I lived in Hong Kong for almost ten years. To some expats, that makes me an expert. I disagree. I think it takes a lifetime to fully understand a place like Hong Kong. Maybe after 30 or 40 years, I could claim to know something about the city.
I have lived in Kaohsiung for four months. That means I know almost nothing about the place. I know how to find my apartment and how to get to the places I need to go. I know where to get food and how to pay bills. I know where the best parking lots are and on which streets it is impossible to park. I can look like I live here, mostly because I do, but I cannot tell you about the heart and soul of Kaohsiung.
But I can recognize some of the differences between Hong Kong and Kaohsiung. I realize that this kind of thing would be better after I have been here for a few years and know more about Kaohsiung, but I also realize that after a few years in Kaohsiung, I will find it less exotic and I will probably talk more about other places. When I first moved to Hong Kong, every blog post was about Hong Kong. Everything was new and different. In the end, I rarely mentioned Hong Kong. When you live anywhere long enough, it is simply where you live.
The weather in Hong Kong and Kaohsiung is pretty much the same. They are practically at the same latitude and both in humid tropical zones. It rains more in Hong Kong and is hotter in Kaohsiung. The biggest difference is that Kaohsiung is more prone to typhoons. Both cities face the South China Sea, which receives every Pacific typhoon that does not swing north and crash into Japan. But Hong Kong is largely protected by the Philippines and Taiwan. A typhoon has to fit through a narrow corridor to hit Hong Kong directly. Most storms hit the Philippines, Taiwan and/or Fujian, bringing only rain and wind to Hong Kong. Taiwan is only protected to the south by the Philippines, and is wide open to the east. Kaohsiung is on the southwest coast, which is directly in the path of every storm that hits Fujian or turns north from the Philippines, but the overwhelming majority of typhoons hit Taiwan's central east coast, which is one of the reasons that area is sparsely populated. Since I moved during typhoon season, I have seen more rain in Kaohsiung than sun, but I am told that most of the year, Kaohsiung is far sunnier than Hong Kong.
The language is the same, more or less. Legally, the official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English. Realistically, most of the people who claim to speak English do not know it as well as they think. And Chinese is a jumble of a hundred different dialects, most of which are well represented in Hong Kong. When Hong Kong was occupied by the British, most of the Chinese population was from Guangdong. Since then, people have flooded in from all parts of China, bringing their dialects with them. You can easily find university classes taught in Cantonese, Wu, Min, Hakka, and more often than not, Putonghua. Cantonese might be the most popular dialect on the street, but Putonghua is the language of academia.
The official language of Taiwan is Chinese. Most people do not even pretend to understand English, though it is one of the most popular foreign languages taught in schools. As an island that was never really important to China, Taiwan developed its own aboriginal languages. Japan had a major impact during their occupation, but only the oldest generation remembers being forced to learn Japanese. According to the government, everyone speaks Chinese and/or Taiwanese. In Taiwan, Chinese is Putonghua, which is terribly convenient for me. But Taiwanese includes several different languages and/or dialects. Pretty much like Chinese. On paper, the overwhelming majority of people in Taiwan speak one or two languages, but you could easily fill a room with people all speaking different dialects.
In my limited experience in this country, Chinese works pretty well. I have yet to run into anyone who could not understand me, though I speak in a heavy accent to them and they speak in an unfamiliar accent to me. Several people have told me that I have a Shanghai accent, which I find odd since I have spent almost no time in Shanghai. If someone speaks Hokkien, Hakka or any other Taiwanese to me, I have no idea what they are saying. Fortunately, they are all the same in writing. There are some differences in grammar and syntax, but if you can read one dialect of Chinese, or Taiwanese, you can read them all. It is pretty much the same with English. Two people from Alabama and Australia might not understand each other in conversation, but they can read the same printed words.
