Journey To The East
Posted on April 9th, 2008
by Daniel Larison |
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No, not the Hesse novel. I’m referring to my upcoming whirlwind trip to Taiwan. I will have very little time in Taipei, and I have just found out that I will be on the west side of the city, but if anyone knows of something worthwhile to visit that doesn’t take much time I would be glad to know it. Since I will be in the air for about 17 hours starting tomorrow, and I won’t be back in the country until late Sunday Eunomia is going to be very quiet for a few days after this afternoon. Until I return, check in at the main blog and Taki’s Magazine for more commentary and blogging.
P.S. I will, in fact, be journeying far to the west, but you get the idea.
Update: The wave of cancellations that American decided to let loose on the country this week has forced me to change some of my schedule, but it seems that I will still embark on my crazy trip tomorrow afternoon. May I just say that the people in charge of American should not be allowed to run a lemonade stand, much less a major airline.
Filed under: personal
I hope you have a good trip–any reflections you can offer on Taiwan or China after you return would be most welcome!
Hope you get out into Taipei– once you get past the sheer foreign-ness it’s a vibrant, friendly place. And you won’t have time to explore it on a short trip, but since the Cultural Revolution never touched Taiwan, below a thin veneer of modern semiconductor companies, more of the old traditional Chinese culture lives on than in perhaps any city of comparable size on the mainland.
For now, if you are at all a fan of Chinese food, or of seafood, you owe it to yourself to get out to a night market. Crowded and noisy, but great fun and absolutely safe, these are how locals enjoy an evening out, strolling and snacking while shopping, either for household necessities or for frivolous sundries. Competition keeps prices down and quality up, and my Taipei friends prefer the best of the night market vendors to the four star restaurants. It’s all delicious: flash-fried soft shell crabs with white pepper; the perennial favorite of “uh-a jen” (oyster omelette) or, if not a seafood fan, steamed ground pork buns with black pepper. For dessert there’s “tswa been,” shaved ice with your choice of delicious toppings, mini-pancakes… you name it.
If you are within Taipei proper but on the west side, the Longshan or Shilin night markets have a slight admixture of touristy-ness, but are probably most convenient and have the advantage of being near the 250+ year old Longshan Temple, certainly worth a stop. The Raohe Street market, a longer cab ride eastward, also has a temple next door, and you’d be the only tourist. If you are far west of Taipei, just ask your cab driver for the nearest night market– they’re all a riot.
Once you’re done munching, chew on this: the night markets, and other bits of the Taiwanese economy, are products of the 1950s-1980s Taiwanese distributism that John Zmirak has blogged about over at Taki’s mag.
In the U.S. each stall, or each market, would be owned by some chain and staffed by minimum-wage labor; but in Taiwan, market space is controlled by the government, and each stall constitutes a family business, often one lasting for years and more lucrative than an office job. This goes for the streetside morning markets, too, where most Taiwanese still buy vegetables and fresh-killed chickens dropped off hours before by the farmer.
No Taiwanese I know can imagine a city without the traditional markets, but they are pressured as young people, busier and busier, save time by popping into the new Carrefour for groceries. Tough times for conservatism all round.
Daniel-
Longshan Temple on the west side of Taipei is one of the most well funded and most tourist friendly “Buddhist” temples around. It’s on the blue line of the MRT subway, leaving from Taipei Main Station look for trains headed to Yongning or Far Eastern Hospital. Enjoy.
The Zushi temple at Sanxia, in a suburb west of Taipei and near the airport, is older and more artistically important than Longshan. Print out the Chinese characters in the blog post below for the cab driver:
http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/05/trip-to-sanxia/
Also consider the night market and Taipei 101.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shilin_Night_Market
By the way, if you want a temple on the subway line, I preferred Pao-an Taoist temple to Longshan. It’s bigger and more colorful, and it’s also across the street from the Confucian temple (which has a nice little garden).
It’s near Yuan Shan subway station.
http://www.baoan.org.tw/ENGLISH/ASP/Home/index-02.html
The National Palace Museum is also a must-see, but it’s in a suburb and takes a couple of hours to visit.
I don’t know why I miss this site. I’m not exactly simpatico with the author, and yet, he’s always interesting. Come back soon, Daniel,and I hope you’re having a great time in Asia.