TAIWAN

So here I am somewhere else in the Far East - Taiwan. We flew here on Monday and I was not impressed at first sight. First of all, it was  a 45 minute taxi ride to the centre of Taipei, secondly they were trying to build a second motorway on top of the one we were stationary on  and thirdly they were trying to build something else on top of that. It turned out to be a high speed link to the airport, all of this crammed into a very steep-sided and narrow valley. And the buildings are uniformly dull and boring.  All of concrete. The city is squashed into a flat bit of land completely surrounded by mountains covered with trees. Oh and another thing, all drivers are maniacs. I thought KL was bad but they are quite harmless compared with Taiwan. 

Having said all that, we went out last night to look for a Szechuan restaurant which we knew was within 200 yards of our hotel. It took us 30 minutes. The saving grace was that it was fantastic, some of the best Chinese food I have ever eaten. And it cost 120 pounds for seven which was a bargain. Best dishes were fish-fragrant aubergine and pomfret with black beans. But the sweet and sour chicken was two streets ahead of any sweet and sour I have ever eaten and the oxtail was notable. 

Today we walked round an old part of the city, a Chinese temple, a street of Chinese herbalists, a market of fabric. The herbalists stocked dried herbs and roots, sharks fins, sea horses, sea dragons and other unidentifiable objects. The market (YongLe market) was three stories of fabric. I have never seen so many rolls of cloth of so many different kinds, from cheap cotton to expensive incised velvet and silk embroidered all over. Most of the stalls had a rather obvious sewing machine on which the stall-holder was working. Sometimes there would be a customer   getting measured up and having bolts of cloth unrolled for her to choose from. You note I say her. The men's tailors were in shops all clustered round the market and full of exquisite lightweight men's suiting. The whole family came with me on this expedition and were all impressed. I decided that I did not need any more fabric but that I have an urgent and pressing need for a few yards of lace ribbon  which we bought from a stall-holder who spoke no English but was clearly out to help. When I unload the camera on  my own computer (this is Ruth's), I will post a photo or two of the market.

We then viewed the river which has the view totally spoilt by having elevated motorways on both sides. Spoilt that is until we realised that the very solid supporting wall was a flood barrier and that even the foot traffic gates could be closed with very solid reinforced steel doors. They have a very serious flooding problem.

After that we went to a specialist tea seller, sampled teas and then bought lots. I hope I can remember everything we were told. One odd thing is that jasmine tea should never be made with water hotter than 85 degrees and 80 is better. By this time we were exhausted, had lunch and returned to collapse in the hotel. Only to be roused at 1400 to go the National Museum where we went on a guided tour in English for 90 minutes. The tour restricted itself to the very best things  and at least some of us are going back to investigate some  galleries a bit more. One interesting thing - not a textile in sight in the  Museum. There may be some embroidery in a side Museum. I must check up on that.

So that ended today.The rest of the family have gone off to a night market. I chickened out. I have done enough for one day.

From the above, you have probably gathered that I have revised my views on Taiwan. It's very interesting and I have only seen one shopping mall containing Gucci, Tiffany et al, and we did not even go into it!!