Taiwan Spring

Guy has been working in Taiwan for 15 months now and this has given us the reason to explore a totally new culture.
We flew out of Toulouse at 5 in the evening to arrive in Istanbul at 2 am Turkish time.  We were served with a main meal on the plane so we were taken aback when, on the flight from Istanbul to Taipei, at approximately 5.30 am Turkish time, we were given another dinner!  And, of course we had breakfast about 6 hours later.  Sleeping was difficult but on landing at Taipei airport it was 6 in the evening.  It was lovely to be met at the airport by Guy and his girlfriend Lucy who we took to immediately.

Our first day, Sunday, was taken easily, acclimatising ourselves to the metro, the numerous and frequent buses, the traffic, the shops and the food.

As you can see scooters are everywhere,

 As are the tea and coffee shops.  But it is nothing like the tea that we drink; it's made into a long weak drink in which tea is mixed with many other ingredients, drunk hot or cold, at any time of the day or night.
In the afternoon we wandered into the grounds of the main University in Taipei where it was calm and peaceful and full of flowering shrubs.  We had arrived just in time to see the Azaleas in flower.  There had been a month long Azalea festival for all of March.

Monday we were left to our own devices and went into Taipei city centre to take one of the sight-seeing buses so that we could orientate ourselves.   We took the opportunity to hop off the bus to see the Chang-kei Shek Memorial Palace.

 

There's the Mausoleum, huge open parade area and the National Theatre on the site as well as gardens.  It was packed with people and Sue struggled to watch the ceremonial changing of the guard which happens every hour.

That's Sue in the black! Guy met us from work and, after a meal, took us on a march through some of the old streets down to the river.

Guy was able to have Tuesday afternoon free and he took us to Yinnge, a suburb of Taipei which is famous for its pottery.  We went into the Ceramics Museum and then strolled down the 'Old Street' which is lined with tourist shops.  

We dutifully bought a couple of small vases !!

On Wednesday, Guy was again free in the afternoon and took us to the Expo Gardens so Sue could have a plant fix.  This was followed by a temple visit.  There are lots of temples in Taiwan, large and small, all incredibly ornate and colourful.

The next day Sue and I went again into Taipei and did another sight-seeing bus for a different part of the city before we met Guy and Lucy for a meal.  This involved another route-march to find a suitable restaurant!

By Friday we needed a quiet day to recover from the buses, metros, walking and hunts for restaurants.  However Sue wanted to go back to the pottery street as she had seen a vase for flower arranging but when we found it again, she then decided it was too expensive.

The weekend was a long holiday as Monday was Children's Day and Tuesday was Tomb Sweeping Day and Guy had organised a trip over to the east coast of Taiwan so that we could experience the wilder part of the island.  Lucy's aunt had got us some train tickets (which are in great demand for a holiday weekend) so that we were able to sit for the 4 hour journey.  Guy and Lucy had booked us all into a guest house, and laid on a car with driver for 2 days to take us into the National parks and the coast.
The guest house gave us a lot of amusement as we had a four-posted bed and everywhere was decorated with fluffy toys, shell pictures and plastic flower arrangements.

We really enjoyed seeing the 'wild' Taiwan; boringly Sue and I were continually stopping to look at the, to us, exotic vegetation, a lot of which we only know as house-plants!  Also, as I am interested in Bonsai, I couldn't get over seeing the streets lined with trees and shrubs styled and trained in classic shapes.

One memorable experience was a meal we had in a restaurant on the quayside of a small fishing port.  It was an old warehouse and it still looked like it!

Sue was rather dubious about the whole experience but when the food came up (very rapidly) it was a fantastic meal of fresh fish.  You can't judge a book by its cover!

We went back to Guy's flat on Tuesday evening and so Wednesday was a bit of a rest ... and retail therapy.  Very near to where Guy lives in Sanxia is a famous/touristy 'Old street' lined with small shops.  And I was delighted to find a shop selling all materials for Chinese calligraphy (which is my latest enthusiasm!)

The Thursday we girded our loins for the journey, (bus, metro, bus) to go to the National Palace which is a must-see destination for artifacts from the whole of Chinese history!  And we had to see the most famous object which is a jade cabbage, displayed in a cabinet in its own room with orderly queues to see it.

In the evening we joined up with Guy and Lucy who wanted to take us for a special meal for our birthdays.  We were taken to a very nice Japanese restaurant where we had a really good meal and were presented with a 'happy birthday' scroll.

The next day we treated ourselves and went to the Botanical Garden in Taipei.

 

This was made memorable with the number of people who helped us get around. Firstly an old lady, with virtually no English, looked at our map and then took us about 2km to our destination.  Then we couldn't find the entrance because of building works and another lady who did speak English took us to find our way in.  On leaving we were undecided on the right way to the metro station and a young girl stopped and then took us there.

The evening was special as we went with Guy and Lucy for a meal in a Chinese restaurant with Lucy's parents and her sister.

 

We speak no Chinese and Lucy's family speak no English so conversation wasn't too easy as everything went via Guy and Lucy.  (Guy is learning Mandarin and can hold simple conversations).  Lucy's mum teaches the Chinese tea ceremony and we had an impromptu lesson.

The last weekend, and on the Saturday we went with Guy and Lucy to a National park about an hour north of Taipei.  So, more hiking, lots of flowers and sulphurous steam activity from an old volcano!

We returned home on Sunday; our flight left Taipei airport at 9 pm.

 

Home on Monday 2pm French time, after 26 hours door to door!

A lovely holiday with Guy, good to meet Lucy, an interesting culture and different food experiences.  We can see why they say that Taiwan is a great country for expats!