Taiwan October 28-November 15, 2016
October 27-October 28, 2015: Flight on Time; Chaos in Taipei Airport
As anyone who has done the transpacific crossing knows, it is not for the faint of heart. Forget about sleeping the night before. You are a nervous wreck about packing and you always forget something. Always. AlteCocker is no exception. She would, furthermore, lose her head if it were not attached. The trip to Taiwan was no exception. She did not sleep and the taxi was called for 4:45am--a lovely hour. The connecting flight to San Francisco was, of course, early and then there was the lovely almost 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Taipei.
OK, AlteCocker has a ton of luggage on this one because there are gifts for all her friends. Some have had specific requests. Some others just got gifts AlteCocker has chosen. Let me tell you, she will never do this again. To add to the joy, the Taipei flight was a huge distance from where her Dulles-San Francisco flight landed. Another airport where a tour was required to get to the international flight and her hand luggage weighed a ton (the stuff that did not fit in her two pregnant suitcases). Once she gets to Chiang Mai, the bulk of luggage will decrease rapidly, but, until then, it is a total pain in the ass. Her large suitcase was overweight and she had to totally redo her luggage at Dulles. Ugh! All the heavy stuff had to be put in the smaller suitcase--including stainless silverware, two copies of "Joy of Cooking" and a lot of other dead weight. AlteCocker has one very large suitcase but a problem with such suitcases is, if they are totally filled, they weigh too much. Anyway, the only problem post Taipei will be getting the crap to Chiang Mai. She will have to pay luggage charges on the Taipei-Chiang Mai flight but such is life.
As is usual on the flights AlteCocker passed a lot of time making up for her lack of sleep the night before. She also watched "Testament of Youth" based on Vera Britten's work (also made into a PBS series ages ago). It was well done. She also watched a program about rehabilitating orangutans in Borneo. That was very apt as she will be going to Borneo to see the orangutans when she goes to Malaysia later in the trip. But, mostly she couldn't concentrate and succeeded in mislaying her new Kindle and her passport leading to a frantic search when the flight landed. The passport was stuck in the tray table. She felt like an idiot and was the last person off the plane.
Immigration was very similar to immigration in the US--complete with the delightful long queues. Nothing new there, but the line moved fairly rapidly--except for the queue AlteCocker was in. There is something new here? AlteCocker's passport was stamped with a visa for 90 days without a problem once she got to the immigration official. Then it was down to the baggage claim to pick up her overweight suitcases.
So, AlteCocker gets to the exit and looks for the driver that was supposed to be there for her as arranged by her hostess. The long and the short of it is that he went to the wrong terminal (there are two international arrival terminals) and, well, AlteCocker went and got money, returned to look again, and finally took a taxi. At the Taipei airport (travelers note!): Internet connection was automatic. There was no frustrating wait for a sign in so AlteCocker was able to tell her hostess what was going on. Before taking the taxi, AlteCocker did pick up some local currency. The local currency is Taiwan dollars. There are 33 Taiwan dollars in one US dollar.
The taxi got her to her hostess's apartment. Fortunately, she had the address with her in English and Chinese. The driver did speak some English. AlteCocker's Chinese, isn't, so that was good. She can say "ni hao" ("hello") and "sheh sheh" ("thank you") and she is finished. There was no time for Mandarin study via Pimsleur because she has been concentrating on Thai. So there you have it. When she got to the apartment, she found out about what had happened to the driver. In any event, she arrived.
The luggage was duly schlepped to the apartment on the 3rd floor of the apartment building (fortunately with an elevator). The gifts for the hostess were then taken out of the overweight bags. The weight decreaseth!
Then we did a brief walk around the neighborhood so that AlteCocker could find the subway. The apartment is very conveniently located. There is also a night market nearby that is on the list for an eventual visit. Then it was time for a shower. The air conditioning unit in AlteCocker's assigned bedroom was turned on and she crashed. Of course, she woke up at 4:30am and had difficulty getting back to sleep. The joys of jet lag.
OK, AlteCocker has a ton of luggage on this one because there are gifts for all her friends. Some have had specific requests. Some others just got gifts AlteCocker has chosen. Let me tell you, she will never do this again. To add to the joy, the Taipei flight was a huge distance from where her Dulles-San Francisco flight landed. Another airport where a tour was required to get to the international flight and her hand luggage weighed a ton (the stuff that did not fit in her two pregnant suitcases). Once she gets to Chiang Mai, the bulk of luggage will decrease rapidly, but, until then, it is a total pain in the ass. Her large suitcase was overweight and she had to totally redo her luggage at Dulles. Ugh! All the heavy stuff had to be put in the smaller suitcase--including stainless silverware, two copies of "Joy of Cooking" and a lot of other dead weight. AlteCocker has one very large suitcase but a problem with such suitcases is, if they are totally filled, they weigh too much. Anyway, the only problem post Taipei will be getting the crap to Chiang Mai. She will have to pay luggage charges on the Taipei-Chiang Mai flight but such is life.
As is usual on the flights AlteCocker passed a lot of time making up for her lack of sleep the night before. She also watched "Testament of Youth" based on Vera Britten's work (also made into a PBS series ages ago). It was well done. She also watched a program about rehabilitating orangutans in Borneo. That was very apt as she will be going to Borneo to see the orangutans when she goes to Malaysia later in the trip. But, mostly she couldn't concentrate and succeeded in mislaying her new Kindle and her passport leading to a frantic search when the flight landed. The passport was stuck in the tray table. She felt like an idiot and was the last person off the plane.
Immigration was very similar to immigration in the US--complete with the delightful long queues. Nothing new there, but the line moved fairly rapidly--except for the queue AlteCocker was in. There is something new here? AlteCocker's passport was stamped with a visa for 90 days without a problem once she got to the immigration official. Then it was down to the baggage claim to pick up her overweight suitcases.
So, AlteCocker gets to the exit and looks for the driver that was supposed to be there for her as arranged by her hostess. The long and the short of it is that he went to the wrong terminal (there are two international arrival terminals) and, well, AlteCocker went and got money, returned to look again, and finally took a taxi. At the Taipei airport (travelers note!): Internet connection was automatic. There was no frustrating wait for a sign in so AlteCocker was able to tell her hostess what was going on. Before taking the taxi, AlteCocker did pick up some local currency. The local currency is Taiwan dollars. There are 33 Taiwan dollars in one US dollar.
The taxi got her to her hostess's apartment. Fortunately, she had the address with her in English and Chinese. The driver did speak some English. AlteCocker's Chinese, isn't, so that was good. She can say "ni hao" ("hello") and "sheh sheh" ("thank you") and she is finished. There was no time for Mandarin study via Pimsleur because she has been concentrating on Thai. So there you have it. When she got to the apartment, she found out about what had happened to the driver. In any event, she arrived.
The luggage was duly schlepped to the apartment on the 3rd floor of the apartment building (fortunately with an elevator). The gifts for the hostess were then taken out of the overweight bags. The weight decreaseth!
Then we did a brief walk around the neighborhood so that AlteCocker could find the subway. The apartment is very conveniently located. There is also a night market nearby that is on the list for an eventual visit. Then it was time for a shower. The air conditioning unit in AlteCocker's assigned bedroom was turned on and she crashed. Of course, she woke up at 4:30am and had difficulty getting back to sleep. The joys of jet lag.
October 29, 2015: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial
The original plan was to hit the National Palace Museum on the first day but AlteCocker knew she was still too jet lagged to enjoy it so she hit the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial instead. It was only two subway stops from the house. AlteCocker got an "Easy Card" (similar to a Metro fare card in Washington, DC, with much cheaper prices); you top it up as needed. Getting off the subway the first thing she saw was the National Concert Hall. It is a spectacular building that resembles a temple on the outside. There is an adjacent similarly spectacular building that is part of the complex. After stopping for a snack (ever eat a bagel with apples and chicken?), AlteCocker got a couple of tickets for entertainment at the box office (opens 12 noon so she had to hang around; eating is always good for such situations) and then headed over to the Memorial to see the changing of the guard. The guard changing is very impressive. It is sort of what goes on at Arlington National Cemetery but with much different steps where they hold an arm out and lift up a knee in a coordinated movement. They do have taps on their shoes that make a lot of noise when their feet come down--also like Arlington.
Now AlteCocker is not going to get into the whole business about how people feel about Chiang Kai-Shek and the way mainland Chinese who escaped the Communist takeover dominated Taiwanese politics for years. Taiwan is now a democracy and the Chiang Memorial has become controversial. Having said that, it is a tourist attraction and AlteCocker is a tourist so she went. Chiang was dictator, and, in her opinion, not a nice guy. Enough said. There are lots of exhibits about Chiang at the Memorial but, but, insofar as AlteCocker noticed, they are all in Chinese. There was tourist information there and AlteCocker picked up a map, but the map was entirely in Chinese, so not much help. Most signage in Taipei is in both Chinese and English, so getting around has not proven to be difficult.
Please note: You do not have to climb the 88 steps to the top of the Memorial (one for each year of Chiang's long life). There is an elevator for AlteCockers but AlteCocker did not notice its existence until after she climbed the mountain. Ugh. She took it down. She then exited the memorial and got totally turned around because the exit was on a different side of the Memorial from where she exited. She ended up walking through a botanic garden area, saw a Chinese bridge, a wedding party taking photos and some kids feeding fish. There was a vending machine nearby where they got the fish food. Kids everywhere like the same things.
After all of this, AlteCocker was exhausted. She was plotzed. It was hot and humid and her back was killing her. She stopped at the cafe that is part of the National Theater complex again and had an iced coffee drink before taking the subway back to the apartment, taking a shower at 3:00pm and crashing. Jet lag still rules!
She slept for several hours and then signed on to the internet to catch up with the blog. She is not going to the night market tonight. No doubt it will be tough getting on a rational sleep schedule for a few days. Also, sad to say, the moment AlteCocker signed on to facebook, she noticed a sad post: Her Uncle Bill had died. His wife was to die in June 2016 after the trip was over. AlteCocker is rapidly becoming the senior generation. Time goes quickly.
Now AlteCocker is not going to get into the whole business about how people feel about Chiang Kai-Shek and the way mainland Chinese who escaped the Communist takeover dominated Taiwanese politics for years. Taiwan is now a democracy and the Chiang Memorial has become controversial. Having said that, it is a tourist attraction and AlteCocker is a tourist so she went. Chiang was dictator, and, in her opinion, not a nice guy. Enough said. There are lots of exhibits about Chiang at the Memorial but, but, insofar as AlteCocker noticed, they are all in Chinese. There was tourist information there and AlteCocker picked up a map, but the map was entirely in Chinese, so not much help. Most signage in Taipei is in both Chinese and English, so getting around has not proven to be difficult.
Please note: You do not have to climb the 88 steps to the top of the Memorial (one for each year of Chiang's long life). There is an elevator for AlteCockers but AlteCocker did not notice its existence until after she climbed the mountain. Ugh. She took it down. She then exited the memorial and got totally turned around because the exit was on a different side of the Memorial from where she exited. She ended up walking through a botanic garden area, saw a Chinese bridge, a wedding party taking photos and some kids feeding fish. There was a vending machine nearby where they got the fish food. Kids everywhere like the same things.
After all of this, AlteCocker was exhausted. She was plotzed. It was hot and humid and her back was killing her. She stopped at the cafe that is part of the National Theater complex again and had an iced coffee drink before taking the subway back to the apartment, taking a shower at 3:00pm and crashing. Jet lag still rules!
She slept for several hours and then signed on to the internet to catch up with the blog. She is not going to the night market tonight. No doubt it will be tough getting on a rational sleep schedule for a few days. Also, sad to say, the moment AlteCocker signed on to facebook, she noticed a sad post: Her Uncle Bill had died. His wife was to die in June 2016 after the trip was over. AlteCocker is rapidly becoming the senior generation. Time goes quickly.