China and Taiwan use a different system of measurements, other than volume, which is something to get used to since the words are the same. One 尺 is one foot in both China and Taiwan, but 1 Taiwan 尺 is 30.3cm, while 1 China 尺 is 33.3cm. One US foot is 30.48cm. Taiwan's 斤 is 600 grams, while China's 斤 is 500 grams, and 605 grams in Hong Kong. Moving from China to Taiwan means adjusting to different lengths and weights, but if you move from Japan to Taiwan, everything is the same since the Japanese converted Taiwan to their measurements during the occupation. You simply have to say the words in Chinese rather than Japanese.
The cultures of Hong Kong and Kaohsiung are the same if you go back far enough. Everyone came from China originally. But as an island that was never really important to China, Taiwan has a long history of foreign invasion and occupation, with each occupier trying to force the population to do everything their way. There is also a lot of island culture that you do not find in most of China. Hong Kong was always Chinese, until the British wanted to turn the Chinese into opium addicts. Today, any major city in Taiwan looks almost the same as any major city in China, except that China has more money and Taiwan is more relaxed.
The food in Hong Kong and Kaohsiung are night and day. Guangdong is one of the four compass points of traditional Chinese cuisine. As a British territory for almost the entire 20th century, and a more open city than most of China, Hong Kong became the modern center of Guangdong, or Yue, cuisine. When people in North America and Europe think of Chinese food, they are mostly thinking of Yue style Chinese, which is usually called Cantonese in English since Canton is the English name for Guangdong. Most American Chinese food is nothing like Chinese food in China, but the cooking style, spices and sauces that Americans know about are all Guangdong.
Taiwanese cuisine comes from Hokkien, Hakka, Japanese and a mix of southern Chinese. The ingredients are more or less the same as Hong Kong, but come from different places. Hong Kong imports a great deal of whatever it does not pull out of the ocean, while Taiwan grows almost all of its own food. The basic staples of rice and noodles are the same, but I see a wider variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices in Taiwan.
Since Hong Kong is a single city, you can get the same food anywhere you go within its borders. Taiwan has different specialties in different counties. Street food is similar in that they are both cheap and fast. Hong Kong is the better place to get dim sum. Taiwan is better for dumplings. Hong Kong desserts often have a western influence, especially from France, for some reason. Taiwan desserts are far less sweet.
Hong Kong's MTR goes almost everywhere, from Aberdeen to Shenzhen, the airport to Starfish Bay. If the MTR does not reach some place, a bus or boat probably does. My transportation was 90% MTR, 8% bus, 1% boat and the rare taxi. A car in Hong Kong is both unnecessary and difficult to park.
Kaohsiung's MRT red line covers 25km north to south in a city that is 120km long. The orange line covers a 12km stretch from east to west downtown. Both lines make sense in where they go. The problem is in all the places they do not go. Hong Kong has 23 lines and over 160 stations. Kaohsiung has 2 lines and 38 stations. They are planning additional lines, but no one knows if or when they will exist.
Hong Kong has 7.5 million people crammed into 2755 square kilometers. Kaohsiung has less than 3 million in almost 3000 km2. You could say that Kong Kong is more crowded.
In Hong Kong, I mostly shopped at CitySuper and ParknShop. Wellcome is kind of a dump. Kaohsiung has Carrefour and Jasons. I never liked Jasons as much as CitySuper, but Kaohsiung Jasons is different from Hong Kong Jasons. That makes sense since Taipei CitySuper is almost nothing like Hong Kong CitySuper. My main store now is Carrefour, which does not exist in Hong Kong. I went into a Kaohsiung Wellcome to compare. It was kind of a dump.
Friday, September 25, 2020
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Summer At Clear Water Bay
Kevin, my roommate, brother from another set of parents and, most importantly, my sister's significant other, works for a company that used to be based in Hong Kong. They moved to Taiwan for a variety of reasons, as did Kevin. Coincidentally, so did Lily and I. The boss of the company owns a rather nice house overlooking Clear Water Bay. He moved to Taiwan with everyone else, but he still owns the house. Most of the people at that company probably see Taiwan as a temporary assignment. Hong Kong is their home.
