Taiwan

I arrived in Taipei at 7:30pm on February 13 (day 10 of my Asia trip). My good friend David Lu and his father picked me up from the airport. I had met David in 2002 at the University of British Columbia where he was an exchange student for a year. I would spend the week with David as he graciously acted as my tour guide, host, and companion. We would visit Snake Alley, a nearby night market famous for its live slaying of snakes & fresh servings of snake parts, before returning to Dave’s apartment to sleep.

Day 11: Taipei
The great thing about Taipei is that there are public washrooms everywhere. Each MRT (Metro Rapid Transit) subway station has a washroom, which makes it very convenient for people with small bladders (I won’t mention names). We took the MRT to Dan Shui, a tourist attraction along the north coast of Taiwan. There we walked around, ate some local specialties (clams, fried noodles), visited the archeological museum and an old Spanish castle. After stopping at a coffee shop, where Dave took a short nap, we returned to Taipei. Dinner was at a famous beef noodle shop where Dave & I discussed how to make the shop more profitable (we had waited in a 25 person lineup for 38 minutes before we got into the 32 seat restaurant). Our last stop of the day was the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall where the annual Taipei Lantern Festival was held.

Day 14: Hualian
There are scooters everywhere in Taiwan. There are more scooters on the streets than cars. We had taken the train the day before to Hualian, a small city on the east coast of Taiwan, where we would spend 2 nights. After doing devotions together, we headed to Taroko National Park. The park was famous for the deep gorge that split through the mountains. It was here that Dave bravely allowed me to drive the scooter. It’s a bit tricky to start, but easily driven. After a few hikes in the park, we headed to Seven Seas Lake (which is actually a beach by the ocean, and yes, the name confused me too). Next we went to Dong Hua University, a spacious campus that used to be the largest university in East Asia. After dinner, we headed back to the home of Dave’s family friends where we were staying.

Day 16: Taipei
Dave had something important to do today (it turned out to be a life-changing day for him), so I spent the day with Dave’s friend Ivy, who kindly offered to take me around. The morning was spent at the famous National Palace Museum, displaying the ancient & impressive artifacts of the Chinese people. The visit helped me on my journey to understand, appreciate and take pride in Chinese history & culture. The morning was contrasted with the afternoon, spent in Taipei 101, the pride and joy of modern Taiwan. Taipei 101 is currently the world’s tallest building (at least until 2008) standing at 501m and 101 floors. It includes some of the world’s latest technology (including the world’s fastest elevator traveling at 1010m / minute). We spent the evening at the university night market, famous for its food and the millions of things you can buy there. I returned to Dave’s place to chat with him as we shared our respective day’s events (he had more to share than I did).

I am so grateful for Dave and his family. His entire family treated me as their personal guest, even though they did not know me. His father picked me up from the airport, his mother prepared breakfast for us each day & did laundry for me, and his sister took me to eat squid soup at her favourite local restaurant. All of them would chat with me & allow me to practice my Mandarin with them whenever they had the chance.

Dave strikes me as a man of character, with joy, kindness, perseverance, passion, and conviction in his life. We spent our time together talking about life, business, career, relationships, history, Taiwan, family, God, and the future. The week spent with Dave has definitely encouraged and inspired me.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
~Proverbs 27:17~