Day 430b: Manila - Taipei (臺北市)

Jun 6 - Touch down at Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE) at about 10:00. Change money and get a two-day MRT (metro) card for T$ 520 each (T$30/US$1).

It is amazing how different it can feel to step off in a different country after a two-hour flight. Taiwan is just north of the Philippines, but the contrast is strong. A sense of calm pervades the people heading to the metro. Even though nearly all the signage is in Chinese, it is easy to figure out where to go and what to do. Swipe our cards into the metro station, and ride 40 minutes into downtown Taipei.

A few of the verdant hills that surround Taipei. This city, unlike so many other large urban centers, has zero shantytowns climbing up the surrounding hills.

Some of the modern apartment blocks so prevalent in the city.

Everything is organized, and people follow the rules. For the escalators going up from the metro platform, people line up quietly in two rows. The right row are those planning to stand, and the left row are those who want to walk up the escalator.

We get the Green line from the main train station to the Nanjing Fuxing station. Our hotel is about a five-minute walk from there. Even the small streets, devoid of proper sidewalks, have a green stripe painted down one side that is reserved for pedestrian traffic.

A random street corner near our hotel.

We were supposed to have the complete day to see things here. Our hotel, occupying the 12th floor of a building, is not ready for us yet. We drop the bags in the lobby and head out, armed with the two-day metro cards.

First take a combination metro-bus to a forested valley north of town where the National Palace Museum is located. This museum is named for a similar structure in Beijing and houses a large number of artifacts brought from mainland China in the 1940’s.

The main museum building.

One of the side buildings, behind a series of parks.

Some paintings on the wall in the main entrance.

There is a large display of ceramics from all dynasties.

Vase from the Qing Dynasty (1874-1908), reign of Guangxu.

It is interesting that nearly everything here is from the mainland. The sense of Taiwanese identity is fully enmeshed with the country that wants to assimilate it.

After the museum, walk around the park for a while and find a small eatery. Even hole-in-the-wall places cost over US$10 for all our lunches. Back on the bus to the metro, where we take a different exit to visit Longshan Temple.

Street entrance of Longshan Temple.

Main temple. There was a service going on, so I didn’t get pushy about looking inside the altar room.

This temple was constructed in 1738 for the recent settlers coming from the mainland, specifically Fukien Province. The temple was named after the hometown of the founders. It has survived many earthquakes, and also bombings during the Japanese occupation in WWII. The current layout dates from 1924. It is actually a temple dedicated not to one belief system but three: Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

Many people were around the temple, chanting and reading from prayer books.

The prayer session went on for a long time, longer than we spent wandering around the temple.

This temple is known as a place to come get important questions answered. Many people were doing what this woman is above. She asks the question in her mind, and throws down the bits of wood shaped like orange wedges (called bwei blocks). How the blocks land on the ground gives either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

The cylinders inside this altar room have the tiny, labelled Buddhas we’ve seen many other places.

Perhaps it is the prayer session going on, but despite it being fairly crowded, there is a sense of tranquility here.

Head back to the hotel and buy some food supplies at Family Mart. Like 7-Eleven, there seems to be one at every corner.

A manhole cover featuring a rendition of the Taipei 101 Tower, and various cable cars.

Taiwan (ROC)Philippines