Taiwan - Days 3 and 4

So, as I mentioned before, I had met a really nice native on the plane who offered to help me out. I had mentioned that I wanted to go to the North Coast and he happened to have a house there. Normally I dont entrust strangers to take me to strange places in foreign countries, but Taiwan is known for its hospitality to foreigners, and this guy was genuine, so I took him up on the offer. I called him at about 930 and he came to pick me up at 10am. We drove about 45 mins north to the northen coast of Taiwan, near a city called Jioufen. He has a weekend house there, which is quite amazing. The scenery of the mountains and the ocean was breathtaking and very beautiful. He drove me to his house and showed me around his little neighborhood. By little, I mean about 45-50 houses, very small. There is an elementary school on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with only about 50 kids. Possibly the school with the best view in the world, or at least close. After checking out his house and view, wedrove through the mountains on to a town called Reifung. On the way, he showed me an old coal mine in the mountains. It is now in ruins, and adds to the mountainside nicely. It is nestled right into the side of the mountain facing the ocean, and looks almost like an old palace in its current shape. As we are driving through the mountains, we look at his town from above, and he points out the graveyard hill. The "graves" are colorful, extravagantly decorated mauseleums, all on the top of the mountain, overlooking the ocean. The entire mountainside is littered with them. It's hard to describe, but there are some pictures of them on the picture site. During this drive is when I decided that I wanted to rent a scooter. He (George was his name) had to leave at 12 to go pick up his son, so I was on my own after that. I was just planning on walking around and hiking, but a scooter was a much better idea. After getting to Reifung, we found a place to rent a scooter (which I never would have found, it was nestled in an alleyway off the main street, with no signs or anything.) So, George helped me get gas, and told me goodbye. He was very helpful and I thanked him for helping me, and he acted like it was no big deal.
So, after renting my scooter for about $8 American, I set off with no plan, and no real idea of where I was. But, I'm not one to get lost easily, so I wasnt worried. I set off along a coastal road from Reifung, heading to the city of Keelung. Keelung is a big-ish city right on the coast, abou 8km from Reifung. I had read that there were some fun things to do there. When I got there, it was just a harbor and some buildings. Nothing pretty about it, nothing extraordinary. So, I took a quick scoot around town and headed back the way I came. Good scenery of the ocean and mountains, but nothing to write home about.
I headed back to the town of Jioufen, since that was somewhere I knew how to get to. I drove along a coastal road, taking in the sights, and sweating like i've never sweated before. It was bout 95 degrees, and the humidity was stifling. Wearing a helmet didn't help, so I made sure to have a huge bottle of water with me to cool me off. It stayed cold for about 10 minutes, then got hot from the sun. It was quite miserable actaully, but I didnt mind at the time. I stopped periodically to check out some interesting things. I found a small island off the coast that I headed over to. I drove off the road, down to the tip and saw some people fishing, and nearly broke my scooter. There was a gap in the road which I did not see til I got up next to it. I stopped just in time, but as I tried to walk the scooter across, but hand accidentally pulled on the throttle, and the scooter took off. I let go, it dropped to the ground and made a horrible clanking sound. Luckily, it was ok, but I made sure to stay on the pavement from there on out ( I wasn't the only scooter in that area, but definitely the least experienced.
I saw a staircase leading to the top of the small mountian on the island, and decided to take it. After walking about 7 minutes, I saw a fork, and took the path to the right. About 40 meters later I saw on old lookout tower. A small enclosed cement cylinder with 4 lookout holes in either direction. I walked in and took a look out through the holes, and understood why they put the tower there. Taiwan was under martial law for 40 years, and were constantly fearing an attack from mainland China, so these things are scattered all over the coast. I trekked back to the path, and headed up the rest of the mountain. Nice scenery, easy climb as it was all wooden planks. After getting back to my scooter I was dreadfully hot and needed some new water. I saw a building which looked like a museum, and went in asking for water. A security guard immediately ushered me out and pointed to a staircase just next to the front door. I went up there and not only found a bathroom, and some water, but a full shower. I filled up my water bottle with the coldest water I've ever tasted (also filtered), then decided to take advatage of the shower. I stepped in with my shorts on and turn the cold water on to drench me. This may have possibly saved the day for me, as I was severly uncomfortable in the hot weather. I soaked my shirt, cooled off, and headed back to the scooter, dripping wet, refreshed, and ready for more adventure.
