Tainan Tomb Sweeping

Easter in Taiwan came and went without so much as a single coloured egg.   Disappointingly, it seems the Easter bunny has forgotten about me in Taiwan for a second year in a row!   

Although Easter is left largely uncelebrated in Asia, Taiwan does seem to pack large number of holidays into the first third of the year.  While I'd often rather be working and making money than on holiday, the annual Tomb Sweeping Festival gave me a couple of days off and provided a good opportunity to see another of Taiwan's “big cities”.

The Tomb Sweeping Festival (清明節)is a time when families pay respects to their ancestors.  As the name implies, the cleaning and sweeping of graves and tombs is an important holiday tradition.  Most families migrate to the locale of their family burial ground and make offerings to their departed relations.

To best utilize the short break, I planned a trip down south to Tainan.  Tainan was the last of Taiwan's "big cities" I had yet to visit and as Taiwan's first and oldest city, it was a must-do on my Taiwan tourist itinerary.

Tainan was the landing point of Taiwan's first Western settlers, the Dutch and where they established their initial trading base.  Tainan has a great deal of historical sites, most of which surround the seaside historical heart of Tainan (and all of Taiwan), Anping.

The woman on the right's shirt says "Ipad" on the back...

Anping is a district which features both Dutch and Chinese architectural remnants in addition to Taiwan's oldest street. The center point of the area is the Dutch-built Anping Fort (originally Fort Zeelandia).

Other attractions in the area include the Anping Tree house, an abandoned warehouse that was engulfed by a massive banyan tree; numerous archaic merchant houses; and of course, many old temples.

Taiwan's Oldest Street

Away from the Anping District, in Tainan's city center are many more historical attractions.  Numerous old temples and religious sites can be found along Tainan's streets including some of Taiwan’s oldest.  Tainan also retains portions of its ancient city walls and a massive city gate that once protected the city from invaders. 

Chihkan Tower is Tainan’s most famous historic site and tourist attraction. Constructed by the Dutch as "Fort Provedentia" in 1653, the Chinese nicknamed it "Tower of Savages" or "Tower of Red-haired Barbarians". The tower has since been named Chihkan Tower, after an aboriginal settlement that once inhabited the area. 

Tainan is a nice city with a great mix of old and new and the size of the city center made it very manageable to explore on foot, which is a good thing, given that Tainan's public transit system is a far-cry from the convenience of Taipei's.

Hand-painted movie posters.

Tainan is also home to some of Taiwan's most famous night-markets.  Unlike Taipei, the night-markets in Tainan operate on alternating nights of the week.  Luckily for me, the largest night-market  and the one I was most keen to visit was open on Saturday evening. 

The Garden Night Market (花園夜市) was not like any others I had visited in Taipei; rather than lining a narrow city street, Tainan's Garden night market sprawls across a large open parking lot.  Despite its more open plan, the night-market was equally as crowded and congested as Taipei's best. The market was an ideal place to have dinner and try out some of Tainan's famous foods.  

One dish that is claimed as a Tainan original has a distinctly Western flavour.  Coffin bread (棺材板) is made from a thick slice of bread that has been deep-fried, cooled, and cut open to form a box and lid. The inside is then filled with a thick chowder, essentially conforming to the soup in a bread-bowl idea ("and then I ate the bowl!").  

Tainan also has a fairly good nightlife.  The HaiAn Road bar district is lined with patio bars, something Taipei certainly lacks.  There are also several bars housed in turn of the century shop-houses giving them an interesting atmosphere.

It's no secret that I am a beer enthusiast. I was excited to find that a Craft Beer festival was to take place in Taipei in mid-April. Although the event sold out long in advance I was able to acquire a scalped ticket over the internet. The event ticket included unlimited samples of craft beers from around the world. I was one of fewer than 10 foreigners in attendance and the event was clearly aimed at Chinese speakers. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed myself and my only disappointment was that only one Taiwanese brewery was present at the event.

Over a year here in Taipei now and I am still enjoying myself.  The end of my time here is quickly approaching so I'll need to start making an effort to cross off the last remaining items on my Taiwan to-do list.  As my departure date becomes more imminent, I am feeling the pressure to study more Chinese.  I wish I had been this motivated to learn during my entire stay here as I don't think I'll be as proficient in Chinese when I leave here as I had hoped.  That said, I'll do the best I can with my remaining time here. 

February and March 2013

When I returned to Taipei from Japan there was just under one week before Chinese New Year.
In the past few years I have made a habit of attending Vancouver's China Town parade that marks the occasion and I had expected some similar and presumably more grandiose festivities to take place in Taipei.

Chinese New Year in Taipei is primarily a family affair.  New Year's Eve and Day are spent feasting with the entire family and as I have no family here, the holiday was largely uneventful for me.  Most businesses close for the 3-4 days following new years and many people vacate the cities to attend countryside family reunions.  I had no work for the whole week so I spent most of my days strolling the city, as I usually do in my spare time.

