Yingge Town, center of Taiwanese ceramics

A lovely small town south from Taipei city

Yingge Town is a lovely small town 30 min away (by train) from Taipei City. A while ago Lily wrote about Yingge and made me very interested. I thought I need to see the place with my own eyes, experience the atmosphere and see how's life in this quite famous Taiwanese small town. And last week I had the chance to finally see it. Click the link below to read about Yingge.

See my Yingge Town and Ceramics Museum photos>>

[Taipei][Taiwan][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Theme restaurants in Taipei are totally in!

Do you want to dine in a hospital, a classroom or in an airplane? Come to Taipei!

A video about theme restaurants in Taipei was linked to me on Twitter via a Taiwanese friend. And since it's quite rare for CNN and other international media to mention Taiwan in relation to something cool, I thought of posting it here for you. And it's not about some scandalous theme restaurants from the past like The Jail (惡魔島), which caused an uproar some years ago, because they depicted Nazi camps with gas chamber signs. No, the ones in the recent years are funny and cool. And they're totally in. If you come to Taipei, you gotta visit one.

CNN's video introduces several theme restaurants in Taipei. They mention the Airplane theme restaurant (A380 In-Flight Kitchen 空中廚房), the Hospital theme restaurant, the Classroom theme restaurant and a specially designed restaurant, where everything's made of paper. There's even one, where you play with hand puppets. Crazy. Yep, Taiwanese are totally into wacky stuff.

My best experience with a theme restaurant in Taipei so far was dining at the Modern Toilet, a restroom themed restaurant and probably the most famous restaurants of this kind in the world. And it's a totally Taiwanese invention. If you ever come to Taipei and want to have a wacky dining experience, let Modern Toilet be your first choice. Later you can try some crazier stuff like the Hospital themed restaurant. As far as I am concerned, I plan to visit all the famous theme restaurants in Taipei. I will list them here for you. Hopefully the list will become long through time. And I hope I can help you finding these places and showing you how they look like. The rest is up to you. Enjoy!

✰ Modern Toilet, Shilin, February 2010

✰ Modern Toilet, Ximending, May 2010
✰ Gayke, Ximending, Dec 2010

Would you go to any of these theme restaurants and do you think it's fun or just a waste of money? And which one would you like to try the most?

Related: [FOOD in TAIWAN][FOOD in TAIPEI][My TAIPEI page]

Traditional Taiwanese tea house 無為草堂, 台中

A wonderful afternoon in a Taiwanese tea house

My first visit of my dear friend Cherry in Taichung couldn't have started better. She invited me to a traditional Taiwanese tea house named 無為草堂 (Wu Wei Cao Tang), which was an unique sensory experience for me, something I haven't experienced before on my previous trips. And since I am always interested in Chinese traditions, architecture, culinary delights and tea, I couldn't be happier.

By entering a gate our journey has begun.

The main gate of 無為草堂.

We crossed a lovely small creek upon entering.

A marvelous image delighted our eyes: A pond with Japanese koi fish.

Like in the old days, except it's in the middle of a big city. 無為草堂 (wú wèi cǎo táng) is hard to translate, it means something like "Thatched cottage of leisure". A place to relax, enjoy some tea, food and good company.

You can choose a small room for yourself. We sat on the floor, it was made of tatami.

I ordered smoked duck, that came with rice, vegetables and a soup. It was delicious.

Cherry ordered grilled salmon with rice, vegetables and soup.

The view from our room was soothing and relaxing.

Another lovely sight of the wooden pathway.

We ordered the traditional Taiwanese tea and a girl showed us the old Taiwanese tea ceremony. It is called the Kung fu tea ceremony [工夫茶道] and you can read about all its details here. The tea we had was called Alishan Oolong [阿里山烏龍茶]. Oolong is somewhere between green and black tea, but it tasted more like a green tea to me. Cherry ordered the mild version, but the flavor was still intense, but not too strong. It was perfectly enjoyable for my taste buds, but that's because I like mild teas.

Taiwanese tea is really one of the best in the world! You don't only hear that from Taiwanese, but many Chinese from the mainland and even Japanese come to Taiwan to enjoy the incredible tea and they would confirm that statement. And so would I. On the photo above you can see informational sheets about how to make the Taiwanese tea the proper way, both in Chinese and English.

My lovely friend Cherry was in charge of the tea, after the girl left. And she did a great job: the tea tasted superbly good and we enjoyed it to the last sip. Cherry was a great host, guide and driver around the wonderful city Taichung (more about our day here).

