Nonetheless, one of the side benefits of police cars always having their lights on is that you can spot them a mile away. Easily identifiable police cars probably won’t save you if you’re breaking the law on the roads but in terms of knowing the police are around or flagging a car down, having their lights on makes it that much easier.

Well, unless of course you run into these guys:

Spotted in Toufen Township of Miaoli in central Taiwan, this “police car” was sitting parked outside a vacant lot on the side of the road. It appears to be a mock-up, presumably of the police cars used in the video game ‘Need for Speed Hot Pursuit’:

Well, not quite a Lamborghini… but points for trying.

There was no front license plate and the writing where it should have been (under the front grill) reads ‘speed enforcement’.

The rear of the car was also quite comical:

Sporting a big loud exhaust and more ‘speed enforcement’ stickers, I can only imagine the attention these guys get driving around.

With the rear of the car clearly sporting a license plate it appears there were no problems getting this car registered. Granted they might have changed the paint after it was registered still… you’d think the local police would have stepped in by now.

Impersonating a police even so far as sticking some red and blue flashing lights on your dashboard is usually a pretty big deal… so this car comes off as pretty over-the-top in the ‘fake police’ department (no pun intended).

Still, good on them for giving it a shot lol. Here’s to Toufen Township’s fake ‘Need for Speed’ police!

As such, no matter how “sporty” Taiwan’s scooters become, they still have to meet the demand of riders to be able to store copious amounts of stuff inside them.

For most the space under a scooter seat combined with the limited shelf space under the handlebar unit is ample enough room to serve as a second closet but for some even this isn’t enough.

Due to side panniers interfering with passengers on a scooter (another must-have requirement for all scooters sold in Taiwan), these people opt for large boxes that are attached to the rear of the scooter.

Apart from the really big food delivery style ones (often the pizza ones are about half the size of the scooter themselves), most of these rear box compartments are pretty nondescript.

A particular “Fashion Box” I spotted on the back of one particular scooter however recently caught my eye:

Of note on the rear of the box there’s a great big “Nissan” sticker but I’m kind of thinking that’s just been added for aftermarket “performance” value.

The side of the Fashion Box informed me that this particular specimen was a ‘wind model’ with “special production features”.

I’m not entirely sure what those special production features are… but I can only assume given the rather simplistic outer design of the Fashion Box, that only upon someone opening the box does amazing stuff happen, which in turn cause the special production features to kick in.

Fortunately, the black sticker on top of the Fashion Box revealed further insight into what these mysterious special production features might be:

Attention: This high quality box specially studied for your motorcycle.

Allowed a maximum charge of 8kgs. You can put your helmet. Don’t forget the key on the lock and fasten the nut/bolt tightly.

With each Fashion Box presumably attending special schools and universities located around the island before commencing storage duty on top of a scooter, perhaps some sort of artificial intelligence was the key.

Despite my best efforts at voice commands and attempting to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Fashion Box though, ultimately it is with a heavy heart that I report I failed to establish contact and learn the box’s secrets.

Educated scooter storage boxes: 1

OzSoapbox: 0

She was from the US and heading over to China but oddly had scheduled a 24 hour stop over in Taiwan in order to get a health check done. Curious as to why she didn’t just visit a hospital in China she told me that China’s hospitals were notoriously dirty and that simply put, the level of health care there just didn’t compare.

In light of this and figuring she couldn’t be the only one worried about hospitals in China, I thought it’d be a good idea to share with people what the inside of a Taiwanese hospital is like and generally speaking, how the level of healthcare in them shapes up.

The hospital I chose to visit for my write-up and wander around in is Taipei’s Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in Banciao District of Taipei County.

Built in 1981, the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital is the main hospital for the southern are of Taipei County. As you walk up the entrance,

you’re then presented with an information help desk on your right:

I’ve been to a few hospitals in Taiwan now and apart from some of the smaller ones in the townships, all have English-speaking staff (fluent enough to help you if you’re patient) and can advise you on where to go and what you need to do depending on why you’re there.

If you’ve never been to the hospital before, usually the first thing you’ll need to do is register yourself as a patient (you have to do this regardless of whether you’re an inpatient or outpatient). This registration is done at the registration desk:

These registration desks are universally located on the first floor (ground) of hospitals in Taiwan and is usually within the immediate proximity of the information desk.

Registering can be a bit problematic in the smaller hospitals (forms only in Chinese) but again if you’re patient they can usually muster up someone to help you with filling out the forms.

After you’ve registered then they need to work out what you’re there for and where to book you in. For ARC health checks there’s usually a separate area for that but for regular treatment you’ll most likely find yourself booked into an outpatient clinic.

I haven’t experienced Taiwan’s hospitals from an inpatient perspective so unfortunately I can’t comment on that (I didn’t feel confident walking around the ward areas as a non-patient taking photos either so I can’t visually show you what they’re like).

As an outpatient though, once you’ve been booked into a clinic (hospitals in Taiwan typically run morning and afternoon clinics with a lunch break between 12-1pm or 12-2pm, you then make your way to the clinic area and take a seat.

The registration desk will give you a ticket stub which will have the clinic room number you need to go to and your position number.

Protocol once you’ve found your clinic room seems to vary a bit in that some people will simply barge up to the clinic door, knock and then barge in and announce to the nurse that they’ve arrived (handing over their ticket stub and healthcare card). Other, more polite, people simply hover near the door until the nurse comes out to bring in a new patient and then hand over their ticket stub and card.

Depending on how far down the line you are the nurse might take your stub or just register that you’ve arrived. Given that the nurse may or may not be able to communicate with you in English, don’t get too worried if she just nods and goes about her business. So long as the big LED number display hasn’t ticked over your appointment number, just wait patiently till your time comes.

Doctor wise I’ve found most are proficient enough in English that you can get through a simple outpatient appointment. Again I haven’t had to go in for anything complex in Taiwanese hospital but you do, I’d strongly suggest having a companion go with you who is fluent in Mandarin just in case.

I’m not sure about the private hospitals in Taiwan but public hospitals here can be bogged down so make sure you bring a book with you and be prepared to wait. Appointment wise you can get an earlier appointment if you book online or over the phone in advance (being fluent in Mandarin is usually required for this or getting a friend to do it), but if you rock up and book on the day expect to be there for a few hours at least.

That said, I’ve booked online and on occasion also had to wait a few hours anyway, it really depends on the day, how many patients rock up and how serious their problems are – something you or the hospital can’t control so best be prepared with a book or something to keep you occupied just in case.

Seeing the doctor is pretty straight forward, although depending on what you’re there for it can be a bit of an adjustment to get used to the openness of it all. The concept of private clinic rooms doesn’t seem to exist in Taiwan and it’s quite common to be seen in an area that is either just fenced off with a curtain or completely open.

With people barging into the clinic area to talk to the nurse or the patient immediately after you waiting in the same room to be seen while the doctor treats you, any reservations about your own privacy can be vigorously put to the test.

