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June 5, 2001 - June 14, 2001
The Day
the Earth Didn't Stand Still
We've been in Taipei just over a week and things have
finally begun shaking.
When we arrived at Chiang Kai-Shek airport I was at first
disappointed that we arrived at the old terminal 1 building. They recently
opened a newer, bigger, more modern terminal 2. For whatever reason, Singapore
Air doesn't apparently use terminal 2 it's probably reserved for EVA Air and
China Air, the domestic carriers.
After I saw the line at immigrations, though, I was glad
we'd come in at terminal 1. I've never seen the lines so short, and in mid-day,
too! Because of the length of my stay, I couldn't have a visa-less entry (14
days max), so I had to stop at the immigrations counter and apply for a 30 day
entry visa. Once again they didn't charge me the NT1500 fee - I guess they're
still happy with the United States. It's nice somebody is. However, once past
there, it took us only 5 minutes to clear immigrations - it usually takes 40
minutes.
Chu-Wan's parents picked us up and were eager to try my
Chinese. Unfortunately, my brain was stuck in Japanese mode. I simply couldn't
recall simple Chinese words and phrases. The Japanese equivalent always came to
mind. Days spent trying to bring Japanese forward finally paid off, just a day
late and a dollar short.
It took me several days to break out of Japanese mode and
begin to use Chinese. I'm afraid my Chinese hasn't been as successful as I'd
like. When people speak, it's still too fast, and even slowed down, they tend
to use phrases that are a bit more complex than what I've learned, so sometimes
they'll ask me something very simple, but one word will throw me off and I just
don't get it. Still at least I can ask for prices and understand the answer or
ask for directions to simple things - that's something of an accomplishment.
I've still got 1.5 weeks of practice; we'll see how it goes.
After arrival, Chu-Wan's parents took us for a steak lunch.
I went to the restroom and promptly cracked my skull on the door. Apparently,
doors are taller in Japan than Taiwan - I didn't once hurt my head in Japan. It
had apparently lured me into a false sense of security, because I injured
myself on the first interior doorway I passed through in Taiwan.
Taipei is a city in the process of change. Many of you may
have read about some of the things I've pointed out as standing out to my eyes
in the past, and a lot of them seem to be going by the wayside.
It always amazed me how many public restrooms were placed so
that passersby got the maximum opportunity to view the occupants of the
restrooms and what they were doing. Now, they've installed privacy screens
outside the subway restrooms, so you can't just walk by and watch people
urinating. I haven't yet had a single woman walk in on me in the men's room at
a McDonald's either.
Taipei's traffic, which at best could be described as insane
and at worst completely lawless, is being curbed in. They've lowered the speed
limit on city streets. (I didn't even know they had a speed limit to lower on
the city streets.) They've banned driving and using cell phones. They have new
mandatory seat belt and baby seat laws and most importantly, they've apparently
instructed the police officers to go out and ENFORCE traffic laws, on both cars
and pedestrians. It appears they are more successful enforcing against
pedestrians, probably because they are easier to catch, because you actually
see people waiting for a walk signal, even when there's no cars coming -
something unheard of before. Nonetheless, I've seen more police in Taipei on
this trip than I've ever seen in the past.
Police cars are easy to spot in Taipei - they ALWAYS have
their rolling lights on. Apparently if you pull over because on is behind you,
they assume you must be feeling guilty about something and will check you out
thoroughly. Never pull over for a policeman unless he uses his siren on you.
It's odd when you see a police car with lights on sitting outside a business
and you cannot assume that something bad has happened.
 Another striking change is that Taipei used to have horrendously
awful sidewalks, made of brick tiles. These were uneven from age and earth
moment (both quakes and roots pushing them up) and from the constant cutting
and digging through them. Combined with really awful cement patches, which were
never allowed to dry before people started walking across them, produced a
sidewalk-walking environment not unlike crossing a stream full of rocks. Now,
they're tearing them all up and replacing them with nice new sidewalks.
In the interim, however, you practically have to walk in the
street all over the city as they seem to have decided to rip all the old ones
up before laying down the new. The construction is all over town, but I've only
run across a few places where they've started putting the new bricks down. My
guess is that this project is designed to give some people work during the slow
economy. They've certainly got enough people on the project.
Somehow, I feel saddened by the changes - some of Taipei's
character is being stripped away from it. Such is "progress."
Prices on electronics are pretty good this year, and since I
experienced first hand the limitations of my digital camera and continued
problems with my Hi8 Camcorder, I decided to replace it with a new Mini DV
camcorder with a built in megapixel digital still camera. I picked up a
Japanese version of a camera not quite out on the US market yet for a great
deal (and several hundred less than the projected price in the US when it
becomes available this month or next.) The only problem is that it's in
Japanese, menus and all. Fortunately, I can read and use it. I'll be posting
some digital stills from the new camera along with this installment.
Yesterday we went up to Yangmingshan National Park
(mountains north of Taipei) and spent the night in a hotel so that we'd be able
to explore the park better than we've been able to in the past. The problem is,
the only time to go is during the week when there are no crowds, but the busses
don't run through the park. In the end, we had to drive. Correction: I had to
drive, as Chu-Wan cannot drive a stick shift car.
Taipei's traffic has improved, but it's no picnic. It still
follows bizarre conventions, such as left lanes that are marked as left turn
only, but no one ever does, they continue straight - or occasionally turn
right. It also still uses the force your way in principal - the other drivers
will let you, but they expect the same from you. I have no trouble forcing
myself in, but it's hard to yield to others doing things that would get you
shot dead on US streets.
