Drew went to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan for two weeks for a work trip. The first part of his trip was for a conference, so he got to go to a few dinners and events, one of which was at Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taipei, and second tallest in the world, the tallest being the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
The building is supposed to look like sprouting bamboo, which represents flexibility, rapid growth, and strength, all good traits for a financial hub.
Drew's view from the top! This building dwarfs every other building in the city.
Drew also got to explore some more remote places, like this artistic village, where everyone was learning how to swing dance!
I traveled to Taipei to spend the weekend with Drew. It was good timing, as neither of us had been to Taipei before, and free accommodation is hard to turn down! I got in really late Friday night, and our friend Andrew was also planning on coming to spend the weekend in Taipei, as it is only an hour and 20 min flight from Hong Kong. However, Andrew surprised us by bringing along our other good friend Tiffany. So it was a best bud reunion in Taipei, and we had a great time!
The first order of the day was to find something to eat. So, we went to the nearby Main Train Station, as they had tons and tons of restaurants on the second floor of the station, recommended by our Taiwanese friend Tina. The station itself was old and in desperate need of renovation, but the food was amazing, a theme we'd see repetitively throughout the trip!
Drew and I have always been a fan of bubble tea, and it was actually invented in Taiwan! They really like the soft, chewy texture of the tapioca pearls. Needless to say, we drank as much bubble tea on this trip as we could get our hands on!
Lunch consisted of 3-cup chicken, a chicken stock soup, pickles, edamame, and flavoured rice. Yum!
Tiffany had a delicious noodle dish and a chicken cutlet.
Dessert was a cream puff made at a cafe called Papa Beard. Never saw a cafe make only cream puffs, so I had to try it. They took the puff and filled it with cream right before your eyes! It was the best I'd ever had.
While most Taiwanese people drink tea, coffee shops are starting to make headway.
On our walk around the city, we found a lovely park with beautiful pagodas.
The park also held the Taiwan National Museum. Didn't go into this one, but the building is pretty.
This is the Presidential Office Building. The architecture in Taipei was interesting. Most of the city is actually quite ugly because when the Nationalist Party fled mainland China when Mao's Communist Party was taking over in 1949 after the Chinese Civil War, aka the start of the Cultural Revolution, lots of people fled to Taiwan. They needed new housing fast, so they built these really ugly concrete structures, which no importance placed on aesthetics. So, most the city is nothing special to look at. However, a few of the governmental buildings, such as the Presidential Office were obviously built with more care.
We somehow ran across a wonderful event called the Dream Parade, totally unexpectedly. The parade was the creation of an intentional artistic community where all of the residents are required to participate in the parade, making floats, costumes, and dance and drumming routines. Also, if you own a property within the community and then want to sell it, you can only keep 3% of any profits made. The rest is given back to the community to support events etc. The community sounds really interesting, and the resulting parade was great as well. It was modeled after Mardi Gras, Rio's Carnival, and Burning Man. People were literally dressed in anything you could think of, and there were tons of kids doing drumming routines. This parade was quintessentially Taiwanese, which is known for freedom of expression and doesn't have the same censorship and propaganda as what you see in mainland China.
The parade ended at this large road section blocked off at either end. This large gate was at one end of the road, actually in the middle of a roundabout. It must have been a gate and a part of an ancient wall.
After the Dream Parade, we walked on to another park, which held the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. This was the gate leading to the Memorial. Gorgeous huh?
Also in the park was the National Concert Hall and the National Theatre. They were beautiful matching buildings with traditional Chinese construction.
This is the actual Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. It was closed, so normally the doors are open and there is a statue of the famous man inside. Taiwan has an interesting relationship with Chiang Kai-shek. Tina, if you're reading this, please comment on anything that is inaccurate or misleading, as you are the obvious expert here. Chiang Kai-shek was the leader of the National Party during the civil war with Mao's Communist Party, so once they lost the war (and many people blamed him for that loss) they fled to Taiwan, establishing a new government there. However, it seems like he got a bit paranoid, because for the next almost 40 years, he imposed martial law, imprisoning anyone who seemed to side with the Communist Party back in mainland China. This time was known as the "White Terror," and I'm sure a lot of people blame Chiang Kai-shek for that as well. So, it's a love-hate relationship I guess. Nowadays, Taiwan still has a very interesting relationship with mainland China. China considers Taiwan a part of China, and Chinese citizens considered Taiwanese people to be Chinese. However, Taiwan considers itself to be its own republic, and a Taiwanese person will always say they are from Taiwan, never from China. Mainland Chinese people need a special visa to enter Taiwan, so clearly the borders are not wide open. Not sure about the other direction, ie., Taiwanese visiting mainland China.
After our park exploration, we went to a night market to stuff our faces with street food. This is a well-beloved past time of Taiwanese people. We went to the Raohe night market, and it was great! We tried so many different dishes; I think we counted 20 in total by the end of the evening. The weirdest one was a pig's blood cake, made from pig's blood and sticky rice and covered in peanut dust. Not a favorite of mine.
There was also a gorgeous Chinese temple just outside of the night market. I've never seen one so ornately decorated! It almost looked Hindu-esque!
These are dumplings baked in a brick oven, right on the street! There was about a 30 person queue for these, so we knew they'd be good!
Pan fried dumplings!
The last dish of the night was a mango ice mountain, or shaved ice, ice cream, and pieces of mango Yum!
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