Orchid Island (Lanyu / 蘭嶼) - some observations

Continued from my last post, which was full of photos.

Blogger tends to make photos that are fine on my computer look darker - you can't see it as well here, but in the original, there's a line of goats down that gray mound in the foreground staring at me.

Flying into Orchid Island

So this past week we spent three days total on Orchid Island (Lanyu / 蘭嶼) off the southeast coast of Taiwan. We'd planned this trip quite some time ago - you have to if you want to coordinate three people's schedules and fly in. The prop planes that fly into Lanyu seat maybe 15 people, maybe 20, so although there are several flights a day, they tend to book out. It doesn't hurt that they're cheap (NT$2600 round trip) and the ferry trip tends to induce seasickness in even the sturdiest of stomachs. I get seasick very easily - carsick and airsick too, although I rarely throw up - and really wasn't into tempting the Gods of Heaving Over The Side Or Into A Bag. 

Sikang Chai's shop suffered typhoon damage, but otherwise, elsewhere on the island, it was there but it seemed quite minimal.

                

We were worried at first that it was a bad time to go to Lanyu, despite our plans: typhoon damage there made the news across Taiwan, and the Community Services Center not long ago held a drive for blankets, clothes, canned goods and more to help those affected. While I would have happily gone and volunteered, I'm not exactly skilled in the things such volunteers need to be skilled in, and generally speaking well-meaning but hapless Westerners in disaster zones often don't contribute much to a relief effort (there are exceptions, of course, especially among those with the proper skills), and I didn't want it to go down that way. I also stood ready to get there and donate, our homestay owner insisted it really wasn't necessary, and when we got there it sure didn't seem it.

I figured our best bet was to make sure the island could still handle tourists - and wanted them at that particular moment (tourism is great for the economy, unless all you've got is rice, fish, taro and instant noodles and not enough of those. Then it's not so great), so I called the local police station and a homestay to ask about the situation. The police assured me it was fine, there was plenty of food and shelter, and the roads, harbor, gas station and airport would be repaired by the time we arrived. The homestay owner was ecstatic about taking our reservations, so I figured her ability to feed and shelter us was not in doubt. As such, we went: in those conditions, tourism dollars can only help.

That's not to say there was no damage. The seawall near the gas station had clearly taken a hit. It was still there, but parts of it looked worse for wear. There were a few spots along the island where landslides had obviously taken out now-repaired sections of road. There are only two main roads on Orchid Island, and one of those roads is really secondary, so the impetus is there to get the main artery cleared as soon as possible. In one area it looked like a slice of mountain had been carved off like so much birthday cake. 

Hangin'

                       

There was some debris here and there - but it was hard to tell if it was typhoon debris or the usual "piles of stuff" you often see around Taiwan. Orchid Island is less developed than the "mainland", so if anything it'd be more prone to natural piles of stuff. At least one well-known establishment took a hit: the roof of Sikang Chai's shop and gallery was clearly patchwork-repaired, and the inside looked like it'd taken a hit.

The coral off the coast also took a hit: we did some snorkeling, but really the coral was there in patches. It was not a full living reef. Few fish and no sea snakes. The water was full of polyps, though, and you could hear the crackling sound that live coral gives off: our snorkel guide told us it would be back to normal in about 6 months. Humans kill coral at an alarming rate, but it has an amazing ability to survive and reform after a typhoon hit.

Still, we didn't see much, if anything, in the way of destroyed homes (what might have been damaged was mostly already repaired). The underground homes in Dongqing looked basically as pictures indicated they would: if they'd taken a hit, they've already been repaired. There were a bunch of smashed-up boats by the harbor, but again, it wasn't clear whether those had always been there or were the result of the typhoon. Some of them looked rather too old and derelict to be typhoon-destroyed. The airport, harbor, gas station and road - all the main stuff - was repaired by the time we got there. Food and water was plentiful, wireless Internet and the one cell tower were up, and things seemed to be basically back to normal.

                                  

Flying in was fantastic - the water out there is so clear and blue that on a calm, sunny day, you can see to the bottom across much of the expanse between Taiwan and Lanyu, and approaching Lanyu the water turns such a deep-dyed blue that it's almost blinding, like blue if blue had four dimensions. I strongly recommend it for the views alone - for the 1pm flight I'd say the left side is better, you get a bluer sea.

Flying back was terrible - typhoon Sanba is far off the coast but with no land in between us and it, gusts from it affected the weather all the way out to Lanyu, and the turbulence was stomach-curdling and, honestly, kind of terrifying (I kept telling myself that we were at a low altitude so if we went down I'd probably survive. I'd stil fly again rather than take the ferry.

The cement guardrail along much of the western side of the island seemed repaired and repainted (that white paint sure looks fresh to me), with anti-nuclear slogans already graffiti'd on. Lanyu was once a dumping point for Taiwan's nuclear waste, something the island's locals (mostly aborigines called Dawu, Yami or Tao depending on who you ask) obviously did not appreciate and have not forgotten.

The guidebooks - and other blog posts, I'm sure - can tell you all of the other basics: flying fish and taro are food staples (as is a jelly-like mushroom fungus that grows in taro fields), people here don't like their photos taken, nor photos of their houses, that the island retains a far stronger aboriginal tradition than you'll find in most of the rest of Taiwan and Yami is regularly spoken along with Chinese and some Taiwanese, that Orchid Island is relatively underdeveloped, that the snorkeling is good (except for now, it seems), that you need to rent a car or scooter to get around, or at least a bike. I won't take up this space repeating all that with details. Instead, some observations.

First, that as "less developed" as it is, kids here clearly know how to use the latest technology. Here are two young Yami (I'm using Yami because in chatting with people, they called their language "ya mei hua" or Yami language, so I assume that's the term they prefer) kids in a coffeeshop deftly using our various smartphones to play games. The back of my iPhone is now covered in stickers they put on there. I think I'll leave them there.

Also, don't come expecting a totally undeveloped backwater. There's wifi, there's 3G at least on some of the island (Hongtou and Yuren at least). Thanks to tourism, and some local demand, it is perfectly possible to get real coffee (think lattes, flavored coffee, siphon coffee, espresso with condensed milk, sea salt coffee, and I got a millet wine coffee that was surprisingly delicious and very popular locally, according to the owner) and other amenities. A few beachside bars and cafes as you might expect in more touristy areas have popped up, mostly locally-owned. Enough that you can enjoy your beer or coffee on the coast in a comfortable spot, but not so much that it's overwhelming. They dot the island sparsely, but they are there. As a caffeine addict who can't think straight without a large mug of the stuff in the morning, this was important to know.

