Smith Family Home

Taiwan

Taiwan (1-8 October, 2007)

              After living in China for eighteen months and studying the Mainland’s cross-straits relationship with this “renegade province,” I was really excited to visit personally and see how the other half lived. I have a few Taiwanese friends here in Shanghai and we often talk about the Island’s politics and the independence issue. One of the interesting facts about Shanghai is there are an estimated 500,000 Taiwanese citizens who live and work in this area—many of them building factories and starting companies here. Many of the Chinese people who live in our building are Taiwanese. The final factor in my decision to travel over there was the lesson we had learned that traveling in the Mainland during the October National Day Holiday is next to impossible because of the crowds and the fact that lodging and transportation costs increase by about 50% during this week. TK (OSC 2007, Shanghai) agreed to accompany me. Unfortunately, kid situations and other issues meant that our long-suffering spouses would be staying home. We owe them big time for being so understanding… Trip itinerary planning was made easy by MW (OSC 2007, Kaohsiung) who provided us with great local knowledge on where to go and what to see on the island. She even went so far as to make most of our hotel bookings for us.

              We booked our tickets to Taipei through Macao. The weather as we were flying over the Hong Kong/Macao area was beautiful and we were able to look out the windows and see these two beautiful cities as we approached the Macao airport. We made our connecting flight in Macao with no problems and just 90 minutes or so later, we were touching down in beautiful Taipei. American passport holders can stay for thirty days with no visa which was super convenient. The weather in Taipei is terrific during the autumn. It was still quite warm, but the skies were clear blue with scattered white clouds during our stay there. We caught a bus from the airport into the city and checked into our hotel (Taipei YMCA) which offered very adequate rooms for the best rate we found in Taipei (thanks again to MW for the tip). We picked up a couple of tourist maps from the front desk, created a sightseeing plan for the next day and a half and then headed out to explore the city.

              Taipei is a great city. The food vendors on the streets selling a million types of food are certainly one of the highlights for me. For about three dollars we were able to buy several different local dumplings with different kinds of stuffing which we ate while walking around. We walked over to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial with the hopes it was lit up at night, but were disappointed to see all the lights were turned off. We then caught the subway up to the north side of the city where we spent some time strolling through the Shilin Night Market. It was nothing unique--very similar to all of the street markets we’ve visited here on the mainland--but fun for an hour or two. Several of the buildings we walked past (and many of the government buildings we saw during the course of our trip) had big banners hanging from them which read “The UN for Taiwan, Peace Forever” on them. They had been hung as part of the recent demonstrations by both Taiwanese political sides for renewed Taiwanese UN membership. I’m not sure how the “Peace Forever” logic flows, because I have yet to meet a single mainlander who wouldn’t fight to keep Taiwan if it declared independence.

              On day two, we visited a long list of places. After picking up our tickets for the remaining rail portions of our itinerary, we started the day’s sightseeing at the beautiful Chiang Kai-shek Memorial and museum. We have become accustomed to mainland propaganda and hyperbole, but it was interesting to see that Taiwanese propaganda and hyperbole is also alive and well. We visited the nearby LDS Temple before making our way, via subway and taxi, to the National Palace Museum which is the repository for the trainloads of Chinese art and treasure from the Forbidden City the Nationalists absconded with as they fled the mainland in the closing days of the civil war. There was a lot to see, but we managed to make fly-by visits of every display open to visitors. We then made our way back down to the eastern part of the city where Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world, is located. The Sun Yat-sen memorial is a block away, but it was closed for air conditioning repairs, so all we could do was walk around it on the way to Taipei 101. We rode the world’s fastest elevators up to the observation floor and enjoyed the spectacular 360 views of Taipei. The blue skies, deep green mountains, and expansive city made for perfect picture taking opportunities. After dropping off some purchases at our hotel room, we made our way back out to a popular pedestrian food street where we topped off dinner with “ice monster” shaved ice, fruit, and condensed milk desserts.

