Taipei to Tainan, 宝岛之旅，始め！

あんた、どんな様？
-- 览牛做事厂

也许有获者，
或者也许多 …
此者何其人，
"华人"，是也！

Alas! 'Tas been almost 2 weeks since I arrived in Taiwan, the first leg of my "Asian Invasion".

Recent days were a unique experience for me. I haven't been more relaxed and unpremeditated for a long time -- perhaps a long long time. The Plan, is to backpack my way across the Asia Pacific for the next couple of years. The Precursor, was my putting a pause on a career in the financial industry. I'll save a proper preface for another day, because at the moment, I've got another eye and half a mind on another application playing Bruce Li's Classic Fury of the Dragon (猛龙过江), in this all but too common Cybercafe in Tainan, the former mecca-city in southern Taiwan -- now still a centre of commerce, culture and magnet for travellers like myself.

Enough purple dialogue ...

My god! It's already my fifth hour in this cafe today. Tainan mosquitos and today's 30C temperature are keeping me indoors, until night markets open in Hai'an Street (海安路).

Tautology Number Zero:

I left HK for Taipei on May 16th, 2006, and met up with Chan-san, my buddy in Taipei. Thankfully, he and his family are my kind hosts.

Week 1:

Time Modifier: May 16 - May 22
Place: Taipei and abouts
What I did: Slept alot. Browsed night markets. Early hour scotch (Ballantine) with Chan-san, over food from 通化街 and Soul Calibur match on PS2 -- felt good!
And... Touristy stuff.

Taipei 101: Modern, Pricey. Very. In case you didn't know, it's (was?) the tallest building in Asia with, yes, 101 floors under the pointy roof. I had a good time here looking at prices, enjoying friendly service, and marvelling the archetecture; but this place doesn't really have much merchandise I can't see everywhere in HK, if not Tokyo. Well, here are banks, investment banks, gourmet, showrooms (Bose, Sony), you name it. But, I learnt later from Chan-san that a little food stand (not restaurant in any right) in the night market (通化夜市) whereabouts he lives on that sells 米粉 (Taiwan styled Vermecelli) has an offspring branch in this building. Interesting ... [ntspic]


故宫博物馆： 昔日与女友访台时慕名而去，可惜未有福一览，原因是当时维修。这次，笔人虽有幸入馆，但看到的多数锅碗瓢盆类，并没有如愿我赏画之心。 原来，只开放了部分展览。离去时得知失望的非我一人。车换车来时花了小许久，只有门前香肠对付一下，没看到画，就别去了，亦是有所不爽。微笑着的前柜姐姐告诉我：“过几天就会有的，不好意思！”。听后感觉 ~okay。。。回港前再来过，是対です！问别去哪里? -- 预算当晚与詹餐聚西门町，那还不去西门町的邻居--龙山寺。 [ntspic]

龙山寺： 这里是江湖，有吃（没试），有卖（一般便宜），有蛇，有龟，有按摩（咸淡柬有）。我一身虽低调但哪里逃得过噢卡桑法眼，谢绝后向西门町步去。

西门町：好友詹子庆这里上班。他就是 Chan-san。为甚么我这样称呼他？原来詹是女友一年前留学日本的同学，我等三人当时居东京，是促进日文学习，是入乡随俗，还是自然而然的这样称呼对方？--“O-san, Yo-san, Chan-san" 均为王，杨，詹；我，女友 Rosanne Yeung，和子庆三人。

My Budda!! Make that the 6th hour. Save some for tomorrow. Off to the night market.

再说回西门町。 Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku -- this place has got genes from all 3. I could go on for hours about this joint for the young and fresh 'cause there's just too much here. Next time you're in Taipei, this is a must see. Moving on.

永和市，永和豆浆：小地方。本来我想去看看怎么回事。赫赫有名的永和豆浆是这里诞生的。台北附近的小城市，地铁可到。卖豆浆的 5pm to 12am，我去早了。

基隆市：比永和好玩。101号巴士从火车站接我去了和平岛。岛上有沙滩，岩石，小山。可以钓鱼，抓小螃蟹，玩碰碰船等。海景不错 (photo on right)。 找了块躺椅型的岩石，拿出 Ipod，睡了一会儿。天没黑就会了台北，因为当晚有K-聚。

钱柜，台北卡拉OK：上海的朋友们，无论你去钱柜还是好乐迪，收钱的都是台湾人。但是我们可以骄傲的是：上海的 KTV 比台北的好。歌多，设备先进，点歌方便，超市经营，现在有多了超好的服务。台湾的朋友：但是他们要排队，有时排得很厉害 -- 10 个人在侯 K 区打扑克。

夜市 (Night Markets) ：What are they you ask? They're stores, stands, and the like getting together to form an off-hour trading floor -- typically 7pm-1am. Merchandise? From food to underwear, to ...... other stuff. I go almost every night. Got my Nike sandles in 通化夜市, downstairs where Chan-san lives -- preparation for wetter weather in higher ground the next week.