A nice room for you. Do you want to come?

The inner yard with the pond. The fish were very lively.

The pathway. We were walking around the whole facility.

Koi fish. They're said to be very expensive.

We saw a room, that displayed old Chinese furniture.

This is another room on the other side. But our small tour came to an end here. We soon left the tea house, but we could stay there for hours. If you have the time and chance, I highly recommend you to experience this wonderful and peaceful place, even if it's just for tasting the tea. But be sure you have great company with you, the tea will taste so much better.

All together, the food (both dishes) and the tea for two people, cost around 650TWD, which is around 15€ (or 20USD or 68RM). Not expensive for Western standards. I must mention that Cherry treated me the whole time and would not allow me to pay for anything. I feel very appreciated by that. Thank you again, my friend!

Address of the restaurant:

無為草堂人文茶館
台中市公益路二段106號

106, Kung (or Gong) Yi Road,
section 2, Taichung

Their website:

http://www.wuwei.com.tw/

[Taichung][Taiwan][All photos by MKL, 2010]

A Taipei tale over coffee

What would you do, if it happened to you?

Imagine you sit in a café somewhere in Taipei. You just bought your latte and you're sitting at a small table for two, sipping your coffee, waiting for your girlfriend. She's late and you're alone, so you take a good look around. The place is nice, has a certain small town charm. The smell of freshly made coffee makes you day dream..., but not for long. Your thoughts are interrupted by the two noisy Japanese girls behind you, who chat so loudly, that everyone seems to be a bit annoyed by them. But then the noise slowly fades away again, you lose yourself in your thoughts. And suddenly you notice something you haven't noticed before. A girl, most likely in her mid twenties, sits across, on other side of the café near the main window. Her hair is long, falling. She's totally immersed in a note book, where she's earnestly writing something. You realize that she's laid eyes on you. She's carefully ogling you, her looks are brief and hard to notice. Most of the time she seems to be lost in her notes. You think: What is she writing so eagerly? Is she a student? A writer? A poet? She glances over again, then corrects her hair and returns to her notes. Time seems to stand still for few moments, you think about what can she possibly be noting and why is she looking at you so often. Do I look weird? Is it, because I am not a local? All kinds of things run through your mind and you look at her again and think: She's not bad, but she's not the kind of woman I would notice in the pool of beautiful women of Taipei. But the way she corrects her long falling hair fascinates you... and then you notice, that she's getting ready to leave. She's standing up and grabbing her things, putting her notebook and pen in her bag. Then she stops for a while and you don't know what's on her mind. But the to your surprise, she starts approaching you. You take a sip of your nearly finished latte, your pulse increases and you think: OMG, is she coming to me? Was I that obvious? What is she... and then she's already there at your table, too shy too look into your eyes, but still brave enough to leave a small folded piece of paper on your table. She leaves without a glance and without a word. You unfold the paper and you see something like this:

給我打電話*
0921097634

What would you do?

[*the Chinese says "give me a call"]

Taichung, Taiwan's 3rd biggest city

About a wonderful afternoon in Taichung with my lovely friend

Images of Taichung.

Taichung 台中 (sometimes spelled as Taizhong, but should be Taichong) is Taiwan's third biggest city (After Taipei and Kaohsiung and if we don't consider New Taipei as a city) with around 1 million inhabitants and it's located in middle Taiwan (as the character 中 Chinese for middle indicates). It takes about 2h with the regular train from Banqiao, a city in near Taipei, to Taichung. There's also a much faster high-speed railway connection, but it's more expensive. The normal train is good to arrive at the old railway station from the Japanese times and experience the real Taichung from the start.

I was visiting my Taiwanese friend Cherry, who is born there. She drove me around the whole city with her car, which was great, because I saw much more parts of Taichung in a short time. The city impressed me, because it's so different from Taipei. It seems huge, because the avenues are really long. But apart from few high-rise buildings, that really stand out, the rest is not too high and it's fairly modern. My initial thought was: "I'd love to live here!" The climate is warmer, the roads are wider and because there is no subway system like in Taipei (although they're building one currently), most people drive cars and motorbikes. And there's a lot of parks in Taichung. It's really a very pleasant and clean place, unlike some industrial cities around Taipei. Of course I haven't seen every part of Taichung to pass a comprehensive judgement, but the first impression was really great. Maybe that's because I've been to other not so clean and neat places, I don't know. But Taichung is a mix of traditional and modern, some parts look like a Western city, some look totally "Taiwanese". And it seems they're building a lot these days, something I haven't seen in Taipei. New condominiums and skyscrapers in construction are currently a common sight in Taiwan's third biggest city. I also heard that the biggest night market of whole Taiwan is in Taichung, hope I can go there next time and try the delicious food. These are just my impressions of one afternoon. I went there, because I wanted to meet my lovely friend Cherry and spend time with her, but I still got a lot of good impressions of Taichung. I will definitely return, not only because it's a great place, but because a great friend is from there.

