A Few Days in Taiwan

Rather than spending four days in Japan as planned, we stopped in the port of Keelung, Taiwan, 30 minutes from their largest city and capital, Taipei.  I think most everyone on the ship was disappointed that we were unable to spend time in Japan due to the tsunami and subsequent radiation leaks there a few weeks before we were to port there.  We were all looking forward to seeing the historical sites in Kyoto and Hiroshima, along with the thriving metropolis of Tokyo.  But, our (shortened) stay in Taiwan was enjoyable nonetheless.  As with the other Asian ports of call, I had visited there before and did not feel the need to do the generic city tour with the museum and botanic gardens stops.  I simply got a hotel room in the most interesting part of the city, Ximending, and returned to some of the places that were fun when I visited Taipei a few years back.  Ximending happens to be where the young folks in Taipei like to frequent and it is also very "Japanese-centric" in that the ubiquitous teenagers there remind me a lot of those in the Harajuku area of Tokyo.  The area is filled with conveyor-belt sushi purveyors, coffee shops, movie theatres, clothing stores, and grafitti-laden alleys.  The people watching there is superlative.  The platform shoes, purple-dyed spiked hairdos, and gothic makeup make it fun to just sit back and gawk.  The food in Taiwan is surprisingly good given that you seldom hear much about this place in sources that tout the best global cuisines.  I did return to my very favorite restaurant in Taipei, the famous Din Tai Fung dumpling restaurant.  You will always wait at least 45 minutes to get a seat in any of their four locations, regardless of the time of the day or the day of the week.  I have pictures below of their dumpling chefs creating the small turnovers with everything imaginable inside.  I understand these chefs are considered artists and are quite well paid for what they do.  The most popular dumplings are the ones that are served hot with a small amount of great-tasting broth inside the dumpling.  This requires that you carefully prick the side with one of your chopsticks and let some of the broth drain into your soup spoon before you devour it.  Of course, I tried many different kinds and was so full at our lunch that I did not eat dinner that evening.  I also included one picture of street food as there are hundreds of roving carts each evening with all types of meat and seafood waiting to be grilled to perfection upon your request.  The squid, although it grosses most foreigners out, is one of my favorites!

The evening would not have been complete with a visit to the bar at the new "W" Hotel adjacent to the famous Taipei 101 (formerly, the tallest building in the world, over 100 stories high).  We got lots of good pictures of this icon from the bar and drank (at least one) expensive drink there.  I show below a funny shot of the menu of drink prices that includes a bottle of champagne that cost 320,000 Taiwanese Dollars (the equivalent of over $10,000 USD).  Obviously, this place normally attracts a wealthier crowd that the poor college professors that were hanging out there our night!