A Photo Tour of Taiwan's West Coast
My time in Taiwan has been filled with incredible memories and experiences. However, up to this point, my experiences had been largely limited to Taipei and the surrounding districts. During the four week winter holiday, I was given the chance to take two trips to the south-west portion of the Island. I saw vivid sunrises, beautiful architecture, and some of Taiwan's cutest inhabitants, the Formosa Macaque.
Our first stop was the central mountains. We ventured away from the urban cities to see a more cultural side of Taiwan. The number of Temples hidden in the foothills was incredibly high. Each of them represented their own god. Some temples represent the god of money, while others even represent doing well on tests. While in the mountains, we stopped by Sun Moon Lake 日月潭, said to be home to the spirit of Taiwan. The weather was less than agreeable, but we still got to experience the architecture of the visitor centre.
After the mountains, we ventured towards the cities that populate Taiwan's west coast. We spent one night in ChiaYi 嘉義 , a small city centrally located in Taiwan. It was there that I experienced one of the most incredible sunrises I've ever seen. We reached the roof of our hotel just as the first golden rays of light reached the buildings around us. I watched the sun rise over the mountains that we had just explored.
Tainan, 台南, was the next stop of our trip. Tainan is known for having a rich cultural heritage. It was at one point the main post of the Dutch explorers who rules Taiwan. They built Anping Fort, which we visited. A well known attraction in Tainan is the ChiMei museum. At first look, the surrounding architecture appears to be ancient greek design. The private museum is filled with countless artifacts and pieces of art. Also famous in Tainan is its main city park. One night, Lorenzo and I explored the beautiful park. The traditional Chinese design was an incredible area to photograph. Tainan was the city hit hardest by Taiwan's January earthquake. Multiple buildings collapsed resulting in over 100 deaths during the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. Luckily, we were not in Tainan at the time.
Kaohsiung - 高雄 was the final stop on our trip. It is an incredibly beautiful city that houses Taiwan's largest port and a majority of Taiwan's industrial production. I was lucky enough to visit Kaohsiung twice during the holiday period. The second time, I travelled with my third family to celebrate Chinese New Year. During that period, the Taiwan earthquake took place. It startled me out of my sleep, but I had no idea that the damage was so severe until the next morning when my host dad told me that buildings had collapsed in Tainan, the city just north of where we were. In Kaohsiung, I saw a different side of Taiwan that I hadn't seen in Taipei. I saw a more laid-back way of living. There is a significant amount of nature from mountains to beaches within the city, which is found less in Taipei.
Above all else, my favourite part of my trips to Taiwan's south was the new friends that I made. Both in the central mountains and in Kaohsiung, I saw monkeys. It was the first time that I had seen wild monkeys. They were adorable, but not to be messed with. One monkey stole an orange from a hiker in Kaohsiung, while another stole our bus driver's bag of peanuts in the central mountains.
It's tough for me to put into words how grateful I feel to be where I am. The opportunities that I have been given will stay with me forever. This entire exchange has opened my eyes to the beautiful things that this world has to offer each and every person. Take a weekend for a road trip, call up an old friend, or go out and explore a new part of your city. Make the most of every day.
open heart, open mind
alex
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Taiwanese Holidays
The holiday season has come and gone here in Taiwan. Although I expected the Christmas season to feel different while on exchange, I didn't know nearly how unique this experience would be. Now that we are into January, I will share my Rotary Exchange experiences for Christmas, my birthday, and New Year's Eve.
Birthday
To celebrate my birthday, my extremely generous host parents took Lorenzo, my Italian brother, and I on a cruise from the north coast of Taiwan. We spent two days on the boat, eating, exploring, and studying chinese. I am so lucky to have such a great group of people to call my family! This year was the first time in my life that I had to attend school on my birthday. I have been so accustomed to being able to sleep in and enjoy my birthday with my family in Canada that it felt truly weird to hop on the MRT and go to school. However, that's not to say it was a negative experience. It was the first time I have been able to spend my birthday with schoolmates. The night before my birthday, many of my closest schoolmates surprised me after class. It is a Taiwanese tradition to spray the birthday person with shaving cream. After going to the gym with David, an American student, I was planning on eating dinner with a few close friends. I wasn't expecting so many amazing friends to surprise me with the shaving cream and gifts! Afterward, we went to a hotpot restaurant for a meal. Hotpot is another Taiwanese classic. You order your "pot" which consists of vegetables, meat, tofu, and a soup. Each table is equipped with hotplates which you use to cook your food. I would call it the Taiwanese fondue. On top of that, there is unlimited self-serve ice cream and drinks. It was a great way to celebrate with friends. On my actual birthday, my class surprised me with a few generous gifts and even a cake! They had the chemistry teacher surprise me and all sang happy birthday to me, in chinese and english. Later that night, I ate a special birthday dinner with my host family. We went to a delicious steakhouse. I am so glad to have been able to spend my 18th birthday surrounded by the best friends and family I could've asked for. Thank you to everyone for making it so special!
