The Detouring Doctor

Why Taiwan? To see it before Xi Xinping takes it over. Normally this post would open the blog for this trip. It is at the end for security reasons. When our lovely part time female doctor, Dana, who hails from Hong Kong heard that we were going there she anxiously cautioned against any possible statements or comments against the ruling CCP government. She is, of course, absolutely right. There are now strict laws in place there that could land me in prison for what I am writing now.

The nation of Taiwan evolved from the fleeing Chinese Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai Shek who was defeated by Mao Tse Tung in 1949. This “government in exile” has always been considered as illegitimate by the mainland Chinese who view Taiwan as theirs. It is an ongoing source of international tension and as recently as the week before our arrival the election of the new Taiwanese president staunchly opposed to mainland China provoked a macho display of power from China who conducted war games in the South China Sea for 2 days to demonstrate their displeasure.

Sadly it is only a matter of time before Xi moves on Taiwan. Not that he needed it he will be emboldened by the west’s weakness in supporting Ukraine against Putin’s aggression. I am glad that I have seen the country now and hope for good times ahead for their lovely people.

At the foothills of Taiwan’s central mountain range lies Sun Moon Lake. Surrounded by forested mountains with pretty temples dotted around this is our final stop before returning our rented car and flying home. Our accommodation in Yuchi proves to be a hassle to find as we drive through tiny alleyways inn Yuchi dodging pedestrians shopping at the night market being set up. Nonetheless the view of the lake from our balcony is hard to beat. Arriving late we find that most eateries close at 8pm and we have an underwhelming dinner at a small hole in the wall Chinese.

Depressingly, we awake to more heavy rain and low cloud. After a basic breakfast and the weather closing in we spend ages considering our options. It is tempting to pull the pin on the lake and head back to Taipei early. Just as we are about to pack up the rain stops and the clouds are lifting. Game back on! We have a lovely day driving around the lake enjoying its temples and the cable car. We have even found a nice spot for dinner and some wine. All is good with the world!

Torrential rain buckets down as we pick up our car rental making the inspection and handover a soggy affair. We are leaving the east coast for the mountainous spine of Taiwan. The comfort of the 110 Kmph freeway gives way to a long steep climb through dense forest at a ridiculous speed limit of 30Kmph and multiple speed camera signs spooking me enough to comply. Misty cloud swirls and conceals the peaks above.

This area was inhabited by indigenous tribes until the arrival of the Japanese in 1895. They set up a logging industry which was active until the Japanese defeat at the end of WW2. The then Formosa government set about repurposing the area for tourism and the logging trains became tourist trains. Surrounded by tea plantations the tiny village of Fenqihu was an important refuelling stop for the train and around the station the narrow little old street became a food stop for passengers. Popular was the Bento box which was my lunch for the day even if my life partner turned her nose up at the offering.

Drizzle greeted us up the hill at Alishan Forest Park and with time and weather against us we could only enjoy a short walk through the massive trees.

In 1987 we undertook a 2 month road trip through Europe. Our then 3 year old son would ask each morning “Are we going to a <C>athedral or an Abbey today? He was a happy traveller and trudged through the great churches of Europe without complaint. Fast forward almost 40 years and compare his mother’s attitude. Anguished moans of “not more temples”, “how many more temples” and “I am all templed out”.

Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan established 400 years ago. The travel information shows multiple Taoist and Buddhist temples in the historic centre just a short walk from our hotel and from each other. My impression was that this must be a precinct of small alleyways, perhaps cobblestoned and replete with old town charm. Unfortunately that is not the case. The streets are ordinary 20th century affairs and the temples are all sandwiched between ordinary shops. While the insides are ornate and pretty the view from the outside is not.

The exception to this is our first port of call the Confucius Temple built in 1665 to offer lectures and cultivate intellectuals.

When is too much temples not enough?

For those who have never read my articles before let me reveal something about myself, I love trains and train travel. The sleek ultra high speed Bullet trains hold a special fascination. I this ultra organised country the process of prebooking, ticketing and the 2 hour journey travelling at 300km per hour down to the far south of this island unfolds seamlessly. 

Our destination is the port city of Kaohsiung the third largest in Taiwan. It is a bit off the tourist trail but has enough of interest for a day. We start the sightseeing at Lotus ponds, on the shores of which are the dragon and tiger pagodas. Sadly both were covered in restoration scaffolding but we are allowed to still walk through entering the dragon’s mouth and leaving the tigers mouth taking in the interesting murals. A short stroll in the enervating heat takes down to more pagodas built around a dragon which again is a mural gallery inside.