Crowd in the 'old street' getting supplies for New Years

Following nearly a week of boredom I decided I was in need on at least one domestic vacation during the extended break.

I chose to take the bus to Kaohsiung on Friday morning.  Kaohsiung is Taiwan's third largest city, after New Taipei and Taipei (so essentially the second largest urban area).  The bus to Kaohsiung took about 4.5 hours and was scenic enough to be an enjoyable journey and bus itself was comfortable and relaxing.

I arrived in Kaohsiung around 3 pm leaving me the rest of the afternoon to get acquainted with Taiwan's second city.

Kaohsiung is a beautiful seaside city and port.  The days of it's reputation as a seedy port city have long been put to rest and it is now a pleasant tourist destination benefiting from it's year round tropical climate and proximity to beach resort Kenting.

Following a pleasant afternoon of site seeing I indulged in a seafood dinner at Kaohsiung's great tourist night market.  Fresh seafood is Kaohsiung's specialty, with scallops, crabs, shrimp and much more on the menu.

 The world's largest stained glass mural in the Formosa Blvrd. MRT Station

That evening I was impressed by Kaohsiung's selection of dive bars along it's main bar strip.

Exploring the city of Kaohsiung was a nice change from the familiar scenery of Taipei.  The downtown core of Koahsiung is a modern and vibrant city accented by Taiwan's second tallest building.

Many of the most impressive tourist sights around Kaohsiung are located on slender island called Cijin, lying just off the coast and acting as a breakwater for the harbour.  Cijin is connected to the rest of Kaohsiung City by underwater tunnels but I opted for the more touristic transport method of a short ferry ride from downtown Kaohsiung to the gorgeous beach-side community. Cijin's town is set below a hilltop on which  Kaohsiung's lighthouse is perched in addition to an old fort built by Taiwan's premiere colonialists, the Dutch. The city and ocean views from the lighthouse and adjacent fort were spectacular making the 10 minute hike to the top well worth the trek.

Crispy fried crabs

I got crabs in Kaohsiung...

 Scallops on a stick

I unknowingly had planned my trip to Kaohsiung during their annual lantern festival.  Love River, which flows through the city was lined with lanterns in the shapes of animals, gods, cartoon characters and anything else you may imagine.  Massive fireworks displays  and light shows set the sky ablaze on both nights of my stay and the sounds of a  free concert and traditional drumming show thundered through the harbor on the second evening.

The short trip was an excellent domestic holiday and a nice taste of what Taiwan's second city has to offer.

Back in Taipei following the New years break and everything was back to business as usual.  New years celebrations continue for two weeks following new years day most recognizable by the random crackling of firecrackers at any hour of day or night.

As part of the conclusion of the New Years celebrations the mountain town of Pingxi host it's annual sky lantern festival.  Pingxi is an hour's drive from Taipei and a special shuttle service for the festival made the initial journey totally painless.

The sky-lanterns ascending into the sky was a beautiful sight, unfortunately the low-light and motion means the majority of my photos are blurry streaks of orange.

The whole Pingxi experience was very delightful, until it came time to go home.  The wait to descend the mountain by free-shuttle took 2 hours alone, preceding the hour long bus-ride.  I'm glad to have seen the sky-lantern festival but given the opportunity to do it again I would ensure to have my own mode of transport.

A final lantern festival awaited me in Taipei.  Taipei's lantern festival sprawled over a large park in the north of the city.  Hundreds of glowing terrestrially secured lantern lit up the park with colours and scenes of traditional life.  A nice evening adventure in Taipei.

The next major event in my life was St. Patrick's day.  As a holder of an Irish passport I feel obligated to have a drink in honor of the emerald isle on March 17th.  Much to my disappointment, St. Paddy's day is almost entirely a non-event in Taipei, save a few lack-luster parties in expat bars. I miss the festive holidays that we celebrate in Canada and I recall the St. Patrick's day 2012 was the day before I left Canada.

Everything else has as of recent has conformed to what has become normal life for me. I have spent a great deal of time taking advantage of Taipei's shared bike system.  The city recently greatly expanded the network of bike stations around the city and I have been happy to spend my weekends cruising around the city.  The bikes are free to rent for the first half-an-hour and only 30 cents per additional half hour.  A cheap-ass like me can take advantage of the vast network of stations and check the bike in an out once every 25 minutes or so to avoid ever having to pay.

 Anti-nuclear protest

Free-Tibet protest.

Already a year has passed since I left home and April second will mark one year of living in Taiwan. The past year has been full of new and wonderful experiences and it has been a year in which I truly believe I have learned a lot and grown as a person. I'm looking forward to my final few months here during which I'll attempt to cross off any remaining Taiwan-must-do's off of my list.

(P.S. I was pleasantly rocked awake by a 6.1 earthquake this morning, the strongest I've ever felt.)