Just keep in mind that most spots offering such amenities, with one exception, open at 10:30am or later, and the free breakfast at most homestays will include tea but not coffee. There's one place you can go as early as 8am for coffee in Hongtou (the island's main "town") - 藍海屋 (Lan Hai Wu or Blue Ocean House) outside the southern edge of Hongtou (just keep driving past the hospital). They also offer diving and snorkeling, have a passable gravelly beach and pretty nice rooms to stay in across the road - call 0932-250-063 to inquire.

Kids playing with our smartphones at 漂流木餐廳 - a coffeeshop in the main northern hub of Hongtou.

Another observation - while adults tended to speak with each other in Yami, some obviously Yami people communicated with each other in Mandarin. Kids often did, too - these two siblings talked with each other in Chinese as much as they did so with us. Orchid Island has about half the population of the town where Brendan grew up (a small town in Maine) - if kids are using Mandarin to communicate with each other, then as strong as aboriginal culture and tradition is on Orchid Island, I worry about the fate of the Yami language.

On the other hand, most of my local interactions felt more like two non-native but pretty fluent speakers of Chinese communicating in Chinese - rather a big change from the usual native speaker and me, a fairly fluent non-native speaker, communicating in Chinese. My friends in Taipei say that Lanyu has a local accent - well, it does, but not in the way that native speakers from different areas have accents in the same language. More in the way that non-native speakers of one language who are native speakers of another have a similar accent in the second language.

These two have a younger brother, and are all the children of the owner of the Chinese-style hole in the wall restaurant next door. I noted first that one of the workers in the cafe basically treated them like her kids (going so far as to tell the younger misbehaving one "Don't make me get angry at you!"), and that she just kicked the kid out when he was causing trouble. As in, opened the door and pushed him outside, right onto the road (the main road, such as it is, can be seen from this photo - it's hardly a dangerous highway). The kid couldn't have been older than two. He wandered off down the street - which was considered totally fine. It takes a village, I guess!

This guy's pants are on fire

Another thing I noted is that a lot of the cafe workers in the more upscale spots didn't look Yami, they looked and talked like Taiwanese. I am sure some are local, but some might well be not locally hired or seasonal. I do hope this changes and more locals start getting such jobs - one man (who offered to marry our friend Emily) told us the same story you can hear in any rural or wayside place - forgotten by main avenues of commerce, adults grow old here and their kids go off to "Taiwan" for school and work. There's a lot of brain drain and the economy suffers. With unemployment comes alcoholism, and then others from more prosperous areas poke fun at locals for their laziness and their drinking, but small wonder why, no? This isn't unique to Orchid Island, of course, but it is why I hope we can start seeing more Yami or other locals engaged in local work. On an island so small that you can drive around it in an hour, there aren't a lot of jobs to be had.

So much gorgeous blue water, and no real beaches to speak of. A pity, or a cause for celebration?

                

In that sense, I wonder if it's a blessing or a curse that Orchid Island, with its wealth of other beauty, lacks good beaches. There are places where you can swim, to be sure, but the Rough Guide's calling of one beach "fine white sand" was a joke: you get some light-colored dirt-like sand in some spots, and some darker, gravelly sand in others, but while the snorkeling may be good, this isn't a place where you go to hang out on a beach. You can sit on a balcony and enjoy, climb a mountain, get on a boat or drive around and enjoy, drive to a headland or promontory and enjoy, but you're not going to be laying out a towel and soaking up sun and sand. 

And that right there is one major reason why Orchid Island is not a huge tourism draw. It's got the stunning inland scenery, the coral, the blue waters and the relative accessibility, but not the beaches. It's like the gods overlooked one crucial part of being an island paradise.

                          

But then, if Orchid Island were dotted with fine white sand beaches like the Philippines, and then could offer it all: snorkeling, diving, boating, hiking, beaches and aboriginal culture, and it saw the major tourism numbers that Boracay or even Bohol or El Nido (in Palawan) get, would local culture disappear faster? Would catching boatmaking, catching flying fish and growing taro take a backseat or disappear altogether as locals opened beachfront cafes, sunglass shops and soul-crushing luxury resorts?  Would locals prefer that (I might prefer working in a beachfront cafe to growing taro, personally)? Or worse, would outsiders snatch up good property for development, would the mountains be cut off from the beach by hotels and restaurants, would property rates skyrocket as locals are forced off their land, and would all the most profitable places be owned by non-locals, with little and less money going into the local economy?

Probably - I saw it in Boquete (local coffee farmers unable to compete with gated retirement communities for wealthy Americans), in the Philippines (although I stayed away from most of the areas where beaches were fronted by nothing but hotels), in Indonesia (all the best spots taken up by resorts that no local could afford to stay in, let alone own). Even Kenting, massively popular with expats and Taiwanese alike, is a place I don't care for, and the beach isn't even that great (it's OK, but only OK).

I'd say whether that'd be a good or bad thing would be up for locals to decide, but it seems that when one has all you need to create a hot resort destination, that locals rarely if ever get to decide anything at all.

Anyway, some more observations. I did notice that most people referred to the main island of Taiwan not as "the main island of Taiwan" or "the mainland", but rather as just "Taiwan". Nobody disputes that Orchid Island is a part of Taiwan, but in the local parlance that's not conveyed: they treat it like a separate country.

"Who can blame us?" said one local we chatted with. "They don't pay attention to us, why should we pretend to be so close to them? We are Taiwan, but they are Chinese and we aren't."

I also noticed a distinct lack of people paying for things. I mean, we paid for things, but a lot of locals sort of wandered in and out of restaurants and other places. They ate, drank and made merry, and then wandered off without paying a dime. "Local economy," my husband noted, and I think he's right. I really didn't see a lot of money changing hands between locals - any money, come to think of it, even between locals of Chinese descent and locals of aboriginal descent. We were treated to beer and snacks in several places by locals, which the person treating didn't seem to ever actually pay for. I get the feeling that the entire island is running on one extremely complex system of tabs.

I also noticed that nothing was locked - not doors, not cars. Theft is really not a problem - especially for cars. "They could steal it," my homestay owner said, "but where could they go?"

It helps that everyone seems to know each other - the grilled delicious things stand owner knew the customer who proposed to Emily. The owner of the hotel we waylaid at in Taidong knew some guy on Lanyu and told us "if you need anything ask for him - I don't have his number but just ask, he's famous". As my husband noted, "it doesn't take much to be famous on Lanyu". Someone in another town knew our homestay owner and everything about her.

