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I am yet to discuss the two days I spent in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. As this was now two weeks ago, the details are somewhat sketchy, but I will try and remember as much as I can for the purpose of this post. Defying all logic, I will start with the second day, Tuesday 18 June, on account of the fact that this is foremost in my memory.
Wildhalf Cheetah opted to pick me up at 8am that morning from my hotel, necessitating an early rise as I was checking out that day too. This was the day we were heading off to Matsu, but as our flight wasn't until 4:10pm, we had the morning to kill in downtown Taipei. Having packed my luggage in the most haphazard manner possible (I treat my possessions with less and less care as the trip progressed), I dragged my sorry arse out of bed, handed the key back to the reception and loaded my bags into Cheetah's car ahead of the one hour drive to Taipei 101 in the eastern Xinyi district of the city.
The rush hour drive wasn't too bad aside from the Toyotas much hated by my companion. He had a point really, Toyotas are favoured by taxi drivers here and their use of the road is questionable at best. Still, it wasn't anywhere near as chaotic as the Philippines and aside from a few queues over some of the flyovers, travelling at peak time in downtown Taipei was quite straightforward when compared to other cities. The reason for the early start was twofold - as well as having the flight to catch later in the day, early mornings tend to attract fewer tourists and as Taipei 101 is one of the principal tourist attractions in the city, it's best to get it licked as soon as possible.
We arrived shortly before 9am and managed to grab a parking space underneath the iconic tower. Between 2003 and 2009, and at 508m in height, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world, but has now been pushed down to third behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa (828m) and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel. I believe the One World Trade Center in New York is going to eclipse it too, by a handful of metres, when it is completed later in the year. Taipei 101 was designed by Taiwanese architect CY Lee to resemble a stalk of bamboo, and it's tall needle-like structure certainly reflects this shape. It dominates the vista on the eastern part of the city, jutting arrogantly yet majestically into the sky. Walking through the desolate shopping mall underneath it - the designer shops don't open until 10am, and in some cases 11am - was an eerie experience but it is from here where you purchase your ticket and embark on the world's fastest elevators which take you from the fifth to the 87th floor of the building in just 37 seconds. It feels almost like a rollercoaster as you shoot up the tower at a speed equivalent to semen escaping from a penis.
On the 87th floor, there is a room from which you can gleen a panoramic view of the city, as well as the beautiful rolling hills surrounding it. Inside the room, there are a variety of interesting exhibits detailing the construction and history of the building, as well as its genesis. It was 101 floors because this is deemed a perfect number, and one to reflect the digital age. Despite the facts, it is the views that people come to see. Taipei sits in the middle of a basin, surrounded by mountains on all sides aside from the north, which is exposed to the sea near the port of Keelung. Looking at the tunnels gouging their way through the mountains, you start to appreciate the triumphs of engineering which make the existence of this city possible. Looking west, you also get to see the many districts which make up this metropolis of 2.6million people, a humbling view when everything and everyone looks so incredibly small. You can rent an audio guide up here too, with 14 different presentations depending on which direction you are viewing. Numbers on the columns of the buildings are there to guide you. The audio guide was informative, but it did sound an awful lot like a tourist information film and the faux-American accent was somewhat offputting. Still, with it being a gloriously sunny morning, the views were magical enough not to let such things bother you, and even the increasing throngs of Chinese tourists weren't much of a problem.
Climbing up two floors, you get to see the city from the outside observatory, which is a mindboggling experience. Sadly, due to strong winds, we could only look at the very eastern portion of the city, but this was enough to give you a flavour of the exceptional views. Also, standing on the building's exterior allowed you to appreciate the architecture an awful lot more, which only added to the sense of wonder. On a couple of lower floors we got to see the huge weight installed in the centre of the building which acts as a counter-balance against strong winds and earthquakes, while there was also a rather nice jade exhibition and gift shop near the departure lifts, for which we had to queue due to the throngs of tourists which had now arrived. We also got the opportunity to buy an expensive professional photograph of ourselves stood in a green room with a projection of the tower placed upon it. I decided to skip this, despite the fact the taking of the photograph was compulsory, having taken place in the queue before we embarked on the lift to go up.
