Taiwan

Last year, my brother had to move to Taiwan after Trump took office and dried up most scientific funding in the US, which was not an outcome we were hoping for. Luckily, David's wife, Ya-ping, is from Taiwan, so she knows about life there. We wanted to visit them and my two younger niblings, Franklin (eighteen) and Amity (she/her, sixteen, or "hixteeng," as she loved to say as a three-year-old).

We actually visited back in 2002, but that was a long time ago. Last time we visited, smartphones didn't exist, so Uber and Google Translate didn't exist. Taiwan was all very new to us then, but since Ya-ping has been in the family since 2003, we have been proximate to Taiwanese culture for more than two decades.

My dad wanted to plan our visit for the Chinese New Year season. But he hates crowds, so he didn't want it to be on the day itself. Chinese New Year there is basically a two-week festival that starts with the first day of the lunar year, instead of our more common American pattern of ending the festivities when the day is over.

On Tuesday, February 24, we woke up for our trip. I was surprised and disappointed to see that the next issue of Wayfare magazine was ready to be proofed, which is one of my biggest contributions to the magazine. So that meant I had to take my laptop—which is a little annoying, but it gave me something to do on the flight to Seattle, in the Seattle airport, and on the beginning of the flight to Taipei. It's better to do it in those moments than have to worry about proofing after a full day of work. I liked the Seattle airport's standing work tables. Salt Lake has put a lot of effort into making a new airport, so why couldn't they have made theirs cool like that?

The flight into Taipei was very long, like twelve hours. After I finished the proofreading that I could, I watched The Apartment, an old Christmas-adjacent movie. A lot of the plane's screens weren't working, and I saw my parents sitting across the aisle with no movies. I asked my dad if he wanted to switch seats so he could watch movies, and then I did some reading. But you can only read so much, and much of the flight was tedious.

We arrived in Taipei around 5 a.m. Utah time, which was Wednesday night in Taiwan. We went through customs, picked up our luggage, and got on a van that David or Ya-ping arranged to take us from the airport in Taipei to Taichung, where they live. Since they live in a three-bedroom apartment, there wasn't room for all five of us to stay there. So the rest of the family stayed in a hotel while I slept on the couch in the apartment. We arrived around midnight.

On Thursday, February 26, Ya-ping's friend, Torry, came with her car to take us to Costco. Torry lived in Utah back when Dave and Ya-ping did, so we'd met her before, but that was more than twenty years ago. There wasn't room for everyone in the car, so I rode as a passenger on Ya-ping's scooter. There are so many scooters in Taiwan!

It was fun to see the Taiwanese version of Costco. It was definitely more cosmopolitan than American (or at least Utahn) Costcos, with products from Asia, the US, Europe, and Australia. And they have an escalator to accommodate shopping carts!

We got various snacks and some unique fruits, such as jujubes and atemoyas.

In the afternoon, we went to 7-Eleven and got more snacks. 7-Elevens are ubiquitous here, and they sell bus passes but not Slurpees. I love Taiwan's cilantro Doritos. Can you imagine a St. Patrick's Day party with them?

In the evening, we went to McDonald's, because we remember it having unique foods back in 2002. All the McDonald's locations here had special branding for Chinese New Year, but this location was out of its special menu. 

There were some unique items, like bone-in fried chicken and corn soup!

Then we went over to Taichung Central Park for their lantern festival. It was like a Christmas lights display, with various lights and special scenes. There was also a laser show with whimsical music. It was packed! 

The Wizard of Oz

The number 8 is associated with wealth, so there are lots of 8 decorations

Friday, February 27, was the observed date for Peace Memorial Day, February 28. David took us to different sites in Taichung. We went to the "Museumbrary," which is an art museum attached to a library. I'm afraid I don't really "get" art—sorry, art friends—but it was interesting to see.

As we walked into the library portion, there was a "foreign language" section, and I was surprised to see Rockhounding Utah on the shelf!

This spiral walkway at the library was closed, unfortunately

Then we went to a quirky theater, a shopping mall's food court, and a park.

The fancy theater

I had this sesame "milkshake" at the mall, but it wasn't an American-style milkshake

And in the evening, I went into a regular Taiwanese supermarket and got various snacks, including Ritz lemon sandwiches and malt-, watermelon-, and fruit-flavored milks.