October 30, 2015: The National Palace Museum Crush
Today AlteCocker hit the National Palace Museum. Now this is the premier site in Taipei. What happened is that when Chiang Kai-Shek left the mainland when the Communists won, he shipped all the best Chinese artifacts over to Taiwan. The artifacts have been a bone of contention with the mainland Chinese ever since. Now that the mainland Chinese are traveling everywhere in huge groups of tourists, the bottom line is that the National Palace Museum is packed with them. AlteCocker has experienced the maddening hordes of marauding mainland Chinese tourists before, but what is going on at the National Palace Museum is simply beyond anything she has experienced before. The mainland Chinese have taken over the place accompanied by pushy tour guides that will make it difficult for you to see many of the exhibits. You have to get aggressive if you are going to see anything and it does make it unpleasant. The tip off in some of the guidebooks is to go at night on Fridays and Saturdays when the museum is open late. The problem for AlteCocker was that she was not sure that would give her enough time. Dumb da dumb dumb. She got stuck with the hordes. AlteCocker blames the museum itself for the problem. The issue is that all the groups take guided tours in the museum. If they would just ban tours in the museum and leave the people to the tender mercies of the acoustiguide tour for 2-3 hours, the crowds would probably thin out. The situation is a mess. AlteCocker is sure that Taiwan wants the tourism from the mainland--and makes a lot of spare change from it--but there needs to be some alternative. If the Mandarin acoustiguide is as good as the English one was, it's excellent. AlteCocker had no complaints about that. There is also plenty of English signage in the museum. Aside from the hordes, it is a fantastic place!
Having said all the negative stuff, AlteCocker eventually saw what she wanted to see, but, if she had to do it over, she would have taken the advice to go at night. She could have simply gone twice. The group tours do not come in at night. They do thin out a bit at lunch time as the morning tours leave. After a brief (maybe a half hour) respite, the afternoon groups come in and the most well known items get packed with groups one after another. As with all such groups, they all have to see the same things. Fortunately, all photography is banned in the museum. If they allowed that, no one would ever go anywhere. AlteCocker did notice a few people taking photos with their phones. AlteCocker put her camera in one of those lockers where you put a coin in and get it back when you unlock the locker when you leave. No sense schlepping it around if she could not use it.
There is a branch of the National Palace Museum that will soon open in the south of Taiwan (of course after AlteCocker leaves the premises). She doubts that that will offer a solution to the overcrowding as the museum in Taipei will have the A-list objects. AlteCocker had given some thought to going to the museum more than once, but, after today's experience, she will bag that idea. It's a great museum, but just too many people to really be enjoyable. There were lots of beautiful things but you are constantly planning strategy. Hint: The special exhibits are empty of the groups.
Getting to the museum involved taking MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit; yes the Taiwanese call it "MRT") line 3 to Shinlin station. There are directions to the bus at the station which AlteCocker predictably noticed only after she asked someone and got confused. LOL. You can take a number of different buses which go from Shinlin to the Museum. To go back you board just beyond where you get off at the Museum. There's an obvious bus shelter.
AlteCocker did make a stab at having a snack in the museum but the Cafe is just not prepared for the numbers, so she had something called a Chinese pizza which was not a pizza but some sort of pancake that they put basil inside; AlteCocker really has no idea what it was but it cost less than a US dollar and tasted good. Then she had a type of bread from a pastry shop near the Shinlin MRT stop that was good but unlike any bread she had ever eaten; it had cranberries and what was labelled as "brown sugar" in it but the "brown sugar" was something other than "brown sugar." Damned if AlteCocker knows.
Then it was off to the apartment and a shower and too early to bed. AlteCocker has a bad case of jet lag.
Having said all the negative stuff, AlteCocker eventually saw what she wanted to see, but, if she had to do it over, she would have taken the advice to go at night. She could have simply gone twice. The group tours do not come in at night. They do thin out a bit at lunch time as the morning tours leave. After a brief (maybe a half hour) respite, the afternoon groups come in and the most well known items get packed with groups one after another. As with all such groups, they all have to see the same things. Fortunately, all photography is banned in the museum. If they allowed that, no one would ever go anywhere. AlteCocker did notice a few people taking photos with their phones. AlteCocker put her camera in one of those lockers where you put a coin in and get it back when you unlock the locker when you leave. No sense schlepping it around if she could not use it.
There is a branch of the National Palace Museum that will soon open in the south of Taiwan (of course after AlteCocker leaves the premises). She doubts that that will offer a solution to the overcrowding as the museum in Taipei will have the A-list objects. AlteCocker had given some thought to going to the museum more than once, but, after today's experience, she will bag that idea. It's a great museum, but just too many people to really be enjoyable. There were lots of beautiful things but you are constantly planning strategy. Hint: The special exhibits are empty of the groups.
Getting to the museum involved taking MRT (Metropolitan Rapid Transit; yes the Taiwanese call it "MRT") line 3 to Shinlin station. There are directions to the bus at the station which AlteCocker predictably noticed only after she asked someone and got confused. LOL. You can take a number of different buses which go from Shinlin to the Museum. To go back you board just beyond where you get off at the Museum. There's an obvious bus shelter.
AlteCocker did make a stab at having a snack in the museum but the Cafe is just not prepared for the numbers, so she had something called a Chinese pizza which was not a pizza but some sort of pancake that they put basil inside; AlteCocker really has no idea what it was but it cost less than a US dollar and tasted good. Then she had a type of bread from a pastry shop near the Shinlin MRT stop that was good but unlike any bread she had ever eaten; it had cranberries and what was labelled as "brown sugar" in it but the "brown sugar" was something other than "brown sugar." Damned if AlteCocker knows.
Then it was off to the apartment and a shower and too early to bed. AlteCocker has a bad case of jet lag.
October 31, 2015: Art Gallery; Halloween Invasion
This was the first day of rainy weather; it would not be AlteCocker's last. The weather tubed any outdoor events. AlteCocker has discovered that no matter what the weather here, it is always humid. She means dripping sweat humid 5 minutes after you leave the house—sort of like Washington, DC, in July. What you don't know about foreign countries and discover after you get there. Fortunately, lots of summer clothes. Not very many warmer clothes. Today she saw lots of Taiwanese wearing sweatshirts. AlteCocker has a couple with her but certainly did not need them.
Today was a day for indoor stuff because the sky was threatening. So she decided to go off to the Taiwan Fine Arts Museum. She took the MRT to Yuanshan. Before she goes farther with today's blog, let AlteCocker sing the praises of the Taipei subway. It is clean (no eating allowed and, unlike DC, no one cheats because you really can get an expensive ticket), fast and cheap. The basic fare is $.25TD for short journeys. Since there are 33 Taiwanese dollars to the US dollar, the fare is pennies. Obviously, the fares are subsidized. If the US could ever get into the same system, it would get cars off the street. Instead we have a DC Metro that costs too much--with the end result being a decrease in ridership and people going back to driving. Enough said.
So, she gets off at Yuanshan. But there is lots to see before ever setting foot in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. First there is this huge market. Not to mention that AlteCocker already consumed a bun from the dim sum stand very near the apartment as well as one of those Chinese pancake things to which she has become addicted before even hitting this market. She begins chowing down including some little balls, which someone said were "seafood" over which the Taiwanese pour a healthy dose of this brown spice. AlteCocker tries the brown spice (OK in moderation; no "healthy" does please). Lord knows what else she tried in there but she finishes up with a delicious bagel with some sort of fruit and almonds. By the way, there was no need to bring bagels in the luggage to her hostess (which she did). Bagels in Taiwan are everywhere (not to mention the ones labelled as "cream cheese and pepper" which AlteCocker has yet to try). Duh. You can find almost any sort of food you want in Taiwan--and then some. Yummy.
Finally extracting herself from the market, she passes a covered shopping area featuring Halloween! In the great absorption of holidays from the US, Halloween is making inroads here. Later she saw an adult in a pumpkin costume. She also saw a little girl dressed as a butterfly. AlteCocker guesses that this silly holiday can't hurt anyone.
Passing the publicity for Halloween--no doubt an enticement to get locals to spend money on shopping, she stumbles on an exhibition entitled "Taiwan Water, Fountain of Life". It's free, so what the heck. The entire building is built of recycled plastic bottles! If we could just ban those stupid things. They have taken over the world! The exhibition is very interesting and includes getting rained on in a manufactured thunderstorm (umbrellas provided). There is a huge globe in one place with a presentation in English with Chinese subtitles from the National Geographic Society. Duh. Probably was in DC first but, in any event, AlteCocker didn't see it.
Continuing her walk, AlteCocker crosses the street via an overhead bridge and, before entering the Fine Arts Museum, yes, she ran into something else: The Taiwan Excellence exhibition. These are tech savvy products developed for the American market, and, yes, AlteCocker found this heating bad thing for her back that she badly wants to purchase. Conveniently there is a booklet with the information IN ENGLISH. English language travelers note: There is a ton of English spoken here and the museum translations are superb. No suffering through amusing half crocked translations--often the norm in Europe. Did AlteCocker say she is falling in love with Taiwan? Honestly, this is somewhere you could live, but learning Mandarin would definitely be an assist. Insofar as the heating pad is concerned, as luck with have it, AlteCocker found it on Amazon. She'll order it just before returning to the US. There is no point in doing so now at the beginning of a 3 1/2 month trip. You never know what you will find in Taiwan--probably things you didn't know you needed before you saw them.
So, finally she arrived at the Fine Arts Museum (free if you are over 60 so sometimes it is good to be an AlteCocker. The museum is focused on local artists and modern art. There were some very interesting exhibitions including one where an artist used dogs to say what he could not say in words or with people during the Taiwanese dictatorship years (now ended). There was an excellent short film explaining the artist's work. AlteCocker highly recommends the museum! It is across from the Taipei Expo Park. AlteCocker was there on Saturday so she knows the food market occurs on Saturday. Might be other days, but you should check.
Then it was back home for a rest and a treatment for her back before going off Company Maguy Marin at the National Theater adjacent to the Chiang Kay Shek Memorial. A group of amazing modern dancers from France. The company originated in Toulouse, France, where AlteCocker did a home exchange several years back. She had never heard of them. They were amazing. AlteCocker did remain awake for the first bit--a performance based on Samuel Beckett. However, she did not have as much success with the second "number". Jet lag. She was afraid of sacking out--as she once did at "Don Giovanni" in the Sydney Opera House and, well, she did.
At least she got to bed at a better hour. She was still up at 6:00am but it was a lot better than 4:30am Jet lag should be resolved in a day or two.
Today was a day for indoor stuff because the sky was threatening. So she decided to go off to the Taiwan Fine Arts Museum. She took the MRT to Yuanshan. Before she goes farther with today's blog, let AlteCocker sing the praises of the Taipei subway. It is clean (no eating allowed and, unlike DC, no one cheats because you really can get an expensive ticket), fast and cheap. The basic fare is $.25TD for short journeys. Since there are 33 Taiwanese dollars to the US dollar, the fare is pennies. Obviously, the fares are subsidized. If the US could ever get into the same system, it would get cars off the street. Instead we have a DC Metro that costs too much--with the end result being a decrease in ridership and people going back to driving. Enough said.
So, she gets off at Yuanshan. But there is lots to see before ever setting foot in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. First there is this huge market. Not to mention that AlteCocker already consumed a bun from the dim sum stand very near the apartment as well as one of those Chinese pancake things to which she has become addicted before even hitting this market. She begins chowing down including some little balls, which someone said were "seafood" over which the Taiwanese pour a healthy dose of this brown spice. AlteCocker tries the brown spice (OK in moderation; no "healthy" does please). Lord knows what else she tried in there but she finishes up with a delicious bagel with some sort of fruit and almonds. By the way, there was no need to bring bagels in the luggage to her hostess (which she did). Bagels in Taiwan are everywhere (not to mention the ones labelled as "cream cheese and pepper" which AlteCocker has yet to try). Duh. You can find almost any sort of food you want in Taiwan--and then some. Yummy.
Finally extracting herself from the market, she passes a covered shopping area featuring Halloween! In the great absorption of holidays from the US, Halloween is making inroads here. Later she saw an adult in a pumpkin costume. She also saw a little girl dressed as a butterfly. AlteCocker guesses that this silly holiday can't hurt anyone.
Passing the publicity for Halloween--no doubt an enticement to get locals to spend money on shopping, she stumbles on an exhibition entitled "Taiwan Water, Fountain of Life". It's free, so what the heck. The entire building is built of recycled plastic bottles! If we could just ban those stupid things. They have taken over the world! The exhibition is very interesting and includes getting rained on in a manufactured thunderstorm (umbrellas provided). There is a huge globe in one place with a presentation in English with Chinese subtitles from the National Geographic Society. Duh. Probably was in DC first but, in any event, AlteCocker didn't see it.
