Less than 2 weeks before our trip, Nnylanna and Piberg paid a visit to a travel agency to see if they can book us into a hotel in Taipei. While we were there, we were unpleasantly surprised to learn that Filipinos need a visa to enter Taiwan! WAAAAAAAAAA… I don’t believe this… we already have tickets and maybe less than 10 days to get a visa and I have yet to prepare all the requirements. the big question… how long is the processing??? Plus, we now have to pay extra if we want to expedite the whole process…HAAAA, just our luck! *Orz* Brother dear, didn’t you say that we don’t need a visa??? Turns out, our brother doesn’t apply for a visa because his Taiwanese friend asks for his passport and make all the arrangements for him! *Orz, again!* anyway, we did manage to get ourselves that elusive visa right in the nick of time, 2days before our intended flight!
January is suppose to be winter in Taiwan, yes Juan de la Cruz, they do have winter there even if it is just a little over an hour flight from the Philippines! I figured, we probably need just a couple of light jackets with our usual clothes ‘coz really, they have the kind of winter that doesn’t come with snow. I remember seeing a Taiwanese drama shot in winter and the actors were wearing boots and mufflers and beanies and wool and leather and thermals and I was like… weh, come on, these people are sooo exagg, it couldn’t be that cold, makaporma lang. Just like us pinoy’s… a few drops of rain and out with our jackets ^^ hehe, not me though ^__^ and as if to prove that I never really bought the cold winter clothes of Rainie Yang(Taiwanese acress) in that drama, I left Manila in a very light jacket over a short shirt dress!
So, we arrived in Taipei on the morning of Feb28 and Nnylanna was asking if we want to ride a taxi or the bus to take us to our hotel? Of course the self-confessed cheapskate(moi) said “the bus!” BUT lo and behold, I never expected it from the original tightwad in our family, namely nanay, to overrule my suggestion and say “taxi!” ^^ So, taxi it is ^^ We were then led to a minibus and we 3 girls were like looking at each other with the same thought in our heads, “this is suppose to be the taxi?” turns out, it was just a misunderstanding ‘coz the taxi driver cannot speak English, our taxi was actually in the parking lot! The “taxi” was in reality a brand new… Mercedes Benz, woohoo !!! Nanay is surely “feeling rich” again! *that’s what she always says when she rides a nice car and stays in nice hotels*
Anyways, I dunno if I’ve ever mentioned it BUT, im quite temperature sensitive, which means under 20degrees celsius and im starting to freeze and if its over 30degrees celsius then I’ll start sweating like a pig! ^^ as soon as we stepped out of the airport… woah, it is very cold! Serves me right for mocking their winter ^^ all I brought with me are short dresses, not even a single pair of jeans! it’s a good thing Nnylanna came prepared with mufflers and gloves and leggings and all that. from that day on, you will never see my bare legs again outside of our hotel during the duration of our stay, not to mention the leather gloves that was practically glued to my hands. I swear I wore them ‘coz my hands were freezing at hindi para makaporma lang *sensya na, ginaw na ginaw ang mga pinoy. ang aussie, wala lang ^^*
Off we went to Xinyi District where our hotel is located. It is the most modern cosmopolitan district of Taipei and is also considered the financial district. The district is arguably the premier shopping area in Taipei, if not all of Taiwan. Until recently, most of the district consisted of wetlands and it is one of the last areas in Taipei to be developed. As soon as we entered the lobby of our hotel, The Grand Hyatt, my thought was… it looks veeery grand indeed ^^
Went to our room to freshen up a bit and was surprised to see Taiwan’s famous landmark, Taipei 101 when we opened our room’s window, it was just right next door… cool ^^ we agreed to find a place to have lunch in “101”, BUT first, I have to add a few more pieces of clothing on me, there’s no way I can go out there wearing just the same clothes I arrived in…
Oh, my freaking, ghad, the winds are sooo strong outside, maybe less than 12 freaking degrees celsius!!! cold weather + strong winds = recipe for disaster for nanay and I ^^ we did something dumb and made our mother climb the overpass to get to the “101” building when we could have just walked a little further and easily crossed the street ^^ no worries, we learned our lesson and never did it again!
