2008年10月27日
离开野柳风景区时，天色已暗。
还不到六点，野柳小镇已打烊。除了几间海鲜餐馆，街上店门都已锁上。
冷清的街道，路人寥寥无几。港口里的渔船默默地晃着。昏暗的码头，几个孤寂的影子呆呆地望着暮色。我惊动了一只野狗，只见它冲忙地衔走一个袋子，生怕我抢走它的宝贝似的。
车站，就在路口，在一间7-eleven便利店前。整条街，只有这便利店还开着。店内只见收银婶婶和另一欧巴桑在闲聊着。
我一个人，站在车站前。路灯昏黄。便利店溢出淡淡白光。
寂寞的公路。寂寞的车站。寂寞的旅人。
我突然掉入了异度空间，有种时间和空间上的错觉。
公路静寂。久久，听到了逼近的引擎声，再看见车灯打在屋子上，最后才看见公车弯了过来。
是基隆客运。
我继续等。
后来，早先在野柳风景区看见的小两口也走来车站。他们俩亲密地在车站等候，牵着手，轻声哝哝。
车站前，独角戏变成了三人行。寂寞的人突然更寂寞。
不久后，往台北的国光客运来了。
小雨开始打落。外面一片漆黑，什么也看不见。公车似乎是在穿梭空间，把我从寂寞的异度空间带回霓虹光亮的台北，带回现实世界来。
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
A wild goose tale
If you were once crawling on the ground, and now having taken to the sky, when you look down and see your former peers, do you regard them with contempt and disdain, or would you have empathy and compassion for them? Or have you flown so high that they are out-of-sight and out-of-mind.
Sometimes, we forget where we come from. Perhaps it was because the past had been difficult and we would rather forget it. Perhaps our world has opened up so much that the past seemed so miserable and insignificant. Perhaps the heights have made us giddy and forgetful.
But I find it really sad, to see people turning their backs on those peers, the very people who supported and encouraged them, when they were similarly struggling at the bottom.
I understand that, having discovered a bigger world, and realizing it is possible to achieve higher, it can be frustrating to see those peers seemingly unwilling to make the effort to elevate themselves. I understand that having achieved something once thought impossible, there is the aspiration to achieve even higher, to fly to the limits of the sky. I understand that the breakthrough is achieved through great personal effort, through sheer determination and struggles. I understand, because I have been through some of these states at some point in time. But I realize these are never reasons to despise the same people who have helped us when we were in humbler situations.
I do not ask that people let their past and former peers hold them back from their potential, from soaring to the heights their ability can bring them to. I only wish that people would not forget where they come from.
Perhaps, it's because I am not a high-flyer. If I take to sky, I am alright flying low. I would help others to take flight, and be satisfied with seeing them soar to the sky, flying far and high.
The Chinese says that the sparrow knows not the wild goose's aspirations. But the sparrow was once friend to the goose before he took to the skies. And one day, when tiredness sets in and the time comes for the goose to leave his high-flying peers and come down to rest, it may be the sparrow who is still there to provide comfort and support.
Sometimes, we forget where we come from. Perhaps it was because the past had been difficult and we would rather forget it. Perhaps our world has opened up so much that the past seemed so miserable and insignificant. Perhaps the heights have made us giddy and forgetful.
But I find it really sad, to see people turning their backs on those peers, the very people who supported and encouraged them, when they were similarly struggling at the bottom.
I understand that, having discovered a bigger world, and realizing it is possible to achieve higher, it can be frustrating to see those peers seemingly unwilling to make the effort to elevate themselves. I understand that having achieved something once thought impossible, there is the aspiration to achieve even higher, to fly to the limits of the sky. I understand that the breakthrough is achieved through great personal effort, through sheer determination and struggles. I understand, because I have been through some of these states at some point in time. But I realize these are never reasons to despise the same people who have helped us when we were in humbler situations.
I do not ask that people let their past and former peers hold them back from their potential, from soaring to the heights their ability can bring them to. I only wish that people would not forget where they come from.
Perhaps, it's because I am not a high-flyer. If I take to sky, I am alright flying low. I would help others to take flight, and be satisfied with seeing them soar to the sky, flying far and high.
The Chinese says that the sparrow knows not the wild goose's aspirations. But the sparrow was once friend to the goose before he took to the skies. And one day, when tiredness sets in and the time comes for the goose to leave his high-flying peers and come down to rest, it may be the sparrow who is still there to provide comfort and support.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Wanderer in Taipei - Day 6
Taipei day 6 - 29 Oct
Last day in Taipei
My flight was s
cheduled to leave Taoyuan Airport at 6pm. So I had plenty of time for one last look at Taipei and planned to drop by some parks and museums.
I lugged my heavy luggage to the Taipei Main Station and put all my luggage in a big locker. It costs NT$100 for one day use. It was a good thing I had scouted out the place early and found out where the lockers were. It was tough lugging a heavy luggage weighing more than 20kg even though it had wheels. Definitely not very ergonomic.
Peace Park （二二八和平公园)
I then went to the 228 Peace Park. This was the park that was known as the New Park and
was the setting for the famous novel Crystal Boys （孽子）by Bai Xianyong （白先勇）. The park was unlike what I expected. I had imagine it a big park with lots of trees. It was a lot smaller than I thought and was quite an open park, with the trees sparsely planted. I remembered from the novel that the pond on which the pavillions stood were filled with lotus flowers. What I found was there the pond were bare and empty, with only a few isolated cluster of lilies.
Chiang Kai Shiek Memorial Hall （中正纪念堂）
The Chiang Kai Shiek Memorial Hall was huge monument. At first I thought it was a big 
structure built for no other reason then to house a statue Chiang Kai Shiek (蒋介石）. Of course I was wrong. The huge structure was actually a multi-storied building. Approach from the front, it looked like a giant shrine. But there were ground level entrances from the sides which give access to the exhibition halls within the building.
Very much like the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, the Chiang Kai Shiek Memorial Hall had a number of galleries and exhibition halls and was buzzing with activities. There were of course exhibition halls dedicated to Chiang Kai Shiek. However, there were also other exhibition going on. There was a series of sculptures of mothers by a Taiwanese artist.
It happened that there was an exhibition of a mammoth going on. The entrance fee was NT$200. I was not sure if the exhibition will ever get to Singapore and I thought it was interesting enough to check it. It was not a very big exhibition, but there will many interesting information about elephants and mammoth. There was a construction of the mammoth skeleton from fossil bones. But the focus of the exhibition was the mammoth head that was unearthed in ... It had been preserved in permafrost and the skin, flesh and wool was still intact. It was keep in a refrigerated glass box.
I swooned at CKS Memorial Hall
There was a group of students exercising in front of the memorial hall and their coach caught my eyes. I have not spotted too many good looking guys in Taipei. And here was a very attractive guy. When he spoke, he voice was deep and clear, projected very well. I'll confess I swooned.