More than a few years ago, the boss asked Kevin to house sit while he was away on vacation. In Chinese culture, that is pretty much a power move to show everyone who is boss. The message to the entire office was that, even though Kevin is taller, stronger and visibly more Canadian than everyone else, the boss is in charge. Kevin's point of view was a little different.
When this all started, we lived in tiny Chinese box apartments, each with one tiny bedroom, tiny bathroom, a sink against the wall as a kitchen, and absolutely no counter space or view of anything besides other tiny Chinese box apartments. The Clear Water Bay house is a little bigger. It has 4 bedrooms, one of which was larger than my entire apartment at the time. It has 4 bathrooms with both showers and bathtubs, not a common sight in China. The kitchen is large enough for a professional chef, with a real oven, more counter space than I know what to do with, a jumbo size refrigerator, and all the latest appliances. On the ocean side of the house is an outdoor terrace with an outdoor cooking area, swimming pool and hot tub, and large windows with ocean views.
When Kevin first had access to this house, Lily and I stayed without reservation. Getting to work took longer and required more MTR transfers, but the swimming pool alone was incentive enough for me. The kitchen was the first place in Hong Kong I was able to do any real cooking. My apartment had a toaster oven and two-burner stove. It is amazing what a difference a real oven and counter space to knead dough can make.
When we all moved to Yau Ma Tei, we had far more of the modern conveniences that are frighteningly easy to miss. But we continued staying at the Clear Water Bay house every year because it was available and had that swimming pool. I did not go last year, for medical reasons, and could not go in 2018 because Kevin's boss went on vacation while I was working in Spain. I found the timing annoying, but Spain is beautiful. The year before that, I was recovering from surgery. My primary activities were sleeping and vomiting, and the doctors told me not to go into any swimming pools, so the big house was useless to me. This is my first chance to go since 2016 and, even though I live in a different country now, I have every intention of overusing that pool.
Kevin will stay there all month. This is his summer vacation. Lily has a few classes, but she will go whenever she can. Since she is working on a graduate degree, she has more leeway as far as class attendance is concerned. I have a steady job, so I can't go for the full month, but I can probably drop in from time to time. Since we all have to fly there, it will take a little more planning than simply hopping on the MTR.
Kevin plans to sit around and do a lot of nothing. With a pretty big chunk of the world out of commission for vacations, he will go away to somewhere familiar. Lily's top priority is getting me to bake as much in that jumbo kitchen as possible. I am trying to gain weight, so I don't have any problem with that. I can and do bake at home, but that jumbo oven seems to get hotter much faster, and that jumbo refrigerator can hold more ingredients than I can ever use. My top priority is that swimming pool. I have no medical restrictions this year, and I plan on swimming every single day I am in that house, rain or shine. This is the rainy season in Hong Kong just as much as Taiwan, but I can swim in the rain. And if a typhoon hits while we are in Hong Kong, no problem. Taiwan will protect us.
More than a few years ago, the boss asked Kevin to house sit while he was away on vacation. In Chinese culture, that is pretty much a power move to show everyone who is boss. The message to the entire office was that, even though Kevin is taller, stronger and visibly more Canadian than everyone else, the boss is in charge. Kevin's point of view was a little different.
When this all started, we lived in tiny Chinese box apartments, each with one tiny bedroom, tiny bathroom, a sink against the wall as a kitchen, and absolutely no counter space or view of anything besides other tiny Chinese box apartments. The Clear Water Bay house is a little bigger. It has 4 bedrooms, one of which was larger than my entire apartment at the time. It has 4 bathrooms with both showers and bathtubs, not a common sight in China. The kitchen is large enough for a professional chef, with a real oven, more counter space than I know what to do with, a jumbo size refrigerator, and all the latest appliances. On the ocean side of the house is an outdoor terrace with an outdoor cooking area, swimming pool and hot tub, and large windows with ocean views.
