Coming Home to Taiwan!

你好 Nǐ hǎo .....    from the Wandering Berkmans! 

Taipei-- how I've missed you!  From the moment we left the airport and travelled down the highway, all the memories came flooding back.  The lush forests everywhere, the incredibly ornate temples, the Grand Hotel! Javi grabbed a suitable Spotify playlist for that first trip from the airport, always one of our favorite parts of being in a new city.  Grab the playlist here and listen along as we traipse through Taipei!

We arrived at the impressive Longshan Temple just in time for the end of a daily chanting ceremony.  This blogger did an exhaustive job of covering the typical experience here. 

We're staying in Beitou (bay-TOH), in the northern part of Taipei City, and in an area with a history of being the place to go to take in the natural hot springs.  One of our first nights here we spent a couple of hours at the local public springs and it was a unique experience.  We give all those older people kudos for being able to stay in that 45 degree Celsius water! (That's 113 Fahrenheit for we stubborn Imperial System holdouts).     At the museum nearby, we opted for the AI version of the indoor baths of years gone by.  

The interior of the museum also features this beautiful room for relaxing.  No shoes allowed but slippers are provided.  Don's fit just 2/3 over of his foot.  

This apartment building, Tao Zhu Yin Yuan, blew our minds for its DNA-inspired design.  Kudos to my mom and her mad YouTube skills for telling us about this place!

Taipei 101 (on the right)  was the largest building in the world for only 6 years.  Now it's content to be a beautiful beacon in the skyline, with colors changing nightly, and the location for New Year's Eve fireworks.  

The 'do on this Chow Chow stopped us in our tracks! 

I love a good jasmine green tea but was looking forward to an oolong tea tasting here at Lin Mao Sen Tea Co, a tea company that has been around since 1883.  We asked for a tasting but were told "meh" basically and maybe you want to try my uncle's place next door?   He let in on a family feud that split the company up-- his place was Pinterest lovely to look at but the aunties next door offered us tea and a tour of the backrooms where the tea drying magic is done.   Decidedly less Pinterest-looking space but we walked out with a great experience and a delicious jasmine green.  I think we won (:

This isn't the only space where we've seen older women practicing dance moves with tunes in public.  This group, outside our modern metro building, had it going on. 

Not to be outdone, Don joined in with a decidedly older group of locals who took part in a 5 PM stretching and tai chi routine in the lovely Da'an Park.  A woman some distance away with a mic led the charge as the participants spread out over the park to limber up.   

Tamsui, on the north west coast of Taiwan and only 15 minutes away on the metro, has become our go-to spot when the weather is nice and we want to ride bikes or be by the water. 

Also seen on the promenade in Tamsui, a number of older ladies taken to Karaoke.  This particular woman had her own videographer.   We had the pleasure of being seated in front of her as she sang song after song, lyrics on her phone, with her companion recording the entire concert.  I may be this type of singing diva one day.    

The weather forecasts here seem to be notoriously misguided, at least with the apps we're using.  Nice that every metro station has this umbrella share program where you can rent out an umbrella and then return it at another station when the rain lets up.  

Mask wearing is still big here and we buy right into it, using them in the metro, stores and anywhere indoors where there are a lot of people.  Why not keep from getting a cold, we figure.  This ad for colored contact lenses (match your mask to your eyes, maybe?) stood out to me.

We love a good hike and this one in the mountains near us promised a temple or two along the way.  Little did we know it would involve climbing numerous steep hills with the aide of a rope...

.... and some housekeeping!  Brooms are left along  the path to keep the area well cared for for the next hiker.  Don did his part for the common good. 

Promised temple!  This one was built into a huge boulder.

One thing I've noticed after being away from Taipei for 50 years (yeow!) is the amount of construction going on, especially of modern apartment buildings.  Here is the Da'an Park metro station with what looks like a matching apartment building on the right.  The glass in front gave it a cool, deconstructed look.  

Something that hasn't change-- the preponderance of squat toilets.  Even in newer facilities there is always the option of a squat toilet, with an indicator on the door showing the type of toilet inside.  In the older bathrooms, it is usually the dominant option so one can only avoid them for so long.  Let's just say, thank goodness for the bars on the wall.   Keep doing those yoga squats! 

While cafes aren't as big here as they were in Seoul, we went out of our way to this one, Walk Cafe, because of the promise of feline extraordinaire Judy.  Pay no attention to her RBF-- she loved Don, as all cats do.  

The stunning Grand Hotel, where my siblings and I would go to watch movies in English on the weekends.  Maybe we went just once, who knows, but this place is so beautiful the memory sticks.  We returned there for a drink for my birthday last month and by subversively exploring the back hallways and nether regions of the hotel (that Don and Javi influence!) we found there there are underground passages built for the speedy escape or protection of the many dignitaries and world leaders who visited and still visit this amazing hotel.  We were planning on taking a tour of the passages but after the recent earthquake um... we think a nice cat cafe instead.

Taiwan, called the San Francisco of the East,  is high on our list for its LGBTQ+  legal protections and overall inclusion.  So much more than just a rainbow crosswalk in the Ximending district but we're not above a good tourist shot.

