A day trip to Danshui

I belong to the Couchsurfing network, which connects travelers looking for a "couch" to sleep on with people who have "couches" to offer. I won't go into details about how it works, but I've found it a great way to meet people from around the world. My apartment in Dazhi is quite small, so I can't host Couchsurfers here in Taiwan. Instead, my "couch" status is "available to hang out."

I thought this was the Longshan Temple, but alas not.

Now, for those of you who thought this post was going to be about a day trip to Danshui, I'll get to the point - a Couchsurfer from Olso named Jay contacted me to say he'd be in Taipei for a week for a conference and asked if I wanted to hang out. "Sure!" I said.

The weather had improved by New Year's Eve, so I arranged to meet up with Jay and head up to Danshui, an historic port town north of Taipei. It has been settled/occupied/conquered by the Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese over the years due to its prime location at the confluence of the Danshui River and the Taiwan Straight.

Today, it's a popular day trip destination because it's very easy to get to on the MRT and it's a nice place to get a bit of fresh air and sun outside of the city. I was excited to go there because the guidebooks described a lovely new pedestrian-only boardwalk along the waterfront. I was imagining a relaxing perambulation away from the crowds. I was so very wrong. It was more like what I call "crowd shuffling," or the slow and frustrating transit of a gigantic crowd of people along a ridiculously small walkway. Add in baby carriages, backpacks, bicycles, scooters, etc. and it was more stressful than relaxing.

Me standing outside the ornate temple entrance. I wasn`t sure if we could enter.

Jay and I managed to escape the crowds every now and then. There was a gorgeous temple just off the boardwalk that we stopped to admire. Neither of us was entirely sure if we should go in, so we simply admired it from outside. If my Mandarin were better I would have asked the security guard if we could come inside.

Incense burning at the temple entrance. It was a lovely scent.

A dragon - one of two - at the entrance to the temple.

The funny thing about this temple is that it was hidden behind a semi-permanent street food stall that sold quail egg kabobs (the link leads to a short video on YouTube). You could barely see the temple behind the ugly tarps and the industrial cooking equipment. But, as I have learned since arriving in Taipei, you have to look beyond what`s just in front of you. There is always something interesting down the lane, behind the main building, or around the corner.

Food, of course, is a big draw in Danshui. The boardwalk is lined with street food stalls selling a variety of delicious snacks. And, as I mentioned in a previous post, the food smells rise and mix and become something almost indefinable. Is that fish? Meat? Sweet? Sour? Who knows!

The Turkish Ice Cream vendors played tricks on people.

Jay is a vegetarian so we didn't stop to sample anything - it's hard to tell what has meat in it and what doesn't. Next time I go, however, I am definitely trying the squid on a stick. I've been told to order it spicy.

Squid on a stick!

There is a definite carnival atmosphere in Danshui. In between the food stalls there are stalls where you can play games for prizes, just like you would see at a country fair in North America. Shooting games seem to be popular all over the world and there were plenty in Danshui. The most valuable prizes were these blow-up "baseball" bats. The Taiwanese people were crazy for them! Of course, they were too polite to actually hit each other with them, which is what I would do if I won something like that and was out with a bunch of friends. Sadly, the Taiwanese seemed satisfied by simply posing for pictures with the bats.



There were also small stalls and shops selling knickknacks and small gifts. The most popular shops sold accessories for your phone - dressing up your phone is a national obsession. The most popular accessory right now is a plastic case that fits around the body of your smart phone but extends beyond the phone into shapes like Pokemon characters, Hello Kitty, or whatever.

I was hoping to spot the Starbugs Insect Mall, which the guidebooks describe as a "shop specializing in the care, breeding and raising of gigantic beetles." Sadly, it's located down a lane - natch! - and we missed it. I think Jay was a little relieved that we didn't find it. But, I have to do these things for my sister Simone, who has been known to kiss and coo at her giant beetles. What's a good sister to do, except investigate the shop and report back?

I think Jay started to get overwhelmed by the crowds in the lanes.

"Drive-thru" fish ball factory!

