Last day in Taipei

We had a bit of a lie in to sleep off the cocktails and woke to the sound of fierce winds and panicked that the typhoon had arrived early. I sat up and looked out of the window and realized that it had only been the sound of the air conditioning. Phew. The flight home was a bit bumpy due to the approaching storm, but we arrived on a China Airlines flight that stayed intact. This is more than can be said for the China Airlines flight that arrived in Japan 3 days later…

Night out in Zhongxiao Dunhua

Tonight we took a train out to Zhongxiao Dunhua where all the trendy bars are reputed to be. We had arranged to meet Dino and Viv one last time at a place called “Sofa”. We went to a place called “Detail” first which had lovely retro décor, leather sofas, funky lamps and 60s wallpaper. We had a drink and some food there and then moved on to “Sofa”. This place had similar décor, but was darker and busier. There was a DJ and an alternative record store inside. It was a very cool place. We asked the waiter about a song that was playing and he said it was by a band called “The Runaways”. I have since Googled, iTuned and MySpaced them, but I am yet to turn anything up. Anyone heard of them?

Viv and Dino turned up with a card and a huge canister of tea for us to take home. So sweet of them. The card was actually one of their wedding invitations and some photos (we had asked them to show us some of their wedding pics – they got married in June). The pictures are amazing! They look so glamorous, like a couple of movie stars. I must get permission to add one of the pics to this blog. Our wedding pictures couldn’t have been more different.

After a few rounds in “Sofa”, we thought we’d try “Bed”, another bar on the same street. New Order were playing on arrival which seemed promising, but the place was weird. There were no beds and hardly any people. There was not enough light to read the drinks menu by, but luckily our friendly waitress was on hand to explain how you could get a jug of vodka or whisky and lime for a good price. We told her that none of us were actually drinking whisky or vodka and she seemed amused. Apparently these liquor jugs are the most popular feature of Bed. Well it certainly wasn’t the beds. Or the music which had turned into Run DMC at an earsplitting volume. We weren’t impressed and went back to Detail and ordered a very girly cocktail each. The music there was good until we realized it was on a loop. The second time they played Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn and John we decided to call it a night and got the second last train back to Ximen.

Determined to find a bargain

We somehow ended up back in Ximen. We spent way too much time there, each time forgetting that it’s not the place to find good restaurants, indoor cafes or teashops, or malls in which to keep cool.

I was determined to find some fashion bargains so I sneaked off to another neighbourhood off "camera street" on my own leaving David reading in the hotel. I found a shopping area full of shops where middle-aged women rummaged for cardigans in cardboard boxes. Is this the only alternative to teen trash? One shop specialized in linen and I am a bit of a linen fan. I didn’t care that everyone else in the shop was dumpy and over 50. I came away with a great summer suit for 590 Taiwanese dollars. I just did a currency conversion. That’s about 9 UK pounds!

Staying cool

We kept hearing that there was a “typhoon a-comin” and we hoped that it held off until we were safely back in Japan.

Today was a day for staying out of the heat. We started with the National Taiwan Museum. It’s the oldest museum building in Taipei – built in 1908 by the Japanese. It looks like a European monumnent with columns, a domed roof and various wings. It was a lovely museum and I especially enjoyed the sections on Taiwan’s aboriginal peoples. An artist called Chen Chi-iu had been commissioned to do sketches of various artifacts from aboriginal communities around the country and I really enjoyed these. Made me want to dust off my sketch book.

It was all about staying out of the sun today so we had lunch in the underground mall at the main train station. We chose a lively teppanyaki place and had piles of lovely fresh food. We wondered why we had never found a teppanyaki restaurant in Japan – do they exist there?

The mall under the train station is quite good fun. There is a section were you can get massages while everyone walks past you on their way to the next boutique. People were getting massaged with what looked like meat cleavers! I am pretty sure that they weren’t actually meat cleavers, but seriously – that’s what it looked like. We weren’t in a rush to try it.

Shopping fix

After dinner we took the MRT to Woofenpu Market. I was excited about this trip as I had read that it’s the place where clothes shops buy stock at wholesale prices. There are hundreds of shops tightly packed close together selling cut price garments straight from the factories in Hong Kong and Japan (apparently labour prices are too high in Taiwan). The best time to go? August/September for the new collections. Perfect. I had visions of putting together my autumn wardrobe and being the envy of all my friends. Perhaps I’d buy my girls a few items if I spotted something suitable – I’d also read that you get bigger discounts if you buy in bulk. How I managed to persuade David to go with me, I’ll never know.

We came out of Housen Station passing people carrying cheap carrier bags full of goodies. I quickened my pace.

I must say that I was very disappointed. There were hundreds of shops and they were very cheap, but they were pretty much all the same. T-shirts, shorts, jeans and t-shirt material tunic dresses. All very casual, bordering on trashy and pretty boring. Most things were very cheap-looking and obviously aimed at the teen market. Items like these on a 30-something professional like me would be just so wrong. I wanted good fashion for grown-ups. I did buy a couple of t-shirts so that I didn’t go home empty-handed. The type that the dye comes off really easily. Despite the lack of purchases, the market was highly entertaining. The plastic models looked really lifelike which was sort of freaky. I couldn’t help noticing how badly dressed all the shoppers were. Nancy tells me that they dress even worse in Canada. I guess I am used to being around immaculately dressed Japanese girls.
We took the MRT back to Ximen and had a look in NET (NEXT rip off) in an attempt to fulfill that shopping craving. I picked out a few items to try on and then I realized that NET stands for New Era Teen. This made me feel incredibly old and sad so I put the clothes back without trying them on.