              On day three, we took a two-hour train ride to the NE coastal city of Hualien which is home to Taroko Gorge, one of Taiwan’s top tourist destinations. We rented scooters after checking in to the hotel and then took off to explore the area. We rode along the coast and then headed into the mountains to a local lake resort area followed by a couple of hours riding through the Hualien back-country. The topography here is really Hawaii-like because of the towering emerald green mountains rising sharply from the narrow coastal plain. As we followed narrow little country roads through rice fields and banana tree groves, we passed traditional-style graveyards (the likes of which are no longer seen in most places on the mainland), small temples, and even a military mausoleum/memorial shaped just like the Chiang Kai-shek memorial building we had seen in Taipei.

           We started day four at about 0800. Today was devoted almost entirely to seeing beautiful Taroko Gorge. The gorge was created by a fast flowing river which carved out an extremely deep groove through towering mountains on both sides. Waterfalls punctuate the steep cliff walls every few kilometers and the small two-lane road which follows the river up into the mountains is interesting for the creative ways in which it clings to, or goes through, these rock faces. Also interesting were the occasional little pavilions and temples which had been constructed in picturesque perches on cliffs and peaks in the Gorge. We rode for hours until we were really high up in the mountains. The weather suddenly turned much cooler with the clouds hanging low overhead, at which point we decided it was probably best to turn around and head back towards Hualien. On the way back to the city we spontaneously left the main highway and headed out to the coast where we could see huge waves breaking on the beach.

            We had been following the weather reports carefully because Typhoon Krosa had formed and was inexorably bearing down on the island. Our itinerary called for two days on Green Island for snorkeling and diving, but it was looking like we wouldn’t make it there because of the oncoming storm. When we made it to the beach near Hualien, we saw first-hand how massive the waves became as they were driven ahead of the storm until making contact with Taiwan. Some of them must have been thirty feet high as they broke on the rocky shore of the beach. We met a couple during our ride in the gorge and they had made their way down to the same beach. We had just finished speaking to them when a huge set of waves broke when they weren’t looking and caught them (and us) by total surprise because we all thought we were far enough from the water that we were safe. The couple got soaking wet from head to foot. The woman actually got knocked over and lost a shoe in the swirling water. TK and I both ran and just managed to escape their fate. It was pretty funny. We rode back into the city along the coast following this.

            A conversation with the local Taiwanese Coast Guard personnel we ran into, followed by a phone call to MW, confirmed that Green Island was off the itinerary—all ferries had stopped running out to the island and ships of every kind were seeking safety in ports. We were able to exchange our previously reserved train tickets that night while waiting for our train to Taitung where we had hotel reservations for the night. The next morning, we walked out to see the huge waves coming in on Taitung’s coastline and then caught our train to Kaohsiung. MW had graciously opened her home to us (even though she was still in Taipei with her cousin) so we had a very nice place in which to seek refuge from the Typhoon for the next two days.

            Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s second largest city and one of the busiest port cities in the world. TK and I spent about six hours the first evening there just walking around the port area and then through the city exploring whatever looked intriguing. It was interesting to see many ROC navy vessels in port--we passed groupings of ships snugly anchored together waiting for the storm to hit. As darkness came on, the winds were steadily getting stronger and the rain was beginning to come down harder. After an hour in an internet café, I got some dinner and headed back to M's place for some sleep. Taiwan’s authorities and people seemed pretty nonchalant about the typhoon—they have been through this so many times, that they know the drill pretty well by now. I was occasionally awakened through the night by the sound of the wind howling outside the window.

            MW got home from Taipei around 0630 the next morning, and instead of being tired and getting some rest after her all-night bus ride, she spent the day taking us on a great tour of her city. We visited the beautiful campus of National Sun Yat-Sen University where she goes to school and then we walked near the port ferry docks. The winds now were so strong that the streets were deserted and traffic was nearly nonexistent. We have some good pictures of us leaning into the wind with our arms outstretched being supported by the wind’s force. There was even one short period when the wind was so strong we were forced to seek shelter behind a wall for a few moments before walking the rest of the way back to M’s place. It could have been dangerous, but it was also fun. The winds howled the rest of the day and the rest of that night. We made it out long enough that evening to get some movies at Blockbuster (something that doesn’t exist on the mainland because of cheap, plentiful, pirated DVDs) and some pizza from Pizza Hut (which are also everywhere on the mainland).