I was dry in about 10 minutes, so the wetness didn't last long. I drove back to the Jioufen where George had taken me, as the mountain roads seemed very intriguing to me, and looked fun to drive as well. I drove around, and came across signs for "Gold Ecological Park." I had read about this park in a tour guide, so I decided to head that way. About 30 minutes later I arrived in the parking lot and headed to the gate. I went to go purchase a ticket when I looked at the hours and saw that there were closed Mondays. Very dissapointing that the only day they are closed was the day I was there. No worries, though, becasue they kept the grounds open. The park was a gold mine back in the day, and its based on a mountainside with a bunch of exhibits and artifcats, and even a couple old tunnels that you can go into. Obviously, these attractions were closed, but they left the grounds open for people to walk around. So I went in and explored. I saw the old gold cart tracks, which people can walk on, and the entrance to one of the tunnels. There was a mountain to climb with a platform on top where there used to be some sort of shrine or outdoor pavillion. I coulndt tell, and the signs were in Korean, so i had to guess. But, I climbed up there and saw some columns and other cement shapes in the form of what used to be a building. A great view of the ocean and town, and I met 4 people from Singapore who all wanted to take a picture with me individually, so I obliged. I meandered back on down the hill and back on to my scooter to explore some more.
As I was heading to the next mountain I saw signs for the "Ruins of POW camp." I was intrigued, so I headed that way. At the bottom of a hill, in a very nondescript location, next to someones house, was a little memorial park with the old Gate post and outer wall of a Japanese POW camp they had during WW2. Turns out there were over 1,000 Taiwnaese and foreign people tortured there. They made them work in the mines and fed them very poorly, beat them, etc.. The Japs were incredibly ruthless over here during the war, and people still hate them for it both there and in Korea. Anyway, after snapping some photos and reading the description, I headed on.
The last part of my day took me to the best part. I saw a huge, massive mountain right on the coast that I wanted to get to the top of. I was prepared to park my scooter at the bottom and trek up the paths for 3 hours. However, at the parking lot, a small, paved path led on. So, I followed it, and I followed it...and it kept going. I thought for sure it would stop at any moment, but it was nearly all the way up the mountain. It took about 20 minutes to go up the path, and once at the top, the peak was onle a 500 meter hike away (not height, distance). I saw a little pagoda on the peak, and headed that way. About 15 minutes later I reached the pagoda and realized it was not the peak. Another 100 meters away was a rock formation that was the true peak, about 30 meters above the pagoda. The pathway stopped, and getting to the base of the rocks was a rope to pull yourself up. Crawling up the rope, I realized that the rope led directly under a very very large rock. I went in, and saw an opening just big enough for me to climb up through. I also saw spider webs, so it had been a while since someone had been here. I swatted them away with my shit, and pushed on through the hole. Now I was truly on top. I sat on the large rock and just took in the view for about 15 minutes. One of the best views I have ever seen. Gorgeous blue ocean in front, with the town of Jioufen right on the shore. Mountains all around, lush greenery, and a view of graveyard hill. The picture in the post is from the top of that mountain. One of my favorite pictures I've ever taken.
After resting and catching my breath, I headed back down the scooter and back to Reifung to catch the train back to Taipei. I returned the scooter, and then i looked at my arms and realized they were incredibly burnt. Thats what happens when your arms are outstretched for 6 hours and exposed to the sun. Either way, I headed to the train station and got a train back to Taipei for my last night in the country. That night I just went to a nice restaurant and got a good meal, sampled some local Taiwan beer, and headed home, as I was very well spent from the day.
My last day was a short one. My flight left at 5, so I had to leave Taipei by 2 to get to the airport. I only did two things the last day. First I went to a museum of Taipei history, which was free of charge. Not much interesting going on, just some artifacts, articles, diagrams, typical museumy stuff. I wanted to watch a movie in their history theatre, but the last showing was at 10am on Tuedays, and I got there at 10:30. Bad luck again. It was there I learned that the city was enclosed in a wall and had 5 gates, of which only 1 remained standing to this day. So, after seeing a map of where they were, I headed to go see the last remaining gate.
Another dissapointment. After finding the gate, I couldnt get very close. It was under renovation and surrounded by a work fence. Nevertheless, I was able to get up to the gate and take a picture of the entrance adn its surroundings. I find it funyn that literally 6 inches from one side is a highway bridge going right past it. So close that if someone pulled their car over next to the gate, they could easily hop on top of the gate. The past meets the Present for sure.
