Wanderer in Taipei - Day 2

Taipei Day 2, 25 Oct


Shandao Temple （善导寺） and Farmer's market

One of the Taipei's MRT station is named after the Shandao temple（善导寺). But curiously, none of the tourist material mentioned Shandao temple at all. I wondered why a landmark temple would not be listed as a place of interest and decided to check it out.

Once I got out of the MRT, I realized why. It was a big temple, but it's a modern building, not a traditional temple. There is nothing particularly interesting to a regular tourist. I took a look in the main shrine hall and found a spacious big hall with three Buddhas on the main shrine. I especially like the spacious and bright feel to it. I really don't like Buddhist shrines that are clustered with too much adornments.

From Shandao Temple, I walked towards the Weekend Farmer's Market (希望广场假日农会). Along the way, I came across the Huashan Arts and Cultural district (华山文化园区）where several old buildings were converted to studios for exhibitions and workshops. It would be nice if Singapore has something like that.

At 9am, the farmer's market was just setting up. I was hoping to get some breakfast but most of the stalls were not ready. There were stalls selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables. There were also stalls selling honey, juices and homemade cookies. Some would have made nice gifts, but I was reserving my luggage space for books, not gifts.


Confucius Temple （孔庙）

Next, I head towards the Confucius temple.

Before I came to Taipei, a group of friends were complaining to me how boring Taipei was. They found many of the tourist place of interest familiar and nothing particularly interesting. In particular, they were complaining that the Confucius temple was just an usual Chinese temple with nothing.

But I found the Confucius temple rather delightful. It's the familiar Chinese architecture alright. But there are interesting details to look out for.

What might have made my visit pleasant was the group of uncles playing music in the courtyard. One of them was playing the guitar and another was playing flute. I just sat down in the courtyard listening to the familar folk tunes, enjoying the peace and exploring the details of the temple. I was not sure if they were a regular feature in the temple. Perhaps they perform regularly during weekends. There were a few artists painting as well.

It was one of those occassions in which I enjoyed my solititude. I don't have to worry about any companion who might be feeling bored and edgy to move off. I just sat around and enjoy the music and the banter of the folks in the courtyard. I'm really getting too used to being alone.

Baoan Temple （保安宫)

The Baoan Temple is a Taoist temple that is just across from the Confucius temple.

It's quite a big temple and it provides a good contrast to the Confucius temple. It's older and a lot more ornate and elaborate compared to the Confucius temple.

It happened that there was a procession of some deity that day and I saw a lively and interesting procession.

A Zen Temple near Yuanshan MRT 临济护国寺

Just across the Yuanshan MRT, there is a rather large temple complex. From the name of the temple, I could tell it's a Zen temple of the Linji lineage (Rinzai in Japanese).

Most of the buildings in the complex were modern building and painted in a yellow color which I found quite jarring and ugly.

But nested right in the center was a charming temple in traditional style constructed of wood. The wood looked new, so I guessed it was a new construction. However, I like the elegant Zen style. The interior of the main shrine was more of a typical Japanese Zen than the usual Chinese style. The furnishing were almost entirely wood and the adornments were simple.

Vegetarian Fried Oyster Omelette (蚵仔煎)

There is a vegetarian stall just next to the Yuanshan (圆山) MRT station. What had caught my eye was the sign that says Fried Oyster Omelette.

Fried Oyster Omelette is one of Taiwan's popular street food. I always like to eat local street food when I travelled and I was not going to pass up on this.

I had no idea what to expect. What was served turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. It was cooked with some fake oyster and vegetables. But there was too much starch in it. The next day, I found a much nice version in the Shilin Night Market.


The Underground Book Street

I found out that there was a Underground Book Street from the advertisements in the MRT trains. It was the stretch of underground shopping street between Shuanglian (双莲) station and Zhongshan (中山）station. (Taipei has quite a number of underground shopping streets).

I was there about 12pm. Quite a number of shops had not opened yet. The bookshops here tended to be small discount bookshops. The books are clearance books, most of them cater to popular interests (like cookbooks, travels, crafts, fengshui). Most stores had at least 10% discount and some clearance stalls had discount as much as 50%.

I did not have time to browse carefully. I could not find the books I were looking for. There were some interesting books which I would have bought if I did not have to worry about luggage allowance coming back to Singapore.

Before I could finish browsing, I was due to meet someone I got to know through the Heartland mailing list. He brought me to a vegetarian Mala hotpot restaurant. It was pretty good, but we did not have enough time to enjoy the meal because the restaurant closes in the afternoon at 2pm. Nonetheless, I had a good conversation with my friend and gained some insight into some aspects of the gay community here.

My friend had to work in the afternoon so I took a bus back to Taipei Main station myself. What I like about the buses in Taipei is that they have LED panels which indicates the bus stops and it's relatively inexpensive.

Marching Protest

I had reserved my afternoon to shop for books along the book street at Chongqing South road (重庆南路一段）. When I got there, I found that there was a protest going on.

My friend had told me that there was a protest planned in the afternoon and warned me to stay away. But since we don't have any outdoor protests in Singapore, this was something definitely interesting to me. I just had to take look.

I looked like a family affair to me. There was families, couples and groups of friends and walking along, waving little flags, chatting among themselves. Then there were the oppositing party supporters who where waving flags and banners bearing the leaders names. There were people wearing shirts with slogan asking the current president (Ma Ying Jiu 马英九) to step down.

The tone of the protest was very protectionist. It was against the opening of the Taiwanese market to China. The incumbent government was accused of being "black-hearted". Protesters' message was to protect Taiwan for Taiwan's futures generations.

But what was surprising to me was the huge turn out. The march seemed to go on and on.

What I found interesting was that as the protest march was going on, there were by-standers who were looking on. There there were the rest of the people who were going on oblivious to the protest.

After a while I got tired of watching the protest and walked into a bookshop. The march was still going on. The loud hailers was still blasting out slogans and chants. But in the bookshop, it seemed as though nothing was happening.

Books Books Books

The book street really lived up to its reputation. Along this stretch of Chongqing South Road there was so many bookshops. Almost all of them have at least a 10% discount.

I walked in a few and took a quick look. But I zoomed in on 2 book shops which I have discount cards which gave me further discounts. My sister got those cards from her previous trip. She had a list of comics books which she wanted me to help her get.

When I left the area in the evening, I my backpack full plus an other carrier of books.

Wufenpu wholesaler market & Raohe Night Market

I headed back to the guesthouse to dump my books and head out immediately to the Wufenpu （五分铺）wholesaler market.

This is a wholesaler market for clothes and accessories. But most of it were ladies fashion. I just went one round and head to the Raohe Night Market （饶河夜市）.

Raohe night market is bigger and more crowded than the Gongguan Night Market I went the previous night. But what was interesting is that everyone walk on the right side of the street in each direction. So in spite of the crowd, the human traffic moved smoothly.

I found a vegetarian stall that was selling oyster soup noodles（蚵仔面线）, another popular Taiwan street food. I had a bowl of that. I also had some pancake that is very similar to the roti prata found in Singapore.