What an exhausting day! We went back to the Wonstar and slept for 9 hours straight.

BYO water

We ate at the ShinKong Mitsukoshi food court near the station that night. Food courts are great. I wonder why we don’t have them in Japan? We went to the Korean counter and were served by the dimmest girl in Taipei. The stall had only 6 items. We asked for beeb em bop and pointed at the picture. The girl got her knickers in a knot because we were foreign so naturally she wouldn’t be able to understand us. She went out the back to get someone from the kitchen to help. Fortunately the chef was able to understand the order even without looking at which picture we were pointing at.

I went off in search of water, but kept being told that I should go to the supermarket for that. Hmm. We brought our own from then on.

The food was good, but I have never had beeb em bop with cheese and corn in it before…

Bathtime in Beitou

So, it’s a boiling hot day and we’ve been dripping non-stop for hours. We should be spending the rest of the day inside a mall or museum but strangely, we had made other plans. We were going to visit a hot spring!

We took a train to Xinbeitou, a spa town. We made our way up the hill to the outdoor public baths to find that they were closed for cleaning. Not to worry, they would be open again in an hour. In the meantime we walked back down the hill to the town museum where 4 little old ladies armed with brooms scowled at us and told us to take our shoes off. They stalked people as they looked at old photographs and exhibits in the museum. If one toe accidentally brushed the antique tatami mat a granny would spring from nowhere and shake her broom at you ferociously.

I admit I didn’t take much in. The heat was frying my brain, but I do remember signs everywhere starting with “DO NOT…”. Friendly place then. The only air conditioned section of the building was the video room and a Chinese movie from the late 60s was being screened. The movie was set in the town of Beito. The quality was terrible and looked like it had been made in the 1920s. There were hand-written Chinese subtitles for Cantonese speakers.

Museum link

The last thing I really wanted was a hot bath, but as we were in Beito, we may as well give it a go. We had enjoyed the baths in Hungary in summer afterall.

The showers were in individual cubicles with doors which was a good start. I’m never keen on public scrubbing. We chose this particular spa because it was for both men and women. People wear swimwear and it was a very relaxed place. The swimwear was a bit odd though. Men wore biking shorts and women wore very conservative (bordering on Victorian) one-piece swimsuits. I was the only foreign slapper in a two-piece bikini. Note to self: next time bring sensible cossie. There were mostly old people in the baths. The alpha-males up in the hottest pool or perched on rocks looking down on everyone else. We’ve seen macaques in Indonesia doing much the same thing.

We stayed in for about half an hour and then got too hot (wimps). We walked back down the hill and into a convenience store and bought salty nuts and sweet fizzy drinks and stayed there until our body temperatures had returned to normal.

Daytrippers in Danshui

Today we took the MRT out to a place called Danshui. The hotel breakfast is uninspiring (orange squash, piles of cold fried eggs and a toaster that takes 3 goes round to make your toast light brown) so we thought we’d find somewhere in the station for breakfast instead. The trouble is, nothing opens until 11. Except Starbucks – you can always rely on Starbucks.

Danshui is a long way out. It’s a popular weekend destination for Taipeites and sure enough, it had a relaxed seaside feel to it. If you can imagine a Chinese Porthcawl (the one I remember from the 1980s at least) you’ll get the idea. There was a kind of esplanade next to the river with amusement arcades and shops selling souvenirs and snacks. But, instead of sticks of rock and fish and chips, you could get iron eggs and dried squid. I wonder if the modern day Porthcawl is having a doughnut war the way Taipei is. Mister Donut is competing aggressively with Dunkin Donuts everywhere we go. I’ve never had so many free samples.

We wanted to see Fort Santo Domingo which was originally built by the Spanish in 1629, demolished and re-build by the Dutch in 1644 and then taken over by the British in 1688 and added to when it became the consulate’s residence in 1891. It was finally handed over to the Republic of China in 1971 and today it is a listed building and a museum. We walked along the edge of the river and judged that we had gone too far so walked back. By the time we got to the fort, we were dripping with sweat as it was a steaming hot day. We eventually found the entrance and had to walk up a load more steps in the heat. Urgh! It was worth the effort however. I love visiting forts. Last year we spent a few hours at Fort Siloso in Singapore which was brilliant.



Inside this fort we learned about the history, the Dutch trading era and the life of the British consuls. The living area was very nice complete with a grand dining room and old-fashioned parlour. Through the windows was a view of the sea and Taipei city in the distance. I could live there on one condition; that they installed air conditioning. I don’t know how they managed without it. Each room had a fireplace – does this mean that it actually gets chilly enough to light a fire, or is it just a recreation of an English house complete with fireplaces?











After visiting the fort, we had lunch in the elegant tea gardens outside. It’s always fun to find a bit of British tradition in unlikely places (especially if it involves tea).

We wandered through the old street which led back to the station. It was crowded with day trippers.