We found “101” Mall’s foodcourt and there were cuisine from every part of the world so right then and there we decided to try a different one each day we’re here. We had japanese, korean, vietnamese, etc., but had Mc Donald’s too… yum yum ^^
We had our daily buffet breakfast at the hotel the next day and I was sooo frustrated at myself for yet again wasting the good money we paid for this by practically not eating anything *so what else is new* So to make me feel better, we had pictorials galore at the lobby ^^ Since it was going to be the Chinese New Year in a few days time, there were lots and lots of red envelopes. What a good way to console myself ^^
We had a set tour for day two and our guide told us he used to work in the philippines and seems to know a few things about our country. He also speaks fluent Japanese so we were in a group that includes what looks to me as an older japanese businessman and a group of 3 japanese men. We drove by the Presidential Office Building…
… stopped by Longshan Temple, the oldest and most famous of the many temples in Taipei.
…next stop was the Chiang Kai-Shek(CKS) Memorial Hall. CKS in case you don’t know was a former president of ROC(Republic of China) not to be confused with PROC(People’s Republic of China, or simply mainland China). He is most revered in Taiwan because he led the Nationalist party from the mainland called The Koumintang in the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan when they were defeated by the Communist party led by Chairman Mao. When they escaped from the ruling Communists in mainland China, the ROC government along with the intellectual and business elites retreated to Taipei with many national treasures including gold reserves and foreign currency reserves.
My first impression when I saw the Main Hall from afar specially its roof is that, its like patterned after a famous ancient temple in Beijing, The Temple of Heaven…
--> also, Chiang Kai-Shek’s statue is styled like Abraham Lincoln’s at the Lincoln Memorial…
--> and, tell me one of this building within the CKS Mem. Hall complex is not a copy of the buildings from the famous Forbidden City in Beijing???
--> more pics from CKS Mem. Hall…
…next stop, Martyr’s Shrine. Dedicated to the war dead of ROC. It is built nestled on a mountain and its design is obviously also patterned after one of the buildings in The Forbidden City…
… last stop for the day and the one im most excited about, The National Palace Museum. The National Palace Museum in Beijing and the collection that CKS brought to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War share the same roots. Its journey and the story of this glorious collection that dates back 8000 yrs of chinese history from the Neolithic Age to the Qing Dynasty and how it was split into two is an awesome adventure itself. I wish I could write it here but I don’t know the entire story and what I know will take too much space and this particular entry is already too long as it is, so I suggest you read up about it yourself ^^ unfortunately for us, the place is crowded and more importantly, cameras are strictly forbidden inside the premises plus our time here is veeery limited. I could stay there for an entire day and scour the place myself but this whole trip is for my mother and not about me so, when nanay says "lets go back to the hotel", like the dutiful daughters that we are, we go where she wants to go, WAAAAA, I cant believe I said that without choking on those words ^__^
From research I learned that only 1% of the collection is exhibited at a given time. The rest of the collection is stored in temperature controlled basement vaults. I don’t know this for a fact but I have a feeling that the “stars” of this collection is on permanent display in the museum all-year-round, so, it is not because we’re lucky that it was there when we visited ^^ I have seen some of these “stars” in a documentary by The National Geographic Channel and I never thought I’d get to see it up-close *I’m feeling super privileged and happy at that point ^^* here are some of the “stars” that I was referring to…
…The Jadeite Cabbage, a survey was once made on the most popular piece in the museum and this came out on top. its only as big as my hand, or even smaller. can you spot the grasshopper camouflaged in the leaves? ^^…
…The Meat Shaped Stone, dont make the mistake of taking a bite out of this one^^…