Continuing her walk, AlteCocker crosses the street via an overhead bridge and, before entering the Fine Arts Museum, yes, she ran into something else: The Taiwan Excellence exhibition. These are tech savvy products developed for the American market, and, yes, AlteCocker found this heating bad thing for her back that she badly wants to purchase. Conveniently there is a booklet with the information IN ENGLISH. English language travelers note: There is a ton of English spoken here and the museum translations are superb. No suffering through amusing half crocked translations--often the norm in Europe. Did AlteCocker say she is falling in love with Taiwan? Honestly, this is somewhere you could live, but learning Mandarin would definitely be an assist. Insofar as the heating pad is concerned, as luck with have it, AlteCocker found it on Amazon. She'll order it just before returning to the US. There is no point in doing so now at the beginning of a 3 1/2 month trip. You never know what you will find in Taiwan--probably things you didn't know you needed before you saw them.
So, finally she arrived at the Fine Arts Museum (free if you are over 60 so sometimes it is good to be an AlteCocker. The museum is focused on local artists and modern art. There were some very interesting exhibitions including one where an artist used dogs to say what he could not say in words or with people during the Taiwanese dictatorship years (now ended). There was an excellent short film explaining the artist's work. AlteCocker highly recommends the museum! It is across from the Taipei Expo Park. AlteCocker was there on Saturday so she knows the food market occurs on Saturday. Might be other days, but you should check.
Then it was back home for a rest and a treatment for her back before going off Company Maguy Marin at the National Theater adjacent to the Chiang Kay Shek Memorial. A group of amazing modern dancers from France. The company originated in Toulouse, France, where AlteCocker did a home exchange several years back. She had never heard of them. They were amazing. AlteCocker did remain awake for the first bit--a performance based on Samuel Beckett. However, she did not have as much success with the second "number". Jet lag. She was afraid of sacking out--as she once did at "Don Giovanni" in the Sydney Opera House and, well, she did.
At least she got to bed at a better hour. She was still up at 6:00am but it was a lot better than 4:30am Jet lag should be resolved in a day or two.
November 1, 2015: Another Day, Another Show
AlteCocker spent the morning catching up the blog with tai chi internet (meaning very slow just like the exercise). Apparently everyone here uses it on a lazy Sunday morning. Then it was off to find this show she had booked called: "Pirouette: When Ballet Meets Chinese Music." This troupe was the Formosa Ballet. First AlteCocker had to get to the venue. Oy vey ist mir, as my grandma would have said. It would have helped had the box office at the National Theater (AlteCocker bought the ticket at the same time she got the one for the performance on October 31st) given AlteCocker correct directions. She was routed to the wrong subway stop--one farther than the one she should have taken. Then she got an assortment of directions from several different people at that wrong subway stop--no two people including tourist information giving the same instructions. AlteCocker thinks they were all well meaning but she she ran from one side of the Banqiao Station (also a general transportation terminal adding to the confusion). Finally she was told to exit the station and cross the street to the bus station and take bus 245 5 stops to where she needed to be. On the way, AlteCocker passed the Xinpu subway station--one stop closer to where she lives and a hell of a lot closer to the venue. Needless to say she was going home through that station, not through Banqiao. It was a mess getting there but she eventually arrived--and after asking 2 other people eventually found the venue. AlteCocker would call it a comedy of errors but it was stressful rather than funny. On the positive side, she got to see the Banqiao station which seems to contain a shopping mall with the largest food court she has ever seen. She ended up at Starbucks--very imaginative, not. After Starbucks, she saw where she should have gone, of course. All sorts of strange food again.
After the aggravation of getting there, AlteCocker arrived way early. She went into the library (open on Sunday) and saw an exhibit of a local artists and a competition for other local artists. It didn't take long. Then she consumed this little sponge cake type cookies in the shapes of animals (seemed to be the animals for whom the Chinese years are named. They were tasty and cost pennies.
Now the performance AlteCocker saw made the the whole haj of getting there worth it. What a fantastic show! No, it was not the best ballet in the world but it certainly was not the the whiny Chinese music that accompanies Chinese opera. In fact, listening to it, it was just music albeit on different instruments. AlteCocker was very glad she saw the show, and, since it was in the afternoon, she did not fall asleep at the end! It was really inventive and something she would not have been able to see at home. Isn't that what you travel for?
On the way home she stopped at a local pasta joint and had pasta with garlic and mushrooms. It was some of the tastiest pasta she has ever eaten. Yum!
After the aggravation of getting there, AlteCocker arrived way early. She went into the library (open on Sunday) and saw an exhibit of a local artists and a competition for other local artists. It didn't take long. Then she consumed this little sponge cake type cookies in the shapes of animals (seemed to be the animals for whom the Chinese years are named. They were tasty and cost pennies.
Now the performance AlteCocker saw made the the whole haj of getting there worth it. What a fantastic show! No, it was not the best ballet in the world but it certainly was not the the whiny Chinese music that accompanies Chinese opera. In fact, listening to it, it was just music albeit on different instruments. AlteCocker was very glad she saw the show, and, since it was in the afternoon, she did not fall asleep at the end! It was really inventive and something she would not have been able to see at home. Isn't that what you travel for?
On the way home she stopped at a local pasta joint and had pasta with garlic and mushrooms. It was some of the tastiest pasta she has ever eaten. Yum!
November 2, 2015: Some Housekeeping; buying Tickets
AlteCocker has gotta say that the one downer on this trip has been awful weather. It is either hot and humid or rainy and it has been a lot of rainy. Makes it hard to do things out of doors. There is the whole question of going to Taroko Canyon on Taiwan's East Coast. AlteCocker finally bought a train ticket today for next week. If it rains, it rains (and it probably will). Must be the time of the year and/or lousy luck. As a tourist, you don't want to do Taroko on the weekends because everyone in Taipei goes there then and the weekend is the only time when good weather is forecast. She is taking a stab at next week, as she can't postpone the trip forever.
As usual, the buying of anything important in a foreign language is a challenge. Also, as usual, you hit all the wrong ticket windows at the train station before you find out which one is the correct one. The tickets back and forth are bought for better or worse. Also bought a ticket for a local Chinese opera company on Wednesday night. AlteCocker can enjoy a bit of the spectacle even if she does not understand a word. Maybe there will be an English precis. Maybe not, but it is something AlteCocker thought she should experience.
The event of today was Taipei 101 after all the ticket buying was over. Taipei 101 is really just a shopping mall with upscale shops like Bulgari. No one in most of the stores and no prices on the merchandise. When there are no prices, that's a sign to AlteCocker that the prices are out of her income tax bracket. No need to stop and inquire. She went up in the skyscraper attached to the shopping mall (which involves walking through half the mall to find it--presumably because they are desperate for you to shop in the over priced stores). Of course, it being overcast, she couldn't see much of a view. On the plus side: Not a lot of people--and it is a required sight for Chinese tourists from the mainland. The skyscraper has the world's fastest elevator--and it is very fast and very smooth. Really something: Empire State Building take note! There is also an ingenious system in place to prevent the skyscraper from doing much moving if there is an earthquake. San Francisco take note!
After the skyscraper experience, there was this enormous food court that mandated a stop. AlteCocker had this enormous tray of food the centerpiece of which was squid, but also included pork, a fried egg, rice and soup. She didn't finish it all.
Then it was back home arriving about 4:00pm. It is hard to get enthused about going anywhere at night in the rain, but she hoofed it down to the local night market two blocks away. Lots of food, inexpensive jewelry, purses and assorted items AlteCocker did not want. Strangely, she has been thus far unable to find a Taipei t-shirt for her collection and to make her friends jealous. She has thus far bought nothing to bring back--probably a good thing because her luggage is too heavy to schlep to Thailand.
As usual, the buying of anything important in a foreign language is a challenge. Also, as usual, you hit all the wrong ticket windows at the train station before you find out which one is the correct one. The tickets back and forth are bought for better or worse. Also bought a ticket for a local Chinese opera company on Wednesday night. AlteCocker can enjoy a bit of the spectacle even if she does not understand a word. Maybe there will be an English precis. Maybe not, but it is something AlteCocker thought she should experience.
The event of today was Taipei 101 after all the ticket buying was over. Taipei 101 is really just a shopping mall with upscale shops like Bulgari. No one in most of the stores and no prices on the merchandise. When there are no prices, that's a sign to AlteCocker that the prices are out of her income tax bracket. No need to stop and inquire. She went up in the skyscraper attached to the shopping mall (which involves walking through half the mall to find it--presumably because they are desperate for you to shop in the over priced stores). Of course, it being overcast, she couldn't see much of a view. On the plus side: Not a lot of people--and it is a required sight for Chinese tourists from the mainland. The skyscraper has the world's fastest elevator--and it is very fast and very smooth. Really something: Empire State Building take note! There is also an ingenious system in place to prevent the skyscraper from doing much moving if there is an earthquake. San Francisco take note!
After the skyscraper experience, there was this enormous food court that mandated a stop. AlteCocker had this enormous tray of food the centerpiece of which was squid, but also included pork, a fried egg, rice and soup. She didn't finish it all.
Then it was back home arriving about 4:00pm. It is hard to get enthused about going anywhere at night in the rain, but she hoofed it down to the local night market two blocks away. Lots of food, inexpensive jewelry, purses and assorted items AlteCocker did not want. Strangely, she has been thus far unable to find a Taipei t-shirt for her collection and to make her friends jealous. She has thus far bought nothing to bring back--probably a good thing because her luggage is too heavy to schlep to Thailand.
November 3, 2015: Really Shitty Weather
AlteCocker has moved on from mildly misty weather to really shitty weather. Today it basically rained all day and was cold and damp. There was no question about doing anything outdoors. So, AlteCocker did laundry. First she tried to find a laundromat because the apartment only has a washer and--with the weather being as it has been--things are not going to dry quickly. Unfortunately, no laundromat with a dryer nearby and AlteCocker was not up to schlepping her dirty clothes more than a block or so, so she ended up doing laundry in the apartment. Hope it doesn't take more than 2 days to dry as the drying is outside--no indoor drying rack as a back up. Certainly nothing will have dried by tomorrow. She can hope for Thursday. She also can hope for the damn rain to stop. AlteCocker seems to have such luck on all her trips. The weather gods seem to notice AlteCocker's presence and tell the skies to unload--every time.
So, after dealing with the laundry (a nice modern washer, by the way, but a bit smaller than the one at home; much better than the usual teeny European washer that takes 2 hours), AlteCocker went to scope out Oma's German Bakery--which she had noticed near the Taipower MRT stop. It was the real thing with bread with crust. One Chinese woman said she detested "Japanese" bread. That seems to be how Taiwanese refer to bread of Wonderbread consistency. Duh. Apparently the Japanese adapted it from the packaged gluey bread of AlteCocker's long lamented youth. The "Japanese" apparently stole that crap from the Americans and the Taiwanese think it is Japanese. In any event, the bakery had real bread--and pastries too. She consumed a pastry and roll on the the tables outside and then decided to go in search of a larger film card for her camera--having apparently forgotten to pack the larger film card she purchased at home. Talk about stupid. So she walked this way and got directions to go that way. Then she got directions to go back to this way. She has discovered this is the norm in Taipei. Of course, the whole thing is exacerbated by her total lack of Mandarin skills--especially the inability to read anything except the numbers 1-4 and the characters for "exit". Don't laugh. If you are reading this, chances are your Mandarin is even worse. At one point a man in a real estate office took pity on poor AlteCocker and printed out a map. It was a good map and AlteCocker slavishly followed it. Finally, she was wondering just where the camera store was and, guess what?, she was standing in front of it. Film cards obtained. Problem resolved.
At that point, the rain had gotten worse and AlteCocker threw in the proverbial towel. Time to walk back home via a coffee shop (there are plenty of them in Taipei). Not the best of days. On the way back, however, she resolved another festering problem. One of her prescription meds had evidently been left at home. So she had ordered what she needed from the local pharmacy--no prescription needed! She picked up the stash and is now set for the trip.
Today also included a top to get some cash. In Taipei you find the ATMs everywhere there is a 7/11 and there seems to be a 7/11 in every block. They also sell entertainment tickets as well. It is the way she got her ticket to Chinese Opera for tomorrow night, by the way. Tonight AlteCocker will be hibernating with a book and history podcasts. It is too dismal to even think of going out.
