新竹、福隆沙灘 Hsinchu & Fulong Beach

Xpark Aquarium

On Saturday, my Taiwanese friend's boyfriend drove us to Hsinchu, a city down the west coast an hour or so from Taipei.  My Taiwanese friend is a makeup artist, aspiring dancer, and absolute hoot to hang out with.  She made the trip tons of fun, even though Hsinchu is not the type of destination a foreign tourist to Taiwan would ever visit.  The highlight of our trip was a lovely glassblowing museum.  However, Hsinchu is certainly the type of destination to which a Taipei local would go on the weekend.  We visited an outlet mall that reeked of consumerist extravagance--essentially the exact American experience that Taiwanese people gobble up.  I had been plucked out of Hsinchu and dropped into Los Angeles: new buildings, American and luxury brands only, signs in English rather than Chinese.  We bought expensive tickets for a modern aquarium called Xpark, featuring just as many photo-ops as educational exhibits.  My other American bestie and I had to talk our Taiwanese friends out of eating TGI Friday's for dinner.  Instead, we drove to a restaurant locally renowned for 麻辣臭豆腐, stinky tofu in mouth-numbing spice soup.  As it was 大暑, the lunar calendar day known to be the single hottest of the year, we also had 剉冰, the uber popular Taiwanese shaved ice dessert.

Mulberry and condensed milk, the specialty flavor at this shaved ice shop

My friend getting into it with a kid at a popular Taiwanese street market game. You pay 300 NTD for a huge bucket of rings, and you get to keep whatever prize onto which you can toss a ring. The nice bottles of alcohol are way in the back.

Sleeping 3 hours the night before did not dampen her enthusiasm nor volume levels 

While we didn't make it to Hsinchu's indoor ski slope, I have other friends who learned how to snowboard on the single bunny hill there.  Hsinchu is an area with great income disparity, home to poorer indigenous communities, as well as large electronics companies, like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

On Sunday, I went to 福隆沙灘 Fulong Beach with friends.  A magnificent swim day for only an hour-long train ride from Taipei.

台中 Taichung

My American classmate invited me on a day trip to Taichung, where her local language exchange partner drove us around.  At this point, I've probably been driven around the entire island in the cars of generous Taiwanese eager to show me the sights.  We spoke all Chinese with him and his friend, who were very curious about American culture.  Besides the usual questions about guns, NBA, and Black Americans, he was also astounded to learn that curly hair could be natural.  He truly could not believe it, as everyone he knew with curly hair (all Taiwanese) got perms.  He loves Taylor Swift because he thinks she is pretty and her song lyrics are well-annunciated.  He was really eager for us to sing along to Taylor Swift in the car.  Between me, my classmate, and Taylor, he is convinced all American women are tall, and not fat like he was expecting.

My classmate and her Taichung language exchange partner

國家歌劇院 National Opera House

彩虹眷村 Rainbow Village

 

望高寮夜景公園 Park with views of city

Strolling on the boardwalk by the wetlands 高美濕地

Floating bridge

三峽、鶯歌、坪林 Sanxia, Yingge, Pinglin

The first few weeks of summer after COVID have flown by with a flutter of activity.  This week especially, I’ve been saying farewell to many foreign friends leaving Taiwan for home.

In Sanxia in New Taipei City, my hometown friend Charlie, his local Taiwanese friend, and I toured one for the oldest temples in Taiwan and then dyed our own cloth using local indigo plants.  We ate 金牛角 “golden cow horns” AKA Taiwanese croissants.  Mine was matcha-flavored with red bean filling.

Then, we went to the pottery old street in Yingge.  I took a catnap on a stool surrounded by ceramic Buddhas in the corner of a pottery warehouse, while my friend had a deep discussion with vendors on which ceramic tea set he should buy.

On Saturday, I went to Pinglin, a region known for growing 包種茶 pouchong tea.  After a meal (and a pouchong matcha latte) at an adorable tea house, we toured a marvelously aesthetic tea museum, and hiked around mountain trails.  We had originally planned to bike a scenic trail through tea fields, but we learned the town has a policy of NO bikes until July 15th.

溯溪 River Tracing

I went river tracing for the second Saturday in a row, but this time with all Taiwanese rather than all Americans.  Needless to say, it was a vastly different experience.

Last week, we were 8 Americans, and the friend organizing was already worried it was too big of a group for hiking.  This week, we were 26 people and one puppy.  Once seeing the tiny puppy, I should've known exactly what sort of hike I was getting myself into.  There was also an unofficial tour guide, because Taiwanese people are not as accustomed to planning independent trips.

Last week, I hiked in athletic clothes and my Chaco's sandals, and it was perfectly fine.  This week, the leader took one look at my feet and said absolutely not.  He pulled out some men's river tracing boots from the trunk of his car that magically fit me, and placed a bike helmet on my head.  There was a lot more rappelling this week down enormous boulders.  In addition to river boots and helmets, most people were wearing full wetsuits, gloves, and life jackets.  Then, after we slowly hiked for a measly twenty minutes, they all stripped down to their bikinis to take photos for two hours.  One of the people with us was an influencer and was doing Tik Tok videos in front of the waterfall.  Another one of the people made a full ten-minute video of the experience.

Graphic made by one of the photographers who came along