Taichung.... and points further south 

 

A few nights ago, we arrived in Taichung, a city down the west coast of Taiwan.  We didn't fall in love with Taichung but it had some redeeming qualities... The city is full of art in green spaces. The canals are lined with flowers and lights at night. The metro system in general is definitely noisier than Japan - folks speak loudly (sounds like yelling to the untrained ear) but it is still clean and reliable. The buses? They need some serious TLC and a good cleaning... they run on a mysterious schedule which mostly forced us to wait forever or elect to walk a few extra kilometres when we needed to get somewhere. 

Canals... lots of turtles here in Taiwan and of course Koi fish... Good thing there aren't any otters here (see CBC Vancouver article). 

Art in Taichung... Kate with a huge Frenchie... (left) and Dome of Light (right) 

I wrote a blurb about dogs in Japan and now for my observations on Dogs in Taiwan... I think there are only two kinds of dogs here in Taiwan. The mongrel type pooch that lays in the street, in the door way, or on the sidewalk. They mostly seem well fed yet ignored. They may or may not have all of their appendages. They can be found in packs (we try to avoid these ones) and generally they are everywhere. The other type is a small poodle. They are almost always apricot in colour and trimmed in true poodle fashion. They are worshipped and adored. They don't walk - must be bred out of them. They ride on scooters (see below), in strollers and even the back of baby strollers but don't walk... 

Canal at night. 

We eat a LOT OF NOODLES but yesterday we came upon a grocery store and they had apples.... from Canada. Gift from home. 

The island of Cijin is just a short ferry ride away. We didn't walk long before the siren call of the ocean pulled Kate into the waves...

Lotus Pond or Lake depending on which map you look at.... 

Paul has suggested a working theory for Taiwan. Because personal space here is so much closer than in North America.... line ups, talking to one another, sitting beside someone etc.... he has theorized that 'where there is space, it should be filled'. This is true here... the Lotus Pond has temples, statues, bridges, lights... the space is filled. 

Kate's sand creations.

Cross walk sign in Taiwan are so much fun. In Taipei and Taichung, you have the typical red standing fellow for a stop but for green, you see an animated walking stick figure. It starts out sauntering, with a numbered count down. When the count down gets to around 20, the figure speeds up and at 10, it jogs. Here in Kenting, they have two red figures facing each other with a heart between them. The one figure knees every so often. When it turns green, the two figures take their hands and walk/job across the screen. Cute. 

All for now. cheers, s

Toto, we are not in Kyoto anymore!

Our last night in Japan was interesting... let's just say, always read the reviews before you book a place to stay... 'nuff said. We couldn't find accommodations in either Kyoto or Osaka before our flight out to Taiwan, so we stayed in a wee town close to the airport. 

After borrowing the establishment's three bikes, we found an interesting mall - kind of Kmart on steroids and then we stumbled upon one of the three restaurants in town. We went in... once you do that.... it is hard to back out. They didn't have any English and our Japanese is sadly lacking but the hostess was hilarious in her gestures. 

She served us okonomiyaki . I am pretty sure that was all that was on the menu. This is a kind of layered omelette deal and a specialty of the area. It starts with a pastry crepe cooked on the grill in front of us while the rest of the ingredients are cooking along side. She piled on top of the crepe loads of cooked cabbage, onions, choice of meat (shrimp, pork, whatever), couple of strips of bacon, then flipped it and cooked the whole thing on a hot grill. A fried egg is put on next and then the grilled noodles. Top this with some kind of brown sauce and mayonnaise for good luck. It is huge and made in front of you on a huge grill. The hostess and her hubby worked together making them... he would just lean over and add oil or stir something while she was working away on it. Hilarious. When the hostess asked us a question, she would rely on other customers to get the question to us and so on the evening when. When she learned how long the flight was, she gestured praying hands and said 'gong' (meaning she would go to the temple and pray).

  

We flew into Taipei the next day. I have to say, Japan Air, ANA and Eva are all Japanese airlines that we have used and are all amazing. Free checked bag, food and great service. Nice change from air travel in North America. 

