Somewhere Along the Way: Taiwan, or There and Back Again

And there's a fake part of me

that comes off so you can read

I was made by the Taiwanese in Taiwan

but they don't like that much

because it's called Formosa

-Matthew Good Band, The Workers Sing A Song Of Mass Production

Taiwan is a place that, as far as I can remember for most of my life, if I thought about it at all, I associated with the Made in Taiwan stamps on the bottom of a dish or plastic toy here and there. Naturally most people with that kind of simple indoctrination to the word "Taiwan" are going to envision it as a place of sprawling factories, maybe interspersed with sweat shops, all wreathed in the heavy clouds of smog synonymous in our collective consciousness with the parts of the world who make all the odds and ends for the parts that don't. I can't speak for the past, but modern Taiwan, at least, does not fit that picture.

Taiwan was formerly known as Formosa, as a result of Portuguese sailors terming it llha Formosa, or "beautiful island" after first catching sight of it in 1544. Their ocean-weary eyes clearly didn't betray them, as beautiful it is. After rapid industrialisation ("Made in Taiwan") and economic growth in the latter half the 20th century, Taiwan has now become an advanced industrial economy. Unlike its big brother to the east (and southeast and northeast) across the Taiwan straight, Taiwan is a multi-party democracy, though still officially known at the Republic of China, or ROC (as opposed to the People's Republic of China, or PRC, as the PRC refuses to recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state).

Taiwan was mostly inhabited by the Taiwanese indigenous peoples when the dutch showed up, after which Chinese began immigrating to the island, the descendants of which now form the majority of its populace.

Now that you know the same scant amount about the country's history as I do, let's get down to business on the trip itself.

One of the most lingering aspects about Taiwan for me is the Taiwanese themselves. These are some of most friendly and helpful people I've met anywhere. As neither Ji Hye (who I was travelling with) or I speak Mandarin, it was a big help that plenty of people, particularly those around our age or younger, spoke what I found to be phenomenal English and were willing to lend a figurative hand at the drop of a hat. The people made it a pleasant experience from the get go. They came off to me on a whole as very positive-minded and creative, as well as gentle and warm. I also found them just plain personable and cool. Though I'm usually too stubborn to ask for directions until we're clearly not in the right place (if we were driving rather than walking, you'd typically refer to this as "lost"), Ji Hye sits at the opposite end of the spectrum and prefers to pull out the map and start flagging people down from the very outset, but my initial bitterness as having my sense of adventure washed away was usually overtaken by the impressive and oft touching willingness of most people to tell us everything they could, and in many cases go the extra mile in their help, even so much as offering to show us around a location in a couple instances.

Next is the scenery. Taiwan has no shortage of breathtaking landscapes. From verdant, cloud shrouded peaks, to the stunning sheer rocks walls of Toroko gorge, to stretching coastlines and hillsides luscious with palm tree forests, its a tour de-force in features both geographic and floral. Its warm climate keeps it green all year round, with broad leafed fronds and flowers abounding, as ever, throughout the winter months. Though I didn't climb it, Taiwan also features East Asia's highest peak, Mt. Yushan, ringing in at 3,952 metres (Fuji is 3,776). The more I think about it, the more I think I may yet return to Taiwan to hike it someday, but that remains to be seen.

And the food. Oh yes, the food. Though we were often on the go too much to opt for anything slower than food picked up at the convenience store for breakfast or lunch, at night we almost always found ourselves in the vicinity of one of Taiwan's ubiquitous and energetic night markets, where we would stroll and gorge the delicious and sometimes exotic eats until we were stuffed. I had pre-booked us one hostel for two nights just off the street from the biggest night market in the country, Feng Chia, and the stay there was well worth the confusion it took to track down its exact location in that seemingly unsleeping corner of the city of Taichung. There was never a shortage in Taiwan of culinary adventure, with the cuisine deriving from the influences of mainland China, Japan (due to the country being under Japanese rule from 1895-1945), and native indigenous dishes.

Alright, here's a big chunk of a paragraph to get through before picture time (or you can just skip to the goods now). In a nutshell, our trip consisted of landing in Taipei, grabbing some sleep and getting up early to head via train down the east coast to the small city of Hualien. From there we took a bus into Taroko National Park, staying for a night in the valley village of Tianxiang (alternate spellings, Tiansiang; Tiensheng). After exploring the village and hiking through but a speck of the vast gorge with some new friends from Hong Kong, we departed late the following day for Hualien once again. After a night in Hualien we were off via train to Taipei again, and then onto the bullet train down to the large, smoggy and exciting city of Taichung in the central area of the island (we couldn't easily cut across the island to this city from Hualien due to the mountain range that divides the island, and thus had to make the trip back to Taipei in the north and go from there to save time). From Taichung we were able to reach the pretty and touristy area of Sun Moon lake on the following day, home of the Thao tribe, one of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. After another sleep we left Taichung for Taipei, where we beelined for the Beitou hot spring area to relax in one of their popular out door springs (some of the pools were *pleasantly* near scalding and the hottest hot spring water I've ever been in). We spent the rest of the trip exploring Taiwan, including the Taipei 101 building where we rode the world's fastest elevator (1010 m/min), the staggering National Palace Museum (which features artifacts and artworks from over 8000 years of Chinese history, beginning in the Neolithic age), ate at one of the city's most famous restaurants (think Chinese dumplings, now think fancier) and took a jaunt to the National Revolutionary Martyr's Shrine.

Hiking in Toroko Gorge. I probably couldn't have managed to look more like a tourist. Visible is the entrance to a cave where multiple waterfalls pour down from the ceiling into the stream you see here.

All in all, we packed just about as much into this trip, limited to eight days, as was humanly possible, at least for these two humans. The pictures and captions below will fill in more of the story.

That's soup under there. I don't know why I ever accepted eating soup without a rich, flaky pastry hat puffed handsomely atop it.

Simple night shot of an intersection in Hualien, a small coastal city near Toroko National Park. Our hostel, Sleeping Boot Backpackers, was particularly excellent, should you ever find yourself there and need a great place to stay.

This is fruit, by the way.

Sun Moon Lake

Cable cars at Sun Moon Lake

They're not real frog eggs -- they just say that, so I was informed by a young woman from Singapore as I goggled in grotesque anticipation at the sign. Buzz kill, but whatever the vendor was stirring in a pot certainly looked like a big, slimy batch of frog eggs. We made up for it by buying a bar of congealed pig's blood to eat moments later.

It's a bread cone that they fill with cheese, bacon and whatever else depending on what type you pick, then bake it. It's as brilliant and tasty as it sounds.

Night Market magic

Peculiar natural rock formations abound at Yehliu, north of Taipei. These are known as the "Sea Candles."

Well . . . I didn't bring my swim trunks that day anyway.

Yehliu

Dogs lounged inexplicably on natural shelves along the cliff face in one area of the beach.

Yehliu

Taipei from the 101 building's observation deck.

National Revolutionary Martyr's shrine

Statuesque guards at the entrance to the inner area of the Martyr's shrine.

Thick noodles are shaved expertly from a large hunk of dough straight into boiling water. The eventual dish they went into was hearty and oh-so-flavourful.