Day Two: Island Life in Taiwan

Day Two

Today I'm in: Taipei, Taiwan

It's hot in Taipei!  I went to mainland China and Hong Kong about this time last year and temperatures were pleasant, so I'm a little surprised it's so nasty out.  A few people have mentioned to me that it's unseasonably warm here.  I suppose it's good practice for some of my upcoming stops (Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, etc.)  For anyone who isn't up on their geography, Taipei is the capital of Taiwan, a small island nation off the coast of China.  Since 1949, Taiwan has been essentially independent, although the Communist government in Beijing regards it as a renegade province.  The Taiwanese embraced capitalism several decades before the mainlanders first started experimenting with it, and so Taiwan has done very well for herself and has one of Asia's highest standards of living today.  

Taipei is a really nice city.  Sprawling, but nice.  It reminds me of a cross between a mainland Chinese city (over here you have to remember to refer to it as "the mainland" and not as "China," since that's what Taiwan considers itself to be) and a Japanese one, at least in terms of the aesthetics.  It's much greener than I was expecting, and more tropical, too.  Like mainland China, it seems to be booming; there are cranes on the horizon everywhere you look, and highways and railroad lines seem to be under construction all over the place.  

I didn't get in from the airport until about 1pm, so I decided to spend most of today just walking around the city and saving the more programmed and/or cultural stuff for tomorrow, when I've got a full day.  I explored the main streets of the Datong and part of the Zhongshan districts, which are north of my hotel (which is in a great location just across the street from the main railway station.)  Both districts are pretty upmarket and there was no shortage of high-end boutiques, coffee bars and restaurants.  

For dinner I had my first bowl of beef noodles (recommended to me by everyone - this seems to be Taiwan's unofficial national dish.)  The pictures I'd seen all showed the beef sliced and laid across the top of the noodles, so I was a bit surprised when I got my steak on a separate plate.  I wound up cutting it up myself and dropping the pieces into the noodle broth, along with chili paste and a peppercorn sauce.  It was really tasty, although I'm still not positive I ate it properly.  

I finished up the evening with a trip to the Shilin Night Market, just a few stops from my hotel on the MRT, which is Taipei's metro system.  The night market was predictably chaotic, full of food stalls, shops selling imitation luxury goods, tailor shops, bootleg electronics, boutiques and pretty much anything else you can think of.  

A few observations about Taipei made in my very short time here:

- They love stinky tofu here.  Every now and then today I'd be walking down the street and catch a not-so-nice whiff of it. 

- When the clock strikes each hour, all of the emergency sirens around the city go off to mark it.  I don't know if that's a special thing today, or if it's a standard occurrence. 

- There's a good number of English speakers here, which is fortunate since I've forgotten the miniscule amount of Chinese I picked up last year.  The downside is that I am not seeing as many hilariously incorrect English-language t-shirts as I did on the mainland.  

I'm fading fast tonight (even after nine hours of sleep last night, I'm still a little jetlagged) and will hopefully have much more to write about tomorrow night after another full day in Taipei.  Good night all!