Anyway, thats the end of my trip to Taiwan. A great trip, very fun, very exciting, I learned a lot, and I saw a lot of great things. Not bad for a trip planned with 24 hours notice. Next posting to be coming soon!

Taiwan - Day 2

On Day 2 I decided to venture out of the city and into the wilderness. I woke up with no real plan, just some ideas. So as I was eating breakfast I read through my guides and materials and decided to go to a town called Wulai, about an hour south of Taipei. The guide I had said it was famous for its hot springs and beautiful scenery, and much more. So I figured out how to get there, hopped on the metro, caught a bus, and arrived in the little town of Wulai at about 10am.
The town was very nondescript, small, nothing exciting, just regular old houses and buildings that have been there for years. There was a beautiful temple nestled in the hillside, and a pristine colored river running through town. When I say town, I mean 1 street, literally. I strolled across the first bridge over a stream and got into the main shopping area of the street. One of the first things I saw was an Atoyal Aborigine museum. Naturally, I decided to go in and check out the history of the area. The museum was pretty small, three quaint floors of mostly reading, pictures, and a few artifacsts. Turns out, there have been people here for many years, and much like other cultures, the more advanced Chinese came in and started killing em, taking over their land. Basically the same way the US did with the Indians, and the British did in Australia. So, this served as a small reminder of that, and told of daily life in aboriginal land. The coolest part was a handmade xylophone that they let you play, with insturctions on what to hit for a traditional song.
As I exited the museum I made my way down the shopping street, enjoying the sights and sounds of pure Taiwanese culture. At the end of the street was a larger bride leading to a hiking path, hot springs, restaurants, and a train station. The path and train tracks went about 2km up the mountain to a tourist resort and cable car station to get across the river and on top of the mountain. I decided to take the train since it was historical (the tracks were old gold mining cart tracks) and only could be done here. Plus, I would do enough walking later on. The train width was literally the width of a gold cart, and only 3 cars long. Very small. A good picture of it on the picasa site. It started to drizzle when I got to the station, but I didn't mind, since it was about 95degrees, and I hate hot, humid weather.
As the train approached the other station, it started pouring, as seen in the picture above. At this point, I decided to get an umbrella, as the raindrops really hurt my head. These were the largest raindrops I'd ever seen. Plus, I was already cooled off and didnt need to continually get soaked. At this point, I decided it was lunchtime and sat on the balcony of a little store/restaurant to watch the raindrops.
My next stop was to get on the cable car and go to the top of the mountain. It had temporarily stopped due to the rain, but was running again by the time I was done with lunch. I got a ticket and hopped on, taking in the site of the beautiful Wulai waterfall and its surroundings. At the top of the mountain was a nice hotel resort and an "amusement park." This amusement park did not have any roller coasters, and barely any working rides, it just provided amusement.
I walked around the grounds of the park and found most things to be closed or run down, but still enjoyed the walk around. The grounds were littered with little waterfalls, bridges and other nice scenery. I found a hiking path called the Fern Walk and decided to take it. The shrubbery and foliage surrounding the trail was immense, and at times it felt like I was hundreds of miles from civilization. I hear noises I have never heard before, some very loud birds or bugs or other creatures. At the end of the trail I stumbled upon what looked to be some kind of obstacle course. There were wooden obstacles with numbers on them from 1-25. I came in at the end, as #25 was the first thing I saw. I decided to do all the obstacles I could, and completed them all, some backwards, some properly. The best was a chair that you sit in and it zips you down about 30 meters. Pretty fun. Pictures of many of them on the site.
At the bottom, I wandered through the rest of the amusement park and found a couple working things, a merry go round, mini-bumper cars, and a swingset. After exploring the rest of the area, I decided it was time to head down the mountain.
After getting back on teh cable car and on the train again, it was now about 3pm, and I was extremely hot. Luckily, the town offers a free hot spring, and swimming in the river. I didnt bring any extra clothes, or a swimsuit, but didnt care. I found the entrance, and simply went into the river wearing my shorts. The water was very clean, had no smell, and looked very blue. Was great to swim in. After cooling down, I decided to go into the hot springs. Wulai means "hot" in Chinese. When the people discovered this town, they came across pockets of natural hot water in the river, so they named the town Wulai. Very clever indeed. So, the town took some of these pockets and rocked them off into mini-hot tubs that were naturally heated. The people here think its great for the skin and body, but who knows. It was refreshing nonetheless, and good to be able to sit in hot water that didnt smell like chlorine. After about an hour of going between the hot spring and the river, I decided it was time to go home.