Christmas
Christmas came quickly after the excitement of my birthday. While going to school on my birthday may have felt foreign, Christmas at school was a whole other feeling altogether. I was able to share the odd feeling of Christmas in a foreign country with my exchange friends. Our home countries each have unique holiday traditions, but we all experienced the same Taiwanese Christmas of 2015 together. Leading up to the holiday season, the idea of Christmas felt so far away from reality. The weather was warm and there was little to no decoration or celebration throughout the city; I felt no Christmas spirit in the Taiwanese people. It was one of the first experiences here in Taiwan that has opened my eyes to the true difference in culture. That being said, Christmas Day itself was extremely enjoyable. After opening a few presents with my host mom at breakfast, I headed to school. I spent the morning with my classmates. We had a small party with music, snacks, and a gift exchange. After school, I ate dinner with a few exchange students. Some were inbounds to Taiwan this year, and others were those from Taiwan who have returned from exchange. Funny enough, we actually weren't celebrating Christmas. Rather, we celebrated mine, and my friend Belle's birthdays, which both fall on the 23rd. We had a meal full of laughter and good conversation, and then did another small gift exchange. I should've expected it, but I was surprised when the shaving cream attack came once again. Finally, we rode bikes home, seeing the last bit of the Taiwanese Christmas. In Taiwan, I found that December 25th is just another day, but it can be made into much more with the right people.
New Year
The New Year's Eve that I spent in Taiwan is hands down the best New Year's I have ever experienced. The entire day was full of incredible places and people. The excitement started at 4:30PM, when the exchange students arrived at Taipei's Grand Hotel. We had been preparing two dances for this event for almost two months. One hip-hop dance, and another traditional Lion Dance. We did two hours of final practice before our performance. Among the audience were many important Rotarians, as well as the mayor of Taipei City, Ko Wen-Je. It was such an honour to perform in such an incredible venue.
After the Grand Hotel performance, the exchange students were set free for the night, allowed to explore the beautiful nightlife until 2am. Many exchange students from all of Taiwan visited Taipei to experience the New Year's fireworks display at Taipei 101. I met many at a party at the Songshan Riverside Park. The atmosphere was absolutely incredible. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people there. There was a DJ, dance battles, an art area, and an incredible view. I even found a place to practice the Diablo (chinese yoyo) that I had learned in culture class. However, my close friends and I had decided previously that we would watch the fireworks from a mountain in the city. It was somewhat isolated and required a 30 minute hike to reach the view, so we hoped that it would be more quiet than the middle of the city. We arrived at the top at 11:30 to see a crowd almost as big as the one we had experienced in the city. I realized that my goal to capture awesome photos of the fireworks wouldn't be possible like I had hoped. Since we had been to the area before, I knew of a tree that we could sit on to watch the fireworks.I had climbed it numerous times before. I climbed it, but the people below didn't appreciate it much. 50 people yelling in Chinese is pretty good motivation to climb down quickly. After the embarrassment and disappointment subsides, I was able to focus on enjoying the moment of New Year's with my best friends in taiwan. As the seconds counted down to midnight, I could feel the collective excitment hanging in the air. Taipei 101 was completely dark. Then there was fire. The entire building was lit up, from top to bottom by colourful fireworks. The crowds cheers for the new year were quickly silenced in awe. Everybody stood together, taking in the spectacle. It was an incredible feeling to know that millions more around the city were experiencing the same from a different vantage point. After the show finished, we all embraced. High fives and greetings, in both English and Chinese, were exchanged with Taiwanese people. The exchange students there all gathered in hugs and cheers to celebrate one of the most unique, and exciting New Year's of our entire lives. The next morning, I met friends at 5am at the nearest MRT station to the mountain. Once again, we climbed. We watched the sunrise from the exact same spot that the excitement had taken place less than 6 hours previously. My Taiwanese New Year is an experience I will never forget.