When Kevin first had access to this house, Lily and I stayed without reservation. Getting to work took longer and required more MTR transfers, but the swimming pool alone was incentive enough for me. The kitchen was the first place in Hong Kong I was able to do any real cooking. My apartment had a toaster oven and two-burner stove. It is amazing what a difference a real oven and counter space to knead dough can make.
When we all moved to Yau Ma Tei, we had far more of the modern conveniences that are frighteningly easy to miss. But we continued staying at the Clear Water Bay house every year because it was available and had that swimming pool. I did not go last year, for medical reasons, and could not go in 2018 because Kevin's boss went on vacation while I was working in Spain. I found the timing annoying, but Spain is beautiful. The year before that, I was recovering from surgery. My primary activities were sleeping and vomiting, and the doctors told me not to go into any swimming pools, so the big house was useless to me. This is my first chance to go since 2016 and, even though I live in a different country now, I have every intention of overusing that pool.
Kevin will stay there all month. This is his summer vacation. Lily has a few classes, but she will go whenever she can. Since she is working on a graduate degree, she has more leeway as far as class attendance is concerned. I have a steady job, so I can't go for the full month, but I can probably drop in from time to time. Since we all have to fly there, it will take a little more planning than simply hopping on the MTR.
Kevin plans to sit around and do a lot of nothing. With a pretty big chunk of the world out of commission for vacations, he will go away to somewhere familiar. Lily's top priority is getting me to bake as much in that jumbo kitchen as possible. I am trying to gain weight, so I don't have any problem with that. I can and do bake at home, but that jumbo oven seems to get hotter much faster, and that jumbo refrigerator can hold more ingredients than I can ever use. My top priority is that swimming pool. I have no medical restrictions this year, and I plan on swimming every single day I am in that house, rain or shine. This is the rainy season in Hong Kong just as much as Taiwan, but I can swim in the rain. And if a typhoon hits while we are in Hong Kong, no problem. Taiwan will protect us.
Friday, September 11, 2020
Tour Of Taiwan
South To Kaohsiung
With a choice of two freeways, driving straight from Chiayi to Kaohsiung should never take more than an hour. Unless you are stupid enough to hit Tainan at five o'clock. The best thing about having Tainan and Kaohsiung so close together is that it is easy for everyone to go from one to the other. The worst thing about having Tainan and Kaohsiung so close together is that everyone goes from one to the other. Usually right after work. We always planned on leaving Tainan long before rush hour, but we still had a few things to see.
The westernmost point in the country is in Tainan, but it is different from the other points. The north, south and east lighthouses are proper white brick and mortar cylinders on rocky capes. Guosheng Lighthouse is just a steel tower near the beach with a big light on top. Instead of a cape, the western tip is a large sand dune. That might be why they built a steel tower rather than a brick house. The beach is pretty big, but like most beaches in Taiwan, it was deserted and did not look like the kind of place anyone ever visits. Even with a sand dune, which is rare in Taiwan, there were no people around. I don't think the government has figured out a way to make it a travel destination. It was pretty disappointing, but at least I can say I have been as far north, south, east and west as you can go on the island. For whatever that's worth.
For obvious reasons, Tainan is not famous for its lighthouse. Instead, people go for the temples. If you live in Taiwan, you are bound to see a temple or two. Some are enormous. Some are tiny. Some are old. Some are slightly less old. My apartment is about a kilometer from the second largest Buddhist temple in the city and five kilometers from the largest Confucius temple in the country. There are over a thousand temples in Kaohsiung, but pound for pound, Tainan is the temple capital of Taiwan, with everything from Buddhist to Taoist to Confucian. Tainan claims to be the oldest city in the country, and unlike larger cities like Taipei and Taichung, they did not tear down most of their temples as they expanded over the centuries. That might be one reason it is the smallest 直轄市.
As the oldest city in the country, there are a few museums. Easily the most surprising is the Chimei Museum, named after a plastic manufacturing company. Built in a European neoclassical style, it looks nothing like any museum in Taiwan. Rather than a museum of art or museum of natural history or museum of antiquities, it is dedicated to 13th to 20th century paintings, prehistoric to modern weapons, ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, and European musical instruments. It is best known for having an El Greco and the largest collection of violins in the world. The main entrance has a life-size replica of Versailles' Le Bassin d'Apollon.
