Travel: Taipei - Maokong Gondola

The Muzha Line terminates at the Taipei Zoo Station, and it is a short walk to the Maokong Gondola, a cable car which takes you a full four kilometres into the mountains in an L-shaped route that takes 30 minutes. Each car seats up to six people, and after a queue that stretched up three flights (by escalator, thankfully) but was surprisingly quick, I boarded with a Taiwanese family. I faced backwards, giving me a great vantage point of Taipei as dusk settled on the city. It is an impressive sight from there, looking back north to the valley that is home to the capital. And the views got better as dusk turned to full darkness, with the city alight. Taipei 101 was particularly eye-catching, with its colored lights (they alternate by night – this Sunday, the main color was purple) outlining the building towering over the skyline. (My camera battery died during the ride, so I include only two pictures here.)


The mountains overlooking the valley are home to acres of tea plantations, and the mountainsides are dotted with teahouses. These are one of the main attractions for gondola riders, and I was looking forward to relaxing with a view of Taipei below. I had pored through my guidebook to try to find the best spot.

Throughout this trip, however, I found my guidebook to be only mildly helpful. It provided English names for most of the places (or Taiwanese, written in Roman characters), but all the signs at the places themselves were in Taiwanese (and Taiwanese characters). As loyal readers know, I am to a fault obsessive about trying the suggestions found in guidebooks. This meant that I just had to find the places in the book, even though I passed a dozen or so that looked just fine. The idea was to find a location high enough on the mountain to get a great view of the city. After trying a couple of places with fantastic vistas, I gave up looking for the exact ones mentioned in my book (I may very well have found them and not known). Anyway, it was a pleasant evening, sitting looking back towards Taipei, enjoying the cool weather and mountain breezes. I could have stayed for hours. Eventually, I headed back for my half hour trip back down in the cable car, this time sharing it (in silence) with two young Taiwanese couples.

It was early enough that I thought I could find another night market. I had located the Shida Market on the map, near the National Taiwan Normal University, and I thought I could walk from the MRT station. Well, I walked and I walked, and only after about an hour did I find it. By that time, it was past 10 (on a Sunday), and many of the stalls had shut down. So, I ended up in a MOS Burger, a Japanese fast food chain (found in Singapore, as well) that serves all kinds of sandwiches. Its burgers are a mix of In-N-Out and Tommy’s burgers, for your Southern California burger aficionados. Although not technically a local place, I was hungry and this was familiar. It would be a fine way to end my night.

But, I was in for one last experience. As I sat there alone eating my chicken sandwich (they talked me into trying the special), I noticed the music. Mind you, this is mid-May. And “Away in a Manger” is playing. I thought , surely not. Maybe it is a well-known tune in Japan. Or Taiwan. A song that shares its tune with the Christmas carol. So, I kept on eating, not thinking much more of it. Until “O Little Town of Bethlehem” came on. I laughed – Christmas in May in Taiwan! At a Japanese fast food restaurant. It was time to go back to my hotel.

Travel: Taipei - High Speed Rail

The next day began with a ride on Taiwan’s High Speed Rail. The line runs from Taipei all the way down the island to Kaoshiung, the country’s second largest city, 330 kilometres away from Taipei. The entire trip takes a little more than two hours, with 6 stops between the two cities. I went about halfway, to the fourth stop, Taichung Station. The train covers the 155 kilometres in 90 minutes.


The train looks impressive. Its orange and white livery and sleek profile suggest speed, and that is what you get. I rode in standard class on the way out. Its 3-by-3 configuration is comfortable, although I imagine it can get a bit cramped when the car is full (I rode on a Sunday, so the train was only about half filled). A window seat offers a good vantage point for views of the surrounding landscape, once the train clears its second stop. To tell the truth, there isn’t much to see, other than small towns here and there and flat countryside.


