A Whirlwind 3 Days In Taipei
In May of 2015, my visa for Vietnam was set to expire, which meant going on a classic visa run to get a new one. These are normal procedures for many foreign people living in Vietnam, and you can read about some of my past Visa runs to places such as Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia, and Campuchea. I wasn't quite sure what to do for this renewal, so when my friend Justin Beghly hit me up and said he was going to Taiwan for visa run of his own, and wanted to know if I wanted to join, it was like fate intervening. I immediately said yes, and set in motion plans for a quick trip to Taiwan.
I had flown through Taiwan's primary airport, Taoyuan International, several times before on my way to and from Vietnam, but had never actually left the airport and been into Taiwan. My view of Taiwan to this point was only of the airport and the area around it whilst on approach. So I was excited to actually see some of the island. Since we only had a limited window of 3 days/2 nights, there wouldn't be time to go anywhere else besides Taipei, the capital city. However, the Taipei metro area has over 7 million people in it, and is definitely a focus of money, power, and business in the East Asian region, so there would be no shortage of things to see or do in our short time here.
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Of course, let's start off with nerdy bits. Taiwan, formerly known as the island of Formosa, was a fairly isolated island, filled with simple natives, until the Dutch and Spanish came to visit in the 1500 and 1600's, and started trading with the locals. Shortly thereafter, ethnic Han Chinese started immigrating from the mainland, and by 1900 the majority of the population was dominated by them. Although it was an independent kingdom loosely affiliated with China for a period of time, the Qing formerly conquered and annexed it into the greater Chinese empire sometime in the later part of the 17th century, and despite a span of about 50 years when the country was part of Japan, after the end of WWII, the island became part of the newly-founded Republic of China (ROC). However, the events at the end of the 1940's were to become the most important of Taiwan's history.
It was in 1949 that the Chinese Civil War that hard started in the late 1920's finally reached it bloody climax with the fleeing of Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Kuomintang troops to Taiwan, and Mao Zedong and his Communist Party of China taking control of the Chinese mainland. Before this, The Nationalists had ruled over all of China under the existing name of the Republic of China (ROC). When the Communist forces came to power, they took the name of the People's Republic of China, or PRC, and both of the nations today still claim to be the current holder of the mantle of "China". While most other countries around the world maintain strong diplomatic ties with Taiwan/ROC, most fall short of actually acknowledging them as a separate country, and instead view it as a renegade province of the greater China. The ROC has also stopped short of formally declaring their own independence, both because of their belief in their position of the "true" China, and because doing so would provoke the PRC into a showdown that would hurt geopolitics. So to this day, even though Taiwan has become a regional power, and is quite prosperous, it is still in limbo somewhat politically.
And now back to the story. Justin had found some screaming deals on VietJet for roundtrips to Taipei from Ho Chi Minh City, so it was a quick two-plane trip to get there, and had a contact (an old student) for us to tour around and see the city with while we were there. While in Ho Chi Minh City, we had a several hour layover, so went across the street to the CT Plaza and watched Mad Max: Fury Road, which had opened the day before. Incredibly epic movie. Flights were smooth, and Justin had previously arranged a taxi to take us from the airport to our destination that night, so once we arrived, it was a quick hour from the airport, across Taipei, and into the foothills of the Yangmingshan Mountains east of the city. Justin's contact was attending the Chinese Culture University, and lived nearby, so that's where we met up with him.
That night we hung out with Nha (Justin's friend) for a while, having some beef noodles and dumplings and meeting his friends. It was getting quite late, so we parted ways, me to my hotel, and Justin to the den that he was sharing with Nha and like six other people. The next morning I was up somewhat early so I could walk around the neighborhood a little bit. Taipei is a very clean, modern city, and even in the suburbs it was nice and beautiful. There are lots of cars, but also lots of motorbikes as well. The bikes are all a tiny bit bigger than what we drive in Vietnam, with the smallest ones being 125 cc, and many of them are quite big, like in the 600 cc range. The young kids like to trick them out and drive around really fast in packs.
Justin had called and said they were running a little bit behind coming down from the hills where the university was, so I had a little bit of time to wander around the area. The area my hotel was in was a small commercial area, not far from the Shilin MRT station, and at a crossroads of some fairly big streets. There was lots of shops and restaurants around. I decided to eat some breakfast, since I had some time to kill, so I quickly found a nice, local restaurant in which to enjoy some local food: McDonald's.
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Soon enough Justin showed up with his friend Nha, as well as another Vietnamese girl who was studying at the university named Quyen. They were going to be our guides for the day and show us some of the best sights of Taipei. Our first sight was before we even got on to the MRT, as some local schoolkids were doing a performance outside the Shilin MRT station. As teachers we are suckers for kids having fun so we stood around and watched for a while, before hopping on the MRT and heading off.