Waiting for the Gondola

Gondola to Maokong

Today we took the train to Taipei zoo station. No, we didn’t go to the zoo – it was the starting point for the Taipei’s new gondola (cable car). There was a very long queue of people waiting outside in the sun. We joined it and waited for more than an hour outside wishing we hadn’t bothered. It was unbearably hot. We were the only people in the queue not accompanied by children. We were starving by the time we actually got inside the terminal building, but at least we were now cool. I left David in the queue and went to buy some water and buns. I only wanted 4 buns, but you could only buy them in boxes of 16 so we shared them with the family behind us.

The gondola was worth the wait as it turned out. It was a 30 minute ride with stops at South Zoo and a temple famous for being ruled by an unmarried god who likes to break couples up. We gave that a miss and went right to the end of the line: Maokong.

Maokong is a tea growing area, but most people visiting by gondola don’t leave the restaurant area near the gondola station. After a quick lunch of noodle soup and a piece of green Swiss roll, we walked on looking over tea plantations and views of the city below. We visited a temple, and then stopped for tea at a café called “Cat’s got nothing to do”. I had a black tea with milk which was ready made up in the pot and David had his first espresso in 5 months. I awarded my tea an 8 out of 10 and the coffee was a 9. We are both pretty critical, so these are very good scores.










The gondola station was full and noisy which annoyed me after the serenity of the tea plantation areas. People were starting to get on my nerves. It bugged me that people came all the way up and didn’t take the chance to see some of the lovely, peaceful countryside.

We ended up sharing a gondola car with the same family we had shared our buns with earlier. We chatted to them all the way back. The 2 little girls wanted to practice their English, but got as far as “My name’s Emily and I’m 9” and “My name’s Fiona and I’m 7” and then got too shy to try anything else. I couldn’t think of anything else to ask them so chatted to their parents. I am going to have to work on my repertoire of “things to talk to children about” as I am often in this situation when I travel and I want to make more of an effort. It doesn’t come naturally to me.

At the end of the ride, we said goodbye and headed back to the MRT station with the aim of staying out of the heat for the rest of the day.

Soup kitchen in Taipei?

Well, the executive room was a treat! Huge bed, huge telly, a mini-swimming pool instead of a bath and a separate shower with 7 or 8 nozzles.

Near the central station area there are lots of eateries and we were determined to find some famously tasty Taiwanese dishes. We’d see queues of people and smell cooking and then look at the front of the line and there would be a street cart selling something totally unappetizing-looking, like boiled fatty pork patties or greasy soup. We found a place where you help yourself at a buffet and then get your plate weighed. I used to love going to those places in Brazil. I normally hate buffets: the food isn’t fresh, you end up with too many tastes on your plate, it’s all cold by the time you sit down, and you either eat too much, or feel like you haven’t had your money’s worth. The weighing thing means that you take a sensible amount and it’s such a simple idea that I have often wondered why it isn’t universally adopted. It turned out that all the food on this particular buffet was vegetarian so I was very happy. No fatty fried meat to worry about! Yay! There were about 15 types of tofu and I tried most of them. Inside it looked like a soup kitchen: whitewashed walls, strip lighting, rows of trellis tables with lone diners joining other lone diners. People helped themselves to rice from a huge rice cooker and soup from a steaming vat. The food was really tasty. I’d go back. Our 2 plates of food cost under $175 (Taiwanese dollars). About 4 pound. Hang on, maybe it was a soup kitchen….

Train back to Taipei

At Chiayi station, they changed the tickets for us (somehow they understood what we wanted) and we were now booked on the 1.13pm back to Taipei. We called the Wonstar hotel and booked a room. They didn’t have any regular rooms so we booked an executive room. The Wonstar doesn’t look like the kind of place that caters for executives, but there you go. More white bread egg-mayo sandwiches for the train plus some sushi rolls with god know what inside – it looked like crab, cheese and fried onion. We weren’t exactly eating well on this trip. The tea made up for it though, I bought a giant one to drink while we waited for our train. I remembered how to say “no sugar” in Chinese, but couldn’t remember how to say “no milk”. I did remember the Chinese symbol for it though, so I drew it on some paper and then put a line though it dramatically. The vendor understood and I came away with what I wanted.

Next to us on the train were two old people who made themselves right at home: shoes off and their belongings and lunch spread all around them. They were eating a bag of lychees and made sucking, snorting and spitting noises all the way to Taipei. This put me off (my already horrible) lunch. David went to the loo and walked in on an old lady who hadn’t bothered to lock the door. She was squatting above a western-style toilet. David was quite shaken by the experience.

As soon as we got going on the train, the weather improved. We couldn’t help but wonder whether it had also improved in the mountains…. Never mind, lots to do in Taipei.

It's a Heartache

The taxi ride took just over an hour. The roads weren’t too bad and the car could drive carefully around debris mudslides. There were some trees partially blocking the road. The driver played classic 1980s CD all the way kicking off with Bonnie Tyler’s “It’s a heartache”, moving on to classics from Leo Sayer, Randy van Warmer and F.R. David. I had forgotten how bad some of the songs were in the same decade that brought us the Cure, the Smiths and New Order. It was funny though because we found that we knew most of words and sang along for a laugh to lines like “you left in the rain without closing the door, I didn’t stand in your way”. What self-pitying lyrics there are in songs like “Feelings” and “Endless Love”! I have never heard so many of them played all together before. Our tattooed taxi driver with the shaved head may have looked like a hard-knock, but he was obviously a big teddy bear.