That said being the cultural norm here there isn’t much you can do except grit your teeth and bear it. Or at least that’s what I did.

Once you’ve seen the doctor it’s back to the registration desk (some hospitals have a separate cashier with bigger hospitals having multiple cashiers) to pay your bill. If the doctor has prescribed medicine the cashier will give you a slip you then need to take to the pharmacy:

In the larger and more busier hospitals this area is typically a row of seats with big numbers on display. Your pharmacy ticket will have a number printed on it and you just wait till it’s up and approach the desk. Note that some hospital pharmacies update their display in batches of numbers rather than individually so watch out for that.

Upon presenting at the pharmacy desk you’ll need your healthcare card (or some sort of photo ID if you don’t have one) to collect your medicine – but I’ve found they don’t always check this (how many people there are going to have a non-Chinese name right?).

The smaller hospitals do have waiting areas for the pharmacy but more often than not you can just approach the desk and collect your medicine.

The hospital pharmacy is linked up to the doctor clinic rooms so as soon as you’ve seen the doctor someone starts putting together your medicine and it should be ready by the time you make your way to the pharmacy.

Typically I’ve found doctors in Taiwan like to prescribe a whole bunch of pills even for the mildest of conditions, so make sure you check all your medicine is there once you receive your little bag of pills and what not.

If the bags are labelled in Chinese you can put in a request for the pharmacy to do a reprint in English (sometimes they do this on their own when they see you at the counter and ask you to wait a few minutes extra while they do it).

Overall as you can see hospitals in Taiwan are a pretty clean and straightforward affair and apart from finding the odd few traces of shit in them, I can’t say that I felt they weren’t up to standard.

A general lack of privacy is probably the biggest adjustment you’ll have to make when visiting a hospital in Taiwan, with most people not seeming fussed to be triaged or treated out in the open:

Emergency wise all the major hospitals have 24 hour emergency departments:

Although depending on how severe your condition is, due to the population density in Taiwan you might find yourself waiting for a considerable amount of time.

This photo shows the rear end of the emergency department at the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital and as you can see, the beds are just out in the open with anyone able to walk pass:

With those same corridors being used for thoroughfare between the emergency department and the rest of the hospital, they are quite busy. If you’re lying there feeling all sick and what not having so many people rush past (and stare because you’re not Taiwanese) could quite easily test your patience. Again though, this is the norm here in Taiwan so there’s not really much you can do about it.

Cost wise I’ve found treatment in Taiwan to be excellent with a healthcare card and competitive without. Compared to Australia (even with medicare and private health insurance), Taiwan comes off pretty cheap for basic treatment. I don’t think on any single visit to date I’ve found myself paying more than $30 USD (medicine included).

The bulk of that price usually winds up being the medicine with the doctor visit itself coming in at under $10 USD.

Given all the above I suppose it’s easy to see the attraction of people visiting Taiwan to be seen in a hospital here. It’s cheap, clean and the level of care and treatment seems to be pretty good.

I haven’t been to China so I can’t really comment comparison wise but if people are staying over in Taiwan for a day just to visit a hospital here before landing in China, well I think that in itself is a pretty strong indication as to the difference in quality of care and the facilities available.

Hopefully the above gives people a detailed insight into what hospitals in Taiwan are like, but if you’ve got any further questions about hospitals in Taiwan feel free to ask in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to answer (or find the answer for you).

One of the things I miss about Australia is the availability of late-night ice-cream. Taiwan’s climate is perfect for it yet when the sun goes down, for the most part you’re restricted to Taiwanese ice-dessert places or 7-11 prepackaged icecream.

There is the odd icecream parlour around but it’s mostly overpriced Haagen Daz or some other brand starting at around $80 TWD ($2.70 USD) a scoop.

McDonalds is also a workable alternative and is pretty cheap but sometimes you just want something that tastes a little more like traditional icecream. If you’re lucky to live near an area that has one, that’s where places like Yofroyo come in.

Definitely not traditional yogurt, Yofroyo serves up a milk based soft-serve frozen yogurt that is rich and creamy and comes with three pre-selected toppings.

The “yogurt” itself comes in berry flavours, plain, chocolate and green tea (ewwwww) and the basic idea is that you pick one of their premade creations which feature one of the yogurt flavours with accompanying toppings designed to complement the yogurt.

I tend to steer clear of the green tea options and solely order either a berry or chocolate yogurt variety.

My favourite variety of Yofroyo has to be Chocolate Devotion (chocolate yogurt, crumbled oreo, chocolate wafer and chocolate chips):

Note that in the above photo I’ve substituted the wafers (which I don’t particularly care for) with chocolate puff balls from their “Ivory Coast” variety (regular Ivory Coast has banana in it which I don’t like).

On the particular occasion the above photo was taken, my girlfriend opted for a ‘Berry Berry Acai’ (acai berry yogurt, acai jelly, strawberries and raspberry sauce):

My other favourite Yofroyo offering is their ‘Cranberry Paradise’ (cranberry yogurt, dried cranberry, cornflakes and aloe jelly)

Whilst I can’t highly enough recommend Yofroyo’s yogurt deserts as being delicious, there are a few beefs I have with the company itself.

On my first visit they made a big fuss when I asked for them to replace chocolate wafers with chocolate balls. All yogurt sizes are the same price no matter which variety you choose so I have no idea what the big deal to them was (it was still 3 toppings all up so no change for them).

Instead of just obliging my dislike of wafers, Yofroyo instead insisted that I buy one of their DIY cups, which would have wound up costing me $10 TWD more in total. Not a large amount but kind of ridiculous when all I’m doing is substituting chocolate wafers for chocolate balls.

Since sometime last year Yofroyo have abolished the DIY yogurt option though so I’m not entirely sure what they do now if you ask them to change a topping. I’ve only had it a few times and after paying the extra $10 TWD that one time I haven’t bothered to enquire about changing anything else (I just suck it up and eat the crappy wafers or order Cranberry Paradise).

My other beef is the price hike. Around the start of 2011 Yofroyo was offering their yogurt in the large size for $95 TWD ($3.20 USD). Today the same size now costs $120 TWD $4.05 USD), an increase of 26% on the original price.

I’m not sure if this is going to be an ongoing issue but it means that I’ve had to delegate eating Yofroyo to rare treat status, which is painful to do because it tastes so good.

When you consider the general lack of dairy desserts available in Taiwan, Yofroyo definitely make for a nice alternative to mashed ice and fruit. Shame about the price though and watch out if you want to change any of their premade flavour selections!

Yofroyo is currently only available in Taipei, with stores in Xindian, Ximending, the Shida Nightmarket area, Dunan (Zhongxiao Dunhua area) and Q Square shopping mall near Taipei Main Station.

Here in Taiwan with the abundance of cheap cooked food available my own cooking skills have been somewhat neglected but from time to time the kitchen calls. Try as they might, there are just some dishes it seems that Taiwanese food vendors are just never going to get right (spaghetti bolognese vendors, I’m looking at you!).