The fountain is your first clue that everything about this museum is an imitation of a different place. Since it is nowhere near Europe, and more humid than anywhere in Europe could get, all the artifice only serves as a reminder that this museum is pretending to be something it is not. There is no rule that says all Chinese museums have to look like they were built in the 8th century. The Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum in Chiayi looks like it was built in 2015, but it is most definitely a Chinese art museum. Who would go to the Louvre if it tried to be Indian? It is unapologetically French, as it should be.
Outside of temples and museums, Tainan is interesting ecologically. Not only is there a sand dune, but northwest of downtown is all wetlands and mangrove forests. Much of it is a national park right next to the city. Technically, we went into the park when we went to the lighthouse, but we did not spend much time exploring the wetlands. Tainan turned out to be another place where we could have easily spent a few days, but we had to get home eventually.
I knew that Tainan was the most popular city for expats before I moved to Taiwan, but I never understood why. Several cities have more jobs and better public transportation, but Tainan seems to appreciate its long history and has a wide variety of things to do in a more compact space than the larger municipalities. Taipei has an extensive metro network, but in Kaohsiung or Taichung, you are much better off with a car or scooter. Tainan has more of what you want in a big city, with a small town feel. It is yet another place I have to put on my list of places I need to get back to when I have more time.
With the short drive from Tainan to Kaohsiung, we had circumnavigated Taiwan, counterclockwise. We drove through every county on the mainland. We spent the night on the west coast, up north, east coast, and about as far south as you can get. We drove up mountains, past volcanoes, over rivers, through forests, across plains, and up to beaches. Our streets were national highways that span almost the entire length of the country to tiny village roads, and everything in between. We stopped for gas in large cities, small townships, and at least one gas station on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We drove 2,164 kilometers, which is five times the length of the country, if it were possible to drive in a straight line from one end to the other. We ate 15 meals and more snacks than either of us care to admit. We stopped at 7-Eleven and/or FamilyMart at least a dozen times, and noticed that while 7-Eleven easily dominates the west coast, there seem to be more FamilyMarts on the east coast, especially in Yilan.
Taiwan is a relatively small island. We went to every corner and deep into the middle. But we still barely scratched the surface.
The westernmost point in the country is in Tainan, but it is different from the other points. The north, south and east lighthouses are proper white brick and mortar cylinders on rocky capes. Guosheng Lighthouse is just a steel tower near the beach with a big light on top. Instead of a cape, the western tip is a large sand dune. That might be why they built a steel tower rather than a brick house. The beach is pretty big, but like most beaches in Taiwan, it was deserted and did not look like the kind of place anyone ever visits. Even with a sand dune, which is rare in Taiwan, there were no people around. I don't think the government has figured out a way to make it a travel destination. It was pretty disappointing, but at least I can say I have been as far north, south, east and west as you can go on the island. For whatever that's worth.
For obvious reasons, Tainan is not famous for its lighthouse. Instead, people go for the temples. If you live in Taiwan, you are bound to see a temple or two. Some are enormous. Some are tiny. Some are old. Some are slightly less old. My apartment is about a kilometer from the second largest Buddhist temple in the city and five kilometers from the largest Confucius temple in the country. There are over a thousand temples in Kaohsiung, but pound for pound, Tainan is the temple capital of Taiwan, with everything from Buddhist to Taoist to Confucian. Tainan claims to be the oldest city in the country, and unlike larger cities like Taipei and Taichung, they did not tear down most of their temples as they expanded over the centuries. That might be one reason it is the smallest 直轄市.
As the oldest city in the country, there are a few museums. Easily the most surprising is the Chimei Museum, named after a plastic manufacturing company. Built in a European neoclassical style, it looks nothing like any museum in Taiwan. Rather than a museum of art or museum of natural history or museum of antiquities, it is dedicated to 13th to 20th century paintings, prehistoric to modern weapons, ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, and European musical instruments. It is best known for having an El Greco and the largest collection of violins in the world. The main entrance has a life-size replica of Versailles' Le Bassin d'Apollon.