So, after dealing with the laundry (a nice modern washer, by the way, but a bit smaller than the one at home; much better than the usual teeny European washer that takes 2 hours), AlteCocker went to scope out Oma's German Bakery--which she had noticed near the Taipower MRT stop. It was the real thing with bread with crust. One Chinese woman said she detested "Japanese" bread. That seems to be how Taiwanese refer to bread of Wonderbread consistency. Duh. Apparently the Japanese adapted it from the packaged gluey bread of AlteCocker's long lamented youth. The "Japanese" apparently stole that crap from the Americans and the Taiwanese think it is Japanese. In any event, the bakery had real bread--and pastries too. She consumed a pastry and roll on the the tables outside and then decided to go in search of a larger film card for her camera--having apparently forgotten to pack the larger film card she purchased at home. Talk about stupid. So she walked this way and got directions to go that way. Then she got directions to go back to this way. She has discovered this is the norm in Taipei. Of course, the whole thing is exacerbated by her total lack of Mandarin skills--especially the inability to read anything except the numbers 1-4 and the characters for "exit". Don't laugh. If you are reading this, chances are your Mandarin is even worse. At one point a man in a real estate office took pity on poor AlteCocker and printed out a map. It was a good map and AlteCocker slavishly followed it. Finally, she was wondering just where the camera store was and, guess what?, she was standing in front of it. Film cards obtained. Problem resolved.
At that point, the rain had gotten worse and AlteCocker threw in the proverbial towel. Time to walk back home via a coffee shop (there are plenty of them in Taipei). Not the best of days. On the way back, however, she resolved another festering problem. One of her prescription meds had evidently been left at home. So she had ordered what she needed from the local pharmacy--no prescription needed! She picked up the stash and is now set for the trip.
Today also included a top to get some cash. In Taipei you find the ATMs everywhere there is a 7/11 and there seems to be a 7/11 in every block. They also sell entertainment tickets as well. It is the way she got her ticket to Chinese Opera for tomorrow night, by the way. Tonight AlteCocker will be hibernating with a book and history podcasts. It is too dismal to even think of going out.
November 4, 2015: Old Taipei
Today was the day AlteCocker ended up discovering Old Taipei. It didn't start out that way.
Fortunately, the rain has stopped and it is no longer wet and unpleasant. It is instead back to hot and humid. AlteCocker can't win.
AlteCocker started out with the intent to visit the local puppet museum. She got there no thanks to Lonely Planet Taiwan. The book was in dire need of an update. First, the book did not recognize the newest MRT line. Second, it got the address of the puppet museum wrong. So much for relying on Lonely Planet. AlteCocker did contact them via twitter at some point to let them know a new guidebook was badly needed and gave them some corrections. For areas of the world less visited by English language speakers, Lonely Planet takes its sweet time updating the books because not that many copies get sold in comparison to places like London or Paris. No thanks next time. The current book turned out to be, well, a pain in the ass. The subway stop for all of this was Beiman, by the way. Ignore Lonely Planet for this until a new edition is published.
The Taipei puppet museum is tiny but still interesting if you are into puppets. As anyone who followed AlteCocker's puppetry antics last year in Chiang Mai knows, AlteCocker is a certifiable puppetry nut. She spent about 45 minutes in the museum schvitzing. There was no air conditioning and Taipei weather chose that moment to get steamy and humid. She bought three small puppets (no giant Burmese antique puppets this time). Total cost was less than $20 and there will be no need to have a display case built. The puppets were small mass produced hand puppets--nothing fancy or necessitating a new piece of luggage.
After the museum AlteCocker found herself near an old temple that is supposed to be the home of the City God of Taipei. AlteCocker went in and bought some small trinkets. She went to stash them in her bag with the puppets, but the person from whom she bought the trinkets insisted that she circle them around some incense. Presumably it has something to do with a blessing of some sort. Of course, AlteCocker had no clue what it was all about but having a blessing is never a bad thing. Then she noticed that the Yongle Market was adjacent. She went in. In addition to the usual food, the place was full of fabric sellers and people involved in tailoring. In fact the area was home to many tailor shops. None of them looked very busy. AlteCocker was not in the market for new clothes having done that in Chiang Mai last year, and just passed by. She did try another Chinese "treat"--a couple of large Riz-type crackers with some sort of spun sugar concoction spread on one and dusted with peanuts. No idea what it was called--in either English or Chinese. AlteCocker was going to buy one but ran into an American of Taiwanese extraction who was buying 6 because, if you buy 5, the vendor throws in an extra for free. She gave me one. It was OK.
Then, having schvitzed enough, it was time for AlteCocker to take a break and head home for a shower and air conditioning before her schedule evening sortie to traditional Chinese opera (she won't understand a word, but what the hell). AlteCocker thought she knew where the opera was but, when she asked her hostess where it was to confirm that she wasn't an idiot, she was told it was elsewhere. So, rather than run around in circles, AlteCocker hailed a taxi (relatively cheap here). Guess where the show was? In the Dadaocheng Theatre--where AlteCocker thought it was. She could have taken the MRT to Beimen as the theater was next to the Yongle Market where she was earlier in the day (not too far from the elusive puppetry museum, by the way. Well the taxi cost only about $3 and she did get a nice look at Taiwan at night. The Dadaocheng Theatre specializes in traditional Chinese entertainment for the local market. Fortunately, AlteCocker ran into an American as she was scarfing down some noodles; he knew Chinese and was able to outline the rough plot line for AlteCocker. The operas (there were two short ones) were really overacted, so once you knew the general plot line, you were fine. AlteCocker's American friend with the Chinese skills tried to interest AlteCocker in a Taiwanese dialect opera later in the week (not that the dialect would matter; insofar as AlteCocker is concerned [apologies to Shakespeare], it was all Greek to her). However, for AlteCocker once through was enough. Cross cultural Chinese opera experience is off the list. Done. Over. Tilt.
Fortunately, the rain has stopped and it is no longer wet and unpleasant. It is instead back to hot and humid. AlteCocker can't win.
AlteCocker started out with the intent to visit the local puppet museum. She got there no thanks to Lonely Planet Taiwan. The book was in dire need of an update. First, the book did not recognize the newest MRT line. Second, it got the address of the puppet museum wrong. So much for relying on Lonely Planet. AlteCocker did contact them via twitter at some point to let them know a new guidebook was badly needed and gave them some corrections. For areas of the world less visited by English language speakers, Lonely Planet takes its sweet time updating the books because not that many copies get sold in comparison to places like London or Paris. No thanks next time. The current book turned out to be, well, a pain in the ass. The subway stop for all of this was Beiman, by the way. Ignore Lonely Planet for this until a new edition is published.
The Taipei puppet museum is tiny but still interesting if you are into puppets. As anyone who followed AlteCocker's puppetry antics last year in Chiang Mai knows, AlteCocker is a certifiable puppetry nut. She spent about 45 minutes in the museum schvitzing. There was no air conditioning and Taipei weather chose that moment to get steamy and humid. She bought three small puppets (no giant Burmese antique puppets this time). Total cost was less than $20 and there will be no need to have a display case built. The puppets were small mass produced hand puppets--nothing fancy or necessitating a new piece of luggage.
After the museum AlteCocker found herself near an old temple that is supposed to be the home of the City God of Taipei. AlteCocker went in and bought some small trinkets. She went to stash them in her bag with the puppets, but the person from whom she bought the trinkets insisted that she circle them around some incense. Presumably it has something to do with a blessing of some sort. Of course, AlteCocker had no clue what it was all about but having a blessing is never a bad thing. Then she noticed that the Yongle Market was adjacent. She went in. In addition to the usual food, the place was full of fabric sellers and people involved in tailoring. In fact the area was home to many tailor shops. None of them looked very busy. AlteCocker was not in the market for new clothes having done that in Chiang Mai last year, and just passed by. She did try another Chinese "treat"--a couple of large Riz-type crackers with some sort of spun sugar concoction spread on one and dusted with peanuts. No idea what it was called--in either English or Chinese. AlteCocker was going to buy one but ran into an American of Taiwanese extraction who was buying 6 because, if you buy 5, the vendor throws in an extra for free. She gave me one. It was OK.
Then, having schvitzed enough, it was time for AlteCocker to take a break and head home for a shower and air conditioning before her schedule evening sortie to traditional Chinese opera (she won't understand a word, but what the hell). AlteCocker thought she knew where the opera was but, when she asked her hostess where it was to confirm that she wasn't an idiot, she was told it was elsewhere. So, rather than run around in circles, AlteCocker hailed a taxi (relatively cheap here). Guess where the show was? In the Dadaocheng Theatre--where AlteCocker thought it was. She could have taken the MRT to Beimen as the theater was next to the Yongle Market where she was earlier in the day (not too far from the elusive puppetry museum, by the way. Well the taxi cost only about $3 and she did get a nice look at Taiwan at night. The Dadaocheng Theatre specializes in traditional Chinese entertainment for the local market. Fortunately, AlteCocker ran into an American as she was scarfing down some noodles; he knew Chinese and was able to outline the rough plot line for AlteCocker. The operas (there were two short ones) were really overacted, so once you knew the general plot line, you were fine. AlteCocker's American friend with the Chinese skills tried to interest AlteCocker in a Taiwanese dialect opera later in the week (not that the dialect would matter; insofar as AlteCocker is concerned [apologies to Shakespeare], it was all Greek to her). However, for AlteCocker once through was enough. Cross cultural Chinese opera experience is off the list. Done. Over. Tilt.
November 5, 2015: Beitou Hot Springs
Off to the Beitou Hot Springs today as someone online recommended it. AlteCocker did go to the public hot springs--not the luxurious experience but still OK (not to mention cheap). It was OK. Perhaps if she had not been to a hot springs before it would have been a bit more exciting. It was, well, for AlteCocker, just another hot spring. She did like the fact that it was outdoors (bring a bathing suit and a towel; if you don't have them, don't worry they will sell you them; AlteCocker had to spend $40 Taiwan ($3.50 US) for a teeny towel. You BUY not rent. Had she known, AlteCocker would have brought the beach towel she has in her luggage stash). Oh, well, live and learn.
The hot springs has morning and afternoon hours. You need to vacate 1:00pm-2:00pm while the staff cleans up and then pay again if you want to have the afternoon experience. AlteCocker arrived at 12:00noon and only had about an hour, but she found it was enough. AlteCocker kept wondering where she had experienced a hot spring recently and it was in Dominica (which she visited as a side trip from her home exchange in Martinique). The public hot spring was rather busy, so, you might prefer something upscale. Everything is available.
To get to the hot springs, take the MRT to Beitou and then change for the one stop local line to Xinbeitou. It was just a short walk for where the hot springs are located from the MRT stop. There was no need for a bus or taxi! Tourist information (which AlteCocker consulted) is in the Beitou Station. While AlteCocker got information for Beitou, she also got information for her planned excursion to Yangmingshan National Park. Stay tuned for that one.
After her soaking, AlteCocker walked back to the MRT stop. On the way, she passed on the Hot Springs Museum on the left as you walk back towards the MRT. She did, however, cross the street and have a look at the Ketagalan Cultural Center--which is devoted to Taiwan's aboriginal inhabitants. She also discovered that all Taiwanese were migrants from China except for the aboriginals. Who knew? Many of the indigenous peoples have all the same problems of indigenous peoples everywhere--to wit, the American Indians, the Australian aborigines. The Ketagalan Center is free and AlteCocker found it a worthwhile stop despite limited signage in English.
It was then time to head back as AlteCocker had seen in Beitou. The only major loss of one pair of underpants probably left in the changing room when she put on her bathing suit and probably tossed by the staff. She would have asked but the staff did not speak English--and so it goes.
On the return journey a stop was made at Oma's German Bakery to scarf up a piece of apple cake. It was the real thing. AlteCocker was informed that the apples came from Washington State and were green ones. Definitely Granny Smith apples. It is very rare to find apples in Asia as they are not grown here. Of course, mangos, star fruit and a lots of other odd fruits are readily available.
Dinner was a bowl of "wantan" soup (at least it was not "wanten") at a nearby restaurant. It was the first time AlteCocker ran into lousy menu translations here, but, after all, a cheap noodle shop can't be expected to have an English translator on staff. The bowl of soup cost about $2.50 so AlteCocker can't complain.
The hot springs has morning and afternoon hours. You need to vacate 1:00pm-2:00pm while the staff cleans up and then pay again if you want to have the afternoon experience. AlteCocker arrived at 12:00noon and only had about an hour, but she found it was enough. AlteCocker kept wondering where she had experienced a hot spring recently and it was in Dominica (which she visited as a side trip from her home exchange in Martinique). The public hot spring was rather busy, so, you might prefer something upscale. Everything is available.
