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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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| 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.
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| Crispy fried crabs |
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| 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
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| 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.)