Our local park is amazing-- beautiful greenery, trees galore, streams, playgrounds, badminton courts, a fabulous outdoor gym.  And after you enjoy all that (which we have done many times so far), take in a foot bath.  While some might balk at this, we were game.  (Don't worry-- it's cleaned everyday. See Javi and I in the middle of it all.).  The water was so hot that after about 20 minutes your legs are a nice shade of dark pink.  I couldn't handle the heat-- kudos to all the resilient (mostly older) people walking around with pink legs.  

Foot bath not your thing?  Then this hot hand bath may be the ticket.

Speaking of heat, the heat and humidity have wavered from day to day-- I'm not a fan of it but Don loves it... as do the orchids everywhere! We saw a woman tending to these and others attached to trees in a local park. 

An after dinner stroll in our neighborhood brought us to this stunning temple tucked away on a hill.  Don't be alarmed by the approaching "guard dog" bottom left-- she was a mush.  

We have plans to hit the out of this world Taipei Performing Arts Center, if for no other reason than to just explore this crazy building!

So this is the part were we normally rave about the food.  This time, we're kinda just "meh".  oh my... admittedly when Javi was here (they've since returned to 

Seattle-- we miss you!)  we were all just missing Korean food and the night market fare everyone raves about is largely very fried and greasy.  Zach arrives this week (yay!), armed with a list of local delicacies he aims to try.  Perhaps with his guidance we'll find more things we can enjoy.  Until then, the eats so far have included...

... braised chicken and duck.  None of us were enthused--the side dishes of turnips, eggplant and cucumber salad were better.  Kinda like Thanksgiving!

We wasted no time in getting bubble tea... and it's our bev of choice most days, especially when you can find it in just about every third shop in our area.  

We've come to love mantou and all the many flavors it comes in, especially green onion (the swirly one) and Don's fav... wait for it.. red bean!  It's a little sweet and it's lactose free-- the perfect "D" (dessert)!   The face on him here?  We bought these first mantou on the street and weren't 100 percent sure they were ready to eat.  Do we have to cook them, we went back and asked the vendor.  Oh boy did we make her day-- we can only imagine the story she told her family that night.  

Take us out to the ballgame, take us out to the crowd!  Buy us some ... roasted sweet potato and inari sushi! Both procured at a nearby 7-11 before the game.  (See more about the game at the end of this post.)

Ohhh boy were we taken here.  Looked and smelled safe enough-- what could go wrong with tofu and kimchii?? Turns out our sniffers were not up to snuff, so to speak, because when we bit into this stinky tofu, we couldn't give it to the birds fast enough.  This, of course, features highly on Zach's "must eat" list.  

Looks odd, tastes great!  Ichigo Daifuku,  strawberry covered in black sesame paste (can also be red bean paste) and covered in mochi, had Don dancing in the streets.

Like in Seoul, finding bread without milk has been difficult for the bread-loving Berkman so when we came upon this vegan bakery we bought out the place.  Here's just a wee portion of our stash.  You know you're desperate when you also buy a bag of assorted day-old breads without knowing what kinds are inside.  The surprises have been fun!

Ok I did love this!  It was a mixture of soy milk, boba, taro root, tofu, some type of jelly.  Oy vey my wheelhouse.  

My other wheelhouse-- on Old Dihua Road, the oldest street in Taiwan, one can buy all manner of dried fruits, vegs, fish, herbs etc.  These freeze-dried figs (left) are like the astronaut meals we remember as kids but actually tasty.  That along with the dried ginger (right) have been my yogurt topping staples.  

Maybe I do like the food here!  Although this one I made with Javi and keep making it for myself.  Soft tofu with peanut sauce and chives.  Eat it with a spoon and live your best life.  

 

Buffets abound and while it's an "eat and dash" lunch in usually less than picturesque locales  the food is remarkably delish.  Here I chose 3 different forms of tofu, eggplant, greens and black rice.  Not too shabby!

Jack!  When we had a stopover in Taipei back in 2019 we hired the phenomenal tour guide Jack to drive us through my memory lane-- my old home, the Grand Hotel, Mongolian BBQ, my old school.  It was a fantastic, whirlwind 5 hours that we will never forget, largely because Jack was such a wonderful guide and good sport.  When he convinced the guard at my old school to let us in after hours we knew we were working with greatness! 

We're so fortunate to have been able to meet up with Jack again during this visit. Generous Jack treated us to a beautiful afternoon tea at South Street 

Delight Tea House , complete with snacks like pineapple cake, walnut cake, and Don's favorites-- dried black beans and little green pea vegan cookies.  Really!

This post's Slice of Life includes us!   The Taipei Dome just opened in December of 2023 and its egg-shaped self is a sight to behold,  taking up a city block near Taipei 101.  We took in a baseball game between the local teams Brothers and the Rakuten Monkeys .  No security to get in, everyone brought their own food, no brawls or rude fans, just a ton of singing and dancing as we followed along with the two very enthusiastic fan bases and cheerleaders. Oh yeah, and we watched an exciting game! From this video (click here) you can see we made some friends that night, especially Fan Numero Uno in front of us.

Less than 48 hours before Zach's arrival and we're resting up-- that intrepid traveler has us planned to be on the move 24/7, including a 4 day visit to Hong Kong.  Life is good. (: 

Be well, all, and thanks for following along!

Don and Monica