Far From Formosa II

June 25-27, 2016

After a nice breakfast at the Pacific Business Hotel and a relaxing morning, Tim and I walked to the MRT station and took the red line to the exit for the National Palace Museum.  Ai Ai was waiting anxiously for us.  We were about ten minutes late, and I'm sure she had images of us wandering lost in the bowels of the MRT.   She'd given us a phone to use, but neither of us heard it ringing.

Once reunited, a taxi driver took us from the MRT station right up to the door of the National Palace Museum, which saved us a walk in the hot sun.  Ai Ai has tremendous skills chatting up the taxi drivers here, and they are very accommodating.  From the entrance we passed crowds of tourists following their designated "flag on a stick," and found the ticket office upstairs.  All bags had to be placed in lockers - didn't want any national treasures disappearing.  Ai Ai picked up a couple of audio tour sets for us, and we rode the elevator to the third floor as suggested by a docent.

No photography was allowed, but hundreds of relics from B.C.E. were on display throughout.
Lots of ceramics, bronze pieces and jade artifacts.  Many of the items were carried out of China during the Chinese Civil War, when followers of General Chiang Kai-Shek were restricted to the island of Taiwan.

rice burger

We had a nice lunch at the museum cafe.  Ai Ai had a rice burger - the "bun" was made of rice, not the burger.  This is a popular meal in Taiwan.  Ai Ai bought Tim a pen with the Chinese symbols for his new Chinese name, Huang Ti ("emperor").  A lovely garden graced the front of the museum, which closely resembles the Forbidden City in Beijing.  Very interesting place.

Once back to the area near our hotel, we took a walk through the very modern, fancy mall that is part of Taipei 101.  With 101 floors, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world before Burj Khalifa was built in 2009.  It seemed that every high-end retailer had a store here, including Tiffany's, Rolex, Chanel, etc.  Ai Ai gave us time to walk around while she went to put in our names for dinner at the very popular Din Tai Fung restaurant.  This eatery with its famous steamed dumplings is one of the most efficiently-run restaurants I've ever seen.  The waitstaff all communicate via headsets, and the glass-enclosed kitchen reveals workers in white from head to toe creating dumplings with great skill and speed.  The dumplings were delicious.

Crowd of people waiting to get in to Din Tai Fung

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast
at the hotel, then took the train
back to Taoyuan.

We arrived early afternoon, and had a quick video chat with our nephew, Ai Ai's husband, then got cleaned up for the evening.  We enjoyed another game of chinese checkers (this time Pao Pao joined in!)  We piled into two taxis to go to dinner at a restaurant called Hot 7.  We had six of us for dinner, and I learned that Taiwanese use the same hand sign for six as the ASL letter "Y."  The chefs here cook on large griddles in front of the diners, much like Shoguns or Benihanas in the US.  But cooking is serious business here - Ai Ai's family was appalled when we told them how some cooks at Sagano's in Brighton throw food in the air for diners to catch in their mouths!

Highly-skilled chefs, no hijinx

The food was interesting and delicious - even the tossed salad with crushed chocolate cookies on top.  The grilled chicken was tasty and tender, and I even ate some green-lipped mussels.  The dessert was a pancake with, I think, a red bean paste inside that was very tasty, and the chef made special cartoon pancakes for the two obvious out-of-towners in our group.

"Cookies and green"

Mickey Mouse and Heathcliff?

Afterward, we walked a few blocks away to a Karaoke bar, with Ai Ai's mom kindly taking me by the arm and guiding me along the street.  Unlike the American bars where everyone in the place listens to the singers, this place rents out little rooms.  We piled onto benches around the big center table, and Ai Ai and her sibs jumped right in, lining up song after song.  They all had excellent singing voices, including their mom, and sang some lovely Taiwanese ballads.  Tim and I sang a couple of American tunes, which had really lame videos of white people hanging out near a dock somewhere, not at all related to the songs - very amusing.

Jack channeling Michael Jackson

It was a very enjoyable evening with some lovely people who truly felt like family by the end of our visit.  We are very thankful for their generous and warm hospitality!

Our chariot awaits

Far From Formosa I

June 23-24, 2016

A lovely young Taiwanese lady married our nephew just before we moved to Thailand.  A teacher in a Chinese immersion school, she now lives with her husband in the US.  Her long summer vacation allowed her to travel home to Taiwan to visit with her family.  She graciously offered to show us her fair country while she was home, since we are practically neighbors now!

