This past weekend we flew to Taipei to visit Daniel. It was so much fun to see our son. Now I can imagine the train when he calls while commuting to work. I know what his room-mates look like; I’ve seen his cute little apartment down an old-fashioned Chinese lane. No expat apartment complex for him! It’s great.
We flew there on Friday morning. It’s SO close to Hong Kong, and there are flights just about every hour because many flights from Taiwan have to go through Hong Kong because of Taiwan’s rather uncertain relationship with the rest of the world, especially China. There were riots there on Thursday because a high-level Chinese envoy visited Taiwan for the first time since the 1940’s. The Taiwanese feel very strongly about keeping their independent status. They are pretty resistant to the “one China” policy as it has been adopted by Hong Kong, but then Taiwan was never a colony of a European power so it’s a different situation.
Taipei is a big city. It’s pretty flat, with beautiful mountains in the distance. It has a good public transportation system – trains and buses and cheap taxis – like Hong Kong. The pollution used to be really bad, but it has been much improved since their MRT opened in 2000 (I think that’s the right date).
Daniel met us for a quick lunch on Friday, but then he had to go to work, so we entertained ourselves that afternoon. First we went over to Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world, and right next to our hotel. Their elevators were unnerving. Almost 90 floors in about 45 seconds and it doesn’t really feel like you’re moving at all – they’re pressurized. The views were mesmerizing, but unfortunately it was pretty hazy, so we couldn’t see as far in the distance as we would have liked.
From 101 we decided to brave their MRT system on our own. Although we had been warned that there was much less English in Taipei than in Hong Kong, there were plenty of English signs and their MRT is simple and easy to use. We went to see the Chiang Kai Chek Memorial. It was beautiful – blue-tiled gates, an immense parade ground in front, and a giant temple-like structure with a seated statue of the General inside. I thought from a distance he looked a bit like Lincoln, but when we got closer it was clear that he had what could only be described as a shit-eating grin on his face. Maybe he was thinking about all those Chinese Communists he had out-foxed. Anyway he looked more like a goofy Buddha in a uniform than anything else.
We went to a Chinese/Thai restaurant for dinner off in a little trendy neighborhood. Daniel had a little trouble finding it. He navigates kind of like his dad – they both have an antenna of some sort that eventually gets them where they want to go, but not in a very logical way. Sarah has an almost unfailing sense of direction. I’m not very good until I get to know a place; then I can remember how to get places very well and learn all the best shortcuts. Between the four of us we would be infallible!
Daniel had to work Saturday morning. It had started raining during the night and it rained the rest of the weekend. We just hung out and relaxed in the hotel until Daniel got off work and then we went to the National Museum and gazed at pottery. When that got boring we found a coffee shop in the museum and gazed at each other instead.
We went to a good Japanese restaurant for dinner Saturday night, but the best meal we had by far the entire weekend was our Dim Sum brunch on Sunday. We went to a famous restaurant called Din Tai Fong. There are franchises all over the world, but the one in Taipei is the original. It is by far the very best dim sum I have EVER had. There is one in Hong Kong now at Ocean Terminal and I can’t wait to go check it out. Those dumplings were amazing.
Din Tai Fong is so popular that we had to wait almost an hour and a half to be seated, but it was worth it. While waiting we could watch the dumpling-makers at work. They looked like they were making teeny-tiny pizzas at first, even tossing them lightly in the air.
One funny thing about Taipei, unlike Hong Kong they seem to assume that westerners don’t know anything about Chinese culture. Wherever we went they tried to explain to us what we were eating and how to eat it. Daniel dropped one of his dumplings and our waitress immediately scurried over to ask him if he wanted a fork. He was insulted!
After brunch we wandered over to the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art and watched a series of multi-media installations. That sort of thing is all the rage right now in Asia. It was similar to the show Lee and I saw at the Hong Kong Central Police Station several months ago. Then we had our by-now traditional afternoon coffee and just hung out together until it was time to leave for our flight home.
Its too bad it rained because it prevented us from going to the night-markets, which is a big thing in Taipei. The street food there is supposed to be great but it was just too soggy for us to attempt that. Maybe next time. I’d like to venture outside Taipei next time we go. There are supposed to be great resorts up in the mountains with good hot springs.
It was wonderful to see Daniel so confident and happy. It will be interesting to watch him this year continue to adjust to his new environment. He’s only been there about three months, so he’s really just barely settled in. There are so many stages to living in a new country! Three months just is only the beginning.
No comments:
Post a Comment