Made in Taiwan

Question: Why did the boy tie only one shoe lace on his new pair of shoes?

Answer: Because it said "Made in Taiwan"
Lame I know but I couldn't resist.

Mid September, many Asian countries celebrate Chusoek -  a holiday where they celebrate the return of their ancestors. They prepare lots of food and visit the graves of family members with their offerings.  The dates each year change according to the position of the moon. This year, the holiday fell perfectly on a Monday and Tuesday.  My school celebrated its birthday in the same week, so fortunately this resulted in the school giving me almost an entire week off school.

This gave me a great opportunity to travel again, this time to the Republic of China, Taiwan with my dear friend and colleague Catherine Stark from Ohio, USA.  Fortunately for Americans, their passports gives them access to visit many countries for up to 3 months without a visa, South African passport holders on the other hand, not so fortunate.  Armed with my tourist visa, we embarked on a short but adventurous journey.

Our first night was spent in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. We stayed at a hostel near a university area, good choice! Down the street, like any uni area, there is a bustling night life. We paid a visit to the Shida night market - which is the same as a day market but they generally open after lunch till late. This was a great place to do some affordable shopping and sample local cuisine.  Taiwan was my first exposure to Chinese culture and I was incredibly nervous, actually anxious at the thought of eating. Nevertheless I braved up and started slowly by sampling Dim Sum - its basically a small dumpling, usually bite size, stuffed with vegetable or meat. Very yummy, "so far so good" I tell myself. We walked around the market confused as to where to eat dinner, I know I'm hungry but my appetite keeps going and coming back because every once in a while this potent smell keeps hitting us yet no one else around seems to be disturbed by it. We later discovered their signature and firm favourite, 'stinky' tofu - it really stinks and they know and accept it, in fact I don't think they are offended by what we call it.

We decide against Subway and ventured into a traditional Taiwanese restaurant. Catherine ordered a bizarre soup with things floating and ended up only eating the tofu (not stinky) and sipping on the broth. I chose something that resembled a pork chop with vegetables and it wouldn't be Asia if it didn't come with complimentary rice.  I lost count how many times I asked if the meal in front of me was the same as the one I had pointed out on the picture.

On the second day we made our way to the beautiful National Palace Museum to see and learn about Taiwanese history, from weapons and pottery right through to religion. We enjoyed some herbal tea in cups smaller than shot glasses and our new favourite snack, Dim sum. We hopped onto a bus and after missing our stop found ourselves at the exciting and largest night market in Taipei City, Shilin Market. We were coerced into separating with our hard earned Taiwan Dollars shopping. We were not expecting Taiwan to have such amazing bargains so we were a bit unprepared but nevertheless did not leave empty handed. In the evening we boarded the superfast HSR (high speed rail) to Tainan, the 5th largest city and one of the cultural capitals of Taiwan, to explore the south and see how the old meets the new. We arrived safely and checked into Iris Tower, a well run backpackers where we felt right at home the moment we walked in.  We met some interesting characters including an Irish gentleman who was on a scholarship to study Chinese. We asked him to put his skills into practice by helping us find out what movies were showing at the cinema. Amongst other English movies showing, one was titled "Friends with benefits" starring Justin Timberlake. He humourously informed us that the direct translation in Chinese was "Friends never sleep".
The next day we took a city bus tour and visited many temples and historical sites including a museum which had an amazing restaurant where  we enjoyed German beer and ice-cream, anything to keep us cool from the scorching heat.  Being Chusoek, there were many festivities happening around the city. On one of our walks we were lured into watching a street performance we had stumbled upon. The costumes and make up were so elaborate we couldn't resist but eventually the language barrier proved to be too much.

The rest of our stay in Tainan was great and a visit to the night market did not disappoint. We enjoyed some local yet somewhat familiar cuisine and made friends along the way. Being a foreigner in Asia somehow promotes you to instant stardom without effort. Its not uncommon to have people ask to take a picture of you or with you. Catherine and I are convinced there is a website out there where our pictures are being posted under "photo with foreigner" - I have even imagined it to be a competition or race of some sort.

