I definately fell in love with Taipei.
It has everything I find myself attracted to (in a city): history on one corner, nightlife on the other; parks for jogging, night markets for guilty pleasures; modernity to indulge into and old-times reminiscenses to encourage deeper thoughts. Finally - bridges and metro, my two favourite spots to observe city life.
I fell in love, although it is big, noisy, and the traffic makes is it almost impossible to walk on the street (we did anyway).
Although it is so Westernized (or maybe because of it.)
Although the gap between very poor and very wealthy strucked me, and would probably strike me every day. (Pretty much like everywhere else in the world, unfortunately.)
Although the Chiang Khai-shek Memorial scared me out. (No excuse for that one, I'm afraid.)
In a big city I am looking for small things, that amaze me. I found a lot of them in Taipei.
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| Daddy, let's go. |
The Chiang Khai-shek Memorial itself might not be my favourite spot, but the plaza in front and the park around of it deserves a closer look. You might wander around and observe Taipei hipsters (hanging out just next to National Concert Hall), admire neatly arranged greenness or see the sculpure exhibition. Plaza, renamed Liberty Square in 2007, makes a nice contrast to the majestic memorial next to it: colour versus monochrome. Loud laughs versus absolute silence and seriousness. Present and past.
And more present to come. What can be a better symbol of present-oriented city then a giant skyscraper? Ok, Taipei 101 is a place for tourists. Ok, they try to sell you a massive amount of souvenirs on each and every floor and all the way up you feel like you are a walking piggybank. Ok, you spend some time queueing. But you know what? It is worth it. The view from the top is breathtaking. Ambivalent feeling of human's power and, at the same time, fragility is one of the few emotions I experienced up there. Corny, cheap, and cheesy, I know. But go all the way up and try not to feel like that.Well, there is no travelling in Taiwan without experiencing a night market here and there. Shilin is said to be the biggest and best one in Taipei, but we chose Shida. According to Lonely Planet, if Shiling is the king, then Shida is the queen - and so she was that night. Thanks to the nearby university it is still full of life around midnight, so walking around there is a pure pleasure. Walking? Who do I want to fool? C r a w l i n g from one stand to another, after eating so much, that we could barely move (even though we sticked to the "sharing strategy" and "drink only before and after the meal strategy" and many other night market advice that my Taiwanese friends gave me.) We wanted to catch the last train back to the center, but our speed of walking was comparable to the snail's, and they shut the metro station door just in front of our eyes. I'm glad they did, because otherwise we wouldn't walk back and be able to discover Revolver - expats meeting point, with "gallery arty-farty parties" (quoting the owner). We didn't really focused on the arty part though - just hanging out there thinking that we're Polish girls, sitting inside of English pub in the middle of Taiwan was enough. (How am I going to live without that multicultural dizziness when I go back? I am not being ironic. That's a serious concern.)
We bumped into a lot of nice people, but I am starting to take it for granted in Taiwan. Maybe the most interesting person we've met was a Chinese man in his mid sixties, who lived in a hostel. The moment I sat at the table he asked me, where am I from in Poland.
"Cracow, at the south of Poland" - I said.
"Oh, Cracow... I can't understand why did they open so many sushi restaurants there in the last couple of years. In the biggest department store there are like four of them! Why is that?"
No need to explain to this guy, when Poland is.
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| It looks more New Yorkish in here, though. |
Taipei is a present-oriented city, one hundred percent. (At least it was for me, during those two days.) In many ways it reminds me of my beloved London. But I stayed in London for 9 months to discover it... and now Taipei calls for more than 2-day-attention.
And more present to come. What can be a better symbol of present-oriented city then a giant skyscraper? Ok, Taipei 101 is a place for tourists. Ok, they try to sell you a massive amount of souvenirs on each and every floor and all the way up you feel like you are a walking piggybank. Ok, you spend some time queueing. But you know what? It is worth it. The view from the top is breathtaking. Ambivalent feeling of human's power and, at the same time, fragility is one of the few emotions I experienced up there. Corny, cheap, and cheesy, I know. But go all the way up and try not to feel like that.