The fountain is your first clue that everything about this museum is an imitation of a different place. Since it is nowhere near Europe, and more humid than anywhere in Europe could get, all the artifice only serves as a reminder that this museum is pretending to be something it is not. There is no rule that says all Chinese museums have to look like they were built in the 8th century. The Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum in Chiayi looks like it was built in 2015, but it is most definitely a Chinese art museum. Who would go to the Louvre if it tried to be Indian? It is unapologetically French, as it should be.
Outside of temples and museums, Tainan is interesting ecologically. Not only is there a sand dune, but northwest of downtown is all wetlands and mangrove forests. Much of it is a national park right next to the city. Technically, we went into the park when we went to the lighthouse, but we did not spend much time exploring the wetlands. Tainan turned out to be another place where we could have easily spent a few days, but we had to get home eventually.
I knew that Tainan was the most popular city for expats before I moved to Taiwan, but I never understood why. Several cities have more jobs and better public transportation, but Tainan seems to appreciate its long history and has a wide variety of things to do in a more compact space than the larger municipalities. Taipei has an extensive metro network, but in Kaohsiung or Taichung, you are much better off with a car or scooter. Tainan has more of what you want in a big city, with a small town feel. It is yet another place I have to put on my list of places I need to get back to when I have more time.
With the short drive from Tainan to Kaohsiung, we had circumnavigated Taiwan, counterclockwise. We drove through every county on the mainland. We spent the night on the west coast, up north, east coast, and about as far south as you can get. We drove up mountains, past volcanoes, over rivers, through forests, across plains, and up to beaches. Our streets were national highways that span almost the entire length of the country to tiny village roads, and everything in between. We stopped for gas in large cities, small townships, and at least one gas station on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We drove 2,164 kilometers, which is five times the length of the country, if it were possible to drive in a straight line from one end to the other. We ate 15 meals and more snacks than either of us care to admit. We stopped at 7-Eleven and/or FamilyMart at least a dozen times, and noticed that while 7-Eleven easily dominates the west coast, there seem to be more FamilyMarts on the east coast, especially in Yilan.
Taiwan is a relatively small island. We went to every corner and deep into the middle. But we still barely scratched the surface.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Tour Of Taiwan
South Central Chiayi
The drive from Taipei to Sun Moon Lake is almost entirely on the west coast, which is city upon city, rather than any kind of country scenery. Taipei suddenly becomes Taoyuan, which dissolves into Hsinchu. The cities get smaller after Hsinchu, but they never separate. Until you are back in a large city, the second largest in the country, Taichung. There might be some interesting things in Taichung, and I should probably go there someday, but we wanted to go to Sun Moon Lake, which is more natural than the second largest city in the country. You almost have to go through Taichung to get to the lake. There is little to no scenery on the drive between Taipei and Taichung, but at least there is the choice of two freeways, running parallel. After a few days of winding mountain roads, letting loose on a freeway made my new car happy.
From Taichung, Nantou is due east into the mountains. Once you hit Nantou, Sun Moon Lake is a curved, mountain road south. The scenery was better than the west coast freeway, but that winding mountain road really slowed things down. It took an hour and 15 minutes to drive the 160km from Taipei to Taichung. It took almost the same amount of time to drive 75km to the lake.
Everyone in Taiwan says you have to go to Sun Moon Lake. It is the largest and most famous lake in the country, and home to one of the smallest indigenous tribes in Taiwan. Someone told us it is the most popular tourist sight, though claims like that have to be taken with a large block of salt. Everyone in Taiwan seems to think their best thing is the most superlative thing in the country. But as a large lake with its own tiny island in the middle, almost in the dead center of the country, surrounded by scenery and hiking trails, Sun Moon Lake is likely one of the more popular sights. Summer is supposed to be the most crowded time, but the typhoon probably made a difference.