Change of plans

It rained heavily all night long and was still thunderous when we went out at 8.30am. We talked to the man at Fancylake reception who was watching the news on TV. Images of flooded villages in southern Taiwan were being shown. The receptionist explained that the typhoon and this weather would be here at least for the next 3 or 4 days. So much for hiking in Taiwan. We thought we’d better head back to Taipei. There’s no point being in the countryside when there is foul weather, at least in the city there are lots of indoor things to do. As we checked out, we learned that all the trains and buses out of Fencihu had been cancelled due to landslides and debris blocking the paths. It was like Czesky Crumlov and the washout summer we had in the Czech Republic 2002 all over again. We had a bit of a washout trip in northern Vietnam also back in 2002 come to think of it. 2002 was a bad year for rain. We worried that we wouldn’t get back to the city. Fortunately, we met a taxi driver who would be willing to drive us back to Chiayi where we hoped we could change our train tickets and get back to Taipei as soon as we could.

Fencihu. Fancy, how?

Fencihu is a one street village that spills down a hill. The top part of the street is very narrow and is lined with shops selling snacks and souvenirs. The rain was incredibly heavy but fortunately “snack street” was covered with a tarp so we didn’t get wet as we sampled bean jam buns, the hottest wasabi on the planet and ginger tea.


Fencihu is famous for “railway lunchboxes” which are basically a Taiwanese take on Japanese bento boxes. I liked them more than Japanese bentos for 2 reasons. Firstly, the food was hot (in Japan food has always gone cold). Secondly, they are packaged in biodegradable containers. In Japan there is so much plastic and polystyrene involved when packaging a bento. The Japanese versions are definitely more artistic however with prettily cut taro leaved for garnish and so on whereas in Fencihu everything is just piled on top of the rice. We liked them so much that we had lunch boxes for lunch and dinner that day.










We stayed at a hotel called Fancylake which must be a play on words (fenci=fancy??) as it wasn’t fancy and there is no lake. “Hu” in Chinese means lake, but Fencihu incorporates a dry basin rather than a lake. Our room was Japanese style, but far nicer than any ryokan we have ever stayed in in Japan. I would actually consider decorating a room this way as it took the essentials of a Japanese room such as tatami mats and futons, but added funky furniture, sympathetic artwork and inventive lighting. My version would also include somewhere to sit that has back support however. I can’t perch on a cushion for long, I’m not used to it. The bath was hilarious. I took a photo of David squashed in it but I promised I wouldn't post it on my blog. If you e-mail me, I’ll send it to you. I couldn’t stop laughing for a full hour.




















The views from the hotel would have been great if the weather had been better. It had been raining non-stop, but eased a little around dusk so we put on our hiking boots and waterproofs and took a walk up to see the ruins of a Japanese Shinto shrine. There wasn’t a lot to see, but it was a great spooky little walk in the foggy half-light up the stone steps. Sadly, that would be the only hiking we would do in Taiwan.

Alishan Railway

After breakfast we got to the ticket office as it opened at bought 2 singles to a place called Fencihu on the 9am train. Apart from one other guy with his Chinese girlfriend, we were the only non-Asians on the train. A sweet little train it was too playing cheesy Chinese music interspersed with commentary as it was a sightseeing train.

At first we went through towns and then we climbed upwards into the lovely mountains. The trip started at an altitude of 30m and rapidly rose to over 1000m. It passed through small villages and went through impressive palm forests and other areas of lush vegetation. The rain didn’t really hold off, but the views were still good. People tucked into beef jerky, sour tea and other unusual snacks en route. From time to time the train would grind to an emergency stop and the guards would get off and pick things off the tracks. It stopped at a few town and usually no one got on, until one particular town where hundreds of people crowded on filling every available space. I had try and squash my packpack under me. The chatter was so loud it drowned out the music. Then suddenly, they all got off again about 10 minutes later. What was that about we wondered? Then we saw them walking over to the waiting tour buses: they just wanted a quick ride on the famous Alishan railway. As the now quiet train pulled off, again they all stood there waving at us.










We got off at the half-way point – Fencihu where we had read about some good hiking and interesting villages. The plan was to hike between villages and then join the train again in a few days to go on up to the highest point, Alishan.

Video clip taken on the train

Breakfast shocker

We set the alarm for 7am as we wanted to be first in the queue to get train tickets on the Alishan Scenic Railway.

Breakfast was a shock. There was a buffet laid out in the rather dingy and damp lobby restaurant. In my dreams breakfast buffets have Bran Flakes, skimmed milk, freshly squeezed juice, chopped fresh fruit, yogurt, porridge and hot croissants. Real buffets are never like that (apart from at the Oriental in Singapore). This particular buffet was the worst case scenario. So bad, we didn’t stay: plain rice (ok) oily stir fried vegetables, dark beans in a gelatinous sauce, egg soup and what looked like sawdust. We went out into the rain instead to find the espresso bar we passed the previous day. Horror! It was closed until 11am. Never mind, tea stand… also closed! We surveyed the options. There were street vendors hawking fried fish patties, the turkey rice place and McDonalds. You’ve guessed it. In we went to embrace the golden arches for breakfast for only the second time in my life. I’m not proud of myself. I’m not normally the type of traveler who resorts to McDonalds, but I’m not particularly adventurous eater, especially when it’s 8am. I thoroughly enjoyed the hot cakes, but wondered whether I should give the Chinese breakfast a go next time, after all I used to turn my nose up at Japanese breakfasts and now I really like rice, fish, seaweed and raw egg for breakfast from time to time.