With that in mind a good cook knows that a kitchen has to be welcoming and functional. You need to have what you want in there and have it readily on hand. A cluttered kitchen is a surefire turnoff for an evening of cooking and so is not having what you need.

And then of course there’s the little things… like this:

If you want your boyfriend or husband to help out in the kitchen and cook a meal every now and then, don’t buy Hello Kitty kitchen towels.

Guaranteed to induce hours of rolling of the eyes, a general non-enthusiasm for anything kitchen related and the onset of spirit-crushing depression everytime something needs to be wiped up and he has to reach out for one of these abominations.

I was cycling through Miaoli County’s Toufen Township one day when I happened across what I can only describe as a wonderful little moat house.

Sitting on a block of land surrounded by a local irrigation canal, the moat house can only be accessed via a 3-4 meter bridge that sits out the front.

Should an earthquake take out the little bridge, I’m not entirely sure how the residents would get out. Then again, we’re hardly talking a crocodile infested defensive moat from the middle ages, so I suppose if push came to shove they’d manage until the bridge was fixed.

The house itself still kind of looks like a bit like a spacestation but at least the owners have done a bit to differentiate the house from the usual blocks of drab.

Windmills adorn the roof and clearly some effort has been put into surrounding the house with lively greenery.

If only more houses in Taiwan looked like this…

I’d been using my trusty “RJays Vortex” helmet for a good four or five years but over the last twelve months or so had been wanting to change it out due to the helmet starting to slide back while I was wearing it due to wear and tear of the fit mechanism.

I was going to retire the helmet at the end of the year but after a ride around a few months ago I was inspecting the straps of the helmet when I noticed that the rear plastic securing frame had actually snapped off clean on one side and was close to buggered on the other:

Almost guiltily I hit the internet in search of a replacement, finally settling on a 2012 K-10 helmet from Kask. After a few months of riding around with it on, here’s my review.

Made entirely in Italy, the first thing that struck me about the Kask was the build quality, although I suppose that’s to be expected when you go from a $60 helmet to something far more expensive.

The straps are reflective and a great deal “thinner” then my RJay helmet ones.

I hope in the long-term this doesn’t mean they’ll fray easier but for now they seem sturdy enough.

For the chin area there’s a godsend of a leather strap which is infinitely more comfortable then just having a regular strap there.

A bit stiff at first but after a month or so it’s softened and now I literally don’t even feel it’s there when wearing the helmet.

Fit wise the rear has a bracket that you just slide down a bit before putting the helmet on and then pop your head in:

There’s a dial on the rear for tightness but I haven’t had to fiddle with it since I set the original fit. Adjusting strap length is a relatively straight forward affair with plastic clamps on either side:

Aesthetics wise I prefer the minimalist look so the Kask logos on the side of the helmet took a bit of getting used to but I think they don’t stand out too much.

Not when you consider that the rest of the helmet is entirely black.

Weightwise the Kask K-10 is just 280gr (vs the RJays Vortex’s 338g) and has plenty of air vents to keep your head cool. I’ve worn the helmet for hours at a time and have absolutely no complaints about the fit and feel of the helmet on my head.

There’s no front visor so be advised if you’re riding in the sun that sunglasses are a must (I always wear them anyway so this wasn’t a consideration for me).

Coming in at just under $200 USD (or from the looks of it much cheaper than that on Amazon grumble grumble…) the Kask K-10 is easily one of the more expensive pieces of bicycle kit I’ve purchased recently but figuring the amount of time a helmet sits on my head and that I’ve spent the last year grumbling about my old Vortex helmet fit, I decided it was money well spent.

I highly recommend the K-10 if you’re in the market for a new bicycle helmet!

And then there’s this guy:

You can’t really see him in the photo, but tucked away in that blue truck is a guy sleeping.

Spotted in Jhunan Township down in Miaoli County, typically this blue truck owner rocks up around 11am, sets up his little toys on the side of the road and then has a nap in a hammock set up inside his truck.

I don’t know how profitable this venture is but it seems popular enough that halfway across Taiwan, up in the mountains of Taipei County’s Linkou Township, I spotted the exact same thing:

Since then I’ve come across the ‘guy sleeping in a blue truck selling random stuff’ phenomena multiple times all across Taiwan. I’ve seen shoes, power tools, handbags, $2 shop variety items, seats, picture frames, suits, fruit and vegetables and hell even porn all sold in this way.

Most commonly though, these sleeping blue truck owners seem to prefer to sell childrens toys (and I don’t mean for that to sound as creepy as it does).

Like I said before, no idea how much money is in it but it seems a hell of a better way to spend your day then slaving away in an office or any number of “regular” jobs I can think of.

Here’s to Taiwan’s lazy roadside shop owners!

Thankfully we hadn’t had to take too many visits to the vet thus far. Apart from the usual vaccinations a puppy needs and some upset stomach problems, vet wise we’d gotten off rather lightly.

That said there was a regular guy we’d been visiting who we’d asked a few months ago what the procedure was pretty straight forward. All we had to do was bring Leela in to get weighed and then we’d sort out a day to get her neutered.

About a month ago now we walked into his store and as he was busy with a client, took a seat. As is common with vets here in Taiwan the consultation area is wide out in the open and this particular vet had no reception staff, it was just the one guy. Prior experience meant that we knew that if he was busy, there was nothing for it but to sit and wait.

On this particular occasion though after the woman’s dog was off the consultation table a conversation dragged on between the woman and the vet for what seemed like ages.

Originally I thought it was something to do with her dog but my girlfriend later told me the vet was bitching about his kids and how his wife controls them too much and keeps them too busy with study all the time (as far as stereotypes go I wish I was making that up but that’s what they were discussing…).

Not in a hurry to be anywhere and not the type of people to get irritated easily we waited patiently until they were done. Make no mistake, this conversation went on for roughly twenty minutes and both the woman and vet clearly knew we were sitting there waiting to see him.

Finally, roughly twenty painfully long minutes later they finished up and the vet went back to wipe down the consult table.

“what do you want?” He asked, sounding much more impolite when translated to English then the question sounds in Chinese.

My girlfriend told him we were looking to get Leela neutered and mentioned what he’d told us a month or so prior. To this we got a short quick answer.

“I’m busy, come back in a few months”.

And that was it. Over in a few seconds, he then addressed the next woman waiting with her dog leaving us with no other option to leave.

I know he was most likely having a bad day and previously he’d been a decent enough vet but as we left I made a mental note that I was never going to return. On its own his response might have been acceptable, hey if you’re busy you’re busy.

But making us wait that long while he indulged in conversation about family issues for nearly half an hour? Yeah, that’s some pretty shitty customer service right there.

Thankfully though, not all vets in Taiwan are dicks.

We left the sour taste of the experience permeate in our mouths for about a week before seeking out alternative vets in the area. After a bit of internet research we found another veterinary not too far off and headed down there one afternoon for a consult.