The nearby old town sports old walls and pretty gates but the actual “old town” resembles a modern slum and we don’t linger.
A short cab ride to Formosa station has us in the metro station to photograph the weird and wonderful Dome of Light.

A short cab ride to Formosa station has us in the metro station to photograph the weird and wonderful Dome of Light.

After lunch it is down to the raison d’etre for this city the waterfront. At Glory pier there is the quirky larger than life fallen rubber ducky and we are a short walk to the 85 sky tower.

A visit to the night market finishes the day and we even manage to pickup some ultra cheap clothing there.

The Portuguese named Taiwan Ilha Formosa in 1542 and the name persisted until the early 20th century when the occupying Chinese renamed it Taiwan. Ilha Formosa is Portuguese for “beautiful island”. The modern history of this island nation begins in 1949 when General Chiang Kai Shek, having lost the civil war on mainland China to Mao Tse Tung, brings the remnants of his army and followers here to self imposed exile. He led the country as dictator president until his death in 1975 aged 89 years. The country is now one of the wealthiest and technologically advanced nations in Asia.

Taipei, its capitol, sprawls in a basin ringed with mountains. Its population of 2.8 million prominently live in high rises as far as the eye can see. It makes for a pleasant place to spend a day. Once again my companion wilts in the face of what is the hottest day so far, 32C and high humidity. We planned to get on the hop on hop off bus to get our bearings and see the sights but as we get there we find that the next bus is 2 hours away! I pivot and take control and quickly work out a schedule of sights that we want to see and hail a cab. Mission accomplished. The cabs were plentiful and reasonably priced and traffic was light as today is a public holiday known as Dragon Boat Day.

The crowning achievement was our visit to Taipei 101. Completed in 2003 at 101 stories high it was at the time the world’s tallest building. It was overtake in 2010 by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Standard admission takes the visitor to the 91st floor. I had pre-booked one of twice daily tours to the 101st floor. The experience is an exclusive adventure. The elevator takes up to 89th floor in 37 seconds and then a couple of shorter elevators takes us to the top. Lined up on the floor are harnesses and the penny drops for Suzanne, we are going to be roped up on the outside of the building. Panic sets in! Those who read the Komodo blog can imagine the scenario. “No I want to go back, I will just stay here, I will go down now” were amongst the many entreaties. I just adopted the well worn path of playing deaf and the guide reassures her that all will be alright. She dons the harness and out we go. Wow, what an experience, what a view. In less than 5 minutes she warms to the experience and later proclaims it to be a superb experience! Oh the joys of wedded bliss!

When travelling just as in life in general we all have days when everything that can go wrong does. This was one of those. I have always maintained that as a tourist destination Hong Kong does not have much of interest. Well anyone would think that I had set out to sabotage the day to confirm this. I promise that I did not. It just seemed that we were always on the wrong side of the clock.

The 1 hour ferry took us to Hong Kong Island and I had neatly planned out an itinerary but I should have started out an hour earlier to get it all in. A ten minute walk takes us to the world’s longest outdoor escalator A bit of a lame attraction but the ride up does take 20 minutes straight up hill through HK suburbia.

It is then a 17 minute walk to the Peak Tram terminus and my travelling companion decides to throw the towel in. Hot and sweaty she is suddenly dizzy and short of breath and cursing her “tour guide”. She maintains that we have been walking for 2 hours. That is when we left our hotel, 2 hours ago, and minor details such as we spent 1 hour sitting on the ferry and 20 minutes on the escalator are inconvenient truths. In among the angst she points us inn the wrong direction and adds an extra 10 minutes walk. We arrive at the ticket office to confront a veritable “zoo” of people and time ticks away. I manage to move our lunch booking over to relieve the time pressure and we eventually are on the top of Victoria peak. Unsurprisingly it is foggy and we see almost nothing.

Lunch at Honjo was superb and we made a major dent in their offer of unlimited French Champagne. Bouyed by the booze we set off for a booked harbour cruise but again we underestimate the time to get to Kowloon Island and we miss it. As a compromise I take us to the Hong Kong “eye” for a view across the harbour. Again the queue is horrendous but I persevere in an attempt to salvage something out of a pretty ordinary day.