Summer Vacation Part Two: The Northern City

In keeping with tradition, let me introduce the topic of this entry, which will (in theory) prevent it from degenerating into a ramble about my personal life: Taipei is a fantastic city. I would love to live here, and if I could go back in time, I would have done a year teaching here rather than in Korea. 

I've been in Taiwan a couple of weeks now, and I've spend all of that time in Taipei. I didn't imagine I would be in the city for much more than as week, but here I still am after nearly three. It's been a real adventure. I've really gotten everything I needed and under different circumstances, I would say that it was the time of my life. Given the actual circumstances, it's been the perfect place to lick my wounds, reflect on life, and begin to move on. (Refer to the previous entry for context).

                                 

I came here on short notice on the advice of my friend Cathy, who I met doing tutoring last year in Vancouver. As per her recommendation, I checked in at a hostel called The Meeting Place. It's just far enough out of the way to feel comfortable without being feeling disconnected. People there are, as a rule very social, and there is a large common area in which people are often watching a movie from a projector. The atmosphere was chill and so were the people. Shortly after I arrived, the weather started to turn sour. It was perfect. While writing in the computer room, someone suggested I download an app called "Skout" and that if I did, I would  be hanging out with a Taiwanese girl that very evening. But, I was warned that Taiwanese are, for the most part, nice girls, so I shouldn't be expecting too much. I decided it was worth a shot, and as luck would have it, I met Taiwanese girl named Jenny Chang, and she showed me around the Shilin Night Market. Turns out Jenny had just gone through a breakup as well. We hit it off right away. We ate Chinese medicinal soup, bubble tea and pork's blood pudding on a stick. It was a nice first night--it was pleasant just to share space with someone in the same situation and wander around a while. 

                                 

I spent the next couple days bumming around, not really leaving the hostel much. I wrote Kyungmin, trying to get some kind of closure, or maybe just to have contact. Because I put her picture in this blog (now removed), she told me I should stop trying to contact her, and that she was going to forget her memories of us together. I wandered along the riverside feeling sorry for my self, wondering what the hell happened to the sweet girl I used to know. I went drinking with a British guy who spoke fluent Chinese named Neil and a Cambodian-American named Ken. We got drink and instead of hitting on girls, we talked about Buddhism. The next day, there was a big typhoon that swept across Taiwan...but left Taipei relatively unmolested. 

Cathy flew in on the night of the typhoon. I stood around waiting for her at a subway stop for an hour before returning to the hostel. I then saw on the news that a plane crash-landed after missing the runway at the Taipei airport. Luckily, though it wasn't Cathy's plane and she showed up at the hostel a few hours later, chipper as ever. We had a couple beers by the river and she was graceful enough to listen to me wail about my situation. Cathy came back to Taipei to teach for another year, and has been busy with training ever since. Even though I would take a 50% pay cut to live in Taiwan, instead of KSA, I have been considering it. A lot of people, like Cathy, love it here, and I think it's for good reason. 

Cathy introduced me to her friend Aiden (also an ESL teacher) who speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and has lived in Taipei for eight years. Aiden is seriously considering leaving--his leaving status has downgraded from definitely leaving, in the past couple of days, due to meeting a girl. Aiden, despite being a Aussie, is a really good guy. He let Cathy and I crash at his place for a few days, and we had a lot of fun. Here's a list of things we did:

- Had a rooftop cook-out. 

- Went to a party in Daan Park. 

- Went to a pool party (full of smoking-hot Taiwanese girls in bikinis).

- Went for a bike ride with Aiden's buddy, then swam in the river. 

- Went to the chiropractor, then the masseuse.  

- Went to the gym.

- Went to the bar, then the spa, (with said buddy). 

- Went to the top of Taipei 101. 

Aiden talked about his iron-hard resolve to leave Taiwan. I whined about my situation. I learned some Australian, had a good time and came out of that week significantly less mopey. 

Allow me to break the narrative for a moment to say this: Taipei is a wonderful city that has a unique flavor. Having not spent enough time in China to really get a feel for it, I can't use it as a point of reference. So instead, I think of it as sort of half-way between Thailand and Korea. Like Korea, it's clean (they are big on recycling here), the culture is influenced largely by Chinese and Japanese, and it is firmly capitalistic. On the other hand, like Thailand, it's tropical, the people are super chill, and there are scooters everywhere. It's a good balance. Thailand can at times seem too chaotic, and Korea can definitely feel too uptight. Taiwan has a good balance. 

It was great hanging out with Aiden and getting a taste of what it's like to live like a local, but all good things must come to an end. So, I returned to The Meeting Place in time to hang out with some of the long-term occupants before they continued on in their journeys to The Philippines, Thailand and Australia. Although I didn't expect to be back, I was glad to return. I had a lot of fun staying there on both occasions. Somehow, something interesting to do always happened. 

It would take too long to go into detail about all the things I did, so here's a list of I got up to while staying at the hostel (on both occasions):

-Hiking with Neil from the hostel, followed by hot springs. 

-Hiking with assorted hostelers. 

-Jogging along the river.

-Eating Dim sum ("Hong-Kong food") with Jenny. 

-Hot Springs and dinner with Jenny. 

-Bike riding along the river with Cathy.

-Soccer with hostel members. 

-Assorted massages (sans the "special").

-Exploring the night market near the hostel. 

-Going to the sports center to work out, and go swimming with hostelers. 

-Seeing live cheesy magic acts and live music with a beautiful Taiwanese girl. 

-Exploring Shi Men Di with Cathy.

-Going out on my own to check out Chain Kai Shek memorial and the national museum. 

-Went to a computer/games expo with hostelers. 

-River tracing with Adien and his buddies. 

Perhaps it's redundant to point out that Taipei is a very fun and interesting city with lots to do. It's not redundant, however to point out that the people are super cool and really friendly. Although Taiwanese people are very hardworking, they also manage to be very nice, polite and easy-going. I really don't know much about what it actually teaching English in Taipei is like, but I know that the living in Taipei part is excellent. I came here to try to get over my Korean girlfriend, and my time here has served that purpose very well. I'm sure it has dulled some experiences which otherwise might have been even more fun. To vacation here under normal circumstances must be very satisfying indeed, and I expect living here must be the same.