First impressions of Taiwan

The entrance of the Bao'an temple

Barely 36 hours on the ground in Taiwan and I already feel the urge to write down a few of my first impressions that I have gathered mostly during two bike rides as well as two visits to the Taoyuan night market. So far, I am totally stunned by what I have seen.

I arrived here just yesterday, on Friday--but it seems as if I've been here for a week already. The sheer mass of new impressions has overwhelmed me in a way that I have seldom experienced before. I left Lubbock on Wednesday around noon, and four First and Business Class flights later I touched down at TPE, Taipei's main airport. Thanks to my jumping across the international date line it was Friday, not Thursday--it's easy to lose track of what real time it is when you're on a 15-hour Cathay transpacific flight. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that I wouldn't want to make this trip in Economy. Thank goodness for frequent flier miles!

Travel in today's day and age has become so easy. Not only can we easily book hotels on another continent from the comfort of our living room, no, we can simply step out of an airport, without any local money in our pocket, and call an Uber that magically appears three minutes later and whisks us to aforementioned hotel. And the call was made possible because of a $16 SIM card that I had bought online and just had to pick up at TPE. Now I can be online for the entire trip with unlimited data. Yep, it's that easy.

For the hotel I had chosen the Holiday Inn Express Taoyuan because it is relatively close to the airport (20 minutes) and also had super-low rates, both for the one night that I pay with dollars as well as the three award nights that cost only 10,000 points each. In exchange I have an amazing 11th-floor room with a 180-degree panorama window that lets me look at a city that's reminiscent of Blade Runner. Add to that staff that couldn't be any nicer and accommodating, and you have a winner. (I am book-ending the entire trip with two two-day stays here so that I can leave my bike case and my duffel while touring.)

Yesterday, after assembling the Ritchey Outback, I went for a 21-mile loop around Taoyuan, just to get a feel for the traffic and the roads and cycling infrastructure that I had read so much about. Today, I decided to take the train to Taipei, a 45-minute affair that cost a whopping $2.50 for me and my bike and that gave me a close-up view of all those friendly Taiwanese folks who shared the crowded standing-room only wagon. Once in Taipei I got on the bike and followed a sightseeing route that I had mapped out via Locus, my most favorite app in the entire universe. I had a look at the imposing National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall as well as two ornate temples, the Confucius temple as well the Bao'an temple, a UNESCO heritage site.

I had chosen a route that also took me through some market areas and other interesting neighborhoods while also giving me superb vistas of Taipei's skyline from the bike trail that runs for endless miles along the mighty Tamshui river. Apparently this river must have flooded the area on numerous occasions as there are massive concrete flood retaining walls on both river banks. It may have been a while since the last flood since the cordoned acreage has been developed into a recreational area of vast proportions. There are baseball fields and RC airplane landing areas, minigolf and aerobics installations for everyone to enjoy, people gather for impromptu kids bike races and dragon flying contests, and there are clean bathrooms and vending machines every few miles along the elegantly designed and superbly paved walking/jogging/cycling trail. And the best thing is, people use it!

So, here comes observation number one: Taiwan is in love with the motorized scooter! They are everywhere, and they are driven by everyone--male, female, old, young. Everybody wears a helmet, and almost nobody ever honks. (The same also goes for cars.) These Vespa-like scooters zip through the tightest spaces, and their drivers will have no qualms to steer their two wheeler into a tightly packed market that has barely enough room for pedestrians. At intersections, the scooters will line up and patiently wait (sometimes up to 90 seconds) for the red light to finally turn green, only to enter the intersection from both sides in a mad attempt to make a left turn before the oncoming traffic arrives at almost the exact same moment. In the DR the moped is ubiquitous, but those are in general obnoxiously loud; these scooters are more in line with the Taiwanese  character that appears to put a premium on restraint and subdued calm. Scooters are used to transport anything from a gaggle of children or a dog between the driver's legs to heavy boxes and large propane bottles, and they are parked where other nations might have sidewalks.

Another thing I noticed: Taiwanese love anything that's cute. Think cartoon cute; think puppy cute; think anything in pink and with a puggy nose cute. From the time that I stepped into the airport I have been seeing advertising, posters, TV shows (six of the first six channels that I dialed into yesterday were cartoons!) to even warning signs in the train or an elevator as to what can happen if you don't mind the safety precautions.

With the cuteness comes the love to play. Maybe it diminishes with age, but you should see the whack-a-mole and spin-the-wheel penny graves in the night markets. Children--toddlers and babies!--are conditioned straight out of the womb to play these games that promise the winner a --what else?--cute and plush toy, quite likely a panda. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it, to this extent. The adults appear just as enthralled with these games as the kids.

I would like to go on because my head is just full of all of these impressions, but I must stop as the sun rises literally at six o'clock (and it becomes dark at five), and I will have my first ride with my luggage tomorrow and don't want to get to bed too late. (Plus, I am using tablet and smartphone plus a bluetooth keyboard to peck out this post as I didn't bring the laptop, and things don't go as fast as I'd like.)

I promise to try to update this blog a few times along the way as there's much to share.

Jürgen