National Museum of History （国立历史博物馆）
It appeared to me that the National Museum of History in Taipei is being over-shadowed by the Royal Palace Museum and is being over-looked.
While it is of a much smaller scale, I found it to be as interesting as the Palace Museum. The admission to the museum was only NT$30 and it is almost deserted when I was there.
Of particular interest to me was the Buddhist stone sculptures and stele on the first floor of the museum from the Northern and Southern dynasties.
The second floor had a display of snuff bottles. I am not particularly interested in snuff bottles. However, what I found interesting that it had snuff bottles of many different type material with different type of art work on it. There was also a corner about the coffee culture and history in Taiwan.
On the third floor, there was, among other things, a collection of bronze wares from the Warring States Period and porcelain from Tang dynasty, which are similar to what you can find in the Royal Palace Museum. There was also a few very old Tibetan Buddhist tangkas.
There was an exhibition of Japanese calligraphy going on when I was there. The works were very interesting as they were all brush works of Kanji characters (Chinese characters) in a rather pictorial form.
The Bontanical Gardens 植物园
The Bontanical Gardens was just behind the Museum of History. It was about 1:30pm when I got out of the Museum. I was hungry and tired and my legs were hurting. I decided to skip the gardens.
As I walked pass the gate of the garden I took a look at the map and what caught my eye was that there is a corner in the garden known as Sutra Garden. My interest perked, I decided to drop in and take a quick look.
It turned out to be quite a pleasant garden. I would like to have spend more time in the garden if I wasn't so tired and had more time. It took more a while to find the sutra garden because strangely it was not on the maps within the gardens.
The sutra garden was a corner where it had various trees mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures. It had the Sankrit name as well as the scripture in which the tree was mentioned. It was quite interesting, but I did not have much time to linger and I could not recognize most of the trees nor scriptures to related very well to them.
20kg of books
When I got out of the garden, I was running late. I head to Longhshan Temple area to grab a quick lunch and rushed back to Taipei Main Station to get my luggage. It was 3:45pm when I got onto the airport bus, 45 minutes behind my planned schedule.
Strangely the check-in counters were deserted at the airport. Well I got checked in with still time to catch my breath before boarding.
I had been a little worried that my luggage was too heavy. The check-in luggage turned out to be 19.6 kg, just a little shy of the 20kg limit. I guessed hand carry-on luggage was probably another 8 to 10 kg. Books sure are heavy. I did a count when I got back. I bought a total of 46 books, including 10 which my sister wanted.
It had been a fun trip and I decided I'd like to come back again.
Last day in Taipei
My flight was s
cheduled to leave Taoyuan Airport at 6pm. So I had plenty of time for one last look at Taipei and planned to drop by some parks and museums.I lugged my heavy luggage to the Taipei Main Station and put all my luggage in a big locker. It costs NT$100 for one day use. It was a good thing I had scouted out the place early and found out where the lockers were. It was tough lugging a heavy luggage weighing more than 20kg even though it had wheels. Definitely not very ergonomic.
Peace Park （二二八和平公园)
I then went to the 228 Peace Park. This was the park that was known as the New Park and
was the setting for the famous novel Crystal Boys （孽子）by Bai Xianyong （白先勇）. The park was unlike what I expected. I had imagine it a big park with lots of trees. It was a lot smaller than I thought and was quite an open park, with the trees sparsely planted. I remembered from the novel that the pond on which the pavillions stood were filled with lotus flowers. What I found was there the pond were bare and empty, with only a few isolated cluster of lilies.Chiang Kai Shiek Memorial Hall （中正纪念堂）
The Chiang Kai Shiek Memorial Hall was huge monument. At first I thought it was a big 
structure built for no other reason then to house a statue Chiang Kai Shiek (蒋介石）. Of course I was wrong. The huge structure was actually a multi-storied building. Approach from the front, it looked like a giant shrine. But there were ground level entrances from the sides which give access to the exhibition halls within the building.Very much like the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, the Chiang Kai Shiek Memorial Hall had a number of galleries and exhibition halls and was buzzing with activities. There were of course exhibition halls dedicated to Chiang Kai Shiek. However, there were also other exhibition going on. There was a series of sculptures of mothers by a Taiwanese artist.
It happened that there was an exhibition of a mammoth going on. The entrance fee was NT$200. I was not sure if the exhibition will ever get to Singapore and I thought it was interesting enough to check it. It was not a very big exhibition, but there will many interesting information about elephants and mammoth. There was a construction of the mammoth skeleton from fossil bones. But the focus of the exhibition was the mammoth head that was unearthed in ... It had been preserved in permafrost and the skin, flesh and wool was still intact. It was keep in a refrigerated glass box.
I swooned at CKS Memorial Hall
There was a group of students exercising in front of the memorial hall and their coach caught my eyes. I have not spotted too many good looking guys in Taipei. And here was a very attractive guy. When he spoke, he voice was deep and clear, projected very well. I'll confess I swooned.National Museum of History （国立历史博物馆）
It appeared to me that the National Museum of History in Taipei is being over-shadowed by the Royal Palace Museum and is being over-looked.While it is of a much smaller scale, I found it to be as interesting as the Palace Museum. The admission to the museum was only NT$30 and it is almost deserted when I was there.
Of particular interest to me was the Buddhist stone sculptures and stele on the first floor of the museum from the Northern and Southern dynasties.
The second floor had a display of snuff bottles. I am not particularly interested in snuff bottles. However, what I found interesting that it had snuff bottles of many different type material with different type of art work on it. There was also a corner about the coffee culture and history in Taiwan.
On the third floor, there was, among other things, a collection of bronze wares from the Warring States Period and porcelain from Tang dynasty, which are similar to what you can find in the Royal Palace Museum. There was also a few very old Tibetan Buddhist tangkas.
There was an exhibition of Japanese calligraphy going on when I was there. The works were very interesting as they were all brush works of Kanji characters (Chinese characters) in a rather pictorial form.
The Bontanical Gardens 植物园
The Bontanical Gardens was just behind the Museum of History. It was about 1:30pm when I got out of the Museum. I was hungry and tired and my legs were hurting. I decided to skip the gardens.
As I walked pass the gate of the garden I took a look at the map and what caught my eye was that there is a corner in the garden known as Sutra Garden. My interest perked, I decided to drop in and take a quick look.
It turned out to be quite a pleasant garden. I would like to have spend more time in the garden if I wasn't so tired and had more time. It took more a while to find the sutra garden because strangely it was not on the maps within the gardens.
The sutra garden was a corner where it had various trees mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures. It had the Sankrit name as well as the scripture in which the tree was mentioned. It was quite interesting, but I did not have much time to linger and I could not recognize most of the trees nor scriptures to related very well to them.
20kg of books
When I got out of the garden, I was running late. I head to Longhshan Temple area to grab a quick lunch and rushed back to Taipei Main Station to get my luggage. It was 3:45pm when I got onto the airport bus, 45 minutes behind my planned schedule.
