Taiwantrips

On saturday Selina took me to Sanxia district on the back of her scooter which was an experience in itself, im not the best pillion passenger as i prefer to be in control but im getting better at just letting her do the driving and the scooter is one of the best ways to get around many places in Taiwan, when we got to Sanxia the traffic was already building up as everyone was heading for the Old street and the main temple for the CNY celebrations, the road was closed off to traffic part of the way down so we parked up the bike and headed for the old street, there were thousands of people already there and there was no way to get to the temple as the police were doing there best to marshall the ever growing crowd, so we decided to walk up the old street first then nipped down an alleyway towards the river bank where there was another pathway heading toward the temple. A precession had already started down this walkway as part of the celebrations but there were that many people it was slow progress getting to the temple, we decided basically to walk with the precession as far as we could go but we ended getting caught in this massive crush of people all trying to go different ways it was crazy. All the time this loud wailing music was being played and fireworks were going off all over the place. We were being pushed by the crush past these large looking boxes which had these enormously fat pigs inside, which apparently had been fattened up for 3 or 4 years for this ceremony, the pigs looked like they had been blown up with compressed air they were that fat, on top of the boxes the locals were setting off the fireworks and the music was just getting louder and louder. Despite the massive throng of people in such a small space everybody seemed to be in good spirits i couldnt help thinking though that this ceremony would never be allowed in England there would be uproar with the treatment of the pigs, no health and safety regard for letting off the fireworks and there were far too many people in that small courtyard if anybody had fallen over they would have been crushed by the stampede. After unsuccessfully trying to make for a small pathway through to the temple we gave up and made our way back to the old street, glad to be out of the crush we walked up the old street and then around back toward the river bank and over the bridge taking in all the side shows and the stalls that were set up everywhere.

Just 9 weeks later and im back in Taiwan this time for the Chinese New year, i just wanted to see what it was all about, Selina had 9 days vacation so it was a perfect chance to come back to my second home, i was also glad to get away from the English winter, although the weather here has been a bit dull at times and a little cool it beats getting up to cold frosty mornings, biting winds and whatever else is thrown at us. I arrived on the wednesday night Jan 18 five days before New Years Day, Selina still had to work on the thursday and friday but that was no problem to me im used to that gives me time to write some blogs etc, we had been invited to her second sisters house in Taichung on the sunday, her younger sister would be there also. I was happy for the chance to enjoy the New year with some of her family maybe also a little nervous, but there was no reason to feel like that because they were absolutely wonderful, i was made so welcome, Selina's brother in law is a Malaysian and although he had forgotten alot he had a reasonable knowledge of English so we sat and had a few beers and enjoyed a few cigarettes on his balcony, he talked more and more as he got drunk and got a little homesick for his country he left 28 years ago, but he was a really nice man and he made every effort to make me feel at ease. The next day Selina's younger sister arrived with her son she was a lovely person always laughing and happy i got on with her pretty well she didnt speak alot of english but you could have a laugh with her, after a coffee i went to the temple with the 3 sisters to bring in the New Year and make a wish for good luck, the younger sister gave me some insense sticks which we had to light and in various places around the temple, introduce yourself to the god make a wish and then place one the sticks into the receptacle, we did this about 8 times before leaving the temple, then we burned a paper parcel in the incinerator i guess as an offering to the god and then enjoyed a bowl of free soup in front of the temple. After that we went to this rather posh country club home of Taichung Golf Club as they were having like an open day had a bit of lunch took a few pics and a walk around, then it was back home for a lovely dinner a few more drinks and a game of Mahjong which i have absolutely no idea of playing, but my hosts were up to 1:30am playing for a few dollars as they do every New year.

