The trip had a perfect start as we arrived in Taipei right away we were brought straight to the world famous dumpling restaurant called Din Tai Fung (www.dintaifung.com.tw) for lunch. The restaurant is most famous for its soupy dumpling Xiao Long Bao, an original Taiwanese food. Because of the dimsum’s popularity, the restaurant has branched out in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, the US and Australia. After the hefty lunch, our group around 80 Philippine travel agents and board members of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) set out to see Taiwan with an itinerary prepared by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau.
We first visited the Martyr’s Shrine and witnessed the 30-minute changing of the guards. We then headed to the International Flora Exposition (www.2010taipeiexpo.tw). The exposition, which will run until April 25, 2011, is housed in a massive complex that has 14 pavilions, an expo dome and a global garden area. The expo showcases flowers, fruit trees and plants. Shows, food and shopping are also in the expo site. Thirty-four countries participate in the global garden area with the Philippine set-up being one of the more popular ones. The Philippine exhibition area has a church tower outside. Inside the exhibition booth can be found Philippine orchids and enticing photographs of the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, Mayon Volcano in Albay, the Underground River in Palawan among other famous Philippine scenery. Around these famed Philippine sights are mascaras and abanicos. I am proud to say that our country’s set-up seems to be the most photographed as well.
After visiting the Flora Expo, we checked in our hotel. Then we proceeded to have our hot pot dinner, a very popular healthy dish (since it is boiled) in Taiwan. What made the dinner flavorful was the variety of sauces that one could mix to dip one’s boiled food in. Although we had a long day, it seemed everyone was up to heading to Shilin Night Market where food, trinkets, bags, clothes, jewelry and souvenirs could be found. The night market didn’t seem to close until around 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., with food stalls open for the weary shopper.
Our second day made us see more of Taiwan when we drove by the Presidential Palace and stopped by the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. The highlight of the day though was the visit to the National Palace Museum (www.npm.gov.tw). The museum houses around 700,000 high quality Chinese artifacts and artworks (mostly made and owned by Chinese emperors), probably the best Chinese collection in the world. The museum was originally the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. In 1931, Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist Government ordered the museum to quickly move valuable pieces out of the city to prevent it from being looted by the Japanese Army, as the Summer Palace was previously looted by other nations. The collection was moved to several places around China. The Chinese Civil War resumed following the surrender of the Japanese Army, resulting in Chiang Kai Shek evacuating the art to Taiwan. Ceramics, scrolls, bronzes, snuff bottles, paintings, carved object d’art and pottery are all must-see pieces in this museum.
After dinner, many of us returned to Shilin Market. This time, I inspected the local food stalls, which had dishes I was not familiar with. The most peculiar (and apparently famous in Taiwan) was a grilled delicacy shaped like a white sausage but had sticky rice inside. It was served to me in slices with choices of pickled vegetables. It also had five-spice grilled Chinese sausage. Other popular dishes were grilled squid or mushrooms, whole dried fish eggs, oyster omelets, and squid and fish balls sprinkled with salt and pepper.
We woke up early on our third day to visit Leofoo Amusement Park (www.leofoo.com.tw) in Hsinchu in Central Taiwan. It was an interesting theme park that had a lot of rides and concepts inspired by theme parks from the US, including a “Jurassic Park” ride. A train could take guests to see animals not endemic to Asia such as hippopotamus, rhinoceros, bison, pelicans and zebras. The Sultan’s Adventure was an eight-minute simulated ride that apparently cost NT$1 billion, roughly P1.5 billion, to build. Of course this had the longest queue. From there, it took a few hours to reach Chung Tai Temple in Puli, a massive temple with a lot of giant statues of Buddha and other intricately carved pieces of sculpture. We proceeded to Tai Yi Resort (www.taii.com.tw) in Nantou where we stayed for the night. Each room was equipped with one or two bathtubs with hot sulfur-rich water flowing straight from the hot springs. Dinner was in the same resort hosted by the Nantou County Tourism Board where we were served “flower dishes” or food arranged to look like flowers and food with actual edible flowers.
The fourth day of our tour brought us to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. I had no idea that Taiwan had nine aboriginal tribes. They performed a song and dance number for us. Right after watching the performance, we, again, went shopping for souvenirs. From the Aboriginal Village, we took a 1,877-meter-long cable car ride over the beautiful Sun Moon Lake and had a lunch featuring the cuisine of Nantou. It was another couple of hours before we reached Taipei and visited Taipei 101, once the tallest building in the world. Major designer labels are located at the mall beside Taipei 101, where spectacular views of the city can be seen from the 89th floor viewing deck.
Our last day in Taiwan had an early morning breakfast call and last minute shopping before heading to the airport. I took the chance of buying all these Taiwanese delicacies I knew I couldn’t find in the Philippines such as seaweed sauce, canned roasted eel, plum salts, five-spice sausages, fish X.O. sauce and Szechuan pepper buds.
I shall not wait that long a time to go back to a destination that is worth going to again. I vow to return to Taiwan.
(Check out www.taiwan.net.tw )