          On day seven, I was awake bright and early to go sightseeing. TK had come down with a really bothersome cough that kept him awake the night before and he still wasn’t up by 0830, so I left my itinerary with MW and then caught the 0905 train to Tainan. Tainan is the fourth largest city on Taiwan and the former Dutch, then Japanese, capital of Taiwan. There are dozens of little temples and historical sights to see in this little city. I followed the Lonely Planet walking tour itinerary from the train station and saw almost every recommended place over the next seven hours. The typhoon had passed so although it rained steadily through the day, the winds were no longer a problem. I need to comment on the people in Taiwan that we met. In general they were extremely polite, happy, and helpful in every situation. On the subways and trains, they stand in lines without pushing and shoving and wait patiently for others to go first. I didn’t see trash in the streets, never heard the hacking sound of someone hocking mucous on the ground, and certainly never ran into anyone urinating in public on the sidewalk. You should sense that all of those are things we experience in our daily lives in Shanghai. Some people have said that this “quality” behavior is a legacy of Japanese rule. Others say that it was part of the New Cultural Movement which continued on in Taiwan after the Nationalists fled there. Most people agree that it wasn’t always so and that it took a long time for people to change their behavior. I have hope that the mainlanders will improve their habits in another generation or so. I’m reminded of an interesting experience getting directions from one man in Tainan. He actually gave me bad directions which sent me walking the wrong way. I soon figured out the mistake on my own and made it to my destination (the South Wall Gate). When I was walking out of the park, the same man (who I had spoken to about ten blocks away) entered the park and looked relieved to find me. He realized he steered me wrong and had tracked me down to make sure I got where I wanted to go. He apologized profusely for giving me the wrong directions and then offered to drive me around to my next sights. I declined his kind offer, but took his picture to remember the incident by. This would never happen on the Mainland, and it would almost certainly never happen back in the US. It obviously made a good impression on me.

             I made it back to Kaohsiung (Tainan and Kaohsiung are only an hour apart by train) in the early evening. MW took TK and I out for some good Vietnamese food followed by another ice-shaving fruit desert (which is my favorite desert in the world now). The next morning, we said our good-byes and caught our flight to Macao. We were delayed there for a few extra hours because former Typhoon Krosa was now slamming into Shanghai as Tropical Storm Krosa and we needed to wait for the weather to improve. The real travel hiccup occurred when we arrived in Shanghai. There were no airport workers to bring the ladder truck out to the plane and no gate open from which we could disembark. We sat on the plane for two hours within site of the terminal. The plane’s captain (who had a strong Russian [?] accent) got on the intercom and announced that he had spoken with everyone at the airport, everyone understood we were stranded, and nobody seemed to really care or know what to do about it. “In other words,” he said in disgust on the intercom “welcome to China.” TK and I started laughing, but he must have offended most of the rest of the passengers on the flight. It was good to be home.

Wishful Thinking

The front gate of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

CKS Memorial (front)

CKS Memorial (back)

Beautiful Temple

National Palace Museum

Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Building

Me with Taipei 101 (world's tallest building at the time)

Small part of downtown Taipei viewed from Taipei 101

Taipei neighborhoods in the surrounding mountains

Traditional Chinese tombs outside Hualien

Rugged Hualien mountain gorges

Taroko Gorge Scenery

More Taroko Gorge Scenery

TK getting ready to race in Taroko Gorge

Typhoon Krosa wave ambush

Typhoon Krosa waves near Hualien

Chinese-Christian Tombs near Hualien

Typhoon Krosa winds near the Love River, Kaohsiung

Typhoon Krosa winds in Kaohsiung

Typhoon Krosa even made the ROC navy seek shelter

With MW at NSYSU

What Happened?