There are plenty of boats to take people across the lake and/or to tiny Lalu Island, but I think the best way to get around is on the bicycle paths, some of which were built directly over the water. Like most scenic or recreation areas, renting a bicycle is easy and inexpensive. Also common are the temples all over the place. Since Lalu Island is sacred to the Thao people, it only makes sense that the Japanese and then the Chinese would build temples in the area. Unfortunately, Lalu Island was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1999, so it no longer has the sun and moon shape. Unlike a lot of places in Chinese-speaking countries, the English name “Sun Moon Lake” is a literal translation of the Chinese name, 日月潭. Now that Lalu Island is basically a large rock in the water, the name makes less sense.
There are plenty of hotels near Sun Moon Lake, but we had other plans. It is a nice enough lake, and we could have easily spent the night, but we come from Manitoba and Minnesota. Lakes are not extraordinary to us.
From Sun Moon Lake, we drove southwest instead of west back to Taichung. We were headed to Chiayi, and taking the mountain roads to the freeway was faster than taking the small Nantou freeway. We passed through Yunlin, the poorest county in the country, and the one place where no one has ever advised us to go. Since it is on the west coast, which is all about cities, there is less scenery, and Yunlin suffers from no cities that anyone seems to want to visit.
Just south of Yunlin County is Chiayi County. Chiayi City is smack dab in the middle of the county, and where the freeway goes, but we were headed to Taibao, just west of Chiayi. Rather than spend the night in another themed B&B, we stayed at a friend's house. That was really the only reason we went to Chiayi.
There were no national parks or hiking trails in Chiayi, but just like the government buildings in Taipei, the government buildings and museum in Taibao turned out to be a good place to ride a bicycle. Just north of the museum is a cultural park, with plenty of bicycles, and a long path that went pretty much nowhere. The flat plains of Chiayi were not nearly as challenging as a mountain trail, but the bicycle paths were separated from the streets, making them infinitely safer to ride.
The plains were also the easiest place to teach Lily how to drive my new car. She knows how to drive, of course, but that right hand drive steering wheel intimidated her. Most of the trip before Chiayi was mountain roads and Taipei, not the best places to drive an unfamiliar car. It also helped that Chiayi is tiny. I have never seen a single street in Kaohsiung without other cars, but Taibao is a little smaller. It is technically a 市, but it feels like a 鎮. Kaohsiung has about 7500% more people. The street from the front door of the museum to the back door of the high speed train station was empty, by Taiwan standards. The area around the train station also turned out to be a good place to practice driving. The street at the front of the station was essentially a parking lot, with taxis and relatives competing for the best spots to drop off their passengers while blocking the most traffic. But the other side of the station was a small neighborhood of absolutely nothing but short streets and empty fields.
The deserted roads only went to two different streets that headed to the station, but they were wide. Two of them were three lanes in both directions. The palm trees were trimmed and the empty fields were manicured. Someone clearly thought there would someday be something more in the neighborhood than a train station. I can't predict what will become of the area in the future, but for our purposes, it was ideal. The streets were too short for Lily to see what a Porsche can do, but she would have never been comfortable with speed anyway. Our goal was to get her used to the right hand drive. The lane markers in the road made it easy for her to position the car, even when she wanted to veer left. She quickly adjusted, as I knew she would. It is not that complicated. But she was never comfortable enough to drive on streets with traffic. That had more to do with the horrid driving habits of Taiwan than the car's steering wheel.
She has no driver's license, so we should probably stick to empty roads whenever she is behind the wheel.
From Taichung, Nantou is due east into the mountains. Once you hit Nantou, Sun Moon Lake is a curved, mountain road south. The scenery was better than the west coast freeway, but that winding mountain road really slowed things down. It took an hour and 15 minutes to drive the 160km from Taipei to Taichung. It took almost the same amount of time to drive 75km to the lake.
