Tai'an, Taiwan's tofu village

A small aboriginal village in Miaoli County

Tai'an 泰安 is so far the smallest village I have ever seen in Taiwan. It's located in Miaoli County 苗栗縣, about 30min away from Miaoli City by car, in a small and long valley, an area known for being the home of Taiwan's Atayal people. My wife and I together with her family went on a short trip to this beautiful region. We decided to visit this tiny village, famous for hot springs and tofu, out of curiosity. I had not heard of Tai'an before, but now it's definitely a place I will remember. Why is that so, read further below.

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Tai'an is truly a tiny village, a micro village. There are three small lanes, few tofu shops and that's it! If you ever decide to go here and wonder, why you came all the way from the civilization to this small village at the end of the world, don't say I haven't warned ya! I think the best reason to visit Tai'an is to go to one of their famous hot spring hotels, but more about that later. If you just come, because you've read about a famous "Tofu Old Street", you made a big mistake. I think on the way to the onsen, you can make a short stopover and try the tofu, if you must. But if you don't, you won't miss a lot...

Let me show you some photos of Tai'an from May, 2011:

This is where we parked the car, in front of the township office.

The nature is beautiful here and probably the no 1 reason to visit.

The village is squeezed between a hill and a river. Cute.

This is the biggest junction in the area. One part goes deeper into central Taiwan, another one goes up to the famous hot spring hotels.

After crossing a small pedestrian (?) bridge, you are in central Tai'an.

The central part with tofu shops and a police station (they must be busy!).

This is truly a sleepy village.

Stinky tofu is sold everywhere here.

The "famous" Old Street.

Something about this photo makes me melancholic... It's like it's stuck in some old times.

We decided to try the tofu at the most popular shop: Qingan Tofu Shop.

The funny thing was, when we arrived here and all tables were occupied and people were munching the tofu, many of them turned to us (and me), while trying to chew the hot tofu. Their mouths were half open and I thought the image was very comical. Of course 15 min later I was like them, haha.

This is what we ordered:

Black tofu (80NTD), not bad.

Black tofu from close, full of pepper.

Bamboo soup (50NTD) and tofu in salad (60NTD).

Fried tofu balls (80NTD), my favorite.

Sautéed tofu (60NTD), not bad.

We paid 380 all together (we ordered 2 soups), we were 5 people. We got full, but most of us felt the food is too expensive and just very average. Everybody liked the fried tofu balls the most. If you must try the tofu here, don't expect too much.

As soon as we finished the meal, we decided to go back.

This is the way to some famous hot springs in the area. I wanna visit next time.

This is Onsen Papawaqa, one of the most famous (and expensive) hot spring resorts in Taiwan. I heard that staying overnight costs over 5000 NTD (120 Eur). Click on pic for more (courtesy of the resort).

The Houlong River (lit. Dragon Back River) passes by and continues to Miaoli City.

Aboriginal art (?)...

If you come Taipei to Tai'an, you will feel like you came to another country. The time stands still here, nothing is going on in this village. All you'll see is tourists trying to eat the hot tofu and chewing it with open mouths. I think it's definitely one of the highlights here. For more action it's better to visit one of the hot springs, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I will return to this area, I really love the nature. If you work 12h a day in Taipei, Tai'an feels like heaven (with a smell of tofu, though...). Read about the same trip in Chinese>>

[My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][TAIWAN][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Top 5 strangest characters in Taipei Metro

If you're like me, someone who's taking the Taipei Metro almost every day, I'm sure you must have noticed quite a few characters in your daily routine. During the work week, I spend almost 2 hours a day in and around the trains. And what else is there to do than observing people. Now I have to say that Taipei Metro is probably one of the best in the world and people here are just too polite and too normal for me to write a very funny posts about them. I've seen real weirdos in the Seoul Metro and by that I mean people who really crept me out. However, Taipei also has a bunch of strange characters roaming around the subway. But they're not strange in the sense that they are weird people per se, it's rather that they stand out by not behaving according to the subway etiquette or to put it bluntly: They seem to be so caught up in their own world that they forget others around them.

I have made a top 5 of these strange characters, listed from bad to worse and worst:

1. The Sleeper

This type of commuter is sitting on the priority seat and sleeping or pretending to sleep. By that they blend out everything around them such as elders or pregnant women, who are in desperate need of that seat. Sadly I see this type quite often lately. But for every bad seed, there's like 5 people who do the right thing and pass the priority seat to the right person. I need to praise my wife here. She's the type who would sometimes block an empty seat and pet an old person or a pregnant woman on the shoulder and redirect them to the seat. She's really a very kind person.

