Friday 14th November.
Once I arrived in Taipei I went straight to the hostel (Camels’ Oasis) and dropped my bag off, and then I got stuck in with the sightseeing! The Metro (MTR) in Taipei is very comprehensive and all of the major sights are accessible from it. I particularly liked the above ground lines, as they are a great way to sightsee and catch glimpses of Taipei 101 and general city life. Plus the EasyCard saved a lot of time, effort and money. I was most impressed by the queuing at stations, and the waiting until others have disembarked before getting on. If you have ever experienced the subway in Korea you will understand why, the chaos and death stares from impatient ajummas are a story in themselves.
My first stop was the National Palace Museum, home to lots of ancient Chinese artefacts. Bizarrely every room I went into was populated by a tour group of Koreans! Perhaps it’s because I tune into the language, but I definitely notice Koreans more readily when I am outside of South Korea now. I then moved onto the first of five temples that I visited, Bao-an Temple. Temples in Korea are extremely beautiful, but there is no denying that aesthetically they tend to look the same after the first two, so the temples in Taipei offered a nice contrast. Spirituality is very much alive in Taipei as most of temples were full of worshippers rather than tourists, and the temples house a range of Taoist, Buddhist and Chinese folk religion deities too.
Across the street from the Bao-an Temple was the Confucius Temple (see above), where I was lucky enough to get a free guided tour from ones of the helpers, who explained many of the features of the quiet, simple temple. The Greatest Master (as he is seen by many Chinese) wanted his disciples to think for themselves and study the world around them. As a teacher he sought education for more than just the elites and as a result of his work his birthday is celebrated as Teachers’ Day.
Of course I had to visit Taipei 101. Did I mention that it’s currently the tallest building in the world? 101 floors, 449 metres tall (not on a mountain likes some towers I could mention!), and lights that are colour co-ordinated depending on the day, what more could you want!? It was dark by the time I made it to the tower, but the views were still breathtaking. The outdoor deck was open on the 91st floor making me very aware of the fact I was literally as high as the clouds! I particularly like the thought behind the architecture, a mix of the modern and the traditional. It mimics the traditional pagoda shape and is split into eight sections. This is significant because eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese. The tower literally towers over the rest of Taipei, so you never really feel boxed in by skyscrapers.
Saturday 15th November.
The best thing about the Metro is you can plan your day based on where things are in relation to Metro stations and which line they are on, it makes decisions a lot easier. My first stop was the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, where I was greeted by “Johnny B. Goode” blaring out of some speakers. This immediately put me in a good mood, you all know how much I love Back to the Future! From the grounds of the Hall you get a really great view of Taipei 101 (I admit it, I am little bit obsessed). Sun Yat-sen was one of the founding fathers of modern China. I was once again lucky with my timing and caught the changing over of the guards, lots of twirling and stamping, but not a patch on Prague!
I then went to two temples in quick succession. First, possibly the most used temples in Taipei, Longshan Temple (see above). There were lots of people making offerings to their deities, and a lot of incense being burnt. It was also a good place for me to sit and people watch for a while. The next temple, Tien-ho was literally in the middle of a busy shopping district, you just walk down a busy street and there is the entrance to a small, but charming temple. I avoided the shops that surrounded this temple, though Taipei does look like a bit of a heaven for shoppers.
The Botanical Gardens were very lush and green, and they felt very tropical with all the palm trees. Again it made a nice contrast with the autumn colours of South Korea, and seemed like a nice place to get always from the stresses of city-life. Right next door was the National Museum of History, which was less about history and more about ancient Chinese art. There was a good exhibit on coffee houses though and the impact of western cultural and Japanese occupation.
A ten minute walk from the MTR Zhishan station found me in a gorgeous hill-top park with you’ve guessed it, another temple (Hueiji Temple)! The temple was striking, perhaps more enticing than the view of Taipei from the top of the hill, which again demonstrated the sheer scale of Taipei 101. My next stop, as the sun went down, was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. The monument is surrounded by a massive park and the Hall and statue are very grandiose and seemed almost fitting of a President whose life and politics are now under scrutiny from both historians and Taiwanese politicians figuring out the directions Taiwan will take.
After a quick shower and change of clothes back at the hostel, I headed out to the Shilin Night Market, home to a wide variety of food and street vendors. This was perhaps the one place I missed having company, as I haven’t quite mastered the art of eating out alone. Plus because of the nice weather the food stalls and streets were overcrowded with people. But it was definitely a feast on the senses-particularly the stinky tofu, which I didn’t brave.Sunday 16th November.
I was rudely awoken by the person in the bunk below me in the hostel. His alarm was My Sharona, and after he let it run for the tenth time I got up, packed my bag and checked out. This was the same idiot who asked me why I was going to bed so early on a Saturday night!? With the clouds as dark as my mood at this point I headed straight to the zoo. Thankfully after a light drizzle the weather perked up, and so did my mood when I saw how nice the zoo was. The layout was easy to navigate, the enclosures looked like some thought had gone into them and there was real ice in the penguin enclosure not rocks posing as ice! I wandered around for a good three hours before heading back to the centre of Taipei and on to the airport. One gorgeous sunset from the plane later and I was back in South Korea.
I am so glad that I took the opportunity while I could, and I would thoroughly recommend a three day weekend in Taipei if you ever get the chance.
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