Three weeks in and still loving it

As I start to establish a routine with work and settling down here are some first impressions of the wonderful country that is Taiwan.

Food

So much variety and everything I've tried is pretty amazing. They really like eating intestines and all things with taro. I definitely eat out a lot more than what I'm used to because it's just so convenient to buy things. The night markets, which have their own specialties, are everywhere and all put our Richmond night markets to shame. 

People

The Taiwanese are very very enthusiastic to help and not afraid to talk to you, especially if you seem a bit lost. There was one day I was out walking and was getting bitten by mosquitoes on my legs. This old lady comes up to me and says "oh no, you're getting bitten" before taking out this anti-itch cream and directly applying it on me. 

Nature

Taiwan is actually covered in mountains and scenic natural areas. Although a lot of their nature is pretty developed by Canadian standards, they are still beautiful nonetheless. Even Taipei has hiking trails right in the city. I did the Four Beasts Mountain path last week, and this week discovered paths with great viewpoints of the city really close to where I live at Jiantanshan. Two very popular naturey places close to Taipei that I've been to are Danshui and Beitou. I really liked Danshui as it has a lot of historical influence from the different countries that have tried to colonize Taiwan, which can be seen in the architecture of its buildings. Beitou contains three sources of hot springs, one of them I went to called Geothermal Valley, and became more developed during the Japanese colonial period thanks to their fascination with hot springs. 

Youbike

This deserves its own category because I am someone that can't live without a bike. Taipei has an amazing bike share system which I've definitely been taking advantage of. Riding here is a bit of an obstacle course as you constantly have to hop on and off from the sidewalk to the road while dodging pedestrians, scooters (of which there are A LOT of), cars and just about everything else you can think of. I even accidentally ran over a cat once.

Over the National Holiday long weekend (Oct. 9-11), I ended up going to Donggang in the south of Taiwan last minute with one of my coworkers and her friends. There was a big religious boat burning festival that happens only once every three years. The main event is that they parade this large beautifully crafted wooden boat (which takes 2-3 years to construct) throughout the entire town before bringing it to the ocean side and then lighting it on fire to exterminate the evil spirits and pray for good fortune. We followed the parade for a while and it was quite the experience with fire crackers and music noises going off everywhere. 

Last Saturday I hiked up Teapot Mountain with some new friends from behind Jingguashi Gold Museum, which even involved a little bit of scrambling. Later we went to Jiufen, which is a mountain side town filled with shops and night market-style eateries. Sunday I biked to Yingge, which is world famous for pottery making, to check out the Ceramics Museum before heading to Sanxia. Just about every city/town has an old street but the one in Sanxia looks especially authentic. Walking along you literally feel as if you were transported many years back. 

Touchdown in Taipei

Time: 10:30pm

Location: Taipei

Weather: cloudy, 26C

How things have changed in just a week! In less than seven days I have flown to the other side of world, settled down in a brand new city, started at a new work place, and rediscovered a side of myself that has been for the most part concealed for the last 13 years. Despite the Mandarin overload, the cultural shock (or reverse culture shock depending on how I look at it) has been not too bad, a lot less than when I went to Europe I would say. This ease of adaptation is of course aided by my background. On the first day, I discovered how non-fluent I am but I ask my colleagues lots of questions and am pleased with how fast I'm learning everyday. My colleagues are all really cool and patient people with quite the varied travel experience which I can't wait to hear more about. 

My first impression is the heat! Leaving from a place where the temperature was less than half of what it is here, I started sweating profusely as soon as I stepped off the plane. Fortunately it is getting a little more bearable now (I'm praying for winter to come) although my Malaysian roommate is already finding it too cold. In spite of its noises and bustles, I quite like Taipei and really believe I would be able to feel at home here. Taiwanese people that I have interacted with are all very friendly even if I have to often ask them to repeat what they are saying. Although traffic is quite the craziness especially with the number of motor bikes on the road, there is still an order to the madness, unlike China. Pedestrians line up to get on public transport and wait for crosswalk lights, and cars will actually stop for you (even if sometimes very very close). Taipei, which isn't too big in land area, is full of historical sites and located in a basin surrounded by mountains, and Taiwan is actually covered with beautiful natural and cultural sites that I can't wait to explore. Additionally, I have to mention how amazing the food is here, definitely not in the Western way though. On top of the night markets (so many! There is a small one right by where I live and I also went to one of the biggest, Shilin, last Saturday), there are small, very affordable eateries everywhere that are open pretty much all time. In fact, it can't get more convenient because all stores are open until very late. My favourite Taiwanese food that I have tried so far is pork blood cake, yes real pork blood! 