These guys were much more interested and told us all we had to do was bring Leela in before 12pm and they’d get her done that afternoon at a local veterinary hospital. They’d then keep her overnight for observation and we could pick her up the next morning.

Sounded perfect so we booked Leela in for surgery in a few days time.

Costwise we were looking at around $1500 TWD for dogs under 10kg and above 10kg, around $100 TWD per kg they are over.

Leela weighed in at 17kg so this amounted to $1500 + $700 for a total of $2200 TWD ($75 USD). Considering neutering usually cost over $100 AUD in Australia, I thought it was pretty reasonably priced.

We were also offered a blood test which from I gathered was to test if Leela was allergic to a certain type (types?) of anesthetic for an extra $1200 TWD ($41 USD), but figuring if she was allergic they’d find out anyway, opted not to do the test.

Prior to getting neutered Leela had an early dinner and then no breakfast. On the morning of operation day I took her for her usual morning walk and then headed down the vet shortly after they opened at 9:30am.

After paying the set price they herded Leela into one of their cages and that was it. Knowing she’d be spending the night there I made a deliberate attempt not to say goodbye or draw out me leaving.

Having had to walk Leela nightly for nearly a year that night I found myself a bit stumped on what to do and definitely the house felt that much more emptier.

Usually we’re restricted to eating out on weeknights at places within walking distance to our house so that we can knock off Leela’s evening walk and getting our dinner in the one go. Now with the freedom to eat anywhere it was all a bit overwhelming.

In any case, cycling down to a local nightmarket we usually wouldn’t bother walking to, we had a nice dinner and enjoyed a night relatively free of pet responsibilities (I imagine the feeling is akin to how parents feel the first time they hire a babysitter).

The next morning I went to pick Leela up and lifting her head up from her nap she seemed eager enough to go home. With no complications and a belly with some stitched, all in all the procedure was a success.

So that she didn’t lick or pick at her stitches we had to keep a collar on her, but rather than opt for one of those dorky plastic “lampshade” ones we instead bought an inflatable collar attachment from the local petstore (I’ll do a separate writeup on that at a later point).

Leela spent most of the rest of the day and the next sleeping it off and looking a bit depressed,

but after that she was pretty much back to her lively self:

We had to keep her on the leash though during walks to stop her running around and possibly bursting her stitches open, which became all the more challenging as the week wore on.

Then, a week and two days after the initial operation, it was back to the vet to get the stitched removed. This took a whole 10 seconds (no charge) and then we were good to go.

To get a dog neutered in Taiwan behaviour wise you’re looking at about a week of downtime and cost wise easily under a $100 USD. All in all well worth it for the piece of mind of not having to worry each time a horny looking male dog approaches her.

Thankfully with Leela being a stray whenever a dog looks like it wants to get frisky Leela starts to get aggressive (she thinks ‘hey babe wanna get it on?’ is an attack) so it hasn’t been a problem but still, there’s a hell of a lot of un-neutered male dogs in Taiwan (strays and pets) so if you own a female dog getting it neutered is pretty much compulsory.

If you’ve got any further questions on getting a dog neutered in Taiwan by all means leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to get back to you with an answer.

Instantly throwing me back to my Command & Conquer days, the familiar air raid siren noise was something I hadn’t heard in a long time.

The siren went on for about two minutes and I was actually having a break with Leela when it went off so I managed to shoot some video during the test:


Mulling over what appeared to be a random test I then recalled that I’d read a news article that morning informing that the ‘Wanan Air Raid Drill Siren’ system was being tested in Taipei, with similar air raid siren tests to be carried out over Taiwan at later dates.

Initially carried out annually, apparently the threat of an air raid has diminished enough that in future these siren tests will now only be carried out every two years.

I was on the Xindian riverbank which was pretty deserted but by and large the few people around didn’t seem too fussed.

Because the dispersal of crowds has been carried out and practiced many times during past air raid drills and the public had a general knowledge of what to do, this year’s drill focus(ed) on the ordering and transmission of air raid alerts and (didn’t) involve traffic control or crowd dispersal.

Apparently these days we have it pretty easy, in the past my girlfriend recalled she had to hide under desks when the siren tests were being conducted and people weren’t allowed to be out in the street.

Dunno what happened if you were caught but I reckon I’d be a pretty good candidate to find out. Everyone’d be running around looking for shelter and I’d be there standing in the middle of the road filming it all.

I guess coming from the southern end of Australia where we’ve never had an immediate threat of an air strike in my lifetime it’s a bit hard to take air raid siren drills seriously. Let’s hope things stay that way hey.

A question that, if I’d bothered to ask myself, would have time and time again saved me that humiliating walk through the wash area to the waiting toilet paper dispenser outside.

Being a guy I don’t like to carry bags so everything I take out with me has to fit in my pockets. With limited real estate on offer this usually equates to keys, coins, a wallet and phone.

Whereas my girlfriend is a walking 7-11 (her coin purse alone is thicker than most books I read), I’m equipped with just the barest of necessities. For anything more than paying for stuff and showing my ID at various places, I’m the wrong guy to call.

Now whether it’s a cost cutting measure, laziness or just a stop-gap attempt to curtail some multibillion dollar illegal toilet paper trade I don’t know about, for some freaking god awful reason Taiwan is full of toilets that require you to BYO paper.

As a newcomer to the island and nonethewiser to the Chinese sprawled all over them, I initially thought the little vending machines outside were condom dispensers.

A few ‘WHY THE HELL IS THERE NO TOILET PAPER IN HERE??!’ experiences later however, and I soon came to realise these machines served a much more vital purpose.

And just to confuse you even more, for those inquisitive enough to actually go over and inspect these vending machines before you sit down, they’re universally labelled as ’tissue paper’ dispensers.

Thus ‘idiots, why do I need tissue paper to go to the toilet??’ shortly thereafter turns into ‘WHY OH WHY DIDN’T I BUY THE FREAKING TISSUE PAPER!‘

Oh and you can forget about any ‘psst, can I borrow a few sheets’ action from underneath the stall walls. With all the farting, grunting, spitting, nasal snorting and what not that goes on in a Taiwanese public toilet, weighing the benefits of asking anyone for anything vs. communication issues becomes an exercise in analytic frustration in itself.

Cleaning wise there’s somebody cleaning the toilet so why they don’t just put toilet paper in there I have no idea. Is the $10 TWD or so for a pack really that much of an income generator for whoever is running the public toilet paper racket in Taiwan?

What’s next, a BYO bottle of water scheme to wash ‘er down after you’re done?

Thankfully I haven’t had an ‘oh crap’ moment in months but I know I’m due for one any day now. Luckily if the girlfriend is there I can usually rush outside and make the ‘omgtoiletpapertoiletpapertoiletpaper!’ face she’s now all too familiar with… but if I’m on my own it’s a walk of shame to the vending machine and then back into the toilets.

Unmistakably hilarious no doubt for anyone that’s watching.

