Michele and Jim's Travel Tales: Farewell Taiwan

Our last couple of days were spent in Taipei. We trekked out on the double ten day, October 10, the Taiwan National Day. It commemorates an uprising in 1911, overthrowing the Chinese emperor. We staked out a spot an hour early and waited. The big hubbub began with some fighter jets zooming over head, then the ladies in green, twirling toy rifles. This was clearly a different style of military parade than those trotted out in North Korea. I like this type.

The giant crate of beer was one of the highlights. It was a lot of fun, in a nutty Mardi Gras style, lots of marching girls and inflatables, rubber rifles, flags and giant fruit. The policemen who lined the way were less than intimidating. Armed with water bottles, three quarters of them were wearing glasses and looked like they would collapse from exhaustion filling in a form. When the jets flew over, they seemed a bit startled, gawking upwards like everybody else. It’s kind of reassuring. They clearly weren’t expecting any trouble.

At the end of the parade, the streets were back to normal quick smart and the empty tiered seating outside the National Building looked deserted and sad.

Sight seeing in exotic locations can take its toll and the smart traveller takes every opportunity to rest. Ledges, milk crates, doorsteps, train passenger’s laps or even bollards, like the one below, are all available to the sharp eyed walker. Refreshed, it is amazing how the sights, sounds and smells of cosmopolitan cities sharpen. The aware trekker should also stay alert to stroke symptoms, such as slurred speech or staring vacantly into the distance.

Two of my travelling companions. I know because I have one of those hats too.

After the parade, we scooted across town on the metro to our lunch venue, recommended by William. It is his favourite noodle joint in Taipei. In a classy part of town, it is down an alley and, like most restaurants, no fuss. Eating seems to be a “let’s get in and out as quickly as possible” affair, speedy service, tasty hot food, no unnecessary extras, cheap. Once again, the food was marvellous. To quote someone: “how good is Taiwan?”

Back across town, holiday time, the city near our hotel was splitting at the seams with people. Holy Dooley! It is like The Royal Easter Show without the cake decorating, wood chopping, sheep and cattle judging, smash up derby cars, fruit displays, Ferris wheel, ghost train and replacing the smell of the livestock with the smell of things mysterious and a little creepy.

Our last day. Sob.

Not wanting to waste a day, Taipei 101 was the target. It has been described as stacked noodle boxes and was once the world’s tallest building and on our final day, everyone in Taipei wanted to go to the top. The queue to get into the lift was ludicrous, so we thought we would give the trip a miss. However, a lovely lady told us that there was a special queue jumping policy for “non locals.” Noice. We ploughed forward, feeling rather special, only to join another queue as long as a very long, winding thing with lots of legs and arms and smartphones. Having already paid, we bit down and slowly, slowly crept forward until we were in the supersonic lift. The lights go down. Space aged, Jetson lights come on flashing like tiny suns and the silent cage rises. Ears pop, just as the calm voice reminds you to swallow to equalise the pressure. Then you are there.

It is good. Very high and good.

Nice shot of Sarah.

The thing below is not a persimmon with a thyroid problem, it is a “Tuned Mass Damper.” It stops the building swaying in strong winds and is built into most of these super tall structures today. This is the only one available for public viewing.

We went to the “Creative Park” where lots of creative commercial enterprises were happening. We had a nice little snack there, with the best coffee of my whole trip, although I must say the standard of the coffee has been tip top. No Aussie coffee whinging here.

And so it brings us to now....At the hotel waiting for our transfer to the airport to arrive. It has been a cracker of a holiday. I reckon I speak for all of us in saying I would thoroughly recommend Taiwan to anyone. It is beautiful, people are lovely, plenty to see, food outstanding, good beer. There is not really a wine culture that we could find, but it is made up for with the coffee/tea culture. Prices are reasonable, without being cheap and it is tourist friendly without being tourist tacky, if you get my meaning dear Blog reader who has read this far, despite everything.

One of the highlights personally was on the train back to Taipei from Juifen. Michele was travelling between the carriages (see below).

Every thirty seconds the door opened revealing shock faced Michele, then it closed, shutting her off. Unable to work out why this was happening, her face got more and more bewildered with each new “reveal” On this side of the door the sign translates as “want to see western tourist standing on door sensor? Here she comes..”

There were some humorous signs in Taiwan.

PS (from Michele)- Having booked an extra night so we didn’t have to wander the streets until 8pm, Nick and I made a last minute dash to Longshan Temple - built in the 1700s to honour both Buddhist & Taoist deities. A 15 minute walk in the wrong direction caused our final day step count to expand.