Strangely the check-in counters were deserted at the airport. Well I got checked in with still time to catch my breath before boarding.
I had been a little worried that my luggage was too heavy. The check-in luggage turned out to be 19.6 kg, just a little shy of the 20kg limit. I guessed hand carry-on luggage was probably another 8 to 10 kg. Books sure are heavy. I did a count when I got back. I bought a total of 46 books, including 10 which my sister wanted.
It had been a fun trip and I decided I'd like to come back again.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wanderer in Taipei - Day 5
Taipei day 5 - 28 Oct
Longshan Temple (龙山寺)
I started the day heading to Longshan Temple again. It thought it would be interesting to take a l
ook at the temple in the day time.
While looking for some breakfast, I found the stall selling fried buns which I was looking for the previous night. I had an hearty breakfast of 10 fried dumplings, 2 fried buns and a bowl of soy milk. I had not had any decent breakfast for the past few days and this was pretty satisfying.
Longshan Temple in the morning has a different buzz from the night and the atmosphere was quite different. There was chanting going on and I recognized some of the sutras being chanted in Hokkien. The tem
ple, being an old temple, did not have the large prayer halls which some of the newer temples have. The congregation were all lined up along the corridors and open spaces, with the tourists and other devotees weaving in and out in between.
In spite of the Buddhist elements, I found that it is really more of a Taoist temple. It seems to be a community hub in the area too and there were quite a number of old folks who appear to be just hanging around.
From the temple, I went along Sanshui Street (三水街) and saw that there was a Sanshui Market (三水市场). When I travel, I do like to take a look at local markets. It gives you a glimpse of some aspect of local life. I found that there were quite a number of stalls selling vegetarian food stuff in the market. It would seem to me that there is quite a significant number of vegetarians around.
Heritage and Culture Education Center of Taipei 台北市乡土教育中心
As I walked out from the market at the other end, I chanced upon a local folk museum that is not on any of the tourist maps. It was few admission and so I went it and took a look. It turned out to be quite an interesting museum.
There is one section with exhibits on Chinese medicine and another section on the old education system. There was also some cultural history about the area around the Longshan temple. What was nice is that a lot of the exhibits are "interactive". You can tinker and play with some of the exh
ibits. Open up the medicine box and the screen with provide information about the properties of the medicine. Try and weigh the herb with the small balance scales.
The center looked like it was newly set up and the building was actually preserved from a half torn old buildings. Apparently, the authorities had sent in a demolition squad and started tearing down the buildings before a public outcry halted it.
Ximending and the Cinema Street 西门町
From there, I con
tinued to walk to Ximending, the shopping belt. When I found the cinema street, I found that the publicity posters for the Thai movie Love of Siam was still around. But unfortunately it was not on the screen anyway. It was too bad as I would have loved to watch it on the big screen. My friend told me that it did not do well at the box office and when he went to watch the movie, there were only less than 10 people in the whole cinema.
Before I came to Taiwan, I had already heard about the buzz around the local movie Cape Number 7 (海角7号). There had not been a local Taiwanese that was so popular for a while. I knew the movie would be going to Singapore in a few month's time, but I was interested in what's the buzz about. Since I was feeling pretty tired from running around for the past few days, I didn't mind spending 2 hours relaxing in the cinema. I bought tickets for the 11am show and it cost NT$210, which is comparable to the prices in Singapore. This being a weekday morning, there were few other people, except for a big group of uncles and aunties who came together for the movie.
I won't comment much about the movie other than to say that I won't mind catching it again when it comes to Singapore.
Ximending area is just a shopping area. I walked around the area a bit, but I no intention of doing any shopping and found no reason to linger around the area.
Sun Yet Se
n Memorial Hall 国父纪念馆
I was surprised to find that the Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall is really more than a memorial monument.
There were exhibition halls with paintings and calligraphy exhibits. The corridors were line with art works and photographs. There was a reading center where I found many people reading books and newspaper. In a lecture room, a documentary about Alaska was screening. I went and watched it for a while, before
I got distracted by the change of guards. A group of arts students were painting the environs. The park around the hall was busy too and there were a few people trying to fly their kites.
I found that there were more local using the place than there were tourists. I thought that was very nice to make a memorial hall a place that functions almost like community center.
Eslite flagship store 诚品书局旗舰店
The Eslite flagship store was not far from the Sun Yet Sen Memorial hall. I have heard a lot about the Eslite bookshops. It's the biggest big shop chain in Taiwan with the biggest store. It also has a 24 hours bookstore.
Indeed, the bookshop lived up to its reputation. It was a huge store occupying a few stories. It had a wide range of books. What was nice is that it was spacious and had tables and seats for people to browse.
I had not intend to buy any books since my luggage really getting quite heavy and Eslite does not give any discounts (whereas the bookshops along Chongqing South Street [重庆南街] generally had at least 10% discount off the list price).
But I ended up still buying a few books. One was one the bestseller list and had a 15% discount on it. Another book was published 7 years ago and was not available when I looked at the other bookshops.
Taipei 101 台北101
Since I was in the vicinity, it made sense to drop by the Taipei 101. After all, it is the landmark of Taipei. I went around the building and found an angle which I took made it look like a pagoda.
Gin Gin Bookshop and Shida Night Market
I had to went back to Gin Gin bookshop (晶晶书局) to get a book for a friend. I also wanted to get some more books.
From Taipei 101, I took a bus to Gongguan (公馆) MRT station. What I like about the bus system in Taipei is that there is a clear bus directory for each bus service at the bus stop. In the bus, there is a LED panel which indicates the bus stops. In some buses, the bus driver also announce the stops. So it was quite easy to use the bus system.
I had dinner at the vegetarian stall in the Shuiyuan Market, the same stall were I had the dumpling the first night I was in Taipei. Then I head back to Gin Gin.
I got the book my friend wanted. I saw the collection of short stories by An Keqiang (安克强) which I had missed earlier and bought all three of them. I also found the books "Dear father and mother, I am gay." I flipped through and found that it had accounts of how gay people deal with their parents as well as how parents handled their children's homosexuality. I thought it would be good to add to the Pelangi Pride Centre's collection. I would donate to the library after I read it. Again, I ended up buying more than I had intended to.
As I missed the Shida Night Market (师大夜市) the first night, I decided to look for it again. This time, I found it. Being right by the teachers' college, this night market was slightly different from the rest, as it catered mainly to the young college students.
When I head back to the guest house, I started packing my luggage. Now I was really concerned that I had exceeded my luggage allowance. The luggage felt heavier than the 20kg dumb bell I carried in the gym. I put as many books as possible in my carry on backpack, and packed aways some books and clothes which I decided I could discard if it the charges for extra weightage was too much.
Longshan Temple (龙山寺)
I started the day heading to Longshan Temple again. It thought it would be interesting to take a l
ook at the temple in the day time.While looking for some breakfast, I found the stall selling fried buns which I was looking for the previous night. I had an hearty breakfast of 10 fried dumplings, 2 fried buns and a bowl of soy milk. I had not had any decent breakfast for the past few days and this was pretty satisfying.