Rainy night in Chiayi

I got a text message from Viv in Taipei telling me that rain was expected. She wasn’t kidding, it was lashing rain. Despite the weather, we went out for a walk down Jhongshan Road. There were lots of good shops but we (once again) didn’t find many good restaurants. The array of choices didn’t tempt me; deep fried street food, scruffy “turkey-rice” joints and The Golden Eagle British pub. There used to be a Golden Eagle near us when we lived in east London. We ended up in Mos Burger, the Japanese hamburger chain we visit at home from time to time for a treat. The Taiwanese version had enough regional variations to make the experience exotic. David ate his burger inside deep fried rice patties instead of a bread bun.

Catching the 2.10 to Chiyai

We had tickets on the 2.10 train to Chiayi. Lunch hadn’t been a great success (greasy offal soup near the market) and I was still hungry. We weren’t going from the main station so pickings were slim on the food front. I bought some white bread egg mayonnaise sandwiches in a 7-11, some crisps and some Korean treats called “Choco Pie” which are basically Wagon Wheels (nostalgia!). The concourse was enormous, but it turned out that there were only 2 platforms. Our train rolled in dead on time and off we went heading south for 3 hours and 20 minutes. The route was pretty built up all the way. Part of it reminded us of central Japan with its rice fields, country houses and mountains in the distance. We don’t have palm trees in central Japan however. It’s more tropical in Taiwan.

We arrived in Chiayi 15 minutes after the tourist information office had closed for the day. Bummer. We had nowhere to stay and only a terrible map in the Rough Guide to go on. “Just pretend we are backpacking again” said David. Um… not difficult, we are carrying backpacks, we have just got off a train in a town we hadn’t heard of until a day ago, we’re wandering around in the rain and have nowhere to stay… where does the pretending part come in? I think what he meant was to pretend we don’t know what it’s like to stay at Le Meridien and be picked up by drivers and upgraded to business class and so on. I certainly had less to blog about when we enjoyed the 5 star life in Bali. We passed 2 or 3 grim looking hotels with cheesy, kitsch lobbies. One called “Hotel Country” didn’t look too bad so we wandered in to see if they had any vacancies. We were in luck! Soon afterwards we were installed into room 812 lounging on our 2 mattresses made up with clean sheets watching satellite TV. I never did that when I was a real backpacker.

Cartoon humans serve tea

Teatime! We nipped into a teashop and were greeted by a human cartoon character dressed as a 19th century maid. She looked about 12, as did her colleagues (one dressed as Strawberry Shortcake). The clientele? At first glance, we just saw tables of lone old men smoking cigarettes. Were they dirty old men getting a kick out of being served by strangely dressed young girls? Maybe. Through the glass partition were tables of teenagers pouring over anime comics the way they do in Japan. A geek cafe. We ordered jasmine tea and I made a sketch of a cartoon milkmaid in the notebook provided on our table. Strange place.

Chinese market shocker

Outside the temple are busy shopping streets where honest folk go about their lives. We went into a narrow street market and I wish now I hadn’t. I have been to Chinese markets before and I was prepared for the bowls of unidentifiable animal parts and innerds. I wasn’t too keen on seeing live chickens in a cage under a table topped with their dead cousins. Yes, dead chickens directly above live ones. No wonder they were clucking like mad.

We saw a few pigs legs which was bad enough, but the pig’s face was too much. The skin had been taken off the pig’s face with the head, snout and ears still attached as if someone was making a pig mask. I hadn’t realized that it would be so big. What was it there for? Do people buy it to cook pig face stew or something, or was it just purely decorative? It really upset me.

In between all this carnage, there were nice dress shops and fruit stands. Occasionally someone would drive their scooter through the chaos.

Appeasing the ghosts

Longshan temple was established in 1738, but much of it was bombed in WWII. It was still a cool temple and very busy. Apparently 100 Taoist deities are worshipped here. It was particularly busy when we went because of the mid-summer Hungry Ghost festival. Spirits of the dead roam and are appeased with offerings of food, bunt paper and prayers. We watched people bring plates of food into the temple, burn joss sticks and offer prayers to various deities.

Buns and guns in Shi-lin market

Everyone seems to know about the night markets in Taipei and we were keen to experience one. Luckily our local friends Viv and Dino were up for showing us one of the most famous ones in Shi-lin. After a day of trapsing around a hot city, we were sweaty and looked haggered. We met Dino and Viv outside the subway station looking all fresh and clean. A trip into the depths of the indoor food market would soon sort that out. First a stop for a (large) spot of tea. Bigger than the last one. The most enormous tea I have ever had.









The indoor food market was like nowhere I have ever seen before. Throngs of people circulating, squeezing past giant vats of boiling oil and queuing up for delicacies such as fried chicken and giant sausages. There were mini restaurants inside with a few tables, We went to one of these first to try oyster omelet. Across the aisle was a place doing tofu in a spicy stew. That was more my thing. The sausages were really popular so we bought a couple of portions. They serve it snipped into bite-sized pieces from a bag and gave us 4 cocktail sticks in order to eat it. It was really tasty! We munched standing up while balancing giant cups of mango juice in the other hand.









