A Year to the Day

April 28th marked the anniversary of Amanda and my arriving in Taiwan. It is strange to think that 365 days have passed by so quickly and even stranger to to think that our teaching contracts will finish in a little over 100 days.

To mark the milestones of being so far and yet so close to home, we decided to post something of a retrospective to cover our most memorable moments, most and least favorite things about Taiwan, as well as what we are most eagerly anticipating about returning to Canada. (As it’s a lot of ground to cover, I’ll be helping him out with this one - A) Here goes... 

Most Memorable Moments 


1. Dragon Boat Festival

This was our first taste of Taiwanese holiday spirit. We never would have known about it if we hadn’t happened to walk along the Love River just a few days before (on one of our many trips to Carrefour looking for sheets, no doubt!) The brightly coloured boats, the snacks, the crowds, and the beautiful weather all made for a perfect long weekend. 

2. Xiao Liuqiu

Almost one year later, Xiao Liuqiu remains one of my favorite memories. Our friend Stanley booked our accommodation which was a huge help because the hotel staff were very apprehensive about communicating with us when they discovered the guests that they were expecting were non-Chinese speaking foreigners. In spite of their apprehension, the hotel was great and the staff were really friendly. We lucked out with the weather and the views were spectacular. Although we suffered a little for the blue skies - I think Amanda had at this point already endured one or two of my midday sun +30C “death marches” but she was still finding them insufferable. Despite our lobster-red sun burns, Amanda agrees that it was all worthwhile for Xiao Liuqiu.

3. Singaopore

On our visit to Singapore this summer, we experienced some of the hottest weather, the friendliest hosts, and the most overpriced cocktails we’ve enjoyed all year. We spent time with our then-landlord’s family as well as with the family of a good friend and colleague of Brett’s. We tasted durian, visited one of the best zoos in the world, took a cable car over the city - and I held a lethal snake. All in a day’s work! 

4. Taipei 101 (台北101 / 臺北101)


Taipei’s most recognizable landmark is Taipei 101. The building apparently stood as the world’s tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Kalifa in 2010. Some of my favorite photos taken in Taiwan, have been taken from the observation deck of Taipei 101, and from a lookout on Elephant Mountain (re-posted below). I sincerely hope I have the opportunity to return to that lookout one last time before we leave Taiwan, for a sunrise perhaps.

5. Paragliding in Puli


Our paragliding trip to celebrate a friend’s birthday couldn’t have gone better. We enjoyed a night in a quaint, rural cabin, and spent the next day relaxing in the mountains of Puli while each of our party took turns soaring overhead. Brett absolutely loved it, and has been pestering me to get back out there this summer! 

6. Chinese New Year Banquet

Amanda and I were very fortunate to be invited to join our good friend Stanley and his family to celebrate Chinese New Year’s Eve and the start to the Year of the Dragon. CNY is the biggest holiday in Taiwan and so we were lucky to have a full week off work, during which we returned to Kaohsiung. It was a great cultural experience and we are really grateful for the hospitality that was shown to us by Stanley’s family. 

7. Lantern Festival


We celebrated the Lantern Festival both in Taichung and in Kaohsiung with my mom during her short visit to Taiwan. We saw tons of beautiful lanterns, watched a lengthy and impressive fireworks display, and visited with friends we rarely get to see - all while enjoying a very comforting visit from my mom! 

8. Friends we made

About one month after arriving in Taiwan, Amanda and I decided to attempt to make some new friends via advertising for a “language exchange” on a classifieds website popular amongst foreigners living in Taiwan. We were both a little apprehensive and nervous prior to first meeting the people who we would later become good friends with. We both considered, “what if they turn out to be crazy?” and perhaps the same was wondered of us. As it turned out, the friends we made were probably the best experience we have had in Taiwan.

Ringing in the Year of the Dragon

On Sunday night, we went with Stanley and his family to a restaurant in Kaohsiung for a Chinese New Year banquet. Stanley’s family has adopted many foreigners, and we happily joined their American, English, and Japanese guests at a round Chinese-style banquet table. The celebrations officially started as the God of Fortune entered the room in an opulent parade to the main stage of the banquet room. Children were invited up to the front of the stage to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and then the eleven-course meal started to come out. A lot of the foods served for New Year’s Eve dinner hold special meaning and significance. I’m no expert, but the BBC News magazine posted an interesting article about the significance of special New Years dishes this week. Check it out here!

First, we had a selection of cold meats and cured fish. We got to try mullet roe, which is a very popular food given and served at CNY each year. The next course was shark’s fin soup, minus its most controversial ingredient. This soup, instead, was chock full of mushrooms and tons of different types of seafood. The kinds I identified were lobster, crab and shrimp, though there were many others as well. The next course was steamed whole fish (my favourite!!!), then a dish of langostines in a clear broth. When you order shrimp or prawns in Taiwan, they usually come with the shell, legs, face, etc still attached which used to freak me out, though now I am able to very calmly watch as Boje peels them for me. :)

Next was leg of pork, which looks a bit intense for the Western palate, but was the most tender, amazing, delicious, perfect, beautiful pork I’ve tasted in a long time. It came in a very rich and beautiful gravy as well! After the pork leg was crab with sticky rice (like we had at Anna’s wedding) and then a dish of sliced squid cooked with bell peppers and onions. The sauce reminded of us of sweet-and-sour dishes you’d find at a Chinese restaurant back home. After that was fish with mushrooms and bok choy, then of course a tureen of black chicken soup. During the meal, musicians walked around playing traditional songs for each table, and the God of Fortune came from table to table to gamble with diners. I myself won a beautiful little envelope containing a shiny NT$10 coin. I hope that’s a sign of good things to come in the New Year!