Remember back when I posted about how I offered an apple from my snack stash to the Atayal owner of a homestay I like in Hsinchu County? And how it was a bit of culture shock that she just took the apple an clearly wanted it (and didn't try to hide that) without the usual three refusals and two thank you's, or whatever is deemed necessary in Chinese culture?

Well, something I noticed on Orchid Island is how much more frank people are about certain things. Like, well, how our friend Emily got four (five?) marriage proposals in three days, and I am pretty sure at least a few of them were serious. Nobody harassed us - although one half-cut guy on a sitting platform in Dongqing got a bit too touchy so we had to leave - but upon learning that Emily was single, plenty of guys were totally willing to change her relationship status. Even if they were joking (which I am sure many of them were) the jokes were more frank, more ribald, more "hey baby" than I ever hear in Taiwan, where it might take a guy several months to even express indirectly that he likes you.

At one restaurant - Chinese style but Yami-owned - we were being treated to beer. It was maybe 11am but whatever. We ordered some tea eggs with our noodles, but the people who invited us to sit with them still had a bunch of quartered tea eggs on their table. “你可以吃，沒關係，不用客氣，隨便啦” ("go ahead and have some, don't be shy") one guy said. The laobanniang (owner, who was female) said "哈哈，妳可以吃他的蛋!" ("Haha, you can eat his eggs!"). It was a fairly mild joke by modern standards, but to three new foreign customers, from a woman, without hesitation, it was quite different from what I've grown accustomed to in Taiwan.

Finally, I noted that drinking and driving isn't the social sin it is in Taiwan. Not that I ever do so - I don't even drive much, but if I did I wouldn't drink - but here it's perfectly normal to down a few beers or even half a bottle of rice wine, and then get on your scooter and drive home. Without a helmet. It helps that there's only one road. You won't face much danger from traffic turning in ahead of you, but still, I wouldn't really say it's safe to do this, but nobody seemed to think much of it. The owner of the "grilled delicious things" place we ate at in Yeyou made sure Emily was good to drive (she had had some Taiwan beer, but stopped early and we felt she was OK to drive), but otherwise it didn't raise the eyebrows it would in Taiwan proper, where my Taiwanese friends are even more circumspect about drinking and driving than my American ones (and my American ones are all pretty careful).

Finally, one thing I really felt was that the culture here was not only not very Taiwanese, but that it reminded me far more of my time in the Philippines than Taiwan. The blue waters, the language I don't speak (although I can now say "cheers" and "thank you" in Yami - milum and ey-OY respectively), the flora and fauna, the slow pace of local island living, the grilled seafood, the more Austronesian/Pacific Islander culture rather than Chinese cultural influence, the more lax social norms. If anything Orchid Island is more Filipino than it is Taiwanese - but really, all that aside, it's just plain unique.

Delicious grilled things - flying fish, pork and more.

I might come back and add some more observations, but that's it for now. For the rest of the post, I'm going to make some recommendations.

First, you can see my recommendations above for coffee. For food, The Epicurean Cafe (mentioned in Rough Guide) really is great, but it's not where the Rough guide Map says it is. There's a road going up and then along a hill parallel to the main road on the north end of Hongtou - it's along the flat portion of that road, not the main road.

Otherwise, in Yeyou, just as the road turns there's a fairly innocuous restaurant with some outdoor seats advertising flying fish in Chinese. Across the street is a more sizeable restaurant advertising draft Taiwan beer. The grilled stuff restaraunt will change your life it is so good. We got pork, squid, flying fish, stinky tofu and chicken and it was all ridiculously good (we ended up getting two flying fish, ahd the chicken was amazing). That and a pitcher of draft beer from across the street is a great way to finish the day. Locals hang out here - you can chat with them fairly easily if you make this your dinner stop.

Blue Ocean House (above) offers standard Taipei cafe fare, but it was pretty good as cafe food goes. If you want some easy comfort food this is your place. Also, great patio out back.

The "small eats" restaurant in Hongtou near Lanyu Local Hotel (蘭與民宿) is open past the regular lunchtime when everything else closes and serves basic Chinese fare. A good choice if you were out driving too late past lunchtime and need some food, or need something quick before heading to the airport or harbor.

From the weather station at the top of the mountain road

Second, you could rent a car or scooter - renting a scooter means it'll be harder to get up the mountain road (I wouldn't want to do that on a scooter), but possible to get up to the lighthouse for sunset, and you are closer to the environment around you than you would be in a car. I definitely recommend going up to the lighthouse if you can (we couldn't).

If you can't or you're running late - leave at around 4:30pm from Hongtou if you want to see the sunset at the lighthouse - the smaller watchtower behind the gas station, near the harbor, is a good place to enjoy the sun going down. You can drive there and walk up the easy steps.

Definitely make the drive up to the weather station. There are some great panoramas up here, a picnic spot, an aboriginal-style stilted lounge area, a cool abandoned building and windy, gorgeous views.

Abandoned building at the weather station

An ideal picnic spot at the weather station

Dongqing Night Market...such as it is

The caves on the north coast don't sound like much, but they're worth a stop for a few good photos, if photos from caves are your thing. The photos in my last post of cave mouths were taken here. Definitely worthwhile is Dragon's Head Rock (above) - in fact, one of the best parts of visiting is to just drive or scooter around the island stopping where you like to take photos or enjoy the view.

Set meal at The Epicurean Cafe, which serves aboriginal-influenced local fare.

The Epicurean is a good place to hang out after hours for drinks - they make some drinks pretty well although their gin is quite rough (according to Emily). They close at 11, but are walkable to many hotels in Hongtou. Or you could continue the party at the bar/cafe across the street from the local hospital in central Hongtou (Hongtou is quite spread out down the main road). No ocean views but open late and a nice vibe, although we didn't go in.

You could go after you drive out to a viewing platform or to Dragon's Head Rock - or farther - to enjoy the stars. Definitely make time to do that - Lanyu's starry skies are really a sight to behold, with the Milky Way shining clearly across the sky.

We stayed at the Lanyu Local Hotel (蘭與民宿 in Rough Guide, 海波浪民宿 on their business cards - 089-732669) and would recommend it. The owner is from Taichung. She's very friendly, can arrange short (like 1.5 hour) snorkeling trips and boat trips if the weather is good. Breakfast, wifi, computer use and downstairs TV privileges for those who stay. Beds are Taiwanese-style on the floor beds and are quite firm, but clean and the rooms are spotless and air conditioned. Bathrooms are shared.