Longshan Temple in the morning has a different buzz from the night and the atmosphere was quite different. There was chanting going on and I recognized some of the sutras being chanted in Hokkien. The tem
ple, being an old temple, did not have the large prayer halls which some of the newer temples have. The congregation were all lined up along the corridors and open spaces, with the tourists and other devotees weaving in and out in between.In spite of the Buddhist elements, I found that it is really more of a Taoist temple. It seems to be a community hub in the area too and there were quite a number of old folks who appear to be just hanging around.
From the temple, I went along Sanshui Street (三水街) and saw that there was a Sanshui Market (三水市场). When I travel, I do like to take a look at local markets. It gives you a glimpse of some aspect of local life. I found that there were quite a number of stalls selling vegetarian food stuff in the market. It would seem to me that there is quite a significant number of vegetarians around.
Heritage and Culture Education Center of Taipei 台北市乡土教育中心
As I walked out from the market at the other end, I chanced upon a local folk museum that is not on any of the tourist maps. It was few admission and so I went it and took a look. It turned out to be quite an interesting museum.
There is one section with exhibits on Chinese medicine and another section on the old education system. There was also some cultural history about the area around the Longshan temple. What was nice is that a lot of the exhibits are "interactive". You can tinker and play with some of the exh
ibits. Open up the medicine box and the screen with provide information about the properties of the medicine. Try and weigh the herb with the small balance scales.
The center looked like it was newly set up and the building was actually preserved from a half torn old buildings. Apparently, the authorities had sent in a demolition squad and started tearing down the buildings before a public outcry halted it.
Ximending and the Cinema Street 西门町
From there, I con
tinued to walk to Ximending, the shopping belt. When I found the cinema street, I found that the publicity posters for the Thai movie Love of Siam was still around. But unfortunately it was not on the screen anyway. It was too bad as I would have loved to watch it on the big screen. My friend told me that it did not do well at the box office and when he went to watch the movie, there were only less than 10 people in the whole cinema.Before I came to Taiwan, I had already heard about the buzz around the local movie Cape Number 7 (海角7号). There had not been a local Taiwanese that was so popular for a while. I knew the movie would be going to Singapore in a few month's time, but I was interested in what's the buzz about. Since I was feeling pretty tired from running around for the past few days, I didn't mind spending 2 hours relaxing in the cinema. I bought tickets for the 11am show and it cost NT$210, which is comparable to the prices in Singapore. This being a weekday morning, there were few other people, except for a big group of uncles and aunties who came together for the movie.
I won't comment much about the movie other than to say that I won't mind catching it again when it comes to Singapore.
Ximending area is just a shopping area. I walked around the area a bit, but I no intention of doing any shopping and found no reason to linger around the area.
Sun Yet Se
n Memorial Hall 国父纪念馆I was surprised to find that the Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall is really more than a memorial monument.
There were exhibition halls with paintings and calligraphy exhibits. The corridors were line with art works and photographs. There was a reading center where I found many people reading books and newspaper. In a lecture room, a documentary about Alaska was screening. I went and watched it for a while, before
I got distracted by the change of guards. A group of arts students were painting the environs. The park around the hall was busy too and there were a few people trying to fly their kites.I found that there were more local using the place than there were tourists. I thought that was very nice to make a memorial hall a place that functions almost like community center.
Eslite flagship store 诚品书局旗舰店
The Eslite flagship store was not far from the Sun Yet Sen Memorial hall. I have heard a lot about the Eslite bookshops. It's the biggest big shop chain in Taiwan with the biggest store. It also has a 24 hours bookstore.
Indeed, the bookshop lived up to its reputation. It was a huge store occupying a few stories. It had a wide range of books. What was nice is that it was spacious and had tables and seats for people to browse.
I had not intend to buy any books since my luggage really getting quite heavy and Eslite does not give any discounts (whereas the bookshops along Chongqing South Street [重庆南街] generally had at least 10% discount off the list price).
But I ended up still buying a few books. One was one the bestseller list and had a 15% discount on it. Another book was published 7 years ago and was not available when I looked at the other bookshops.
Taipei 101 台北101
Since I was in the vicinity, it made sense to drop by the Taipei 101. After all, it is the landmark of Taipei. I went around the building and found an angle which I took made it look like a pagoda.
Gin Gin Bookshop and Shida Night Market
I had to went back to Gin Gin bookshop (晶晶书局) to get a book for a friend. I also wanted to get some more books.
From Taipei 101, I took a bus to Gongguan (公馆) MRT station. What I like about the bus system in Taipei is that there is a clear bus directory for each bus service at the bus stop. In the bus, there is a LED panel which indicates the bus stops. In some buses, the bus driver also announce the stops. So it was quite easy to use the bus system.
I had dinner at the vegetarian stall in the Shuiyuan Market, the same stall were I had the dumpling the first night I was in Taipei. Then I head back to Gin Gin.
I got the book my friend wanted. I saw the collection of short stories by An Keqiang (安克强) which I had missed earlier and bought all three of them. I also found the books "Dear father and mother, I am gay." I flipped through and found that it had accounts of how gay people deal with their parents as well as how parents handled their children's homosexuality. I thought it would be good to add to the Pelangi Pride Centre's collection. I would donate to the library after I read it. Again, I ended up buying more than I had intended to.
As I missed the Shida Night Market (师大夜市) the first night, I decided to look for it again. This time, I found it. Being right by the teachers' college, this night market was slightly different from the rest, as it catered mainly to the young college students.
When I head back to the guest house, I started packing my luggage. Now I was really concerned that I had exceeded my luggage allowance. The luggage felt heavier than the 20kg dumb bell I carried in the gym. I put as many books as possible in my carry on backpack, and packed aways some books and clothes which I decided I could discard if it the charges for extra weightage was too much.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Wanderer in Taipei - Day 4
Taipei day 4 - 27 Oct
Day trip to Jiufen (九分)
It was a wet day which I had chosen to take a day trip out of Taipei city to the small town of Jiufen (九分).
Early in the morning, I took the regular train (区间车) to Ruifang (瑞芳) for NT$54. The journey took about 1 hour. There are express trains to Ruifang, but they costs more (as much as NT$80) and only run at certain timings.
From Ruifang, I took a bus which cost NT$22 and the journey was about 15 minutes. (基隆客运，基隆-金瓜石线). I discovered that there is actually direct bus from Taipei main station to Jiufen, but I did not note the bus company and do not know where is the station in Taipei located.
Jiufen was a mining town. It became famous because of the the movie City of Sadness (《悲情城市》). It is now a popular tourist destination. There were bus-loads of tourists heading there. Most of the to
urists appeared to be Hongkong tourists, with some Japanese as well as local Taiwanese.