Typical Kaohsiung Traffic

Confucian Temple in Tainan

Tainan Temple Decorations

Dutch Fortress Ruins from 1600's, Tainan

Tainan Good Samaritan

SE China

SE China (17-24 November, 2007)
            We spent Thanksgiving week this year doing what we love best—traveling in China. This time the plan was to hit four cities in eight days beginning with Guangzhou (GZ)—the vitally important economic hub of SE China. Many of our Shanghai friends (both Chinese and foreign) who have been to Guangzhou are kind of negative about it so we were prepared to not like it. The truth is we ended up liking it—a lot—and hope we can spend more time down there in the future. The city (known to the West as Canton) was the first place opened to foreign traders during the Qing Dynasty and it’s also the cultural home for a huge percentage of the Chinese Diaspora. Most of the Chinese who settled in America (and many other countries) in the 1800s to build our railroads or work in the gold fields and coal mines came from SE China. In fact, go to most China-towns in the U.S. and the dialect you probably hear will be Cantonese instead of Mandarin. The city spreads out across innumerable small islets which together form the Pearl River Delta. Dozens of bridges, tunnels and ferries crisscross the delta weaving otherwise isolated places into the greater urban area. It was a good thing ABD (OSC 2006) were there to show us around. They’ve been in GZ for the last two years and were fantastic hosts in showing us around their city.

            We flew down from Shanghai in the morning and were met by ABD at the airport in Guangzhou. They showed us to the airport express shuttle bus and we were soon on the highway heading into downtown.   We checked in to the Longkou Dragon Pearl Hotel (great rooms and very decent prices) which was just down the street from ABD’s apartment and then spent the rest of the day visiting some of the great places to see in the city. First stop of the day was the Museum of the Southern Yue Royal Mausoleum where the tomb of Emperor Wen is located. The excavations and artifacts date back to the Western Han Dynasty and the museum is certainly worth a visit. It’s also conveniently just across the street from Yuexiu Park where the famous five rams statue is so it’s an easy addition to any sightseeing itinerary. Also in Yuexiu park was the monument to Sun Yat-sen and the remains of the old imperial city walls. About the time it was getting dark we made it to one of the pedestrian shopping streets. Unfortunately we learned it was an auspicious date for weddings and our plan for dinner at one of ABD’s favorite restaurants had to change because a lot of places were completely booked by wedding parties. We did finally find a little restaurant where we had a good dinner and then spent the next couple of hours browsing in the little shops where Michelle found good bargains in clothes and shoes for the kids.

             I had been looking forward to day two for a long time. ABD treated us to a classic Yum-cha Cantonese breakfast in a nearby restaurant, following which we bought our train tickets for the next day before making our way out to the ferry station to catch the boat which would take us to Whampoa (Huangpu) Military Academy. Whampoa is one of the one of the lesser known, but very important places in modern Chinese history. Sun Yat-Sen was a determined nationalist and a charismatic political leader, but he never had the military force required to free China from the squabbling warlords who had carved up China following the Republican Revolution in 1911. The answer was to establish Whampoa as a training ground for a military force capable of defeating the competing private armies in China. Chiang Kai-Shek was the commandant of the academy and most of the academy graduates later became senior military officers in his Nationalist Army. Lesser known is that some future Communist leaders also sprang from Whampoa including Zhou Enlai who served as the academy’s political commissar under Chiang. Anyhow, students of Chinese history are very familiar with this place and it was definitely a must-see for me. I’m glad Michelle and the kids weren’t too upset about me dragging them out there. The old academy is now just a museum but there is a PLA Naval academy right next door as you can see in the picture below with the laundry hanging on the balcony. It was here at Whampoa that Michelle bought a souvenir for Steven of a MiG fighter jet made entirely out of spent rifle rounds. This souvenir will turn up again at the end of our trip…

             We took a sampan back across the Pearl River and, after a short walk through a neat old village, we caught two cabs out to Shamian Island and the White Swan Hotel which is one of the swankiest places in town. The beautiful man-made waterfall and pond in the huge atrium make this a tourist stop on its own. It’s also apparently Kim Chong-Il’s favorite place to stay in GZ when he makes the rare journey out of North Korea. Shamian Island was the only place foreigners were allowed to do business in China prior to 1841 and it soon boasted a collection of nice European style buildings built by the various trading companies operating in Asia. Some of these buildings are still in disrepair, but most have recently been refurbished into nice shops and restaurants. The whole place has a nice relaxed feel and it was great to stroll around the flower gardens and parks under the shady canopy trees. The evening took us out to the Chimelon Circus where we caught a nice Japanese dinner before catching the show. We loved this show and recommend it to anyone heading down there. It’s reminiscent of Cirque Du Soleil with all the unique performance art, acrobats, clowns and music. We caught a bus back into downtown and sadly said goodbye to ABD because we were leaving the next morning. Next stop: Shenzhen.