…The Olive Stone Boat, a small boat was carved following the natural shape of an olive pit/seed. Lemme stress that the size of this thing is about an inch or 1/4 of this picture, that is why there is a magnifying glass in front of it in its display case. On the boat are eight figures, each of which is animated and expressive in an individual manner. What is most fascinating is that the entire text of Su Shih's "Latter Ode on the Red Cliff", including more than 300 characters and upon which this work is based, is engraved with exquisite detail on the bottom of the boat. Now im thinking… Is there anything better than a 20/20 vision, ‘coz seriously, the person responsible for this must have a built-in magnifying glass or something like that in his/her eyes, don’t you think? ^^…
…and my personal favorite, The Ivory Ball, the ball within a ball carved in a single elephant(?) horn. I forgot how many movable balls are carved inside, from using state-of–the-art machines, they have counted more than 20(?), 30(?), I forgot what our guide told us *it was 6months ago so please excuse me…Orz* And no, not one part of this awesome piece was glued or screwed or artificially put together so they can place the balls inside or even the other parts together, it was carved one after the other. I honestly have no word to describe the kind of people responsible for these kind of things… uber Patient… extremely Diligent… an OC… an Eccentric… a Nutcase??? Joke! ^^ they are OUTSTANDING CRAFTSMEN ON A CLASS OF THEIR OWN !!!
3rd day in Taiwan for us is Expo Day. we asked Sandee’s wife Farrah who works in Taiwan to take us there. Sandee in case you don’t know, lived with my family for a couple of years and is like family to us. He is now a teacher in his home province of Davao. When he learned that we are flying to Taiwan, he was over excited and immediately called his wife and made arrangements so we could meet. Farrah came that morning with her very gracious Filipina friend named Rochelle, whom she brought for her skills in the chinese language Mandarin. it was a Sunday so the first order of the day for us catholics is the Sunday mass. During the mass, I remembered that I plugged-in the electric water heater and placed a couple of hardboiled eggs that I got from the buffet downstairs and forgot to unplug it. I was sooo worried that I may create a fire inside our room that we immediately called the hotel from my cellphone… haaah, was that Karma, I hardly consumed the food that we paid for and this has to happen because of me getting a couple of hardboiled eggs… kalurky ^^
As soon as the people from the EXPO ticket counter saw my mother’s platinum hair, they didn’t need to ask for her age and she was given a discounted ticket for the elderly ^^ The International Flora Expo covers a HUGE area. Immediately, I knew that there’s no way we can see everything because nanay has osteoarthritis on both knees, it would be too much to drag her all over the place. let me show you a few of the participating countries and what I think of their efforts to present their country…
THAILAND, one of the most intricately designed pavillion that I saw. They obviously spent a lot of money on this. You can tell from the pics below. Of course, it didn’t escape my notice that the names of the big corporations that sponsored this pavillion was prominently displayed near the entrance, so, they have no excuse to mess this up…
JAPAN, they could have done better… and I mean, much, much better. Havent I seen with my own eyes the kind of orchids they produce when I was there and for them to come up with only this, is quite disappointing *the expo was before the destructive earthquake that struck japan this year*…
CANADA, a candidate for the worst pavillion, where’s the “flora” is this thing?...
GREECE, there were structures and statues that represents their history and culture...
The NETHERLANDS/Holland, another country that could have done a lot better. The real tulips are a win but the “reel” ones are fail, fail, fail!…
HAWAII, simple but clearly sends the message across…
MALAYSIA, another candidate for the worst pavillion. I have no idea how this can represent their country and their culture…
HONGKONG, for a small administrative region, its was ok I guess… SINGAPORE, this is just like a home garden from your typical middle class residential subdivision, was that what they were going for?...
USA, let me give way to a very short comment that my mother said upon seeing this pavillion, nanay said… “they are in recession…” as if that explains everything ^^… CHILE, I see some tribal looking art in it but what this has got to do with that country beats me…
CHINA, it actually says “Shanghai” but I saw what seems to be a Great Wall at the back so… maybe it was Shanghai that sponsored this…
OMAN, didn’t go inside but the outside seems fine…
PHILIPPINES, the San Agustin Church bell tower is the focal point...