To get to the hot springs, take the MRT to Beitou and then change for the one stop local line to Xinbeitou. It was just a short walk for where the hot springs are located from the MRT stop. There was no need for a bus or taxi! Tourist information (which AlteCocker consulted) is in the Beitou Station. While AlteCocker got information for Beitou, she also got information for her planned excursion to Yangmingshan National Park. Stay tuned for that one.
After her soaking, AlteCocker walked back to the MRT stop. On the way, she passed on the Hot Springs Museum on the left as you walk back towards the MRT. She did, however, cross the street and have a look at the Ketagalan Cultural Center--which is devoted to Taiwan's aboriginal inhabitants. She also discovered that all Taiwanese were migrants from China except for the aboriginals. Who knew? Many of the indigenous peoples have all the same problems of indigenous peoples everywhere--to wit, the American Indians, the Australian aborigines. The Ketagalan Center is free and AlteCocker found it a worthwhile stop despite limited signage in English.
It was then time to head back as AlteCocker had seen in Beitou. The only major loss of one pair of underpants probably left in the changing room when she put on her bathing suit and probably tossed by the staff. She would have asked but the staff did not speak English--and so it goes.
On the return journey a stop was made at Oma's German Bakery to scarf up a piece of apple cake. It was the real thing. AlteCocker was informed that the apples came from Washington State and were green ones. Definitely Granny Smith apples. It is very rare to find apples in Asia as they are not grown here. Of course, mangos, star fruit and a lots of other odd fruits are readily available.
Dinner was a bowl of "wantan" soup (at least it was not "wanten") at a nearby restaurant. It was the first time AlteCocker ran into lousy menu translations here, but, after all, a cheap noodle shop can't be expected to have an English translator on staff. The bowl of soup cost about $2.50 so AlteCocker can't complain.
November 6, 2015: YangMingShan National Park
Today it was back to Beitou via the MRT to catch the No. 9 bus to Yangmingshan National Park. You exit the Beitou Station to the left (only one side has an exit so these directions are obvious). The bus stop is self explanatory; you just wait for the No. 9 and get on. What is not self explanatory is where to get off. You will need to get a booklet from tourist information and make your decision. AlteCocker, being an AlteCocker, was just looking to see some mountains--not to go mountain climbing. She got off the bus at the last station (it makes a loop and goes back to Beitou). There you get sort of hustled by various restaurant owners as soon as you get off the bus. Basically AlteCocker just followed some Taiwanese women from the bus who appeared to know what they were doing even though they were there for the first time. A couple of them spoke a little English--which was a hell of a lot better than AlteCocker's Chinese. She ended up eating lunch with the ladies and it made her day. They ordered all this stuff AlteCocker had never eaten before--except for crispy fish in a sweet and sour fish sauce which AlteCocker loves. The Chinese fish was much larger than what is served (in AlteCocker's experience) in American Chinese restaurants. It was all delicious. Unfortunately, AlteCocker cannot tell you the name of the restaurant because the name was in Chinese. It is sort of the last one on the right as you go up the hill before there is a break in the road. Good luck following these directions. An English language menu is available. Most Taiwanese chopsticks are either plastic of shiny metal. They are a lot more difficult to use than wooden ones, as they are slippery. The restaurant--observing the state of AlteCocker's chopstick skills--eventually showed up with a fork. Thank you for the fork. It made things a lot easier.
After lunch, AlteCocker really wanted to pay for everyone because the ladies really made her day, but they refused and said everyone was splitting the price and each had to pay $300 Taiwan dollars (currently less than $10 US dollars). It was money well spent. The ladies wanted to do some walking around but AlteCocker, whose age was showing, was ready to return. AlteCocker did see a lot of gardens because different plants grown at higher elevations, of course. One garden was obviously insprired by Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". Children could have their photos taken looking trough the head of Cheshire Cats or the playing cards. Be forewarned: the bus times are only a suggestion. The mountain scenery was quite beautiful (lots of photos!). The bus was late but it did arrive. Unfortunately, AlteCocker was sleepy and ended up leaving her walking stick (the first of two she has; she buys cheap ones because they always get left behind) on the bus. Then it was back to the apartment and a shower.
The excursion was well worth it but it took awhile to get back and forth. AlteCocker was exhausted by the time she got back via a stop for ice cream at the local 7/11. When her hostess returned and turned on the internet, AlteCocker was pleased to learn that her reservation for the Taipei Eye Show for tomorrow night was confirmed. More on that, well, tomorrow. As she writes this, she is listening to a podcast about the the Mongol invasion of China. Some Chinese history seems appropriate given AlteCocker's current location. She is also finishing up the book: "Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power" by Robert D. Kaplan. It's a download from her Fairfax Virginia Public Library at home.
After lunch, AlteCocker really wanted to pay for everyone because the ladies really made her day, but they refused and said everyone was splitting the price and each had to pay $300 Taiwan dollars (currently less than $10 US dollars). It was money well spent. The ladies wanted to do some walking around but AlteCocker, whose age was showing, was ready to return. AlteCocker did see a lot of gardens because different plants grown at higher elevations, of course. One garden was obviously insprired by Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". Children could have their photos taken looking trough the head of Cheshire Cats or the playing cards. Be forewarned: the bus times are only a suggestion. The mountain scenery was quite beautiful (lots of photos!). The bus was late but it did arrive. Unfortunately, AlteCocker was sleepy and ended up leaving her walking stick (the first of two she has; she buys cheap ones because they always get left behind) on the bus. Then it was back to the apartment and a shower.
The excursion was well worth it but it took awhile to get back and forth. AlteCocker was exhausted by the time she got back via a stop for ice cream at the local 7/11. When her hostess returned and turned on the internet, AlteCocker was pleased to learn that her reservation for the Taipei Eye Show for tomorrow night was confirmed. More on that, well, tomorrow. As she writes this, she is listening to a podcast about the the Mongol invasion of China. Some Chinese history seems appropriate given AlteCocker's current location. She is also finishing up the book: "Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power" by Robert D. Kaplan. It's a download from her Fairfax Virginia Public Library at home.
November 7, 2015: Maokong Gondola and the Taipei Eye
AlteCocker schlepped to the last station on the Number 1 (brown): MRT line to the Taipei Zoo. No she did not go to the Zoo. The animals are pretty much the same animals AlteCocker can see in Washington, DC—and does not visit. No reason to see them here when there is so much else to do that she cannot do at home. The Number 1 line has much smaller cars than the other lines so it was harder to get a seat. There are no designated seats for AlteCocker/handicapped/pregnant ladies as there are on larger cars. In contrast to the DC Metro, people are polite here. NO ONE sits in those seats if they are not physically qualified to use them. So, being an AlteCocker, AlteCocker almost always gets a seat. On the Number 1 line, AlteCockers might have a more difficult time.
So, AlteCocker, gets to the Zoo station and exits towards the Maokong Gondola (well marked to prevent the locals to have to respond to questions about its location). By the way, in Taipei, information is posted in both Chinese characters and English so there are also no difficulties for Chinese character impaired tourists (such as AlteCocker). You get to to the gondola and AlteCocker buys a ticket because she did not realize that her Easy Card would work there. You have a choice of cars with see through bottoms (called crystal cars) or conventional ones for the terrified. To travel in the crystal cars, you need an extra ticket which is free. It was a bit confusing but AlteCocker took the “crystal” car for the maximum experience. Please note that the line for the crystal cars takes longer when you are dumb enough to insist upon it to go up. When you go down however, it is shorter. Of course, you figure all this out by doing it all wrong.
The gondola makes several stops and is certainly the longest one AlteCocker has every ridden. The most popular are at the Zhindan (sometimes transliterized as “Chin-din”) Temple and the final stop at Maokong. AlteCocker went to the last stop where the main activities are eating (where there is an attraction in Asia, someone is there with food every time; you need not worry about starving), drinking and tasting tea and snapping photos. AlteCocker had a lemonade type drink that contained lemon jello followed by tea ice cream (two flavors—green tea and dark tea mixed together in one of those custard type machines). Then she took the required photos (which you will all see later when she gets home to the US with faster internet and a better computer than AlteCocker's pathetic netbook), bought a package of tea and headed down. On a clear day, there would have been a great view of the Taipei 101 tower. Suffice it to say, there was haze, so no good view. Another case of AlteCocker goes on vacation.
A visit to the Zhindin Temple was made. Chinese religion is very different. It is mainly Taoist here which means many gods are worshipped. Chinese use jossticks to burn incense to send their prayers to heaven. AlteCocker wishes she understand the religion better but she does not. She remains respectful and watches, but obviously does not take photos of people praying. At Zhindin, you could take photos outside the the temple, but none of the interior (so no photos of the fabulous wooden interiors and statues). Unfortunately, the exterior is covered with scaffolding so no really great photos of the outside. AlteCocker did not march around to other associated smaller temples where the young and more energetic might attempt but AlteCocker threw in the towel. It was also hot and humid—which did not encourage long hikes down (which means a long hike back). So a stop was made at the local coffee shop located underneath the gondola for a coffee. And then it was back down to the zoo stop in a crystal car (no ticket required going down).
Some logistics here: Going down there was no problem with waiting for a gondola seat because AlteCocker was just one person. You might have a problem if you are in a group and unwilling to split up. Up to you.
Unfortunately, there was a dilemma here. It was about 5:30pm and really too late to get back to the apartment, shower and change, as AlteCocker normally would have done. She was scheduled for a performance at Taipei Eye at 8:00pm and needed to pick up her ticket about 7:30pm. AlteCocker was fairly grungy but she bagged the shower and change of clothing and headed for the Taipei Eye venue. There she was surprised that a 15% discount was offered for AlteCocker because she is over 65. AlteCocker loves nice surprises like that.
The show, done for tourists, with surtitles in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English was terrific. Why Chinese surtitles? Not all Chinese speak the same dialect, but they are all written the same way! So even Chinese people (especially from the Mainland) need surtitles. It is one reason that Chinese will never have an alphabet. If they did, they could not read each others' dialects. So the characters are a solution to Chinese people being able to understand each other.
Despite being a tourist show, it was absolutely “Number One”. There are several shows that rotate and they are scheduled about 4 times per week (check the website). If it is possible, go to the show with the lion dance—which is not to be missed. Two guys in a lion suit do amazing acrobatics; you have to see it to believe it. The second half was elongated fight scene from Chinese Opera (really more acrobatics than everything else). There are lots of photo ops and you can even take photos with the performers (a favorite activity of Asians). AlteCocker contented herself with photos of the performers. She did have one problem with a French couple who tried to steal her seat during intermission. AlteCocker thinks he was a big surprised when he told them off firmly in French. He blamed AlteCocker because there was nothing on her seat when she was outside shopping (yes, she shopped at the venue going home with a lion puppet and a figurine of a Chinese opera pig). The French couple vacated the premises when the adjacent attendees confirmed that she was sitting there. It was pretty brazen if you ask AlteCocker—and AlteCocker was not about to give up her prime seat.
Then it was off to the MRT to go home (much easier, as usual than finding the venue). She did not have to stop at Starbucks and ask for direction as she did going—and, yes, Starbucks is here). In fact, you can find any kind of food you want to eat here including good bagels. There are lots of French patisserie type places as well but, of course, of varying quality.
So, AlteCocker, gets to the Zoo station and exits towards the Maokong Gondola (well marked to prevent the locals to have to respond to questions about its location). By the way, in Taipei, information is posted in both Chinese characters and English so there are also no difficulties for Chinese character impaired tourists (such as AlteCocker). You get to to the gondola and AlteCocker buys a ticket because she did not realize that her Easy Card would work there. You have a choice of cars with see through bottoms (called crystal cars) or conventional ones for the terrified. To travel in the crystal cars, you need an extra ticket which is free. It was a bit confusing but AlteCocker took the “crystal” car for the maximum experience. Please note that the line for the crystal cars takes longer when you are dumb enough to insist upon it to go up. When you go down however, it is shorter. Of course, you figure all this out by doing it all wrong.
