KP in KL

Note: Today's blog is pretty much a novel. With it being my first day abroad I have a lot to share. Maybe they will get shorter from here. Hang in there with me! More pictures can be found by clicking here.

Taipei 101: A year's worth of experiences in Taipei, Taiwan packed into one day.

After a whirlwind of an itinerary completed yesterday, Paul and I passed this course with flying colors, but not without a few good stories to tell!

A little background info: For those of you who aren't familiar, my husband Paul and I, Katherine, flew from Katy, Texas yesterday as the first part of our move to Kuala Lumpur. Paul, 26, has taken a two year assignment in Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is commonly known, and I, 24, have never lived out of the country. Maybe after two years of blogging you and I will both see my ignorant notions of anything foreign be dispelled. Hopefully I will be able to keep everyone updated weekly or so here on the blog and document our travels, stories, adventures, and mishaps as the two of us travel the Asia Pac (Asia Pacific) region over the next two years. For those of you who aren't up to date on the lingo and acronyms, don't despair. You and I will learn together.

We chose to use a day layover in Taipei to explore the city and see what Taiwan had to offer. Luckily, we were able to get in touch with a high school foreign exchange student named Tiffany from Taiwan who knows Paul's step-mom. Tiffany and her non-english speaking mother kindly agreed to show us around the city for the entire day. Little did we know this tour included a very detailed itinerary that started from the time we arrived at the hotel at 7am and didn't end until Midnight with every minute jam packed so not to miss a single detail of the city. Paul and I were also unaware of the toll the 13 hour time difference plus 18 hour flight time would take on our tired bodies. But, we were completely and very ignorantly optimistic that this would be no problem and we were ready to tackle this day long journey full force. Keep reading. I promise it gets more interesting.

So, we arrive in Taipei feeling somewhat energized, especially since I managed to fit in a 10 hour nap on the flight. No medicine required. I'm an expert sleeper. We were greeted by our hotel driver with no more than a nod of the head when we recognized our last name on the sign he held up. He did not speak English but briskly showed us to his car filled with pink arm floaties and children's books. This small man struggled to lift our 70 pound 0 oz. suitcases (that's the max weight you can check in on the plane) into the trunk of his SUV, but after a little push and shove we were off to the races! The drive to the hotel was about 30 minutes and was absolutely beautiful. I've never seen so much green in a city, and did not expect to see much more than concrete with a city of 6 million people. All the trees are dark green and cover the hills and mountains we drove through. The flowers have a very tropical feel and make the city look very different from home. There is no question though Taipei is a city growing upwards and not spreading outwards. The buildings were packed in like sardines and climbing into the clouds.

When the bell hop opened my door, I stepped out onto a gutter grate and almost into a 5 gallon bucket of leftovers from whatever the hotel had served for dinner the night before. As I learned later in the day, people place any trash they have anywhere on the curb in any sort of container e.g. a 5 gallon bucket, to be picked up by the trash man before 8am. To get to our hotel we had to go down a little ally between some old run-down buildings. The city planning here is definitely trying to utilize every last inch of space left to build. But the Grandee Hotel was such a surprise for me as it's a very modern and chic space completely equipped with a Toto toilet, tub, and sink and a non-fogging mirror. The designer in me was loving it.

So we took a walk down the street and stumbled upon the grocery market with the freshest of any food you could think of including chickens hanging from hooks and took some pictures while we waited for Tiffany and her mom. We quickly learned a few things. 1. Mopeds are the preferred method of travel. 2. We were not in a touristy part of town and especially not in a part of town where blondes were abundant or even in existence. And 3. While Taipei is a growing metropolis, people still use some rudimentary tools for work such as brooms hand made with sticks and cranes with crank parts made of wood.

We rode in the back seat of the small BMW M3 with Tiffany's mom, whose name we never did learn, driving, and Tiffany in the passenger seat translating. According to them, our first stop had to be for a Chinese breakfast drink called Rice Milk. Paul's tasted close to coffee, and mine tasted like a hot bowl of oatmeal with two tablespoons of sugar in liquid form. While I very politely sip down the entire drink we made our way very quickly up a windy road to the top of a mountain. Apparently foreigners were only recently allowed to travel to the top. On the way we passed the hot springs, but we opted not to go in because being naked in front of a bunch of strangers in a tub seemed a little too adventurous. If you have ever been to Mexico or another country of the like, the driving in Taiwan is the same. I was holding my breath waiting to be sideswiped by the cars that do not care about the yellow line in the middle of the road or for Tiffany's mom to run over a moped driver. So, with every break and gun of the accelerator around the nearly 180 degree turns up to the top, the warm rice milk sloshed in my stomach a little less comfortably. Inevitably, the car-sickness sat in and I began sweating, holding my camera bag with a death grip for stability and wondering what in the world this non-English speaking gracious tour guide would think if I made her stop her lovely tour to allow me to revisit my rice milk breakfast on the side of the road. What kind of tourist would I be?

We passed a hillside covered in Cala Lilies and she told us to get out of the car for a walk to see the view. This couldn't have come at a better time and I was able to get my bearings again while Tiffany's mom bought me a dozen Cala Lilies that are farmed in Taiwan like corn or wheat in The States. The weather was cold and crisp on the top of the mountain, with a view of the city covered in fog. So, back in the car of course we had to take the same route down the mountain stopping for nothing and the car-sickness was miserable the entire way down. I was determined to stick it out and not be a wimpy tourist. At least not in the first hour.

The next stop was the national art museum where we saw beautiful Chinese art. More importantly we learned some more about the people from Japan, China and Taiwan. Their personal space is non-existent and therefore they assume yours is too. They packed themselves in to any exhibit space like sardines, and were not afraid to stand right in front of you if you left them even an inch of space. I have never been so close to people in my life, and what was interesting is the museum was not a small building. It did not require that everyone stand body to body. But they did like it was the norm. So I figured, "When in Rome!" and went with it. Throughout the museum tour Tiffany would tell us where the people were from which she could tell by the accent they spoke with. I caught on to none of it.


And of course before we could go see this, we had to stop to have a traditional Taiwan drink of Milk Tea with tapioca balls. When in Rome or not, I couldn't make myself drink it after the rice milk incident. We then went to The Grand Hotel which according to Tiffany's mom is where we should have stayed. The design of the building is traditional Chinese.



We walked through the hotel and of course the only picture I could take of Paul without having to pull teeth was him with the Lion's rear-end.



We then made our way to the old tourist night Market. On the way we saw the government building, a massive Farris wheel, and we stopped at the Buddhist temple. The temple was definitely an eye opener to a huge part of many Taiwan people's culture. With flower and food offerings covering the tables and incense burning everywhere, we watched as the people prayed to the individual Buddha of their choice for what they wanted/needed that day. There were several alters which Tiffany explained one was for fishing prosperity, one was for finding a husband, etc. A very different mindset and faith from what I believe in, but I figured if I'm going to immerse myself in the culture for a day, that should probably be one of the things to see as to better understand the people.

When we made it through the pedestrians and traffic to the tourist night Market, it was everything you see on TV of a typical China Town and more. Hanging food, cooking food, giant dumpling steamers, lots of noise, mopeds, and people, with food "hawker" or kiosk stands lining the streets. I did have a few near death experiences with the moped drivers, but managed to make it out alive. In addition, this night market is also known as Snake Alley for all of its snake inhabitants. Apparently Chinese people like to drink liquor with snakes soaked in it, and eat snakes. This would have been my mother's worst nightmare with snakes of every shape and size including cobras, in cages in the restaurants. The snake sightings definitely woke Paul up from his jet-laggish state and he stole the camera to take some shots.