Taiwan Observations, One Year Later

Our new view

We've now lived in Taiwan for just over a year and things are looking better than ever. We recently moved into our dream apartment, with cable and air-conditioning, in a building with a karaoke room and fitness center, and our Chinese is coming along steadily, slowly but surely.

Though we've always been happy in Taiwan, it's taken us a year to feel comfortable here (though, especially with the language barrier, we're aware that comfort possesses many variants). And, to celebrate both our newly achieved comfort as well as this 1-year anniversary, I wanted to highlight some of my thoughts and observations from this past year.

Number one on this list is how amazingly friendly Taiwan's people are and how this observation cannot be overstated. Although, when one first says a place is friendly, one may picture something akin to Mayberry, with smiling strangers and neighborly hellos, but this is not the type of friendliness that I've found in Taiwan. Taiwan's friendliness is of a different breed.

An example might be the apologies that are constantly being made by locals for not speaking English, as though they're supposed to know it. Or, if you're identified as someone who speaks English, having locals approach you with requests for tutoring or being engaged by strangers in bizarre small talk just so they can practice their English.

Husband was recently riding his bike home from work when some stranger driving passed him forced him to stop so she could practice her English, along with requesting Husband's tutoring services. (Because all English speakers are tutors here.) I remember once, in Seattle, someone driving passed me while I was on my bicycle trying to stop me, but that was because he wanted to beat me up for riding my bike and not because he wanted to engage in friendly chitchat or to request any services I may have been able to provide him. In the States, and in the UK, there are people who consider it a personal insult if you commute via bicycle.

Which brings me to my second example of Taiwan friendliness, the drivers. Drivers here are patient and considerate. When the concept of road rage is introduced in conversations it is met with confusion and disbelief (as it should be). Drivers will usually provide pedestrians and bicyclists ample room and are usually on the lookout for them (except, inexplicably, when opening their car doors). Driving is typically slow here, to allow for the odd pulling out or random stopping and, though I'm often irritated by the drivers because of their slowness / randomness, I definitely respect their patience and appreciate their consideration.

temple in Tainan

Another example of the friendliness of the locals takes place when friendliness matters the most, after an accident. A friend of ours was involved in a minor scooter accident when a random witness ran over to help her. Once it was determined that she was okay, the person just kept apologizing on behalf of Taiwan. "Taiwan is sorry," was the repeated refrain. Similarly, there was a horrible and tragic accident involving a color party and explosion in Taipei earlier this year where someone in Husband's training cohort was badly injured. Pages dedicated to his recovery on Facebook and GoFundMe are littered with locals apologizing on behalf of Taiwan. "Taiwan is sorry." It's a lovely sentiment and one that I've never heard anywhere else. It's a distinct breed of friendliness when random, uninvolved people apologize on behalf of their country.

Other observations I've made relate to an article I recently saw discussing the South Korean belief that electric fans will cause their death if employed while sleeping and comparing this notion to the American belief that you have to wait an hour after eating before swimming or risk crippling stomach cramps which will result in your drowning. Both of these are apparently cultural quirks, unsupported by science yet perpetuated by society. Over this past year I've made some similar observations, identifying at least one additional American case and a few of Taiwanese origin.

Tainan

The American case involves my recent discovery that locking my knees, a fear I've possessed since childhood, will most likely not cause my death. Though this fear has never really caused me any problems, besides the occasional semi-embarrassing conniption, it has caused a lifelong obsession with and hyperawareness of the status of my knees.

It was actually one of these semi-embarrassing conniptions, occurring at my first yoga class here, which resulted in this discovery. The instructor came over to adjust my stance by physically pushing my knee into a locked position. Because of my fear, it was not an easy correction for her to make. We silently fought a battle of strength and will and, eventually, she gave up (most likely due to time constraints as well as the trapped animal sounds I may have been making). But, she has been vigilant with these corrections and it has caused me quite a lot of mental and physical discomfort.

Talking with one of my local friends about these repeated corrections and my fear of passing out / death as a consequence of the instructor locking my knees, I was met with confusion. My friend had never heard of this "locking knees" malarkey. After some research, I am now aware that this fear is bologna and I have been working very hard at overcoming it. If I don't, I'm now terrified that my instructor will continue with her corrections and the strength she customarily employs to correct my soft knees will be met with my newly weakened will and an over correction may occur. Hyperextension is real, folks. (Right?!)

Another example of cultural misinformation occurred when I went out drinking with a Taiwanese friend. Surprisingly, on this particular occasion, she happened to be abstaining from alcohol. Confused, I asked her why and she said it was because she was on her period. I asked, "What does that have to do with drinking alcohol?" She replied, "You're not supposed to drink alcohol when you're on your period." I have never before, nor since, heard about this belief. I'm not sure if it qualifies as cultural misinformation if only one person believes it but, for these purposes, we'll go ahead and give her the benefit of the doubt and blame society.