It's main street has basically become a tourist belt, almost a tourist trap. However, there is enough interesting eateries and gift shops (for the tourist anyway) that it still has a certain charm. One of the famous snack in Jiufen is the "meat ball" and there is actually a vegetarian version of it. Of course, I wouldn't miss it.
It's actually quite a nice little town to explore. There are many interesting and delightful sights if you look carefully.
As I was wandering around, I was delighted find a secondhand bookstore. (Chiufen Lobo secondhand bookstore 九分乐伯二手书店). It's located off the tourist belt. It's along the Jishan street(基山街), just a little further from the view point at the stretch were there are no more tou
rist shops. (see picture) This secondhand bookstore has quite a good selection of literature fiction, which is not common among secondhand bookstores. I was happy to find an out-of-print book which I had borrowed from the library more than 10 years ago. Most of the books are priced at half the original listed price with a further 15% discount. I found an anthology of peoms in mint condition going for NT$105 and I bought that exact same anthology new the day before for NT$240! Urgh! I decided to get it any way. I had not been able to find this book in Singapore.
I don't mind giving it as a gift to someone who like the same poems.
There were quite a wide variety of snacks in Jiufen. I tried some yam pastries as well as fresh pink guavas. I found a stall selling BBQ stinking tofu. It turned out to be quite tasty. Before I left, I a bag full of floral and fruit tea which I found to be quite cheap. I actually left behind the tea in the stall where I ate lunch and only remembered it when I was at the bus stop. Luckily it was still there when I went back to get it.
Just as I was leaving, I ran into a gay couple whom I knew back in Singapore.
Trip to Yeliu Geopark 野柳地质公园
In the morning, I was rather undecided whether I should spend the afternoon town-hopping along the Pingxi (平溪线) railway line or go further afield to Yeliu Geopark.
The old Pingxi railway that runs from Ruifang (瑞芳) to Pingxi (平溪) has a few idyllic towns along its stretch. When I was at the Ruifang train station, I saw that there is a day pass that allows you to take unlimited trip along the line for NT$54.
In the end, I decided to have an adventure and head towards Yeliu instead. I took a bus from Jiufen that was heading to Keelung (基隆). The journey was about 45 minutes for NT$45.
It was about 2:30pm when I reach Keelung. A taxi driver approached me. He rightly guessed that I was heading towards Yeliu and was touting his service to drive me there for NT$400. He told me that the Geopark close at 5pm (I knew that). Then he told me that the bus journey will take 1 hour, it's another 15 minutes walk from the bus stop to the Geopark, and that the bus heading there just left. I was actually getting a little anxious and was running late on time. But then, I was willing to treat this as a little adventure and was alright if I missed visiting the park in the end. So I decided to stick with taking the bus.
I went into a 7-eleven by the bus stop to change for some coins as the intercity buses did not accept Easycard and did not give change. As I got out of 7-eleven, the bus heading to Yeliu was at the bus stop and I almost missed it. As I guessed rightly, the taxi driver was exaggerating. The journey to Yeliu took only 40 minutes. The fare was NT$54. (基隆客运, 基隆-金山线)
For some reason, I had the impression that the Geopark was out in the middle of nowhere. It turns out that Yeliu was actually a small fishing port. It was just a short walk from the bus stop to the entrance of the Geopark. Most tourists would come in tourist buses which head direct to the Geopark and hence miss the fishing port entirely. The port has a small town feel too it, with a bit of idleness and melancholy. If I had more time, I would linger around for a while. However, it was slightly after 3:30pm and the Geopark only opened till 5pm.
When I got t
o the park, I was glad I decided to come here. There were a lot of interesting rock formations. However, I was a little aghast that people were allowed to trample all over the rocks. There was a very ugly red line drawn across the rocks to demarcate the danger zone. On the other hand, it would not have been enjoyable if we were restricted to the pavements and could not walk among the rock formations.
Most tourists clustered around the area near the entrance where most of the rock formations were found. That's were the famous "Queen head" (see picture) was found. I looked around a while and took s
ome photographs. Then I headed towards the end of the cape.
The area around the end of the cape was mostly deserted save for a few fishermen. Few tourists ventured as far. That suited me fine and I lingered around for quite a while.
In the park, I found the toilet labeled as Cape number 1. I found it rather ticklish in part because it was obvious a pun on it as an address and a toilet (in Chinese, no. 1 is euphemism for toilet) and partly because the Taiwanese movie Cape Number 7 was screening in Taiwan when I was visiting.
It had been a rainy overcast day. There was no sunset to be seen. As the daylight was fading away, I trekked up the cape.
Along the way, I spotted some little humming birds that was only the size of my thumb nail.
It was closed to the closing time of the park and I was going at a pretty brisked pace. When I reached the viewpoint at the top, I was wet with perspiration. There was no one there. So that was the excuse to take off my singlet and take a picture. Hehe...
It turns out that even though the park was closed at 5pm, they did not chase people out of the park. There were still some people fishing. A few couples were lingering around in the twilight. So I also took my time and wandered around some more.
It was dark when I finally left the park. The streets of Yeliu were practically deserted. All the shops were closed except for a few seafood restaurant. In the darkness, the fishing vessels lined along the port quietly. A dog hurriedly carried away a bag full of stuff it was guarding jealously as I approached.
As I waited at the lonely junction for the bus to Taipei, the cutie in the yellow long sleeve shirt (see picture) whom I had spotted in the Geopark came with his girlfriend. I think they were from Hong Kong. They got onto the same bus to Taipei.
I had two ways of getting back to Taipei. One way to was take a bus back to Keelung and then take a train. I considered that for a while. I could go and explore the night market in Keelung. My friend told me the night market there is more interesting that the one in Taipei.
But my backpack was full of books bought in Jiufen, and I had another bag of floral tea as well. I decided to take the direct bus back to Taipei instead. The bus journey took 1.5 hours and cost NT$102. (国光客运，台北-金山线)
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越）
It was about 7pm when the bus arrived at Taipei Main Station. My sister had asked me to help her get something from Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. Since I was directly in front of it, I decided to drop in and settle it.
It must be the biggest departmental store I had ever visited. There were 13 storeys of it in all! However, it was a high end departmental store and the prices weren't cheap. I just got what my sister wanted and left.
Longshan Temple (龙山寺) and Huaxi Night Market (华西夜市)
It was good to stay in a guesthouse right by the Taipei Main Station. I walked back and dumped my books and stuff and headed out again.
It was 8pm and I was hungry. I decided to head towards the Longshan Temple. I read on the internet that there were a number of vegetarian outlets near the temple. It would be a good place to settle dinner. The Longshan Temple was just next to the MRT station named after it. I was surprised to find that it was still open at night and was quite busy. I went in and had a quick look. I decided that it was worth paying a visit the next day. Right then, I need to feed myself first.
