Enjoying the Perks of Taiwan

Taiwan Photo Gallery

I had to pry myself out of bed this morning as the cushioning on the king sized mattress was heavenly. After gathering my belongings, I set off to find the train station for Taipei. Along the road I met a girl who offered to show me the way, and she spoke enough English for us to have a decent conversation along the way. Like many attractive Asian girls, she was working in cosmetic sales for a large department store with the hope of learning better English and becoming a flight attendant. I offered to take her out later to repay her kindness, but she insisted she had to work and so we parted ways.

I reached Taipei Central Station shortly after noon, and headed to one of the many imposing buildings in the vicinity. There was a hostel listed in the lobby, and like that I found the dorm where I would spend the next several days in Taipei.

While I was waiting to check in, I struck up a conversation with a Korean brother and sister. We got into an extended talk about the state of Korean affairs, and eventually I asked if I could come along with them for the day. The sister is a science teacher, and the brother studies computer engineering – meaning we had plenty in common. We caught a train to a town called Danshui, which is where Taiwan’s main river meets the Pacific Ocean.

The town felt like a carnival built along the shores of a river. There were street vendors selling foods of all shapes and sizes, electronic video games that could be heard up and down the river, children getting their faces painted, street performers, and most importantly, endless Taiwanese enjoying their day off. The Taiwanese national holiday is on October 10th (Double Ten, as they like to say), and most of the population gets several days off in anticipation of the event. For the Taiwanese, this is a big deal because it was not long ago when 6 (or even 7) day work weeks were the norm. It is no surprise Taiwan was one of the leading “Asian Tigers.”

Towards evening, we rode a large motorboat to enjoy the sunset over the ocean before being taken to a large fisherman’s wharf. The scene was exciting, and I was able to sample an endless variety of food. Deservedly, Taiwan is the well-deserved champion of great food in Asia.

That evening we enjoyed fireworks over the river before having Japanese food for dinner. To top the day off, we decided to have foot massages at Taipei’s infamous Snake Street. As the name implies, there were endlesssss resssstaurants with dead snakes hanging from hooks, living snakes eying passersby from wire cages, and chefs with microphones toying with cobras and pythons. It was a scene to be seen, but I could not bring myself to sample snake’s blood or diluted venom (no surprise there).

The foot massage was probably my least favorite part of the day as I squealed like an old woman the entire time. Quite literally, it was 40 minutes of agony. I did not even feel that much better afterward, making me feel that back massages are the way to go. There are too many bones and nerves in the feet for it to be a pleasant experience. If nothing else, all the Taiwanese in the shop had a great laugh at my expense!