...Piberg, Nnylanna and Farrah got excited at the sight of the Philippine Flag near the entrance...
...there are five open capiz(made from sea shells) windows where you can view images of famous Philippine tourist destinations… Boracay(photo above), the Banaue Rice Terraces, Mayon Volcano, Vigan Ilocos Sur and Chocolate Hills… christianity, natural scenic spots, spanish influence… its all there, our country in a glance. I see no visible signs that it was funded by any private corporation so I can only conclude that this was done on a very limited budget BUT im sooo proud of what and how they have showcased our country. lest I be accused of being biased, let the pics speak for themselves. Welcome to the Philippine Pavillion…
TAIWAN, being the host country, covered a bigger area to showcase their culture. The giant Bamboo Dome is the centerpiece of this pavillion and it was a beautiful sight… specially at night.
The 5 of us rode on 2 taxis that took us back to “101” Mall where we had a late lunch. Walked back to the hotel because Nnylanna was expecting a Filipino friend that used to live and study in Melbourne to drop by and take us to a famous night market in Taipei, The Shilin Night Market. Nnylanna’s friend Manuel is now a scholar in one of the universities here and he will be accompanied by a male taiwanese friend and a Filipina scholar both of whom goes to the same university as him. I cant’ for the life of me remember the girl's name, is it Rhoda(?), anyway, I couldn’t forget Manuel’s answer when I asked him the name of his taiwanese friend. He said, “Carsson”, and I said, “Carlson?” and he happily explained that his friend’s name actually sounds like “Carsson or Carlson” but is actually a chinese name that is hard to pronounce for non-chinese people so when a foreigner asks, they give the western sounding equivalent ^^ Nice to have met both Rhoda and Carsson or Carlson, really nice people and Manuel, still as fun and gay as I remembered him to be. Incidentally, we managed to convince Farrah to spend the night at the hotel and at the same time, keep nanay company while we go to the market so, we’re free to roam around the city, hopping in and out of trains(which I love to do).
Shilin is a district in Taipei and its night market is the largest in the city. I’ve heard and seen on TV the famous delicacies of this place and now im about to see and maybe taste it for myself. Have I ever mentioned that im not too fond of crowds? Maaannn, there are people crawling in every nook and cranny of this place! The taiwanese people sure loves their night market and their street food. People are literally lining up in a lot of those stalls and when I look at what the fuss is all about, it looks nothing special to me really. Even “Carsson” who hails from the suburbs was excitedly lining up to have his favorite treats. The only thing I ate there was the “shrimp” version of the “oyster omelette” (I don’t eat oysters) and korean spicy rice cakes called “ddukboki”…
…Candied Fruit on sticks and Fatty Pork Sausages…
…to those with an adventurous palate(not me of course), there’s Pig’s Blood Cake. It is a hot, spicy snack made from a combination of sticky rice and pig’s blood, which is cut into rectangular pieces and served on a stick. And the most famous of all of taiwan’s street food… *you can actually smell the thing all over the place(ugh)* a food that is called “Stinky or Smelly Tofu”. *no need for explanations, right?* ^^ a friend from abroad asked me if I tried it and I said, “I have a rule, food that cant’ get past my nose will never pass through my lips, so that means, NO”. Nnylanna and I parted ways with our friends at the train station. It was getting late and they still have a long way to travel so we told them we think we can manage to get ourselves back to our hotel safely on our own, which we did ^^ Sooo stupid of me not to take photos with them *Orz*
4th day is for shopping for pasalubong/presents for friends and family. We asked Farrah to take us in a market style place where it is not too crowded and she took us to a place in a train station. Incidentally, we took the free bus ride(“101” to train station and back) available at the “101” building. Check out the bus decors ^^
Last day. Were taking the afternoon flight so we have all morning free. Nnylanna and Piberg really want to go up to the observatory deck of the 2nd tallest building in the world. Until recently, Taipei 101 was the tallest, but was dislodged by Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The problem is, nanay is scared to go up… it’s the worst case scenario in her head again...
