Some alternate views of Jinguashi and Jiufen

Everyone who's been in Taiwan awhile knows the standard photograph, the usual postcard, and the run-of-the-mill walks through Jiufen. The touristy market street (which I kind of like - there's a good herbal soap store), the gorgeous view over the bay, the stair street and possibly a hike up Keelung Mountain are the must-do activities.

We spent our day a little differently. We made some time for the market and stair street, but also explored the old residential parts of Jiufen in a drizzling gray rain (head left at the end of the market street and then keep going, making an eventual righthand swing around the side of the mountain to where the Jiufen residents live), went up to a Japanese shrine above Jinguashi and walked around to the other side of Keelung Mountain for some gorgeous ocean views.

To get to the viewing platforms you have to take the bus from Ruifang to the very end of the line past Jinguashi. If the driver is nice he'll take you a bit farther so you won't have to walk uphill.

For the Japanese shrine, the entrance is not far from the Gold Museum and requires walking up a lot of steps with no shade.

I wish I still had my photos of Jiufen, but due to a recent computer crash, they're gone. I do, however, have these:

Isao on the overlook along the far side of Keelung Mountain (Jinguashi)

Sasha at the entrance to the Japanese shrine (between Jinguashi and Jiufen - closer to Jinguashi)

At the end we did do the tourist thing a bit - what can we say, it's fun! That's why it's "the tourist thing" in the first place - and finished off with tea and a great view.

Sunset in Jiufen - Sasha, Amy, Sun, Joseph, Brendan, Isao, Eduardo, Sharon

Used Bookstores in Taipei (with English books!)

Hey,

Just wanted to provide a rundown of places in Taipei to buy and sell used books, since it's a question that gets asked a lot and definitely deserves a solid answer available online. You might think that a city like Taipei wouldn't have these options - we're not a backpacker haven like Bangkok (thank the gods!) nor are we an expat hell like Seoul (again, I thank thee, O Heavenly ones). Options do exist, however, and these are the ones I've found so far:

Whose Books
Update: this storefront is gone. Whose Books' main store has moved to Gongguan. The sign is visible on Roosevelt Road right where Xinsheng S. Road terminates and the entrance is in the back (enter the lane and turn in to get to the entrance at the back).

Another branch can be found in Shilin - MRT Shilin, main exit, but after you exit make a U-turn to the right to backtrack down under the elevated track and it's at the back of that public square area. English books are upstairs.

Both stores buy used books (but don't give much)

Best selection of used books in Taipei, and seems to be getting bigger. They've got something for everyone - nonfiction, sci fi, old guidebooks, cheesy chick lit and romance novels, serious fiction for serious people, Booker Prize winners, backpacker fare, self-help, technical manuals, whatever. You can sit on ledges or on the floor and there are 3 tables in the back. Coffee and water available. Will provide a "VIP Card" for discounts, and will buy books but not at a competitive price (if your aim is to get rid of old books and make space for new ones, not to make money, it's a good deal). With the tables, good selection and windows in the back, it's a great place to spend a rainy Saturday, finishing with some wine and a smoked salmon sandwich at the cafe down the street.

Mollie's Used Books I
Taipower Building MRT - take the southernmost exit on the west side of Roosevelt Rd and walk down past the actual Taipower Building. Turn right in the lane next to the building painted bright yellow (used to be Asto Gelato if you know the area, now it's a Bossini). Walk down past Karma and the Buddhist Library and turn left in Alley 10. It's down a little ways.

Of the three Mollie's, this one has the best selection of English books, but that's not saying much. There's a small selection mostly of self-help and business "How to Re-Engineer Your Blue-Sky Deliverable Envisioneering" wankology and some cheap sci-fi paperbacks, among a few books actually worth reading (not that I'm dissing "The Return of Xargax" or anything...oh wait, yes I am). But they make OK coffee for 50 kuai, have used CDs that are sometimes good and sometimes horrific (Chumbawamba?). Downstairs there are a lot of cheap kid's books in Chinese, good that's where your Chinese reading level is. Finally, downstairs there's a decently eclectic selection of old guidebooks. They say they buy books but they wouldn't take ours. Strange, as our books are better than what they've got.

Mollie's II
South side of Heping East Road between Shida and Xinsheng S. Road. I don't remember exactly where but it's a basement entrance and very easy to miss, so look carefully. It's near that Chinese restaurant that looks Italian, which is next to an actual Italian restaurant.

This one has a few tables and benches, and they don't mind if you use the floor. They also have 2 cats and seem to provide coffee. One small nook on the far righthand side of the store has English, German and some French books, and there are a few used CDs. This is a fun place to grab random stuff and read away a day, but don't come expecting to find anything. I've never tried to unload old books here.

Mollie's III
Somewhere in the crazy lanes of Gongguan Night Market - good luck. It's near a Vietnamese restaurant.