As I was wating for the bus, I ran into two other foreigners, and we ended up splitting a taxi back to the metro station. I found out they had been living there for 6 years, and were both fluent in Chinese. One was a translator, one a regular teacher, conducting class in Chinese. Very cool, and a good opportunity to see Taiwan from there perspective.
After making it back to the hostel, showeing, and relaxing for about 20 minutes, it was time to hit the Shilin Night market. This is the most famous, and largest, night market in Taipei. I hopped on the metro again, and arrived at the market at about 7pm. My first goal was to find food. Before I even made it to the right streets, I was surrounded by people, scooters, vendors, and other various items. There was no order to the market, just pure chaos and insanity. At least thats how it looked to me. I wandered around for a bit and decided to try a few small things at a couple different places for dinner. I found a weird fried hot dog with chese and potatoes, some authentic spicy noodles, and homemade dumplings. All were very good, and very cheap. I wandered around the streets, loooking at various items, displays, getting lost amongst the crowd, jsut meandering on through the market. I eventually made my way back to the metro station, got myself a fresh-pressed watermelon juice drink, and headed back to the hostel. 2 hours of market wandering was enough. I got back about 10:30 and decided it was time to hit the hay. Monday would be a very busy day for me, so I needed sleep.

Trip to Taiwan - Day 1

I found out on Wednesday, July 1 that I did not have to be in school on Monday July 6 and Tuesday July 7. So, naturally, I decided to take a trip. On Thursday I booked my plane and hostel for Taiwan from Sat Jul 4th through Wednesday July 7th. It was a great trip with many highlights, and amazing scenery.
I read that Taiwanese people are very nice, and always help out tourists and foreigners. I found this to be true before I even landed. On the plane to Taipei, the man sitting next to me was from Taiwan, temporarily living in Korea. He talked to me about Taiwan, answered some questions, and helped me out with information. When we landed, he helped me through the airport, and took me to the right place to get a bus. On the way, he bought me a cold Coke, and at the bus stop, he paid for my ticket to downtown Taipei. Once in Taipei, he helped me get a taxi and told the driver where to go. This was a great way to start my trip. It's not that I wouldn't have been able to find the bus and get to my hostel, but his generosity in helping, and offering to pay for the transport was wonderful. He told me he had a coastal house in the north, and gave me his number to call him on Monday. This would prove to be helpful as well.
Anyway, after checking in to my hostel and picking up some tourist maps, I ventured out into the vastness that is the city of Taipei. My first stop was the Taipei 101 Tower. It is currently the tallest building in the world, although the Burj Dubai will pass it once completed. It is not just a tower, but a huge mall and shopping complex, as well as a symbol for the country of Taiwan. It was only completed 5 years ago, and the entire section of the city in which is sits was rice patties less than 20 years ago. They call it "Taipei's Manhattan" now, and it has become the hub of shopping, nightlife and entertainment in Taipei.
I first grabbed a quick bite in the food court, then headed to the observatory elevator. Here, they make sure you know that this is the worlds fasted elevator. Taking you from the 5th floor to the 91st in a mere 35 seconds. The guide on the elevator first said this in Chinese, then English. Hard to give a 20-secodn spiel twice in 35 seconds, let alone in two languages. Yet, she did it. Once I stepped out of the elevator, a magnificient view of Taipei and its surroundings awaited me. The inside observatory level has an audio tour which tells you kep facts about the city, and the history of certain lankmarks within view. Helpful, but not the greatest thing in the world. I decided to head upstairs to the outdoor level to get the full effect. In 3 directions all I saw was just buildings, buildings and buildings. To the north were mountains, and I could see the city slowly crawling up the base. One interesting fact; there are two identical bridges crossing the river, pretty much parrallel to one another, called McArthur Bridge 1 and McArthur bridge 2. Named after Gen Douglas MacArthur. They love him in Taipei.