But I had problem finding the vegetarian food outlets I had read about on the internet. Then I saw a small eatery. They were starting to clear away the food and was closing for the day. I asked if they had any food left and was told that there was still mushroom noodles. I settled for that. It was noodles in a plain soup with some mushrooms. It cost NT$40. I found it rather unsatisfying, but at least I was not hungry any more.
Then as I explored the area around the temple, I discovered more vegetarian stalls and eateries. Since the mushroom noodles wasn't satisfying I decided to eat at another roadside stall. I had a very tasty Yangchun noodles (阳春面) a few days ago, so I ordered that and a portion of stewed tofu. It turn out to be nothing similar to what I had eaten a few days ago. I wasn't going to waste food, so I finished it. But with two bowls of noodle down in my stomach, I had no room for other goodies I discovered later.
The Huaxi Night Market, also known as the Snake Alley, had a rather seedy feel to it compared to the other night markets. Snakes were still killed and sold there. There were many sex toy stalls. I was quite surprised by the open display of sex toys by the roadside. Do Taiwanese really buy sex toys out in the public? Pornographic VCDs were also openly sold.
There is a street near the temple that sold Buddhist statues and artifacts. I tried to look for wooden stupas (I collect them) but could not find any.
It was almost ten when I head back to the guest house.
Day trip to Jiufen (九分)
It was a wet day which I had chosen to take a day trip out of Taipei city to the small town of Jiufen (九分).
Early in the morning, I took the regular train (区间车) to Ruifang (瑞芳) for NT$54. The journey took about 1 hour. There are express trains to Ruifang, but they costs more (as much as NT$80) and only run at certain timings.
From Ruifang, I took a bus which cost NT$22 and the journey was about 15 minutes. (基隆客运，基隆-金瓜石线). I discovered that there is actually direct bus from Taipei main station to Jiufen, but I did not note the bus company and do not know where is the station in Taipei located.
 |  |  |  |
Jiufen was a mining town. It became famous because of the the movie City of Sadness (《悲情城市》). It is now a popular tourist destination. There were bus-loads of tourists heading there. Most of the to
urists appeared to be Hongkong tourists, with some Japanese as well as local Taiwanese.It's main street has basically become a tourist belt, almost a tourist trap. However, there is enough interesting eateries and gift shops (for the tourist anyway) that it still has a certain charm. One of the famous snack in Jiufen is the "meat ball" and there is actually a vegetarian version of it. Of course, I wouldn't miss it.
It's actually quite a nice little town to explore. There are many interesting and delightful sights if you look carefully.
As I was wandering around, I was delighted find a secondhand bookstore. (Chiufen Lobo secondhand bookstore 九分乐伯二手书店). It's located off the tourist belt. It's along the Jishan street(基山街), just a little further from the view point at the stretch were there are no more tou
rist shops. (see picture) This secondhand bookstore has quite a good selection of literature fiction, which is not common among secondhand bookstores. I was happy to find an out-of-print book which I had borrowed from the library more than 10 years ago. Most of the books are priced at half the original listed price with a further 15% discount. I found an anthology of peoms in mint condition going for NT$105 and I bought that exact same anthology new the day before for NT$240! Urgh! I decided to get it any way. I had not been able to find this book in Singapore.I don't mind giving it as a gift to someone who like the same poems.
There were quite a wide variety of snacks in Jiufen. I tried some yam pastries as well as fresh pink guavas. I found a stall selling BBQ stinking tofu. It turned out to be quite tasty. Before I left, I a bag full of floral and fruit tea which I found to be quite cheap. I actually left behind the tea in the stall where I ate lunch and only remembered it when I was at the bus stop. Luckily it was still there when I went back to get it.
Just as I was leaving, I ran into a gay couple whom I knew back in Singapore.
Trip to Yeliu Geopark 野柳地质公园
In the morning, I was rather undecided whether I should spend the afternoon town-hopping along the Pingxi (平溪线) railway line or go further afield to Yeliu Geopark.
The old Pingxi railway that runs from Ruifang (瑞芳) to Pingxi (平溪) has a few idyllic towns along its stretch. When I was at the Ruifang train station, I saw that there is a day pass that allows you to take unlimited trip along the line for NT$54.
In the end, I decided to have an adventure and head towards Yeliu instead. I took a bus from Jiufen that was heading to Keelung (基隆). The journey was about 45 minutes for NT$45.
It was about 2:30pm when I reach Keelung. A taxi driver approached me. He rightly guessed that I was heading towards Yeliu and was touting his service to drive me there for NT$400. He told me that the Geopark close at 5pm (I knew that). Then he told me that the bus journey will take 1 hour, it's another 15 minutes walk from the bus stop to the Geopark, and that the bus heading there just left. I was actually getting a little anxious and was running late on time. But then, I was willing to treat this as a little adventure and was alright if I missed visiting the park in the end. So I decided to stick with taking the bus.
I went into a 7-eleven by the bus stop to change for some coins as the intercity buses did not accept Easycard and did not give change. As I got out of 7-eleven, the bus heading to Yeliu was at the bus stop and I almost missed it. As I guessed rightly, the taxi driver was exaggerating. The journey to Yeliu took only 40 minutes. The fare was NT$54. (基隆客运, 基隆-金山线)
For some reason, I had the impression that the Geopark was out in the middle of nowhere. It turns out that Yeliu was actually a small fishing port. It was just a short walk from the bus stop to the entrance of the Geopark. Most tourists would come in tourist buses which head direct to the Geopark and hence miss the fishing port entirely. The port has a small town feel too it, with a bit of idleness and melancholy. If I had more time, I would linger around for a while. However, it was slightly after 3:30pm and the Geopark only opened till 5pm.
When I got t
o the park, I was glad I decided to come here. There were a lot of interesting rock formations. However, I was a little aghast that people were allowed to trample all over the rocks. There was a very ugly red line drawn across the rocks to demarcate the danger zone. On the other hand, it would not have been enjoyable if we were restricted to the pavements and could not walk among the rock formations.Most tourists clustered around the area near the entrance where most of the rock formations were found. That's were the famous "Queen head" (see picture) was found. I looked around a while and took s
ome photographs. Then I headed towards the end of the cape.The area around the end of the cape was mostly deserted save for a few fishermen. Few tourists ventured as far. That suited me fine and I lingered around for quite a while.
In the park, I found the toilet labeled as Cape number 1. I found it rather ticklish in part because it was obvious a pun on it as an address and a toilet (in Chinese, no. 1 is euphemism for toilet) and partly because the Taiwanese movie Cape Number 7 was screening in Taiwan when I was visiting.
It had been a rainy overcast day. There was no sunset to be seen. As the daylight was fading away, I trekked up the cape.
Along the way, I spotted some little humming birds that was only the size of my thumb nail.
It was closed to the closing time of the park and I was going at a pretty brisked pace. When I reached the viewpoint at the top, I was wet with perspiration. There was no one there. So that was the excuse to take off my singlet and take a picture. Hehe...
It turns out that even though the park was closed at 5pm, they did not chase people out of the park. There were still some people fishing. A few couples were lingering around in the twilight. So I also took my time and wandered around some more.
