Currently at the airport getting ready to leave Taiwan for Japan. It has been a great trip. I have learned a bunch, and had my curiosity piqued even more. If anyone has any recent book recommendations on Taiwanese identity formation in the past decade, please let me know!
Taipei Zoo!
The Grand Hotel Taipei, much bigger than the one in Kaohsiung at 16 floors and 500 rooms. We saw the Centennial Dragon 🐉 which came from when this spot was a jinja ⛩️ during Japanese colonial times. We also went down the secret escape tunnel for visiting heads of state, equipped with a slide! 🛝
こんな絶景のあるファミマって見たことある！？
#台湾 #九份 #コンビニ #絶景
Today was the National Palace Museum in Taipei which is FULL of treasures dating back to the 16th C BCE‼️ We saw many jade pieces, the pork-meat jasper, and this ball made from a single piece of ivory, has 21 independently moving spheres in it, and took 3 generations to carve‼️🤯🤯🤯 #Taiwan #art
View! Wish I coulda seen this in clear weather
Bit of a different newsletter this month since I’ve been on the road. It picks up from my last one talking about “making” and building skills. Here’s a missive from an old gold-mining town in northern Taiwan: buttondown.email/chadkoh/a…
Pano of Jiufen for you
Day 30: 📷 hometown (@mattypenny) #mbApr
I am literally 9,788 kilometers from my hometown, but this community clinging to the side of the mountain at the northern tip of Taiwan is home to many, and a sight to behold! 😍
Absolutely poured on us after our arrival to the old gold mining village of Jiufen. We walked the covered old street, had tea, watch clouds go UP over the mountain ridge. Then for a few glorious moments took in the view before being soaked and running home. See the Spirited Away tea house? #Taiwan
Lovely day in Taipei at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and amazing Lungshan Temple. It was a hot one! We ate bao at this great soy milk place for breakfast, got to see the changing of the guard at the memorial, and later got a family foot massage. Informative and relaxing day. #Taiwan
Day 29: 📷 drift (@SimonWoods) #mbApr
After days of rain and cloud on this #Taiwan trip, we got a perfectly clear 34ºC day with just this little wisp of cloud drifting above the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Scrambled onto a packed high-speed train 🚄 from Tainan to Taipei. Had to stand the whole 1.5hr journey, but we made it 😮💨 Immediately went for fish tacos 🌮 and tea 🍵 (a very Taiwan combination) 😋
They served craft beer, cocktails, and tea out of a long bank of draft taps!
Day 28: 📷 community (@stupendousman) #mbApr
Depiction of community festival at the Taiwan National History Museum. #Taiwan
Catching up on some journaling on the balcony with a nice view before we leave.
#Taiwan
Lovely day at the Grand Kaohsiung Hotel. Next we drive up to Tainan to visit the National History Museum. In the evening we will catch the High Speed Rail to Taipei.
Tonight we are staying in the Grand Kaohsiung Hotel, a grand place indeed which has hosted many dignitaries over the years including Chiang Kai Shek, Chadian president Idriss Déby, and Reza Pahlavi Shah. They have a giant duck and a nice pool! #Taiwan
Day 27: 📷 surprise (@Sdevore) #mbApr
One of the suprising things visiting the holy site of the Buddha tooth relic (see previous post) was finding… a DINOSAUR display!? Unexpected… but at least its a herbivore! 🌱🦕
Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum houses one of the 3 tooth 🦷 relics of the Buddha ☸️ It is a massive facility. No photos inside unfortunately. We saw the reliquary, got small bottles of holy water, and ate a fantastic vegetarian meal. But, there was a surprise (see my next post) #Taiwan #Buddhism
We showed up just as they were getting the night market set up. It was absolutely pouring when the plane landed. But not too bad the rest of the day. We had “Buddha Head” fruit for the first time. Ate some great noodles at a vegetarian 卍 stand. So full of street food right now! 😋
