Thanksgiving in Taiwan

The Deja Vu Hotel is one of the many "love" hotels that you can find spotted throughout Taipei. The location was great–only a 5-minute walk from one of the central metro stations and in an area with tons of eating spots a short walk away. The rooms came with a hot breakfast, which was adequate, but not great. Along with my group, I saw about five different rooms. None had a view of anything but the side of other buildings and most had a musty smell. Even so, the price, $60 per night, was well worth the location, and some of the rooms did have a kitsch appeal.

What does it mean to stay in a love hotel? Basically, it meant that the rooms had one double bed and a huge bathroom with a see-through plexiglass wall on the side of the shower. Either you could perform a provocative shower show in your own room, or you could, like me, watch TV from the shower, which was also a nice treat. There was also a huge bathtub that supposedly had bubbles, but I didn't turn it on. Oh, and they were kind enough to leave a condom on the box of tissues by the bedside.

The Grand Formosa is a gorgeous hotel complex. The staff dresses in aboriginal clothes and look a little like Native Americans as they rush to the door to greet you and usher you to your room. It is a luxury hotel and the prices per room reflect that, but I found a great seasonal special on their website—a package deal that included a delicious buffet dinner with a wide variety of dishes from the indigenous peoples of Taiwan (my personal favorites: steamed day lily blossoms and a purple-colored betel nut soup), as well as breakfast. The special I found was a summer special, but it was autumn when we went, so I suspect you can get deals like that year-round. It worked out to about $120 for two people in one room (which included dinner, breakfast, and a couple of other things like coupons for drinks).

The rooms were clean and spacious, but the real draw is the location right in the heart of the gorge. Even though some things are within walking distance, I thought that there would be more in the way of assistance or tour guides available through the hotel. There really wasn't and I felt like we were stranded at the hotel without a car or ride of our own. Definitely make use of the shuttle to the hotel from Hualien train station, but plan ahead what your schedule will be.

We tried, unsuccessfully, to walk in the area at night, but it was terribly dark, which is too bad because there is a gorgeous Buddhist temple and pagoda directly across the gorge from the hotel.

With all of the treasures of China taken from the mainland when the leaders fled, the National Palace Museum was one of my favorite stops on our tour of Taiwan. There were several pieces that everyone seemed to marvel over – a piece of jade carved to resemble cabbage, another rock said to look like a piece of pork, huge collections of impressive miniatures (my favorite was a set of ivory balls – nearly 20, I think, carved inside each other). They were interesting to look over but the ceramics really stole the show for me! Gorgeous examples of celadon made for the emperors of olden days. I am not very familiar with Chinese history or art, but I was still able to marvel over some of their pieces. Even the entry to the museum was photo-worthy! We took the free English tour that was offered by the Museum and the tour guide did a great job of highlighting the important pieces of their enormous collection. Early in the morning, however, it was packed with other tourists and tour groups.

To get there, take the Metro to Jiantan Station, take bus Red 30 to the National Palace Museum Stop… you might want to ask others on the bus to let you know when you get there because the stop’s not as obvious as I had hoped. There were several shops and places to eat around the metro station, but around the museum, we weren’t able to find any restaurants, though there seemed to be a nice café, along with a very nice gift shop. The National Museum has a couple of buildings; the side buildings and gardens are easy to miss when you see the main collection in the center of the plaza. Someone said it would take 12 years to view their entire collection – I would definitely recommend talking to the people at the information booths to make sure you see the collections that you most want to see, and maybe even avoid the crowds in the process.

Taipei 101 is not only the world’s tallest building, it’s also an upscale shopping mall. The walk from the Taipei City Hall metro station, which is about a 6 block hike, gives you an adequate opportunity to marvel over its height – and sure enough, it’s really, really tall. We were able to glimpse it from other parts of the city, but the view walking up to was the best.

Before we went to Taiwan, I saw a special on television about the construction of the building – supposedly it was structured to look like a piece of bamboo and it is slightly pliable in order to be able to withstand wind and tremors. Once we got into the building, we balked at the price to ride the elevator to the top – it was something like $30 US – so we just watched the brief video that they had playing at the area where they sold elevator tickets. Apparently you would get a certain time to report for your elevator ride. We were there late at night and it seemed like all the time slots were relatively free.

Otherwise, the mall in Taipei 101 was impressive if you are looking for designer clothes and expensive jewelry, though I did not see any souvenir shops (or even unique souvenir ideas) there. We happened upon a bus run by Taipei 101 back to the metro station – but since it was late at night, the bus was filled to squishing capacity.

With massive incense urns pouring forth aromatic clouds of smoke and large groups of praying and chanting devotees, a visit to this temple felt like a sensual, mystical experience. The area around the temple is bustling with traffic and a nearby night market, so after crossing the busy street in front of the temple, we were met by monks who seemed to be selling something. At once upon entering the temple, we were handed sticks of incense and we followed the throngs of people who lit their incense sticks, placed them in the bowls and put their hands together in prayer while bowing to the golden idols.

The temple itself was gorgeous, with dragons and other creatures carved into the rooftop arches. There were tables laid out with what appeared to be offerings of such things as lotus flowers and fruits. Towards the back of the temple, there was a section that was lit up with a wall of tiny white lights. Although the temple was beautiful, it was by no means self explanatory and there were very few signs in English. As we left, I felt like I didn’t fully understand the temple’s importance, though clearly by the number of people milling about, it was important.

I bought one of my favorite souvenirs from Taiwan here – a gorgeous dragon vase in all the colors of the temple – oranges, reds, and greens – and they wrapped it well enough for me there that it made the trip back to the US in one piece. So, even though the window they have selling prayer beads and charms doesn’t look like much, it’s worth checking out.