Now just in case we were still hungry, Viv suggested we try a fried bean bun wrap. These are really popular and people come from miles around for them. It was fascinating to watch the staff make them: roll the dough, stuff it with bean paste and seal, throw them in a vat of oil (tended by a man in a singlet smoking a fag), scoop them out into a pile, roll out a tortilla, but the bun inside, sprinkle with a topping (we chose peanut), roll the tortilla, bash the thing with a closed fist, cut and serve. And the taste? The first few bites were good, but I’m not used to eating deep fried food so I couldn’t finish it. Definitely an experience though. People queued round the block for them.










Outside was a bit cooler and, being a Friday night, there was a real carnival atmosphere. You could try your luck at games such as Mahjong and raffles. The boys had a go at the shooting gallery. David was scarily good at it. He shot 9 out of 10 balloons in quick succession on both goes. Makes me wonder about those years before I knew him… He didn’t get enough points for a cuddly Sponge Bob, but we did get a pack of cards.









We went to the crowded shopping streets next. Makeshift stands down the centre of the street sold everything from clothes to jewellery to stir-fried insects. Occasionally they would disappear when the police showed up. We spent ages there, occasionally going into a regular shop for a blast of air con. I could easily have spent longer, but we had been out all day and were getting pretty tired.

The Palace Museum

I have always wanted to go to the Palace Museum in Taipei. 8000 years of Chinese treasures are held there. That is a lot of treasure. I assumed it would be overwhelming and I was planning to pick a small section so as not to overdo it. As it turned out, only a portion of the collection is on display at any one time as they rotate it every three months. This means that you can see most of it in an afternoon.

Here are some highlights:
- The curio box collections. Gorgeous little cabinets and boxes full of tiny treasures
- Pi disks made of jade (used to guide a deceased spirit to heaven)
- Glazed pottery from the 12th and 13th century
- The famous piece of jade carved into the shape of a bok choy
- Rare books and various binding techniques
- Neolithic jade tools and jewellery




Pi disks





It was a really lovely museum; well laid out and informative without being overwhelming. There was a nice tea house on the top floor and we tried 2 pots of different tea, sesame cake and an egg steamed bun.

Taiwanese food

It was hard to find a restaurant serving Taiwanese food. There were lots of Japanese places or western places: shabu shabu, okonomiyaki, Starbucks, Mister Donut, Dunkin Donut etc etc. The first place we tried had no English menu and no pictures and no one would help us fill in the spaces on the note book (how you often order in Taiwan), so we left. The next place we tried we were given a Chinese menu and two hard boiled eggs. The menu had pictures and we realized it was a shabu shabu place. I’m not into boiled meat that much so I asked if there was anything else apart from shabu shabu. The waitress showed us a picture of a fruit platter with noodles on the side. She saw that this wasn’t tempting us, so directed us upstairs. Upstairs served Italian food, but the man on the next table was eating a fried rice dish so we asked for two of those. It arrived quickly and to our amazement it tasted really familiar. It tasted like special fried rice from Lee’s Kitchen (Chinese takeaway) in Dalkey. Does this mean that Chinese food in Ireland and Wales is actually authentic Taiwanese food?

Beaten up

We were still stiff from the mountain climb and from flying so we headed to a place that offered massages. The reception was full of plastic trees and wicker chairs (Bali theme apparently), but they seemed professional so we paid for what turned out to be a good pummeling. Taiwanese shiatsu hurts like hell. It felt good afterwards, but I’m not in a rush to do it again. The worst part was when my masseuse started repeatedly punching my bruised legs. The more I winced, the more she seemed to enjoy herself. My legs turned a nice shade of purple.

Chung Hwa Road

The Wonstar had been full so I had booked us into the Landmark Inn 12 doors down on what we thought was the same road. We went for a walk after breakfast to get our bearings and got confused when we didn’t recognize anything. Back at the hotel the receptionist explained that, yes we were on Chung Hwa Road alright, but not in Taipei City. We were somewhere in Taipei county. We were off the map a 15 minute bus ride to the nearest MRT station. Nice hotel though.

Last day in Bali

Last day at Le Meridien Nirwana Tanah Lot









Today I got a text from Nancy (in Japan) asking me "Did u fall out of bed?"
I texted back: “Eh?”
Apparently there had been a big earthquake in Java. We didn’t feel anything.

Today was spent enjoying the pool for the last day, checking out and getting to the airport. The pre-boarding lounge had a few European transit passengers, but was mostly full of 20-something Taiwanese partiers still in beachwear. One girl wore a sarong as a dress and a pair of flip flips. We had been upgraded to business class seats again! Twice on one trip is unheard of! It was a bumpy ride which makes me nervous, but we landed safely and on time in Taipei 4 and a half hours later.

We took a taxi to our hotel and literally crashed out. No exploring Taipei tonight.

Ubud

Today we went to Ubud. Last summer I spent way too much time in Ubud and to be honest, I really didn’t feel like another dose of it so soon. What used to be a hippy, artsy, laid-back town is now tourist-central. Every building is a shop, tourist restaurant or hotel often with aggressive proprietors as there is so much competition for relatively few tourists. An afternoon in Ubud was just about right as it is a beautiful town, surrounded by rice fields, art and craft communities, ancient temples, palaces and rivers. We stayed well clear of the monkey forest after last year’s attack and stuck to the main shopping streets. I bought a straw bag, Kevin bought a t-shirt, a postcard of Saraswati (the Hindu god of Knowledge and arts) and some joss sticks, and Dawn bought a necklace and a bag. We had spicy nasi goring at a garden restaurant and wandered around a temple before getting the bus back.