The only English selection seems to consist of old textbooks and manuals, but they have a pretty good used CD collection. Doesn't matter as nobody can ever find the place.

Grandma Nitti's
Update: the books at Grandma Nitti's are gone. Gone gone gone. Now, go to Bongo's.

Update: Bongo's

This place is in Gongguan, and I am still awful at telling people how to get there. If you go to Wenzhou St. Lane 86 and then keep walking north on Wenzhou, turning left in the next lane, at the end of that lane where it meets the next street, you'll find Bongo's (you can also get there by walking one block over, away from Roosevelt Rd., from Sai Baba).

Bongo's has a larger selection now that it's taken over for Grandma Nitti's and is worth a visit just for the books (the food isn't really all that fantastic, but pretty good as backpackery Western fare goes).

The Beautiful Isle

As Typhoon Sinlaku continues to dump water on us, I've decided to pass a little time by posting my favorite photos from Taiwan taken over the 2 years I've resided here. Unfortunately, all of my photos from the past six months or so - not yet stored safely online - are gone forever. My computer crashed a few weeks ago and with it went all of my old data. We tried a recovery but there wasn't much they could do for us.

Oh well. Without further ado:

Carp Lake (Liyu Tan) in the East Rift Valley

Kid Running Up Stairs in Jingtong (Pingxi)

The view from my first apartment's bedroom window. Super!

Fu (happiness) in Lugang

Lishan at Sunset - I always loved this aspect of Lishan, the way the clouds and mountains turn peach pink in the evenings and things quiet down instead of pipe up and get brighter.

Fortune Teller - Chongqing Street

Leaf on a Rainy Day - Pinglin

Zodiac Animals & Such, Some Temple in Lugang

Magong at Night (Penghu)

Temple Tiger, Tainan

Another shot from the upper end of Taroko Gorge

Chili Peppers Drying - Taipei

Chinese New Year Shopping at Dihua Street, Taipei 2007

Buddha (Guanyin?) at Tianxiang

Temple at Night in Penghu

From a temple in Tainan

Brendan taking a photo from the summit of Shulongjian in Jingtong (Pingxi)

I know Taroko Gorge is the standard stop for foreign travelers and expats, but it can still be quite charming and photogenic. I took this towards the coastal end of the Gorge, not far from the Martyr's memorial.

The giant chess pieces on a sidewalk in Xinyi (near Taipei 101)

Martial Arts Guy, Lantern Festival daytime procession, Tainan 2007

Typhoon Sinlaku

I.
Am.
So.
Bored.

I have asked the fine folks at Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree YC branch to entertain me with videos of dancing monkeys. For all of you out there who are just as bored as me, stuck indoors while the lame typhoon sort of rages on (and off, and on), here they are:

dancing monkeys

more dancing monkeys


and still more dancing monkeys

Enjoy!

The typhoon isn't getting much press because Galveston is so much worse off...but it's not fun. It's about the same strength as Hurricane Ike but without the killer eye and storm surge. There's also the fact that Taiwan handles these storms better than the USA, and because we're in Asia (not the USA), we don't get as much international coverage. There's less damage because the Taiwanese are quite used to it all and built cities that can withstand the typhoons.

Yay Taiwan!

Ahem. So yes. I am bored. We went out earlier and rented 6 movies and 1 season of a TV show but that's getting old. We got a cup of coffee since we were already out, and did a crossword. We cooked lunch, enjoyed some together time, and cleaned up our flooded kitchen for the second time.

But it's only 8pm, and this thing isn't even going to make landfall until tomorrow!

So one day down, one day to go of HORRIFIC BOREDOM.

I feel worse for the residents of Galveston TX of course, and for my younger sister studying at Zheng-da. Today is her birthday and she spent it hanging out in a dorm room. That must have been fun.

I guess I could go clean up the kitchen, which has just flooded for the third time...

Exotic Masala House

So we finally tried Exotic Masala House last night, just as the typhoon blew in.


Exotic Masala House: #19 Lane 13 Pu Cheng Street Taipei (turn off Shida Road at Red House pub and it's a ways in on the right).

We went for an almost entirely South Indian spread - idli sambhar, masala dosa, Kerala fried fish. We also got samosas just because, and several cups of masala chai each.

The verdict? Not bad. Not perfect. The only two times I've had idli-dosa outside of Tamil Nadu that really tastes exactly like the tiffin there have been in Singapore (Little India - one of those tiny spots with card tables and aluminum plates and tumblers) and Amma Vegetarian Kitchen in Georgetown...and even Amma sometimes spiced its sambhar a little too mildly. Singapore was my favorite because the feeling of the place we went really felt like a tiffin joint in Madurai. Tamils, hair dripping with coconut oil, sitting around shoddy tables with metal cups, talking shit and eating, pouring foaming hot chai between two cups to cool it down. Amma us good but it feels like an actual restaurant, which is just not right at all.