Caves on the north coast

Anti-nuclear power signs

Boats - damaged by time or the typhoon: it's unclear

I would also definitely recommend snorkeling while here. If you've never done it before, don't worry - you can arrange for someone to take you out and show you where to go and guide you as you both hang on to a life preserver. I enjoy snorkeling on my own, but this was fine as we only had one other person in our group (a Taiwanese woman - Brendan couldn't join us due to his injuries).  If it's a large group, try to arrange to go out on your own at some point as so many snorkelers in one place, with their hands, feet and bodies all around you, does tend to ruin the experience. 

Making a new boat

Driving around Orchid Island is one of the best parts of the trip

All in all I can say that I really enjoyed the trip - it was one of the most rewarding trips I've taken in Taiwan. I've done all there is to "do" on Lanyu except for possibly more hiking and snorkeling (two things we had to either do in moderation or skip altogether due to Brendan's injuries), but I'd go back just to relax and show friends around. If you're looking for a good getaway in Taiwan and want something different without going abroad, Orchid Island is just the place.

The Best Coffee in Taipei

Everyone who reads this blog even remotely regularly knows about my semi-fanatical obsession with two foodstuffs: 1.) sea urchins and 2.) coffee. With coffee, I'm sort of like this.

I've written extensively about coffee before, but haven't really come out with a post that clarifies where good coffee - the best coffee - can be found in Taipei. This is that post.

You can get coffee anywhere in Taipei, from 7-11 to one of the myriad Starbucks, Dante Coffees or Ikari chains, as well as in department stores and other smaller chains (such as Artco and Is) and independent operators. It can be as cheap as a 40NT 7-11 latte (which is not your worst choice, I have to say) or as expensive as a 500NT cup of Kopi Luwak or overpriced but still substandard coffee at a lot of chi-chi cafes (Bastille, I'm looking at you).

Unfortunately, most options, as in the USA, are mediocre at best, and Charbucks is Charbucks everywhere, with their over-roasted jet fuel.

The key to a good coffee is a light hand with the roaster (even medium dark roast is fine, but many dark roasts - not all mind you - are just bitter and charred), even grinding and scrupulous preparation, although I'm the first to admit that I use a regular old coffee machine at home. The best coffee comes from a siphon brew, but it is possible to get good espresso and non-siphon coffee.

I'm not interested in listing out the millions of places in Taipei where you can get a brain-smack of caffeine - I'm talking about genuinely good coffee that one can savor, that wafts down the street with its strong scent and turns heads when you carry it away in a to-go cup. Yes, you can find it in Taipei.

Get your cup of awesome beans (the kind that hipsters and yuppies would say have a "great flavor profile") at:

1.) Drop Coffee

Xinsheng S. Road Section 3 Lane 76 #1 (the entrance is on Xinsheng Road, not the lane)

I've praised this place to the moon and back, as you can read in the link above.

2.) The Best Roasted Coffee (TBRC)

Taipei, Shilin District - Jingshan Road #18: near the Wenhua University bus stop heading up Yangmingshan, and not far from the top of Tianmu Old Trail

This place is fantastic - you can buy a pound of coffee for NT500, and their home blend (a medium-to-dark roast) is only NT100 per cup, which is a steal. It's really tasty and goes down smoothly, so you don't need to drink it with milk (which is good, because the owner really will lecture you if you ask for milk or sugar). You can also buy cheesecake, cookies and other light fare here - the cheesecake is tangy and homemade without being too sweet.

3.) George House

Jinhua Street #247 - closest bus stop on a major route is Xinsheng/Jinhua along Da'an Park, also walkable from Yongkang Street

This place offers coffee that packs a flavorful punch - they take it very seriously, allowing you to smell the grounds several times to highlight different smells and potential flavors, and then serve it to you both in a standard coffee cup, which brings out darker, earthier flavors as well as in a small stemmed cordial glass, which brings out more syrupy, flowery liqueur-like flavors in the coffee. Not cheap, but totally worth it.

They also have branches in Taizhong and Tainan.

4.) Naruwan Indigenous People's Market

Guangzhou and Huanhe Rd. intersection near Longshan Temple

Try the "Ma Gao" coffee (馬告) at the booth selling Taiwanese local coffee here for NT90: the cup is small but it packs a strong punch of flavor, and best of all it's grown in Taiwan an (according to the vendor) is grown on aborigine-run farms, so you're doing good for the local economy and you get to try a Taiwanese local product not often found in stores.

5.) Roaster Family Coffee

#405 Sec. 1 Neihu Road Taipei (02)2799-4966

#123 Songde Road Taipei (02)2726-6085

#336 Jinhu Road Taipei (02) 2634-8803

#7 Lane 243 Jinhua Street Taipei (02) 2322-3830

B1 #14 Nanjing West Road Taipei (02) 2522-1681

This place is my new favorite find that you absolutely have to try. They're your best source of Kopi Luwak, if you've ever wanted to try it, and they'll brew it to perfection for you (I haven't tried it yet, but I will). I had a cup of coffee from Nicaraguan beans (can't remember which type) at their Songde Road location and I was blown away by the depth and spirit of the earthy, slightly smoky, addictive flavor. They siphon brew their good beans (lattes and other coffee types are also available) and there's a large choice of global beans, with a lot coming from Central America.

They also keep Jameson on hand, at least at Songde Road, which means they know how to make good coffee with whiskey.

Call ahead if you want a cup of Kopi Luwak - they'll make sure they have the most, ahem, fragrant beans for you to try.

Seriously - I love my Drop Coffee but this place is really just amazing, too. It's probably going to tie for 1st place in my list of favorite coffee shops, along with Drop.

6.) Black Bean Coffee

Zhongshan Road in Shilin, just south of the Zhongzheng Road intersection past Skylark and some other businesses

This place makes a good brew, if a little on the dark roasted side for my taste. A cup costs an average of NT150 - I strongly recommend the earthy but soft Monsoon Malabar coffee from India. They also sell handmade cookies.

I'm not sure if this place still exists - I haven't been there in years - but will check back soon to see if they're still around.

7.) Shake House (listed second in the post, after Red House)

Wenzhou Street / Lane 86 corner, across from Bastille, Gongguan

I usually praise this place for its homey, studenty feel and good selection of Belgian beers, but haven't mentioned how good their coffee is. They do not-too-bitter lattes, Americano and espresso, they make ice coffee in batches in a giant machine similar to a siphon, and their specialized beans are packed with flavor (try the Ethiopia Yirgacheffe or the Guatemala Huehuetenango). They can alcohol-ify any coffee order (just ask for it on request - I usually get a latte with a shot of alcohol added - I am fine with alcohol added to espresso drinks but would never add it to a good brew of quality medium-roast beans.