Cheetah had not gone up with me due to the expense of the trip - at 500NT (about £12) it certainly didn't come cheap - and he decided to meet me back on the fifth floor of the shopping centre at 10:30am. This we did, and soon we were driving back into the heart of the city to take in a couple more sights. Our primary destination was the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a collection of monumental architecture which reflects a traditional Chinese style but was actually completed in the 1980s. Indeed, these buildings are amongst the largest examples of classical Chinese architecture in the world, sitting as they do inside a white walled perimeter with a beautifully blue glazed tiled roof known as Liberty Square. The gate into the complex is of the same colour, an imposing sight once you get close to it. From here, there are two traditional style temples flanked right and left, and directly in front of you stands the impressive memorial hall. Designed to reflect the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the 76m tall octagonal roof dominates the horizon and the closer you get to it, the more breathtaking it becomes, even though it does look a little bit like a rather ornate lighthouse. Climbing up the 89 granite steps which flank a huge marble fresco of the Taiwanese flag, you start to glimpse the huge bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek which sits in the interior of the building. The 89 steps reflect the age of Chiang when he died while the statue is seated, smiling and wearing traditional clothing. On the marble wall behind the statue, the three pillars of Chiang's political thought are inscribed - Science, Democracy and Ethics being the "Three Principles of the People" while inscriptions on the walls read 'The purpose of life is to improve the general life of humanity' and 'The meaning of life is to create and sustain subsequent lives in the universe'. Once inside the Memorial Hall, you get to observe the wondrous red ceiling made from Cypress wood while observing the Changing of the Guard here, which happens every hour, is a must.
The Museum below the Memorial Hall dedicated to the life of Chiang Kai-shek is certainly interesting as he is effectively the founding father of Taiwan and much revered, particularly as he ruled the country for 25 years. Of course, the history is exceptionally complicated and I do not have time to go into it now, so if you would like to find out more, click on the link to the relevant wiki page. The Museum contains a range of photographs and artefacts from his life, including images of his many meetings with famed world leaders of the time such as Winston Churchill and Theodore Rooseveldt. On display are two of his Cadillacs too, and if you walk around the exhibit chronologically, you do get a strong idea of his achievements and personality, despite the commentary perhaps being a little dry and occassionally too flattering. The building itself is also rather grand in design, think provincial city museum in the UK, and a pleasant place to spend an hour in the blaze of the midday sun.
The sun was causing a problem by this point and my umbrella acted as a poor sunshade. Inside Liberty Square there were preparations ongoing for a diplomatic reception, with red carpet being laid down and flags being flown. We hopped over all this and headed towards the MRT station, getting lost and opting to go for some lunch in a backstreet cafe which seemed to be popular by office workers. Soon we were tucking into tasty noodles and bowls of soup for really low prices, happy to get out of the searing heat of another summer's day.
With the clock ticking ahead of our flight, we just had time to check out 2-28 Peace Park and the National Taiwan Museum. The Park was created by the then ruling Japanese in 1899 and known as Taipei Park or New Park until 1997. It was renamed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 2-28 Massacre, which took place on 28 February 1947 following an uprising, during which an estimated 30,000 people were killed by government forces. This started the period known as the White Terror, a period of martial law during which many Taiwanese were imprisoned and executed for their real or perceived opposition to Kai-shek's political party. It lasted until 1987, 12 years after Kai-shek's death. The Park was also featured in The Crystal Boys, a book by Pai Hsien-yung, which highlights the struggles of Taiwan's gay community in the 1960s. Today, it is basically a park, filled with people having picnics and enjoying nature, but the water feature at its centre, a memorial to the 2-28 Massacre, is a poignant reminder of the struggle for democracy here.
The National Taiwan Museum is housed in one of the country's finest colonial buildings and contains a range of exhibits linked to the varied cultural history of Taiwan. There are exhibits here dedicated to aboriginal artefacts, but the most interesting sections included the rooms dedicated to qípáo, the traditional form of Chinese dress favoured by women in the region. This charted the different styles from the 1920s to the modern era, looking at the way fashion dictated look and functionality. It was quite fascinating to compare and contrast what was going on in Taiwan with the fashions of the West across the decades, despite there being a strong correllation between the two. On the third floor, there was an exhibit dedicated to saving water and the environment, charting the dangers of overpopulation and climate change. I think this was largely for children, and all of the arguments I had heard before. The basement exhibit was a temporary one dedicated to the preservation of things in amber. Interestingly, the Chinese word for amber, 琥珀, directly translates as 'tiger eye' (I think, I'll have to check this) and the displays containing a range of different bugs all petrified was extremely fascinating indeed.
Sadly, time was pressing by now and we had to cut short our visit as we needed to drop the bags off at Cheetah's before heading off to the airport. This we did, meeting his excitable dog in one of those neck cone things in the process, before arriving at Songshan Airport with plenty of time to spare. Songshan is the smaller of the two airports in Taipei and is far closer to the city centre. Dealing pretty much with domestic flights, it's a lot smaller than Taoyuan so there was less of a rush when catching our flight to Matsu, particularly as this was delayed by 20 minutes anyway. Consequently, we spent a little time observing the planes landing and taking off from the special observation desk, before going through security nice and early before boarding. The rest, I have already detailed.