About thirty minutes on the Red North-South line took us down to our first stop, in the main part of the city, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. It is a large and impressive grounds that are dedicated to the father of modern Taiwan. Although he hasn't quite been elevated to cult status like other figures such as the Kims in Korea, he is viewed with the same fervor and passion that other local icons such as Ho Chi Minh and Lee Kwan Yew are treated with. His monument is a place that all schoolchildren visit before they are of a certain age, and it is one of the most important sights in the city.
The grounds themselves consisted of the Memorial Hall proper, complete with a giant iron statue of Chiang Kai-shek, flanked by the National Theater and the National Concert Hall. Four gates exist around the perimeter of the grounds. Inside the Memorial Hall itself there is a floor dedicated to an art museum, a floor dedicated to a museum about Chiang Kai-shek, and there is a floor dedicated to the history of Taiwan and the Kuomintang Nationalist party. There is a guard on duty 24 hours a day next to the statue, and the Changing of the Guard ceremony that happens a handful of times a day is a big event. The grounds themselves are somewhat of a political heart to Taipei, and various protests, rallies, and demonstrations have started or been centered here over the years.
The Museum of Chiang Kai-shek was a classic beloved leader museum, complete with his old office faithfully restored, several of his vehicles, his medals and writings, and a whole slew of other memorabilia.
In the art museum there was a temporary exhibit with classic Chinese landscape painters. There were some astonishing works on display, including a couple of my favorites, one of a bunch of waterfalls pouring into a canyon, and the other a wide angle painting of a bunch of flowers. Both utilized very little color and instead relied on the simplicity of black and white to really shine. |
We hopped back on the MRT and headed east to our next stop, the Taipei 101. This 1,670 foot tall building is one of the most famous "supertall" towers anywhere in the world and has long been high on my list of towers I'd like to see. When I made plans to come to Taiwan, this was the one thing that I said I would not miss while in Taipei. The tower, built between 1999 and 2004, was at one point the tallest building in the world, and is famous for it's design, which many have compared to a stack of Chinese food takeout containers.
Designed by C.Y. Lee, the building not only boasts a LEED "green" rating (the tallest green building in the world) but also has a remarkable earthquake dampening system that is designed to dampen both wind energy and earthquake waves. Taiwan sits in an unfortunate confluence of both geology and meteorology so that not only are strong typhoons quite common, but earthquakes are also somewhat typical events. A look at Taipei's skyline reveals a surprising absence of really tall towers, something common to most other east and southeast Asian cities of similar size and prestige. |
The interior of Taipei 101 was quite luxurious, complete with fancy shopping mall. We perused the bookstore for a little while before heading down to the food court, where I got, of course, more McDonald's. After lunch we headed outside to walk around the urban core around the 101. Many of the buildings in Taipei, even if they are still relatively new, look quite worn and weathered, and although it is purely visual, it does inadvertently give the city overall a somewhat "dingy" look. This comes as a result of the city receiving over 2,500 mm of rain every year. Because of this, and the earthquake-imposed limit on building heights, rather than a shiny, glittering city core, it's instead a drab collection of blocky buildings that look worn down.
Back on the MRT, we were soon humming along to our next destination, the National Palace Museum. This amazing place, located in the foothills near Shilin MRT station, is a treasure trove of artifacts from China's history. This museum, despite being on the island of Taiwan, boasts a staggering amount of ancient Chinese history, in the form of art, utensils, tools, writing, textiles, pottery, weapons, and other mediums. There are numerous wings and halls, and plenty of exhibits on everything from China's past, including some priceless jade jewelry and gold wares. Much like the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, this is one of the places that EVERYONE in Taiwan goes to at least once in their life. You could spend hours upon hours here, wandering through the different areas and different time periods shown. As we went on a weekday, there were numerous school groups present, with lots of interested and dis-interested school kids about in their class groups. They wanted to charge me 10 extra bucks to take my camera in, so no photos from inside.
By the time we left, it was getting near dinner time and dark wasn't too far away. Justin, Nha, and Nguyen wanted to head back up the hill to the university, but were going to head through the Jiantan-Shilin night market first before heading up. I didn't really want to go back up on the hill as it was a 15 minute taxi ride up and then 15 minutes back down, and about 10 bucks a trip each way, so I went back to the hotel and relaxed for a little bit before heading back out to explore the night market and get some dinner. For dinner that night I just kind of ate as I walked along, trying a handful of different foods. There was some tasty noodles, some tasty fried chicken, some ok fried vegetables, and some weird breaded things that I didn't finish. While wandering around the area to see what I could buy, I realized it was just like other markets I had been to in KL, Singapore, and Indonesia. So, after a while of wandering I went back to my hotel, but not before I stopped by the Subway nearby, where I devoured my first turkey sandwich in five months. My hotel was small but plenty comfy, and had a wonderful shower, something I love while traveling.