Everyone in Taiwan says you have to go to Sun Moon Lake. It is the largest and most famous lake in the country, and home to one of the smallest indigenous tribes in Taiwan. Someone told us it is the most popular tourist sight, though claims like that have to be taken with a large block of salt. Everyone in Taiwan seems to think their best thing is the most superlative thing in the country. But as a large lake with its own tiny island in the middle, almost in the dead center of the country, surrounded by scenery and hiking trails, Sun Moon Lake is likely one of the more popular sights. Summer is supposed to be the most crowded time, but the typhoon probably made a difference.
There are plenty of boats to take people across the lake and/or to tiny Lalu Island, but I think the best way to get around is on the bicycle paths, some of which were built directly over the water. Like most scenic or recreation areas, renting a bicycle is easy and inexpensive. Also common are the temples all over the place. Since Lalu Island is sacred to the Thao people, it only makes sense that the Japanese and then the Chinese would build temples in the area. Unfortunately, Lalu Island was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1999, so it no longer has the sun and moon shape. Unlike a lot of places in Chinese-speaking countries, the English name “Sun Moon Lake” is a literal translation of the Chinese name, 日月潭. Now that Lalu Island is basically a large rock in the water, the name makes less sense.
There are plenty of hotels near Sun Moon Lake, but we had other plans. It is a nice enough lake, and we could have easily spent the night, but we come from Manitoba and Minnesota. Lakes are not extraordinary to us.
From Sun Moon Lake, we drove southwest instead of west back to Taichung. We were headed to Chiayi, and taking the mountain roads to the freeway was faster than taking the small Nantou freeway. We passed through Yunlin, the poorest county in the country, and the one place where no one has ever advised us to go. Since it is on the west coast, which is all about cities, there is less scenery, and Yunlin suffers from no cities that anyone seems to want to visit.
Just south of Yunlin County is Chiayi County. Chiayi City is smack dab in the middle of the county, and where the freeway goes, but we were headed to Taibao, just west of Chiayi. Rather than spend the night in another themed B&B, we stayed at a friend's house. That was really the only reason we went to Chiayi.
There were no national parks or hiking trails in Chiayi, but just like the government buildings in Taipei, the government buildings and museum in Taibao turned out to be a good place to ride a bicycle. Just north of the museum is a cultural park, with plenty of bicycles, and a long path that went pretty much nowhere. The flat plains of Chiayi were not nearly as challenging as a mountain trail, but the bicycle paths were separated from the streets, making them infinitely safer to ride.
The plains were also the easiest place to teach Lily how to drive my new car. She knows how to drive, of course, but that right hand drive steering wheel intimidated her. Most of the trip before Chiayi was mountain roads and Taipei, not the best places to drive an unfamiliar car. It also helped that Chiayi is tiny. I have never seen a single street in Kaohsiung without other cars, but Taibao is a little smaller. It is technically a 市, but it feels like a 鎮. Kaohsiung has about 7500% more people. The street from the front door of the museum to the back door of the high speed train station was empty, by Taiwan standards. The area around the train station also turned out to be a good place to practice driving. The street at the front of the station was essentially a parking lot, with taxis and relatives competing for the best spots to drop off their passengers while blocking the most traffic. But the other side of the station was a small neighborhood of absolutely nothing but short streets and empty fields.
The deserted roads only went to two different streets that headed to the station, but they were wide. Two of them were three lanes in both directions. The palm trees were trimmed and the empty fields were manicured. Someone clearly thought there would someday be something more in the neighborhood than a train station. I can't predict what will become of the area in the future, but for our purposes, it was ideal. The streets were too short for Lily to see what a Porsche can do, but she would have never been comfortable with speed anyway. Our goal was to get her used to the right hand drive. The lane markers in the road made it easy for her to position the car, even when she wanted to veer left. She quickly adjusted, as I knew she would. It is not that complicated. But she was never comfortable enough to drive on streets with traffic. That had more to do with the horrid driving habits of Taiwan than the car's steering wheel.
She has no driver's license, so we should probably stick to empty roads whenever she is behind the wheel.
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