Ai Ai created a wonderful travel itinerary for us - all we had to do was show up.  We flew from Bangkok with a transfer in Hong Kong.  We were there just long enough to spend the twenty-eight Hong Kong dollars I had left from my January China trip - for exactly one bottle of Coke.  I had flashbacks of the crazy running around I had to do at this airport on my previous visit.

The flight from Hong Kong to Taipei was under three hours, and Ai Ai was there waiting for us once we'd passed through customs and immigration.  We grabbed a taxi outside that took us to her Mom's place in Taoyuan City, south of the airport and west of Taipei.

Ai Ai and Pao Pao

The city is a lot like other big Asian cities, with a convenience store on every corner.  Taiwan has the same Family Marts and 7-11's that we have in Thailand; they also one we don't have - OK-Marts.  We stopped in the OK-Mart on the ground floor of her family's home and picked up some bottled water, then entered through the little, stone-paved courtyard to the elevator.  Her mom and brother warmly welcomed us into their lovely home, and we got a special Ni hao ("hello" in Chinese) from their cute little dog, Pao Pao.  Her family had kindly practiced many English phrases for us - so thoughtful!  We felt somewhat inadequate in comparison, with only a Ni Hao and XieXie.

view from our room

Ai Ai's stepdad and her sister came in later, and we chatted a bit.  There was talk of arranged marriages between another one of Ai Ai's sisters and one of our sons.  (Don't worry, guys - we didn't sign anything!)  Her brother went out and brought us back some Taiwanese street food, including chicken hearts, and some Taiwanese beer.  Everything was very tasty, and we went to bed sated and happy.  Her family kindly gave us a nice room with blessedly cool air-conditioning in the steamy Taiwan summer.  Pao Pao was only too happy to pay us a visit and share our cool air.

In the morning, Tim went out with Ai Ai's brother to pick up some breakfast.  Her brother is quite the connoisseur and knew all the best places and the best times to go.  They came back with bags and bags of food and drink.  We feasted on turnip cakes, leek rolls, cabbage buns and dragon fruit chased down with tofu milk and 7-11 coffee.  It didn't take us long to bring out the chinese checkers, and we had a friendly game - no other communication required.

After some discussion, we took a taxi to a bus stop, and a bus to Daxi (Dah-shee) Old Street.  On the way, Ai Ai and her brother decided that Tim needed a Chinese name.  And so, with a similarity to his last name and first initial, he became Huang Ti (emperor).  As his wife, I became Huang Ho (no comments, please.)  Ai Ai and her brother led the emperor and his wife around the charming old streets of Daxi, as we put our antiperspirant to the test in the hot, humid sun.  We stopped at Lai Ma Ma for some refreshing tofu pudding - a combination of sweet tofu pieces, red beans, mung beans, cooked peanuts and tapioca in crushed ice.  The servings were so huge, Tim and I shared one and we still couldn't finish it all.

Tofu pudding

Next we stopped into the Daxi Wood Art Ecomuseum, a newly-restored, elevated Japanese-style home that is the first of many buildings in the area to be designated as museums.  "No. One Hall" was constructed in the 1920's, and once served as the residence for the headmaster of Daxi Elementary School.  This wooden structure is an example of the over 200 years of the woodworking industry in this part of Taiwan.  The clean, simple lines of form and function were evident here in this lovely, air-conditioned little house.  Nearby was Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall, and the Daxi Bridge spanning a low river.

We saw a young couple posing for wedding photos outside (traditional color for the bride is red here), and stopped for more food(!)  We tasted boiled soy-sauce eggs and bean curd.  Ai Ai told us how easy it is to order a taxi here by using a kiosk available in nearly every convenience store.  They were unable to summon one to this part of the city, though.  We eventually came upon a group of independent taxis and rode the long way back to their place in a smelly, cigarette-infused vehicle.

yummy!

Huang Ho and Huang Ti

This sign caught my eye:
Sad Super Hot Noodles!

We packed our bags, said our temporary good-byes, and headed to the train station with Ai Ai, stopping at the bank to exchange some money.  Ai Ai was an excellent tour guide, and led us to the required ticket booth, securing seats for us on the 50-minute train ride to Taipei.  Relaxing in our comfortable seats, we were just starting to nod off when we reached our destination.  From the train station we rode the MRT to the Taipei 101 stop, and hauled our bags the few blocks to our hotel.

The Pacific Business Hotel has an unusual setup, with the lobby on the 11th floor.  I think the floors below were business offices.  Ai Ai made sure we were settled in our room, then she went to spend the night with a friend who lives in the city.  Tim and I wandered around a bit, and with our adventurous spirit waning, we settled for a quick meal at McDonald's (don't tell anyone.)

Taipei 101