templing taipei

soon after i arrived in taiwan, ben told me there are more temples per capita in taiwan than anywhere else..now that the holiday is over, i'm very much inclined to agree..there are temples EVERYWHERE!! at times it seemed as though i saw a new temple everytime i turned my head..at least in taiwan they're really colourful, often with really intricate designs and decorations..then again, if i lived in taiwan, i'd probably get tired of them in taiwan as well...
after saying goodbye to ben on the hsr, i continued to taipei..it was nice that the train comes into taipei main station and that i had been there before, so i knew where to go for the hostel i wanted..lonely planet maps are often VERY confusing, and i'm not sure i could've found the hostel w/out having known ahead of time where to exit the station...there are lots and lots and lots of exits, and the hostel isn't on a main street..since i arrived just after noon, the hostel had a bed for me, and i was good to go..since i arrived just after noon, it was also blazing hot, so i stayed in for a couple hours, reading and relaxing..
while reading and relaxing, i spent some time looking at the taipei section of the guidebook, and figured out a few things i wanted to see around the city..
my first project was finding the post office to mail off a letter to my sister..according to the map it was straight out of one side of the bus/train station..the hard part was finding the right exit, and walking in the right direction after exiting..that was probably the least recognizable main post office i've ever seen..at least the people inside were really nice..
the first sight ended up being the chiang kai shek memorial..i walked there, it wasn't far..a couple subway stops, but that wasn't necessary, i walked it..(again, the most difficult part was figuring out which direction i needed to walk in after finding the right exit out of the subway/bus station)..according to the guidebook, it looked like the memorial was a bit back off the street, and i was worried about seeing it...it turns out i needn't have worried...the entire complex is surrounded by a big white wall with a blue top..the entrance area has a huge gate, which i think is called the taiwan democracy memorial..given that chiang kai shek was anything but democratic, it's ironic that the two are so close together..the middle of the complex is a wide open flat space..(broken up only by a giant flag pole in the middle)..on one side is the national theater, and i've forgotten what the fancy building on the other side is..(they look the same)..toward the back, in the middle is the chiang kai shek memorial..it's another building with a blue roof, the outside is painted white..it's round-ish..you walk up a couple flights of stairs outside, into a room with a giant statue of chiang kai shek..is it bad to say that i found the ceiling more interesting than the statue? inside the room i saw entrances to two stairwells, and saw a few people going down..i didn't know what was down there, but figured i should find out..it turns out the stairs go all the way down to the first floor (the statue is on the 4th floor) where they have pictures and items related to the life of cks..there are a couple armoured cars that drove him around, medals he received, former flags of the republic of china, etc..i'm a geek, i like seeing that sort of stuff..
after making my way out of the memorial and looking at the map in the guidebook, it looked as though there was a teample fairly close, so that's where i headed..for once, the map was accurate, and easy to follow..the temple wasn't so easy to find, as it is on a busy street, and the entrance isn't big..another taiwanese temple..fancy, colourful, intricate and a few people worshipping..
from there i walked through a designated shopping area..mainly just to see what was there..street vendors caught my attention (food always catches my attention:) and i bought mangoes and watermelon..YUM..not long after the fruit purchase, the rain started..not too badly at first, but then it started pouring..thankfully, many of taipei's sidewalks are under overhangs, so i was able to walk a little while and not get too wet..but there came a point when it wasn't possible anymore to walk w/out going out in the POURING rain..so i sat near a store for 10-15 minutes..just watching people, eating my fruit..eventually, the rain let up enough that i was able to walk across the street w/out getting totally soaked..i made my way under more overhangs, eventually back to taipei main station, where i went underground..underground all the way to the correct exit out of the bus station, and back to the hostel..lots of stairs, turns, etc..it would be easy to get lost under there foreva!!
i met interesting people in the hostel that night, just hanging out in the lounge..
and that night was when i began to wonder if the hostel is ever truly full..i heard the owner guy tell more than one person that there weren't any beds left, but in my room i was the only one sleeping in my bunk bed..and the other two folks in my room were the only ones sleeping in their bunk beds..so my room alone could've held 3 more people..not that i minded having just the three of us in there..