You can also buy the amazing Monsoon Malabar coffee here to brew at home.

8.) My Sweetie Pie

#3 Lane 93 Shi-da Road, Taipei

I normally don't go for espresso, opting instead for larger servings of more expensive siphon coffee, but My Sweetie Pie makes a not-too-bitter espresso that I can really get behind. It's still darker and more bitter than I normally prefer, but it cuts through the sweetness of their delicious cakes so well that I can forgive the extra roasting time!

9.) Fong Da

#42 Chengdu Road (near Ximending)

This place is wildly popular with both coffee enthusiasts and people who love old Taipei institutions. They still use vintage equipment and have a 1950s vibe going, and lots of different beans to choose from. I have to say that I find their brews a bit overpowering (not like the deeply but not jarringly flavored siphon brews I normally go for), but hey, that doesn't mean it's not good stuff! The brew at Fong Da acts like jet fuel to the brain and still gets my vote!

10.) Update: Rufous Coffee
Fuxing S. Road Sec 2 #333 / 復興南路2段333號
02-2736-6880

I was tipped off about this place by another expat, and realized it's basically just down the road from where I work. Fuxing S. Road south of Heping and north of Xinhai boasts three coffeeshops and a tea shop. The first is Tiamore, which has good (but not the best) coffee, is a bit down-at-heel and boasts a bevy of semi-friendly cats - or at least they did, it seems the owners don't keep cats there anymore since my last visit. The final one is called Mono, and I haven't actually gotten coffee there yet, but they serve it in glasses, not cups, and there's a shy but sweet cat there. Their mint and pomelo tea is great and they do a good brownie with ice cream.

Update: read below re: Rufous's siphon brews, but really what you want to be getting at this place is an espresso drink. For a very mildly flavored coffee, try the honey and cinnamon latte. For a luxurious experience, try the Irish coffee (with real sweet foamed milk, not whipped cream, to cut the bitterness of the whiskey-flavored coffee below). For a hot or stressful (or hot and stressful) day, get the iced dark chocolate banana latte. Their cold brewed iced coffee is also fabulous.

Only just today I continued on to Rufous at this person's recommendation, and the coffee was pretty excellent (I had a syphon-brewed coffee from Panama). The atmosphere is completely different from Tiamore, where I go for a friendly, very 台neighborhood feel - Rufous is smaller, more upmarket, more expensive. No cats, but the coffee is better. I did find the Panama to be lacking some of the depth of the coffees I've tried at Shake House (see above) and Drop (also above) - especially both shops' Sumatra coffee, and the Kona at Drop, as well as the Nicaraguan coffee at Coffee Family Roaster. The Panama coffee - ordered because I don't see beans from Panama on menus very often - was roasted a bit darker than I like it, as well.  However, it was quite good, and I intend to go back and try not only the house blend but also ask them to make me a light roast coffee, and see what they can come up with.

11.) Gold Diamond Coffee (金鑽咖啡)
Zhonghe, Xinbei City, Liansheng Road #41
新北市中和區連勝街41號

About a 15 minute walk from MRT Jing'an (walk up Jinping Road and turn at Liansheng) and near the 262, 275 and various other bus routes, this place is a good bet if you're stuck in the wilds of Zhonghe. A good place to rest after a hike to Yuantong Temple or if you are otherwise in the area.

This tiny coffeeshop nestled among a huge slightly higher end apartment complex (but not inside it) on a quiet side street was a surprise find for me: I happen to know a family who lives in the complex - I play with their kids in English once a week (I'd be hard-pressed to call it a class as it's very non-traditional) and have gotten coffee here. The lattes are strong and flavorful, with lots of bold character, but the thing to get here is light roast drip coffee. I was blown away by what the guy made for me, and they have many choices of bean.

12.) Cafe Booday
Nanjing W. Road Lane 25 #18, 2nd floor above the shop (very close to MRT Zhongshan)

While the food at Booday didn't blow me away - the desserts were good, though - the one cup of Monsoon Malabar I had there was pretty delish. They have a selection of high-end coffees including this favorite of mine for approximately NT140 per cup. On the high end but not impossible, and your best choice among all the cafes in this area for a good cup of something comforting, caffeinated and well-made.

13.) Other places I haven't tried yet

There are a ton of places I haven't had the good fortune to drink coffee at, but are probably on par with the places listed above. There's an especially large number of cafes in the lanes around Yongkang Street, and some of my favorite places to drink beer also make pretty good coffee (not included here because I wanted to highlight the best of the best, but that doesn't mean they're not also good).

If you have a favorite stop for high-quality coffee - the kind you savor, not gulp - leave it in the comments!

You can also buy great beans to brew your own coffee at home at most of the places above, as well as at:

- 里仁: organic food store in Gongguan (go to Roosevelt Rd. Sec. 3 Lane 283, and it's just down the lane from So Free pizza) - you can buy organic coffee beans from southern Taiwan here - very flavorful!

If you want to brew South Indian or Thai/Vietnamese-style coffee (that is, coffee with chicory, and add condensed milk for Thai or Vietnamese or just tons of sugar and milk to make it Indian) go to Trinity Superstores and pick up a bag of "Bru". It's not "good" coffee in the yuppie sense but it is the real thing.

Dance

Bunun (I think...please correct me if I'm wrong) dance in Kaohsiung's Central Park MRT Station

While we were in Kaohsiung a few weeks ago, we happened upon this aboriginal dance show taking place in the Central Park MRT Station. We'd stopped in the aboriginal goods stores opened - so we were told - partially thanks to the efforts of Chen Chu - to buy Taiwanese coffee and other small items as the show was about to start. This was not the first time we've seen aboriginal dancing - sometimes in the context of actual festivals where the dancing has some sort of cultural meaning, and sometimes...not.

If you've spent any amount of time in Taiwan at all, you've surely encountered these dance shows - you can see them every weekend evening at the Naruwan Indigenous People's Market at the intersection of Huanhe and Guangzhou Roads not far from Longshan Temple (and practically across the street from the historic Xuehai Academy, the first "university" in Taiwan - now a family shrine - also mentioned in the post linked to above). On certain days they're held in Kaohsiung's Central Park station, and there are other venues in which to see them, as well. Both Taipei City Hall and Kaohsiung Central Park MRT Stations have aboriginal stores, but only Kaohsiung's also has dances.

