Taiwan (Freshly Updated)

Cory: Ask anyone their hobbies, or what they’d like to do, and “traveling” always seems to be in their list of answers (especially here in Korea among a bunch of expats), and yes, I have said it, but truthfully I don’t know how much I really “love” it.

Traveling is weird. I’m still not sure if I have really warmed up to it. I’m shy, and hate to be a bother. Two qualities/weaknesses definitely not suited for a traveler. I can’t help but feel as if I’m disturbing the lives of those around me, as I traipse around their country with bulky camera in hand. I’m too embarrassed to butcher their language, and even more embarrassed when I have to use mine. I like to be quiet, and just rely on myself. I prefer to be a ghost. Which is why seeing ancient temples, small towns/villages, holy sites, or other places of intimacy makes me feel like the intruding anthropologist, or man-with-hot-dog-at-polar-bear-cage.

Our trip had ups and downs. The arc went a bit like this: Yeah, this is cool, I really like it here -> I’m kind of bored -> Oh, this place sucks, I’m ready to go back to Korea -> Oh, wow, this place is amazing!

Karen: I think the hardest part about traveling is the exhaustion - physically and mentally. I went from total excitement/amazement to practical depression in a span of like two days. I can’t help getting disappointed if something isn’t as I had hoped or expected. But I’m getting better about going with the flow, and everything does always work out. For me, I’m a planner and I like knowing that things are in order. And I can get moody. So for me, traveling can be hard (which also makes it hard for Cory). Each subsequent trip gets easier though. Taiwan has really only been our second traveling experience, and already it felt easier than our first trip, Malaysia.

We went into the Taiwan trip with zero expectations and we kind of forgot we were going, so we didn’t really prepare much. Compared to our trip to Malaysia when we got super pumped and had all these grand ideas about how it would be… Then we got there and there were a lot of disappointments. We learned anticipation can be better than the actual experience. This time, I think I felt more indifferent about the whole thing. We went, and now that we’re back, it’s like, “Well, we did it. Overall it was fun…” I have kind of a ‘take it or leave it’ feeling. Yeah, traveling is fun, but at the same time, it’s a lot of work. Maybe I would fare better with my own personal tour guide who can just show me what to eat and where to go.

We were lucky to know someone in Taiwan (Cory’s friend James from Grand Rapids). It’s really great going to a place where you know someone. Having James and his girlfriend Sarah show us around was really great. And seeing their house/neighborhood was awesome. We ate so many delicious foods that we never would have found otherwise. It’s really hard to just pick something to eat - you can’t read things, you don’t know the language, and most of the time there aren’t any pictures. It was nice seeing Taiwan with the help of people who have been there a while. It makes a big difference.

Time is another issue. One week is no time at all to get to know a country. I wish we had more time to really get to know the places we visit. It’s honestly been beyond amazing living in Korea, not only because it’s my birthplace, but because we can really see and experience the country. Ideally, a person should go live in a place for a year or so just to experience it, then move on to the next place of interest. But that’s not realistic for most people (myself included). I have a desire to “settle down,” have a real home base. I think my (and Cory’s) personality is more of a home-body/get to know the city in which you live/find your niche, as opposed to the adventurous world traveler. If I loved teaching, I would take English jobs all over the world… But there is a definite reason why I changed my major.

Despite my slightly ambivalent feelings and my personality clashes, I am enjoying having this time to travel. I recommend traveling to everyone! You can learn a lot about the world and a lot about yourself. There are more places I want to see (like Europe and even parts of the US and Canada)! I think we’ve almost had our fill of Asia. We’re ready to see another part of the world. Hopefully we’ll become more skilled at traveling and change ourselves in the process.

TAIPEI (Yeah this is cool, I really like it here… but now, I’m kind of bored):

Taipei in some ways is like a sub-tropical version of Seoul. Big, crowded and full of tons of things to see and do. We checked out a couple museums, did some shopping, and of course ate. The only really good thing I had to eat was a hakka soup, which featured, bits of pork, duck, cilantro and noodles in a french onion-like broth. I would eat this soup once a week if it existed in Seoul. (Karen didn’t like the soup very much, thought the broth was too greasy and not that flavorful…)

We also ate some bad food. Express sushi/japanese food, awful falafel, and weird “Mexican food”… Food only got better as the trip went on, but it was really difficult to find food in Taiwan, as everything good is written in Chinese (same as in Korea, except I can read Hangul).