Finally, it has been said on more than one occasion here in Taiwan that eating beef makes you angry. One of the few cultural misinformations with an origin story, some people say that this idea was developed as a way to protect the farmers' hardworking animals from becoming dinner. With no similar theory to protect the other farm animals, at least we can all agree that pigs and chickens are nothing but moochers and deserve to be dinner.

2014 Travels

Boardwalk, Atlantic City

In January we traveled to Atlantic City to participate in Yelp's Winter Break, a weekend of entertainment co-organized by Yelp New Jersey and Yelp Philadelphia. It was a fun weekend of scavenger hunting and drinking but, mostly, it was a great way to experience Atlantic City for the first time.

Our weather wasn't the best, but we still got to see some of the famous landmarks from Monopoly and the gorgeous beach.

Someday, hopefully, we'll get to see it in all its summertime glory. But, its wintertime glory wasn't too bad at all.

In February we spent a long weekend in Boston. We did the Freedom Trail. We ate Boston creme pie. We drank Sam Adams beer. We pub crawled.

Boston was cold in February but we still had a great time wandering the city and exploring historically significant locations (including Cheers, pictured).

The Freedom Trail is excellent for the really old, historically significant stuff (not just '80's TV shows, though Cheers is near the start of the trail). Plus, the Trail leaves you in a lovely part of Boston called Charlestown. You should go to Sullivan's Pub for some local color. And watch The Town with Ben Affleck before you get there.

Puerto Rico

In March we went to Puerto Rico for a proper holiday. We scored on a Delta glitch and got roundtrip first class / priority tickets for only US$87 from NYC via ATL.

This trip was amazing for many reasons but mostly because we got to reconnect with old friends who now live there. Also, we want to live in Viejo San Juan. Its colonial charm and friendly locals really made it hard to say goodbye. We'll be back, Viejo San Juan. Promesa.

Playa El Cuco, El Salvador

In May we traveled to El Salvador for a long holiday. We stayed over three weeks at La Tortuga Verde in Playa El Cuco. The picture on the right was our view for the entirety of our stay.

Although El Salvador was slightly dodgy at times, we made some great friends on this trip, had some great experiences, and ate some great food. I can totally see us going back someday.

If you go and stay at La Tortuga Verde, don't miss the All Day Open Water Adventure. Magical. ¡Hay pescado!

The end of June and beginning of July were reserved for visiting family and friends in Utah. We spent the bulk of two weeks in the Salt Lake valley visiting family before venturing on a quintessential road trip to Las Vegas for a long weekend with old friends.

Las Vegas

July also saw us officially becoming expats again. After a night in Long Beach, California, we caught a flight to Manila, Philippines where we survived two nights before landing in Taipei, Taiwan.

We spent over two weeks in Taipei before moving south to Kaohsiung, our new home. Besides a few day trips to Maokong, Danshui, and Yangminshan, we didn't really do much sightseeing again until November.

We had a houseguest from Seattle join us for a week in early November. Besides showing her around Kaohsiung, we took her up to Taipei where, in addition to Maokong, we also traveled to Beitou for the hot springs.

Beitou Hot Springs

We finished the year with an ambitious day trip to Sun Moon Lake.

2014 was an amazing travel year for us. We got to see new places, visit old favorites, and share many of them with friends and family. We hope this foretells a new trend in travel for us. Sharing experiences with those you love is truly one of life's joys.

To all the Travel Bunnies out there, may 2015 bring you good health, happiness and many safe travels.

Sun Moon Lake

Happy Holidays Bunnies!

Husband and I had some British bunnies visiting this month. After they traveled from Taipei to spend a day with us in Kaohsiung, we had hoped to see them again before the end of their vacation. Luckily, between work and holiday commitments, we were able to manage a day trip to Sun Moon Lake. This was our first day trip in Taiwan since our relocation to Kaohsiung back in August. We've been a bit lethargic from the heat so we needed an excuse, like visiting friends, to get us out of our rut.

Sun Moon Lake is an ambitious day trip from Kaohsiung when using public transportation, especially when taking the slow train for part of the journey. The slow train takes nearly 3 hours from Kaohsiung to Taichung but is only NT$482pp. High speed rail takes just less than an hour but costs a premium at NT$860pp. 

To save money, we opted for the 6:00am slow train from Fengshan station in Kaohsiung to Taichung Main station. We arrived in Taichung at 8:51am where we promptly got lost searching for the bus that would take us to our final destination. After a lot of aimless wandering, we finally returned to the train station to receive guidance from the Visitor's Centre. Now armed with precise directions, we walked the 15 minutes to Ganchen Station where we caught the 9:50am bus to Sun Moon Lake.