After gettin my fill of the city, I decided to head to the memorials, and see them from the ground level. It was only a 10-minute walk over to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen memorial hall. He was the first person to defy the communists, and he established the current political party still in power. He was basically Taiwan's George Washington, only with a few minor differences. He wanted Taiwan to be the capital of the entire country of China, and for a while it was. He did not want to be a separate country, but rather the controlling portion. Some parts of his history were a bit muddled, as the translation from Chinese was not perfect. Either way, a glorious memorial. They have guards posted in front, and I was able to see the "changing of the guard" ceremony. A large crowd formed in the main hall and watchd as the new gaurds slowly marched in, the old guards stepped down, they twirled some guns, made some noises, and then the new guards slowly walked away as the new ones went up on the podiums. Many pictures of this on the photo site.
Quick note; while touring the grounds, I noticed several teenagers in several different groups performing dance routines, and practicing. I found out later this is a common occurrence in many public places. Some are for fun, some are for school projects. Either way, better than sitting at home watching TV. I also had 2 high school seniors approach me with a sign that said "Nice to meet you," apparently they are going around, finding foreingers, and videotaping them saying this phrase, adn they will put it on youtube. I happily obliged, and snapped a pic with them.
After finishing at SYS memorial, I headed over to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial. Another stunning memorial perched atop a billion stairs in a grand courtyard. CKS was the successor to SYS, and really drove hard against the communists. His legacy is not as positive as SYS, as CKS has many people who still resent him and his period of ruling called the "White Terror." Basically anyone who was presumed to be a communist was tortured, imprisoned, or killed. This obviouslyt irked some people. Still, most people are fond of him and what he did for Taiwan. On the groudns of the memorial are also Taipei's two most important theatres, both stunningy built in traditionsl Chinese architecture. The whole complex also has a very beautiful pond and nature area (as did SYS memorial), and is guarded by a large, 5 arched traditional Chinese gate. They also have the changing of guards here, and I was able to see them do the final performance. Much the same as the SYS memorial.
From there, I headed over to the Longshan Temple. This is a Taoist temple with simple gorgeous and detailed architecture. Before I walked in, I noticed a stage set up across the street where they were preparing for a traditional Taiwanese puppet show. I watied for a few minutes, then headed to the temple. Once inside I was amazed at the amount of people. None of them were tourists, they were all there to pray, reflect, respect, etc.. All of them had several sticks of insence in their hands and where bowing repeatedly, silently mouthing words, then putting the insence into gold cauldrons. At the rear of the temple was a large table filled to capacity with offerings of food and goods. It was like nothing I'd seen before, and I felt a little out of place taking pictures. But the temple was gorgeous and I enjoyed walking around the grounds, looking at all the different statures and sculptures.
After the temple, I went back to the puppet show stage, where the show was fully in progress. I found a seat off to the side and watched for about 15 minutes. I had no clue was the story was, but the music and theatrics told me all I needed to know. A wonderfully entertaining show I definitely can't see in the US.
For the last stop of the day, I headed to one of Taipei's famous night markets. They are all over the city, and stay open till the wee hours of the morning. This one was basially a long stree with vendors and shops all along both sides. The name given to this one was snake alley. I discoverd why as I was leaving. I strolled down taking in the sounds, sights and smells of a place that is distinctly Taipei. I needed to eat dinner, so I was looking for someplace that didnt have hanging animals in front of it. After walking past hundreds of little shops and brushing off tens of merchants yelling at me to buy their stuff, I found a little stand cooking what looked like great food. I took a seat, and the owner hadned me an English menu. I made my choices, then watched as the chef cooked on the grill right in front of me, basically attached to the table. He put the plates on the edge of the grill, where I could reach them, and after dramatically flavoring, flipping and sauteeing my food, threw it on the plate for me to enjoy. And enjoy it I did. Authentic, flavorful, filling, and cheap. A great choice.
While walking back down the alley I noticed a crowd of people gatherd around one store. Naturally, I went in for a closer look. Inside a cage was a large yellow snake, in the middle of devouring a frehsly-killed rat. I looked again and noticed a wall full of snake cages, and hundreds of rats anboved them, unknowingly waiting for their turn to be entertainment. On the counter was a now-full snake, calmly sitting, letting people pet him. I ran my hand across it a few times, then decided to call it a night.
A very busy, entertaining, cultural and fun day had come to and end. A great start to a wonderufl weekend-to-be. I took the crowded metro back to my hostel and attempted to sleep oin the 90 degree heat. There was AC, but it was barely functional. Either way, I fell asleep and was ready for the next day.