Update: since this was published, we've eaten at Exotic Masala House a few more times. According to some others in the Indian community in Taipei, the owner (a woman from Kerala) left for awhile, the quality went way downhill and never quite recovered. We've also noticed a downturn in quality there, and aren't as enamored of it as we used to be. I love idli-dosa so I'd like to see this place get better again, but at the moment I can't give it a wonderful review. It's not terrible, but there are better choices in Taipei if you are happy with north Indian fare.

But back to Taipei. Exotic Masala House's idli-dosa satisfied a craving. Scratched a culinary itch. The sambhar was good but not quite as laden with lentils as it ought to be (and no drumstick). The idli was just fine, if a little crumbly. But that's alright, idli in India isn't always fluffy either.

My favorite dish was the masala dosa - it was small compared to what one normally gets and the dosa was definitely closer to ghee dosa (not paper dosa at all), but the potato masala inside was delicious and spicy. It wasn't the bright yellow potato curry I'm used to; it was more reddish, almost like a chutney dosa. I'm OK with that; a variation that is also present in India.

I liked the chutneys, but wish that with the sambhar they'd serve pure coconut chutney (white with black mustard seed), not the green kind that includes extra cilantro and green chili.

The Kerala fish curry was a bit disappointing, more like a fish fry. It was good enough, but my memory of Malayali fish is a massive white filet encrusted with spices and sauteed in coconut or just grilled. If they'd serve that, I'd be in heaven.

The samosas were...samosas. Good. The wrapping was a little different, but a totally acceptable variation. But they were no better or worse than samosas at any other Indian restaurant in Taipei.

But then we come to the masala chai. Ahh, the masala chai. It was...superb. We drank it as dessert, since they didn't have any on the menu (no big deal - many restaurants don't offer Indian desserts because they are not popular with the locals, and even when they do they come out of a can). It would have been nice to get some gulab jamun, samiya payasam, khulfi, burfi or kheer...but no such luck.

But that chai. If you go for anything, go for the chai. It's laden with cardamom - as in, positively reeks of it. It's spicy and cinnamony and milky and sweet. Heaven in a cup, served so hot that you have to sit there and smell it for about 10 minutes before it's drinkable. An orgasm in a cup.

We drank two cups each and I was considering a third, and the friend who met us there just for the tea raved about it.

Some other notes - this place doesn't seem to be getting much business, but then we went just before Typhoon Sinlaku blew in, and none of the Shida restaurants were raking in the cash that night. Just because they make idli and dosa even possible in Taipei, it really deserves to stay afloat.

The prices are great. Nothing we ordered cost more than 150 kuai, and many were closer to 80. A huge meal for two and tea for three didn't even reach 1000 kuai; a strange occurrence in a Taipei ethnic restaurant.

The music is great; it's all MS Subbulakshmi and Dr. Yesudas with others thrown in. Very relaxing, very atmosphere-appropriate. The restaurant is decorated in saffron orange and is warm and welcoming.

Brendan and I sat around in the table by the window reading the paper and chatting. We were comfortable - practically fuzzy - from the tiffin rush, the soft undulating music, the warm colors and the amazing chai. The three of us ended up hanging around a lot longer than was strictly necessary before giving up on a typhoon movie and deciding on typhoon Belgian beer at Red House, drunk giddily on the terrace as Sinlaku began its rainy rage.

The waitress came up and asked - hao chi ma?

"Quanbu dou hao che...nimen de masala dosa zuihao laaa. Zhe bei cha ye feichang hao he oh!"

The waitress goes to the back, where a plump Dravidian lady with a massive nosering was standing around.

"They said it tasted good! They especially love the tea and dosa!"

The woman squealed delightedly, sounding younger than her age, happy that her customers enjoyed her food.

I don't know why, but that was quite heart-softening.

Is it exactly like Madurai? No. Is it worth going back frequently? Definitely!

Those pesky gods!

First off, please don't think from these two links in a row that I actually read the China Post regularly. I am and remain a staunch Taipei Timeser (despite their disorganized articles and occasional typo-ridden headlines) - why? I agree with their political bias. Just like with the Washington Post, I know which way they lean and I'm cool with that, because I agree.

As long as one keeps in mind that the bias does exist and is willing to read news from other sources with other biases to get a better sense of the truth, that's fine.

But all that aside, this was interesting:

Lawsuit thrown out - Gods won't show as witnesses

So Chang Li-tang (former mayor of Tainan) had been active in this monastery. That's pretty normal here; I'm fairly sure my own company donates large chunks of its profits to a Buddhist monastery somewhere on the island. He posted some scriptures online and the monastery board decided that this act angered and insulted the gods. They summarily fired him, but Chang filed a suit for wrongful dismissal.

