Hello, Taipei 台北你好

Alleyway in Taipei
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Taipei City (台北市 pinyin: Táiběishì) is the capital of Taiwan, and its largest and most dynamic city. Unknown to many Americans or Canadians, many famous people and commonplace itesm trace their origins to Taiwan, for example: boba/bubble tea/pearl tea (珍珠奶茶 zhēnzhū nǎichá), Ang Lee (director of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain), Connie Chung, etc.

We flew to Taipei in what seemed like a scene from a movie: the enormous 747 jet was completely empty. Honestly, I would guess there were maybe 15 people on the plane altogether. I slept on the flight stretched out across the entire middle row of seats, and most other people did, too.

Taipei Grand Hotel
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Normally (obviously) flights weren't like this - we just happened to go to Taiwan smack in the middle of the SARS epidemic that was ravaging Guangdong, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand. Taiwan was not yet on the "no-go list" because there had not been any major outbreaks, so we decided, why not go when it's super cheap?

We arrived at the airport and hired a taxi to take us to our hotel. The ride into Taipei City was really interesting for me. I'd been to mainland China many years before so I had been exposed to poverty before, but what I saw in Taiwan was something new. I was suprised to see that (even thought Taiwan is a very advanced and developed country especially by Asian standards) the highrise apartment buildings all looked very shoddy, run-down. In actuality, these buildings are not at all slum housing, they just look so run-down because (like elsewhere in Southeast Asia) the combined effects of constant humidity and the monsoon season make mold grow on buildings so quickly, so that they look deteriorated and old within a year of construction (and then owners just give up trying to clean the buildings every year). For some reason, I found this really appealing, even though most people would say it's really ugly.

We arrived at our hotel - the Taipei Grand Hotel (圓山大飯店 Yuánshān Dà Fàndiàn). Normally this enormous landmark of classical Chinese architecture is only frequented by wealthy businessmen, foreign dignitaries, presidents and such. However, because of (or thanks to?) SARS, the hotel was incredibly cheap - around US $80 per night.

    We started out by visiting the Martyr's Shrine, a few km down the road from the Grand Hotel. The Martyr's Shrine in Chungshan District (中山區 Zhōngshānqū) is a memorial to those who died in the struggle for the establishment of the Republic of China. There is a large altar in the center of the complex with a portrait of Sun Yat-Sen (孫逸仙 Sūn Yìxiān), the founder of the Republic of China. The complex is very peaceful, and is great for fans of Chinese architecture.