Street Food Delights

 

Raohe Street Night Market

[ entrance to some really good food! ]

Norah and I ambitiously started today with the goal of getting ourselves to the north coast of Taipei, about 2 hours away, to see one of the last remaining market streets from the Qing dynasty. We left for Jinshan Old Street by train early this morning and then waited an hour to catch a local bus from the last subway stop in Tamsui. The local bus arrived, a small bus with 20 single seats and about 35 of us piled on. Norah and I did not get seats and we took a standing position toward the back. 

The bus took off at a flying pace, and the driver drove hurky-jerky while shifting gears (it was a manual transmission) through the narrow streets along the coast. After 45 minutes of this, we had only reached the 4th of 14 stops and I looked back at Norah, who was turning a little green. I myself was ignoring signs of nausea as I tried to keep a firm grip on the floor with the exaggeratedly wide stance that I was employing to prevent face-planting with each two-wheeled curve we took. At the next stop Norah whispered “I can’t take this!” and we jumped off. We spent the next two hours getting ourselves back to the hotel where we felt pretty tired and a little defeated. 

So we decided to double down and head back out at dusk to the Raohe Street night market for some street food on our final night and we had a fabulous time.

[first stop - pork and pepper buns ]

[ these guys know what they are doing ]

[ so good! ]

As we strolled through the market, we tried sweet potato puffs, a watermelon smoothie, and spicy scallion pancakes. 

[ frying the pancakes ]

[ someone here knows how to take a selfie ]

A few foods we did not try included…

[ organ meats ]

[ squid ]

[ and durian smoothies ]

A woman was selling peanut roll ice cream, however, and I had to try it. She shaved frozen peanut brittle onto a rice paper wrap, then scooped three ice cream flavors - sour plum, pineapple, and taro - sprinkled fresh cilantro over the top and wrapped the ice cream up like a burrito. She served it up in a paper wrapper.

[ making peanut roll ice cream ]

I have never tasted anything like it. It was not too sweet and sort of savory. It was like an ice cream meal!!

We didn’t stay too long at the market but we left very satisfied and pleased to have such a great ending to our time in Taipei. 

[ a crowded commute back to our hotel ]

The ride back to the hotel on the red line was a little packed but everyone was very friendly and calm. This city has shown us many delights - the art, the food, the people - and I am leaving the city with gratitude for sharing all of this beauty with Norah and me. 

🥬

Checking on Chiang Kai-shek

Historical Sites & Street Life 

[ subway art exhibit from a local school ]

Today we explored art antiquities in the massive National Palace Museum of Taipei. We had to take a subway, bus, and a walk to get there.

[ the navigator determining exactly which bus ]

Chiang Kai-shek brought all of the art in the museum in crates from China and hid it until he built the museum near his Shilin residence in 1965. 

[ the entrance to the museum ]

We got to the museum relatively early and started on the top floor, working our way through jade sculptures to bronze antiquities and ceramic objects to cloisonné jewelry. The Chinese artworks included objects from before the common era through the 19th century end of the Qing dynasty. There was no way to look at everything so we followed a roadmap of 16 pieces suggested by the museum as the Classics tour. We were most excited about seeing a carved jade bok choy from the 1600s and we went straight to the gallery where it was housed. Much to our chagrin, it was traveling to another museum and missing from its case. We cried. Here is a picture of it. There is a locust and katydid alighting on the top leaves, a sign of prospering with many children.

We continued on and by the time we reached the first floor of the museum we were in an art delirium. It really was a spectacular walk through Chinese art history. I saw many things that I loved but for some reason I just took one photo of this beautiful ceramic horse.

[ ceramic horse, Tang dynasty, 900 CE ]

Norah took a photo of a bronze wine vessel in the shape of a very cute, dog?

[ wine vessel, 1000 BCE ]

We left the museum and wondered the streets of the Shilin neighborhood, ventured down an alley and found a wonderful local cafe, the Happiness Cafe, nestled between people’s apartments.

[ approaching the Happiness Cafe ]

[ are you following?? There’s air-conditioning!! ]

[ I was busy taking photos

 of the neighbor’s doorway across the street ]

We were quite hot and sweaty when we arrived and I ordered my daily dose of iced espresso and it was served in a fancy parfait glass!! 

[ an antidote to hot weather! ]

After a lunch respite we set off to find the Chiang Kai-shek memorial. I know there is much to discuss regarding his place in history but he does have a place and I needed to see the memorial.

[ the memorial ]

[ the gate ]

[ beautiful marble stone work ]

[ the man himself ]

[ the gold rotunda ceiling ]

[ the guards out front ]

Norah tried to take a selfie of us but my hair was not cooperating…

[ mother daughter moment ]

By this point in the day we were rather tired and we headed back to our hotel. I saw this lovely shrine in a peace park on our walk back to Ximen. 