              The express train from Guangzhou to Shenzhen only takes an hour. Shenzhen is one of the legendary places in modern China because prior to 1980 it was nothing but a small village famous only for being on the border with Hong Kong. Shenzhen exploded in a frenzy of growth when it was declared a Special Enterprise Zone at the beginning of the economic reform period under Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980’s. Today, it’s a city of around a million people. Modern high-rise skyscrapers dominate the landscape and it’s a shopper’s paradise for visitors from Hong Kong and overseas. We didn’t meet a single person originally from Shenzhen—all of them came from other cities in the Mainland with the intention of going into business and making their fortunes. After checking in at the hotel, we took a cab to one of the strangest places I’ve ever been. In 1995, cash-strapped Russia sold the former Soviet aircraft carrier ‘Minsk’ to a business conglomerate in S. Korea. A Chinese business group then purchased it in 1998 and turned it into a floating theme park of sorts in Shenzhen harbor. It’s certainly an impressive ship, but many of the displays and the variety show performances we watched on the flight deck were surreal. They featured Chinese performers wearing Chinese, Russian, U.S. and British uniforms doing dance routines and drill and ceremony performances all to a single repeated English command of “attention!” from the leader. Take a look at the pictures below and you’ll see what I mean. The rest of the day we spent shopping on Dongmen Pedestrian Street and at the Luohu Shopping Center. Steven and I split off from Michelle and Sabrina because they only wanted to look at ‘girly stuff.’ We headed over to Luohu and browsed through the electronics and remote control toys. Clothes in Shanghai are already really inexpensive compared with back home, but we found clothes in GZ and Shenzhen to be cheaper yet. I found a tailor shop with some great ready-made sports jackets for about $30 each so I bought three. Hopefully they’ll still fit me when I’m ready to retire. We joined up with the girls again at the hotel that evening.

             The trip across the border into Hong Kong the next morning was relatively simple (for U.S. passport holders) and we were soon riding through the New Territories into Kowloon on Hong Kong’s modern, clean light rail system. We got off the train in Kowloon and took a cab the rest of the way to CJ’s (OSC, 2006) apartment on HK Island where we would be staying. The kids quickly made friends with CJ’s black Lab, Pax, and would have been content to spend the next four days just playing with him. Michelle and I had to drag them away every morning to do our sightseeing, which was probably good for Pax who always looked exhausted from playing with the kids. Day one was our day to see HK from Victoria Peak—the top of the tall mountain which serves as the backdrop for the densely built city districts on HK Island. We rode the tram to the top and were enchanted by the amazing views of the entire city from up there. We spent the next five hours walking on the trails around the peak and liked it so much we decided to hang out until dark to catch the city lights at night. HK just might be the most scenic city on earth with its bustling harbor, rugged terrain, and jumbles of skyscrapers everywhere. A visit to Vic Peak has to be the single must-do activity on any HK itinerary. We caught dinner at the top before heading home around 2030.

            HK day two was our big walking day. We began by taking the world’s longest escalator from CJ’s apartment in the Mid-levels down to Central where we walked along the harbor front all the way to the HK Convention Center. The water-level views of the city from there were terrific. It was interesting to also see the hundreds of Mainland tourists (who can now afford to visit HK) milling about excitedly taking pictures of everything and everyone—including Steven and Sabrina. It kind of made HK feel like home. We were also approached by two Jehovah’s Witnesses who kindly asked if we would like to receive any of their magazines. We had a nice conversation about China and religion. Even though we declined their offers to learn more about their church, it was refreshing to be able to freely speak about religion with Chinese people in a Chinese context. Speaking of which, we caught the Star Ferry across to Kowloon and then took a cab to the LDS Temple so we would know how to get there on our last day in town. We had plans to join LDS friends from Shanghai who were coming down to visit. By this time it was late afternoon and we went back to CJ’s place for a little rest before visiting a local bookstore and catching dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Central.