The gondola makes several stops and is certainly the longest one AlteCocker has every ridden. The most popular are at the Zhindan (sometimes transliterized as “Chin-din”) Temple and the final stop at Maokong. AlteCocker went to the last stop where the main activities are eating (where there is an attraction in Asia, someone is there with food every time; you need not worry about starving), drinking and tasting tea and snapping photos. AlteCocker had a lemonade type drink that contained lemon jello followed by tea ice cream (two flavors—green tea and dark tea mixed together in one of those custard type machines). Then she took the required photos (which you will all see later when she gets home to the US with faster internet and a better computer than AlteCocker's pathetic netbook), bought a package of tea and headed down. On a clear day, there would have been a great view of the Taipei 101 tower. Suffice it to say, there was haze, so no good view. Another case of AlteCocker goes on vacation.
A visit to the Zhindin Temple was made. Chinese religion is very different. It is mainly Taoist here which means many gods are worshipped. Chinese use jossticks to burn incense to send their prayers to heaven. AlteCocker wishes she understand the religion better but she does not. She remains respectful and watches, but obviously does not take photos of people praying. At Zhindin, you could take photos outside the the temple, but none of the interior (so no photos of the fabulous wooden interiors and statues). Unfortunately, the exterior is covered with scaffolding so no really great photos of the outside. AlteCocker did not march around to other associated smaller temples where the young and more energetic might attempt but AlteCocker threw in the towel. It was also hot and humid—which did not encourage long hikes down (which means a long hike back). So a stop was made at the local coffee shop located underneath the gondola for a coffee. And then it was back down to the zoo stop in a crystal car (no ticket required going down).
Some logistics here: Going down there was no problem with waiting for a gondola seat because AlteCocker was just one person. You might have a problem if you are in a group and unwilling to split up. Up to you.
Unfortunately, there was a dilemma here. It was about 5:30pm and really too late to get back to the apartment, shower and change, as AlteCocker normally would have done. She was scheduled for a performance at Taipei Eye at 8:00pm and needed to pick up her ticket about 7:30pm. AlteCocker was fairly grungy but she bagged the shower and change of clothing and headed for the Taipei Eye venue. There she was surprised that a 15% discount was offered for AlteCocker because she is over 65. AlteCocker loves nice surprises like that.
The show, done for tourists, with surtitles in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English was terrific. Why Chinese surtitles? Not all Chinese speak the same dialect, but they are all written the same way! So even Chinese people (especially from the Mainland) need surtitles. It is one reason that Chinese will never have an alphabet. If they did, they could not read each others' dialects. So the characters are a solution to Chinese people being able to understand each other.
Despite being a tourist show, it was absolutely “Number One”. There are several shows that rotate and they are scheduled about 4 times per week (check the website). If it is possible, go to the show with the lion dance—which is not to be missed. Two guys in a lion suit do amazing acrobatics; you have to see it to believe it. The second half was elongated fight scene from Chinese Opera (really more acrobatics than everything else). There are lots of photo ops and you can even take photos with the performers (a favorite activity of Asians). AlteCocker contented herself with photos of the performers. She did have one problem with a French couple who tried to steal her seat during intermission. AlteCocker thinks he was a big surprised when he told them off firmly in French. He blamed AlteCocker because there was nothing on her seat when she was outside shopping (yes, she shopped at the venue going home with a lion puppet and a figurine of a Chinese opera pig). The French couple vacated the premises when the adjacent attendees confirmed that she was sitting there. It was pretty brazen if you ask AlteCocker—and AlteCocker was not about to give up her prime seat.
Then it was off to the MRT to go home (much easier, as usual than finding the venue). She did not have to stop at Starbucks and ask for direction as she did going—and, yes, Starbucks is here). In fact, you can find any kind of food you want to eat here including good bagels. There are lots of French patisserie type places as well but, of course, of varying quality.
November 8, 2015: Laundry and Shopping
The first chore to get done was laundry. Normally AlteCocker would have waited because she is not totally out of underwear (always the sign that laundry is the focus of the day). She is going to Taroko Canyon on November 9-11, 2015, and did not want to run out there in the middle of a hotel stay. Her hostess is also on some sort of Zen retreat with some friends so it was a good time to get it done. Now, AlteCocker would never go out of town if she were hosting, but AlteCocker did enjoy having the house to herself.
It was a slow day with a possible visit to the largest night market where AlteCocker is told there are souvenir t-shirts—always AlteCocker's favorite souvenir because she likes to make her friends jealous. She did pick up a souvenir t-shirt at the Zhindin Temple but, strangely, they are not widely available here; most of the local night markets are for locals and they do not buy "I Love Taipei" shirts. There are a lot of ones with US sports teams (Yankees and Dodgers are very popular), but not a lot of jealously inducing ones enjoyed by AlteCocker. So it will be a slow day and AlteCocker will also be packing for Taroko for two nights (not a big deal). She has a 10:00am fast train and Monday, and, yes, she she has hotel reservation to Hualian—the main jumping off point for Taroko. She is hoping for no rain and good views, but it rains a lot here, so she has to just do what is possible as she only has 1 week left in Taiwan. Did she she say she loves Taiwan? She does. It is a bit of China without all the hordes of people and she highly recommends it to you for a visit. Definitely worth it big time.
While she waited for the laundry to spin, she is doing the blog for later posting as the internet is only on when her hostess is here to prevent overuse by children (school is very tough here with children spending a lot of time with tutors and/or in cram schools) and there are two children here (currently with their father). So it is a good time to do some reading and catch up on accumulated downloaded podcasts. There is also no TV here so no possibility of trying to figure out the local news either—of course in Chinese. The same reasoning for lack of TV as for tight control of the internet. One thing AlteCocker has learned in her travels: People are different.
So, after the laundry finished, AlteCocker had the delightful chore of hanging it up. There is no dryer in the house, as she thinks she mentioned previously. It was then time to head out. She went back to the noodle place for lunch but this time she ordered a risotto, cabbage and chicken dish that definitely was not a winner. She should have stuck with the garlic noodles she ate the last time. Live and learn. She then headed over to Oma's Bakery for a piece of apple cake that was a bit more successful before getting on the subway to head for the Longle Temple/Beiman Station fabric market. A lot of the places were closed on Sunday but many of the ones catering to men were open. Sigh. She did find a nice piece of cotton fabric with a cherry blossom design that will eventually be sent to AlteCocker's sister—who is a big time sewer. She will make something with it. AlteCocker got her Thai silk last year. This fabric was not as upscale but still nice.
Then AlteCocker made her way over to the Shilin Night Market. Is it at the Shilin MRT Station as logic would indicate it should be? Of course not. It was Jaintan Station. Who names these things? It was back on the MRT to the previous station. AlteCocker was on a hunt for some cheap souvenir t-shirts. She bought 3 for about $15 and then bought two umbrellas. The little one will do just fine, but the great big one? It is a reverse umbrella that sheds water when you get in the car instead of getting it in the car. She had some concern that it would not fit in her suitcase. It is going to have a very difficult time getting in it—if at all. It might just get left in Thailand if she has a problem because there are limits to how much schlepping she will do.
By the time she got home she was drenched in sweat and immediately showered. The clothes are mostly not dry except for underwear. It has been another very humid day and things just don't dry very rapidly. Most of it dried a few hours later. When her hostess returned and turned on the internet, well, it wasn't there and AlteCocker could once again could not get the blog up. It was written but there was no way to post it. The problem is that when her hostess turns on the internet, it is at times when everyone else is using it—which makes the connection very fragile.
AlteCocker will be spending the next two nights at the Charming Hotel in Hualien near Taroko Canyon. She hopes for a more reliable “charming” connection there. AlteCocker assumes that her hostess has cable wireless at work. At home it is more or less like a weak public connection. Home exchanges/hospitality exchanges do have problems. Oh, well, only one more week of Taipei internet frustration and then Thai internet frustration will commence.
It was a slow day with a possible visit to the largest night market where AlteCocker is told there are souvenir t-shirts—always AlteCocker's favorite souvenir because she likes to make her friends jealous. She did pick up a souvenir t-shirt at the Zhindin Temple but, strangely, they are not widely available here; most of the local night markets are for locals and they do not buy "I Love Taipei" shirts. There are a lot of ones with US sports teams (Yankees and Dodgers are very popular), but not a lot of jealously inducing ones enjoyed by AlteCocker. So it will be a slow day and AlteCocker will also be packing for Taroko for two nights (not a big deal). She has a 10:00am fast train and Monday, and, yes, she she has hotel reservation to Hualian—the main jumping off point for Taroko. She is hoping for no rain and good views, but it rains a lot here, so she has to just do what is possible as she only has 1 week left in Taiwan. Did she she say she loves Taiwan? She does. It is a bit of China without all the hordes of people and she highly recommends it to you for a visit. Definitely worth it big time.
While she waited for the laundry to spin, she is doing the blog for later posting as the internet is only on when her hostess is here to prevent overuse by children (school is very tough here with children spending a lot of time with tutors and/or in cram schools) and there are two children here (currently with their father). So it is a good time to do some reading and catch up on accumulated downloaded podcasts. There is also no TV here so no possibility of trying to figure out the local news either—of course in Chinese. The same reasoning for lack of TV as for tight control of the internet. One thing AlteCocker has learned in her travels: People are different.
So, after the laundry finished, AlteCocker had the delightful chore of hanging it up. There is no dryer in the house, as she thinks she mentioned previously. It was then time to head out. She went back to the noodle place for lunch but this time she ordered a risotto, cabbage and chicken dish that definitely was not a winner. She should have stuck with the garlic noodles she ate the last time. Live and learn. She then headed over to Oma's Bakery for a piece of apple cake that was a bit more successful before getting on the subway to head for the Longle Temple/Beiman Station fabric market. A lot of the places were closed on Sunday but many of the ones catering to men were open. Sigh. She did find a nice piece of cotton fabric with a cherry blossom design that will eventually be sent to AlteCocker's sister—who is a big time sewer. She will make something with it. AlteCocker got her Thai silk last year. This fabric was not as upscale but still nice.
Then AlteCocker made her way over to the Shilin Night Market. Is it at the Shilin MRT Station as logic would indicate it should be? Of course not. It was Jaintan Station. Who names these things? It was back on the MRT to the previous station. AlteCocker was on a hunt for some cheap souvenir t-shirts. She bought 3 for about $15 and then bought two umbrellas. The little one will do just fine, but the great big one? It is a reverse umbrella that sheds water when you get in the car instead of getting it in the car. She had some concern that it would not fit in her suitcase. It is going to have a very difficult time getting in it—if at all. It might just get left in Thailand if she has a problem because there are limits to how much schlepping she will do.
By the time she got home she was drenched in sweat and immediately showered. The clothes are mostly not dry except for underwear. It has been another very humid day and things just don't dry very rapidly. Most of it dried a few hours later. When her hostess returned and turned on the internet, well, it wasn't there and AlteCocker could once again could not get the blog up. It was written but there was no way to post it. The problem is that when her hostess turns on the internet, it is at times when everyone else is using it—which makes the connection very fragile.
AlteCocker will be spending the next two nights at the Charming Hotel in Hualien near Taroko Canyon. She hopes for a more reliable “charming” connection there. AlteCocker assumes that her hostess has cable wireless at work. At home it is more or less like a weak public connection. Home exchanges/hospitality exchanges do have problems. Oh, well, only one more week of Taipei internet frustration and then Thai internet frustration will commence.
November 9, 2015: HualiEn (Jump off point for Taroko Canyon)
The Charming Hotel does have good internet so the first chore in Hualian was to catch up the blog and download masses of podcasts. This is really the only good internet AlteCocker has had in Taipei. She attempted to register for the free internet in Taipei but would always get hung up when she asked that it be translated into English. Others she has run into have reported more success. It would probably be better than they internet she has at her hostesses house which generally has only 1 or 2 bars making it difficult to do anything more than check email.
The Charming Hotel is really close to the train station and was recommended by a couple of Americans who had stayed there. AlteCocker could not reserve it via booking.com (her booking site of choice). She actually did it in Chinese! All those reservation sites sort of work the same with obvious places for your Visa card number, etc. Success even in Chinese!
AlteCocker left the house earlier than she needed to for the train because, well, does she know from the trains in Taiwan. She took a cab to avoid schlepping her backpack. Cost was $135 TD (about $4.50 US and worth it--no schlepping for AlteCockers). The fast train to Hulien was on time but was way less impressive than the fast trains in Europe. They sold snacks and lunches. AlteCocker had a snack of some dried fish things. It was better than it sounds and a new experience for her. She sat next to a Chinese man who said he studied in Georgia a long time ago; his English was a bit rusty but he was very nice--even offering to give AlteCocker the window seat. AlteCocker just stayed where she was but moved over to the window when he got off. There wasn't much to see anyway. Did AlteCocker mention it was gray and overcast. By the time she found the hotel, it was raining already.