2. The Blocker

This type of commuter is also quite common. They are either blocking the main door or one of the seats. No idea, why some, who need to travel like 10 stations, have to stand near the door and then always block others, who want to go out. It's really a crazy crowd every morning, especially from the Main Station to the City Hall Station. I think, if you have space to leave the door, go inside. And then there's the type who stands in front of an empty seat, but doesn't want to seat down. I see others are eying the empty seat, but are too polite or shy to ask him to move aside, so that they can seat. If I intend to stand (for some reason), I usually move away from an empty seat. If I can't, I rather sit down. I know many would like to seat, they're tired, so blocking an empty seat is a little rude, if you ask me.

3. The Screamer

This type is not so common, but I heard them few times: For some reason they scream in one of the station and I have no idea what has happened. All I see is people at the station are looking in the same direction and the ones in the train (when the door opens) are trying hard to hear what's going on. Usually it's not enough time for them, the door closes and just like me, they keep wondering. I guess I'm the most clueless one. And I guess sometimes it's not so bad to not know what's going on. But the screaming is definitely not pleasant to hear.

4. The Jumper

This type is sadly also very common. Every morning, when I change the train at the Main Station, it's really crazy. The crowds are unbelievably huge and there are officers (officers?) trying to get people in order by whistling and fumbling, no, just by whistling, but they remind me of Taiwan's famous traffic policemen, where I always wonder, how much effect they really have on the traffic. Anyway, there are always long queues every morning. People sometimes wait 10 minutes for boarding the train and 99% of the people will wait patiently until it's their turn to get in, but there will always be someone, who will appear out of nowhere at the last second before the door closes and place him/herself in the tiniest spot available. That for me is of course understandable human behavior, people are late and use this way as the last resort. However, I don't condone it, it's still wrong, because the rest of us are still waiting.

5. The Pusher

This is for me the strangest Taipei subway character. Just like before, I see this every morning at the Main Station. It's basically "the Jumper", but with the difference, that he (usually it's a she) pushes everybody inside to get the last free spot and then gets in. Luckily I've only observed this from the outside the train, I wasn't jet pushed by the pusher. I hope one day I can make a short clip of that, I think it would definitely be a YouTube hit. Dear Pusher, I know you are late, frustrated and hyperactive, but pushing people so directly is a bit over the top. I've seen the shocked faces on many pushed commuters, it's definitely not a pleasant experience for them.

There are of course many other strange characters, but not occurring as often and not so significant as these 5 and hence don't really add any value to my post's topic. I need to say I really think Taipei Metro is for me personally the best in the world. Not only the service is top, the Taiwanese people are really a pleasant bunch to commute with, I truly have a great experience. But I have to say that taking a subway train every day is really tiring. But for me, I still prefer it over a car and scooter.

How about you? Do you have any interesting stories to share from the Taipei Metro or from any other one? What are the strangest characters in your subway? Please share, I'm curious.

[My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2011]

Unique Taiwanese traits? My observations

My latest observations about my Taiwanese friends

After getting my recent job and meeting more Taiwanese friends, I noticed some interesting things about Taiwanese people and their patterns of behavior. Some of the things mentioned below were noticed a long while ago, while some of them are fairly new observations. Those of you, who also live here, might have come to similar conclusions, but who knows, maybe not. Keep in mind, that I compare these things with the ones from my home country Slovenia. And keep in mind that I am specifically talking about Taiwanese who live and work in Taipei, as that's where I live and where I notice all these things every day.

1 Taiwanese always plan plan plan

The first thing I noticed about my wife (then girlfriend) is that she likes to plan her daily routine. Now most of the workweek, she would spend at work (she's Taiwanese!), but usually right after knocking off, she would go to the gym. And she has a very strict routine. Missing an appointment would make her feel stressed and disappointed. As for the weekends, she will carefully plan what to do and who to meet and at white time. In Slovenia, our working hours are shorter and we have more free time. We usually have a routine during the workweek, but on weekends we're much more spontaneous. If someone unexpectedly calls us to meet, it's usually no problem for us to do so right away. But I've noticed that for many Taiwanese doing something like that is a little stressful. Many like to know about meetings few days in advance and carefully plan every little thing for that day. I'm not sure why that is and maybe that's typical for Taipei or bigger cities, but it's definitely something I noticed very quickly here. Are Taiwanese insecure people or are they just so busy, that they treasure every minute of their free time?