It's rare to have the knowledge and chance to attend many of the more authentic festivals (Pasta'ai is the easiest to get to, and even that takes some work if you want to go to Wufeng, not Nanzhuang), and you're about as likely to encounter the everyday use of traditional dress as you are to come across a Taiwanese woman walking down the street in a full qipao ("qipao-inspired" doesn't count, nor does a tiny dog in a qipao costume - a labrador in a qipao might count)...but seeing these dance shows is dead easy if you are so inclined.

Amis Tribe dance in Taipei's Naruwan Market

I'm not sure what to make of them, honestly. It is absolutely true that many (most? all?) of the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan incorporate dancing into festivals and rituals, to the point where non-aboriginal Taiwanese can often imitate the basic moves of common dances.

Dancing at Pasta'ai 2010 in Wufeng

They certainly help spread at least basic knowledge of these tribal cultures, little-known outside Taiwan. They help bring to the public eye more recognition that there is more to Taiwanese culture than that which came from China (or Japan) - more so than museums that, while important (and however excellent), are simply not as active, interactive or in the public eye.

And yet, I can't help but also watch them and feel like one adjective that could be used to describe these dances is "exploitative". Maybe. I'm not sure about that, but the thought has stayed with me long enough to spur me to blog about it. These dances, taken out of context and set down in a subway station or food court - do they really accomplish more than a fleeting thought of "yeah, aboriginal stuff is pretty cool" in the minds of the audience? Does it convey any lasting knowledge or encourage more in-depth learning about aboriginal affairs?

I guess I just don't know what to think, and yes, I realize sometimes it's OK not to have a strong opinion, and to instead muse on possible points of view.

On one hand, many people would never be exposed to this important cultural element of Taiwan if it weren't for such dance shows. That goes for locals, many (not all!) of whom wouldn't actively seek out such facets of their own national history, as well as foreigners, especially those who don't stay long enough to gain such exposure otherwise (click on the "seven hellish months" link). These dances are also generally related in some way to aboriginal stores and eateries - I love millet wine so I find myself in the stores a lot - which I am sure helps boost exposure, and therefore revenue. For what it's worth, the performers seem to enjoy themselves, and the shows do attract a reasonably sized audience, and the shows seem to be organized by the dancers themselves and not by some outside force being all "show us your quaint Native Dances!" (If that were the case I'd be disgusted).

There's also the fact that live performances, to a far greater extent than in contemporary America, are more ingrained in the public psyche. Back home you'd be hard-pressed to find a local band or singing group playing under the town square gazebo anymore, and sadly, the tradition of holiday caroling has almost died out (I'm a fan of the old-school tradition, which involves lots of wassail or a suitably alcoholic substitute, and is much more "rowdy kids demanding treats" than "family oriented").

And yet here, there's super-loud karaoke - seriously, who here hasn't started a hike up a mountain only to come across a temple and associated public complex in which someone was atonally screaming their favorite classic songs? You know you have. Don't even pretend. There are seemingly-randomly staged budaixi puppet shows (I regularly come across them in Jingmei Night Market, put on for no discernible reason).

Budaixi - Taiwanes puppetry - puppet (without body) sporting an unusual number of heads

There are free-to-the-public showings of Taiwanese opera (gezaixi) outside temples as well as in the square around Yongle Market on Dihua Street...just because the people want opera.

Taiwanese opera - gexaixi - free to the public outside Bao'an Temple

Troupes of kids practice Michael Jackson moves to Jamiroquai hits - yeah, I don't know either - or communally engage in urban dance moves - in the esplanades of sports centers and underground malls in Taipei. Finally, what is a temple fair if not a series of live performances, from lion dancers to dragon dancers to bajiajiang?

Ba jia jiang outside of Qingshan Gong during a temple fair on Guiyang St., Taipei

Practically everywhere you turn there's a live show of some sort - some of them transcendent and others amateur-but-charming.

I can see how aboriginal dance shows would fit into that sort of culture.

The second part of the show in MRT Central Park

On the other hand, taking these dances out of context, putting the dancers in costumes they otherwise never wear, that likely haven't been worn commonly since their grandparents' generation, and sticking it in a subway station does make me wonder. Is it Culture Lite? Is it selling out something that would otherwise be authentic?

I don't have the answers, but I have to admit that I've been gnawing on the questions.

Pasta'ai 2010

Yesterday we went up to our 2nd Pasta'ai - a festival held by the Saisiyat tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. The festival is held in two locations: "North Side" in Da'ai Village, Wufeng Township, Xinzhu County, and the other in Nanzhuang, Miaoli County.

While the event in Nanzhuang is more accessible for those without private transportation, we always make the effort to go to Wufeng as, being harder to get to and less well-known (most people assume we're going to Nanzhuang until we tell them otherwise), it's almost certainly less touristy.

My first post incorrectly stated that it was held in the "Jhu Family Village" - it's near that village, but actually in Da'ai village (大隘), about an hour or less from Zhudong, and maybe an hour and a half from HSR Xinzhu Station.

Last year, we met the owner of our homestay, Ah-Q Mama, in Zhudong and drove up with her. Her husband does all the driving. This year, her husband was laid up with recovery from surgery and they were unable to help us get to Wufeng. As we've been doing recently whenever we want to go somewhere, we've been lucky enough to have friends with Taiwanese or international licenses who are also eager to go (not that we invite them because they have licenses - we've been fortunate that they've been happy to drive). So this time, we took the wonderful HSR down and rented a car at CarPlus.

Before leaving we got directions from the tourist info desk at Taipei Main Station, and I printed out a series of maps from Google between the HSR and the site, as well as the site and the homestay.

We got a little lost in Zhudong, but not anything too serious. The drive up was pleasant, as Eduardo, our friend behind the wheel, is a conscientious driver who, being Venezuelan, is used to crazy traffic. His skills are equal to that of our friends Emily and Drew, though he's less aggressive on the road and isn't one for high speeds. The road up from Zhudong is narrow and windy, but not very high up.

There seemed to be more attempts at tourism to Wufeng this time - fabric flags lined the road up from Zhudong with "PaSta'ay" written in Papyrus font.

We arrived just after dark and parked next to a "house" that people apparently lived in, despite it not having a roof. Oookaaay...all in all parking seemed to be much more difficult to come by this year, and we had to drive quite a ways from the site before we found a suitable spot. Maybe it was just as bad two years ago, but we weren't driving ourselves so we didn't notice.