Personally I think the lowest I’ve sunk thusfar was walking out of a 7-11 toilet to an eating area that was full of gawking people, having to go and buy some toilet paper and then trudge back into the stall.

…god help me the day I find myself without a few $10 coins in my wallet. And don’t get me started on those utterly useless toilets set up around Taipei’s riverside bike paths that don’t even have a toilet paper dispenser!

The fuck are you supposed to wipe yourself with?! Blades of freaking grass!?!

People crap on about air quality, intrapersonal differences, the general cost of living and what not when it comes to life in Taiwan but for me? Honestly? 

Call me simple but it’s the little things like not having to worry about toilet paper everywhere you go that ultimately make all the difference.

One of the big tourist attractions of Wulai Township are the hot spring baths that heavily populate the main township area.

Ranging from just a few hundred TWD to a few thousand an hour, on a cold winter night we decided to try out a mid-range looking hot spring bath called YuFuin.

Coming in at $1000 TWD ($34 USD) an hour (or $1500 TWD for 90 minutes) YuFuin wasn’t too badly priced and for your money you get a decently sized private room:

The big giant windows were at first a bit offputting, but I believe they are one-sided and people walking on the otherside of the river outside (about 1km or so away) can’t see in (or at least I bloody well hope so!).

Apparently during the day you can get some pretty nice views of Wulai river from Yufuin but at night all you can pretty much see is black (apart from some distant street lights).

The hot spring spa itself was more relaxing than therapeutic for me and with the room being clean there was little to worry about.

Oh and if you go by yourself (or your company is boring), YuFuin also provide you a 20 or so inch LCD television to watch some local tv on (no cable from memory!)…

Only flicking it on to take a photo, thankfully we didn’t need it and all in all, a nice hot spring bath is a pretty decent way to spend a cold winter night.

Access to YuFuin Hot Spring Baths is a relatively straight forward affair with the spa front being just a quick walk from Wulai’s Old Street.

Heading out from the Old Street, just cross over the large bridge and then turn left. Walk down Wenquan Street (it’s the only street there) for a few minutes and look out for the big orange YuFuin sign on your left (riverside).

Like anyone else, Taiwanese people generally don’t like eating dirty food. As for restaurant and cafe owners serving the food though… well, that’s an entirely different ball game.

Down in Chiayi in Taiwan’s south last Saturday night, nurses working at Chiayi Christian Hospital  were enjoying bowls of soup they’d ordered from a nearby vegetarian restaurant named ‘Yuan Fu’ (緣馥素食).

Once the soup arrived the nurses tucked in. Unfortunately for them, about halfway through their meal this happened:

Horrified, the nurses rushed off to the bathroom before confronting Yuan Fu’s owner on the phone.

Now you’d think that finding cockroaches in your food would elicit the humblest of apologies and the relevant government department in charge of handling such cases moving in to shut down or at least inspect the place in question… but in Taiwan? Not a chance bitches!

Stopping short of declaring the cockroach to be part of  a new and improved flavour marketing strategy, the restaurant owner told the nurses to to go fuck themselves that cockroaches are perfectly edible.

The owner then went on to claim that founding of a cockroach in Tang’s soup posed no problem, and that her objection was entirely psychological and had nothing to do with the restaurant.

When the nurses asked how the restaurant was going to deal with the situation, the owner offered to come and pick up the soup and refund the money paid for the soup.

Fronting up to the hospital to collect the cockroach tainted soup the owner did offer to pay for the nurses to see a doctor, but then went on to continue to justify the presence of cockroaches in their food,

television reported food cockroaches News, we’re not the first, others will this to happen!

Slightly mangled by Google translate, the owner is basically justifying the cockroach soup by claiming that local Taiwanese news outlets have already reported on instances of cockroaches being found in food in the past, and that it was bound to happen again. So really, there was nothing they could do about it.

Well y’know, except perhaps review why and how it happened in the first place and try to prevent it happening again.

And turns out, that’s really all the nurses wanted:

The nurses said to the boss, (the purpose of calling them up was) not to claim or refund, want the store to apologize and review of the health problems that night

But of course no, that’d employ common sense and hell… it’s evidently just easier to just add cockroaches to the menu and write the whole thing off as utterly unavoidable.

In the end the owner of the restaurant did apologise to the nurses and give them a refund… but that’s not really the point now is it.

In other news, what the hell are the employees working at Food Safety in Taiwan’s Department of Health doing? Not a peep!


Source: Apple Daily (English)


Footnote: This news story uses a Chinese language news source that has not been published in English and as such I’ve done my best to translate. I’m not a fluent in Mandarin so my translations might be slightly off.

Any corrections are welcome and can be published below as a comment.

I read an interesting article last week on the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS) calling on the Taipei government to be mindful of the preservation of historically significant buildings when considering urban renewal projects.

Their calls came after the building that houses their headquarters, known as the Wen Meng Building (文萌樓), was recently sold with ‘a number of construction firms have expressed an interest in launching an urban renewal project in the area‘.

With several recent examples in Taiwan or urban renewal projects literally demolishing the history of an area, COSWAS are calling on the government to preserve not only the Wen Meng Building but also the surrounding area.

Located in Taipei City’s Datong District, the Wen Meng Building

was used as a brothel from the Japanese colonial period until all licensed brothels were abolished by the city government in 2001, and now houses the collective’s headquarters.

“The area was designated a red light district for Taiwanese in the early 1900s by the Japanese colonial government and according to official figures in 1917, there were 420 registered prostitutes in the area,” COSWAS secretary-general Wang Fang-ping (王芳萍) said.

“There are many very interesting stories connected to this area.”

Curious as to what this little area actually looked like, I saddled up the Long Haul Trucker and headed down to the Wen Meng Building to take a look.

The Wen Meng Building itself is nothing and special and Japanese architecture aside doesn’t really stand out:

Inside sat a lone elderly old woman and although I suppose I could have asked if I was able to have a peek inside and snap some photos, something about this being a brothel for roughly 100 years kinda turned me off the idea.

All I could think about was the amount of orgasm faces the insides of this building must have seen so I passed.

Looking at the greater neighbourhood the Wen Meng Building belonged to, taking in the visuals could be summed up with the contrast of some really old Japanese inspired architecture:

with the abundant toll time had taken on the area:

Whilst most buildings in the colonial period strip the Wen Meng Building was a part of stood weathered beaten, evidently some residents had already taken to renovating their property:

Between stonewall white and the character of the older buildings it’s not an easy choice to appreciate visual practicality over structural soundness. I suppose if you’re going to fix up your place though why go with white? In Taipei’s muggy humidity it’s only a few years before that building is going to be an off-white cream color streaked with grime and layered with blotches of green mold.

Meanwhile just across tiny Guisui street, the urban renewal projects COSWAS was worried would cleanse all memory of the history of the area were well underway:

Walking around the greater block that the Wen Meng Building was a part of, I soon came to understand why COSWAS were urging the government to preserve the historical architecture here.