On Saturday, February 28, we went to a jade market and were there for several hours. There are various vendors selling trinkets made of jade and other materials. This seemed distinctively Taiwanese to me, the kind of thing I remember from our 2002 trip. But I'm not really into trinkets and bric-a-brac. Since I have the taste of a five-year-old, I am, however, interested in holiday-themed toys, so I bought these little Chinese New Year plushies. The New Year decorations throughout Taiwan feature this wealth deity and lots of boat-shaped gold ingots, which the internet tells me used to be Chinese currency.

We also went to a comics museum that was housed in old Japanese barracks. While we were there, missionaries from Utah came up and talked to us, so that was surprising.

Then we went to a very large natural history museum, where it was interesting to learn about Indigenous peoples of Taiwan. In recent months, I learned that the Han people came over from China only four hundred years ago, which seems shockingly recent to me! This museum also had an enormous display of rocks and minerals from all over the world. We didn't have time to go to the gift shops, but I was surprised to see a book about the Green River Formation on display. Just couldn't get away from Utah!

Sunday, March 1, we didn't go to church, but we did pass a Christian church where we could hear singing. 

We got on public transportation to go to the mountains east of Taichung. There, my dad, David, and I began a 1.6-kilometer hike, which was very unusual. The bulk of the hike was on logs attached to metal beams, with more logs and ropes to hold on to. It was a steep and muggy hike, but it was fun to be on a more tropical hike than I'm used to, hearing all the birds I don't hear in Utah. Unfortunately, I didn't get to look around too much because I had to keep my eyes on the path. My dad turned around when we got to an especially steep portion. 

But David and I made it up to the end of the trail, and the reward was . . . more hiking trails. There was a little shack next to a nice lookout. And there was a random tabby cat meowing at us! 

There were signs pointing to a toilet, and I wanted to see what it was like—and there was a road! It seemed a bit anticlimactic to go up this difficult trail that felt like the middle of nowhere, yet we could have taken a road to get near the top. 

The trailhead by the toilets was closed, but of course I had to go around the barricade, since I had just come that way

We turned around to go back down the crazy trail.

The rest of the family had just hung out at the bottom of the trail, because it would have been too difficult for them. Right as David and I got to the bottom, the bus arrived. It was perfect timing! If we had been a minute later, the family would have gone on without us, and we would have had to wait another hour-ish for the next bus.

In the evening, we went to the night market, which is one of the things I remember about our 2002 trip. We tried various treats, such as avocado milk, winter melon tea, and candy-coated tomatoes and grapes.

I was also amused by various t-shirts for sale, with phrases that were slightly off, if not entirely nonsensical.

"Saint Victory: We are creative"

"Rules: 2 rows of spikes, start behind cranium. 2 rows of spikes. Trustur."

"Supper mrsos. Letters! Numbers! Fizze passion. Good luck is approaching! Beautiful things are about to happen."

Today I learned there are bands called Primal Scream and Stabbing Westward. Not sure why this shirt used AI letters for apparently Depeche Mode, though.

"Cat wash: Cats don't like water so it's really hard to wash the cat." I almost bought this shirt.

"Bear vacation: The activity of sleeping outdoors in a tent usually for enjoyment."

Crayon Dino: Differ from pastels

"Holiday Duck: The blanking of a duck"

"Chick break egg: A chick that wants to grow up"

I ended up buying a sweatshirt that I find amusing, and it mostly makes sense, but it's just a little bit off, which contributes to its charm. 

On Monday, March 2, we got on a chartered van to go south to Kaohsiung, Ya-ping's hometown. Two of her sisters, Second Sister and Third Sister, were there to show us things in the area. (They have names, but they generally refer to them just as "[Number] Sister," even in Chinese.) We saw Ya-ping's childhood home—many of the homes here have a garage door to enter the first level, so people can park cars in their living area, and then there are floors above. We went to shops for noodles and shaved ice, including mulberry shaved ice, which was just OK, but it was unique. 

