Taiwan Day 1

So I'm waiting for the bus now. I figured it would be efficient to start "guerilla blogging" to save time.

I have two weeks off from work, so I planned a little holiday fun for myself. I'll be visiting 4 countries (well, 2 depending on your stance of what belongs to China) and having fun along the way.

I flew out of Seoul this morning and landed in Taipei this afternoon. It smells musty, like a cabin at summer camp. The Taipei airport is actually in Taoyuan, a city next door to Taipei. So, from the airport I took a bus to the high speed rail station in Taoyuan, where I then took a bullet train into Taipei Main Station. First impression: Taiwan is warm and humid right now, which compounds the heat. In the evenings it isn't too bad. Thankfully there has been a light breeze all day. On the train ride, I could see the, what I'm assuming to be, typical Taiwanese countryside. To be honest it looked pretty rundown which was not what I was expecting. Maybe it's the humidity that does that to buildings....but the rain should wash them up well... Regardless, that wasn't what I had in mind.

Anyway, I made it to Taipei Main Station, got lost trying to figure out how the labeling system works here, but eventually found my way. I walked by a kiosk selling (what I'm assuming was) stinky tofu. It literally smelled like a big fat ripe poo.

By this time, I was thoroughly sweated and disheveled. Good thing I had booked a hotel room nearby. I decided to go there first, even though it wasn't time to check-in. At least I could drop off my bag :)

Got to the hotel and chatted up the concierge. She told me I could use the lobby bathroom to change if I wished. I did. However, it was an unpleasant experience because that washroom had the foulest odour ever... When I came out and chatted up the concierge again, she told me she was upgrading my room and it was ready for me to enter. Alright!

I then Skyped with my folks for a little bit, took a shower, and then set off for today's itinerary. I have this entire trip planned out, but I like travelling alone because of the flexibility it offers. And I needed it too, considering the late start I was having.

First stop was the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Grounds. I walked around the impressive complex, looking at families blowing bubbles with their kids, old people lounging on the cool grass in the shade, and romantic young couples walking hand in hand or arm in arm.

After, I walked down the road to a really famous Xao Long Bao (shau long bao are dumplings) restaurant. They make them all by hand and perhaps from scratch too. Well worth it and deserving of its international reputation. They even paid special attention to me because it was my first time (and maybe white privilege too).

I had planned ahead to visit Elephant Mountain around this time because it would be sunset and because the sun would be at a good angle for photographs. Elephant Mountain is a famous spot for great views of downtown and Taipei 101. It's several hundred meters in elevation and it was a monster to climb all those stairs..I was huffing and puffing but it was well worth the grueling effort. The view was priceless. Many people had staked out a spot already and were enjoying themselves with Chinese food.

I then caught another bus to Core Pacific City which is a shopping mall on the north side of the city. I had seen this architectural curiosity in a city-building computer game I own, so I wanted to see the real thing. Didn't disappoint. It's a mix between the Death Star and an alien hive. It was really interesting.

I walked to Raohe Street Night Market (Taiwan is famous for night markets) and plodded along with the crowd--listening to the vendors hawking their wares, smelling the sometimes sweet sometimes nasty odours coming from the food. I stopped by a Buddhist store which was kind of cool but I can't read Chinese so I don't know what any of the stuff was saying :( I ordered some sort of cake bread thing and enjoyed it while checking out the rest of the market.

I caught another bus to my final destination tonight: Daija Riverside park. I had to walk about 20 minutes to get there, but I got to go through the Taipei Lantern festival on the way. I was going to this place because I saw on Google Maps that it would be the perfect place to snap a photo of the Taipei Grand Hotel, another architectural landmark. It also happens to feature prominently in one of my favourite computer games: Alpha Protocol. Bad news though: when I finally got to the spot, the hotel was almost completely dark :( I guess they turn off the lights at night? How disappointing. I tried to take the best picture I could without a tripod, but I'm not sure if it worked.

Finally, I went back to the hotel. It was midnight when I finally returned. My itinerary specified that I was to take a 7:20am train the next day, but I couldn't handle that, so I changed it. However, reworking the schedule took some more time and the Internet connection was going in and out so it took longer than necessary. I finally went to bed at 1:30.