Tonight was Kevin and Dawn’s last night. It was sad to say goodbye to them so soon.

The perfect sunset

I could never get sick of the Tanah Lot sunset. It’s incredible to watch the sun sink into the sea behind the temple. Tonight we watched it from one of the scruffy bars selling cocktails out of coconuts up on the cliff.

Golf

We were staying at a golf resort, but this is the nearest we came to golfing.

R&R

Today was spent in a total state of relaxation. Here are some action shots:



















The only exertion all day was to drag ourselves to the restaurant and decide on the 6 ingredients for the build-your-own salad. We all had these everyday and they always sparked conversations about how many possible combinations there would be and whether they would allow us to order 6 meats and no salad. Technically you should be able to. The null set was always an option too.

Back to Tanah Lot

We were so pleased to get back to the luxury of the Meridien (or Lee Meridien as they all call it here). Despite our bedraggled appearance, we checked in with as much dignity as we could muster. We didn't realize until later that David had a huge tear in the backside of his trousers.

We met Dawn and Kevin for cocktails by that pool an hour later to exchange adventure stories.

The rest of the descent

PHOTOS

The climb down was slow, but the views were beautiful as we were still well above the clouds. At one point, I came across a fire one of the guides had lit just for the fun of it. It rose up blocking my path and then died down a bit and I skirted around it. The guy had left it. Why did he build the fire? Why had he left it? What is it about Indonesia and fire? I noticed that last year too.

When we descended into the forest, the path got worse. In fact, I wouldn’t actually go as far as to call it a path at all. More of a mud slide. In the dark we hadn’t seen how badly eroded it was. It was so slippery and I fell so many times either on losse gravel, slippery mud, wet leaves or exposed tree roots. I haven’t had this many cuts and bruises since the Pogues concert in Nagoya last year

We had been going for 3 hours and we were still only half way there. I never imagined that it would take as long to descend as it had to climb, but I didn’t anticipate the path being this bad. We have been spoiled by beautifully maintained trails in Japan, clearly marked and with enough ropes, ladders and steps to make the steeper bits safe. The walk should have been organized as a 2 day one really with a camp near the top. 12 hours almost continuous walking was tough, even for seasoned hikers.

As we neared the village we started to pass thatched houses, tethered bullocks and marigold fields. We were looking forward to the last gentle stretch, but our guide (who had been miles ahead of us the entire time) appeared and asked us if we wanted a short cut. At least, that’s what we thought he said (his English was very limited). Now I’m thinking he must have said “How about walking straight down the slippery valley at a 50 degree angle and up again for the last half an hour?” because that’s exactly what we did. Ouch. My legs ache again just thinking about that last bit.

At the car, kids descended on us to sell post cards and I wasn’t in the mood. After a quick wash with a pile of wet wipes, we said goodbye to our guide and were driven away for lunch at one of those huge places full of tourists that we had carefully avoided last year. We were too tired to protest and resigned ourselves to a buffet of bland vegetables, cold noodles and cut fruit with hovering flies on it. As we got there, they were replenishing the rice and noodles and it turned out to be very good and spicy. We gobbled it down. It had been a while since our last proper meal.

It was a 2 hour drive back to Tana Lot Meridien and I was worried that our driver would fall asleep as he had been up the whole night climbing too. I tried my hardest to stay awake and keep an eye on the road, but I kept dozing off, waking with a jolt every time my head fell backwards.

And down again

Video clip near the top

We had been promised breakfast and I was absolutely starving. Arata gave us each a Tupperware with a couple of cold banana toasties and some cheese, egg and onion sandwiches. No tea! I was very disappointed. I was fantasizing about a cup of tea all the way up. We didn’t hang about for long as it was cold and we were keen to get on with it as we knew it would be a difficult descent.

The first part was tough because of all the loose stones on top of the large rocks which made the path very slippery. I didn’t fancy falling down the steep slope of the volcano, so I took it slow and steady. Arata made phonecalls all the way down to his “friends”. The conversations went like this:

Arata (cheerfully): Good Morning!
“Friend”: Morning. Who’s that?
Arata: Arata
Friend: Who?
Arata: Arata. From Bali.
Friend: Oh hi.
Arata: Did I wake you?
Friend: yeah, it’s only ##am!
Arata: Oh, sorry. I forgot about the time difference. I have just climbed Guning Agung!
Friend: What’s that?
Arata: Gunung Agung, Bali’s highest mountain.

And so on. Repeat 5 or 6 times.

I heard the other side of the conversation as for some reason the annoying git had his mobile on speaker phone!

From the top of Bali

360 video from the top of Gunug Agung, the highest mountain in Bali, at sunrise.

Climbing up

The first hour took us gradually up through coffee plantations, past barking dogs and parts of the temple complex. We took a quick break and I went off into the bushes to answer the call of nature. I heard some rustling and saw 2 sets of glowing eyes moving up and down which frightened the life out of me. Then I heard a loud “Moooooo”. Bullocks, not monsters.

Onwards and upwards through the beautiful jungle for three hours on a very steep path. There was lots of scrambling and grabbing of exposed tree roots in order to get up. We barely stopped, yet I felt we were making very slow progress. I felt sick which was hardly surprising: I was slightly hung over, it was the middle of the night, I had had no sleep since the night before and my last meal had been a Krispy Kreme doughnut 8 hours ago. I stopped and ate a bun which helped.

