Taipei – The best was the last
2008 – Taipei, Taiwan
I was really looking forward to going to Taipei. The city itself seemed interesting a lot, but I had a few good friends from university who live there, and they said they’d take me out whenever I could go. So with local friends, strong history and cultural knowledge, and with comparably fewer foreigners than other countries in the region, it ticked all my boxes as a place to go. Just a pity I knew nothing about what I actually wanted to do there in my spare time.
In terms of work, I had a great time. My hotel was a short trip to the office, meaning I spent minimal time in traffic. On a sidenote – the hotel Landis in Taipei is amazing. Great service, comfy beds and a lobby set well in the 1950’s give it a charming feel. Highly recommended. Back at work, the people were always more than pleasant hosts, who took me out to a variety of lunches and dinners through the week. One day they even brought some local delicacies in – which included various organs from various animals that were dried, cooked and/or smoked. I don’t normally do organs, but they actually tasted pretty OK. I did find it weird though working with people who were eating duck beaks.
A blue break dancing street performer.
The week I was in Taipei coincided with the first week of the Olympic games in Beijing, and it made the reading of the morning papers fascinating. Every day there were China pieces written on how the Chinese weren’t allowing in certain Taiwanese supporters into the country, how they faked many elements of the opening ceremony, how protesters were getting arrested if they even thought of applying for a protest permit, how the Chinese were bending the rules and sportsmanship in many of the games. I was getting slowly brainwashed to be anti-Chinese, and didn’t mind in the slightest.
On my last day of work Taiwan was taking on China in the baseball. It was near impossible to get the group to concentrate on the task at hand, with each of them – even the ladies – checking online regularly as the latest update on the game. Even the girls here like baseball?? But this wasn’t the worst of it. China has never taken any interest in baseball – the only reason they qualified is that they were the host nation. But for the first time ever, the Chinese beat Taiwan fair and square in the game. Taiwan was distraught – how can they lose to a country that doesn’t care about baseball? And worst still.. losing to China!? I may as well have just gone home – everyone was acting like they were all told that their parents were getting a divorce. They couldn’t concentrate, slouched in their chairs, stared out the windows. They’d been cut, deeply. I dared not to joke about it.
Taipei is clean, has parkland, generally law abiding citizens, but still retains a feeling of unpredictability and energy. The people are well dressed, trendy, friendly and polite. You can drive for 30 minutes from the centre of Taipei, and you’ll be in forests. If I was to elect for a city to live in Asia apart from Bangkok, Taipei is on the top of my list.. but I still wouldn’t watch baseball. I just hope the loud talking mainland package tourists who are threatening to cross the straight in mass don’t detract from its charm.
