Mandarin characters to letters so I could read the Mandarin lyrics - and he sang the song for me as I accompanied him on guitar. Then they all sang it together once more, so I could begin to get a feel for it. My first song in Mandarin Chinese! How exciting will it be to practice this and return again to share next year!

As if all of this was not reward enough in itself, the next morning I am presented with a beautiful card from the staff, with photos and an expression of appreciation for sharing the universal language of music. How special is that? Well, pretty special. It is exactly what my music has always been for me.

Yep. Taipei rocks.

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Photos

How Cool is This?
An entire hotel that honors musicians and celebrates their contribution to the universal language of music! Could there be a more appropriate place for us to stay, really? How very cool!

Sweet Thank You Card
Hand crafted with lots of love! Thank you Dandy Hotel Tianjin Branch Team! You are truly beautiful!

My Music Buddies @ Dandy Hotel, Taipei
So I sang three songs for these young people, and during every song each of them was recording it on video. The faces of my entire audience were all hidden behind their electronic recording device. It was so quintessentially Asian! And delightful. But the best part was when they introduced me to my next homework assignment - learning a very popular song in Mandarin. I played the chords, and we practiced together. It is dooable. And so the next learning curve begins. And such is the universal language of music. Beautiful.

Dandy Hotel Lobby Tribute
"No matter what generation, music is the universal language."