As far as shopping goes, if you’re more in to “streetwear” or really “graphic-y” t-shirts, or just sort of slutty girls clothing, Taiwan is a bit more suitable for you when compared to Seoul. There were some cool things (I wish we had Muji, a japanese goods store) and a lot of the stationary seemed cuter (not necessarily better). I’m also extremely jealous of the few grocery stores we saw. Cheaper cheese, more western goods, and an abundance of cilantro…

We left Taipei with a good impression (better than Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia!), but we were a tiny bit bored. Karen was hoping for some good shopping (she even packed less clothing thinking she’d find some clothes there), but it wasn’t her style, so that got old really fast. We were left wondering what to do besides just wandering around.

From Taipei, we took the High Speed Train (HSR) down to Kenting, a small coastal town, with “great” beaches on the southern tip.

KENTING (Oh, this place sucks. A lot.):

First of all, there are so many stray, dirty dogs in Kenting with sad little faces. Karen wanted to buy some cheap street food and just give it to the dogs who were standing nearby. It looked like they were waiting in line like a customer, but they were just hoping someone would drop a scrap of food for them to eat.

In Taiwan, taxi drivers are like prostitutes. “Hey Big Boy, I’ll take you where you need to go. Come here. Where are you going? I can take you there! Cheaper. Bus too slow!” We were greeted by about five of them when we got off the HSR. Of course they don’t really say, “Hey Big Boy,” but they do come at you quite aggressively speaking Chinese. We tried to explain to them we were taking a bus. They wouldn’t have it though. They just kept talking and talking. We ended up surrounded by them at the bus stop, and another woman translated for them. She was going to Kenting too, and wanted to share a Taxi (she was kind of scared to go alone). The taxi was a bit cheaper, and a lot faster, so we decided it seemed like a good idea…

I’m not sure how fast he drove, but the websites said I should expect a 2 to 2 1/2 hour bus ride. We got there in an hour. He took us in to the lobby of what was apparently our hotel. I had no idea because it was written in Chinese. We paid him, and I timidly walk to the front desk, “is this, this?” I said, showing him the name of the hotel on my iPod. “Yeah.”

We booked a “Wood House,” the most expensive option at the hotel. The houses were separate from the hotel, and you had to walk down a small road to get there. We tried to stay positive as we walked down an ally where dogs roamed near some tiny houses. When we saw the “Wood House,” which was parked in a parking lot and looked like a prison trailer for conjugal visits, Karen got really disappointed. Ours was conveniently parked in front of a family’s home. It was a crappy room. The best part was, there were no towels, just disposable cloths, similar to a paper table cloth. And we could hear the family… It was like we were staying in a room in their house - kids yelling, dogs barking, scooters revving.

“Let’s check out the ocean…”

We walked for a good 10 minutes, and could never quite seem to make it to the ocean. We could see it through the tall grass, and wire fences, but we couldn’t figure out how to get down there. As we walked we passed charming 3-story hotels, with private balconies and new paint jobs. The owners stood out in front asking us if we needed a room. I wanted to go home, and do it all over again. Karen was obviously frustrated, and not happy with our situation. Neither was I, but what could we do. We just needed to find the ocean… We decided if we could do it over, we would just go to Kenting and walk around to find a hotel. Booking a hotel from home was hard because hotel info was in Chinese, so we just booked the best one we could find that had an English site. And we would have rented a scooter to explore more (find better beaches).

We couldn’t seem to find the beach, so we walked back to our hotel for directions. We discovered we just needed to walk a few minutes further in the direction we had been going. When we finally found it, garbage blocked the path of the small, rocky beach. A dirty stream emptied out into the ocean nearby. The water was gray and murky, and the waves were at least 12 feet high (the weather had been stormy). I really wanted to go home.