At last, we came out of the forest and began the climb over steep rocks and boulders covered with graffiti. Who has the energy to vandalize rocks up there? It was a tough climb. A few times I felt like turning back. No one would know… We kept going and finally after about 6 hours, we reached the final ridge to the peak. At that point David’s head torch died. It was still dark so we stayed close together using just my light. Suddenly we were at the top and had about an hour to wait until sunrise. A very cold hour. It was freezing and really windy. We could see Rinjani on the island of Lombok in the distance. We were up that peak almost exactly a year ago to the day. This time, the weather was perfect. We watched the sunrise, took pictures, chatted to some of the other hikers – another 6 lunatics apart from us had climbed that night.

Photos HERE

Dogs a 'howlin

This is how we started the hike:

Getting ready to climb a mountain

At 9pm we went back to the MBA office to meet our driver (Arata) and head to Besakih temple where our climb would begin at around 11.30pm. We stopped at a mini-mart on the way to get some food, but didn’t find much. Some Ritz crackers, water, chocolate, a few sweet buns and a couple of apples. Pretty pathetic. When we go hiking in Japan we are well stocked with sandwiches, nuts, fresh and dried fruit and a flask of tea. This would have to do. We drove for about 2 hours and parked the car in the deserted carpark next to Besakih temple. It looked really creepy in the dark. All the village dogs were out howling and barking. It was a beautiful clear night and we could see the stars really clearly and even the Milky Way!

Our local guide Yeman- arrived, we shook hands and got ready to go. Arata decided to come with us as he had never climbed the volcano from that side before. Most people choose the easier path from a place called Selat. We wanted the maximum challenge (are we mad? What is wrong with us?!) Gunung Agung is the highest mountain on Bali and is said to be 3142m, although it may be a bit lower than this as I don’t think it has been measured since it last erupted in 1963. The starting point is around 1000m so the climb is a steep one, up and down around 2000m in one go. We have only ever done this a couple times in the past: Mount Fuji and Mount Kinabalu in Borneo. On each of these occasions, our legs hurt for days afterwards. I still wanted to do this one. Why? Because it is there? For the challenge? For the photo opportunities? For the experience? So that I can lounge around Le Meridien for the rest of the week feeling like I’d earned it? A bit of all of these reasons I suppose. Also for a bit of closure. Last year we climbed Mt. Rinjani on the neighboring island of Lombok. From there we looked over and saw Gunung Agung and I now wanted to do it the other way around.

Kuta

Today we all took the free hotel shuttle bus to Kuta. I haven’t heard many good things about Kuta. I’d heard it was an overdeveloped, low cost tourist spot and I have managed to stay clear of it on both my previous trips to Bali. So why go today? Well, we wanted to climb a mountain and needed to find a tour company to arrange a driver and a guide for us and we were certain this could be done in Kuta. Kevin wanted to arrange a mountain biking trip too, so the first thing we did when we got to Kuta was to sort all this out. We found a company called MBA who seemed professional and competent and made all the arrangements. We were to hike that night. Kevin was biking the following morning.

Kuta was OK. Yes, every building was a hotel, restaurant or shop serving the needs of the foreign tourist, but it was quite tastefully done. I still think we are better off at Tana Lot however as it was a bit noisy. We had nasi goreng for lunch, found the beach and the mall for a bit of a wander (and a donut!) and then said goodbye to Dawn and Kevin who were going back to the hotel. We had a few hours to kill before we would be picked up to drive to the start of our trail and spent them in a massage spa. Hard life.

Dawn and Kevin!

Kevin and Dawn arrived today from Abu Dhabi. Dawn and I have been planning this joint holiday for months, no years! Kevin and David seemed fine with letting us get on with the arrangements. It was absolutely wonderful to see them for 5 days of banter, activities, cocktails, dinners and even the hatchings of a screen play!

On to Bali

We would be back in Taipei in 8 days time, but first, on to Bali.

Today was 5 star all the way. A smart air-conditioned car to the airport and upgrade to business class started the day off very well. A four and a half hour flight, a smooth landing in Denpasar and a driver waiting for us the other end to whisk us to the Meridien in a smart jeep. I remembered the first time we drove into the grounds of the Meridien with our driver Goody last year on spec for our last night in Bali. This year we were booked in for the week. We walked up the red carpet to reception while musicians played giant wooden xylophones. At reception we were greeted with garlands, a cold towel and a juice as we checked in. I was so excited to be back.

Culinary Taipei

One of the benefits of having local guides is that you get to try really interesting local food. Vivien and Dino really took us on an interesting culinary tour of Taipei on our first night. We tried the famous flour noodles in broth first. We joined the dozens of locals on the pavement outside and ate the noodle soup standing up (the thing to do). Next we tried BBQ chicken Taipei style, veggies, tofu, Chinese sausage and fishcake from a different street café. In case this wasn’t enough we got big mango juices from a street stand. I had noticed lots of trendy bars in the vicinity, but we soon discovered that they are actually tea shops. I tried a black tea this time with “pearls”. The pearls are tapioca balls and you suck them up through a straw. Interesting experience! I ordered a “small” one, but it was probably the biggest tea I had ever had – it came in a pint glass! We staggered home around 11 with full bellies. What a good start to the holiday!