...BUT, after much convincing and persuading and coaxing *thank god we didn’t have to do the begging^^* we managed to get her to agree to come with us with the promise that we’ll only look at what’s up there and immediately come down. woohoo, im excited… saw a docu of when this was being built and how the initial designs didn’t pass tests and how they overcame the elements that usually confronts skyscrapers like earthquakes and strong winds from typhoons… aaahhh, spoken like a true daughter of an architect arent’ i? ^^
The facade is covered with tinted green colored glass that got its inspiration from a bamboo and the “tiers” are like patterned after the traditional pagoda.
I could go on and on about this building… too many details are sooo fascinating to me BUT, as you can see this entry is way too long already so I’ll limit my fangirling on just a few. Lets start with The Elevator… The double-deck elevators built by Japanese Toshiba, set a new record in 2004 with top ascending speeds of 55.22 ft/sec. or 60.6 km/hr. Taipei 101's elevators sweep visitors from the fifth floor to the 89th-floor observatory in only 37 seconds. Each elevator features an aerodynamic body, full pressurization, state-of-the art emergency braking systems, and the world's first triple-stage anti-overshooting system. Check out the vid that Nnylanna took when we went down… amazing ^^…
Responsible builders are what the world desperately needs right now… Upgrades are currently under way to make Taipei 101 "the world's tallest green building". Currently, its blue-green glass curtain walls are double paned and glazed to offer heat and UV protection sufficient to block external heat by 50 percent AND its own roof and facade recycled water system meets 20–30 % of the building's water needs… awesome right? ^^ …
Lastly, and the one I was excited to see if it was on public display… The Super Big Wind Damper. The “Damper Baby” is the mascot of Taipei 101. Its picture was in the souvenir shops on the 1st floor and I wondered where the name “damper” came from. Little did I know that the name was taken from the massive 660 ton steel ball suspended from the 92nd to the 88th floor, the pendulum sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts of wind. Its sphere, the largest damper sphere in the world, consists of 41 circular steel plates, each with a height of 4.92 inches being welded together to form an 18 ft diameter sphere. To a mere mortal like me, meaning, neither an engineer nor an architect and the likes... the word “damper” connotes a different meaning… *I’m glad I can learn something new everyday ^^
When we got to the observatory deck on the 91st floor, there was no trace of the wind damper… disappointed but thinking since it is crucial to the structural stability of the building, the place where it is located is most probably heavily secured. We went around this floor and consoled ourselves(again!) by taking lots of pics… of course ^^…
We were then led to go down the stairs to the 89th floor not knowing what’s in there, shops I assumed… the halls were dark, until… woohoo, there it is… The Super Big Wind Damper...
...i was starstruck when i first clapped eyes on that massive ball and of course, Nnylanna and i posed for posterity, again! ^^ I was checking out the ropes that was holding it together and what looks to me like shock absorbers on its side which i assume, pushes it back on center in case an earthquake occurs or the wind is pretty strong. it was as impressive as I imagined it to be…
…went around the same floor and there were restaurants and my sister’s favorite kind of place, the souvenir shops/gift shops ^^ a lot of beautiful items up there...
...bought a couple of knick knacks too and my mother insisted on buying the “official” photo of our visit. Weh, ang corny, but what can we do, didn’t I say we were dutiful and let me add “obedient” daughters… ehemmm ^^
We bought boxes and boxes of mochi balls on the ground floor of "101" for relatives as pasalubong before saying our final goodbye to this iconic building *mochi balls are japanese sweets*
Byeee “101”… Byeee, Taipei… Byeee, Taiwan. Do away with the visa restrictions and I might come for a visit again ^__^