Before we could even get into the building where spirit-protecting grass is tied around your head or arm as well as all cameras, a group of dancers and torch-bearers came out of the main site, singing a chant-like melody.

First the torch-bearers came through..

Then a line of dancers, some with back accoutrements with beads and metal chimes, came out, moving and chanting in unison.

I covered the origins of this festival in my post two years ago by linking to an online site on the Pasta'ai - you can read it here if you are interested. Basically, a long time ago there was (or may have been) a tribe of dark-skinned pygmies called the Ta'ai living near the Saisiyat. The two groups were intially friendly, but after some time, the pygmies began taking the Saisiyat women for reasons you can guess at, as well as stealing food. The Saisiyat attacked and killed the Ta'ai...but it turns out the Ta'ai knew sorcery and cursed the Saisiyat, who now have to hold the Pasta'ai as an offering at the end of the harvest season to atone for the massacre.

Anthropologists agree that the Ta'ai may well have been a real tribe in ancient Taiwan, and that the Saisiyat may well have killed them. Clearly they were not magical beings as the Saisiyat legend claims, but there is quite likely a historical basis for the story.

I asked a local if the designs had any special meaning: she said they did not, just anything the owners found aesthetically pleasing. Buddhist swastikas (a Buddhist symbol before it was a Nazi one), curved mirrors and embroideries of surnames are common design elements.

Making the chimes tingle in unison looks very painful for one's backside. Tired dancers with chime plates could often be found sitting gingerly with the audience while on break.

Then we entered the sacred grass-tying area.

...and waited in line with tourists and Saisiyat people alike. This year we saw more children than last time in traditional costume and encouraged to participate in their tribe's customs. We also saw more foreigners than two years ago - apparently a foreigner who married into the tribe sent out a large Facebook invitation and many people did end up coming. How they get to Wufeng, I have no idea.

Then we all got our sacred grass...

...and watched the festival from above the main area for awhile. As you can see, the dancers go in an arc or circle, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. When they go quickly, they often rush to the middle and chant excitedly before fanning out again. The dancers themselves don't seem to know what they're doing - I learned from one participant that any Saisiyat in traditional clothing can join, not just experienced or trained dancers (the chanters and people with chimes on their back plates clearly know what they are doing however - and the chime beaters dance separately from the main group).

The facilitators in yellow vests clearly knew how it was all supposed to work and were guiding the dancers, many more of whom were young Saisiyat children this year.

Before heading to the main area, we went to the row of food stalls nearby to get dinner. We started with a traditional Saisiyat dish...

Ah, nothing like old fashioned aboriginal food!

...of grilled muaji (rice gluten) covered in chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. (I was being sarcastic about the "traditional" bit).

Then we got our main dinner of mountain pig, cabbage and "rice wine chicken soup", which was so potent with rice wine that I'm pretty sure it had more alcohol in it than broth. As Joseph said, "it's like eating a bottle of vodka". I liked it, but none of us could finish it.

This year the rules about taking photos of the front of the dancers (thereby standing in front of them in what I had thought was a "sacred area") were relaxed.

I also noticed an investment in Christmas lights to decorate around the area (look above the heads of the dancers).

The dancing and chanting is to call forth the spirits of the Ta'ai, and appease them. The big tinsel and light-up things are made by different families - each family makes one. One woman told me that usually, the children will help decorate it, so as to teach them about their culture and heritage. I couldn't determine any pattern for the holders of these giant talismans, though they did dance and did seem to somewhat follow the arc of dancers. When the dancers would rush to the middle and excitedly chant, these were always in the very middle.

I was told that the semi-conical shape was...well, I couldn't really understand the woman clearly but either to bring the Ta'ai spirits down like water through a funnel, or to broadcast the families' participation to the Ta'ai, like a reverse satellite dish or suntanning mirror. It had something to do with calling souls. Note the sacred grass affixed to the top of each.

This was the friendly woman who answered my various questions about the event details to the best of her ability and to the best of my limited understanding.

Another view of the conical things.

By about 9pm, people were starting to get seriously wasted on traditional millet wine. As it was with the last Pasta'ai, you don't just buy and drink your own millet brew. You buy some, share it with others, and get glasses of others in return. We tried to minimize this, or at least sniff what we were about to drink this year, but it can't be helped to some extent. The two non-drinkers among us managed to actually not drink, though - which surprised me. It was impossible to avoid two years ago by the time 10pm rolled around. Forget teetotalling. By 9:30 we had plenty of new 酒肉朋友 (drinking buddies).

Who's this guy? No idea. He invited us to cone stay with him in Zhudong, though, and treated us to much of his millet wine - which had an aftertaste redolent of gasoline.

Some random people dressed up Brendan and Eduardo in traditional clothing - I had a touch of grease from *something* on my lens but still wanted to post these.

This year, the participation rules were also relaxed, probably in another attempt to promote tourism. Last year you could not participate until midnight. This year, you could join the dancers at 10pm.

With an election looming, even though Xinzhu isn't an election hotspot this time around, we expected a bigger showing of politicians. A few members of the DPP showed up, looking...well, like quintessential members of the DPP.

As usual, there was a not-too-quiet place for exhausted dancers to rest.

This guy'd been drinking for awhile.

Loving the Christmas lights.

Plenty of traditional aboriginal food was on offer - including these roasted birds (tiny quail? Pigeons? We had pigeon in Egypt and this tasted different.) They cut it up for you so it's easy to eat, but I'd forgotten that they give you the head with everything else. Before I knew what it was, I'd bitten into the brain. EWWWWW. I am pretty openminded about food, but I do not do innards or brain. I chucked it at a pile of accumulating garbage, missed and hit some poor woman's coat.

Oops.

What happens at Pasta'ai stays at Pasta'ai is all I can say.

We also got some amazing sweet potato fries and one drunk guy gave us stinky tofu (YUM!) and onion pancakes.

More dancing above, and a detail shot of the conical family talisman things below. The carrier had been hitting the betel nut pretty hard. Along with millet wine, buckets of energy drink in brown bottles and betel nuts were for sale everywhere.

So, at 10pm we all started dancing - not that we knew how. Last time, women would come around with wooden buckets of millet wine and ladle it into your mouth as you danced. This year that was not so common, and they had plastic pitchers of wine with shot glasses for dancers - but there was less going around. Boo.

On the upside, I didn't get heinously drunk this year (yes, I know my family reads this thing, but I gotta be honest. I got really drunk last year. It's an aboriginal festival - you can't not get drunk the first time or, for that matter, any time). Fortunately the homestay owners were not drinking and could make sure we all got back safely. It was the worst hangover I've ever had - you don't want to know the full story about the next morning. Let's just say that when the worst of it hit, only my sister was awake to hear it, and she'll never think of me the same way again.