It was dark when I finally left the park. The streets of Yeliu were practically deserted. All the shops were closed except for a few seafood restaurant. In the darkness, the fishing vessels lined along the port quietly. A dog hurriedly carried away a bag full of stuff it was guarding jealously as I approached.
As I waited at the lonely junction for the bus to Taipei, the cutie in the yellow long sleeve shirt (see picture) whom I had spotted in the Geopark came with his girlfriend. I think they were from Hong Kong. They got onto the same bus to Taipei.
I had two ways of getting back to Taipei. One way to was take a bus back to Keelung and then take a train. I considered that for a while. I could go and explore the night market in Keelung. My friend told me the night market there is more interesting that the one in Taipei.
But my backpack was full of books bought in Jiufen, and I had another bag of floral tea as well. I decided to take the direct bus back to Taipei instead. The bus journey took 1.5 hours and cost NT$102. (国光客运，台北-金山线)
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越）
It was about 7pm when the bus arrived at Taipei Main Station. My sister had asked me to help her get something from Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. Since I was directly in front of it, I decided to drop in and settle it.
It must be the biggest departmental store I had ever visited. There were 13 storeys of it in all! However, it was a high end departmental store and the prices weren't cheap. I just got what my sister wanted and left.
Longshan Temple (龙山寺) and Huaxi Night Market (华西夜市)
It was good to stay in a guesthouse right by the Taipei Main Station. I walked back and dumped my books and stuff and headed out again.
It was 8pm and I was hungry. I decided to head towards the Longshan Temple. I read on the internet that there were a number of vegetarian outlets near the temple. It would be a good place to settle dinner. The Longshan Temple was just next to the MRT station named after it. I was surprised to find that it was still open at night and was quite busy. I went in and had a quick look. I decided that it was worth paying a visit the next day. Right then, I need to feed myself first.
But I had problem finding the vegetarian food outlets I had read about on the internet. Then I saw a small eatery. They were starting to clear away the food and was closing for the day. I asked if they had any food left and was told that there was still mushroom noodles. I settled for that. It was noodles in a plain soup with some mushrooms. It cost NT$40. I found it rather unsatisfying, but at least I was not hungry any more.
Then as I explored the area around the temple, I discovered more vegetarian stalls and eateries. Since the mushroom noodles wasn't satisfying I decided to eat at another roadside stall. I had a very tasty Yangchun noodles (阳春面) a few days ago, so I ordered that and a portion of stewed tofu. It turn out to be nothing similar to what I had eaten a few days ago. I wasn't going to waste food, so I finished it. But with two bowls of noodle down in my stomach, I had no room for other goodies I discovered later.
The Huaxi Night Market, also known as the Snake Alley, had a rather seedy feel to it compared to the other night markets. Snakes were still killed and sold there. There were many sex toy stalls. I was quite surprised by the open display of sex toys by the roadside. Do Taiwanese really buy sex toys out in the public? Pornographic VCDs were also openly sold.
There is a street near the temple that sold Buddhist statues and artifacts. I tried to look for wooden stupas (I collect them) but could not find any.
It was almost ten when I head back to the guest house.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Wanderer in Taipei - Day 3
Taipei day 3, 26 Oct
Hot springs in Beitou
I started the day with a trip to Xin Beitou, a hot spring area just slightly north of Taipei city center.
I was planning to take a dip in the public hot spring and came prepared with swimming trunks and towels. The entrance fee to the public hot spring was just NT$40 which was quite cheap.
I must admit that I had some fantasies of meeting some hot hunks who might be soaking at the hot spring on a Sunday morning. But when I got there, it was totally not what I expected. The place were full of old men and old ladies, and a few families with kids. They were all wearing bathing suites (those square types), and I had with me a Speedo trunk. Suddenly I felt very out of place. I almost backed out.
Then, I thought, what the heck. I'm here already and there is no reason not too try out the hot springs. I spotted a teenage girl wearing bikini suits and that sort of put me more at ease. As I got into the pool, it was actually nice to see the old folks socializing and hanging out. Most of them were apparently regulars. I guess it is really nice to have such a place to hang out when you retire. As I soaked in the water, I listened to the husband and wife gossiping about their relatives, the mother and the teenager daughter chattering, a young kid complaining about the water temperature to his father. It was an interesting glimpse to the local life.
This is the first time I ever soaked in a hot spring. There were 3 hot pools. I went into the least hot one and it was HOT! After 10 minutes I felt cooked, so I switched to a cold water pool. After a while I went back into the hot pool. Somehow the soaking was suddenly making me very hungry and my stomach was growling. I was perspiring and was not really enjoying myself very much. Half an h
our later, I decided it was enough and I showered and left.
Next I dropped in at the Beitou Hot Spring Museum (北投溫泉博物館) which is built from a restored public bathhouse. I thought it was just a bathhouse museum. It turns out that there are interesting exhibits explain the geology of the area and how the hot spring was formed. There was also some information about the history and culture of the area.
After the museum, I had a nice stroll around the park.
There was a Japanese Shigon Shrine Puji Temple (普濟寺) up on a hill slope. It's a small quiet shrine. In the Hot Spring Museum, I read that decades back, the local Japanese community had donated a stone statue of a Guanyin that was meant to be the guardian of bathhouses. I could not find it though.
I dropped by the Hell Valley (地熱谷).It's just a pool of steaming hot water.
There was a Chinese Buddhist Cultural Center near Hell Valley(中华佛教文化中心). I thought it was some kind of exhibition center with Buddhist artifacts. It turned out to be a working temple operated by Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山). It was under renovation and only the 2nd floor was open. It was the main temple hall.
I spent about 3 hours in all in the area.
The Royal Palace Museum
My next destination was the Royal Palace Museum. I had always wanted to visit it and I thought it had a huge collection of artifacts. As a matter of fact, it has a pretty big collection but only a small selection was on exhibit each time. As it turned out, that small collection was quite enough. After a while, it gets too tiring to absorb all the information and look at
everything in details.
I guess the thing about visiting museum is that you must have some interests in the exhibits and an open mind. Back in Singapore, some friends were clearly not impressed and complained that there was nothing much to see other than a lot of unintelligible scrolls and that the famous jabe cabbage was just a tiny piece of stone.
For me, I always had a keen interest in Chinese history. So it was interestin
g. As a Buddhist, I also had a keen interest in the various Buddhist artifacts in display. I also like the wide range of porcelain in display. What I like about the museum is that the artifacts are well label and there are good background information and explanation about the artifacts. I have visited a number of museums in the region in which the exhibits are not well arranged, and are quite poorly labeled.
It's too bad photography were not allowed in the museum. I thought they should at least allow photography without flash.
I only spent about 2.5 hours in the museum -- I had intended to spend more time there. But I was feeling really tired and sleepy after a while and it was difficult to focus. Two hours is typically my attention span in any museum, especially if I haven't had enough sleep. It would have been nice to visit over a few days.