A word about running around asking Chinese people for a hotel in English: The name of the hotel can be quite different in Chinese. AlteCocker was told that the "Charming Hotel" is translated from "Smell Hotel" in Chinese. No wonder the lady at the information center had to call the hotel to find out which one it was. She also did not speak much English. Lots of English in Taipei, but not in Hualien.
Rather than take the bus around Taroko Canyon tomorrow, AlteCocker has booked what she gathers will be a group van. The problem with the bus is that it leaves you buy the trail heads. Not so good because the trail heads are closed and you have to wait around for the next bus--which means you could be sitting around for awhile. No way AlteCocker wants to wait around like that. Of course, the tour is in Chinese, but it would be the same on the bus with more time wait. So, AlteCocker will take her chances and see what she can see. The weather today is abysmal. Tomorrow promises to be a bit better but still with a 40% chance of rain. There is a reason this is off season at Taroko. She won't get the sunny day photos for sure.
Plans for tonight ended up in a taxi into the center city where AlteCocker found basically nothing in a pouring rain. No indoor shopping areas in a small town like Hualien. Then she passed by an Italian restaurant but it was too early for it to be open. So she took a second taxi to a night market with the predictably weird food. She had some very strange things in soup. The only thing she recognized was the bok choy. Another new eating experience of which Taipei has many. After that, it was another taxi back to the hotel to update the blog, listen to a couple of podcasts, try out the TV and see if she can find any English language programs. Then it will be reading and bed. If it is raining in the morning, AlteCocker does not want to think about it.
The Charming Hotel is really close to the train station and was recommended by a couple of Americans who had stayed there. AlteCocker could not reserve it via booking.com (her booking site of choice). She actually did it in Chinese! All those reservation sites sort of work the same with obvious places for your Visa card number, etc. Success even in Chinese!
AlteCocker left the house earlier than she needed to for the train because, well, does she know from the trains in Taiwan. She took a cab to avoid schlepping her backpack. Cost was $135 TD (about $4.50 US and worth it--no schlepping for AlteCockers). The fast train to Hulien was on time but was way less impressive than the fast trains in Europe. They sold snacks and lunches. AlteCocker had a snack of some dried fish things. It was better than it sounds and a new experience for her. She sat next to a Chinese man who said he studied in Georgia a long time ago; his English was a bit rusty but he was very nice--even offering to give AlteCocker the window seat. AlteCocker just stayed where she was but moved over to the window when he got off. There wasn't much to see anyway. Did AlteCocker mention it was gray and overcast. By the time she found the hotel, it was raining already.
A word about running around asking Chinese people for a hotel in English: The name of the hotel can be quite different in Chinese. AlteCocker was told that the "Charming Hotel" is translated from "Smell Hotel" in Chinese. No wonder the lady at the information center had to call the hotel to find out which one it was. She also did not speak much English. Lots of English in Taipei, but not in Hualien.
Rather than take the bus around Taroko Canyon tomorrow, AlteCocker has booked what she gathers will be a group van. The problem with the bus is that it leaves you buy the trail heads. Not so good because the trail heads are closed and you have to wait around for the next bus--which means you could be sitting around for awhile. No way AlteCocker wants to wait around like that. Of course, the tour is in Chinese, but it would be the same on the bus with more time wait. So, AlteCocker will take her chances and see what she can see. The weather today is abysmal. Tomorrow promises to be a bit better but still with a 40% chance of rain. There is a reason this is off season at Taroko. She won't get the sunny day photos for sure.
Plans for tonight ended up in a taxi into the center city where AlteCocker found basically nothing in a pouring rain. No indoor shopping areas in a small town like Hualien. Then she passed by an Italian restaurant but it was too early for it to be open. So she took a second taxi to a night market with the predictably weird food. She had some very strange things in soup. The only thing she recognized was the bok choy. Another new eating experience of which Taipei has many. After that, it was another taxi back to the hotel to update the blog, listen to a couple of podcasts, try out the TV and see if she can find any English language programs. Then it will be reading and bed. If it is raining in the morning, AlteCocker does not want to think about it.
November 10, 2015: Taroko Canyon
Been there, done that. Bought a hat. They didn't sell shirts. The hat was red and green. Maybe all those "Christians" protesting Starbucks red and green Christmas cups should run over here and buy one of the hats. You get it in the hostel in the middle of Taroko. It was overcast but no rain.
AlteCocker took the van tour--which was entirely in Chinese. Even the Chinese speakers had difficulty understanding the guy because he, AlteCocker thinks, mixed in the local Taiwanese dialect and the people from Shanghai didn't speak Mandarin; they speak Shanghai dialect. In any event, some people helped telling AlteCocker when to to get back to the van--the most essential bit of any package tour. You don't want to cause problems. A nice young man from Malaysia, Alan, helped by also by speaking good English and assisting AlteCocker on the second hike when she needed a hand on up and down stairs on hike #2.
Unfortunately, the walk everyone wants to do in Taroko is being reconstructed and is closed. That was a disappointment and AlteCocker was told by someone that was a result of typhoon damage. Whatever caused the damage, there was a lot of it and you can't do what isn't safe to do and that's that. The group did a substitute walk and we got to see a lot of scenery. AlteCocker probably took over 200 photos so she must have liked what she saw, no? Taroko is sort of the Grand Canyon of Taiwan and, hands down, is the best thing AlteCocker has seen here. It would have been a lot better in English, but, even without understandable was very spectacular. Highest star rating whatever that is.
The driver guide was very nice (AlteCocker could tell that without understanding a word of what he was saying). Adequate stops were made for toilets and there was no waiting around as there would have been on the conventional bus tour because so many of the trails are either entirely closed or closed a short distance in. Once this is fixed, the conventional cheaper bus tour ($250 TD) would probably be OK. AlteCocker paid $800 TD for the tour she took today (less than $30 at current rates). The convenience sold it. In addition to the walk we did along the Gorge which was relatively flat, we did another that involved some climbing up and down. AlteCocker always worries about falling going down--especially after her accident in Rome. She is no spring chicken anymore and certainly does not want to land in the hospital ever again on a trip. Alan stayed with me and gave me a hand as needed. AlteCocker thought she was going to be the last one back on the bus, but she never was--even on the up and down route. Great surprise to AlteCocker as she is not in spectacular shape; after her trip to Asia, by the way, AlteCocker had a long needed operation on her back. It was a case of slow and steady wins the race. For the difficult walk, the prize was a nice waterfall at the end that was called something like "Liver Falls". You did read that correctly. Chinese names can be very "interesting". The falls did not, to AlteCocker at least, look like anyone's liver.
On the way back, we made a stop at an arch that announces the beginning of the Taroko Gorge road. The road is an engineering marvel and there are are some temples that commemorate the builders and/or those who died building it. The entrance arch was a full deal Chinese arch--same style type as the one in Washington, DC, but smaller. Most interesting road arch AlteCocker has ever seen. Another stop was made along the Pacific Ocean. It was freezing cold there in a small fishing village. The stop was enjoyed by some of the Chinese who do not live near the ocean, but, ocean scenery is ocean scenery to AlteCocker. She snapped a few photos and repaired to the warmth of the bus.
AlteCocker was the first drop off and, after a shower, ended up eating a dinner of mini crabs in the hotel restaurant. She really was not up for a schlep to the center of Hualien again. It looked as if it were going to rain and there isn't much she needs to see in Hualien itself. She has decided to take an earlier train back to Taipei tomorrow as the weather is not slated to be very good again. You can book other tours such as whale watching and/or rafting out of Hualien, but having participated in these sorts of things before, AlteCocker decided to bag them and just return to Taipei for some clean up activities (such as sending some stuff back to the US at the Post Office) and a few remaining tourist sites. Taiwan will be over November 15th and that date is coming up. Don't forget to follow the trip on the Thailand 2015-2016 blog after that. Blogs from AlteCocker's SE Asia trip from last year can be found here if you want to waste a lot of time.
AlteCocker took the van tour--which was entirely in Chinese. Even the Chinese speakers had difficulty understanding the guy because he, AlteCocker thinks, mixed in the local Taiwanese dialect and the people from Shanghai didn't speak Mandarin; they speak Shanghai dialect. In any event, some people helped telling AlteCocker when to to get back to the van--the most essential bit of any package tour. You don't want to cause problems. A nice young man from Malaysia, Alan, helped by also by speaking good English and assisting AlteCocker on the second hike when she needed a hand on up and down stairs on hike #2.
Unfortunately, the walk everyone wants to do in Taroko is being reconstructed and is closed. That was a disappointment and AlteCocker was told by someone that was a result of typhoon damage. Whatever caused the damage, there was a lot of it and you can't do what isn't safe to do and that's that. The group did a substitute walk and we got to see a lot of scenery. AlteCocker probably took over 200 photos so she must have liked what she saw, no? Taroko is sort of the Grand Canyon of Taiwan and, hands down, is the best thing AlteCocker has seen here. It would have been a lot better in English, but, even without understandable was very spectacular. Highest star rating whatever that is.
The driver guide was very nice (AlteCocker could tell that without understanding a word of what he was saying). Adequate stops were made for toilets and there was no waiting around as there would have been on the conventional bus tour because so many of the trails are either entirely closed or closed a short distance in. Once this is fixed, the conventional cheaper bus tour ($250 TD) would probably be OK. AlteCocker paid $800 TD for the tour she took today (less than $30 at current rates). The convenience sold it. In addition to the walk we did along the Gorge which was relatively flat, we did another that involved some climbing up and down. AlteCocker always worries about falling going down--especially after her accident in Rome. She is no spring chicken anymore and certainly does not want to land in the hospital ever again on a trip. Alan stayed with me and gave me a hand as needed. AlteCocker thought she was going to be the last one back on the bus, but she never was--even on the up and down route. Great surprise to AlteCocker as she is not in spectacular shape; after her trip to Asia, by the way, AlteCocker had a long needed operation on her back. It was a case of slow and steady wins the race. For the difficult walk, the prize was a nice waterfall at the end that was called something like "Liver Falls". You did read that correctly. Chinese names can be very "interesting". The falls did not, to AlteCocker at least, look like anyone's liver.
On the way back, we made a stop at an arch that announces the beginning of the Taroko Gorge road. The road is an engineering marvel and there are are some temples that commemorate the builders and/or those who died building it. The entrance arch was a full deal Chinese arch--same style type as the one in Washington, DC, but smaller. Most interesting road arch AlteCocker has ever seen. Another stop was made along the Pacific Ocean. It was freezing cold there in a small fishing village. The stop was enjoyed by some of the Chinese who do not live near the ocean, but, ocean scenery is ocean scenery to AlteCocker. She snapped a few photos and repaired to the warmth of the bus.
AlteCocker was the first drop off and, after a shower, ended up eating a dinner of mini crabs in the hotel restaurant. She really was not up for a schlep to the center of Hualien again. It looked as if it were going to rain and there isn't much she needs to see in Hualien itself. She has decided to take an earlier train back to Taipei tomorrow as the weather is not slated to be very good again. You can book other tours such as whale watching and/or rafting out of Hualien, but having participated in these sorts of things before, AlteCocker decided to bag them and just return to Taipei for some clean up activities (such as sending some stuff back to the US at the Post Office) and a few remaining tourist sites. Taiwan will be over November 15th and that date is coming up. Don't forget to follow the trip on the Thailand 2015-2016 blog after that. Blogs from AlteCocker's SE Asia trip from last year can be found here if you want to waste a lot of time.
November 11, 2015: Back to Base in Taipei
The weather situation in Hualien was not good, so AlteCocker ate breakfast, checked out of the hotel and walked to the train station to change her late afternoon for an earlier one. Unfortunately, she had to wait a couple of hours for an earlier one. It was a question of getting an assigned seat. The railway will not give you a train reservation without a seat, so you see the problem. So, there was a lot of sitting around reading "The Duchess" by Amanda Foreman (a library book that runs out in 5 days so it is on a rush now). When you have to wait, have something to do! Eventually the train came, AlteCocker found her seat and, after chatting with seat neighbors went to sleep for most of the ride back. The train was a bit newer train than the HSR one she had going to Hualien.
