I have always wanted to visit Taiwan – this geopolitical hot potato packed full of micro-chip factories and imperial Chinese treasures. With a stature far outweighing its size and population it contains forested mountains, Pacific beaches and futuristic cities. I only had a week to explore but that enough to give a real flavour of the country and its unique political position. While Chinese is its main culture, the bulk of it from the nearby Fujian province, it was also a Japanese colony from 1890 to 1945 so has influences from there as well as the western world. Increasingly the local indigenous voice has been heard in Taiwan with the ethnic tribes helping to give the island its own identity.
We flew on the direct China Airlines flight from Heathrow. It was an excellent service for the 14 hours flight. Taoyuan International Airport is about 25 miles outside Taipei to the south. It is on the metro line to the capital and also the excellent High Speed Train Line that runs the length of the country along the west coast. It is fast and efficient with services every 15 mins or so and it only take 1 hr 45 mins to get all the way south to the port city of Kaohsiung.
Stations are packed full of excellent food shops, you can pick up your bento boxes and pastries for the journey, and the trains are spacious and well maintained. They are probably not up to the Japanese shinkansen services but better than the service sin China and South Korea. There are excellent views en route of the mountains in the centre and east of the country. The temperature difference was huge and it climbed almost 6-7c as we went south.
Our first base was the city of Tainan, the oldest settlement on the island and still regarded by many as the cultural capital. The Dutch arrived in 1624 and created Fort Zeelandia on the coast. As part of their far east trading empire the town flourished until a Ming general, Koxinga, from the mainland invaded and threw the Dutch out. From that point on Taiwan was linked to the mainland, albeit as as far off and neglected outpost. Taipei became the capital in 1885 and after that Tainan became a relative backwater although it is still the 4th largest city. Remains of the Dutch and Ming Chinese buildings dot the city centre and it is generally low rise with a concentrated, older feel.
We visited the old market area, famed for its seafood restaurants (we tried delicious lobster congee amongst other things) and the rambling market buildings housed a hive of small shops, bars and cafes on two stories with quirky styles.
In and round the Five Canals zone we visited The Chikkan Tower, a Fujian style Temple pavilion built an old Dutch Fort and the Confucius Temple (the oldest shrine in the city) with attendant attractive gardens.
The Blueprint Culture and Creative Park is an attractive converted set of Japanese barracks with a range of shops, studios, bars and restaurants – we tried our hand at Indigo dyeing which was a traditional industry in the area. In the evening, we headed to historic Shennong St which is an atmospheric lane lined with restaurants, temples and bars and a really pleasant place to spend an evening – rounded off with fine beef noodles and another speciality, mango shaved ice.
The following day I took an early stroll to the South Gate of the city; the best preserved of the Qing fortifications. This is a fine example of a double gateway set in an attractive park where plenty of locals were doing their morning exercises.
The morning turned even better with a traditional Taiwanese head massage – much appreciated.
We then headed out to Anping, a coastal suburb of the city. This is the original settlement, at that time on a sandy island, and hope to the Dutch Fort Zeelandia. The fort remains, with modern additions, and you can explore it and the local history museum. Some of the original town layout remains with Yanping street the main throughfare.
We spent the afternoon at the Ten Drums Creative park set in an old sugar refinery. This is an extraordinary space and home to a very impressive drum group, Ten Drums, who put on a brilliant performance of traditional drumming. The industrial setting of the refinery has been by and large untouched with warehouses and storage depots turned into creative areas and workshops with the beautiful gardens allowed to run wild over the train tracks, buildings and machinery.
It was two interesting days in a fascinating city which had a good feel to it and one that is well worth visiting. Almost without fail all Taiwanese we met said it was their favourite place, many had studied there and all loved the food and atmosphere.
It was 90 minutes on the bullet train to Taipei and the underground Central Station is in the heart of the city – a huge metropolitan region of 7 million people. Modern and old the city fits around two rivers and the surrounding mountains with spectacular monuments and modern buildings as well as old character areas.