2 Taiwanese always rush rush rush

Taiwanese always hurry! But let me emphasize again, that I mean those in Taipei (but that still seems to be half of Taiwan's working population). I can completely understand, why they do so during the workweek, because I do the same. There's always a traffic jam making you late, a full bus to catch or a small spot in the MRT to contend for. Every morning, especially on Monday, is a real struggle to come to work (based on my own experience). But then I wonder: Why do Taiwanese rush on weekends? Every time my wife and I go out on Saturday, she would suddenly start to walk fast, but we have no deadline to catch, nobody to meet. I usually let her walk away from me until she realizes that I'm few meters behind her and then she stops. When I catch up, I usually ask her: "Are you going to work? Do you have a train to catch?" Then it makes click and she walks slower... for like 5 minutes, haha. I think I need to find the spot, where she hides her Duracells. My Taiwanese friends, I give you a tip: Slow down on weekends and enjoy yourselves, waste time, indulge. If not, I might need to send you to Southern Dalmatia, Sicily or Greece for training.

3 Taiwanese mostly go Dutch

Taiwanese are very particular when it comes to managing money. The concept we have in Slovenia, where one time one party pays (or treats) the whole bill and then the next time the other party does the same in return, is seen as very strange here. Taiwanese count every single dollar (1 Taiwan dollar is 0.025 Euro btw) and if they had pennies, I'm sure, they would count them, too. Of course we also go Dutch in Slovenia, if we eat out in large groups. If we just drink, we go semi-Dutch, which means we do collect money, but don't go into every penny (some give more, some give less...). In Taiwan, if you go and eat out and your meal costs 99 NTD, but you give the person who collects money 100 NTD and tell them to keep the change, they will still return that 1 dollar to you. I've done that several times, but it's like they don't listen or they don't understand what you mean by that, haha. Now I don't bother anymore and count every penny dollar like they do. I think the reason for this kind of money management is that they don't want to owe anything to anyone, not even a single penny dollar. They don't want someone to badmouth them behind their back in regards to taking or owing money (and lose face). Not sure, if I got that right, but that's my impression.

4 Taiwanese way of saying bye bye is different

I don't know, how people say "bye bye" in your country, but in Taiwan (compared to Slovenia) it's very different. If I meet friends in my home country and we're just about to split up and go home after a drink or meal, we usually say "Keep in touch." or "Talk to you soon." (kinda hard to express the exact Slovenian phrase in English, but you get the point) and that's about it. Young people in Taiwan, when they say bye bye, it's always accompanied with smiles, repeated and extended "bye byeeeeees", waving and small nods. And it always feels like both parties are a bit awkward or embarrassed in that moment. No idea, why that is, but that's how I see the situation. I would be happy, if someone explained that to me better.

Ok, I gotta go, I have to rush out after counting my money again. Bye byeeeee ^_^

Related: [I'm becoming Taiwanese! Help!]
[LIFE IN TAIWAN][Photo by MKL, 2011]

I'm becoming Taiwanese! Help!

If you have read my posts from the past few months about my life in Taiwan (and all the preparations), you're probably just like me completely overwhelmed by the changes I've been through. In the past 6 months I have saved money, acquired documentation, bought air ticket, left my family and home in Slovenia behind and came to Taiwan to be with my then girl friend, whom I married 2 months later. And now I'm working like a mad person every day, usually 10 to 11 hours a day, but today I broke my own record: I worked nearly 13 hours. And the funniest thing is: I really worked. I didn't slack or sleep, I worked.

If someone would've told me to work overtime for no money back in Europe, I would've thought they're crazy. If someone would've told me to work all day 5 days a week back in Europe, I would've thought they are inhumane and a threat to society.

And then I came to Taiwan, got a new job and slowly fell into a Taiwanese work routine. At first I went home "early", which meant I only worked 2 hours overtime, instead of 5 (like most of my colleagues did). Even those 2 hours of unpaid overtime seemed crazy to me, especially because I didn't have much to do in the beginning. Every hour seemed endless and I felt: How the heck will I ever be able to work until 9 pm? (- the time that makes my boss happy). And today I finished at 9.30 pm and still felt I could stay longer.

On the way home I was thinking: WTF is happening to me? Am I slowly turning Taiwanese? I observed people on the bus and subway today, most were so tired. I'm sure most of them worked overtime until very late, until they nearly collapsed. It was a moment where I (for the first time) felt very connected to the Taiwanese people, I felt like I was one of them. But heck, why did it need to happen for the wrong reasons? We all seemed so screwed up. I came home at nearly 11 pm, took a shower, grabbed a bite to eat and decided to write this piece. Now it's midnight and if I don't want to look like a zombie tomorrow, I need to go to bed now, the night will be short anyway. And tomorrow won't be any different: Just like me, millions of Taiwanese will rot in the office with bad air cons trying to get something done. I'm now part of Taiwan's army of workers, who are fighting to keep the GDP high at all costs. Taiwan would not be one of the top economies in the world without our tireless effort to sell our products overseas.

