Scootin’ in Jiaosi

After a couple days in Taipei we decided to skip town and see what else Taiwan had to offer.  When the clouds refused to dissipate, thus ruining plans for hitting the beaches, we opted for a natural hot springs town just a few hours north and hopped on a train to check it out.

Jiaosi, a 'resort' town.

We made many friends while sitting around soaking our feet in the natural spring water just out front the train station.

Jiaosi is where we landed.  A small resort town of 7,000 Taiwanese, and as far as we figured, 5 foreigners.  After cruising around to different resort/hotels  and asking for deals, we found one with a quirky little man named ‘Oliver’ who offered us a sweet deal for $60/night.

With a grotto on the top floor, we spent the afternoon splashing around in the natural spring water and followed it up with an epic meal and a cushy sleep in some cozy beds.  Well rested, we decided to join in the Taiwanese way of life and rent some scooters to get us around to see the waterfalls just outside of town.

Waterfalls on the left and typical Taiwanese cemetery on the right.

None of us had ever driven these things and after much discussion with the woman who owned the scooter shop (I think she was trying to sell us scooters first) she gave us each a scooter for 3 hours for the low down dirty price of $3.  She looked horrified at our overuse of the gears/shifting apparatus/gas/breaking/speeding as we practiced around the train station fountain, but she finally waved us away and we were off.

Not one of our biker gang was seriously injured.  In fact, we all enjoyed our scooting so much that we have discussed purchasing some scoots here in Korea.  Unfortunately, they are not as popular here as they were in Taiwan.  And, I’d likely see the end of my days riding one of these around in Seoul traffic.  So for now, the scoots will be a memory I carry of a little town called Jiaosi in Taiwan.

Me, trying to look like a hard biker chick. The purse and peace sign intensify that image, no?

Al and Lacy rounded out our biker gang of three.

 

Taipei 101

Wouldn’t you be super excited to be able to see and go up the tallest building in the world?!?!?!

First sight of Taipei 101 from far, far away.

Yeah, me neither.  But, I did it anyway.

Getting closer.

Have to say one of the most impressive parts was the mall insdie the first 5 floors of the Taipei 101.

Right up front.

At the top, it was just like climbing up Namsan Tower here in Seoul or Petřin Hill in Praha to see the ubiquitous and indistinguishable city lights below.

Taipei at night.

But, I can say the elevator ride was pretty sweet.  Fastest in the world too.  Ascends 88 floors in 33 seconds.  That’s twice as fast as my building’s elevator gets me to the 8th floor.

 

Made in Taiwan

Taiwan is rarely boasted as a place to visit from folks living here in Asia.   There seems to be more pristine beaches, desirable food, and abundances of shopping elsewhere.  But, I think it is a country much overlooked.  While I kept great company during this short week, Taiwan had so much to offer by way of great sights, yummy eats, and cheap buys.

Street markets are everywhere.  Shops hawk jewelry, shoes, clothes, shades, and other unnecessary crap that people like me impulse buy as if I couldn’t find it anywhere else.

Food, games, games to win food, and a somewhat disturbing ear cleaning booths were the highlight of the markets I visited.

Many temples also draw crowds in and around Taipei.  Taoism and Buddhism are the most commonly practiced religions and some of the temples in the city date back hundreds of years.  Below is Longshan Temple, one of the busiest temples in the city due to its nondenominational stance and its enshrining of over 160 dieties for Taiwanese to worship daily.

Another amazing site was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall named after Taiwan’s one-time dictator who was also known as “General Cash-my-check.”  I don’t know why…

 

Taipei

My first few days in Taiwan were spent in Taipei, the capital city.  We stayed right in the city center, but it was nowhere near as crowded as downtown Seoul, although that is no complaint.

Traffic, where scooters are a prime source of transportation, is everywhere.

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Parks and museums are littered with temple like structures and palm trees line the streets.

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Buskers and aboriginal protesters took up the rest of the space in town.

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A lively city with the noises of construction and smells of the Taiwanese favorite stinky tofu only start here.  More to come.

 

Nǐ hǎo!

Ah, Taiwan was such a great trip.  This little country doesn’t seem to get much credit, but Taipei did right by me offering sights, sounds and tastes of an Asian country quite different from Korea.  Everything started so wonderfully by waking up at dawn to catch a bus to the train to the plane and receieving a free upgrade to business class (I will never fly anything else again!) and sailed smoothly all the way through.

I got back last night and am in the place of mind where I need a vacation from my vacation.  But, some bibimbap and the jimjilbang will do me fine and I will soon update you with all sorts of stories about Taiwan. For now, just be relieved that I was screened twice for swine flu and passed without any symptoms.  Asian countries are resolute to stay H1N1 free.

Immigration officers even colder with the masks on.

And, how are we supposed to see the make-up on these sales girls with their masks??

 

Naschle

Off to Taiwan for the next week.  I’ll send you a postcard from the top of Taipei 101- apparently there’s a mailbox up there.