Wildhalf Cheetah opted to pick me up at 8am that morning from my hotel, necessitating an early rise as I was checking out that day too. This was the day we were heading off to Matsu, but as our flight wasn't until 4:10pm, we had the morning to kill in downtown Taipei. Having packed my luggage in the most haphazard manner possible (I treat my possessions with less and less care as the trip progressed), I dragged my sorry arse out of bed, handed the key back to the reception and loaded my bags into Cheetah's car ahead of the one hour drive to Taipei 101 in the eastern Xinyi district of the city.
The rush hour drive wasn't too bad aside from the Toyotas much hated by my companion. He had a point really, Toyotas are favoured by taxi drivers here and their use of the road is questionable at best. Still, it wasn't anywhere near as chaotic as the Philippines and aside from a few queues over some of the flyovers, travelling at peak time in downtown Taipei was quite straightforward when compared to other cities. The reason for the early start was twofold - as well as having the flight to catch later in the day, early mornings tend to attract fewer tourists and as Taipei 101 is one of the principal tourist attractions in the city, it's best to get it licked as soon as possible.
We arrived shortly before 9am and managed to grab a parking space underneath the iconic tower. Between 2003 and 2009, and at 508m in height, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world, but has now been pushed down to third behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa (828m) and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel. I believe the One World Trade Center in New York is going to eclipse it too, by a handful of metres, when it is completed later in the year. Taipei 101 was designed by Taiwanese architect CY Lee to resemble a stalk of bamboo, and it's tall needle-like structure certainly reflects this shape. It dominates the vista on the eastern part of the city, jutting arrogantly yet majestically into the sky. Walking through the desolate shopping mall underneath it - the designer shops don't open until 10am, and in some cases 11am - was an eerie experience but it is from here where you purchase your ticket and embark on the world's fastest elevators which take you from the fifth to the 87th floor of the building in just 37 seconds. It feels almost like a rollercoaster as you shoot up the tower at a speed equivalent to semen escaping from a penis.
On the 87th floor, there is a room from which you can gleen a panoramic view of the city, as well as the beautiful rolling hills surrounding it. Inside the room, there are a variety of interesting exhibits detailing the construction and history of the building, as well as its genesis. It was 101 floors because this is deemed a perfect number, and one to reflect the digital age. Despite the facts, it is the views that people come to see. Taipei sits in the middle of a basin, surrounded by mountains on all sides aside from the north, which is exposed to the sea near the port of Keelung. Looking at the tunnels gouging their way through the mountains, you start to appreciate the triumphs of engineering which make the existence of this city possible. Looking west, you also get to see the many districts which make up this metropolis of 2.6million people, a humbling view when everything and everyone looks so incredibly small. You can rent an audio guide up here too, with 14 different presentations depending on which direction you are viewing. Numbers on the columns of the buildings are there to guide you. The audio guide was informative, but it did sound an awful lot like a tourist information film and the faux-American accent was somewhat offputting. Still, with it being a gloriously sunny morning, the views were magical enough not to let such things bother you, and even the increasing throngs of Chinese tourists weren't much of a problem.
Climbing up two floors, you get to see the city from the outside observatory, which is a mindboggling experience. Sadly, due to strong winds, we could only look at the very eastern portion of the city, but this was enough to give you a flavour of the exceptional views. Also, standing on the building's exterior allowed you to appreciate the architecture an awful lot more, which only added to the sense of wonder. On a couple of lower floors we got to see the huge weight installed in the centre of the building which acts as a counter-balance against strong winds and earthquakes, while there was also a rather nice jade exhibition and gift shop near the departure lifts, for which we had to queue due to the throngs of tourists which had now arrived. We also got the opportunity to buy an expensive professional photograph of ourselves stood in a green room with a projection of the tower placed upon it. I decided to skip this, despite the fact the taking of the photograph was compulsory, having taken place in the queue before we embarked on the lift to go up.