Our Kenting experience sucked. It rained off and on. We spent the second day in our new hotel room (we ditched the Wood House for a cheaper room inside the hotel) watching TV and sleeping.

On the day we left, in a random bus that I thought was the one we needed, it was sunny, and we passed a beautiful beach a little ways down the road. Nice calm blue water. Clean white sand. Screw you Kenting… We were severely disappointed.

We pulled into a bus stop 30 minutes later, and our driver went to get someone who spoke English. A woman jumped on and asked us where we were going:

“Umm, here.” I said, pointing at my iPod again. “I can’t read English.” I tried to pronounce it, “Zoying…Zooning, Zuonying…” “Oh, Zuoying.” she said in a way I don’t think I ever could (this was one of my other frustrations in Taiwan. Chinese is not pronounced as it looks in English.)

We sat in the bus stop for about 40 minutes and I started to write something for our blog:

“I do not like traveling. I find it stressful and tiring, or boring and wasteful. I cannot begin to comprehend how people enjoy spending months “exploring” Asia, or finding themselves in Europe. I get homesick on the plane ride to my destination, which happened on this trip to Taiwan…

Right now, Karen and I are sitting at a dirty bus station in Kenting, Taiwan. Chinese is blaring from the television and the older couple in front of us is arguing about keys… I think he wants to drive but she’s not letting him, perhaps he’s too high on betel nuts. There are a couple stray dogs scratching at fleas and Karen has her arms crossed and a sad/pissed look on her face. It’s my fault, I got us on the wrong bus, I hastily jumped on the first one I saw with the name of our destination to avoid the taxi drivers who kept harassing us with their red toothed smiles (from betel nuts). I tried speaking to the bus driver but my lack of Chinese skills got us nowhere. We stopped about 30 minutes later, after passing the beautiful beach we spent two days searching for, at this bus stop where a woman who could speak (but not read) English asked us where we were heading. After saying the name three times she understood me. Chinese is hard. We were on the wrong bus. Thank you kind woman for saving us…

So here we are in kenting. Tired, disappointed, and overwhelmed. This is exactly why I don’t like traveling. It’s too fast. Too much too soon.

Korea has been amazing. Somedays I feel like a Korean. I have pride for the country. In Taiwan the few times I’ve seen Hangul or something from Korea, I feel a little bit more comfortable and proud. I don’t think I’m a traveller more of a temporary settler… I’d like to live in dozens of countries, but have little interest in just passing through them for a week…”

So, we headed from Kenting to Tainan.

TAINAN (Oh, WOW, this place is amazing!):

Our first few hours in Tainan were spent fighting about where to go, and what to do. My friend James, from University, who we were staying with, was not off of work until 7pm, and we were there at 4pm. We tried walking around the department stores he suggested, but were far too tired, and annoyed with our whole situation. We sat in a food court. Karen bought a smoothie, and put headphones in. We weren’t talking.

A few hours later, James picked us up in a blue scooter with built on trailer. He took us to a nice restaurant for a delicious snack. We caught up, and I was relieved. Karen’s mood lifted too. We both knew it was going to be better from here on out. And it was.

James has lived in Taiwan for five years, can speak Chinese, and knows his neighborhood well. During our time in Tainan we ate amazing food, drove around in his scooter on crowded streets, rode bikes and saw interesting sights (temples, and that tree house we have so many pictures of). Their house/apartment was really nice.

I could go on, but I don’t really feel like it. I REALLY enjoyed our time in Tainan, and liked it much better than Taipei (James lived there for a two years, and said the food in Tainan is MUCH better). The food, the tea (!!), the company, the architecture. Everything was pretty perfect there, and I wished we would have just skipped Kenting altogether, maybe even Taipei.

I liked Taiwan, and I’m sure there will be times when I’ll miss it, as we sometimes miss Malaysia.

Enjoy the pictures!

For PHOTO DESCRIPTIONS, view the photos on our flickr account. It’s the Taiwan Set. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cory-and-karen/

-C & K