            Day three (Thanksgiving) was devoted to Macao—the former Portuguese colony returned to China in 1999. To get there, we took the hour-long ride on Turbojet’s high speed catamaran. The mainland tourist groups I mentioned above descended on Macao at the same time we did and it took nearly an hour to negotiate the long lines through customs and immigration. Macao is a great blend of European and Chinese with the architectures of both readily apparent everywhere. We visited the Guia Fortress first to get a bird’s eye view of this tiny city from the fortress’ hilltop perch. Macao is the only place where gambling is legal in China and the gaming industry is booming here, prompting the construction of tons of new casinos and hotels. It reportedly surpassed Vegas in 2006 as the gambling capital of the world. Fortunately, the city has also taken pains to preserve its interesting historical legacy and the cathedrals and old European and Chinese neighborhoods are protected and preserved. We loved walking through the streets and exploring the sites here—see the pictures below to get an idea of how cool the city is. We finished the day with a trip to the Macao Tower where we watched the bungee jumpers. Michelle gathered up the courage to do it, but as we inquired at the desk we learned there just wasn’t enough time before we had to catch our return ferry. There was enough time however, for a trip to the observation deck followed by Thanksgiving dinner at the Macao International Food Festival. We stuffed ourselves on Macanese, Chinese, Korean, and American food. No turkey or football, but one of our more memorable Thanksgivings nonetheless. Unfortunately our full stomachs didn’t mesh well with the really choppy boat ride back to Hong Kong and we were all feeling a bit seasick by the time we arrived. Nobody needed to use the bags (unlike some of our fellow passengers), and we recovered quickly when we were back on dry land.

            We spent all of day four at Ocean Park, which is the local’s favorite theme park. We debated about going to HK Disneyland, but everyone said to skip it and go to Ocean Park instead because it was bigger, cheaper, and had more rides and shows than Disneyland. Apparently Disneyland has been a huge financial disappointment because of its small size and “kiddy park” attractions. We had a great time at Ocean Park. The kids love roller coasters and Steven and Sabrina dragged us to do every loopty-loop coaster they had. Sabrina then dragged us through them all again for second and third rides. I think it’s cool that our kids love roller-coasters—Sabrina is almost always the littlest person in line and sometimes has to stretch to make the height cut-off. Steven is an old-hand by now and is less impressed with roller-coasters than Sabrina is.

             On day five we said good-bye to CJ and Pax and took the cab out to the Temple where we had a great reunion with seven other Shanghai families who had made the trip down. The excitement of the day came when we tried to get through security at the Hong Kong airport to catch our flight home. We had put Steven’s souvenirs in his carry-on back-pack and I had forgotten he had that little MiG fighter jet made out of spent bullet casings. Of course it showed up clear as day in the security x-rays and immediately generated a lot of excitement. We were immediately pulled aside and security officers opened his pack to see what he was carrying. As soon as they pulled out the bag, I groaned because I remembered he had the plane in there. Ammunition of any kind—even spent ammunition—is of course not allowed in carry-on bags.   HK policy is that such items must be confiscated from carry-on bags and an official police report filed. As the plane was being photographed for evidence and the police report, we were starting to wonder if maybe this was a bigger deal than we thought. When the SWAT team guys with the MP-5 submachine guns showed up, it was a little too much for Michelle and Sabrina and they both started crying. I had explained to the officers that we picked up the souvenir in GZ at Whampoa academy and they were certainly welcome to confiscate the thing (which by now was broken into several pieces). At the sight of Michelle and Sabrina crying, they were very polite and professional in reassuring us that it happens all the time and once the report was filed we could be on our way to catch our flight home. Good thing we had shown up early at the airport because it took about 40 minutes to clear it all up. We made it home as scheduled—happy to finally have seen this vibrant area of China and happy to not be in jail in Hong Kong.