But, what is striking is the speed. At one point, I looked up at the scrolling digital display to see “The current speed is 298 km/hr”. Wow! We were flying, but the ride was a smooth as any train I had ridden and certainly better than what seems to be increasingly bumpy air travel. The Taichung Station is a big, modern building, with ample waiting areas and food outlets, so the 30 minute wait for my return train was pleasant. And I sat in business class on the way back. This is much more comfortable – a darker, calming color scheme and quieter acoustics, with a two-by-two configuration and complimentary drinks and snacks. For a little extra fare, it was well worth it.


Riding the rails is my favorite way to travel. Trains usually arrive in the heart of the city, as opposed to airports located 30 to 60 kilometres away (I actually took HSR to the airport stop the next day – two stops from the main rail station and about 35 kilometres from downtown). You ride in comfort and avoid the hassles of airports and security lines and multi-hour pre-flight waits. I got to the train station at 8.45, and we were off at 9.00. Plus, it just seems so civilized.

Travel: Taipei - Night Markets

I intended to seek out some of Taipei’s temples during the weekend, and I decided to start with Longshan Temple, which dated to 1738. It is just off of an MRT stop (named, conveniently, Longshan Temple). When I arrived, my sense of direction failed me, and I ended up spending the dying moments of the day wandering around, looking for the temple (it ended up being in the one direction I hadn't actually looked). This was fine, however, as I got to see a little bit of the local neighborhood. And little did I know that the area transformed into a night market as the sun set. I stumbled upon dozens of street vendors setting up their food stalls, and I was brave enough to taste some of the goodies (on the meat front, I stayed exclusively with chicken, asking for help from the locals; some of what I saw would have taken real guts – pun intended – to stomach). My favorite dish was a Taiwanese version of flatbread, a doughy pancake with vegetables and spices, cooked with an egg and brushed with soy and chilli sauce. You fold it over and eat it like an Asian tortilla. I later found other vendors making the same thing – one deep-fried his, another called it China Pizza. It is my new favorite. And it probably has 2000 calories a serving.

After sampling the food, I realized the temple was right beside the night market, so I made a quick visit. It was buzzing with activity, but the light was fading for some good photos, so I decided to save a longer visit for the next day. I was off in search of another Taiwanese favorite – the beer hall. More on that later.



After a quick break at the hotel, I headed out to try another night market, the large Shilin Market, housed in a huge building in the northern part of the city. It is like a carnival – games of skill/chance, trinket and knick-knack shops, and lots of food stalls. You name it, they were cooking it – all kinds of seafood, massive sausages, a Taiwanese-version of blood pudding, and stews that looked like they contained every part of the unfortunate creatures that served as the base. And the place was packed. Not only inside, but also around the area. It looked like it would go all night.

Again, I stayed safe, having beef and onions, cooked teppanyaki-style on the grill top right in front of me. It was quite tasty, but the cool part was that it continued to cook as I ate it - the meat and veggies were served on a piece of foil right on the grill-top. I guess it gives the diner the choice of how exactly he wants his meat cooked - it just depends on how long he takes to eat it.




I did take an interest in the other foods being served, but my curiosity was limited to questions about ingredients and the snapping of photos. I was too full, and I just wasn't going to make the leap in some cases.

By the time I had finished eating and playing shooting games (I won a deck of cards by shooting 8 out of 10 balloons in a clearly fixed game), it was late, and I was tired. So, back on the MRT and off to the hotel.

Travel: Taipei 101

I left the hotel mid-afternoon, ready to jump on the MRT and explore Taipei. My first destination was to be the iconic Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. It certainly stands out at more than a 1,000 feet tall. But what is striking is that it is the only really tall building around. Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok - they all have clusters of skyscrapers that make up their skylines. Taipei 101 stands alone, towering over its neighbors.