Most interestingly, we went to "Monkey Mountain" (I don't know if that's the official name). I imagined it would be actually up in the mountains, but it was a little nature park right next to a neighborhood. There were lots of Taiwanese macaques roaming free, the first time I've ever seen monkeys in the wild. As my family members were talking about the monkeys being cute, one of the neighborhood's residents opined that they're not cute, which is understandable. My dad and I went farther up the trail (which was stairs, not a trail), but we didn't go too far—it was a hot day! While we were away from the rest of the group, my family had some monkey encounters. My mom had a bus pass that was designed to look like a wrapped piece of candy, so one of the monkeys yanked it away! They then found the interior of the bus pass with some teeth marks on it—but it still works! And one of the baby monkeys sat on Amity.

We ended our Kaohsiung visit in an artsy area, where there were different pop-up shops. 

Third Sister gave us all gifts, including envelopes with money, a traditional Chinese New Year gift.

On Tuesday, March 3, Second Sister's friend went with us on public transit to see a mall-like area at the train station. We looked in a gift shop where they had a live cat!

We also went to a park with art pieces and then a shopping mall. All over Taichung's parks are these signs that prohibit "striting," which is supposed to mean crossing over or something. I'm surprised that if they mass-produced these signs, they didn't check their work better. I do think the English in Taiwan is better in general than it was in 2002, probably because of Google Translate.

On Wednesday, March 4, we stayed home most of the day, and Third Sister came to visit and brought gifts. In the evening we went back to the night market. We often took Uber to get places, and when there were six of us, we had to order an Uber XL. It was often a crapshoot for just how big the "XL" was, because often it was just a couple of tiny seats in the back. I usually sat in the middle, because I have the longest legs. But Wednesday night I sat in the back with my sister and niece, and we barely fit.

At the night market, I tried "chocolate" corn (it was just sprinkles), fried milk, and Chinese New Year rice cake called nian gao. 

To get back from the night market, those who were staying at the hotel took an Uber, but David and I rented Youbikes, which is a bicycle rental service, similar to Salt Lake's GREENbike. We took less busy roads, so it was kind of fun. 

On Thursday, March 5, Second Sister came to visit, and we went to a fifteen-level shopping mall that had some very fancy bathrooms.

There were some things I might have wanted to buy, but this mall seemed fairly expensive.

They seem to really like Olaf, Snoopy's brother, in Taiwan. I remember a lot of Snoopy knockoffs the last time we came.

These were pictures of drinks on the wall. One of the pictured drinks is Qoo, a soft drink made by Coca Cola that was popular last time we were here. But I didn't see it in real life this time.

Friday, March 6, was our last full day, and it was a boring day. We really just hung out in my brother's apartment and made a couple of 7-Eleven runs. At 7-Eleven I got malt milk (my favorite of the flavored milks I tried) and asparagus juice (which was not one of my favorite things I tried).

Because it was so boring, my dad and I spent some time at the small park down the block. There were lots of old people using the park's exercise equipment, but there was so little resistance in the equipment that it's not much of a workout for younger people.

Saturday, March 7, was a very long day. I woke up at 5 a.m. and said goodbye to Pudding; the humans were still sleeping.

The rest of my family took an Uber from their hotel and picked me up on our way to the airport. I got to see more of Taiwan this time, since it was daytime and I was awake. The airport had a weird system and layout, but I won't bore you with the details.

Thankfully, the flight from Taiwan was shorter than the one on the way there, and all the seats' screens worked this time. I watched Zootopia 2, Batman, Big Fish, and holiday-themed episodes of various sitcoms.

We left Taiwan at about 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 7, and arrived at our layover in Seattle at about 5 a.m. on Saturday, March 7. Of course I spent a lot of time in Washington 2007–2009, so I went into a store of things made in Washington, and I bought "Spokandy" chocolates. 

And I was surprised to find a bookstore selling Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers bookmarks, so of course I had to buy them. (I didn't see a Song of the Sea bookmark, unfortunately.)

On the flight home, I watched Sleepless in Seattle, because when else are you flying out of Seattle when that's one of the movies available? But it's mostly a movie for straight women.

It was depressing to see the low levels of the Great Salt Lake and minimal snow on many of the peaks.

Lots of people are complaining about the time change. Luckily for me, I already have to adapt to US time again, so one hour difference doesn't affect me. I am disappointed with how much weight I gained in just a week and a half—I guess that's what happens when you try all the foods and don't exercise (except for the hike).

It's great to be home again! I suspect I will return to Taiwan again as long as my brother's family is living there. But that long flight means I'm in no hurry. I have a lot of other things I could say about Taiwan, but sometimes less is more when it comes to blogging.