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We didn't set up a plan for the next day before departing, so I wasn't sure what to expect the next morning. However, when I woke up in the AM about 7:30 local time, I saw I had received a message on Facebook from Justin from 3:50 AM saying they were having a great time drinking. Rolling back over, I passed back out for a few more hours. When I got up later, I still hadn't heard from him, so I started thinking about what to do. We had discussed meeting up so we could see something else in the city before we had to head to the central bus station to catch our coach to the airport. Our flight was at 8, and it took an hour to reach the airport from the city. So, adding 2 hours for an international flight, I figured we needed to leave the city center no later than about 4:30. I tried getting a hold of Justin for a little while, and then gave up and went for lunch at McDonalds. Trying one last time, I was still unable to reach him, so I said screw it and set out, figuring I would just explore as I made my way towards the bus station, and hopefully catch up with him along the way.
During the night a small tropical system had passed along the east side of the island, so it rained off and on for a good chunk of the day. I spent a lot of my day ducking in and out of the shops and sights, going from one MRT station to the next. In between the periods of rain, I was able to snap a few good photos here and there, some of which came out nicely because the subdued natural lighting was making the explosion of color on all the billboards and advertising really stand out nicely. I also spent some time admiring the advanced, modern Taipei MRT system. Just like Singapore's, except here the trains were much longer.
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A bit later on, I found myself in a wonderful urban jungle that was home to some of the most concentrated urban infrastructure I had seen in Taipei yet. A large collection of buildings, most 10 stories+, but with some pushing 20 or more, including the 51-story Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Tower, which was the highest building in Taiwan until it was eclipsed by Taipei 101. It currently is the third highest in the country. The area around the tower was chock full of shopping malls, restaurants, cell phone stores, massage parlors, and everything else imaginable under the sun, all part of a vertical city where the businesses climbed up as much as they climbed out. I wandered around the area for some time, perusing some stores and just generally killing time. Compared with Da Nang, this was quite a sight to see, and is just the kind of neighborhood I like to visit when I come to these powerhouse cities of Asia.
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Later on I finally wandered to the bus station, and caught my bus to the airport. I had sent Justin a message at about noon, informing him of my plans, and when and where I was going to be along the route back to the airport. Each time I was able to get Wi-Fi I would check my messages, seeing if he had responded or had any updates for me. By the time I reached the airport, it was almost 5, and I hadn't heard a word from him. Checking in, I went through security and made my way to the gate, and settled down to wait. At about 7:30 I began to wonder if Justin was going to make it at all, or if he was going to miss his flight back to Vietnam. I had ended up sitting next to a friendly Vietnamese man in the departure lounge, and as I was deep in conversation with him, Justin finally rolled into town, looking a bit rough and saying he had woken up at 3 and had proceeded directly to the bus. He said he had a good time, and I believe him......but I was glad I had gone off and done my own thing instead.
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The flight back to Vietnam was uneventful, except for the fact that despite waiting 40 minutes on the taxi-way at Taipei, we still arrived into Tan Son Nhat 15 minutes ahead of schedule. However, nothing can help hurry the Immigration Window along, and tonight was no different. We waited about 20 minutes before finally heading to passport control with our new visas. Leaving the airport I ran into a bit of trouble. Because it was a Wednesday night in the middle of the week in the middle of May, and not near or during any major holidays, trade shows, or any substantial reasons for hotels to be full, I hadn't made a hotel reservation near the airport, and instead thought I would be able to just go to a hotel and grab a cheap room. There is a hotel near the airport that we have stayed in before called the "Iris Hotel", which is a 10 minute walk from the terminal. So I hoofed it over there ASAP, only to be told "we are full". Them, and the next three hotels along Truong Son Street. To top things off, I had received an email from VietJet while in the air informing me that MY 9:00 AM return flight to Da Nang the next day had been bumped to 2:00 PM, although Justin's hadn't. WTF? So I had a couple of options. I could hang out in the hotel room (if I could find one) and wait for my flight to get back to Da Nang, or if I couldn't find a hotel, I would have to go spend the night in the terminal. Or, I could wake up early and try to argue my way onto my original flight, or any other one earlier than 2 PM. I finally found a hotel on a back street that ended up being cheap, simple, and clean, just what I was looking for, and crashed out.
The next morning I was at the airport at 7 AM, arguing with anyone I could find to try and get a seat on the 9 AM flight. I kept at it, going to three different people before one of them finally got exasperated enough and put me on the seat. While I was waiting to talk to different people I got to watch a film crew shoot a movie right there in the airport, which was hilarious, although it was also a pain in the ass because in doing so they had closed off an entire side of the VietJet check in counter, making an already frustrating place into even more of a shitshow. However, I was soon on my flight, and back to Da Nang, safe and sound after a whirlwind 72 hours in Taipei!
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise noted.