For dessert, we had a beautiful fruit tray and individual steamed cakes. There were two flavours. One was honey and the other tasted richer, like a mapley molasses. It was all delicious, and we had a really great time. After we finished eating, the guests at the table all gave red envelopes containing cash gifts for Stanley’s nephew - it’s customary to give red envelopes to children on New Year’s Eve. Our Taiwanese friends have lamented to us that the holidays can become very expensive once you reach adulthood!

We hope all our friends who observe the Lunar New Year had an excellent weekend. This was an experience we’ll always remember fondly, and a highlight of our time spent in Taiwan thus far.

The restaurant was absolutely beautiful...

... and there were intricate wooden carvings everywhere, many of which were apparently saved from temples across Taiwan.

Shark Fin (Style) Soup. Apparently there was not real shark fin in the soup.

Langoustines.

Leg of pork.

Crab and sticky rice.

Squid with vegetables.

Seafood with bok choy and mushrooms.

Cai Shen (財神) pays our table a visit.

Yes?

Amanda beats Cai Shen at the dice roll... and wins 10NT.

Chinese New Year Vacation in Kaohsiung

On May 18th 2011, I put up a blog post called “You scream, I scream, we all scream for... garbage anyone?”. In that post, I mentioned how happy we were to be changing accommodations because for six mornings out of seven, we woke to the not-so-pleasant sound of jack-hammers being operated not-more-than 20 meters from where we were sleeping. I was pretty bitter by the end of that week. Pretty bitter, pretty jaded, pretty grumpy, pretty soured, and pretty cantankerous... BUT IT WAS ALL FOR A REASON!!! 

Eight months later, Amanda and I decided to return to Kaohsiung for the week of Chinese New Year. We get a week off for CNY and neither Amanda nor I have taken any vacation days since we started in teaching in August, so the break from work is most welcome! 

When searching for accommodation in KH I found a new hostel listing that looked to be just what we were looking for and in an area with which we are familiar. The website seemed to suggest that it was very near to the hostel which we had stayed at in May 2011, but it wasn’t until we got here and saw it with our own eyes that we realized it was in fact the very building that was being constructed right next to us as we slept just a little less than a year ago. 

We are currently staying at Harbor 60 Hostel and it is beautiful. Being abruptly woken by those jack-hammers now seems strangely worthwhile. Eric, the hostel owner is incredibly friendly and helpful. The hostel is clean, new, well furnished, modern. We really can’t say enough good things about it and we have already agreed that when we next return to KH overnight we will plan to stay here again. 

Our first day in KH, we immediately set about trying to find a scooter rental store that we would be able to rent us a scooter. We were able to arrange something through FAST Scooter Rentals, which we located on the website English in Taiwan. 

We also stopped in at some of our favorite haunts for lunch (Muddy Waters - next to Āozǐdǐ Forest Park 凹仔底森林公園) and dinner (Amy’s Taiwanese Cuisine). 

At the end of the night, we met up with our good friend Stanley who showed us around Sanfonzon Street Night Market - a special night market that is open for only five days during Chinese New Years week. 

The night market was absolutely bustling and easily as busy as Fongjia in Taichung or Shilin in Taipei on a Friday or Saturday night. There was a veritable plethora of different sweets, snacks, spices, teas, meats and toys available at Sanfonzon. With so many vendors selling the same traditional items in one place, the many booths had varying degrees of advertising tactics, like free samples and balloon animals. One sweet jelly booth even went so far as to hire two young women to shriek and drag people over to their shop - the girls went absolutely crazy when they saw Stanley with a pair of foreigners! There were also lots of New Years charms and decorations available to purchase, and though we were warned by Stanley that we won’t be rolling in riches this year (because we disrespected the God of Fortune by asking “Who’s that funny little man meant to be?”) we still managed to have a great time.  

After the night market, Stanley took us to a nice quiet café, Donutes, where we enjoyed something to drink, a slice of cake, and some Chinese jokes, very well told to us by Stanley in both Chinese and English.

Amanda at Aozidi Forest Park

Lunch at Muddy Waters

Smoked chicken & gouda on ciabatta with vegetables and a reduced red wine dressing.

Orea Cheesecake

Amanda at Jhongjeng Park

Imperial Spring Rolls

Beef & Vegetables Fried Rice

Sweet & Sour Pork

Kung Pao Chicken

After Dinner, we went for a walk along the Love River

The Water Dragon, Love River & Ambassador Hotel.

Sanfonzon Street New Years Night Market

Apparently people go candy crazy during Chinese New Years!

Assortments of fried cookies, dipped in honey and covered with seeds or nuts.

A little similar to Turkish delight, but much more gelatinous.

Various roots, herbs and spices.

The night market was absolutely bustling.

Yes?

Our good friend Stanley!