We started with a spicy Sichuan hotpot and then headed to one of the great museums of the world – the National Palace Museum. When Chiang Kai-shek led the remnants of the Nationalist government and armies across the Taiwan Strait in 1949, they also brought the greatest imperial treasures from the Chinese Forbidden City. Set in a magnificent hill-side location the museum is very well laid out and combines modern styles of exhibiting as well as more traditional ones.
You could spend hours here however there are a few must see highlights including: Jade Cabbage, the Ding Bronze Cauldron of Duke Mao (showing some of the earliest Chinese calligraphy) and the extraordinary Meat Shaped Stone – a piece of jasper that looks so lifelike, as a piece of pork belly! This museum is an absolute must with superb artwork throughout.
The afternoon was rounded off with a cooking class, making traditional Moon Cakes, hands-on fun with a bit of Generation Game thrown in! As the night feel we visited the atmospheric Longshan Temple with attendant waterfall.
This is Taipei’s oldest shrine and was partially destroyed by US bombing in WWII. Amazingly some of the key relics survived. We ended the day with a visit to one of the many night markets – with thriving street food stalls and buzzing shops. The city is a forest of lights at night, highlighted by the hilly setting, with Taipei 101 standing out.
We went up the tower one evening for the full panorama for what was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2009. As someone who is not a great fan of heights, I am always surprised to go up so many towers. This was a smooth experience, lifts very fast, and the centrepiece inside was the extraordinary swinging weight cradles they use to balance the tower during earthquakes – a very common occurrence in Taiwan.
One of the best visits we did was on the southern outskirts of Taipei where we went up in a gondola to the Maokong tea plantations. The gondola ride was excellent, with lovely views over the city and the hill countryside underneath, and Maokong itself is a tea producing area with dozens on tea houses scattered around the village.
Tea is very popular in Taiwan, and it is grown all over the hilly areas of the country with Ooling, semi-fermented, being a speciality. We had a fascinating tea tasting session with explanations of the different types of tea, and the differences within each type when you taste the first, second or third cup! Really fascinating and while Maokong is not a major producing region any more it is beautiful and a real retreat from the bustling city.
We also headed out of the city to the north coast, it was a short run on the motorway through the mountains. Here we saw the Yehliu Geopark, a protected reserve of rocky outcrops, and the Guihou which is a fishing port and must for seafood fans.
We went into Yanmingshan National Park and spent a wonderful hour in the hot springs at the Tien-La resort. Very relaxing, supposedly very therapeutic and very hot indeed. There are hot springs throughout the country and they are well worth visiting. We also had time to fit in an hour’s foot massage at the end of one day, a perfect finale after a day of exploring the city.
One final highlight in Taipei was one of Taiwan’s most famous exports – Din Tai Fung. One of the most famous restaurant groups in Asia this dumpling emporium started out in 1970 selling steamed soup dumplings, got its first Michelin Star (in Hong Kong) in 2010 and is now global – there re 4 branches in London alone. It is a feast of dumplings, and assorted dishes, with a military like production line and they are delicious. The famous pork dumplings have 18 folds in them and you can watch the dozens of chefs at work preparing the fresh offerings.
Summary
A week is only a snap shot of a fascinating country and we did not have the chance to visit the less developed east coast or see much of the interior mountainous regions. The famous Taroko Gorge is currently closed due to typhoon damage and any visitor would want to see this and some of the indigenous tribal villages and areas.
Who should visit? Anyone with an interest in Asia would be fascinated although I would probably point people in the direction of Japan & South Korea first. It has elements of both these two, as well as China yet somehow feels different – more relaxed than Japan, more developed than China a bit more alternative than South Korea. There is definitely an independent quirky streak and one that makes western visitors fell very at home.
How to sum up a visit to Taiwan? It was fun, laidback, modern and fascinating. They are proud of their democracy and are nowadays recognising, more and more, the indigenous culture of the island – it helps them to differentiate from China. The people are extraordinary welcoming, perhaps as a result of their strange geopolitical position. The food is superb with elements of the main Chinese cuisines, lots of Japanese food types and a growing influence of local indigenous tastes.
by TMS