So Taiwan is not Japan. It is in my opinion somewhere between Japan and Vietnam.... not nearly as clean and orderly as Japan. Buildings are old and grey (often hiding high end malls on the inside). Traffic has flexible rules and scooter are going in every direction. The people are generally more pushy and not afraid to jump the cue. But the city is bustling and vibrant with lots of neat food stalls and night markets. 

Art in a subway station.... 

Sunday night in the park near our hotel.... roller skating, crowds of families enjoying the fine weather. 

Whereas the forests in Japan, reminded me of home with the pine, maple trees and coloured leaves, Taiwan is a jungle. Super humid and tropical. You get the sense if the grounds folks didn't stay at their work, the jungle would over grow the place in no time. 

Taipei 101 - was once the tallest building in the world.... not for a while. 

En route to the night market.... Temple light up in the background.

The night markets are pretty interesting. Stalls of food - deep pots of different coloured and smelling liquids with all manner of meats, sea foods and just plain unidentifiable stuff for sale to eat. The 'Food Safe' folks would have a coronary. There are dogs and cats around, people smoking, food being hacked up and tossed into buckets to get ready to grill. In between these stalls are hair dressers, clothing shops, lottery ticket sales,.... you name it. Even can get your brows done!

Memorial Hall for Generalissimo Chang

We did a hike yesterday on Elephant Mountain in Taipei - close to 2 kilometres to the top -all steps of various heights and spacing and then you have to do all again going down. Kate used the stairs as an opportunity to exercise - she went up and down doing sets while waiting for me to catch up... I used the stairs to get up and down.... sore calves today my friends. Excellent view though.. seemed like we were as high at Taipei 101. Tons of butterflies along the way too. 

Half way up... 

Examples of the different styles used on the temples here. You can see the Chinese influences. 

We took another high speed train to Taichung today. This is the way to travel. It is much cheaper to go by train here in Taiwan than in Japan and just as comfortable. 

We had a fun afternoon of navigating the traffic on bikes here in Taichung. This is NOT Kyoto. In Kyoto, we travelled on wonderful bike paths, along the river through the heart of the town. I highly recommend that town for cycling. Taichung... ?? well, we did it. Scooter, buses, cars, flexible rules and it was just plain crazy. 

Found this little photo opportunity in one of the malls. 

Take care all.... sharon

Kyoto

Let me just start with the Lonely Planet's guide to Japan and its introduction to Kyoto: 

"Kyoto is old Japan writ large: quiet temples, sublime gardens, colourful shrines and geisha scurrying to secret liaisons. With 17 Unesco World Heritage Sites, more than a thousand Buddhist temples and over 400 Shinto shrines, it is one of the world's most culturally rich cities." 

So if you weren't Temple Tired before.... no seriously, it is fantastically beautiful, with temples absolutely everywhere... some have to be seen and some, well we skipped. 

Here is the Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine dedicated to the gods of rice and sake. There are over 10 000 torii gates at this shrine and thousands of stone foxes. The foxes are messengers of Inari, god of cereals and rice. 

The postcard shot - thanks Kate. 

Kate and I stopped counting in the hundreds. 

Foxy Loxy - you have to know that all the Geisha in the photos are tourists dressing up for the day... admirable for them to climb to the top of this shrine (4km loop) in the kimono and sandals. 

Today, we did Kyoto by bike. The bikes came with the establishment. They are in desperate need of some TLC and are pretty small for us but it was great fun getting around the city this way. The whole city has river bank trails that are fantastic for running and riding right into the heart of the city. Great fun. 

Kate and I took in a cultural show last night - it included brief performances of a tea ceremony, flower arranging, puppets, geisha dances etc. It was a nice way to get a taste of the arts. 

Believe it or not... kate is up ahead... on her bike.

Kate crossing the river.... 

This is my favourite photo so far: 

Today we were walking a very popular trail (especially in cherry blossom time) and we came upon a large group of folks from Italy. They were laughing and joking and Paul offered to take their photo. Then one of them asked if they could take ours for us. We said sure but then, they just jumped in and join us in the photo. It was great fun. Lots of laughs - made me think of something my dad would have done on his travels. So here is the photo of our new Italian friends whose names we don't know nor where they are from or even going to.... 

The photo they took of us in the end. :) All for now. Ciao bella!