Insofar as Hualien is concerned, you can do things such as whitewater rafting or whale watching as day tours, but AlteCocker would have had to stay longer and, in view of the weather, she is much better off with options in Taipei. So, Taroko is done and she is back to base.
Tonight she is going over to the Miramar Gardens Hotel to meet with some Americans she met in Taroko for dinner. To have them come to where AlteCocker is staying would have been impossible. They would have never found it. My hostess has written out the directions to the hotel in Chinese so AlteCocker can just pop in a cab. She'll take the MRT home. All she has to do for that is to find any stop. Wandering around looking for things is a waste of time. Cabs are relatively cheap here. Why stress?
With Chinese directions, AlteCocker had no problem getting over to the hotel where my Taroko chums, Tom and Yudi (she's of Korean origin--hence the unusual first name) were staying. Definitely the high rent district. AlteCocker went up to their room but no one answered. She went down to the lobby and in they walked as she was about to email them. We went to the Shilin Night Market for another foray into the premier tourist souvenir market here. It was a relatively cool night and, since it wasn't during the weekend, the market was uncrowded. Some small purchases were made. AlteCocker's haul was a few more t-shirts and that was about it. Everyone was tired from Taroko. Tom and Yuki cut out to go back to their hotel before AlteCocker. AlteCocker went around the corner to check out an area of the market she had not seen. It was more fruit stands. No need to check out more fruit stands. AlteCocker headed for the MRT and home topping up her Easy Card at the 7-11 on the way home.
Insofar as Hualien is concerned, you can do things such as whitewater rafting or whale watching as day tours, but AlteCocker would have had to stay longer and, in view of the weather, she is much better off with options in Taipei. So, Taroko is done and she is back to base.
Tonight she is going over to the Miramar Gardens Hotel to meet with some Americans she met in Taroko for dinner. To have them come to where AlteCocker is staying would have been impossible. They would have never found it. My hostess has written out the directions to the hotel in Chinese so AlteCocker can just pop in a cab. She'll take the MRT home. All she has to do for that is to find any stop. Wandering around looking for things is a waste of time. Cabs are relatively cheap here. Why stress?
With Chinese directions, AlteCocker had no problem getting over to the hotel where my Taroko chums, Tom and Yudi (she's of Korean origin--hence the unusual first name) were staying. Definitely the high rent district. AlteCocker went up to their room but no one answered. She went down to the lobby and in they walked as she was about to email them. We went to the Shilin Night Market for another foray into the premier tourist souvenir market here. It was a relatively cool night and, since it wasn't during the weekend, the market was uncrowded. Some small purchases were made. AlteCocker's haul was a few more t-shirts and that was about it. Everyone was tired from Taroko. Tom and Yuki cut out to go back to their hotel before AlteCocker. AlteCocker went around the corner to check out an area of the market she had not seen. It was more fruit stands. No need to check out more fruit stands. AlteCocker headed for the MRT and home topping up her Easy Card at the 7-11 on the way home.
November 12, 2015: A Trip to the Post Office & Sun Yat-Sen Memorial
While AlteCocker swears she will never get in this fix again--yadda, yadda, yadda--inevitably she ends up mailing crap home at the Post Office on a long trip. She has enough to schlep to Chiang Mai on Sunday without adding crap that she doesn't need there and really is best outta here. So it was off to the local Post Office. They are always signed in green here and the sign is in both Chinese characters and English, so very easy to find. AlteCocker asked some one and there was a large one just down the street. It was the nicest Post Office she has ever visited anywhere in the world even if she had to go back to the apartment and figure out the apartment's address before mailing. Normally, she just uses her home address for the "from" spot because it is crazy to use an address that she will not be at if there are problems. They insisted and the first worker asked AlteCocker to bring her passport for round two.
So, it was back to the house to retrieve her passport and figure out her address (the addresses here are in both Chinese and English so she could figure it out. She knows about 10-12 Chinese characters at present--so certainly not enough to write an address. International mail, however, must be addressed in English here, so no problem with that. Eventually she got the mailing done. The Post Office has boxes (much better than Thai boxes) and efficiently wrapped the boxes with both tape and and those yellow strips from a machine that make sure that everything does not go falling about. The box was pretty full so AlteCocker restuffed the crap in more logically to reduce the bulk. Good-bye 5 t-shirts, puppets, package of tea, one umbrella and lord knows what else. The surprise was the price. The box was $180 TD (less than $6 for a good size box), but mailing was $580 TD--less than $20. It probably would have cost about $100 to mail the same amount in the US to Taiwan. Why the disparity? Taiwan still has sea mail; the US does not. It was a nice surprise. Interestingly the second postal worker did not need AlteCocker's passport. No idea what was going on in the passport department--perhaps a deep, dark secret. Anyway that dastardly chore is done and the luggage weighs less.
In the afternoon, AlteCocker took the MRT over to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial; Sun is regarded as the father of modern China (Communists on the mainland may disagree, but it is Sun and not Mao who is the guy). The Memorial is less gradiose than Chiang's The Sun Yat-Sen Memorial is more tasteful. There are exhibits about him and brochures offered in English--very well done. Because it was Sun's 150th birthday, there were choral groups performing all afternoon. Let me tell you, there is nothing that AlteCocker likes more on vacation than being amused while sitting down. It is a lot better than schlepping. So she sat for about 1 1/2 hours and listened to the groups. The groups were all of the local amateur variety (with plenty of grandparents out in force to snap photos of the elementary school choir), but they were all entertaining. Most of the songs were in Chinese (either Mandarin or the local Taiwanese dialect--AlteCocker could not tell one way or the other, of course, but someone told her). Some groups performed songs in English. AlteCocker has noted that the "doo wop" style seems to be very popular here. One group was made up of blind performers--very touching.
After the the concert was pretty much ended, AlteCocker went back in the Memorial to snap the required photos of Sun Yat-Sen in his chair (think Lincoln Memorial again) without mobs in front of her shots. That chore done, she headed for the MRT and home. Dinner was just a nosh. She was not up for another night market foray or a big sit down meal. She is happy that she seems to have less luggage as this leg of the trip is almost done.
For those of you who want more information about Sun Yat-Sen, here is the link to the article on him on wikipedia. AlteCocker has put locating a good biography of him on her to do list.
So, it was back to the house to retrieve her passport and figure out her address (the addresses here are in both Chinese and English so she could figure it out. She knows about 10-12 Chinese characters at present--so certainly not enough to write an address. International mail, however, must be addressed in English here, so no problem with that. Eventually she got the mailing done. The Post Office has boxes (much better than Thai boxes) and efficiently wrapped the boxes with both tape and and those yellow strips from a machine that make sure that everything does not go falling about. The box was pretty full so AlteCocker restuffed the crap in more logically to reduce the bulk. Good-bye 5 t-shirts, puppets, package of tea, one umbrella and lord knows what else. The surprise was the price. The box was $180 TD (less than $6 for a good size box), but mailing was $580 TD--less than $20. It probably would have cost about $100 to mail the same amount in the US to Taiwan. Why the disparity? Taiwan still has sea mail; the US does not. It was a nice surprise. Interestingly the second postal worker did not need AlteCocker's passport. No idea what was going on in the passport department--perhaps a deep, dark secret. Anyway that dastardly chore is done and the luggage weighs less.
In the afternoon, AlteCocker took the MRT over to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial; Sun is regarded as the father of modern China (Communists on the mainland may disagree, but it is Sun and not Mao who is the guy). The Memorial is less gradiose than Chiang's The Sun Yat-Sen Memorial is more tasteful. There are exhibits about him and brochures offered in English--very well done. Because it was Sun's 150th birthday, there were choral groups performing all afternoon. Let me tell you, there is nothing that AlteCocker likes more on vacation than being amused while sitting down. It is a lot better than schlepping. So she sat for about 1 1/2 hours and listened to the groups. The groups were all of the local amateur variety (with plenty of grandparents out in force to snap photos of the elementary school choir), but they were all entertaining. Most of the songs were in Chinese (either Mandarin or the local Taiwanese dialect--AlteCocker could not tell one way or the other, of course, but someone told her). Some groups performed songs in English. AlteCocker has noted that the "doo wop" style seems to be very popular here. One group was made up of blind performers--very touching.
After the the concert was pretty much ended, AlteCocker went back in the Memorial to snap the required photos of Sun Yat-Sen in his chair (think Lincoln Memorial again) without mobs in front of her shots. That chore done, she headed for the MRT and home. Dinner was just a nosh. She was not up for another night market foray or a big sit down meal. She is happy that she seems to have less luggage as this leg of the trip is almost done.
For those of you who want more information about Sun Yat-Sen, here is the link to the article on him on wikipedia. AlteCocker has put locating a good biography of him on her to do list.
November 13, 2015: TamSui
AlteCocker is running out of steam as she runs out of time in Taipei. Today she decided to take the Taipei MRT line 5 to the end of the line to the port of Tamsui. She then took the bus to the Tamsui Fish Market stop which is basically a marginally developed shopping complex with very little business. AlteCocker went into an exhibit about chocolate ($240 TD for seniors. It was, quite frankly, not worth it if mildly interesting. There are exhibits of a car, French dresses and lord knows what else made out of chocolate. Then AlteCocker walked along the waterfront to a bridge one can take to the Fish Market. AlteCocker never got to the Fish Market. She was told that it wasn't much. She simply walked along (usual food places and tourist schlock shops--not much else. She did see a fantastic shop that sold high end Chinese vases, wood work and all sorts of upscale items that were way out of AlteCocker's income tax bracket. Large things involve large shipping bills on top of the price of the item. Nice to walk around, but no purchases. Some of the furniture consisted of huge pieces for which one would need a huge home--perhaps for the new Chinese billionaires and not for US AlteCocker's rummaging through shops as they travel through others' culture.
So, nothing bought beyond some snacks--and the inevitable Starbucks Coffee and it was time to return. Tamsui is a good distance from the house and AlteCocker--despite the coffee--crashed when she got back. It was time for a serious nap.
Dinner was a Chinese bowl of rice at the local night market down the street followed by a Taiwanese fruit drink. It was enough for what will be the last full day of a trip. Tomorrow there will be some shopping and packing and then it will be time for Chiang Mai.
So, nothing bought beyond some snacks--and the inevitable Starbucks Coffee and it was time to return. Tamsui is a good distance from the house and AlteCocker--despite the coffee--crashed when she got back. It was time for a serious nap.
Dinner was a Chinese bowl of rice at the local night market down the street followed by a Taiwanese fruit drink. It was enough for what will be the last full day of a trip. Tomorrow there will be some shopping and packing and then it will be time for Chiang Mai.
November 14-15, 2015: Farewell Taipei; Hello Thailand
AlteCocker's last full day in Taipei involved meeting with a friend of my hostess' adjacent to Taipei 101 to have a look at a monthly furniture mart. The design aspect of it was striking, but, of course, AlteCocker was not buying. It was good to see the inventiveness of the designs. There is a lot of creativity in Taiwan.
After that much of the day was devoted to struggling with the luggage. AlteCocker was flying a discount airline to Chiang Mai. Yeah, the flight was discount. The baggage overage fees cost me about $272. Ugh. Never again. AlteCocker has quite a bit that needs to go to Malaysia. That is going to be shipped. She is not dealing with heavy luggage again. That crap is getting outta here.
The evening of November 14th was largely devoted to updating herself on the terrible news from Paris through podcasts. Just terrible.
So the 15th began with an early ride to the airport with my hostess' regular driver who does that kind of work--a suit and wearing white gloves in the car. The flight was uneventful. One of the notable things about about V Air is how informal their uniforms were. You do, of course, get charged for food and for packing too much.
The trip continues with the Chiang Mai blog.
After that much of the day was devoted to struggling with the luggage. AlteCocker was flying a discount airline to Chiang Mai. Yeah, the flight was discount. The baggage overage fees cost me about $272. Ugh. Never again. AlteCocker has quite a bit that needs to go to Malaysia. That is going to be shipped. She is not dealing with heavy luggage again. That crap is getting outta here.
The evening of November 14th was largely devoted to updating herself on the terrible news from Paris through podcasts. Just terrible.
So the 15th began with an early ride to the airport with my hostess' regular driver who does that kind of work--a suit and wearing white gloves in the car. The flight was uneventful. One of the notable things about about V Air is how informal their uniforms were. You do, of course, get charged for food and for packing too much.
The trip continues with the Chiang Mai blog.