Week 2:

May 23

Pickout 6-7 pounds of most useful gear and caught the 9am train from Taipei to Chia-i (嘉义). Plan was to catch the 13:30 twice-a-day train up to Alishan (阿里山). This train, amazingly enough, traverses through trees and rocks up this 2000+ metre mountain. It was built originally by the Japanese to help harvest wood here. How uncomfortable was it? I don't know. Because I found a driver with a van. The train was void of seats when I arrived at Chia-yi station at 12:45. I bought a sweat shirt nearby (don't do this when you go, because you can buy it cheaper on the mountain). There were 6+driver in the van. I was the only loner. Up we went.

It took 2.x hours, inclusive of Mr. Xu, driver of the Volkswagen 10-seater, stopping for diesel, stopping for a spare tire, a teapee break, and his lunch break (bread only).

Actually I had already booked a 600NT room (a 6-share) at the youth hostel one stop from the top (二万里). But since Mr. Xu gave me a deal on a 800NT room on Alishan stop, plus the Youth Hostel was "privatized" and tried to sell me a 1600NT room, then tried to cheat me of my deserved free breakfast when I specifically asked for their cheapest room.

Turns out I made the right choice. It was a little town up there. More like a resort. Well organized. I took a little hike while most others (notably those who came in tour buses) where taken to restaurants with some light entertainment from local Alishan women. If you're Chinese you could imagine this: “大家这边看，这位就是我们阿里山的姑娘！” No trip to Alishan would be self-respecting without fulfulling the need to turn lyrics from the song into some sort of reality. Espcially since it costs 120,000NT for each Mainlander to visit Taiwan. They can come in only groups of 10, so far. I, too, I admit, knew Alishan only from this song before this day.

“高山青，澗水藍。阿里山的姑娘美如水，阿里山的 少年壯如山。。。”

Tautology Number One:

Here, of course, few cared to see the that "youth, strong and stout like the mountain".

May 24

Hours of sleep: 11pm-3am.
Train to Zhu Shan (祝山): 4:30 - 5am. This is a convenient spot for viewing the famous sunrise.
Estimated time of sunrise: 5:20am
Actual time of sunrise: #N/A -- Everyone was disappointed.


I made a couple of friends on this leg. Lucent from Bay Area and Angie from Taipei.

To Lucent from Cisco:

Sorry Lucent =P I guess you're used to it but I've always wanted to make that joke. I'm waiting for that picture you took of me. And, after we parted, I hiked down the mountain with a retired English AstraZeneca chemist. Then I tried to sleep a bit before going back to Chia-i with Mr. Xu. Then I got woken up by Mr. Xu with a message that the family who hired his van no longer want to go to Chia-i, but back up north through the mountains and enjoy Nantou County (南投县). That's when I met the Yan's, and began my tree-hugging, nature loving, oh-way-too-much H2O two-day escapade in the mountains, where grounds covered included 东浦温泉, 彩虹瀑布, 水里, 溪头森林(!!!), 日月潭.

Left: 彩虹瀑布
Right: 大学池, 溪头森林
More Photos: ethan.fotopic.net/c976358.html













I hope you made it to Tainan safe and sound, and had as much fun in Tainan as I did. Give me a call if you're still in Taiwan (0930140246). If not, best regards, and we shall try that sunrise again another morning -- another mountain?

Sun Moon Lake to Tai'chung (台中) was our last ride together. I thanked and goodbyed the Yans at their hotel in Tai'chung, where a near relative was to be married the next day.

Mr. Xu has both property in Chia-i and on Alishan. That night he was to live in Chia-i. Perfect. This connected me to the western rail tracks real quick. I got on a train (电车, 非自强号火车) to Tainan and quickly shopped for lodging.

Rest is what I need for the next day my gastric forces need to battle Tainan food ...