 The night before our trip, Chu-Wan went visiting a friend, so I let
my brother-in-law, Johnny, drive me up to Yangmingshan so I could memorize the
route. The weather is so much nicer up there. In Taipei it is in the 80s and in
the high 90% humidity range, with heavy rain most days.
We explored a few places and I actually got to see the
"famous" cows of Chiangtiangang (see my last Taiwan travelogue for the mystery
of the cows.) Actually, the cows have very unusual horns and seem more like
some form of oxen, but they seemed friendly.
We drove to the highest point you can reach by car and I
snapped a few digital pictures. Unfortunately, I wasn't up to speed on the new
camera and didn't get any good pictures of the cows in "Super NightShot" mode,
which allows one to shoot in total darkness.
I picked up the book, Hiking in Taiwan, a local book
published in English on trails around Taiwan. I applaud the effort, it's the
only book I'm aware of in English on the subject, but it's not as informative
as I'd like. There are many obstacles to hiking in Taiwan, such as requirements
for local guides and permits in many places, but for the readily accessible
trails, the guide doesn't really give the kind of information regarding what to
expect along the trail, conditions, etc.
 On my last two trips to Yangmingshan, I've been at the mercy of
someone else's timetable, so, although there are numerous trails in the park,
I've not been able to hike any of them. This time, we were in control.
Picking our drive time carefully, we made it out of town
during a low traffic period and had no difficulty getting to the park or
getting around once we were there. The park was nearly deserted.
First, we went back to Chiangtiangang and walked a 2.5 KM
loop trail that was fairly level, with a few steep areas. The cows were out in
force and Chu-Wan got to see them at last. When we returned to the car, a note
from the police was placed on our windshield warning that thieves were in the
area and not to leave anything valuable in the car.
Next we went to Hsiaoyoukan, the first place I was taken in
Yangmingshan years ago. There was a trail leading up over the fumeroles that I
couldn't follow and today we took out after it. The trail is only 1.5KM long
and leads to the highest peak in the area, Qishinshan (7 star mountain).
 This is a brutal hike. It's
paved with stones (like most trails I've seen in Taiwan) but in places, and for
long distances, it moves straight up the mountain at a 50 to 55 degree incline.
It's an extremely difficult walk and at the same time, the wind blowing through
the park was approaching hurricane force. It would, quite literally, blow you
off your feet. The going was quite difficult, but we made it to the top.
Rain clouds were moving in, so we headed back for the car.
Exhausted, we returned to the hotel.
We stayed at the Landis China Yangmingshan hotel, which,
like many hotels in the area has a hot spring. Chu-Wan wanted to spend some
time in the pool, but you cannot enter the pool unless you are wearing a hair
cap - apparently a common requirement in Taiwan. So, after much gnashing of
teeth, we bought the expensive caps for sale at the hotel. Chu-Wan put one foot
in the pool and decided she did not want to swim after all - the water was too
cold.
 We spent
time in the sulphurous hot spring instead, which was quite relaxing, if a bit
offensive to the nose.
At 9:17 last night, we were sitting on the bed. Chu-Wan was
talking to her mother on the phone, when the bed started shaking. She had been
moving around, so I really didn't notice. Then the door started banging, much
as if someone was pulling on the handle to see if the door would open. While I
was trying to figure out why someone was trying to get into our room, Chu-Wan
said, in English, "earthquake" and went back to speaking to her mother.
The banging stopped and that was the end of it. I probably
wouldn't have even figured it out if she hadn't said something. A few minutes
later the news confirmed that a 6.3 earthquake had hit in the ocean of the
northeastern coast, near Hualien and Ilan. The quake registered 3.0 in Taipei -
not significant, but enough to send news crews out looking for any damage at
all to report. An hour or so later they found a broken water pipe to show on
the news - otherwise it was a non-event. As far as I can tell reports from
Hualien and Ilan where the quake was in the 4.x range were negative as well.
 Satisfied that I'd now experienced an earthquake, I
decided that I didn't need anymore, although I would have liked to have
captured it on my camcorder.
The hotel has air conditioning, and so we slept in this
morning. By the time we woke up and got ready to go it was 10 AM, the optimum
time for me to drive back to Taipei and miss the traffic.
We got back to Chu-Wan's parents' home at about 10:45AM. I
was surprised that there were a couple of tiles from the front of the building
lying on the front porch. I figured that they would have picked them up, being
in such a well traveled position right out the front door. As it turns out, at
10:35AM another earthquake had hit. This was separate quake, not an aftershock,
and was bigger and closer than the first. It was still in the ocean off the
northeast coast, but this one registered 5.0 in Taipei. I was either driving
across an elevated expressway or forging my way down Jinshan road in Taipei at
the time and didn't notice it at all.
It wouldn't be surprising if we have more, but none have
happened yet. Last I heard the subways were closed for inspection until they
are sure there was no damage.
Meanwhile, the southern part of Taiwan has been shut down
due to torrential rain. Airports closed due to the weather, highways closed due
to mudslides and it's heading this way and expected to hit Taipei hard. So far,
it's only been a light rain, but the sky is ominous. It's been a good day to
stay indoors and write my logs.
We may have to change our travel plans for next week to the
central part of Taiwan. The rains and the quakes make the central mountains a
bad place to go. We may end up going back to Kenting on the southern tip of the
island for some more ocean fun before the college kids get out for the summer.
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