But we're a tired army. Those of you, who enjoy life here, like teachers and journalists, if you see us, tap us on the back and shake our hands, we're also fighting for you. We have no life but work, lunch is our highlight of the day, we drink that coffee from 7/11 so we don't doze off...

My fellow Taiwanese, how long can we do this? How long will we keep saying it's only temporary?

Related: [Taipei Blues from 2010][Photo by MKL, 2011]

Taichung's Fengjia Night Market Madness!

How we nearly got killed! I'm not kidding!

I'm pretty experienced when it comes to night markets (or so I thought). Before I visited Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市 in Taichung, I've been to over 20 night markets, mostly in Northern Taiwan. When I saw the huge crowds in Luodong, Taiwan's most crowded night market in the north, I have never ever dreamed that there can be a night market as crowded as that one. But I was so wrong. The Fengjia Night Market in Taichung on the evening of April 3rd completely overwhelmed me. I have never seen so many people at one place in Taiwan and it was the first time I really feared for my life. I kid you not: I was scared! I will tell you why.

The Fengjia Night Market in Taichung is the biggest night market in Taiwan and after my own experience, I can completely sign that statement. I haven't seen any night market in Taiwan comparable in size and the number of people. It was like on a rock concert. It was surreal. Of course we made a big mistake by visiting the night market before the Tomb Sweeping Day, a national holiday. The roads in Taichung were completely clogged with cars, buses and scooters and I've never seen such a big traffic jam in my life.

We needed 1h and 30min from Taichung Station to Fengjia Night Market by bus. And we had to stand. The traffic was so slow, even the bus driver has never seen something like that and kept apologizing.

Once we reached the area, we were let out, the driver said we'll be faster by foot.

Once we reached the night market, the crowds were ridiculously huge.

This is the video I made while walking 2m per minute.

Once we were stuck inside, we hoped that later the crowds will be less. We were so wrong! We kept walking and walking and there were more and more people. At one point we were stuck and couldn't move into any direction.

This was the worst and the scariest part. I told my wife not to go in the center.

I pulled her on the side and we tried this popular snack, the only one we had chance to.

A banana dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with peanuts: Really delicious.

And then it got scary. We started to walk, but couldn't move, because near the stalls people were waiting for food, so we had to go in the central part. But once there, people pushed more and more and I got worried, especially for the wellbeing of my wife. At one point I was literally being squashed by many people at the same time and totally lost control of my body. I became worried for my wife, who was walking in front of me, I didn't want her to get hurt. If she fell down, she could've possibly been trampled to death. The situation reminded me of the stampede in Duisburg (Germany), where 19 people were trampled to death on a concert in 2010. So I tried to steer my wife to the right side, near the stalls and I think it was a good idea. We found small holes and made it to the part, that was less crowded.

I was so relieved, when I saw this area.

This experience shocked me. I couldn't enjoy the food and the atmosphere, I just wasted time and money and had great concern for my wife's life. This was probably the worse night market experience I had so far.

Nevertheless, I want to return here one day. I was advised to go during the week, where the crowds are less big. Fengjia Night Market has some of the best food in Taiwan, it's truly something I can't miss, if I want to call myself a serious "Night Market Blogger". It's just that I'm so busy lately, I have time to go so far out from Taipei. Those of you, who do have time, better don't go there on weekends and especially not before holidays. I'm not a big fan of Taichung. I like the good weather and friendly people, but that's about it. I have a good friend there and that's the only reason that makes me return to this city. The population density is so big, but there's no subway. It's really a disastrous situation. For a spoiled Taipeier like me, Taichung would be very inconvenient to live, even if I had a car.

[FOOD in TAIWAN][My TAIWAN page][My TAIPEI page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

[My TAIWAN NIGHT MARKETS list][My MAP of Night Markets in Taipei]

Taiwanese little green man

They walk and walk and walk...

The Taiwanese little green man is famous, because he is tirelessly walking and walking, sometimes for nearly 100 seconds at once. I am truly impressed by how much strength and perseverance they show every day. But when I see these little green men every day when I cross the road, I see myself and other Taiwanese reflected in them. They are like a symbol of Taiwan, they keep walking and working, they never complain about anything, they're just doing their job every day over and over again. I'm now a little green man, too. It's scary how fast you become one.

