Cherry blossoms and chocolate cake

I start to think that I am repeating myself but: it is sooo COLD! It is unbelievable! HK 10C by day; and even colder at night (I am so happy I brought a sleeping bag from Oslo!) … and everyone keeps telling me it should be warmer! Apparently temperatures dropped here on Sunday by 11C in just one hour –ok, the climate is (supposed to be) tropical, it gets dark soon and day and night time temperatures vary a lot, but 11C? Fortunately, I was not here but in Taipei, where it was MUCH warmer (although Taipei is further north, as most of you might know), which brings me to my next topic: Taiwan, another little island, but again very different.

We decided to go for the weekend on Tuesday since we found flights for only 1100 HKD on Zuji which is about to turn into my favorite website. Pretty cheap I would say but if I would go for that factor in every busing decision I would be broke right now and sitting here with tens of pairs of shoes and a pile of nice clothes. Fact is: Taiwan was on the top of my list of places I really want to see- and though “listing” sounds again typically like the over-organized me, it is necessary since there are so many great, unexplored places close by!

I went with two Americans, Margot from Tulane University and Mike (University of Maryland), on the last flight at midnight on Thursday: brand new plane of Air China- I recommend it!Everyone with little backpacks we got to Taipei at 2ish and found crazy taxi driver: he was not really driving a taxi but a black Mercedes but he was 300 NT cheaper than the “real” version. He drove us for 900NT (divide by 38 to get euros) into Taipei in an hour. First impression: trucks have little light chains in the rear which blink in all colors of the rainbow (weird?); the city is huge and consists of a lot of old dirty buildings- so wrong! As it turned out in the next three days: Taipei is amazing!

To give you a short summary: Taipei is not Taiwan, which is renowned for its great landscapes and national parks (most of which are located in the south of the island) but it is a nice, modern city with a lot of street markets and temples but also huge shopping malls and the tallest building of the world (Taipei 101) – all of which we managed to capture hopefully some sort of an impression: Taiwan is something between east and west –that goes for the economy and politics- but it is confusing –open and nationalist at the same time. Re-inventing itself and conservative, afraid?

Friday was spent seeing the Chiang Kai-chek Memorial* and the surrounding governmental buildings as well as visiting the Luoshang temple and the nearby night market with the snake alley. A lot of time went into finding our way around- most signs are in Mandarin and occasional English street signs are sometimes very confusing- that was the first time I realized how much attention I do actually pay to all the signs around me! People are however helpful and friendly although most do not speak English – and my Mandarin is really far too basic to understand anything of practical importance! (I really have to work on that…)Also, we had to change hostels and after some calls found one in Zhongshan- the place was owned by a Mexican guy and full of Mexicans and (U.S./Irish) hippies teaching English in Taiwan who had lived there for months! The showers were on the balcony and there was a crazy little cat running all around the place… it was kind of fun (but only for three days thank you).

Saturday we went north out of Taipei to the Yangmingshang National Park. The journey took ages- first with the MRT and then a bus, which was so full I was almost standing outside- no wonder, since the weather was great and it is the flower season in Taiwan and everything is blossoming. We climbed Mt. Cisin, with 1120m the highest peak of Northern Taiwan (4700 steps up and a bit less down). It is an old volcano with sulfur and steam streaming out at some points of the flanks. After our daily exercise we took a bus to Beitou and went to the (public) hot springs: relaying in hot thermal water under a clear sky with starts -perfect! The pools had water with different temperatures as well as cold pools- and no tourists! (it was the cheapest place ever: 45 NT entry and 50 NT for a towel).
On the way back into the city we spotted crowds of people near one MRT (mass rapid transport) station and just decided ad hoc to jump out of the train- it was the Jiantan night market which stretches for blocks and blocks selling everything from shoes and clothing to pets and great food. Street food in Taipei is by the way a must: I tried omelet with bird eggs, buns with onions and meat inside, caramel strawberries, sweet bean cakes, fresh lime and cherry juice. The best food ever! (“normal” Taiwan food is pretty much the same as HK food… i.e. not the best ever…)

Sunday was dedicated to the National Palace Museum**: if any museum, this is one to see! The oldest pieces date back to China in 6000 B.C. - the collections are unique covering Chinese and Asian history very comprehensively. Due to restoration of the building, we (un)fortunately managed to only see part of everything –that took already almost the whole day. After that we went to Taipei 101- the tallest building in the world- no comment! In the evening we walked around town trying to find an open club- but had to settle for a lounge bar (also nice) where I –of course- met some nice German guys…

Off to the airport at 5 a.m. and straight to class--- where I noticed I had forgotten to do two homework assignments… oops! Worked all afternoon in catching up on school and then fell into my (cold) bed; today the same and I should be studying right now as well- am as you can see avoiding this at all cost (but I guess writing a blog entry is more efficient than just ”hanging out”). Overall I had again a great weekend: it was the first time I traveled with only Americans, which was an experience as such –different expectations, “tourist” behavior, daily rhythm (I usually get up much earlier…)… We had some nice conversations about the usual topics –American culture***, love, life etc. and –unusually-religion.
Now it is time to stay here for a while, see some more of HK before it gets too hot (which is hopefully soon) and end the holiday bubble for at least sometime- do some studying and schoolwork just to pass my midterms (one this week, two next week), do sports, write job applications and look for some internship around here.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything... ? Pictures to follow!

* Chiang Kai-chek ruled Taiwan (Republic of China), a repressive and authoritarian single-party state, from 1948 to 1975; the memorial was opened in the 80s. Chian Kai-chek unified China as leader of the Kuomintang after the Northern Expedition in 1926. He led China in the war against Japan 1937-45 (Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931, Republic in Nanjing) but was defeated by Mao and the communist People’s Liberation Army in the Chinese civil war (1926-49) and retreated to Taiwan.

** The museum was founded in 1925 in Beijing as the Palace Museum administering the Ch’ing Imperial collection most pieces of which were from the Sung, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Upon the Japanese invasion the collection was first transferred to Shanghai and Nanking, and in the civil war later transported to “safety” in Taiwan.

I hope this historical info is somehow in its compressed version accurate; I do not want to spread too much propaganda, exposure to which is very hard to avoid while being in Taiwan as a tourist. Please enlighten me!

*** Yes, I said “American culture”, whatever culture means in the context I leave up to the reader. I am learning more and more about some subtleties I did not understand previously – Americans of Chinese origin can call themselves “Twinkies”, “bananas” (yellow outside, white inside) and FOBs (fresh off the boat) or whatever, but we have to call them ABCs (American born Chinese)… interesting. And of course learning some slang words and about college life that I am apparently unaware off since I am perceived as “26-years old, wise, organized, the momma”…. And now I can blow hubbabubba to be so large as to cover my entire face as it bursts! *smile*