Among the three holidays, I found the largest difference between Canada and Taiwan's traditions in Christmas. The Asian culture puts far less emphasis on celebration of Christmas. However, I still felt a sense of belonging. It was just another day, but I was able to spend the day with those important to me who made it so much more. It was a unique holiday experience for me, but I am so glad to have seen the customs and traditions from around the world. In the coming weeks, the Chinese New Year will also take place. I am sure that celebration and culture will be everywhere! We are also given four weeks winter vacation, so I will have more time to explore Taiwan with my friends. I can't wait to update you on more of this incredible life I am so fortunate to live.
CREATE+EXPLORE
Alex
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One Month in Taipei
It's been one month since I arrived to this beautiful country I now call home. 31 days of adventure, exploration, chaos, and joy. Each day has presented a new opportunity for growth and learning. Here's to many more.
I clearly remember the moment I woke up on my first day in my new home. 9:00AM, with not a single clue as to where I was. It took a few seconds for everything in my mind to settle on the idea that I was, in fact, waking up in a new country with a new culture, language, and lifestyle, rather than my first thought of "wow, what a vivid dream". After the initial wave of confusion had settled, a new feeling began to creep in. It was the "I have no idea where I am, how to contact anyone, and no idea where my host family lives" feeling. You see, I live in quite a unique situation. I live on the fifth floor of an apartment building. Also on the fifth floor is a random woman who lives in the room beside mine. Our communications have not exceeded a simple "ni hao" (1) in passing. My host mom lives on the fourth floor, and my host grandparents live on the second floor. That first morning, I vaguely remembered the instructions from the night before. "Go to YeYe and NaiNai's (2) house at 10 for breakfast" I remembered hearing. However, in my sleep deprived state, I completely blanked on which floor the grandparents lived on. Additionally, I had no memory of any way to contact my host mom, who was at work, or my host sister. I didn't feel like banging on every door in the building to find my grandparents on the first morning was something I was so excited about, so I decided to wait. It was about 11:00 when an old man knocked on my door. A quick introduction in my almost non-existent chinese managed to break the ice. YeYe and I are close now. We have short conversations, but I always appreciate his assistance in finding new places, like 學校 (3), or the location of my 中文課 (4).
The first week comprised of simple explorations of Taipei, with Joanna, the daughter of my second host mother, who is the sister of my current host mom, and Lorenzo, an exchanger from Italy who currently lives with Sun Yu, my second mom. We visited numerous landmarks that define Taipei as a city. One of the first days, we made the arduous journey (walk across the street) to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, a well known landmark in Taipei. It was erected to remember the country's first leader. I found it to be absolutely incredible. I also climbed elephant mountain with a few other exchange students. It gave us a stunning view of the entire Taipei City. It was only 15 minutes to the top, so I am planning to return to take more photos.
The next weekend after arriving, the Inbound Orientation took place. It was the first time that I met the other 60 exchange students that are here in Taipei City. There are even more in the surrounding region, as New Taipei City, which surrounds Taipei City, is an entirely separate Rotary District with students of its own. The 60 of us from district 3480 were sent to Yilan, a small city on the east coast, just over one hour from Taipei. We spent the two days combining fun activites with lectures. Capture the flag, BBQing, and visiting the coast were a few of the highlights from the weekend. I met so many amazing people. I can't wait to spend the next year hearing the stories and wisdom from each of them.
Last weekend, I was lucky enough to visit Jiufen, an ancient mining town perched upon a delicate hillside. I was stunned by the view from the town down onto the roaring Pacific Ocean below. We explored numerous shops, restaurants, and museums. I enjoyed seeing the history of the town in the architecture and especially the old tea and pottery shops. Once again, I truly hope that I will be able to return for a Taiwanese sunset.
In my next blog entry, I will discuss my experiences so far with the school and education here in Taipei. It is a unique system, with many differences to what I have been accustomed to back home. For now, however. I have written enough. Until next time!
Alex
- Ni Hao - Hello
- YeYe and NaiNai - Grandpa and Grandma
- 學校 - Xue Xiao - School
- 中文課 - Zhong Wen Ke - Chinese Class