Taiwan 2020

尾牙

Annual trip to Taiwan to meet my coworkers/friends before Chinese New Year for the company dinner. This trip followed very closely on the heels of an unusually indulgent personal vacay to Hawaii (see previous posts). Just to remind of the timeline and the upcoming impact of jetlag:

• Dec 23^rd – I did a hike early morning on Maui before getting on the plane back to Seattle.
• Dec 24^th (Christmas Eve) – I forced (one of my amazing) sister’s family to hike up Rattlesnake Ledge near Seattle. Thanks to them for including us in their trip plans. Turns out that they were really lucky, that was the only day that the sun was out here both before and after – for many many days.
• Dec 31^st – I boarded a flight to Taiwan (although technically it was 2020 when they closed the doors for takeoff). The 13-hour direct flight to Taipei was very comfortable and uneventful.

Unexpected is that for the first 2 weeks in Taiwan, the weather was better than what I just experienced in Hawaii. The air was so clean that I could see Venus as the sun set the 1st three evenings. That would not have been possible in the 1980/90s when I lived here.

I finally enrolled in the very popular and successful local bike-share program in Taipei. YouBike. Really got into it and totaled 70+ miles on smooth dedicated paths along reclaimed riverbanks the first 10 days including a big bike to Tamshui from Shilin (I know that most don’t get that but enjoy the pic main blog pic I took on the way.

When I lived in Taipei in the 1980/90s I did have a bike biI did That was. That would not have been possible in the 1980/90s when I lived here.

On Jan 11th, Taiwan had an important and historic national election, made even more prominent by the protests in Hong Kong. To be here and witness it was one of my goals. On Election Day I got a ride share bike and cycled past all the major sites in the capital city. Nice weather but nothing going on. Boring. I slowed down as I went past polling stations. Well organized, quiet and boring. Presidential Palace, founder’s memorial, party headquarters… boring. I returned the bike at sunset and walked back after the polls closed and results were rolling in. I saw an outdoor watch party. That was interesting because everyone in Taiwan was watching as results flowed in. The watch party I saw in my old neighborhood was very quiet because their party was not doing well. Got back to the apartment and watched live on several stations until the result were conclusive less than 5 hours after the polls closed. No protests. Everyone trusted the results. Respectful concession and victory speeches. Again, that would not have been possible in the 1980/90s when I lived here. Ironically (and depressingly) I no longer expect that kind of civil behavior in my own country at the national level. It was a great day for Taiwan, an undertold story now but one that will resonate in Chinese history.

When I first arrived in Taiwan in January 1987 (33 years ago!), the place was still under Martial Law. Taiwan has had many ups and downs as it lurched from a military state to one of the most transparent and successful democracies in the world. Doing its best to confront its past. I am very fortunate to have witnessed that transformation first-hand and to have benefited from the positive consequences (like clean skies and bike-share).  

The next day I flew to a province of Taiwan that I have never been to. A place called Taitung in the SE corner of the island that is within the tropics. Not a well-planned adventure. Late decision on where to go and an assumption I could get express train tickets anytime, sold out, so I bought a $75 plane ticket on-line 36 hours in advance. The only plan was to do some biking on the coast while there. The very cheap hotel reminded me a lot of the recent vrb0 in Honolulu because it had a similar urban east view of the moon setting over the mountains and a morning rainbow.

Taiwan has a well-deserved reputation for cuisine. Different cultures have washed up to the island over the centuries and brought their cooking. There are some chains or cuisines that have become world famous. Maybe not the same as McDonalds or Starbucks but ever heard of bubble tea? Taiwan. Stand for hours in line to get into a “Din Tai Fung” dumpling restaurant in any major city? Taiwan. But it is at the night markets that it gets real. Stinky Tofu? Yeah, probably not heard of it but it is also Taiwan. So there was, of course, a night market nearby. As I walked the street to survey the options from the various stalls I decided to support very last food stall: Jimbo’s BBQ. Two Caucasian guys in cowboy hats from Kansas City Missouri. I ordered their cajun chicken panini and a side of tater tots and commiserated with them about how difficult the flight back and forth is. Not what I expected from a small provincial town in a remote corner of Taiwan. Back to that theme: that would not have been possible in the 1980/90s when I lived here.

The main excuse for visiting this remote place was to do some biking. It turned out that the big ride was very similar to my recent big ride on Oahu. Both rented bikes were from GIANT, the bike in Taiwan was $6 versus $65 in Hawaii. That aside, the ride was about the same distance and both were up a very scenic, relatively unspoiled and preserved SE corner of a volcanic pacific island, watching the waves roll in to my right with high cliffs to the left while battling the wind on the way up and then cruising on the way back.

Another unexpected similarity is that the village I rode to in Taiwan is apparently the surfing mecca of Taiwan so suddenly I saw surfboards just as I had in Hawaii. I did not know that was a thing here. Cool BnBs and alternative restaurants. Even weirder for me is that I kept seeing Americans (meaning old white guys like me) on the streets walking their dogs, getting groceries, gardening. Still researching but it seems that this village (Dulan) may be a retirement location for US expatriates. An alternative explanation is that Taitung has the most active Air Force base on Taiwan. I did say it was a remote place but that has military implications. There were fighter jets doing low-level training runs at least 6 hours every day. So some of those Americans might be related to the military base.

My 2^nd night in Taitung was on a Monday after a big weekend so it was quiet. No important night market. I walked 3 blocks from my hotel to a pizza place owned and run by yet another expat. I had been craving a pizza and it was my preferred style – a cross between northern Italian and NY Queens thin crust. [Flash forward: less than 2 weeks later I was in NY and ordered about the same from a similar hole in the wall place off a #7 train stop in Queens and enjoyed it just as much]. Recommend Uncle Pete’s in Taitung. Back to that theme: that would not have been possible in the 1980/90s when I lived here.
Also – don’t judge – I mostly ate local the 3 weeks I was in Taiwan it just seemed fun and surreal to be ordering “local” in a remote place and getting KC BBQ and NY Pizza.

Express train back to Taipei and then had to work the rest of the week.
Saturday morning took the bullet train (HSR) to Taichung in central Taiwan. Work buddy picked me up at the station to meet all my colleagues and their families for the annual company dinner (尾牙). It was a lunch, not dinner and we scaled back a lot from the last 5 years based on experience, just a light 10 course meal followed by a visit to an amazing coffee shop/bakery. This event (尾牙) is like Thanksgiving in the US but for work buddies. A few servings in they all pulled out their phones to search and share photos of us together and our kids at the previous 尾牙 to see how the adults are all more ‘mature’ and the kids are all bigger. Just like in the US at Thanksgiving. They all use LINE to post on-line albums but I won’t link that.