Some notes for this section:

1. There is no food trolley nor car nor vending machines on the slow train. Bring your own food.
2. If in doubt, always stop at the Visitor's Centre before venturing further.

Ita Thao

The Nantou Bus to Sun Moon Lake is NT$340pp (return) and the schedule says it's a nearly 2 hour ride. For us, it took a bit longer than that. Had we arrived on time, we could've caught the 12:00pm round-the-lake bus (NT$80pp, one-day ticket). Instead, we had to wait nearly 30 minutes for the 12:40pm.

Our friends were staying across the lake, in Ita Thao. A cab from the bus station costs a flat fee of NT$500. Again, to save money, we opted to wait for the bus. It's a nice system but, like most buses outside Taipei, there aren't nearly enough of them. One bus every 40 minutes seems a bit inadequate.

Upon meeting up with our friends, we promptly headed to the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway (NT$300pp). This cable car was a great experience. The price is a bit high, especially when Taipei's gondola to Maokong is only NT$100, but it provides a lovely view of the area and is a quick and easy way to get to the Formosa Aboriginal Cultural Village theme park. The theme park's admission is NT$780pp. We didn't go.

After the gondola ride, we ventured back to Ita Thao for a late lunch / early dinner. After searching for a bit, and salivating at all the street food options, we ended up dining at a Mann Gay Dann indigenous village where we enjoyed a meal of wild boar hotpot and a short performance of indigenous music and dance.

Our plan for the day was derailed at the end when the fog rolled in. We had hoped to catch the ferry back to the bus station but, due to low visibility, the ferries were all cancelled. We then tried to catch one of the last round-the-lake buses. Unfortunately, when we got to the stop, there was a very long line for a very full bus. With limited time to catch the last bus back to Taichung, we grabbed a cab. Fortunately, we found the coolest cab driver in all of Taiwan. 

Neil Zeng is the owner of Yellow Tuna Cab, a private touring company providing taxi tours for all of Taiwan. Neil is incredibly knowledgeable about all things Taiwan and it was an absolute joy to have met him. Even after the disappointment of missing out on a boat ride across the lake, Neil made our taxi ride from Ita Thao to the bus station one of the highlights of our day trip to Sun Moon Lake. 太棒了！

HOT TIP: Don't pay NT$300 for the all-day boat ticket at the ticket booth. Hotels will sell them to you for only NT$100. Boom! You're welcome.

For our return trip, we opted for the higher price but faster speeds of the high speed rail. All told, we traveled for approximately 7 hours for only about 5 quality hours at Sun Moon Lake but, overall, the day was fairly relaxing. The food, amusements, and scenery at Sun Moon Lake made the experience very enjoyable. Even the bad weather was picturesque. And, because we had friends visiting, it was most definitely worth the effort.

For more pictures, please visit my Facebook album.

Two Months in Kaohsiung

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei

Travelin' Bunny is back in business, folks!

Maokong Gondola, Taipei

On May 31, Husband and I began the long trek to our new home in Taiwan. We arrived in Taipei on July 12 and moved to our new city, Kaohsiung, on July 31. We moved into our flat on August 6 and our boxes arrived from New York City on September 22. And with that, we're officially expats again.

Siping Street Market, Taipei

FYI: When moving to a tropical climate from a non-tropical climate, one should plan to arrive in the winter months to more easily acclimate to one's new climate. One should not (repeat not) arrive in the hottest months of summer, where the difference in climate is so vast that, rather than acclimating, your body just gives up and sweats uncontrollably because it doesn't know what else to do. Because it's too hot. And your body thinks you're going to die.

It's been almost two months since arriving in Kaohsiung and we're still getting settled. Neither of us speak the language, Mandarin and Taiwanese, but we're having a much easier time here, even while being illiterate and unable to communicate easily, than we ever did in New York City. Things are easy here and, especially upon first arriving, we found ourselves often repeating, "Well, that's different. And better." Because that wasn't the case in New York City. Because they make everything so hard there.

But, now we live in Kaohsiung and we're really happy with this move. Unlike our move to Dundee, there is no doubt that we did the right thing; there is no regret. We're thrilled to be living in Kaohsiung and we can't wait to begin exploring the island and Asia as we did Scotland and Europe.

Though flights aren't as cheap here as they were in Europe, we hope that doesn't deter our ability to explore to Asia. If nothing else, we should still have plenty of opportunities to at least explore Taiwan.

Kaohsiung

We haven't done any exploring yet, however, due to the heat. But, the evenings are becoming bearable, so we have hope that the weather will turn shortly and allow us to more comfortably explore the rest of the island. When that happens, watch out. This island is gorgeous and I'm anxious to begin sharing our adventures again.