the next morning i got up and made my way back to the mrt station..i took a train to the suburb/town of danshui..it sounded like a nifty day trip..an easy subway trip, out to the end of the line..(and i met fun locals on the train)..
danshui wasn't what i expected..there were two forts i wanted to see, so i walked..and walked...and walked...(not that far, but in that heat it felt far!)..the first was more camouflaged, and near a shrine, which i also checked out..the fort was hidden in the sense that invaders/attackers wouldn't have been able to see it easily..they would've been almost upon it before they would've seen it, and by that point they would've been in trouble..the walls are redic thick..not very big, it was really only one big square with a courtyard in the middle..
from there i walked back toward the train station, and stopped at another fort..fort san domingo...this one was a bit more interesting, but still very small...it was actually mostly the residence of the british consul in taiwan for a long time, so you get to see the house where they lived, and worked..the rooms didn't have any furniture in them, only displays talking about the history of the area, who had attacked who, and lived where, and defended when..nifty information, but a LOT of information..i'm probably one of the only people they've ever had who actually read everything..what can i say, i'm a geek..i tried to climb up onto a wall to get a good photo but the lady watching the facility immediately told me no...boo hoo..
from there i stopped at starbucks..i needed calories, sugar, and liquid..i know starbucks is an evil international company, buuuuut...
then i started looking for temples..in dansui the temples were all relatively small..still and complicated and fancy as ever though..one of them was quite difficult to find, hidden in a market with only a small entrance to be seen..the guidebook always talks about different aspects of each temple that are unique, but they never seem different to me..i love them, but i don't see big differences..the last temple i wanted to see was close to the train station, and completely deserted..i love those kinds of temples..
from there i went back to taipei on the train, i can't say enough about how fabulous public transportation is..taipei has a particularly easy and convenient system..
i decided to go see two majour temples, one of which was the confucious temple..it was one of the quietest temples i saw in all of taiwan..across the street from that one were two more, both of which i enjoyed as well..i left the last one as night was falling, so the lights were on everywhere..i'm such a sucker for night lights in a big city..dinner that night was at another street market, and it was FANTASTIC..
the next day i was a bit slow in getting started with my day..no reason in particular, but i didn't make it out the door of the hostel until after 11 in the morning..ooops..my first stop was the memorial for sun yat sen, who is regarded as the founder of modern china by almost everyone, even those who otherwise disagree politically..sun yat sen spent a lot of time with chiang kai shek, hence the memorial on taiwan, despite his actual tomb being just outside nanjing, china..the memorial wasn't anything special (another big room with a big statue of the guy) but i enjoyed the changing of the guards, a ceremony with happens every hour..it looked as if there were sailors, air force folks and soldiers in the ceremony, but i don't really know..high stepping, everything choreographed with great precision, etc..nifty..of more interest to me were the groups gathered outside the memorial..there was a rifle group practicing a routine (to the britney spear song "toxic"..!) and some old folks doing tai chi, and another group in yellow shirts doing i don't know what..it seemed to be a popular place for groups to get together..from there i spent the rest of the day wandering around temples..there are TONS of them in taipei..i made my original choices based on what sounded interesting in the guidebook, and what would be easiest to find using public transport..taipei not only has great public transport, but outside of the exits to most subway stations are maps showing whateva is nearby..schools, temples, historical sites, majour stores, etc..using those maps i found temples not listed in the book..and those temples were all better than those listed in the book!! the one that was highly recommended in the book was super crowded, and i thought it wasn't anything spectacular..but there was one two streets down that was awesome..three levels!!! fantastic..
after dinner in yet another street market that night i decided to splurge on a foot massage..my lower leg was still super scratched up from my fall in hualien, so i didn't envy the guy who had to work around the giant scab..anywho, he did a great job, and i did not want to get up and walk back to the hostel..
my last day in taipei was rather bland..i got up late, packed up, walked out the door late, and walked back to the chiang kai shek memorial to get postcards..i didn't get as many as i wanted, but i did get what most people would consider WAAAAAAAAAY too many postcards..(more evidence that i'm really just a geek)
after picking up my stuff at the hostel i took the hsr back to the airport and flew back to seoul..the flight went just as well on the way back..i was sad to leave taiwan, in many ways i like it better than i like korea..but oh well..someday i'll get back to see more..maybe..