TAIPEI
The Taiwanese capital has a peculiar penchant for Oriental roofs, an observation you arrive at after an hour-long bus ride from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. After all, greeting passengers at the disembarkation point is the imposing Taipei Main Station, its sweeping Chinese temple-like roof doubling as an unflappable umbrella during the longwinded rainy season.
The more time you spend in the city, the more obvious it becomes that there is no other Chinese-speaking society that so fervently models its monuments, museums, metro stations and even hotels after the ancient classical style of Chinese palaces. (One wonders if it has anything to do with a political psyche scarred by the outcome of the Chinese Civil War of 1949 which culminated with the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists to Taiwan.)
While such an overt showcase of Chinese heritage is advantageous in the marketing of Taipei as a tourist destination (think the common refrain of cities all over the world looking so alike), it also means that what is presented is an incomplete Taipei story.
For all the headline-grabbing news surrounding the sometimes warming, at times lukewarm cross-Straits relations with China, we sometimes forget that the history of Taipei, and Taiwan for that matter, did not begin with the power struggle that led to its estrangement from mainland China. Neither was the island a prized possession coveted and occupied by only the Japanese. And like many countries, Taiwan is also home to indigenous aborigines who have been living on its soil for centuries.
05 DANSHUEI __ A jaunt limited to central Taipei may create the impression that it is one of the few Asian cities without a European colonial legacy. A convenient train ride to Danshuei should correct this misconception.
Overlooking the Danshuei River is the red Fort San Domingo, a name alluding to the short-lived defence installation constructed in 1629 by the Spaniards who established garrisoned trading outposts in Keelung and Danshuei. The existing structure though was built in 1642 by the Dutch who finally ousted the Spaniards from Taiwan after two futile attempts. Dominating the tiny fort are several mouldy prison cells and those who hyperventilate in small spaces can breathe easier at the courtyard – once the activity area for prisoners.
The fort’s neighbour is a two-storey Victorian brick mansion that once served as a British Consular residence. Built between the 1870s and 1890s, the mansion’s rooms are expectedly decorated in quintessential English countryside fashion, replete with grandfather’s clocks, gramophones, fireplaces and framed paintings of Queen Regina Victoria.
Still, the historical town of Danshuei owes its fame to its eponymous river. And the wooden boardwalk of the Fisherman’s Wharf is arguably the best spot to take in the sights and breeze – it is near the river’s mouth. True to its rather touristy-sounding name, Fisherman’s Wharf is lined with souvenir shops and eateries but do pack those crispy “ox tongue” biscuits before strolling across the Lover’s Bridge. Opened on the Valentine’s Day of 2003, the white bridge is a cross between a sailing boat and a harp, and is already the area’s most photographed showpiece.
04 NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM __ Most guidebooks devote vivid details to the precarious historical circumstances – first, the spectre of a Sino-Japanese war and later, the rise of Mao Zedong’s Communist regime and the military setbacks of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government in the 1940s – that led to the transfer of Chinese treasures from the Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing to Taiwan.
What these guidebooks neglect to mention is that the museum – opened in 1965 and yes, designed like a Chinese palace – can get really crowded and rowdy during the weekends. The jostling usually takes place around the exhibits of a cabbage and a melon – or rather, a piece of jade carved into a cabbage infested with insects and an emerald jade cup shaped like a melon. (Both are from the Qing dynasty era.)
Thankfully, there is a trove of other treasures to draw you away, from a black silk embroidered kuan yin sutra (Sung dynasty) to a jade amulet shaped like a winged beast (Han dynasty) to a Sunghua ink stone covered by a lid decorated with pine trees and a crane (Qing dynasty).
03 MARTYRS' SHRINE __ It’s a shame that most people visit the Martyrs’ Shrine for the swift and sleek foot drill flawlessly executed by the military police officers during the hourly change-of-guard ceremony. And when the boot-clicking and rifle-tapping halts, so does the photo-taking. Then the crowd disperses.
