Tales from Taiwan 3

So the siblings wanted to visit Jiufen for Spirited Away feels, and while I have to confess I hadn’t seen the Hayao Miyazaki film, I was up for the little field trip.

We booked the car and driver through the hotel concierge the night before, and the following morning found us speeding out of the city with Adele on the radio while my brother chattered to the driver in his best high school Mandarin.

Sometimes it lasts in love, sometimes it hurts instead. 🎶

A friendly shiba inu welcomed us (Aaaahh doge such cute much wow, we chorused) at the entrance of the meandering alley.

The vendors, crammed tightly on either side, have learned to identify their markets: we seemed to be one of the few visible (and audible) Pinoys around and so were hailed with “Masarap! Baboy!” by an enterprising lady peddling pork floss.

Much like Ximending, this place is a full-bore assault on the senses; if you don’t adequately steel yourself, you’re bound to start feeling a bit woozy around the place where the street curves uphill round a sex shop nestled in the corner, as I did.

Of course I dragged the sibs into that den of iniquity and we had a fine, totally not awkward time choosing souvenir condoms together.

Don’t tell mum!

Another turn and we were descending the picturesque steps to the square festooned with red lanterns, where the siblings could finally attempt their cinematic shots and I could pretend I knew what they were talking about.

We drove back to Taipei in a massive downpour, but instead of returning to the hotel, we asked to be dropped off at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.

No sun, no problem – we were armed with our hotel umbrellas and 7/11 raincoats. Nasty weather wasn’t going to get in the way of our photos!

All those exertions left us with a craving for noodles so the concierge found us a nearby place still open late and so local that it didn’t have an English name. It was such a dimly lit hole in the wall that we walked right past it and almost to the end of a rather long street before we figured it out.

But a hearty bowl of noodles, steaming hot and flavoured to your liking, is delicious in any language anyway.