Cheetah had not gone up with me due to the expense of the trip - at 500NT (about £12) it certainly didn't come cheap - and he decided to meet me back on the fifth floor of the shopping centre at 10:30am. This we did, and soon we were driving back into the heart of the city to take in a couple more sights. Our primary destination was the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a collection of monumental architecture which reflects a traditional Chinese style but was actually completed in the 1980s. Indeed, these buildings are amongst the largest examples of classical Chinese architecture in the world, sitting as they do inside a white walled perimeter with a beautifully blue glazed tiled roof known as Liberty Square. The gate into the complex is of the same colour, an imposing sight once you get close to it. From here, there are two traditional style temples flanked right and left, and directly in front of you stands the impressive memorial hall. Designed to reflect the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the 76m tall octagonal roof dominates the horizon and the closer you get to it, the more breathtaking it becomes, even though it does look a little bit like a rather ornate lighthouse. Climbing up the 89 granite steps which flank a huge marble fresco of the Taiwanese flag, you start to glimpse the huge bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek which sits in the interior of the building. The 89 steps reflect the age of Chiang when he died while the statue is seated, smiling and wearing traditional clothing. On the marble wall behind the statue, the three pillars of Chiang's political thought are inscribed - Science, Democracy and Ethics being the "Three Principles of the People" while inscriptions on the walls read 'The purpose of life is to improve the general life of humanity' and 'The meaning of life is to create and sustain subsequent lives in the universe'. Once inside the Memorial Hall, you get to observe the wondrous red ceiling made from Cypress wood while observing the Changing of the Guard here, which happens every hour, is a must.
The Museum below the Memorial Hall dedicated to the life of Chiang Kai-shek is certainly interesting as he is effectively the founding father of Taiwan and much revered, particularly as he ruled the country for 25 years. Of course, the history is exceptionally complicated and I do not have time to go into it now, so if you would like to find out more, click on the link to the relevant wiki page. The Museum contains a range of photographs and artefacts from his life, including images of his many meetings with famed world leaders of the time such as Winston Churchill and Theodore Rooseveldt. On display are two of his Cadillacs too, and if you walk around the exhibit chronologically, you do get a strong idea of his achievements and personality, despite the commentary perhaps being a little dry and occassionally too flattering. The building itself is also rather grand in design, think provincial city museum in the UK, and a pleasant place to spend an hour in the blaze of the midday sun.
The sun was causing a problem by this point and my umbrella acted as a poor sunshade. Inside Liberty Square there were preparations ongoing for a diplomatic reception, with red carpet being laid down and flags being flown. We hopped over all this and headed towards the MRT station, getting lost and opting to go for some lunch in a backstreet cafe which seemed to be popular by office workers. Soon we were tucking into tasty noodles and bowls of soup for really low prices, happy to get out of the searing heat of another summer's day.
With the clock ticking ahead of our flight, we just had time to check out 2-28 Peace Park and the National Taiwan Museum. The Park was created by the then ruling Japanese in 1899 and known as Taipei Park or New Park until 1997. It was renamed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 2-28 Massacre, which took place on 28 February 1947 following an uprising, during which an estimated 30,000 people were killed by government forces. This started the period known as the White Terror, a period of martial law during which many Taiwanese were imprisoned and executed for their real or perceived opposition to Kai-shek's political party. It lasted until 1987, 12 years after Kai-shek's death. The Park was also featured in The Crystal Boys, a book by Pai Hsien-yung, which highlights the struggles of Taiwan's gay community in the 1960s. Today, it is basically a park, filled with people having picnics and enjoying nature, but the water feature at its centre, a memorial to the 2-28 Massacre, is a poignant reminder of the struggle for democracy here.
The National Taiwan Museum is housed in one of the country's finest colonial buildings and contains a range of exhibits linked to the varied cultural history of Taiwan. There are exhibits here dedicated to aboriginal artefacts, but the most interesting sections included the rooms dedicated to qípáo, the traditional form of Chinese dress favoured by women in the region. This charted the different styles from the 1920s to the modern era, looking at the way fashion dictated look and functionality. It was quite fascinating to compare and contrast what was going on in Taiwan with the fashions of the West across the decades, despite there being a strong correllation between the two. On the third floor, there was an exhibit dedicated to saving water and the environment, charting the dangers of overpopulation and climate change. I think this was largely for children, and all of the arguments I had heard before. The basement exhibit was a temporary one dedicated to the preservation of things in amber. Interestingly, the Chinese word for amber, 琥珀, directly translates as 'tiger eye' (I think, I'll have to check this) and the displays containing a range of different bugs all petrified was extremely fascinating indeed.
Sadly, time was pressing by now and we had to cut short our visit as we needed to drop the bags off at Cheetah's before heading off to the airport. This we did, meeting his excitable dog in one of those neck cone things in the process, before arriving at Songshan Airport with plenty of time to spare. Songshan is the smaller of the two airports in Taipei and is far closer to the city centre. Dealing pretty much with domestic flights, it's a lot smaller than Taoyuan so there was less of a rush when catching our flight to Matsu, particularly as this was delayed by 20 minutes anyway. Consequently, we spent a little time observing the planes landing and taking off from the special observation desk, before going through security nice and early before boarding. The rest, I have already detailed.
