Taipei/Taiwan

View of Taipei from the roof of Kristen's building. Note the mountain -- that is Yangmingshan (I think).

I can think of no better way to see a new country than to visit a good friend who is living there. I was just so lucky in my visit to Taiwan, as my good pal Kristen Loring is there for the year doing research and working at the National Palace Museum. Kristen also is very good at reading and conversing in Chinese, which opens up a whole part of the city I would not have understood or ventured into otherwise. In fact, I am very much indebted to Kristen for all of her work and attention when I was visiting, from interpreting the menu and ordering every meal to buying train tickets and explaining to the taxi where we wanted to go. She is a fantastic tour guide and I hope to reciprocate sometime when we can visit Thailand or Laos together.

I left Los Angeles in quite a hurry, or so it felt even though I did know when I arrived at the end of July that I would be leaving for Asia again at the end of October. Many things contributed to my lack of preparation for coming back here, most particularly the pressure and stress resulting from my need to write and complete my dissertation within a year. Things have been quite intense, to say the least. So I pretty much packed everything the same day I left town, along with going to the Thai Consulate twice for my visa, and other random things. No problem, I thought, I only really needed some articles and books and things I was taking to others from the States. Everything else I could get in Thailand if I needed it. However, as I was on the plane, getting closer and closer to Taipei, I remembered more and more things I needed that totally slipped my mind in those last few days in LA, such as my phone charger, and perhaps more importantly, my keys to my apartment in Chiang Mai! Even worse, after I landed in Taipei and was beginning to find my way through the airport to passport control, I realized that I did not do many important things, such as: send Kristen a second email right before I left confirming my flight times and dates, write down Kristen’s address and phone number, or do even a single iota of research about the place where I was going. Absolutely crazy! Kristen is a very responsible and dependable person, but still, what if something happened and she didn’t show up at the airport? What on earth would I do?? Luckily I walked out of baggage claim and customs, and there she was. And she looked great! How exciting and what a good friend!

One of the things I was very excited about in visiting Taiwan was getting to eat the food. Taiwan is well known for the quality of its food, and I was not disappointed. Dumplings, tea eggs, steamed buns, tofu, noodle soup, grilled meat, sweet potatoes, fruit, tea… everything I ate was like a delicacy and very satisfying. I ate so much when I was in Taiwan! And enjoyed every bite.

I got to explore around Taipei with Kristen and we even got out of the city and went to a mountain and a town nearby. We had intended to go to the beach, but my timing in visiting was not so great; it rained or threatened of rain nearly every day that I was there. The mountain we visited, named Yangmingshan, was very nearby -- just a short bus ride away, it is practically in central Taipei. Kristen and I planned to hike to the top of Yangmingshan, but the weather was not very inviting. It was like hiking in a cloud. A wet, cold, windy cloud. Or perhaps it was more like climbing up and down steps in a cloud, for that is what the hike really was – many, many steps. It was very enjoyable, though, and I think Kristen and I made the most of it.

Another place we went was the town of Jiufen. This is an incredibly beautiful town nestled in the mountains near Taipei. Although the forecast predicted otherwise, Kristen and I had hoped to visit Jiufen, another town, and hang out on the beach all in one day, we only visited this one town, which turned out to be enough. We took the subway, a train, and a bus to get there, and when we arrived, we could see the ocean from the town. But when we left we could only see rain. Jiufen is a very touristy town, with a long, winding market and many tea shops on the side of a mountain. Of course “touristy” in Taiwan is very different than “touristy” in Southeast Asia – I don’t think Kristen and I saw any other non-Asians on that whole excursion!

After a week with Kristen it was time to move on to Thailand, where I have settled in nicely and where I cannot complain about the food either, even though I miss the delicacies of Taipei. I envy the location of Kristen’s apartment as well – about a half a block from a bustling food market serving any kind of delicacy one could need, and near many, many shops as well. I wish I could have spent more time on that island and know I can always go back, which I would love to do, but that it wouldn’t be the same without my Chinese-speaking friend and guide!