Dispatches from Elsewhere: The touristy things
Day 3: Taiwan
I'm writing today inside the hotel common room, overlooking the bustle of the bright cityscape below. I find myself missing Caroline and Jacqueline a lot today, my two black widow neighbours that live in my stairwell. I think I'm just overwhelmed and missing the quiet and the alone time. There is always light and sound and bustle here, and I wonder where all of this energy goes when there is never really a chance to rest.
When I came to Taiwan 7 years ago with my sister, we took a short, quick trip. We meandered and explored, but with the addition of my parents this time, things feel different. I don't know if it's Taiwan itself or us. It's true that 7 years ago, Taiwan was not going through the level of existential threat that it faces today. There wasn't a global energy crisis. There's a lot that felt different 7 years ago. Of course, I was different then too.
When I returned to Hong Kong last October, there was an energy--a lingering grief that felt palpable wherever I went. I don't know Taiwan well enough to make this same observation, but maybe it's going through some things too. We've always felt a connection and camaraderie--two places embodying a collection of culture facing slow death; two places trying to find its way in the world, reckoning with our colonized past and uncertain futures. Maybe I'm just projecting when people are just trying to live their lives. I don't know what I'm really feeling about it, if I'm honest. I wish I could talk to more folks, but my Mandarin really needs some brushing up. I also need to explore it without my family tearing me down at every opportunity, but that's something to talk to my therapist about when I return.
Despite the melancholic thoughts at the end of the day, we did some pretty fun things.
For breakfast, my parents go on their mini adventure nearby and return with more egg crepe (a regular and one with cheese this time), sticky rice, soymilk, milk tea, and two new contenders. The first, an odd little chicken sandwich with a fried egg inside and so much thousand island and shredded cabbage. The second, a sandwich people queue up for every morning: ham, egg, and veg sandwiched between four pieces of milk bread dunked in egg batter and lightly fried without much oil. Sandwiches seem to be all the rage here, sold all over in little stores. Makes sense in a place where folks never really stop.
On the subject of stopping, I've noticed this time that there aren't a lot of places to do so. Places sell food, but there would be no tables to eat at. You can walk around for hours on the street, in the malls, but there would be no place to sit without purchase. Public trash bins are extremely scarce to non-existent, so everything is carried with you. All of these little discomforts add up, and you're kind of forced to keep moving that way. There is hostile architecture everywhere, but there are unhoused folks too, often sprawled under the sun. There are also aunties trying to make a living on the side of the road, selling cheap goods or bags of sweet potatoes. I have so many questions about what it's like to live here.
Today, the main item on our itinerary is Jiufen (九份), an old town built into the mountains, lined with lanterns that makes the place feel like it's right out of Spirited Away.
It's a network of narrow alleys chock full of shops. Snacks, drinks, gift shops, souvenirs, knick-knacks, that kind of stuff. My parents strike up a conversation with the guy painting ocarinas, and my sister and I end up with matching ceramic ocarina penguins.
Last time I came, it was a very foggy day. When we looked out at the view, it was all dense, grey clouds covering everything. We had rain jackets that still soaked us to the bone, but we had fun. Despite the beautiful view, the highlight of my trip this time were the taro balls.
Taiwan brought us the word Q (or QQ) to describe satisfying level of toothsomeness to the texture of food. The taro balls are the absolute perfect level of QQ. The different colours denote different mixtures, and the orange (sweet potato) is the most Q of them all. The soup is a light, not-too-sweet concoction that serves as a vessel for the taro balls. This fourth-generation shop is a must-see for most tourists in this area, and I can see why.
Side note: Richmond has a dessert shop I really love that serves taro balls with taro paste and shaved milk. The taro balls aren't nearly that level of big and chewy and flavourful, but it's not a bad compromise when you can't afford to cross the ocean!
As we wander around Jiufen, we end up in some of the backroads. There seems to be a residential area, and I want a time machine so bad. I want to know what this town was like before it turned into a big tourist trap. Macau has a street similar to Jiufen--souvenir shops hawking goods, waving samples in your face, and trying to sell you one of a million of the same items in the area. It's near one of Macau's biggest landmarks, the Facade. Near the Facade were the living quarters of Portuguese-extracted slaves, a part of our history I only have the smallest scrap of knowledge about.
I wonder what stories a place like Jiufen might hide too.
We rest during the hottest hours of the afternoon. I watch O Brother Where Art Thou for the fifteen thousandth time for some regulation.
That evening, we finally decide to head to a night market. I haven't done any research, but my mom declares, "The biggest night market is not good now, so we're going to another one."
Ningxia is about a block or two long--not big, but it's narrow and supposedly concentrated with all kinds of reknowned stalls.
The first thing we pick up is sweet potato balls. Hollow, sweet potato mochi-like QQ snacks fried to crispy perfection. My sister and I are obsessed. Personally, I could probably trade all the donuts in the world for these.
We pick up barbeque cuttlefish, German pork hock (which I promptly send to a friend and am told that's not real German food...), and I make a beeline for the sugarcane juice as soon as we spot the long stalks of sugarcane. This is one of those things I'm constantly chasing from my childhood, but obviously, we don't get fresh sugarcane in Canada, and there is a certain balance of sweetness that's hard to achieve. The majority of sugarcane juice ends up tasting too artificial with the added sugar.
We pick up fresh watermelon juice and a lovely little passionfruit slush with fresh passionfruit juice, another fruit we never get to experience fresh!! We get taro balls too--savoury and deep-fried this time, and supposedly winning a Michelin recommendation in 2022.
This one is filled with a salted egg yolk and a bit of pork floss, and it's savoury and smooth (zero chalkiness!) but a bit too rich for my liking.
We split up from my parents because my mom wants to line up for the famous fried oyster egg things. My sister and I kill time at the carnival games. There is a mom who absolutely mows down balloons with some kind of air gun thing and I joke about her secretly being an assassin like Yor from Spy x Family. Inspired, I throw a few darts at balloons in the hopes of earning a Badzmaru plush (he's holding his alligator friend who looks so much like Big Challenges and I love them).
We quickly realize the bored youths running the booth wasn't super honest about how the point system works, and it would've taken way too much money even if I was amazing at darts. I pop three balloons with my six darts and win a little pink bubble wand with a shovel attachment (for shovelling my dignity back up, I suppose). Also, there is some weird sexism going on because the point system is gendered and is harder for men. I wonder how that system would work with a trans/non-binary person.
We regroup with my parents and while my sister checks out the stationary store, my parents and I taste test the oyster and egg dish.
This dish is unlike anything that I've had, really. This one is super generous with the juicy little oysters in the egg batter. There is also a level of sweet potato mixed in to create a layer of QQ in the egg. My mom tells me that before baking soda, people often used sweet potato powder instead.
Okay, getting sleepy, so I'll end it here!
I'm going to trial this comment feature for the next little bit. If folks can find a comment box in HTML, please let me know. It would be kinda rad if I could figure out an old-school chat box, but maybe unrealistic for a blog and not a general website.
Until tomorrow!
Flor, out!