[ the symmetry ]

🕊️

Taipei Heatwave

 Scents of Star Anise and Garlic

[ Dadaocheng Neighborhood ]

Norah and I arrived in Taipei City last night to a wall of heat at the top of the subway steps, plonked into the Ximending Walking District just a few blocks from our accommodations. Without realizing it, I had booked us into a hotel in one of the busiest nightlife areas of the city. It was a little jarring after the idyllic week in Miyakojima that we had just left.

[ just steps from our accoms ]

We wound our way through the busy streets to our hotel, a nondescript high rise with the only noticeable feature from the street: a pink neon stripe shaped into a heart. We walked into a dark glass and marble lobby that gave us both love hotel vibes. As it was eight o’clock at night we had no choice but to proceed…

[ the eclectic lobby ]

We took a black mirrored elevator up to our floor 😳. Our room was spotlessly clean, with every amenity present, yet the presence of Chiang Kai-shek did not really assuage our fears.

[ just say no to communism ]

We fell asleep wondering where we had landed. 

To our relief, the hotel breakfast the next morning was spectacular and we were in the company of Taiwanese parents, children, and grandparents on vacation. We decided it was all on the up and up.

[ Bangka Longshan Temple ]

We spent the morning today at the Bangka Longshan Temple in the Wanhua District. The temple was built during the Qing Dynasty in 1738 by Chinese Buddhists from Fujian who had settled in Taipei.

Our other goal for the day was to make our way to the Dadaocheng neighborhood where some of the red brick buildings from the Qing Dynasty can be found. We had to catch a bus to get to the neighborhood and once we found our stop and watched what everyone else did, Norah stepped out and waved down our bus like a local. 

[ Norah’s got this ]

[ okay, truth be told, this guy stole her thunder ]

The neighborhood streets in Dadaocheng are lined with small shops where all sorts of food and goods can be found. There were stalls selling tea, dried fruit, garlic, dried mushrooms, and fish. The scent of star anise and garlic filled the air.

For lunch, Norah found a delightful little vegan restaurant, Mukuchi Kitchen, tucked away on a side street. We ordered an oat milk ramen bowl and an asparagus bean curd roll. Lucky for us, the shop was air-conditioned and the warm ramen was a mouthful of flavours. The bean curd roll was like nothing I have ever tasted, it was grilled with a carmelized soy sauce glaze.

[ a tiny and delectable kitchen ]

[ vegan oat milk ramen and bean curd roll ]

We found a sweet bookstore housed in one of the historic buildings. Even though I could not read any of the books, I enjoyed the quiet respite from the street in cool air-conditioning amongst the beautiful books.

[ Kuo’s Astral Bookshop ]

I liked this self help series. I could not read the text but the pictures were informative. I am pretty sure that the page below is explaining that hammocks are really good for relaxing…

[ time to get out the hammock ]

🪭

Beach Finale

Ikema Island

 [ heading to Kaginmi Beach ]

Norah and I headed out to Ikema Island today to try out the last of the beaches in this beautiful place. We followed the single road that circled the island to reach Kaginmi Beach on the northern side of the island. I had read that the locals called this beach “rope” beach and I had no idea why. The only parking was at the side of the road and the only other vehicle there was a bicycle. We stepped through the rhododendron grove along the path and discovered the reason for the beach’s name.

[ aka “Rope” Beach ]

The path was a straight drop with a rope, that was tied to a tree, dangling down the ravine. As we stood there contemplating our rappelling skills, Norah pointed out that her foot was still in recovery and more importantly, could I haul myself back up the rope if we went down! I shudder to visualize this scenario. We decided to pass and instead headed to another beach just down the cove.

[ Take Two: Funakusu Beach ]

This beach had several small reefs right in the shallows and a handful of swimmers with snorkels were quietly drifting in the water. This was a great location for our final Okinawa swim. 

[ settling in for a swim ]

There was a dive shop at the top of the path and the guy running it seemed to have the unofficial role of lifeguard. Every once in awhile he would walk out to the rocks overlooking the cove and speak to us through a yellow megaphone. I do not know what he was saying. He also stood on a ladder on top of the dive shop and used the megaphone to call down to the swimmers on the beach. No one seemed to be heeding his words.

[ swimmers! Take care!! ]

Besides floating and swimming all morning at this beautiful beach, my favorite moment of the day was stopping to buy a ripe mango …

from this roadside stand…

from this friendly Okinawan farmer 

who has mango trees behind his house…

I so enjoyed this moment talking with this man. He was friendly and kind. Norah had stayed in the car and he insisted that I take a sample of mango to her on a toothpick skewer. When we got back to our room, Norah and I devoured the entire mango. It was so delicious and brought my memory back to Puerto Rico once again. Mangoes are life!!

[ sunset event ]

On our final evening Norah and I cruised over to “sunset  beach” near the bridge to Irabu Island to watch the sunset and we found ourselves amongst, I think, every tourist currently visiting these islands. There was a flurry of excitement in the air as people gathered along the park railing above the sea.

Together, we watched the sun go down from the edge of Miyakojima; reminding me of our shared humanity at the end of these beautiful travels around Okinawa. 

🌴