Selina was working on the monday so we couldnt set off to Keelung until later in the afternoon, the weather had changed considerably, it has been sunny and very hot most of the time on this trip but now it was cooler and the rain had arrived when we got to Keelung. We were staying at the Harbour View Hotel for a couple of nights which overlooked the port area of Keelung. The city seemed quite old and scruffy and around the harbour it was really busy for traffic, the main bus and railway stations were situated here which makes it handy for visitors i guess and there were subways and overhead walkways for pedestrians which were essential, there seemed to be more taxis here than other places id been too, being a taxi driver myself it always fascinates me how these guys operate, i dont think id fancy just driving around all day touting at bus stops, pulling over everytime i saw a foreigner, even just standing having a fag on the street i had the taxis pipping at me, stopping in the middle of the road with no concern for any traffic behind them. I think id rather just sit in an office chatting and watching tv until the phone rang. We had a walk around the night market sampled a few local delicasies then back to the hotel as the rain got heavier and heavier. The next day the weather was the same the plan was to take the bus up to Jinguashi to the gold ecological park a museum park telling the story of the gold mining that used to be carried out in the area. The bus journey was over an hour up into the hills, you can get the bus from the harbour front in Keelung and they are pretty frequent, all the buses pass through the town of Juifen and then up to the ecological park, then turn round and come back again. We stopped in Jinguashi for a couple of hours and wandered about in the rain, the Japanese first opened the mine when they colonised Taiwan theres still some evidence of Japanese architecture and design looking at some of the buidings, you can see relics of the old mine and how it used to work, where the gold was refined, you can enter one of the mining tunnels and try and picture life as it was when the mine was open. Theres also a memorial for Allied prisoners of war who were made to work there in unbelievably atrocious conditions, they were sent to the areas where it was least favourable to work in 40c heat with little food and if they didnt work hard enough they were beaten with mining picks. From there we took the bus to Juifen a fascinating little place very poular with tourists. Juifen was once just a small village that thrived in the gold mining hey day, i can imagine this place gets really busy at weekends or holidays, everybody wants to walk up the old street a narrow alley full of shops and stalls that meanders up the side of the hill, the place was full of Japanese, Chinese and tourists from Hong Kong, we walked up to the top i had spied a stall that made peanut brittle and bought a big bag, at the top we stopped for lunch at a restaurant which clung to the side of the cliff, on a clear day the views would have been wonderful, but it was nice to sit there for an hour and relax and watch the buses trying to pass each other on the narrow winding road below.

Wufenpu is a womans paradise for shopping, its situated in a block across the road from Songshan station,there are entrances all over and once inside the aisles form a criss-cross pattern. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of stores mainly selling womens fashion, handbags, bags of every description, jeans, hoodies, jackets, dresses etc, you weave your way up and down the aisles some of which are numbered, its easy to get lost and trying to find a particular shop is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We spent about 3 hours inside there up and down across and then back across all good fun. My quest was to buy myself a leather jacket and some polo shirts, there were mens and childrens clothes shops dotted about some of the quality was good, id say most of the gear was low to mid range, i kept away from the low when choosing my jacket eventually i bought one for TWD2400 i bargained the assistant down TWD300 in the process so it cost me about £50, i was pretty pleased with my purchase id got about 30% off it was decent quality and will keep me warm if we keep on getting these freezing cold winters in the UK. So if you are in Taipei head for Wufenpu if you want to do a bit of shopping its where all the local market traders go and do theirs you will get a discount if you are prepared to bargain and if you want bulk theres plenty of people you can do a deal with. What i liked was we werent hassled to go inside the shops and once inside the assistants didnt bother you unless you went to them.

The Taroko Gorge is absolutely stunning and if you do visit Taiwan you must make this part of your trip, like the Sun Moon Lake these two places are my favourites in Taiwan so far. The half hour bus journey from Taroko to Tiansiang gives you a taste of whats to come, the highway meanders through the gorge through many tunnels some a 1000m long over bridges and through some pretty dodgy areas where rockslides are common, i can imagine in bad weather this road would be shut pretty quickly. You can see debris from falling rocks on the roadside, there are 7 or 8 points along the way where the Tour buses stop and everybody is out taking photos. We spent over an hour in Tiansiang taking pics from various vantage points, theres not much there apart from a 5 star hotel a post office and a restaurant where we had an excellent lunch before we walked back along the roadside through the gorge, the plan was to walk for a couple of hours then take the bus the rest of the way, theres only 4 buses all day up and down the gorge and as we found they were doing some work in several places closing down the road for 50 mins in every hour in the afternoon. We must have walked 7 or 8km before getting the bus stopping many times to take photos, i crossed the rope bridge which i didnt feel too comfortable about, it seemed to wobble about a bit and the railings were not very high, i turned around to see Selina shaking the ropes laughing. We got back to the hotel and checked in and rested our weary feet, we decided to have a little bike ride into the gorge the following morning before leaving, the hotel had a few bikes outside which you can borrow.