Everywhere you looked, new architecture clashed with old:

Around the back of Guisui Street were little lanes that truly encompassed the phrase ‘lost in time’:

This particular wooden house caught my attention:

Wood isn’t something you usually see used as building material here in Taiwan so I could only wonder at how old the wooden extension was.

Next to the wooden house was an equally beat up yet charismatic dump:

Giving you an idea of just how old some of these buildings are, there were quite a few of these doors about:

They don’t look anything special but with me standing at 6ft1 or so, these doors barely reached my shoulder level. I’d have to completely hunch over to step through.

Evidently tall people didn’t exist back then.

Perhaps most ironic of all was that just opposite all these old buildings was a gigantic Carrefour complex.

Now I’m obviously not against shopping (people have to buy shit to eat after all) but I couldn’t help but wonder how much historical and cultural history had been demolished to make way for the multi-story merchandising monolith of concrete.

If you’re willing to spend the money though, there were several examples in the surrounding area that showed colonial architecture was able to be preserved without completely destroying the original look of buildings.

Two of the most prominent examples was the government building that houses the ‘Council of Labor Affairs’ branch of the Executive Yuan:

and the Datong District police station:

Notably both are government buildings but show what can be done if you’re willing to spend enough money to properly preserve historically significant buildings and their architecture.

All in all I don’t really envy the Taipei government when it comes to deciding what does and doesn’t have cause to be culturally preserved due to historical significance.

Luckily for COSWAS the Wen Meng Building has already been classified as a ‘designated historical building’ meaning that it can’t be demolished, but most of the surrounding area has not.

I imagine if these urban renewal projects are pushed through it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that they could find themselves surrounding by gaudy highrises.

On the other side of the coin though there’s no doubt that the line between eyesore and appreciation of historic architecture is incredibly thin.

It’s no good preserving buildings under cultural and historical significance if they’re on the verge of collapsing and putting the public at risk either.

Not withstanding the fact that the government has urban developers all too willingly ready to throw bundles of cash down to get the approval they need to start demolishing. The fact that most of these buildings are either single or double story and taking up prime real estate in the heart of a city in one of the most densely populated cities on Earth doesn’t escape me either.

As Taipei’s (and to a larger extent Taiwan’s) landscape shifts and remoulds itself I wouldn’t mind travelling back to the Wen Meng Building block in perhaps a decade and seeing how things have evolved. Hopefully a relatively balanced position between historical preservation and development is forged.

Wishful thinking perhaps, but one can always dream.

Late last year 7-11 kicked up a furore in Taiwan when they teamed up with Taiwanese author Mark Lee to sell merchandise featuring a character based on Hitler.

Naturally the Israel embassy weren’t too impressed and after first claiming Hitler’s moustache was a tooth and then claiming that there was no resemblance of Lee’s character to Hitler… they pulled the products from sale.

Interestingly enough, Lee then went on to apologise after ‘carefully reviewing the history of Israel’.

Despite having read up on his history, less than a year later Hitler is once again being used to flog tech gear.

On the surface, the May 2012 edition of ‘BIZ Interactive Business Magazine’ looks like any other regular magazine…

Flip it open though and right there on page one is a giant full-sized ad from Ergotech featuring Hitler flogging some tablet PC promotion they have going:

Not as prominent as Hitler themed merchandise being sold in 7-11 stores… but still remarkably unmistakable.

Now whereas Ergotech’s blunder could be chalked up to be a local Taiwanese company who could pull the ‘we didn’t know any better’ excuse and go educate themselves on the most significant event of last century, BIZ Interactive Business Magazine however should know better.

Biz Interactive Business Magazine is published by LiveABC, who claim they are ‘an innovator in designing language-learning tools‘ with their publications ‘enhancing Taiwan’s international reputation as a centre of culture and learning’.

Just to put things entirely into context here, BIZ Interactive Business Magazine is an English learning magazine aimed at businesspeople looking to brush up on their English skills in a business environment.

How on Earth a full-sized ad featuring a Hitler lookalike cartoon character on page 1 got past the editors is then not only a complete mystery but painfully inexcusable. Especially when you’re also running around claiming Taiwan is an epicenter of cultural learning.

Interestingly enough, LiveABC cite the USA as one of their target markets. I understand that BIZ Interactive Magazine isn’t really aimed at English-speaking readers but I’m still kind of curious as to whether or not the magazine is on sale there. Forget about Taiwan’s tiny market, being caught out with Hitler ads in the US is a gigantic PR disaster just waiting to happen…

As for Ergotech, thankfully they don’t have Hitler plastered all over their website but I did find this Youtube video embedded on one of their product pages:

I don’t know how big Ergotech is here in Taiwan (the above video has been viewed over 2000 times without raising an eyebrow) but they seem to have no problems using Hitler to market their goods. Hell, they even seem entirely enthusiastic about it.

Meanwhile despite Mark Lee claiming he’s brushed up on his world history, apparently he still doesn’t get why using the image of Hitler to pimp goods is a bad idea.

One can only hope that a Taiwanese businessman doesn’t one day stick his foot into it abroad by referring to Hitler as that ‘cute funny guy’ should the opportunity present itself.

Then again, one would hope members of the Taiwanese business community would be educated enough to know beforehand who Hitler was in the first place and why it’s not really appropriate to use his likeness to market things.

I’ve contacted the Israel embassy in Taiwan for comment and will update here if I hear anything back. They weren’t too happy with 7-11 last year so it’ll be interesting to see when faced with the promotion of the same character whether or not they’re amused.


Update 4th May 2012 – I received a reply today from the Israeli Embassy:

Dear Oz,

Thank you very much for informing us!

Frankly, we feel it’s very regretful that this kind of incident occurred again.

We approached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding this case, and they contacted both Mr. Lee and Ergotech.

Both responded immediately and positively: Mr. Lee apologized for the contract of this case was signed before the 7-11 incident, when he wasn’t aware of the sensitivity.

He apologized that he couldn’t take action about it in this case. However he is modifying the character’s appearance for future use, and intends to show us his final version before he sent it out in the market.

We will also meet him personally to broaden his understanding and knowledge about the horrors of the Holocaust.

Ergotech representative, a manager, said they would pull down the advertisements on website, but unfortunately, they couldn’t get back the ones that were already printed and in the market.

They assured the MoFA official that they will not commit such a blunder in the future.

We’re still waiting to hear from the magazine – especially since you mention they were advised against running the ad. We’ll let you know.

We really appreciate your approaching us, making it possible to remove those terrible ads & products from the market. Thank you!

Best Regards,

Anna Shen
Media & Public Affairs Officer

Glad to see Mark Lee apologised and more importantly is going to modify the Hitler character. Hitler is pretty recognisable so I don’t see why, if he wants to market with the character, he can’t use a less than carbon copy of Hitler (keep the jacket (maybe minus the armband) but change the head etc.).

Although I suppose the identity might then be lost on the general Taiwanese the comic is aimed at but maybe not if they’re already familiar with it.