This actually spells good news for the pensive traveller who can seek solace in the shrine’s backyard garden of martyr busts. The verdant mountainous surroundings of the shrine – built in 1969 – further accentuate the location’s peaceful setting.
The mood in the two halls flanking the main one is however sobering as you peek into the rows of memorial tablets remembering the 330,000 lives lost during the revolution before the establishment of the Chinese Republic, the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.
Architectural buffs should know that the design of the Martyrs’ Shrine is inspired by the Taihe Dian Imperial Palace in Beijing. For those with an eye for such aesthetics, make a beeline for the nearby Grand Hotel, a 14-storey-tall skyscraper erected in 1973 and crowned with a yellow-tiled Oriental roof said to be the largest in the world.
02 BEITOU __ First impressions hopefully do not last, for the cardboard-like buildings and gaudy signboards of Beitou do little justice to its reputation as a hot springs getaway.
Then again, not every neighbourhood in Taipei looks perpetually misty, thanks to the streams meandering down from the Hell Valley (and passing a park and streets). The sulphuric hot spring pool is not as treacherous as it sounds, if you stick to the cobbled stone pavements which are at times shrouded in thick fog.
A stone’s throw away stands a safer haven. Built in 1913, the Beitou Hot Springs Museum’s exterior resembles a charming Victorian-style wooden cottage with red bricks and tall windows. A different world resides inside. At its basement, a dried-up fenced-up swimming pool recalls the building’s previous incarnation as a public bathhouse run by the Japanese during their occupation of Taiwan.
So homesick were the Japanese, they decorated one of the rooms on the second storey with tatami mats and sliding rice paper screen doors. According to a museum guide, the room was a resting area for guests to sip tea and mingle after a soothing soak.
A more subtle hint of the Land of the Rising Sun can be detected on one of the stained-glass windows facing the preserved bathing pool: it depicts a boat drifting in a lake and in the distance, is a snow-capped mountain so symmetrical Mount Fuji comes to mind.
01 CHIANG KAI-SHEK MEMORIAL HALL __ Has the towering Taipei 101 replaced the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall as the city’s most important landmark? The former may have put Taipei on travellers’ radar but it is a matter of time before it will suffer the same fate as the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur: vertigo-inducing skyscrapers that once held the title of the world’s tallest are becoming a dime a dozen.
On the other hand, it is difficult to feel neutral or nonchalant about the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Opened in 1980 in honour of the late controversial president (and leader of the Kuomintang party), it never ceases to divide the Taiwanese people and politicians – hence, its change of name to the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall when the Democratic Progressive Party was in power.
Overseas visitors are more likely to be awed by the mammoth structure’s magnificence, no doubt heightened by its promontory of 89 steps (each symbolising a year in Chiang’s life). The memorial hall also overlooks a spacious plaza that is flanked by the almost identical-looking National Theatre and National Concert Hall on each side. In fact, the area’s magnitude might almost fool you into thinking that this is Beijing’s Forbidden City.
And since the buildings are modelled after Chinese palaces, they look more ancient than they actually are – a realisation that is usually accompanied by a sense of mild dismay.
Again, depending on one’s ideological inclinations, the exhibition at the memorial hall’s basement may come across as outstanding or outrageous. From his military medals to his ma pao (the traditional Chinese robe for men) to his bullet-proof Cadillac and rattan sedans for mountain trips, each item paints a rather personal portrait of the former strongman.Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall | So prominent is this city landmark, not surprisingly, its nearest MRT station bears the same name.
Beitou | Beitou is about 30 minutes away from Taipei central by the MRT. Alight at Xinbeitou Station for the Beitou Hot Springs Museum and Hell Valley.
Martyrs' Shrine | An easy way to get to the shrine is to take a cab from Yuanshan MRT Station.
National Palace Museum | Take the MRT to Shihlin Station and switch to Buses 255, 304, Red 50 or minibuses 18, 19.
Danshuei | Take the MRT to Danshuei Station and hop on Bus 26 to first, Fort San Domingo and Fisherman's Wharf.