A smooth 4 hours on a slow train ride finds us back in the capital city.  We check into a different hostel this time and met 2 German guys. One tells us that he is currently working in Korea too and hours of conversation began, exchanging ideas of his intention to open an authentic Italian restaurant in his town and our bizarre experiences living as foreigners in Korea. The following day was filled with lots of sightseeing, read: lots of walking.  The exquisite Longshan temple and Taiwan's pride and joy, Taipei 101- the 3rd tallest building in the world, even taller the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur, very impressive for a country so small.

A long commute to the last subway stop finds us in the suburb of Danshui. Here we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, something I had not enjoyed since I left the mother city. A lovely stroll along the riverside, some night shopping and refreshing drinks were order of the day. Before kissing Taiwan good bye,  I just had to pick up a souvenir or two and some postcards to send to loved ones.

A long with many fond memories, Taiwan will have a special place in my heart as the first place I truly experienced the life of a backpacker.  I learnt a lot of do's and do not's from Catherine who is far more experienced at this than me. One backpacking trip does not by any means qualify me as an expert. But I would, however, still love to share  some things (that may or may not be obvious to you) that I learnt about living 'out of a suitcase'.

Handy Tips

If, like myself, you are not spontaneous/risk taker or are traveling during peak season, it probably makes more sense to book your accommodation ahead of time, at least for the first night or 2. For me, arriving at the airport in a foreign country not knowing where I'm sleeping that night is far too daunting. I was more  flexible however with the rest of the trip which served us well as we decided to stay in Tainan longer than we had initially planned and didn't have to worry about canceling accommodation somewhere else. This is ideal if you don't have a set itinerary planned or are not sure what a place has to offer, it gives you more room to wiggle. If you decide not to book, have names and contact details of places you can consider on hand. Looking for accommodation while you are stressed out, hungry, battery on phone dying, public transportation almost finished running, is no picnic.

Only pack what you can carry (preferably on your back).  I personally tend to book early morning flights or late evening flights so that I can enjoy an entire day in a particular place as opposed to traveling during the day. But what I sometimes forget is that I get kicked out of the accommodation I'm staying at as early as 10am and find myself stuck with my baggage (literally) the whole day while trying to do some last minute sightseeing. Most safe, world class cities have lockers at main train/bus stations, you can store your luggage in the lockers for the day or  if logistically feasible, some hostels will let you store your bags with them even after check out and you can go pick them up before heading for the airport. If you are not so lucky, you will have to cart the luggage around and you will wish you would have packed lighter.

Choose a hostel with lockers for small valuables.  You may not have considered anything that is not jewelry valuable, but away from home your passport (and probably camera) are the most valuable items on you. If you are sharing a room with strangers, it is unwise to just sleep at night with your passport next to you.  Have your wits about you, not to say everyone is out to get you but there is a lot of crime around the world regarding identity theft, using your passport to enter into countries that certain nations are not allowed to etc. I don't think many of us can fathom the stress of losing a passport whilst in a foreign country but I can imagine it not being funny!

Free WiFi - as much as you are on holiday and probably need a break from everything and everyone, free internet is a must in my books. If not for Facebook and touching base with family, you can use it for searching travel information and making bookings. Money and time spent at or looking for internet cafes soon adds up and its not necessary if you choose a good hostel with WiFi in the first place.

Dont forget to make sure you have made arrangements if you are planning to check in or check out at an 'ungodly' hour, most neighbourhood hostels will not have 24 hr reception.

Finished a book you are reading? Apparently its an unsaid rule amongst the backpacking community that if the hostel has a book shelf with random reads, you may leave your book on the shelf and pick up another read to enjoy for the rest of your journey. The books on the shelf have been left by previous travelers for you to enjoy, so you can make a contribution (and benefit) too.

If you leave your 7 step beauty regime in the bathrooms, you are implying that all guests may use it. This however does not apply for food. In some hostels the common fridge has a shelf where you can put your things on with your name on it and then a common shelf where you can put something there for all to enjoy. Surprisingly, I found the shelf for sharing was fuller than the rest.

Everybody's experience will be different, no doubt, and you might not strike gold every time when choosing a hostel but doing a bit of homework is well worth it. Taiwan was awesome and I think a little piece of my heart got left behind. Maybe in the near future I will realise, I cannot live without that piece and will be left with no choice but to return. Thanks Catherine for an awesome time and great laughs.

Final thoughts:

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money" - Unknown