The suit was thrown out. Why? Because the court decided that they needed the gods to testify as to whether they were offended or not.

Since the gods are not likely to show up, they dismissed the case.

Hiking Tidbits

An interesting article in the China Post outlines a walk along the Xiao Tzukeng trail near Ruifang and Jiufen. As a huge fan of Taipei county's "Old Trails", this one is definitely now on my list of places to visit. I'm not a fan of climbing steps as opposed to hiking - preferably on a dirt trail, close to nature, with some monkeys at the end - but it still sounds like a lovely trip.

Gold Mining Country: Xiao Tzukeng Old Trail


Two things immediately stood out as I followed Xiao Tzukeng Old Trail near the Taipei County town of

Ruifang one beautiful early morning recently. The first was the beauty of the mountain scenery rising high above my head, which is rugged and precipitous, yet covered in a dense canopy of trees and undergrowth.

It's hardly surprising that this is an outstandingly beautiful slice of countryside: the upper Keelung River valley is possibly my favorite part of Taipei County. More unexpected is the high quality of the wide, expertly cut steps that carry the trail up to the heights, quite unlike the usual uneven, narrow and slippery slabs of rock that negotiate the steepest stretches of most historic trails I've followed.

It's not until exploring further up the mountainside, as we start to decipher the information boards placed alongside the trail at intervals, that we learn why the trail here was built with so such care, and it's a surprising discovery. Xiao Tzukeng Old Trail connects the lowlands of the Keelung River valley just north of the village of Houtung (侯硐) with the tiny, long abandoned settlement of Xiao Tzukeng, a tiny place perched high in the mountains (unreachable by any road), built to house the families of miners hoping to make their fortune at the gold mines above Jiufen, which is just a short climb over the ridge behind.

Recently upgraded and signposted, Xiao Tzukeng Old Trail (小粗坑古道) is a gentle walk, yet one that's peppered with fascinating relics from an exciting period of Taiwan's history -- the Jiufen gold rush. A few minutes after leaving the road, the first of many stone buildings, now nothing but a picturesque ruin enveloped in the jungle, stands beside the track.

In another minute or two, the track becomes a trail, crosses the rocky stream twice in quick succession, and reaches the bottom of a grand staircase of wide, well-hewn steps that lead all the way up the mountainside to the abandoned village and beyond.

The width and careful construction of these steps really is quite surprising to anyone who has walked more than a couple of Taiwan's hundreds of "old trails," so it's obvious that the villagers here were far wealthier than the farmers, villagers and fishermen who laid many of the other trails across the mountains throughout Taiwan.

About half-an-hour from the trailhead, the path climbs onto a large, stone platform rising high above the stream that flows at its foot. A quick look at our trusty hiking book revealed that a waterwheel was apparently once fixed here, and that gold-bearing rock brought from the mines was crushed and washed at this place. Or at least maybe it could be after wet weather -- the streambed was bone dry on our visit.

A long, wide staircase now climbs for about twenty minutes from the bank of the stream to the edge of the abandoned village of Xiao Tzukeng, a wonderfully atmospheric place, with a handful of half-ruined stone buildings lining the path, half hidden by the thick foliage of the encroaching jungle.

A trail on the left leads past the ruins of the village's old elementary school (which had a single classroom and just one teacher, so that only first and second grade kids could be taught here), and on up more steps past a picturesque small Earth God shrine to a wooden platform atop the nearest summit, providing a good view of Ruifang and the Keelung River Valley.

It's hard to imagine a bustling community of over 200 people once lived here, but another helpful info-board informed us that Xiao Tzukeng was once quite a lively place. A stage once stood in the playground of the school, and the village even had its own ensemble of Chinese Beiguan musicians!

Continuing onwards and upwards, after diverting around the grounds of the only house in town that's still inhabited (apparently by a couple of monks), a short but narrow, overgrown and difficult trail leaves the steps on the right and contours the precipitous hillside, reaching (after about five minutes' scramble) the foot of the small but very pretty Yingssu ("silver silk") Waterfall (銀絲瀑布), a hidden little place that's worth the trouble of getting there even when it's dry (as is often the case!).

The steps (a bit dilapidated in places now) climb steeply for another hot twenty minutes to reach a large and dignified stone shrine, protected by an unsightly concrete roof. This is the Temple to the Mountain Gods, a place at which miners en route to the mines at Jiufen would request permission before extracting rock from the mountainside, in the hope that the assent of the gods would ensure their safety while underground. The shrine is big enough to enter. Inside, in a niche at the back, sits a small stone figure, a replacement for the original statue (covered in gold leaf) that once sat here.

Jiufen (and, of course, its crowds) is now just a short climb, over the ridge.