[more TAIWAN related]

Btw, do you also think that the photo is sexually explicit? :-P

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭, Taiwan's gem

And about how I proposed to my wife

The Sun Moon Lake (in Chinese 日月潭, pronounced as "Řì·üè·tán") is the second biggest lake in the country (after Tsengwen reservoir 曾文水庫). At the same time it's one of the most beautiful scenic spots of Taiwan, popular with local and foreign tourists. My wife (at that time still girlfriend) and I had the pleasure to visit it during our Central Taiwan trip. And that was also the place, where I proposed to her, so it bears a special meaning for us.

Our trip to Sun Moon Lake has begun on Sunday morning, when we took the bus from Shueili (we stayed overnight there) directly to the lake's resort area. It took us about 45min to reach there. Let me show you some of my photos:

The road to Sun Moon Lake from Shueili is very winding and steep.

This is the part full of hotels and shops. We were dropped off at the information center.

When we got all the info from the kind staff, we decided to walk to the lake.

We only walked around this small peninsula (show bigger map).

We didn't have a lot of time that day, because we were headed further to Puli, Nantou City and Taichung. We only walked around a very small area, but we still had fun. And it was so hot that day, I think it wouldn't be wise to attempt a long march around the lake. This is where we went:

The big parking lot is full of buses, that carried tourist from China to this famous lake.

Boats.

We walked on a narrow path along the shores of the lake and took lots of photos.

I liked the nearly emerald color of the lake.

We soon reached this spot, which has a very good overview of the lake.

The view on the small Lalu island and the famous Ci En Pagoda.

My cute wifey posing in front of the lake.

A lovely pavilion, one of the many in the area.

I loved the view. The Sun Moon Lake is definitely a place I will return to in the future.

We walked further and observed the area.

A posh yacht like many other in the area.

And that's a boat in old Chinese design. Not sure what to think about it.

And then we reached one of the spots with the best view: The Chiang Kai-shek pavilion.

We first enjoyed the beautiful view, the former president's favorite one.

And that was the time where I suddenly had the idea to propose to my wife (then girlfriend). I knew that our wedding day is very close and I knew that I need to formally propose, because Taiwanese girls are very romantic (and my wife is a "typical Taiwanese girl" in this regard). However, when we came to the pavilion, there were many people. A family was resting there and talking a lot. I tried to buy time and kept observing the lake and taking photos, but the family just wouldn't leave. So my girlfriend wanted to walk further, but I decided to pretend I was tired and that my legs hurt and asked her to stay here a little longer. She was ok with that and soon the family left. But we were alone only for a brief moment, because new people arrived and started to take photos. I was like "Damn", won't this place ever be empty? And after 2 minutes they finally left and we were alone. I took her by the hand and asked her to stand up and told her I have something important to say to her. I became a little nervous and started to shake, when I uttered how I loved her and how much she meant to me. I then went down on my knees and asked her, if she wants to marry me. She was totally surprised, but happy. Of course she said yes and I was released. We then sat down in the shadow of the pavilion and slowly people started to surround us. We were both shaking and smiling widely. My girlfriend was very happy and I was very released. It was truly a moment to remember. And although I'm not an admirer of Chiang Kai-shek, I can say that he now is somehow connected with our love story. Whether that's a good or bad thing, future will tell. Nevertheless, it will be remembered as the place, where I made history.

The Chiang Kai-shek Pavilion, when we left it.

We soon arrived back at the commercial center of the Sun Moon Lake.

And what a delight it was to take photo of tourists from China walking under the ROC flag. I'd give a fortune to find out what was on their minds in that very moment.

Soon after we returned to the bus station and headed up to Puli. And that shall be a story for another post. We had a great meal there and the town had a certain indefinable charm.

Click on the map for Google Map.

The Sun Moon Lake marked the first half of our Central Taiwan adventure. Later that day we went to Puli and further to Caotun and Nantou City and then in the evening to Taichung, to visit the famous Fengjia Night Market, which turned out to be a disaster. All that in my following posts on my second blog. Stay tuned.

If you're visiting Taiwan, don't skip the Sun Moon Lake, it's truly a gem. If you like nature, you will truly love the area. And there's so much to explore, you will need few days to see every beautiful spot there. I'm definitely planning to return in the future. Hope to see you there, too!

Central Taiwan Tour 2011: Puli>>

[My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][My CENTRAL TAIWAN trip][All photos by MKL, 2011]