There is a pleasant garden next to the museum. The ticket to the museum gives you free entrance to the museum.
Shilin Night Market (士林夜市）
From the Royal Palace Museum, there is a direct bus to the Jiantan （剑潭）MRT station, which is the MRT station near the Shilin Night Market.
Probably because it was Sunday, the street market was getting pretty crowded by the time I got there in the late afternoon. I had thought that the Raohe Night Market I visited the previous night was big and crowded. But Shilin is even bigger and crowded.
I was delighted to find a vegetarian fried bun stall at one end of the street market.
Besides the street market there is a huge food center just opposite the MRT station. I found a used book stall here. I was happy found a few books I wanted for NT$35 only.
I was able to find 4 vegetarian stalls in the food center. I had arranged to meet my Taipei friend for dinner and we ate at one of the stall. I had my first stinking tofu in Taiwan here. It turned out to be quite palatable. The stall also had vegetarian "tian bu la" (which is some kind of fried fish cake) and dumplings. The vegetarian fried oyster omelette is made with seaweed and beancurd skin and tasted much better than the stall near Yuanshan MRT.
For the rest of the evening, I just spend time going around the night market and chatting with my friend. I was interested to know about the gay community in Taiwan. One interesting perspective he provided was that he thought that it was the soft power through the literary works of authors like Bai Xian Yong (白先勇) which helped the gay community gain some acceptance in the early days.
Hot springs in Beitou
I started the day with a trip to Xin Beitou, a hot spring area just slightly north of Taipei city center.
I was planning to take a dip in the public hot spring and came prepared with swimming trunks and towels. The entrance fee to the public hot spring was just NT$40 which was quite cheap.
I must admit that I had some fantasies of meeting some hot hunks who might be soaking at the hot spring on a Sunday morning. But when I got there, it was totally not what I expected. The place were full of old men and old ladies, and a few families with kids. They were all wearing bathing suites (those square types), and I had with me a Speedo trunk. Suddenly I felt very out of place. I almost backed out.
Then, I thought, what the heck. I'm here already and there is no reason not too try out the hot springs. I spotted a teenage girl wearing bikini suits and that sort of put me more at ease. As I got into the pool, it was actually nice to see the old folks socializing and hanging out. Most of them were apparently regulars. I guess it is really nice to have such a place to hang out when you retire. As I soaked in the water, I listened to the husband and wife gossiping about their relatives, the mother and the teenager daughter chattering, a young kid complaining about the water temperature to his father. It was an interesting glimpse to the local life.
This is the first time I ever soaked in a hot spring. There were 3 hot pools. I went into the least hot one and it was HOT! After 10 minutes I felt cooked, so I switched to a cold water pool. After a while I went back into the hot pool. Somehow the soaking was suddenly making me very hungry and my stomach was growling. I was perspiring and was not really enjoying myself very much. Half an h
our later, I decided it was enough and I showered and left.Next I dropped in at the Beitou Hot Spring Museum (北投溫泉博物館) which is built from a restored public bathhouse. I thought it was just a bathhouse museum. It turns out that there are interesting exhibits explain the geology of the area and how the hot spring was formed. There was also some information about the history and culture of the area.
After the museum, I had a nice stroll around the park.
There was a Japanese Shigon Shrine Puji Temple (普濟寺) up on a hill slope. It's a small quiet shrine. In the Hot Spring Museum, I read that decades back, the local Japanese community had donated a stone statue of a Guanyin that was meant to be the guardian of bathhouses. I could not find it though.
I dropped by the Hell Valley (地熱谷).It's just a pool of steaming hot water.
There was a Chinese Buddhist Cultural Center near Hell Valley(中华佛教文化中心). I thought it was some kind of exhibition center with Buddhist artifacts. It turned out to be a working temple operated by Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山). It was under renovation and only the 2nd floor was open. It was the main temple hall.
I spent about 3 hours in all in the area.
The Royal Palace Museum
My next destination was the Royal Palace Museum. I had always wanted to visit it and I thought it had a huge collection of artifacts. As a matter of fact, it has a pretty big collection but only a small selection was on exhibit each time. As it turned out, that small collection was quite enough. After a while, it gets too tiring to absorb all the information and look at
everything in details.I guess the thing about visiting museum is that you must have some interests in the exhibits and an open mind. Back in Singapore, some friends were clearly not impressed and complained that there was nothing much to see other than a lot of unintelligible scrolls and that the famous jabe cabbage was just a tiny piece of stone.
For me, I always had a keen interest in Chinese history. So it was interestin
g. As a Buddhist, I also had a keen interest in the various Buddhist artifacts in display. I also like the wide range of porcelain in display. What I like about the museum is that the artifacts are well label and there are good background information and explanation about the artifacts. I have visited a number of museums in the region in which the exhibits are not well arranged, and are quite poorly labeled.It's too bad photography were not allowed in the museum. I thought they should at least allow photography without flash.
I only spent about 2.5 hours in the museum -- I had intended to spend more time there. But I was feeling really tired and sleepy after a while and it was difficult to focus. Two hours is typically my attention span in any museum, especially if I haven't had enough sleep. It would have been nice to visit over a few days.
There is a pleasant garden next to the museum. The ticket to the museum gives you free entrance to the museum.
Shilin Night Market (士林夜市）
From the Royal Palace Museum, there is a direct bus to the Jiantan （剑潭）MRT station, which is the MRT station near the Shilin Night Market.
Probably because it was Sunday, the street market was getting pretty crowded by the time I got there in the late afternoon. I had thought that the Raohe Night Market I visited the previous night was big and crowded. But Shilin is even bigger and crowded.
I was delighted to find a vegetarian fried bun stall at one end of the street market.
Besides the street market there is a huge food center just opposite the MRT station. I found a used book stall here. I was happy found a few books I wanted for NT$35 only.
I was able to find 4 vegetarian stalls in the food center. I had arranged to meet my Taipei friend for dinner and we ate at one of the stall. I had my first stinking tofu in Taiwan here. It turned out to be quite palatable. The stall also had vegetarian "tian bu la" (which is some kind of fried fish cake) and dumplings. The vegetarian fried oyster omelette is made with seaweed and beancurd skin and tasted much better than the stall near Yuanshan MRT.
For the rest of the evening, I just spend time going around the night market and chatting with my friend. I was interested to know about the gay community in Taiwan. One interesting perspective he provided was that he thought that it was the soft power through the literary works of authors like Bai Xian Yong (白先勇) which helped the gay community gain some acceptance in the early days.
Wanderer in Taipei - Day 2
Taipei Day 2, 25 Oct
Shandao Temple （善导寺） and Farmer's market
One o
f 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 archit
ecture 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 Te
mple 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 af
ternoon 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.
Shandao Temple （善导寺） and Farmer's market
One o
f 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 archit
ecture 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 Te
mple 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 af
ternoon 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.
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