Ergotech are pulling the ads so good on them and it’s a bit disappointing to see LiveABC haven’t replied yet, considering they approved the ad for publication and claiming to propagate an image of ‘cultural learning’ for Taiwan.

Personally though I try to avoid the MRT as I prefer hitting the roads on the bicycle or scooter. Crowds just don’t do it for me and believe it or not it’s still massively cheaper to ride around on a scooter than catch the MRT.

Still, amidst thunderous storms hitting Taiwan’s capital yesterday, for the first time in a good few months I found myself waiting to catch a MRT train.

When one did finally arrive, here’s how it looked:

Colored pink and emblazoned with children wearing celebratory themed tshirts, probably not the way I would have advertised a 5 billionth trip, but each to their own. At least they were getting the message out there.

Hopping onto the train, inside you had a series of posters also creating awareness of the milestone:

You can’t see it in the above photo but where I’ve indicated with an arrow, the following English text appears:

Accumulated ridership has exceeded 5 billion journeys.

Shortly after reading that… I took stock of the whole poster and it was then I questioned the use of the number ’50′.

Somebody’s obviously decided the design a logo to mark the milestone and for some reason, rather than go with 5 for 5 billion they’d chosen 50. The number 50 featured prominently on the signage as well as on all the tops the little kids were wearing.

Naturally I turned to my girlfriend for an explanation and turns out that the use of 50 has something to do with how 5 billion is denoted in Chinese.

‘Fair enough… by why use English numbers to represent that then?’

This of course then deteriorated into one of our ‘it’s not English, it’s Chinese!’ ‘Of course it’s English, the numbers five and zero aren’t Chinese!’ type discussions, with both us eventually agreeing to disagree.

From my side of the fence the inclusion of the English text about 5 million trips means that Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) do intend for non-Chinese reading patrons to read the signs. With the only other recognizable English on there being the number ’50′, surely I’m not the only one who was confused (I originally thought it was a massive numerical fuckup on the TRTC’s behalf).

On the flipside if I was to write whatever denotes 5 billion using only Chinese characters but then tried to change the numerical value using English words, that would most definitely confuse people… so why do it at all?

Especially when you’ve gone to the trouble to whack the literal numerical value for 5 billion on the outside of the train.

It’s not that much of a big deal I know but if I didn’t know any better, I could just have easily have come away thinking whoever is running the MRT has no idea how to count… either that or they’d buggered the English and meant to write ’50 billion’ rather than 5.

Meanwhile the kids tshirts don’t even have any text on them other than the number 50, so it reads ‘yay we’re celebrating 5 billion trips by handing out tshirts with the number 50 on them!’

Good thing I don’t ride the MRT too often…

It rains a lot in Taiwan. Coming from drought stricken Australia at first it was quite the shock but after a few months of torrential rains it wasn’t long before I was swimming it up with the locals.

Needless to say in the face of typhoons, 24/7 rain for days at a time and a constant afternoon barrage of mist as moisture descends from Taiwan’s mountainous terrain, if you’re going to cycle you need some serious heavy-duty water protection.

That’s where Ground Effect’s Storm Trooper waterproof jacket came in.

Clocking in at over $200 the Storm Trooper was one of the most expensive pieces of bicycle kit I’d ever purchased (I only recently eclipsed it with the purchase of a Kask K-10 helmet), but when it came down to it to be honest I didn’t care how much I spent… so long as it kept me dry.

I bought myself a medium-sized Storm Trooper and it fits pretty snugly, which is great. The jacket is tapered down the rear to provide extra length protection from the rain. The front zips up and has a velcro overtab and the waist line is adjusted with lockable cord tabs:

Up top you’ve got a retractable hood:

And when you’re not using it, this hood conveniently zips back into the Storm Trooper’s collar:

This hood fits like a skullcap, which is great for not taking up space under your helmet, but leaves you looking utterly ridiculous in any other situation (think Buzz Lightyear without his helmet).

Unless you’re a fan of the human head condom look, don’t count on using the Storm Trooper’s hood off the bike!

The rear of the Storm Trooper holds a single long pocket which pretty much runs the length widthwise of the jacket:

Inside the rear pocket is a buckle which turns the Storm Trooper’s rear pocket into a bumbag (the jacket rolls into itself:

Personally I think bumbags are the height of dorkiness so I’ve never actually tried this!

I was worried about the cuffs loosing their elasticity due to the winter waterproof gloves that usually get worn with the Storm Trooper but so far so good. They’re not as clingy as they were when I bought the jacket but they still hold fast around the big chunky winter gloves I wear so that’s all good.

Each cuff has an elastic loop inside designed to keep the cuffs around your gloves should they slide off:

I find using these loops stretches the cuffs even more so I don’t use them. No need thus far, even in Taiwan’s strongest winds.

As for keeping me dry, in the near two years I’ve been wearing the Storm Trooper through Taiwan’s harshest weather, I’m happy to report it’s kept me bone dry.

The Storm Trooper is rated as breathable but unfortunately with Taiwan’s ridiculously high humidity if I’m going to wear the jacket I need to make sure I’ve got something extremely light on underneath. Even with breathability if it’s >20 degrees C you still get that ‘I’m wearing a tent’ feeling and start to sweat.

The Storm Trooper does have some air conditioning zips under the armpits to help you cope with this:

But I’ve found these zips have to remain closed if its raining otherwise water trickles down your arms (and then into your gloves!).

That said if it’s raining, the rain itself falling on the jacket is usually enough to cool you down, it’s when it’s not raining (or stops after you put on the jacket) that I’ve mostly had issues overheating underneath it.

I suppose that’s mostly due to me being lazy and not wanting to pull over and take off my waterproof kit.

At the end of the day though I bought the Storm Trooper jacket to keep me dry and it does precisely that. Top marks to Ground Effect for that and despite the initial financial outlay, would still highly recommend the Storm Trooper for anyone looking to waterproof themselves on the bike.

I’d just finished a bicycle ride in one of Taiwan’s 30 degree humid days (although you wouldn’t think so given the horrendous torrential rain we’ve had these last few days), and had pitstopped at 7-11 to grab a bottle of Cherry Coke.

Standing at the refrigerator trying to find it on the shelf, it was then that a rather podgy little bottle I hadn’t seen before caught my eye:

Lo and behold, it was yet another serving size option for Coca-Cola.

I guess if a 250ml slim can, 330ml short can, 355ml glass bottle, 375ml regular can, or the 600ml, 1.25L, 1.5L and 2L plastic bottles didn’t quite suit your needs, rest assured Coke now have you covered with their new 920ml bottle offering.

I kinda feel for the marketing department of Coke, I mean there’s only so many new flavours you can splice into Coke and as far as brand awareness goes there’s not all that much more they can do. But really… is there that much demand out there for a compromise between 600ml and 1.25L?

At $39 TWD ($1.33 USD) it’s not too badly priced but for $10 TWD more you can walk away with a 2L bottle so I’m not sure who the 920ml bottle is aimed at. We found it decent enough to share with two people but for 10TWD more obviously 2L (not drunk in one sitting of course) was a better option.

