A pleasant surprise

The flight from Hong Kong to and from Taipei is always scheduled at almost two hours, but the reality is that the flight is normally only a little bit more than an hour.  I'm assuming the extra time is a built in buffer to provide for delays, but all my trips have always been incredibly fast, with the flight feeling like it's over before you've even really eaten.

As we stood at the counter to check in to our flight, the air stewardess smiled at me and told me that they had an upgrade for me to premium economy.  I looked at her, then looked at my family.  Was this just for me or was it for my wife and child as well?  She checked.  It was just for me.  No thank you I responded.  I would stay with my family.  She looked a bit confused, but continued on with checking us in. I didn't think much more of it.  We took our tickets and we made our way upstairs to security and immigration.

Veronica wanted to look at some more snacks before we went through so we were slightly delayed before we reached the line for security.  From the corner of my eye, I could see someone running to us.  Someone wearing the distinct red uniform of a Cathay stewardess.... 

Our stewardess was in a desperate rush to find us.  Her supervisor had spoken to her and instructed her to run and find us and we were all being upgraded to business!  I wasn't going to say no to that this time.  I had no idea why this sudden and unexpected boon was arranged for us.  I suspected that it was because they had already sold my economy seat and so needed to move me out of it one way or another. Whatever the reason, I wasn't complaining.

For such a short flight, I would never ever pay a dollar extra for any upgrade.  It simply wasn't worth it.  But now that we were here for free, I was going to enjoy it.  The food was better and so was the quality of alcohol.  Veronica has never been a huge fan of Taiwanese lu ruo fan, and yet somehow they managed to make one of the best she had ever eaten on this flight.

Traveling with Pickle during the day, this extra space was also great for us with Pickle.  We spread out and gave him lots of room to play.  I stood up and walked around, stretched my legs and went searching for snacks.  With the large area, Pickle seemed more than entertained with his toys and books.  In what seemed like the briefest of moments, the seatbelt lights came on again and the captain announced we were descending.

Tea gardens and forests

I was enjoying my time in Taipei.  It was a strange city that was full of clashing architecture and cultures.  The old and the new coexisted with each other closely in this city as did the natural and modern world.  I had been enjoying the city of Taipei a lot, so it seemed like a good time to try and embrace the outdoors a bit more.  One of the first places I went was up North to the hot springs at Beitou.  These have been a source of comfort and relaxation for people in the area for years.  I went and looked out over the waters, smelling the tangy sulphuric vapours.  In the area were several villas and spas, so I treated myself to some time relaxing and soaking in one of these villas.

Numerous people had also mentioned to me that the forests to the South of Taipei were worth exploring.  I went out there in search of these great sights and found a fairly sizeable cable car which took visitors to the top of the mountain.  The ride up was as scenic as you can imagine, with the city growing smaller in the distance and the deep green forest slowly taking over everything I could see.  It was a nice change from the griminess of the city.

Once I reached the top, I pulled out my phone and started following the map to a tea house that had been recommended to me by a colleague.  I walked along a winding road for a while.  There were tea houses dotted along the road, but I had been assured that the one I was going to was the best.  I hoped that the advice was correct as the views were already quite beautiful on the slow walk there.  As I got closer, I started to understand why this particular tea house was so good.  Not only did it overlook the green hills in the area, it also sat directly above a tea plantation.

Inside, I found myself a table on the lower levels looking directly over the tea plantations in the area.  I ordered tea and dumplings and just sat back and relaxed.  I breathed in deeply the mountain air and tried to embrace this lovely tranquility.  Around me there were different groups of people also enjoying this location.  These groups were either families socialising together or couples trying to have a romantic moment with one another.  In both cases, they gave me glances as I sat by myself, slightly confused as to why I was undertaking this very social activity by myself.  I didn't care at all as I was enjoying myself immensely.

The first few months living in Asia had been a bit of a whirlwind.  It was good to be able to decompress a bit, to sip some tea and to just be by myself for a while.

Taipei

My brother always tells me about how much he loved going to Taiwan.  When he was interning in Hong Kong, he had managed to get himself a cheap weekend trip to Taipei and to this day he still raves about the place.  As holiday locations go, it must be one of the most conveniently located from Hong Kong.  The flight over to Taipei is only slightly more than an hour.  With that in mind, I decided to go over for a weekend to have a look.  I left work and headed straight for the airport.  I got through immigration quickly and I was soon on the plane.  I found it hilarious that even though this was an incredibly short flight, the cabin crew went about doing a full dinner service.  I felt a bit bad for the cabin crew as they rushed out of their seats once the seatbelt signs went off to distribute the food, and then immediately went back to the front of the plane to start collecting trays once they had finished distributing.  Once they collected the last tray, they had to then start with the landing checks!  It all seemed completely unnecessary.  A drink and a snack would have been more than enough.

Once I arrived, I headed straight out to the bustling night markets.  My brother (and everyone who had been) told me that these were the highlights of any trip to Taipei.  They were all completely correct!  I was amazed by the incredible size and density of these night markets.  The sheer volume of food options in only one of the markets was beyond anything I had experienced before, and I was lucky to have visited street food markets in various places around the world.  The food was generally Asian, but it was uniquely Taiwanese.  It was predominantly Chinese in style, but you could see the influences of Japanese culture as well as Western culture on the different offerings at all the stalls.

One dish I found myself going back to several times was the strange ice cream rolls that were made in the markets.  It was a simply flavoured ice cream, wrapped in rice paper with shaved peanut butter brittle and coriander.  The inclusion of the coriander seemed very strange and I was tempted to ask for it to be left out.  I thought more about it though and realised that keeping it was important to ensure that I was eating this as it was intended.  For the very first time at least, I should try to experience it without change.  It all worked out well together.  The herby flavour of the coriander complementing the sweet nuttiness of the other ingredients.

The city of Taipei is an interesting city.  It sprawls out in all directions, with much of it looking a bit run down and decrepit. Within all of the city, there are islands of the ultra modern, none so more than the famous Taipei 101, which was at one point the world's tallest building.  The building reaches up into the sky, but it's a strange structure to look at.  There isn't that much that's actually around it so it looks a bit out of place by itself.

From the top of the tower, there was a view that stretched out far into the distance.  The lights of Taipei don't shine all that bright because it's not that type of city.  It was good to be able to come up this far to look around, but I didn't really understand what the need was for such a building.  Other than national pride, the same amount of office space could have probably been constructed over several building for a fraction of the price.

During the day, I went out to visit some of the monuments of the city.  Taiwan as a country was founded by Chiang Kai Shek and his KMT forces, so their influence is still everywhere.  There are monuments to his memory dotted throughout Taipei, and in the middle the city there is a large park and memorial dedicated to his memory.  The huge square in front of the memorial itself has now been renamed "Liberty Square", which seems a touch ironic given the oppressive rule that the KMT implemented on Taiwan.  Maybe it's a sign of the times of what is hoped for the people of Taiwan.

Inside the memorial, is an enormous seated statue of Chiang Kai Shek.  People stood around to take photos and watch the guards doing their ceremonial shift changes.  There was something strange about looking at this huge statue.  I couldn't help but think back to the statue of Lincoln I had stood in front of not that long ago.  The "style" of both seemed similar, but the subjects couldn't have been further apart.  Whereas one was a man who freed slaves and liberated an entire people, the other was an oppressor who managed to lose an entire country.  It's always difficult to judge history if based only on the superficial memorials we see.

My brother was right though.  Taiwan was great.  There was so much to do and I hadn't scratched the surface.