But that was last year - when I would drink whatever was offered without making sure it wasn't, you know, grain alcohol, paint thinner, energy drink and Coca-cola mixed together...or maybe not that but not tasting much different from what I imagine that would taste like.

This year I kept my head on a little better - partly because I didn't want to feel half-dead today (I'm writing this the next day even!) and partly because we didn't have Ah-Q Mama to get us home safely. I had to help Eduardo navigate, though Mark (another friend who came with us) had biked the route and took over for me.

At one point while I was dancing, though, someone gave millet wine to Mark, Joseph and Brendan, who all surreptitiously threw most of it out as it was "not fit for human consumption" according to Brendan.

I felt bad for the woman walking around selling it from a basket on her back. She was selling it for cheaper than the stands, and clearly making money for her family, but we had some from another spectator who bought it, and it really did have a gasoline-y aftertaste. Ew.

Anyway.

We stayed and danced until about 3am before walking back to the car, after which time the eminently sober Eduardo drove us to Ah-Q Mama's with Mark's help (as Mark had biked there earlier and knew the way).

I recommend Ah-Q's homestay, "A-mue", as highly as I did last year. With a delicious homemade breakfast, great view, friendly owners, warm blankets, adorable pets and rustic setting not far from Guanwu (entrance to a national park), the residence of Zhang Xueliang, Dabajianshan and the Pasta'ai, it's a great spot for a rest if you have your own transport.

We got there at 4am - they'd left the rooms open for us - and collapsed into bed.

I awoke at 7am with a headache, took some Panadol and slept again until about 10 or 11. The coterie of dogs from two years ago was nowhere to be seen, but in their place, they had a pile of kittens.

O.M.G. 好可愛喔!! How cute is this pile of adorableness?

Pretty darned cute.

They pretended to like Brendan because they were hoping he'd open the door to the kitchen area for them. We visited for a bit, drank tea, ate breakfast, enjoyed the view, played with the kittens and puppy, and they reminded me of how ridiculously hungover I had been last time. (Also, apparently they understand my Chinese now.)

The view from Ah-Q Mama's.

Because we don't know if or when we'll be back in that area or when we'll have our own transportation, we had a look a few kilometers down the road to the former residence of Zhang Xueliang who you can read about on Wikipedia. Pretty nice place to live out your days under house arrest...

...and anyone who managed to kidnap Chiang Kai-shek is someone I can't dislike too much, even if the Mainlanders think he's a hero.

The entire experience left me with four lasting thoughts:

1.) That picture of the nice older lady I posted above? She speaks fluent Saisiyat and Chinese, but surrounding her were her children and grandchildren (of which she had many). Not one of her grandchildren could speak the Saisiyat language, despite being in touch with their culture enough to participate in the Pasta'ai. The Saisiyat are not even the tiniest or most assimilated of the aboriginal tribes - if their own language is dying out to the extent that grandchildren cannot speak their grandparents' mother tongues, then this does not bode well for the future of aboriginal languages in general (which are commonly recognized to be dying out at an alarming rate).

On the other hand, it's fascinating to head up through these villages and realize that you aren't hearing even one word of Chinese or a Chinese-related language spoken. There are still more native speakers of Atayal, Saisiyat etc. who use it on a daily basis than one would expect.

2.) Every once in awhile I get a thought in my head that goes something like this: "What are you doing spending so much time and money traveling instead of saving, buying a home and working on a career? Haven't you noticed that people are people no matter where you go, that travel is a luxury that, when you're done with it, leaves you with no material gain? Anyway, haven't you traveled enough?" Experiences like the Pasta'ai remind me that no, people are not the same everywhere you go, and that while there may be no material gain to travel, there's a lot of gain in terms of cultural exposure, wisdom and knowledge of the world. I'm not one of those people who travels without trying to learn (and retain) something about the history, politics, economy, language and culture of a place or event - so I inevitably come away with new pieces of firsthand knowledge.

Sure, I could read about Taiwan in a book - it's pretty clear that many policymakers in the US State Department do just that. (Officers travel abroad, learn languages and have a wide scope of global knowledge, but I've noticed that actual policymakers and those who influence decision-making...well...don't - even representatives posted to the countries they're dealing with). If I had "stayed home", built a career and had a more settled life in the country of my birth, sure, I could read, watch TV shows, see movies and learn online about different people in different parts of the world, but I wouldn't really know anything tangible about them, and I would completely miss out on things like Pasta'ai. How many newspaper articles, websites, TV shows and school textbooks on Taiwan mention aborigines, let alone the Saisiyat, not to mention their festivals or really any pertinent information about them? Most people don't even know that Taiwan has aborigines to begin with.

And that right there is valuable, and it's one of the main reasons, if not the #1 reason, why I continue to travel even as pressure increases to settle down.

3.) Ten minutes at a festival like this will show any nay-sayers, fence-sitters and ignoramuses who get their opinions from scant news articles rather than real world experience to what very great extent Taiwan is not a part of China. How could anyone claim that a country with a rich mixture of heritages, which includes but is not summed up by Chinese culture? This is not only not Chinese, this is something you will never see in China, something that has never had anything to do with China. Something created and continued by people who are not ethnically Chinese and hail from an entirely different cultural tradition than anything East Asia could offer, let alone China. It's unique to Taiwan, and showcases how Taiwan is unique. And, if you'll allow me to expand on that, showcases how much a unique place like Taiwan deserves to be recognized as the self-governing nation and cultural unit that it is.

Though I would not judge anyone who says that Taiwanese culture is strongly influenced by Chinese culture, and much of it originated there, I stop short at accepting that the entirety of Taiwanese culture was imported from China. As you can clearly see here, it was not - at least not entirely. This goes beyond the case for the divergent cultural evolutions (and Revolutions, har har har) of China and Taiwan - this is at the core of things, a fundamentally Taiwanese cultural facet that evolved long before there even was a "Taiwan" and a "China".

4.) There is really something to be said for having your own vehicle and the skills to drive it. I wish I had those skills (or rather, I have them but I wish I had the experience and confidence to use them in Taiwan). The freedom of being able to visit these places and participate in these festivals - and one thing that sets Pasta'ai apart from the Taiwanese temple fairs is that the audience can participate - with your own transportation is a great feeling, and I wish we had more access to it. Which means more practice for me.