Keeping in mind of course that these are convenience store prices, otherwise a 2L bottle of Coke is only usually $30 TWD ($1 USD) from a supermarket.

I suppose if two people both wanted to drink Coke and didn’t want to lug a 2L bottle around though that the 920ml bottle makes sense… but I always thought that’s what the 1.25L bottle was for.

Memo to Coke: what gives?

With that in mind, we were walking down some street in Banciao District when we passed this rather conspicuous storefront:

Nestled smack bang in a residential looking area, I couldn’t help but flag it as a potential brothel or gambling den.

Misty windows hid what was going on inside and the cheesy Word for Windows clipart from the 1990s plastered all over them definitely looked suss…

“so I’m thinking this is a dodgy place right?”

“No, it’s just a pawn shop”

“…seriously? why do they need to hide what’s going on inside then?”

“cus no one wants bring a bounch of gold and trade with a big fortune and walk out get robbed! SILLY!”

At first this kinda made sense. The lack of big R18+ signs should have quelled my immediate suspicions and I suppose in a way blingy watches, motorcycles and cars do signify the transfer of wealth that pawn shops facilitate.

But then the more I thought about it afterwards… the less my girlfriend’s explanation made sense.

First and foremost, if someone wanted to earn a quick buck surely they could just take their chances mugging anyone who came out of the store and just hope for the best.

Why would hiding what was going on inside deter them?

Then while I can appreciate that you might want a bit of privacy when entering a pawn shop,  don’t they make a profit on selling the goods they take in? How on Earth can anyone see what’s for sale if the windows are all covered up??

I can see how money goes into this particular shop with the pawning of goods but I’m at a complete loss to see how they make any money.

…

…maybe there’s a secret hidden backdoor gambling/prostitution den upstairs afterall.

After departing Wulai Township on the Wulai Log Cart, you’ll find yourself at the Wulai Waterfall Train Station.

From here you can get a nice up close and personal view of Wulai Waterfall, browse some of the shops near the station itself or if you’ve had enough of the tourist crowds, head up into the mountain opposite the waterfall.

A short trek up the Moss Steps and Lovers Walk and you’ll find a nice sizeable refuge of peace and quiet. Barely ten minutes from the hustle and bustle that plagues Wulai and its attractions, the tranquility of the Wulai Waterfall Mountain Park awaits.

At the top of the Lovers Walk you’ll be dumped out onto busy HuanShan Road (which is what all the lazy people use to drive to the waterfall). Turning right, head up HuanShan Road for a 50m or so and then on the left you’ll find the entrance to the Waterfall Mountain Park.

In a nutshell Wulai Waterfall Mountain Park is a big circle trail that is mostly paved road:

As you walk up this path, take in the elevated waterfall and cherry blossom views on your left:

Then, as you turn this corner on the path

and continue your way up into the park, you’ll pass the first attraction:

An Atayal statue celebrating the origins of Taiwan’s ‘princess syndrome’, a terrible affliction that affects so many of the girls here.

Or of course there’s the “official” explanation:

Atayal Wedding Customs

The Atayal attach great importance to the wedding ceremony, and it is commonly believed that only after marriage does an individual become a full member of the community.

After a young man and woman have fallen in love with eachother, the man’s family presents the marriage proposal to the elders of the bride’s family. Once the proposal is accepted, the man’s parents accompany him to visit the bride’s family and the two parties agree on the wedding date and other details.

Afterwards the groom presents a number of pre-arranged gifts to the bride’s family, including several lengths of top quality cloth, two or three head of game, millet wine, dried meat, fish and millet cakes, the offering of which is accompanied with spirited song and dance.

During the wedding ceremony the newlyweds drink wine together from a double cup and the elders bind them together with a “lovers knot”, symbolizing that they look forward to a long, harmonious and happy life together.

Another Atayal custom is for the groom to carry the bride on his back, a symbolic expression of his ability to support the family.

Official schimicial, you’re not fooling me with your “traditions” and “history”… I know what that statute represents!

Just up the path from the statue (you can see more Atayal statues from the surrounding Wulai area here), the park path forks into two directions:

As we were heading into the park we decided to do a clockwise trip and veered off to the left path. This meant our next stop was the ‘Frog Pond’.

After walking through some cherry blossoms, the Frog Pond area opens up before you.

Despite being able to walk over the pond itself, I don’t actually remember hearing any frogs here.

That said the gardens around the pond are quite well maintained and seating is readily available making this a nice relaxing place to stop and take in some nature.

The path continues on after the frog pond, leading you through more greenery,

and then briefly it follows a pebbled stream,

before dumping you at the entrance to a memorial area:

The grey diamond with Chinese text does have English characters written on it, but it’s not English wording… nor Chinese apparently:

snonen kineng na ubay

Takasagozoku hetay Ulay

It kind of sounds Japanese to me, or failing that perhaps an Atayal language (?).

I’m not sure what the significance of the diamonds were either (if any) but the memorial park itself was filled with other interesting shapes so it definitely seemed to be a theme.

In the centre of the memorial area you had these five tall rectangular pillars:

Each of which was dedicated to a particular person, whose name was inscribed on one side of the pillar:

There was no English explanation anywhere so I’m not entirely sure what the significance of these people were, but I assume it’s got something to do with Wulai Township.

This short fellow was armed with a spear and seemed to be of particular importance:

At the base of this statue a few tributes had been left by those who had visited the memorial prior:

I’m not sure what kind of drink was in the flask but it looked like whisky.

Looking quite presidential, just off to the side of the guard statue was this chap:

Again, there was no English around but I assume he was either the head of some important family or perhaps an Atayal elder (?) Either way he was definitely someone of importance as apart from the guard statue was the only depicted human face in the memorial area.

Infront of the guard statue and presidential looking guy there was a bell:

Out of respect to the site and not wanting to disturb the otherwise peaceful nature of the area, I didn’t ring it. Others didn’t share this thought though and as we walked around randomly the loud dinging of the bell cut through the air.

The memorial marks the return trip of the Wulai Waterfall Mountain Park and although there is a path that leads on from here:

I believe it eventually winds up dumping you again onto HuanShan Road close to Wualai Township.

Wanting to stroll back along the Lovers Pathway, we instead took in one last view of the expansive mountains that surround Wulai,

before heading back towards the entrance of the Mountain Park.

The return trip didn’t was pretty uneventful, with the frog pond path offering a much nicer scenic experience. Coming back on the loop you pass a playground area and then this pavillion:

With the memorial area easily offering the best views of the surrounding mountains, there was little reason to stop. I suppose if you were carrying a packed lunch though, the tabled pavillion might be a good place to sit down and eat.

All in all I found the Wulai Waterfall Mountain Park quite relaxing and it was surprising to see how having to climb a few stairs to get there meant that the bulk of the crowds didn’t bother visiting the area.

Their loss I suppose.