A common sight in Taichung: lovely girls and a lot of food.

Do you want to see my photos of Taichung? Do you want to read about my friend Cherry and I, about our friendship and that wonderful afternoon we spent together? If so, then go to my photo blog and...

See my photos of Taichung and read about Cherry here>>

[My TAICHUNG page][My TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Women in Taipei always try to look good

Do you want to see beautiful women on every corner? Come to Taipei!

This girl, which I spotted on a Taipei's MRT train, was probably headed to Taipei's fashion street named Zhongxiao East Road or 東區 as the local people say. I've never seen so many girls and women at one place wearing really high-heeled shoes. If you come to Taipei, you're under the impression, that Taiwanese women love to wear sexy shoes. Some of the women look extremely hot and you think the sidewalk is actually a catwalk, but some of the Taiwanese ladies just look a bit awkward, because it's really obvious, that the shoes they're wearing are pretty difficult to walk in. So my question is:

Are high heels a torture or a blessing? As women, do you feel good and sexy or a bit awkward? How high can the heels be for you to still feel ok wearing them?

If you ask me, I'm happy, if my girlfriend wears high heels from time to time, but not the very high ones. They still need to be walkable and comfortable as much as they can be... I know it's almost contradictory, but you know what I mean.

[My TAIWANESE WOMEN page][My TAIPEI page][Photo by MKL, 2010]

Presidential Office Building of Taiwan, Taipei

The center of power of the Republic of China

It was quite a hot day last week, when I decided to see the famous Office of the President of the Republic of China (中華民國總統府). I took a walk from the Taipei Main Station and first saw the Shin Kong Life Tower, took some photos of it and moved on. A very kind young Taiwanese guy helped me with the directions. It was a long walk, but when I finally saw the building from afar, I was very happy. The closer I got, the more impressive it was. The roads around the buildings are wide and huge, like real boulevards. But they're not as full as elsewhere. Traffic is smoother there.

There's a lot of security around the area. Police on all corners, there were even some military vehicles parked nearby. Young men are guarding the building, they're armed and in uniforms. But there are also another kind of security, which look like secret service agents. They are positioned on many crucial points around the building and wear casual clothes with ear phones (just like in the movies). They look at everyone very suspiciously, but that's their job. I felt like a spy with my camera and frankly a bit intimidated. Firstly because of the impressive building and secondly, because of the huge security and how they looked at me. They're definitely serious, keep that in mind. When I saw all that, I thought it must be the most secured building in whole Taiwan and I wondered, how many snipers were pointed at me. I walked slowly with my DSLR and snapped only few photos. There weren't many tourists, I only saw one Japanese man. I soon went away from the building, walking down south, because I wanted to take photos from afar.

See my photos of the Presidential Office Building:

The Presidential Office Building of the Republic of China today is the former Governor General's Office during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945). It was designed by the Japanese architect Uheiji Nagano (長野宇平治). The construction began in 1912 and ended in 1919. During the WWII the building was heavily damaged. Since 1950 the building houses the President of the ROC.

The tower is 60m tall, which is 2m taller than the tallest church in Maribor.

The huge Ketagalan Boulevard nearby (凱達格蘭大道 Kǎidágélán Dàdào).

You can see the secret service agent and a photographer close to each other.

The Judicial Yuan (司法院) next to the President's office.

The Shin Kong Life Tower and army jeeps guarding the area.

The Presidential Office Building up front.

A close up on the tower and the main facade. The architecture has neo-baroque elements.

A statue nearby.

The Presidential Office building from afar.

The flag of the Republic of China: Long live its democracy and freedom!

I'm truly impressed with what Taiwan has accomplished so far, not only in terms of economical development, but also in terms of democracy, freedoms and human rights. It's a small country, but a very vibrant democracy. People, especially in the West, should not forget, how awesome Taiwan is. I hope my blog can be a little contribution to a better understanding between the West and Taiwan.

I hope you enjoyed my photos and impressions.

[Part of Zhongzheng][My TAIPEI page][My TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2010]
[BUILDINGS in TAIWAN][Links: Presidential Building WikiTW]