Architecturally, the building is a marvel. Its design brings to mind a bamboo stalk, symbolic of the strength of the native plant. It is eight sections of eight floors each, sitting on a truncated pyramid. A high speed elevator takes you from the fifth to the 89th floor in 37 seconds, or 1000 metres/minute (the ride down takes all of 45 seconds, or 600 metres/minute). Once there, you get a panoramic view of the city, as well as access to the outdoor observation area on the 91st floor and the damper on the 88th.

The outdoor area is ringed by vertical metal bars to keep visitors out of danger. With the strong wind at that height, they act as musical instruments, and a constant whistle could be heard as you walked around the roof.



The tuned mass damper will be of interest to the engineers out there. This 5-metre tall sphere is suspended by cables stretching from the 92nd to the 87th floors. Weighing 728 tons, it sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong winds. The observation level for the damper is well done itself - it is eerily quiet in the damper chamber, but the hallways leading into it feature cool illuminated floors that show aerial photos of the city and star scenes.




The tower itself, while an amazing architectural achievement, has actually been blamed by some to cause small earthquakes, because of its massive size and weight. I don't know about the validity of such claims, but it was a good spot to start my visit.

Travel: Taipei

May 19 marked Vesak Day in Singapore (and across Asia). This holiday celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Gautama Buddha, the spiritual teacher from India and founder of Buddhism. Devout followers spend the day in temples, providing simple offerings and making affirmations to observe the 8 Precepts.

This, a public holiday in Singapore, fell on a Monday, and I took the opportunity to travel to Taiwan. Or, the Republic of China, the refuge of General Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang Party, which was defeated by the communists in the Chinese Civil War. Taiwan has a much older history, and its aboriginal peoples have inhabited the island for thousands of years. The KMT fled there in 1949, upon their defeat, and helped transform the island.

I took an early Saturday flight, out of Changi Airport's beautiful new Terminal 3, for a few days in Taipei, the capital located in the northern part of this island just across the Taiwan Strait from China.

Modern Taiwan has an interesting history. It has evolved from its origins under an iron-fisted, single political party, when the country was widely recognized globally (in a diplomatic sense), to its status today as a multi-party democracy that is a diplomatic outcast. China (the People's Republic) refuses to recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan, and most of the rest of the world follows. Still, Taiwan is a thriving, modern economy. And its newly elected president, Ma Ying-jeou, has signaled his interest in bridging the differences between the two countries, helping thaw relations since his March election.


We landed on a sunny day, and I was greeted with the sight of the Republic of China flag flapping in the breeze. I think this is one of the more attractive flags, with a red background and white sun in a blue union in the northwest corner. It was adopted as the flag of the Republic of China in 1928, when nationalist forces toppled the warlord government that had held power since the fall of the Qing (or Manchu) Dynasty in 1912. For many, it serves as a historical link to mainland China. For me, it was notice that I was in for a new and different experience.


In most of my travels, I have been able to communicate with locals using English, and many signs are in English (whether in Thailand, Hong Kong, or Vietnam). Taipei would be different. There had been only a small Western colonial presence, and while one could see English on street signs and at the airport, it was not spoken or even understood by a large part of the population. I was in Taiwan, and the people in Taiwan speak Taiwanese. It would make for some interesting moments.

The airport is more than 40 kilometres southwest of the the city centre, so I was able to see some of the sights from my hired car on the way to the hotel. Taipei sits in a valley ringed by leafy hills, which adds a touch of serenity to the city. For some reason, I was reminded of a US city, perhaps in part because the Taiwanese drive on the right side of the road. Most of the signage was in Taiwanese, but this city seemed different than others in Asia. I couldn't put my finger on it (and I still don't think I can), but I felt very comfortable right away.



Les Suites Taipei - my hotel - is a small boutique hotel, fortunately within 100 metres of an MRT station (pictured above). I have lucked out with this in Hong Kong, as well, and I can't stress how much that improves the visit. The MRT is very efficient, and I was able to avoid taking taxis for nearly my entire stay there, keeping to the rails. After dropping off my luggage, I was ready to start exploring. First stop: Taipei 101.