Taiwan, part 1

After three days in Hong Kong Justin and I hit the road again - or more accurately, the skies - on to Taipei, Taiwan.  Justin had only three nights in Taiwan before his flight to Beijing, and we wanted to make the most of his limited time.  I booked a ticket with Cathay Pacific using my airline miles (they are partners with British Airways, hence I can use Avios points to book with them) but Justin was on a different airline.  We rendezvoused at the airport and then caught the shuttle bus into the city, a trip which took close to an hour.

Taiwan - lying off the coast of mainland China, south of Japan and north
 of the Philippines.  We had a direct flight from Hong Kong to Taipei

Justin had booked a night at a hotel in the town of Yilan, on the northeast side of the island (see map below).  I hadn't heard of Yilan but was happy to spend a night there if Justin was interested.  I'd be spending a couple weeks on the island after Justin left so would have plenty of time to do my own thing.

We went from Taipei to Yilan (spelled Ilan here), but we had to go along the coast through Keelung.

From Taipei main station we took the express train to Yilan.  The ride, which took us on a scenic stretch around the northern coast, took just over an hour and cost us all of $7.  That compared to the local train which would have added an hour and a half of time and saved us $2!  Yilan isn't all that far from Taipei, but the trains have to travel along the coast to avoid the mountains.  The island of Taiwan is quite small, not much larger than the U.S. state of Maryland and a bit smaller than Switzerland.  It stretches over 200 miles from north to south but only about 70 miles at its widest point.  Rugged mountains run like a spine through the center of the country, so the major train routes and roads make a loop around the island, avoiding the drastic changes in elevation.

Yilan, a town of less than 100,000, has little to offer within the built-up area but is close to the sea and caters to beach goers during summer months.  Justin and I arrived in late March when the chilly winter had passed but long before it was warm enough to take a dip in the sea.  The sky was overcast and the water rough, so much so that I wouldn't have felt safe going much deeper than waist high.  The sand around Yilan is a volcanic black and very soft to the touch.  Justin and I took a walk around the beach and the local harbor; there wasn't much to see but it was quiet and peaceful.  The train back to town only came once an hour and we missed one by a few minutes, so while waiting we explored a nearby Buddhist temple.

with Justin on the beach near Yilan

The break wall, which protects the harbor from storms

The Buddhist temple near the train station

Our hotel in Yilan was nice enough, but the reason why Justin had booked it was because they advertised hot springs on site.  When we arrived they informed us that there weren't actually springs, perse, but that the natural spring water flowed directly to the taps in our bathroom (complete with a tub).  I don't know if it was just a rip off or the water was particularly special; it certainly didn't seem any different when I took a shower that night.

Justin and I got a late dinner after wandering around town and finally settling on a chicken joint we'd found using Yelp.  Save for two other patrons the large restaurant was deserted, but it was close to 10 pm on a weekday.  The special was a whole chicken, which we split along with several side dishes of veggies and rice.  We got plastic gloves to tear up the chicken (our server had cut it up into several larger pieces, including the head).  The food was delicious and we managed to eat nearly everything, which before we started I thought an impossible task.

The chicken restaurant was empty...

...but the food was delicious

my favorite side dish, with onions, garlic, mushrooms, and
some other veggie I don't know the name of

The euphoria over our first great meal in Taiwan, however, didn't last long.  Shortly after midnight Justin's stomach took a turn for the worse and not long after he was vomiting in the bathroom.  I felt both bad for him and lucky that my stomach was holding steady.  As I drifted in and out of sleep Justin returned to the toilet numerous times for his food purge.  Unfortunately my luck was also short-lived and within a few hours I started to feel queasy.  Just as Justin's stomach was settling I began my rounds in the bathroom, throwing up more than I imagined I could have eaten and only finally stopping a few hours before check-out.

That morning we slowly made our way back to the station for the trip to Taipei.  We still weren't able to stomach any food, and the train ride put our bowels to the test (one that we narrowly passed).  Hotels were oddly hard to come by in Taipei - many seemed to be booked or overpriced - but fortunately we had found one the day before and didn't have to bother with finding one on the fly.  That evening I began to feel better; not nearly 100%, but good enough to take a stroll around the neighborhood.  Unfortunately Justin was still too under the weather and opted to stay in bed.

Taipei, Taiwan's capital, is a sprawling metro of nearly 7 million. Too bad we couldn't fully explore it!

We slept in and by late morning the next day I was at about 80% and Justin closer to 50-50.  Considering he had less than two days left in Taiwan Justin was not about to waste another day.  That afternoon we visited the National Palace Museum, home to one of the finest and largest collections of Chinese artifacts and artworks (the museum has nearly 700,000 pieces encompassing 10,000 years of history).  Exhibitions included landscape paintings, calligraphy, imperial clothing, ornaments, and jade sculptures, among others.

Justin and I didn't spend much time in the jade exhibition, as it was overrun with tourists, most of whom were mainland Chinese.  When the Chinese Nationalist Party, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled mainland China for Taiwan in the civil war with the Communists, it took along many of the historical pieces now on display in the museum.  It was surprising to see so many mainlanders there considering the tensions across the Taiwan Strait.  At times though the island seemed overrun with mainland Chinese tourists; I guess they want to see their country's history regardless of where it is on display.  And hopefully the increase in cross-strait interactions between ordinary citizens will ease some of those tensions.

Outside the National Palace Museum

This jade cabbage was a huge hit at the museum, so much so that Justin and
I skipped it; we would have had to wait at least 20 minutes just to get a
glimpse.  In traditional Chinese culture jade is regarded as a gemstone of
the nobility that promotes wisdom and peace (http://www.jademeaning.com/).
I still don't get why it was such a popular item on display though.

We saw thousands of mainland tourists, most of whom were in large groups,
complete with a guide carrying a flag, and yes, often matching hats.

That evening we were scheduled to meet with Ryan, a Taiwanese guy Justin had met while on a university program in California.  The program was a series of meetings and workshops focused on the "Taiwan issue," in other words the relationship between the Communist government in Beijing (which claims sovereignty over Taiwan) and the government in Taipei (which holds that it is the rightful ruler of all of China).  Ryan had been placed with the same host family as Justin during the program, and although they hadn't been great friends it seemed silly to travel this far and not see him.

Ryan and a buddy had rented a boat for the evening and invited friends for a food and drinks along the river.  About 15 people showed up and things were pretty tame, but as Justin was still feeling the effects of the Yilan chicken it was probably better that way.  After a couple hours on the water we went to one of the local's apartments for drinks.  As it was his parents' place we hung out in the common area on the first floor of the apartment complex.  No one was a particularly heavy drinker and we weren't being rowdy, but an older lady who was some sort of neighborhood watch for the apartment told us we couldn't use the common room as it was closed after 10 pm.  This all reminded me of something that would happen in high school - but instead everyone was in their 20s.

Our yacht party; can you pick out me and Justin?

Justin and I got a taxi back to the hotel around 1 am and called it a night; better to rest up and get back to full health for Justin's flight the following day.