At a certain point the boardwalk ends but you can walk up and down small lanes. The lanes are, of course, lined with food stalls and filled to overflowing with people. I think that Jay started to reach his "limit" with the crowds at that point. It can be very disorienting in the lanes. It's like your brain is completely flooded with sensory information - where do I step next? where do I look? what's that sound? what am I smelling? who bumped into me? where are my traveling companions? where's the exit? what's that weird thing over there?

We wandered down one lane that wasn't particularly busy and found a fishball factory. One of the popular food stall snacks are fishballs cooked in broth. So, it made sense that just a few lanes away would be a small warehouse where people were making hundreds and hundreds of fish balls to be sold in the food stalls that day and night.

Jay from Oslo, enjoying a breather out of the crowds.

As we got further away from "main" Danshui the crowds thinned out and we got to enjoy a bit more breathing room. There was a stone "wharf" along the waterfront that was more of a laneway.

A view of Bali, a community across the Danshui River.

A small breakwater. There were maybe five boats tied up.

One thing that I find odd about Taiwan is that it is an Island, but there are no boats. If this were North America the Danshui wharf - for there is only one - would be chock-a-block with pleasure craft. In Taiwan, the only boats you see are fishing boats and the odd marine rescue boat. Pleasure boating just doesn't exist. I asked about this on Forumosa, an online bulletin board for expats in Taiwan. It seems that pleasure boating was banned under martial law, and fishing boats were closely monitored to ensure there was no illegal smuggling of goods or people. There was never an opportunity to develop a pleasure boating culture. Another person who replied to my posting also pointed out the frequency with which Taiwan is hit by typhoons and tropical storms. This naturally dissuades people from owning pleasure craft.

A gorgeous bird of unknown breed sitting on a disused boat.

Our final destination for the day trip was Fort San Domingo, an old Spanish fort that is now an historical site. It's located on a hill above Danshui. It was originally built by the Spanish to defend against the local tribes who naturally didn't really like foreigners messing about with their culture or fishing economy.

Walking up to Fort San Domingo.

Looking up at the rebuilt fort.

The original fort was razed by the Dutch when they evacuated Taiwan - those pesky Chinese were back to reclaim the island - and the only remaining structure is the south gate. The Chinese tried to rebuild the fort but only got as far as rebuilding the gates and wall. In 1863 Britain leased the fort and rebuilt it, and added a modern consulate as well.

The Taiwanese government has done a good job of building interpretive panels throughout the fort and consulate. The only drawback to visiting the fort is that volunteers strictly enforce how you tour the fort. There is a definite order in which you have to view the rooms and exhibits. This is due to size constraints - it's an old fort, and therefore quite small. You just can't physically fit more than 40 people in one room or building at a time. I imagine that in the summer there are line-ups to get into the fort and the consulate.

The south gate, the only remaining part of the original fort.

After visiting the fort, Jay and I were both hungry. I suggested going to Alleycats, a pizza chain that is quite well known in Taiwan. I had spotted it on the way to the fort and figured that Jay could get a veggie pizza there.

We were originally seated in a booth next to a couple who were clearly having a marital spat. The husband was Western and the wife was Taiwanese, and she was bitching him out something awful. We asked to be moved a few booths down because it was quite uncomfortable to listen to.

Although it was fairly easy to order our pizzas in English, it took forever for them to be served. Mine arrived a good 15 minutes before Jay's. And, when Jay's arrived, it had pepperoni on it. I guess the servers had misinterpreted "pineapple" as pepperoni. By then Jay was too hungry to wait for them to make another one, so he just settled for picking the pepperoni off his pizza. It was a disappointing dining experience, to say the least.

From there we headed back to the MRT and caught the train back to Taipei. It was getting late and the train was full of people heading downtown for the New Years Eve celebrations at City Hall. Jay got off at his hotel, and I got off just over the river and caught a cab the rest of the way home. The trains were so full that I didn't want to try to change lines downtown. It was easier - and less stressful - to use my mangled Mandarin to direct the taxi driver to where I live in Dazhi. And, you know what? I did a pretty good job again. Thank Jeebus that BeiAn Road is a main road and quite well known.

So, that was my day trip to Danshui with Jay from Oslo. I'll definitely go back to explore the town and to try some of those delicious-looking street foods. I'll also look into catching the ferry to Bali, across the river. And, you never know, I might find the bug store!