My jetlag was almost nonexistent (only I know how brutal it will be when I go back home) and I was thrown into the working life right away (as in the morning after I got off the plane). Over the weekend and Monday I got to tag along two of the tours organized by my company, one being a walking tour at Chihshanyen where I learned a lot about Taoism, and the other helping single mothers sell sweet potatoes on the street. I also went up Taipei 101, the outside of the National Palace Museum (planning to return for the inside another day for sure), and made use of Youbike, the awesome public bike share program here. I even did a very short hike up to Xiangshan, literally in Taipei's backyard and I am very happy to learn how accessible nature is. This weekend is a long weekend due to the National Day on Saturday and I'll be sure to report how that is! 

A delightful stopover in Tokyo

Location: on the train to Narita Airport

Time: 2:45pm

Weather: rain 20C

So it turns out that I didn't have nearly as much stuff as I thought and easily fit everything into my camping pack and another backpack with a lot of room to spare. The flight over was the smoothest long haul flight I have ever had thanks to the wonderful service of ANA. They even had Mario's Gelato for dessert. And the windows can change colours to mimic day and night! I got to watch a beautiful sunset just before we landed.

Leaving Haneda Airport, I took the Monorail into town and met up with my friend Ryan who is on a co-op in Tokyo. Having been to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka, my first impression of Tokyo was how new all the buildings seemed, that is not to say there aren't older-looking parts of the city and little hidden shrines around. We went up the Tokyo Tower and took in the concrete jungle that is Tokyo. In spite of how many people live here (apparently Metropolitan Tokyo is more than the population of Canada), everything runs exceptionally well and people are extremely organized. If you have never been to Japan the first few things that will strike you are the virtually spotless streets, due to their high concern with cleanliness, and how polite and orderly people are. Their calm disposition combined with a linfrastructure that encourages physically moving for commuting and a healthy diet, and it's no wonder they are the longest living people in the world. After the Tokyo Tower Ryan gratefully showed me around the famous crossing at Shibuya and then we found a typical izakaya in Shinjuku and had some delicious ramen. Somehow I managed to stay awake for pretty much over 24 hours (sleeping maybe only 30min on the plane) before finally crashing around midnight at my hostel near Shinjuku.

Thanks to jet lag I was up at 5am this morning and didn't need at all the 7:30am alarm that I had set. I got going at 6:20am and walked to Harajuku and then Meiji Jingu. The streets and those places were essentially deserted which I didn't expect from the most populous city in the world. Harajuku is the heart of youth culture in Tokyo and maybe even Japen but of course nothing was open when I was there. Walking in the forest around Meiji Jingu, which is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife, was incredibly peaceful even though I could see the skyscrapers peeking out all around. Later on I did get my taste of Tokyo rush hour taking the subway to the Imperial Palace. The Palace grounds were off limits unless you book one of the daily guided tours so I just went in the Imperial Palace East Gardens and saw ruins of the Edo castle amongst other interesting historical remainants. Since it was only 11am then I decided to make an unplanned stop at the Tsujiki Markets where I had some of the freshest sashimi don ever. Comparing to the other markets I've been to in Japan, this one seemed to be primarily fish and bean products. It started raining in the afternoon so I went back to Shinjuku and walked around the shops before returning to the hostel to grab the bulk of my stuff. As complex as the subway and train system is here, navigating has been overall very smooth even for a directionally challenged dummy like me thanks to their super clear signs and my maps.me app. Now on the train to Narita Airport for the flight to Taipei!